11/11

Being literally half Taiwanese and the eventual half American legally grants me the priviledge and the responsibility that can't be considered rare, yet not obtained too commonly at the same time.  Every four years, my heart hangs on two elections.  And everyday, after I read the WSJ, CNN, BBC, NYT, I turn around and start going through other news sources in an entirely different language speaking about completely different political issues.  The Dow might sink another 500 points today along with my heart and my 401K account, but when I see the 4th typhoon in September barely missing Kaohsiung city, sometimes tears well up.  Having been a child growing up in a weather that can almos rival Kansas, knowing the typhoon changed its mind is like finding out Katrina decided not to be a home-wrecker and decided to stay in the Bahamas (no offense to the people of the Bahamas).

I often hear issues such as health insurance, immigration, and who we're going to butt our noses in when I learn about the American politics.  Health insurance being one of the issues that we get criticized heavily since countries such as Canada have such a great system going on and how America is behind on the growth of our policy, even though we're the strongest nation on earth.  It's easy to explain to my dear friends what Taiwanese politics is about.  It saddens me to say that even though Taiwan's also got an amazing health insurance going on, and have little to none immigration problems until now, we only have the issue of independence in our daily political agenda for the last 98 years since Taiwan became politically indepent in 1911.  I remember trying so hard to blend in with the crowd upon arriving the states and re-discovering my roots as I mature and got to see the my world from both sides, finding my pride in claiming myself as a Taiwanese.  If there should be a character like Martin Luther King Jr. in Taiwan, he will also say "I have a dream".  Well, MLK's dream here in America actually came true, and with respect to the democratic system, I felt a sense of pride witnessing it even though I might not have voted for President Obama.  No matter how deep of trouble we're in financially, no matter how bad President Bush might've screwed up with his war plans, and even, no matter how bad the traffic is on the 10 FWY every single day of the week of the month of the damn year, I feel hopeful about progress of this great nation.  I feel that even things or elections might not go my way, I have something to expect in the future because yes, I will admit that our newly elected president did inject a new sense of hope in a very obvious way to all minorities including yours trully.  That is part of how I view the beauty of democracy.

I do not feel that sense of hope with Taiwan.  Not a bit, not at all.  In fact, it frightens me to think that I might have not much to say come Taiwan's Centennial celebrations.

The link below looks no more like the case in which Mr. Ted Stevens is involved with.  But having been in a family who are heavily involved and connected with the Taiwanese politics, I've witnessed the dirty ways of this game on this other side of the world.  You think referencing everything Senator Mccain says to "being like Bush"?  How about mentioning William Ayers and calling President Obama a terrorist?  Or maybe imply that a pig is still a pig even with lipsticks?  Continue with joy, Americans, for that is something your forefathers fought with all their might, to have all of you blessed with this opportunity to have white supremesists and a Black president to co-exist, for me to sit here and say "go F* yourself, Mr. Hu Jintao, and to point and laugh and pick on every word either campaign has said before the election.  Everyday I sit here with a rather positive feeling of envy, hoping that some day I may join in on voicing my opinions with a vote.  You may not like that I probably would've voted Republican, or that I might vote yes on Prop. 8, but hey, you also get to vote and be glad I'm one of those who will accept the outcome without gloating if I get my way, and without bickering if I don't.  And that's good.  Everything gets laid out on the table before a fight, and if I lose a fight, I go through workouts playing "Gonna Fly Now" and come back and keep fighting.

All that being said, that's not how it works in Taiwan.  What you read on CNN (such as the link below) might very well be a peice of information with many crucial details withheld by the government before it gets to CNN or any other major global news networks.  This is not a simple Ted Stevens case.  I will not say Former President Chen didn't do anything wrong but I will definitely say a big reason of him being indicted is political prosecution from one party who relentlessly kisses the many asses of the communist party.  And I hope to live long enough to see the outcome of another historic political moment (for me anyway) when Former President Chen walks out of that jail cell for the second time of his life to tell the tale.  Maybe by then, the Taiwanese people will realize to live comfortably by compromising your identity and the system of democracy to a bully is no better than to die fighting for the rights to discuss all the dirty issues up front without throwing elbows.  Maybe by then, we'll finally earn our own spot in the UN and stop being the laughing stock of the rest of the world.  11/11/2008 is a grim day.  And my sense of pride for my native country bleeds uncertainty and disgust.

