I often think to myself that I talk too much.  No, I’m not talking about constantly yapping 24/7.  I mean, I tell people things about what’s going on in my life, sometimes things I don’t really need to.  Not really a good or bad thing, but it’s just the way I am.  Most people I know will not trust anyone at first, but then once they get to know them, then they start opening up and telling them stuff.  I’m kind of like the opposite.  I usually tell people stuff, and then if/when I find out they told other people stuff that I wish they wouldn’t of, then I stop telling them stuff.

The other day I remember telling someone something, and I assumed because of the nature of what I said it would be just between us.  But, that person went ahead and told others, and now, I will no longer tell that person anything semi private.  It’s not like it was bad or anything I was embarrassed or ashamed of.  I would never tell anyone something if I didn’t really want them to know.  Just made me realize that person’s lips are as loose, if not looser than mine.  I don’t blame the person either.  After all, it was me who told in the first place, and I never specifically said don’t tell anyone.

I’m the kind of person who will talk about other people as well.  But, if I were to spread that news to other people, I’d spread it to people outside of that person’s circle of friends.  The mistaken assumption I make is that others are like me.  Not the case!!  They’ll spread it within that same circle!

Aw well, lesson learned.  Doesn’t affect me one way or the other really.  Only tells me to, like I said above, tell that person less stuff.  Plus it just gives me a stupid topic to blog about today!

I bought this game a while ago because it was the #1 rated game on Boardgamegeeks for the longest time, and still is.  I had not really ever played any board games before other than mainstream American ones like Monopoly, Risk, Stratego, etc.  Puerto Rico is a German board game brought over to the US by Rio Grande Games.  Most of the games from the link above are German board games.

I’m not going to get into the rules of the game because that would take forever, and it would seem very, very complicated without having the board in front of you and you actually playing.  I remember the first time we played and read the instructions, it looked like the hardest and most difficult game to play.  But, once you start playing, you realize its not at all.  Actually more simple than it looks, which is part of the appeal because there is a lot of skill involved.

Basically,  the game takes place early in Puerto Rico’s history and you play the role of a colonial governor, producing and shipping goods to the Old World in a means to amass victory points. The game can be played between 3 and 5 players and each game takes between 30 and 60 minutes I’d say, averaging probably about 45.

The thing I like about this game is that there its all about strategy, and except for one small portion of the game, none of the outcome is ever decided by luck or randomness.  Its all about strategy and skill.  You cannot always have a set strategy before every game, or turn for that matter, because a lot of what you do is also based on what the other players are doing as well.  You many have to stop another player from getting too rich, or you might want to just prevent another player from doing what he wants so that you can do it first.

I’ve only played this game with my friends, so I have no idea if we suck or whatever.  But, I know that everytime I play I have fun, and I’ve tried multiple strategies playing the game.  I don’t think me or any of my friends is better than the other because all of us have won before, and we’ve yet to reach a point where the same person wins over and over again.  The games costs like 25-30 bucks, and there is also an expansion, which has more buildings and crops that you can use.  I have the expansion and like it because it brings more strategy to the table, but its not necessary, and I’d play without it and still have fun.  The worst part about the game is that it takes a long time to set it up.  Other than that, I’d totally recommend getting or at least playing this game if you like games that are not based on chance and randomness but rather strategy and skill.  I always have it in the trunk of my car if you ever want to play a game!

We all know that unless you are filthy rich, then after you graduate from school you pretty much work at least 40 hours/week.  So, Monday through Friday, you wake up the same time everyday, go to work for a minimum of 9 hours, go home to relax from work, then do it all over again the next day.  Basically 1/3 of our lives are spent working, and you have to work in order to live/survive in this society.  Is that what our lives have become?

Back when I was in school taking anthropology, I learned that during the hunter and gatherer stage of human life, the average person worked about 20 hours per week to survive in life.  The rest of the time was spent in leisure.  20 hours to survive.  Think about that.  Imagine only being able to work 2-3 days per week, and then spending the rest of your time leisurely.  Granted back then the definitions of leisure and survival are much different than they are now.  But, are they that much different that you now have to work 1/3 of your lives?

