The Dentist

Today I had some "bonding" done for sensitivity. When I last spoke about the dentist, I had said I hadn't been in 7 years. True, I had no cavities, but this sensitivity thing is a bigger deal than I thought. Anyways, much has changed in 7 years. They actually had this headset with goggles where I could hear and watch TV in my own little world while they worked away in my mouth. Anyways, the TV was on Regis and Kelly LIVE which if you know me at all, is probably not my first choice for TV but being that it was a weekday morning, I don't know what else there was to watch. So I left it on and watched it since it wasn't too bad. So here I am sitting in a chair with this huge goggle apparatus on my head and I got the dentist and the assistant with their hands in my mouth while I'm watching Regis and Kelly. I couldn't help but feel ridiculous in this moment. Then The View came on and I said "Enough!" (well, to myself anyway). I ripped those goggles off so fast. Then I told them, I'm done with this, thanks. I'd rather hear my own teeth getting drilled than watch The View. A man can only take so much.

I got 70 hits on Friday (!!!). People either love a controversy or love for me to admit that I'm wrong, ha ha.

Yesterday, my friends John and Helen got married. It was a Chinese banquet style reception so we had chopsticks and tea cups for the place settnig. So while we were waiting for the food, Harrison tells me he can flip over his cup using the chopsticks. But he totally cheated and pushed the cup against stuff with the chopsticks to flip it over. So I said, ok, why don't you pick up that 2 liter bottle with the chopsticks? This is yet another one of those situations where I try to one up Harrison by challenging the ridiculous and he tries to one up me by actually attempting it. Anyways, I was surprised he was actually able to lift the bottle off the table. The next thing I know, the bottle came loose and hits that family style turntable (I forget what it's called) with a loud crash and everyone at the reception went silent and looked right at us. Actually, rather, they all looked at me like I was the one who did it! And no one believed me when I said it wasn't me!

Anyways, since it was a Chinese banquet, that means the heads of all the animals we were eating were on the platter too. So I decided to make a totem pole with a chopstick and the heads of all the animals. Unfortunately they took the duck away before I got the idea, but the table next to us gave me their chicken head so I made a totem pole of 2 chicken heads and a lobster head. I knew I was taking a risk by doing that, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. What do you expect when you serve a head to a white guy? It's probably stunts like these why people didn't believe me about the 2 liter bottle incident.

I Recant

If you read the comments on this site, I made the comment that it was typical Asian girl fashion to not like Star Wars. At best they watch part of Ep. 5 and are pretty much indifferent by what they saw with no desire to see the rest. Jee Suh wasn't about to let me get away with that though and so I challenged her to prove me wrong by finding 10 Asian girls who have seen all six movies and say they like Star Wars with enthusiasm. If she could, then I would recant my belief and apologize. So the evidence is clear, and here is my public apology.

It has been made clear to me that I was wrong in saying all Asian girls do not like Star Wars. While it's possible that some people would actually not like Star Wars, I was wrong to stereotype a demographic of Asian women as being the primary group of Star Wars haters. They are not. So I apologize to all the Asian women Star Wars fans who have taken offense at this comment. I hope you can forgive me. You can thank Jee Suh for being your advocate. And thank you, Jee Suh, for correcting the error in your brother.

Thoughts of Star Wars Episode III

Ok, in talking to lots of people, I gather that many people didn't understand some of the intricate parts of the story. So I debated within myself, how geeky would people think I was for going to great lengths to explain Star Wars. Well, I think it's a great story and I've always been focused on details. Lucas went to such great lengths to spiffing up the original trilogy and fixing the story in the DVD release that it's my firm belief that there are NO plot holes in the Star Wars movies. I think any question can be explained. Whether you agree with me or not is a separate issue, ha ha. Before I get to that though, I had to list some things in the movie that were totally strange to me as to why they left it the way they did. Spoilers ahead, so if you don't want to know, you probably shouldn't read this post. Also if you really don't care about Star Wars (you Asian girls know who you are, ha ha), then you should probably just skip this post cuz you won't care about this either. I hope you guys find it fun and not a waste of your time.

