Learn how to make an oragimi CD paper holder.
Cool, I just learned how to make an origami CD paper holder. I’m making something to give to someone special. I hope she’ll be impressed! Girls dig origamis. :-)
This list was voted as the best blog essay in 2004. I thought this was a great list and inspiration for people who blog. Whenever I get stuck or in a grudge, I would just look at this list and naturally, my thoughts begin to bubble up in my mind. Cool. :-)
———————————————-
how to blog by tony pierce, 110
1. write every day.
2. if you think you’re a good writer, write twice a day.
3. don’t be afraid to do anything. infact if youre afraid of something, do it. then do it again. and again.
4. cuss like a sailor.
5. dont tell your mom, your work, your friends, the people you want to date, or the people you want to work for about your blog. if they find out and you’d rather they didnt read it, ask them nicely to grant you your privacy.
6. have comments. don’t be upset if no one writes in your comments for a long time. eventually they’ll write in there. if people start acting mean in your comments, ask them to stop, they probably will.
7. have an email address clearly displayed on your blog. sometimes people want to tell you that you rock in private.
8. don’t worry very much about the design of your blog. image is a fakeout.
9. use Blogger. it’s easy, it’s free; and because they are owned by Google, your blog will get spidered better, you will show up in more search results, and more people will end up at your blog. besides, all the other blogging software & alternatives pretty much suck.
10. use spellcheck unless youre completely totally keeping it real. but even then you might want to use it if you think you wrote something really good.
11. say exactly what you want to say no matter what it looks like on the screen. then say something else. then keep going. and when youre done, re-read it, and edit it and hit publish and forget about it.
12. link like crazy. link anyone who links you, link your favorites, link your friends. dont be a prude. linking is what seperates bloggers from apes. and especially link if you’re trying to prove a point and someone else said it first. it lends credibility even if youre full of shit.
13. if you havent written about sex, religion, and politics in a week youre probably playing it too safe, which means you probably fucked up on #5, in which case start a second blog and keep your big mouth shut about it this time.
14. remember: nobody cares which N*Sync member you are, what State you are, which Party of Five kid you are, or which Weezer song you are. the second you put one of those things on your blog you need to delete your blog and try out for the marching band. similarilly, nobody gives a shit what the weather is like in your town, nobody wants you to change their cursor into a butterfly, nobody wants to vote on whether your blog is hot or not, and nobody gives a rat ass what song youre listening to. write something Real for you, about you, every day.
15. dont be afraid if you think something has been said before. it has. and better. big whoop. say it anyway using your own words as honestly as you can. just let it out.
16. get Site Meter and make it available for everyone to see. if you’re embarrassed that not a lot of people are clicking over to your page, dont be embarrassed by the number, be embarrassed that you actually give a crap about hits to your gay blog. it really is just a blog. and hits really dont mean anything. you want Site Meter, though, to see who is linking you so you can thank them and so you can link them back. similarilly, use Technorati, but dont obsess. write.
17. people like pictures. use them. save them to your own server. or use Blogger’s free service. if you dont know how to do it, learn. also get a Buzznet account. several things will happen once you start blogging, one of them is you will learn new things. thats a good thing.
18. before you hit Save as Draft or Publish Post, select all and copy your masterpiece. you are using a computer and the internet, shit can happen. no need to lose a good post.
19. push the envelope in what youre writing about and how youre saying it. be more and more honest. get to the root of things. start at the root of things and get deeper. dig. think out loud. keep typing. keep going. eventually you’ll find a little treasure chest. every time you blog this can happen if you let it.
20. change your style. mimic people. write beautiful lies. dream in public. kiss and tell. finger and tell. cry scream fight sing fuck and dont be afraid to be funny. the easiest thing to do is whine when you write. dont be lazy. audblog at least once a week.
21. write open letters. make lists. call people out on their bullshit. lead by example. invent and reinvent yourself. start by writing about what happened to you today. for example today i told a hot girl how wonderfully hot she is.
22. when in doubt review something. theres not enough reviews on blogs. review a movie you just saw, a tv show, a cd, a kiss you just got, a restaurant, a hike you just took, anything.