Former President Chen Arrested:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/11/taiwan.former.president.handcuffs

Wall Street Journal Asia in his defense:

http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.25113/pub_detail.asp

Prop 8 in general

I'm going to quote my very dear brother Jerry on his blog here while I'm still gathering up my thoughts about the election:

www.xanga.com/ch4n2o

To give you a little insight.  Jerry voted no on Prop. 8.  Oh, and he voted Green Party on the president ticket.

Friday, November 07, 2008
i'm tired of seeing all this feedback everywhere expressing negativity about results of the election, and most of all, prop 8.

it's done, bitches. shut the fuck up and wait your time before you can vote again. what, nobody's happy about the fact that there may very well be a high-speed rail in california and that teens don't have to inform their parents for an abortion?

for those not in california, what the fuck does prop 8 mean to you, anyhow? if you really cared about prop8, you wouldn't have voted for either republican or democrat. support your ideals to the fullest and don't be all shit happy that obama's elected, because he doesn't support gay marriages either.

damn, people whine a lot. want some breastmilk?

Politics

Yes, I know the election's over.  It's like when the Phillies knocked the Dodgers out and J Mo. says "I don't want to talk about it".  Well, be a good sport and let me have my moment and I will get to that soon enough.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated politics post, in my home country.  This is to show you what an asshole our current president Ma is for even allowing the following to happen.  To quote the former president Chen:  "If you love China PRC so damn much, hop in the ocean and swim your ass over".

I know none of you besides perhaps Jerry understand this.  Go find a Chinese friend other than me to explain this to you.

October 17th, 2008

R.I.P Levi Stubbs.

Happy birthday to Wyclef Jean, Eminem, Richard Roeper.

Happy 301th wedding anniversary to J.S. Bach and his first wife Barbra.

Many things that irriate me

Before you start.  I must warn you.  The following items are purely an outlet for my self anger management attempt.  I do not think the world hates me nor am I becoming an emo kid.  I do not ask why God has abandoned me because I know he hasn't.  It is purely a rant.  So if you, my dear reader(s) feel that you're in a very bad place in life right now and am ready to tell me my issues are nothing but solely domestic matters, please, save yourself the five minutes of your life and use that toward figuring out what you're really afraid to face.

But if you actually do identify with any of the following, comments, concerns, and perhaps even some help will be greatly appreciated.

1. Apple Inc., get your sh*t together.  Seriously.  Your products are stylish, easy to use, powerful.  I buy it because it is the only computer I trust to handle the kind of abuse I need to inflict on a computer in order to work on my music projects.  And you've come this far, from $5 a share to over $200 at one point (can't blame you for an under $130 share now, with this economy going to crappers).  But Mr. Jobs, while you're trying to innovate for new technologies, try to make sure the very standard wireless connection device on your laptops work.  Somebody tell me why the damn Airport suddenly drops all connections to my wireless router that hasn't been touched in the last two years?  I need google and wikipedia!

2. Ants, please stop bugging me.  I have wiped the kitchen counter multiple times.  I have made sure to put left-over food away all the time.  I know it's the weather.  And trust me when I tell you that your asses are going to be very sorry when I go to home depot tomorrow to get baits, industrial grade sprays.  And on top of that, just to make sure, I will have my pot of still boiling water just to make sure your queen will be humiliated in such a way she'll never consider hitting the jacuzzi again.  Yes you environmentalists, I am going to use industrial grade bug sprays.  And yes you bug experts, I realize that the bait is supposed to kill them, the boiling water is simply a way to fulfill my sick hobby of seeing tribes upon tribes of dead boiled ant bodies.

3. Izzy, how have you become the new whore since Meredith in season 4 of Grey's anatomy?  How?  You're like that free mattress Leed's give to customers who can find a better deal now.  

4. Yes, the 700 billion dollar bill irritates me.  Let's not have an argument about this.

5. I hate arguing with my friends.  Maybe I WAS an idiot for even starting it.  I won't put my money in a swiss bank.  You win, my online girlfriend's boyfriend.