1. That scene where Padme is looking out the balcony and Anakin is raving over how beautiful she is and how so in love he is with her. I don't know if it was the make up or the lighting, but that's got to be the ugliest I've ever seen Natalie Portman in any of the Star Wars movies. Something just didn't look right there.

2. That scene in the bubble opera where Palpatine is telling Anakin about the wise Sith Lord, Palpatine's voice cracks on the word "You" in "You ever heard..." and it sounds so weird. Why didn't they fix that??? It sounds all high pitched and weird.

3. That part where Mace Windu has Palpatine pinned to the wall and is about to kill him and Palpatine says "No, no, no!". Man, that was a bit over the top. It just looked to me like he was impersonating a retarded person or something. Also, right after his transformation, his appearance didn't match well to the Emperor in Ep. 6. And his voice was really low and gutteral in some parts. Too low. He looked better when he put on the hood though. Maybe that's why he looks so different, cuz he always had the hood on in Ep. 6.

Ok, so some people don't understand some things about Episode 3. They automatically call them plot holes or conflicts between the trilogies. I think they're wrong and there is an explanation for everything. The key thing in analyzing a story is that every piece of info is given for a reason otherwise it doesn't make any sense. Also remember that the DVD release of the original trilogy is considered the official version from the Lucas camp.

10 Star Wars Questions Answered

1. First I got to talk about something I think a few people missed and that was in that key conversation between Palpatine and Anakin about Darth Plagius (sp?) who had the power to keep people from dying but could also control midichlorians to create life. So when's the last time you heard about midichlorians? Back in Ep. 1 when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan discovered Anakin had the highest midichlorian count of any being they had ever encountered. His mother said he had no father. She just gave birth to him. It sounded really dumb back then, but now it makes alot more sense since it is clear to me that Darth Plagius had a plan to create the ultimate Sith. He was killed by his apprentice, Palpatine, who knew of the plan, and so that's why he and Darth Maul were on Tatooine in the first place. So they could get Anakin and train him in the dark side. That's why Palpatine had such a great interest in him even back to Ep. 1. It was not because he blew up the Trade Federation ship as a boy. Palpatine knew of his potential before that. Why else would Darth Maul be on Tatooine?

2. People complain about that the part in Ep. 6 where Leia is asked if she remembers her mother and she says "not much, just images really" and "she was very sad". How can this be if the only contact Leia had with her mother was the few moments after her birth? Totally possible. If you notice, Luke is brought to his mother's sight and she names him, and then he is put aside quickly because the other baby is coming. The baby Luke never looks at his mother. When Leia is brought to her mother's sight, Obi-Wan and Padme are having a conversation. She's telling Obi-Wan there is still good in Anakin. During this entire time, the baby Leia is looking at her mother. When Padme dies, the baby starts crying. Clearly the baby is responding cognizantly to her reality. "That's impossible!", you say. True, on planet Earth, but we're in a galaxy far, far away folks. I don't recall planet Earth being a part of the Star Wars universe. Everyone is an alien here folks, even the human looking people. I think Leia's explanation of her mother is a good description of an infant's interpretation of the events.