23. constantly write about the town that you live in.
24. out yourself. tell your secrets. you can always delete them later.
25. dont use your real name. dont write about your work unless you dont care about getting fired.
26. dont be afraid to come across as an asswipe. own your asswipeness.
27. nobody likes poems. dont put your poems on your blog. not even if theyre incredible. especially if theyre incredible. odds are theyre not incredible. bad poems are funny sometimes though, so fine, put your dumb poems on there. whatever.
28. tell us about your friends.
29. dont apologize about not blogging. nobody cares. just start blogging again.
30. read tons of blogs and leave nice comments.
David Fincher, the director of Se7en and Fight Club, made this commercial video when he was 22. Very ingenious and talented at movie-making. I loved his movie, The Game, with Kirk Douglas Jr. His newest movie, Zodiac, came out recently last weekend.
I’m noticing there are more hearing people dating deaf people largely because they are learning ASL and think we’re cool people. Here’s the list below.
1. You need to know ASL (duh) and be darned good at it or have a passion for it. It takes a long time to develop “deaf eyes”. How do you know if you have them? You don’t find yourself saying “what’s that sign or what did s/he just say?” anymore and able to talk with our Deaf friends at ease without looking at us for help.
2. If you don’t know what’s that sign or what we’re talking about, ask. Please don’t pretend.
3. Don’t over-patronize. If we want to order food on our own, let us.
4. Don’t ever feel bad for our inability to hear. It’s irrelevant like we don’t feel bad that you can hear.
5. You are not an interpreter but there will be times you will need to interpret. If it becomes annoying, you should have second thoughts about dating one.
6. If you happen to know or meet a hearing friend who knows ASL, talk in ASL. Save your voice for your non-signing friends.
7. Respect each other’s culture. We don’t mind hanging out with your speaking-only friends but not all the time and you don’t have to hang out with us all the time. Balance is nice. Example: if you want to go to a movie theater with your friends and it doesn’t have subtitles or captions, don’t feel bad. Remember #4.
8. If you really want to date a deaf person, watch “Children of Lesser God” first to get some idea.
9. It’s impolite not to tell us who you got off the phone with.
10. We like loud music. Deal with it.
Hope these help. Happy dating!
Why do Koreans love this kind of tragedy?
I was reading through my old posts and saw this. Thought I’d repost this again.
—————————————————–
I just stumbled across someone’s blog, confessing that she has a secret “crush” on someone’s blog, so that got me thinking. I wonder if it’s possible to have a crush without even knowing that person or never met the person before, like a complete stranger.
I have this scene in my mind that during your boring times or being sleepless at 3 am in the morning, you decided to check out your friends’ blog, despite the fact that you already checked a few hours ago. Ah, nothing new except for one new comment in ur friend’s blog, you followed the link and read the comment. Something about the comment got your attention and you’re curious who wrote that comment, so you clicked down the author and it turned out s/he has a blog too.
You’re reading her/his entries and the more you read, the more you become fascinated. You click on “previous posts” for more reading, then clicked again for more posts. Without knowing, you’re hooked to the blog and you decided to click on the << to go all the way back to the first ever entry (which is like a few hundred entries back), so you could imagine her/his life better in a chronological order. The first entry said something like "Well, this is my first entry and I'm just going to babble about my thoughts, life, love, experience, etc and I know no one probably will read my blog anyway." You found yourself thinking "Hey! I love your blog! I'm reading all of your entries! There IS someone who does read your blog." Now you're thinking, "I wonder if this person post some pics?" and off you went looking for pics. "Ooo! I see pics! hmm, that person is good looking." So within a few half-hours later, you're still up and you have read each entry, you know what s/he likes, her/his favorite foods are, movies, etc. You know what their friends look like and what an asshole her/his ex-spouses were. You bookmarked her/his blog and check their blog right after you check ur daily email box. Once in a while, you'll try to drop off a comment and wait to see if s/he will respond to your comment. You may have found out where s/he lives and how far they live from you. You spend ur day daydreaming about meeting that person and what would you say if you did. Wait a minute, maybe this doesn't sound like a crush. *update* - looks like I'm not the only one. Found this post: blog crushes. Another one at Reveal Your Blog Crush.