2008 Beijing Olympics

Many of you know that although I take in more consideration on values, rather than policies while I view our politics here in the United States of America, I'm an avid supporter of the anti-China movement.  Although that will inevitably exclude me from speaking in a neutral and unbiased position, I must still reassure you I view the Olympics as an issue of its own and I will not judge solely from the view of a pro-Taiwan-independence believer.

My first deal.  As quoted in the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated, August 18th, 2008:

"It was a bad time for cynics.  You never saw so many faces SO HAPPY."

I agree.  I must admit that I was one of those who was waiting for a disaster only to realize that this is easily the best opening ceremony of any Olympics I've followed since the 1992 Barcelona games.  I asked myself how did I not realize the self-proclaimed communist country (I truly believe this country looks more like Socialists rather than Communists) is ultimately THE financial powerhouse who can afford the price to rent miracles for one evening.  But no, wait...is that the word "scandal" I hear?  You bet your ass it is.  Other than Ashlee-Simpsoning the opening song, why couldn't you just say that those firework footprints in the air were really just laser?  The word "scandal" really just never live without the mutual support of the Maos.  It's almost like you enjoy letting 40+ swimmers throughout the decade in the 1990s to compete in the international scene, or fake the biggest show your country will ever offer in the form of an Olympic opening ceremony, or even...get the government support in falsifying two international documentation such as passports to send your better gymnasts to compete even though the required age is much older?

But "wait"!  You said.  "Aren't people innocent until proven guilty?"

I don't believe so.  In today's sporting world, everyone is guilty until proven innocent.  As much as my distate to Mr. Gary Hall Jr. and all his cockiness, I must agree with his point of view in saying that the Speedo LZR racer might not be the reason why 50 or more world records have been broken since the introduction of the suit in February, 2008.  (Don't get me wrong, the LZR looks sleek and if I was back in the competition scene, I'd get one too).  Because from history, which just happen to be the all time #1 ranked doping scandal, we'll learn that the 1970s East German Swim Team also reasoned their Olympic gold medals to "It's the suit!".  So I must agree with Gary Hall Jr. that the suspicion of a doping scandal was definitely a reasonable possibility.  Gladly, it was proven that it was in fact the suit, and the suit was later on proven to be created out of materials deemed legal to the FINA committee.

My point being, although it was not proven that the two female gymnasts were under required age to compete.  I have no doubt in my mind that their passports were forged, by the very own government who wants to sweep the gymnastic gold medals that they are willing to tell the rest of the world lies, only to realize that they still ultimately did not actually win.  It is a matter of time, before the good conscience finally reaches either of these athletes somewhere down the road a few decades from now, will one or both of them step out and say "China made me three years older on paper so I can compete in the 2008 Olympics, held in China".  

To quote the famous Peter Griffin:  "And that's, what crank my gears".

This is for J Mo.

J to the Mo.  This is my conversation with your boyfriend last night when we realized that after hours of slaving away to get an over-night project done, the whole project got cancelled "until further notice".

11:47:52 PM Chony: the session really is cancelled?

11:48:03 PM Benjamin Coria: yeah

11:48:07 PM Benjamin Coria: till saturday

11:48:08 PM Benjamin Coria: probably

11:48:08 PM Chony: if they need to do work during the weekend I can get jerry in on it too

11:48:11 PM Chony: oh

11:48:12 PM Benjamin Coria: keep yourself open

11:48:24 PM Chony: dude, this saturday is my deadline for the white nose beans thing man

11:48:41 PM Benjamin Coria: wow cool

11:49:01 PM Chony: i might have to turn you down if i can't get that shit out

11:49:22 PM Benjamin Coria: or maybe i can help you

11:49:23 PM Benjamin Coria: !!!!

11:49:25 PM Benjamin Coria: gnite!

11:49:27 PM Chony: you can help me

11:49:28 PM Chony: night

11:49:29 PM Benjamin Coria: i love you

11:49:32 PM Benjamin Coria: ciao

11:49:34 PM Chony: i love you too

11:49:35 PM Chony: ciao

Do you believe now that after all these years of me trying to convince you, that your bf and myself REALLY are gay lovers?

Special Edition: Taiwan Part I

And so, let the fun begin.