3. Anakin's turn to the dark side was too quick. Not true. Anakin's path to the dark side was a process that began even before Ep. 2. On the one side you have Obi-Wan and the Jedi Order that is constantly scolding him and holding him back and telling him to control his feelings. On the other side, you have Palpatine who is constantly praising and encouraging him. It's clear that Anakin's greatest weakness was he couldn't control his feelings and he was very fearful both which were evident in Ep. 1 and 2. Yoda told him as a boy that he sensed great fear in him. It was that fear of losing his mother that drove him to go to Tatooine which led to his revenge on the sand people which is an event that Palpatine reminds him of to sear his conscious for killing Dooku. Anakin feared losing Padme and his child as well which is probably why the Jedi Order forbids Jedi to marry. Revenge and fear are both paths to the dark side. There was a lot of tension between him and Mace Windu. Anakin acted rashly and on impulse to save Palpatine because he claimed he had the knowledge to save Padme and he couldn't let Windu kill him. After Windu's death, Anakin was very fearful since he was the instrument in the death of a Jedi master. His fear pushed him over to follow Palpatine because that was his only refuge without the Order. Palpatine also convinced Anakin that the Jedi were closed minded and were evil. Anakin never believed he was wrong. He thought he was on the good guys side. This is made clear when he said to Obi-Wan during his fight "From my point of view, the Jedi are evil." But he killed younglings! Yeah, but in Anakin's mind he probably saw it as necessary for the greater good. The Jedi had to be eliminated because they were evil and young ones grow up.

4. In Ep. 5, Obi-Wan tries to convince Yoda to train Luke by saying he was also older than typical students when he was trained by Yoda. How can this be when Obi-Wan was trained by Qui-Gon? In Ep. 2 we see Yoda training younglings. Younglings don't get a master until they achieve the rank of padawan. Yoda probably trained Obi-Wan before he was a padawan.

5. If Anakin was more powerful, how come he lost to Obi-Wan? Anakin lost because of his overconfidence not because of his skill. If you notice, Obi-Wan is on the defense and retreat for the entire duel.

6. Why didn't Anakin disappear when he died if he could appear as a spirit along with Yoda and Obi-Wan? You do see Luke burn his body, but that doesn't mean he didn't disappear. Vader was more machine than man so for all we know, it could have been just an empty shell that was burned. Also it is possible that he learned the power while in the nether regions of the Force just as Qui-Gon did since Qui-Gon was also burned yet was able to appear to Yoda as a spirit. How did Anakin learn it so much faster than Qui-Gon? Anakin learned everything faster than any other Jedi or Sith cuz he was so awesome in the Force so why would this be any different.

7. About that spirit thing, why at the end of Ep. 6 did Anakin appear as his young appearance and Yoda and Obi-Wan appeared as they looked right before they died? I guess if you're a spirit you can appear however you want to look. I'm sure Anakin didn't want to appear all scarred with missing limbs cuz that would just be really scary. Why didn't Qui-Gon appear too? Well, he didn't know any of those people and if he appeared, it would just confuse everybody.

8. How come Vader never did the lightning bolt thing even though he was a Sith Lord? Probably cuz he didn't have real arms. But he could do the choke thing? You don't need arms to do that. He did kill a guy with the choke power in Ep. 5 when he was just talking to him over the hologram thing. He didn't do anything with his arms there. You have to admit, it just looks cooler when you motion it with your hands but after you've been doing it for years, it kinda gets old and you lose the sensationalism and it just becomes a means to an end.

9. If there can only be two Sith at one time, then why is General Grievous, Count Dooku, and Palpatine all together at the same time? Grievous is not a Sith. He doesn't use the Force. He only uses lightsabers. Anyone can use a lightsaber, but most people use blasters cuz they seem to work better. Even Han Solo used Luke's lightsaber to cut open the tonton (sp?) in Ep. 5. There are always two Sith at one time. Dooku or Darth Tyranus replaced Darth Maul and Anakin replaced Dooku.

10. Don't you have work to do? Isn't there something else better to do than talking about Star Wars all day? Slow day today and this will save me many conversations in the future so actually I'm saving my self time, ha ha.

So I think I tackled everything. If I missed something, I'm sure you're going to let me know.

My Plan for Star Wars Episode III

When Episode I opened, I saw it the Saturday morning 8AM show of opening weekend. I got in line at 6AM. I was shocked to see that people were coming out of the theater while I was waiting in line. 24 hours of showtimes for opening week is insane. It's even more insane that they sell out. Even at this early time, I was still envious of all my friends that saw it Tuesday at midnight or 3:30AM earlier that week. But I had to work so I couldn't do that. That was 6 years ago and I was 24.