Last weekend when my buddies and I were en route to upstate NY near Vermont for our snowboarding trip, we were talking about different technology and VRS services for deaf people, then I had this sudden idea/imagination. The future is soon here. Why? look below at the mock-up pictures I’ve made.
Yup, the future is soon here.
We’ve been dreaming how nice it would be to use ASL to place calls on our mobile phones. Guess what? That is gonna happen soon, with next generation (maybe third generation) iPhone when it has a built-in camera with a wifi connection. I’ve made a mock-up pics using photoshop.
Imagine when you’re at a restaurant or dealing with a hearing person, all you have to do is to call an interpreter from your iPhone and s/he will interpret everything what you say and what the hearing party say. I can’t wait!
If you are tempted to buy iPhone when it comes out this summer, I understand but I’ll be waiting till it has a built-in camera. While you’re at it, you might as well want to buy some Apple stocks. :-)
I got a Dick’s gift card from my parents for my birthday. After some naked shopping, I decided to get this.
I turn 26 years old today. Twenty-six.
So I have gotten on the shorter leg toward 30. 25 was a perfect middle number between 20 and 30. Now, 26. Four more years left before I reach thirty. There’s something about 30. It seems much more adult. I suppose it is because at 20, you couldn’t wait to turn 21 so you can drink legally without using fake ids. 40. Well that’s a number that looks old. Wow, time’s going too fast. I’ve been saying that quite often lately.
I’ve been running this blog for more than three years now and it’s become a tradition for me to blog a bit about my birthday. The first two:
The Existence of 24 years old on this Planet Earth.
I turn 25 today.
I’m going to do like this every year so I can look back and remember what I was like back then. Heh, last year, I said I was thinking about trading my car for an S2000. Well, I didn’t quite get an S2000 but I did get myself a new car. A 2005 Subaru WRX with premium package. I decided that it’s more practical than an S2000 as it only has two seats and WRX has four doors, more practical that way and easier for my friends to get in whenever I need to haul them. Plus, it’s an AWD so it’s awesome in snow and has a turbo. I’m happy with my car. But I will become an S2000 owner in the future, probably when I turn 40.
*re-reading my birthday posts*
So, I have four years left before I reach 30. I’m still not ready to settle down and get married. I still feel as young as I have been. I’ve found a passion in snowboarding and will keep riding till 30, maybe 35. I’ll play more golf when the season isn’t winter and lower my handicap and will see if I’m good enough to compete in the Deaf National Golf tournament or earn a spot on a USA golf team. I’m going to read more about financial planning services phoenix az and do my best to contribute more to my 401k account till it gets maximized at 15k. Meanwhile, I’ll be saving money till I have enough to secure a mortgage loan, then buy a condo. Hopefully I’ll be a homeowner before I turn 30. That’s my financial goal. I will keep in a shape; been playing with the thought of running in a marathon. I’ll take a more responsible role to look after my parents and keep in close touch with my family. They’re all what I have and I’m all what they have.
What about my birthday wishes? nothing. I wish for everyone to be in a good health and be happy. :-)
“To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one’s self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived – this is to have succeeded.”
He definitely nailed it right.
After thinking about it for a while, I need to go visit Korea again. Even better, it’d be so awesome if I could move to Korea like for a year and find something to do. Perhaps try to improve deaf awareness or be a Deaf advocate like I notice there was no Asian hockey team participating in the Deaf Winter Olympics.
And the restaurant is called Abbondanza Pizzeria in West Seattle. The owner’s name is Robert Esposito.
We happened to meet in the bar across from the lobby at the Little America Hotel on Sunday night. He was getting his drinks and I was writing on my postcards to my family and close friends. I’m not exactly sure how we “bumped” into each other but I remember I was sitting there at the table and took a little break from writing postcards and casually had a glance around the room. That’s when one lady caught my attention and asked me what’s my name. I told her my name and we sort of got into this small talk where you tell where you’re from, what do you do, etc, etc. As the small talk came close to an end, the lady suddenly signed “Do you know who this guy is?” I replied “No, I’m afraid I don’t. Should I?” Then, she went on to say that he owns the only Deaf-owned restaurant in the world.