Vacation day 1 starts out with my attempt of self-adjusting jet-lag method. After carefully calculating my flight time and arrival time. I realized that I should stay up the night before. I usually have this really bad habit of over-packing when going on trips, which resulted in the less than sufficient luggage space last time when coming back from Taiwan. It was decided that I should go to Taiwan nearly empty-handed this time. Staying up is always fun when you know that you don’t have anything to worry about the very next day. But oh, how was I wrong.

6 a.m., I’m on the company server finishing up my last day of work before I leave for the airport at 10 a.m.. By 8 a.m., I was ready, pumped, and sleepy enough to last through a very lonely 16 hour plane ride. And just as I thought things are too good to be true, phones started pouring in as I was standing with such relaxed mood at Starbucks.

Boss Woman: “HBO Called, they want their file now”
Me: “But I’m technically on vacation now”
Boss Woman: “No, aren’t you supposed to work?”
Me: “Yeah, but I told you guys that I was working from 5 to 9”
Boss Woman: “Well, as far as I’m concerned, office hour starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m.”

::::Me thinking…wow, it has never ended by 5 p.m., and it certainly starts well before 9 a.m.:::

Me: “Okay, well, throw it over to Toronto and they’ll take care of it”
Boss Woman: “This is a mistake, they shouldn’t have approved vacations for both leads on the same team
Me: “Well, we both submitted our vacation request a month or so ago. No one said anything”
Boss Woman: “Well, it’s a mistake, okay.”

::::speechless:::

Anyway, after much assurance from Ben and Jess that we can get to the airport in under half an hour. They showed up at 10:40 and promised to get me to the airport by 11. And what do you know, we were actually at the airport by 11 and I was checked in by 11:10. Part of the superior speed with check-in this time also contributes to my lack of items in my luggage.

Took a few photos, tried out the new lense on my camera at LAX while eating a bowl of 10 dollar rice (I don’t know why I did that, I’m going to Taiwan, the land of rice).

It took me quite a few hours to get to Taipei, the capital. Then I had to take another transit plane for a 45 minute ride to Kaohsiung, my home town. And no blog entry would be complete without some ridiculously idiotic humor accompanied with photo(s).

And I must add, this is the first time I’ve ever found that my flight attendants were really quite pretty. I can’t take photos of them when they’re trying to tell me to turn off my iPhone, my Nintendo DS, my iPod and all that. But trust me, they were hot.

So I get off the plane at Kaohsiung, and because my dad waited for an hour last time at the airport, he decided to come an hour late this time.

Dad (coming in an hour late): “Wow, you got two suitcases”
Me: “Yeah, they’re mostly empty”
Dad: “Why didn’t you put everything in the small suitcase, and put the small suitcase in the big one, so you only have to haul one around”
Me: “Oh…I didn’t think of that”
Dad: “Hmm, you really don’t look good with long hair”
Me: “Oh…okay”
Dad: “Especially when you’re fat”
Me: “Thanks…”

We drove home, unpacked, packed again for our next 4 days of scuba-diving trip and went to sleep.

That, concludes day number 1 on my Taiwanese trip. I went to sleep dreaming of “You don’t look good with long hair, especially when you’re fat”. How nice.

A sad day in the history of football

Today indeed is a sad day in the history of football.  

Mr. Brett Favre, we'll miss you in football.  Especially my dear friend's girlfriend Jessica.  She'll miss you the most.  I'll just miss you on a normal guy-to-guy level.

P.S. To those loyal friends who still read this blog time after time and finding out that I haven't updated (J Mo.).  I'll update soon with a Taiwan Trip special.  So hang on.

The wisdom(s) of my life - Part 1

I'm writing this short entry right now because I can stay awake and focused for long enough time to complete a well constructed article.  And I promise that vegetarian post is coming, Jerry.

All I can say right now is:

Taking my wisdom teeth out is the single most painful thing I have ever experienced so far in my quarter-century life.  It's worse than getting a tattoo.  With a tattoo, it was much less painful than how I had imagined it.  With this wisdom teeth procedure, all I want is to swallow every single bit of my pride of manlihood (along with a bunch of saliva and blood) just for the pain to stop.  It is at least twice as painful as how I thought or anyone who's ever tried to describe the procedure to me (Yes, that includes you, Elizabeth An).  If you noticed in the photo, there are more than four wisdom teeth, with is the maximum number of wisdom teeth a human being can possibly have.  Wonder why it shows five in the photo?  Because Elizabeth An said they might have to cut my teeth in half to extract it, being that I'm so "old". 