When Episode II opened, I was there. I got my ticket to the 3:30AM show on Tuesday night to be one of the first to witness Star Wars. I got in line around midnight and waited a very long time. I took the morning off work the next day so I would be able to survive the following day. As a result, I was pretty annoyed the entire movie. I was really tired by the time the movie started and was pretty grouchy. I was annoyed by everyone in the theater. Half the people were cheering at every stupid thing and the other half were shooshing the first half so it was hard to hear alot of stuff. It really hit me that this was a bad idea when I left the theater and it was light outside. It was clear that I was quite grouchy from the lack of sleep as my roommate was trying to figure out the most obvious parts of the movie and doing his thinking out loud. "I think that kid in the movie with Jango Fett will be Boba Fett." I say, "Gee, you think? He did call him Boba!" Anyways, I shouldn't have been hard on my roommate since he was probably as tired as I was. So there's a little fact about me. When I'm really sleep deprived, I either get really grouchy or slap happy. Anyways, on the ride home from that film, I realized that no movie will ever be good enough to be worth enduring that much punishment. Waiting in line in the wee hours of the morning for hours so that I can sit with a bunch of rowdy people only to go to work grouchy and tired the next day is not my idea of a good time. That was 3 years ago and I was 27.

Which brings me to my plan for Episode III. Now I live in quiet peaceful Torrance away from all the hype and idol worship of Star Wars. I'll wait until Monday after the opening weekend and after work just go to the theater, buy my ticket, and walk in just like any other movie. I'll end up really enjoying the movie because it didn't require any pain to watch it. Now I'm 30. I don't think my progression in how I choose to see these movies has anything to do with age, but more that I've gained wisdom in this time. I still have all the energy. I just don't see why I should spend it doing this. So that is my plan...until Nate asked me yesterday if I wanted to go see it cuz a friend of his was buying tickets for it right at that moment. So I saw it last night and it was awesome!! Ha ha. So you might think I'm a hypocrite, but actually, I only waited in line for a half an hour and it was a 7:30PM show so I still stuck to my principles. Only the day changed. I guess Long Beach is just a laid back place to watch Star Wars. I think there were seats still available in our showing. Anyways, I would love to talk about the movie, but I'll give you guys until Wednesday before I really make my comments about it. Anyways, enjoy the last film guys, it's good Star Wars fun!

This is my brother, Jake. Some girls say he's cute. Other girls say he looks like me. Sadly, not one girl has ever said both.


He is in the Air Force. He has many followers. (Although it may have something to do with him pointing a gun at them.) Anyways, he lives in Germany.


The first thing Jake did when he moved to Germany was buy a house and a car. Now he's really living. But it gets better...


One day at the base there was a freak accident and Jake was engulfed in a mysterious green gas. The gas gave him powers that were very super and very powerful. They were super powers.


And so with his new found abilities, his calling to become a crime fighter could no longer be ignored.


He met other crime fighters during his many crime fighting adventures. And together they formed a powerful force...but that's another story.

The End

Just kidding, li'l brudder. (I know you can make it on your own.)

Car Rally Pics

I was able to get a couple of the car rally pics from a couple weeks ago. I think these were some of the better ones for our team. There were bonus points for the team with the funniest picture, so I went for that in every picture I could hoping to get it.


The goal here was to get a picture of a member of your team in a shopping cart. It was pretty cool to ask the person in line if they were done using it and then just to hop in it and take a picture without really explaining anything.


The goal here was to get a picture of your whole team with plungers on their heads. Some would say I do that pose way too well. It's the first time I ever tried that, I swear! This picture got voted the second funniest overall, so it was all for nothing, doh! The funniest picture was given to my friend, Tony, who had makeup put on by the lady at the counter in the mall. That was pretty funny, but not worth the points if you ask me.