I said, “Really?” and I was thinking about my blog, how Bill Bryson inspired me to notice small unique things while you’re traveling and put it in writing. I’m like, “Gee, I better interview this Deaf guy or I’m gonna regret missing this opportunity.” So I did.
———————————————————————
Me: Are you really the only Deaf person to own a restaurant? I do recall there was a Deaf-blind chef who owns a restaurant in Seattle after moving from Louisiana and President Bill Clinton ate at his restaurant?
He: Yes, you are correct. However, his condition as a deaf-blind has gotten worse and he closed the restaurant in 2001. I opened the restaurant in 2000.
Me: Ah that explains. Ok cool, so, are you really the only Deaf person to own a restaurant in the entire world?
He: I believe I am. I haven’t heard of another that owns a restaurant but if there is one, I’d love to know.
Me: That’s great. What is it like running a restaurant business? what inspired you to open a restaurant?
He: Well, like every other business, it wasn’t easy at first but after the first year, we started having a steady number of people returning and more people know about us. I’m not really a chef myself. I just manage the restaurant but I do help out if there is a need. I was inspired to open a restaurant because of my father. He owns two restaurants in the DC area. At some point, I might explore the option of selling the restaurant. If I decide to take that step, I’ll likely reach out to a Business Broker to Sell My Business and help guide the process smoothly.
Me: Oh really? can you tell me the names of restaurants your dad owns?
He: Yeah, one place is called Pul Cin Nella and is located in Mclean. Another is called Esposito’s Pizza and serves new york style pizza like ours. Pulcinella is a wood oven style.
Me: That’s awesome. Since I live in VA, I will definitely stop by those places. Do you employ any deaf employees?
He: Yes I do. We have ten deaf employees. One of them is a chef. We also employ hearing people.
Me: Wow, that’s cool. What are the popular dishes at your restaurant? what time is it open?
He: Popular orders are pizzas and salads. It’s open from 4:30 pm to 10 pm.
Me: I bet they’re good. Are the customers mostly deaf or hearing?
He: You would think since I own the restaurant, a lot of deafies would come to my restaurant but that’s not true. Definitely more hearing patrons come eat at my place but deaf people occasionally come to eat too.
Me: Oh I see, you can bet I will come eat at your place whenever I get into Seattle. Thanks for your time, do you have a business card?
He: Yes, I do. *handing his business card* then he shows me how to sign the name of his restaurant. It is signed like voila! but with two hands or like two lights brightening from the ground to the top with a little shake.
Remember, the only Deaf-owned restaurant is called Abbondanza Pizzeria. Its address is 6503 California Ave SW in Seattle, Washington. It’s open from 4:30 pm to 10:00.
See you there!
I just made my first ever contribution to a politician! $25 dollars. I joined in this facebook group called One Million Strong for Barack Obama.
I feel he represents what America’s all about: dreams, hardships (like he started out as a community organizer that earns $13k a year and drove a rusty tercel car and look what’s happened to him? he’s now a U.S. senator with a desire to become the President. Also, his father wasn’t around when he was young and her white mother had to take care of him and experienced racism), diversity, hope, and vision.
Frankly, I’m just tired of what’s going on in Washington with Iraq War and bickering between two parties. We just need something new to start with and get the economy back on the track.
Let’s hope he wins the democratic nomination bid, and then to the White House!
Man, what a trip that was. It’s impossible to describe everything what I’ve gone through or experienced but I’m going to sum it up into a list.
Mountain View, CA:
The trip opened with bad plane delays in Dulles, VA. Supposed to arrive in San Jose at 7 pm but finally arrived at 11 pm and checked into a hotel by midnight. Grabbed a burger and fries at IN-N-OUT. Was absolutely worn-out.
Woke up at 7 am to get ready for the tour/visit to a group of deaf students from CSDF. Gave a welcome presentation and another one about my job. Had a lunch with them. Funny, they couldn’t decide which cafeteria to go to since Google has 11 of them! with three more cafeterias due to be open. I enjoyed giving a presentation, ofc, in my native language, ASL.