So guess what?

They f*ing cut one in half before extracting it.  

So thanks Elizabeth An, you are the profit of the year, no one can predict other's pain better than you can.  You win.

Part 2 to be continued...

2007 Year in review

Yes, I know.  This is a terribly cliche'd thing to be doing.  After all, perhaps at least 90% of the people in the world who blog would have posted this same entry, in a form or another.  And I was always one of those presumed 10% blogging population who never did write about my 200X-Year-In-Review.  Well, here it is.

Before I begin though, I just want a chance to explain for myself on what made me sit down on 8 a.m. New Years day and write an entry on something as cliched as a Valentine's day rant on Craigslist. (Update:  my friend Tess has since popped in the movie "The Holiday" and we ended up falling asleep to that until Ben and Jess woke us up 3 hours later, hence this post being published 2 days after the New Year celebration.)   As a kid, my parents would ask me about MY year in review.  Mainly on Chinese new year, but it serves the same purpose.  Back in high school, my review generally is surrounding my then aspiring swimming career.  I would say something like "I got 2nd place in whatever event in some important swim meet of the year" to my dad.  And usually the response I'd get will be "So...when are you going to be 1st place".  You get my point.  It wasn't too bad, since part of being a kid is that there's always endless possibilities and I always, ALWAYS believed that I was going to see my rival in the next important qualifying time trial and beat him, even by a touch.  And that was fine.   What was not fine was when my mother started asking me the same question, but will not allow me to rejoice in the positive happenings but instead, to dwell in my mistakes.  And I remembered hating that, but subconciously, I was slowly getting brain washed into having the same exact pessimistic philosophy my mother held.  To be quite frank with you, I can see why she did that.  As much as I hated it, part of growing up and looking back also made me realize the pros and cons on methods my parents used in the upbringing of my brother and I.  She wanted me to keep competing, even with myself, and never feel like I've done enough right in life, and never feel like I've ever trully won.  I get it.  But this type of thinking is becoming increasingly harder and harder to live with.  I am not the best just yet.  I'd like to be, but I'm still getting there.  Yet everyday I feel like I'm not good enough, not for myself, not for my surroundings, never...for my parents.

I believe I'm slowly getting over the fact of feeling not good enough, and I believe that making myself write a review on my year will help.  This doesn't mean I've accepted second-rated work from myself, it just means..I can see the positive elements in my life and build on that.  So, without further a do, here it goes.

2007:

-Bought a new car, paid full premium insurance for the first time in my life, and managed to always get a full tank of gas.

-Paid off all my debt.

-Got a promotion at work (technically it was late 2006, but the raise didn't kick in until 2007).

-My uncle passed away, and that actually brought me back closer to my aunt.

-Became eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship and realized that I need to find the extra $600 to do it (Anybody want to contribute?)

-Still, did not lose weight.

-Statyed single

-Hung out with the brother more often than 2006, which is something I meant to do.

-After more than 10 years of separation, my sometimes very childish parents finally started filing for divorce.  Keyword:  Started.

-Lost some commitment toward my church due to the new increasingly busy schedule.

-Wisdom teeth's been hurting since summer and for some strange pathetic reason, it is still in the back of my jaw and is currently hurting as I type.

-Played through the Rabbit game on Wii within 5 days, and watched the entire season 3 of Grey's anatomy in 2 days.

-Rocky and Joce got married, Vincent got married, and a crap load of others got engaged.

-I turned a quarter century old.

I know some of the above listed items are definitely random and completely irrelevent to the topic.  But I tried.  I never remember what  happened when I'm trying to look back.  All I know is, this is definitely a much better year than the previous 3.  Wait for the new year resolutions to come.

P.S.  I had a pet peeve just for this "P.S."  that occured while I was stuck in traffic today, but now I can't remember.  So we'll have to come back to that.

P.S.S.  I had something else here specificly for this "P.S.S." but I can't remember that either.

...more to come.