Met Joseph Davis for a short time at Ohlone Community College in Fremont. Interesting campus as it’s on the hill. Was rainy and cloudy at that time. Had to catch a plane at 6 pm; sped down the highway. Caught my flight in time, whew. Speaking of communities, there’s this HOA accounting company supporting hundreds of associations across the country. Their services help save associations thousands of dollars each year and reduce the workload of the volunteer Board. Connect with them and learn how a partnership could benefit your association.
Salt Lake City, Utah.
My first time being in Utah! Bak and Anthony picked me up. Went to University of Utah’s ice arena to watch Canada play against Sweden. Canada was beating them pretty badly. Then, we went to this bar called Port o’ Call. Saw many people there like Blake, Erwin (my old classmate), and the Arizona boys (entered same year at Gallaudet.)
Then I got myself a beer mug. When I was halfway through the mug, I hardly felt anything, then suddenly remembered that Utah limits alcohol content to 3.2% in every bottle. So, basically, I have to drink two mugs to get one mug’s worth. Ugh. Wish I could have brought my own flask with some rum to make up the absence of alcohol.
Park City, Utah.
After the bar, we drove to Park City, Utah where we’ll be staying for the next three days. A pretty nice town, obviously built for skiers and snowboarders. We stayed at this nice cozy ski cabin. The next day, we got up early and went to Park City resort. Huge resort. They had like thirty lifts. Not to mention, lift passes were expensive. They were supposed to be $77 dollars but with the Deaf Winter Olympics ongoing , they offered a discount to $55 dollars.
I tagged with Anthony while Bak needed some refreshing on his snowboarding skill since it was his first time back on the board since last year in Colorado. So, Anthony and I rode together. Then we kept wanting to get higher on the mountains, switching lifts till we got on the highest lift provided by the resort. We got all the way up to 10,000 feet! The view was absolutely beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life since I grew up in the cornfields in Illinois. I understood how some people couldn’t live without mountains. It was really breathtaking.
The snow wasn’t that great since it hasn’t snowed in a week but it was not that bad, not too icy but one deaf female Canadian we met at the top said she was disappointed with how snow had turned out. Oh well. I later found out she was a renowned athlete, being the only Deaf athlete to compete in the Sydney Olympics for Tae Kwon Do and former top athlete at Gallaudet University.
We rode for like seven hours straight and met up with some deaf friends like Blake, Charles, and Mark. Shit, they were speeders, zooming down the mountains and I tried my best to keep up with them.
By the end of the day, I was absolutely worn out by the evening and jumped into the spa behind our ski lodge. It was a perfect day.
Brighton, Utah
The next day, we got up early again, ate at this really good breakfast place called the Eating establishment. If you ever got yourself in Park City, you must go there if you want to get some good hearty breakfast. We stuffed ourselves with eggs, home fries, bacons, and homemade orange juice. Boy, what an excellent breakfast.
Then, Bak dropped us off at a bus stop that would take us up to Brighton. I found the resort to be a lot different than Park City. For starters, it’s a lot cheaper, only cost us $23.50 for a lift pass with a discount for deaf people. It’s smaller but I found it to be a nice resort that has a local feeling to it with smaller paths, more trees and definitely more friendly for snowboarders like they have more jumps and parks. Park City was purely a tourist place where tons of skiers go there with huge wide paths.
We all rode hard. Later in the afternoon, it finally snowed! it was a picture perfect, with snow falling down and brushing our goggles. It was exactly what I envisioned. You know, walking up the mountains, holding a board in your hands, you have your goggle on, everything is white and watching those calm snowflakes falling. It was gorgeous. Also, my confidence kept getting better and I was riding down faster and faster. Jumps weren’t as terrifying as in the beginning and I go faster and faster on those jumps.
Needless to say, I was hooked to snowboarding. There’s nothing like riding down the mountains and carving up the snow. It was a great day of snowboarding. Lots of deafies were there. It was just awesome. We’re talking about doing this every year at different places. Vancouver (Mt Whistler), Colorado, Vermont, and Lake Tahoe. I must go to each of them before I turn 30 in four years.