Back then I’d also speculate that there was much more equality among people.  There really was no money and people did not really collect objects as their homes were not permanent since societies kept moving after using up all the resources.  Is that why we work so much?  So that we can collect objects?  I guess if I never ever bought anything except for food, technically, I could live on the streets, never shower, and “survive” by working 20 hours/week.  But, I would totally and completely be the exception as no one would want to live like that.  Survival nowadays no longer means to just put food in your stomach, but rather to also live comfortably and collect objects with your hard earned money.

What has changed in our society to alter the definition of survival in our world?  I’d venture to guess that the advent of classes was a big factor.  The wealthy have always been looked upon and admired, and if they buy a lot of cool objects, then other less rich people want them as well.  So, they would be willing to work harder to get those objects, only to have the wealthy move on to something else.  Marketer’s are also a huge factor.  You know how I feel about diamonds, and what the geniuses at De Beer’s have done in the last 60 years or so to make all women equate diamonds with love.

So, would I be willing to work a lot less to “barely” survive by just putting cup of noodles in my stomach everyday?  could I just rough it?  Definitely not.  I grew up just like everyone else in the current society that we live in where I want to earn money and be able to buy nice things for myself, for my friends, have fun going out, etc.  I want to buy a home, buy furniture for it, buy a nice TV.  I watched a movie a while back called Timeline (which by the way is terrible and should not be watched) and in it, people from modern times get sent back to the Medieval Ages.  A guy falls for a woman in that time period and decides not to go back to the future.  Now, love is great and all, but I would not be willing to give up all that I grew up with and all that I know to live in the Medieval Times.  Can you imagine no electricity, running water, cars, etc??  You can never ever go backwards in technology.  Ever.  I used to think I could get around with my bike, then I got my car and now I can’t imagine life without it.  I used to have a regular TV, now I have a nice LCD HDTV.  Can’t go back.  Broadband versus dial-up?  Please.  Now, these are small upgrades and I already can’t give them up.  Imagine going back in time??!!  No woman is worth that!

Anyway, that was way off tangent.  But, my point is that we now live in a society where we have to work many hours to truly “live”.  Americans are worse than most other industrialized countries too, as we work more hours per year than most other workers in other countries.  Sucks, doens’t it?  And honestly, if you wanted to work less, you aren’t really able to.  Most part time jobs do not pay as much as full time jobs, on a per hour basis.  So, basically you have to work full time, or you really have to scrape by on a low paying part time job.  Yes, we live in a socieyt nowadays that you have to work 1/3 of your life or you will not be able to “get by.”  Like it or not, its the society we live in.  So, either live by the rules, or move to another country and hope things are better there.

Saw this last night with a group of friends.  As you all know, in this movie, Batman’s nemesis is the Joker, and the two spent the majority of the movie squaring off. Aaron Eckhart plays Harvey Dent, the new DA of Gotham City.  He is the pretty boy hero of the town, trying to end all organized crime in the city, but legally doing so.  Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as Rachel in this movie.  Her performance was blah.  Kind of annoying.  Say what you want about Katie Holmes in the first movie, but at least she was good to look at.  Can’t say the same for her replacement.

I was hyped to watch this movie, and I thought it lived up to the hype.  Felt it was a great movie.  It was a very dark movie, and that’s exactly how a Batman movie should be.  I thought Batman Begins was dark as well, but this one is even more so.  Christian Bale plays the lead part perfectly, and Heath Ledger was fantastic, like everyone said he was.  I think there are many out there who will think that people are calling her performance great just because he tragically died.  However, I think if you watch the movie, you will truly think so as well.  I think back to Jack Nicholson playing the Joker many years ago and I still think he did a great job.  But, I have to say that Heath Ledger was just as fantastic.  I don’t know which is better because they played them differently.  Jack’s Joker was just more silly and crazy I thought.  Ledger’s Joker was plain old scary.  Don’t get me wrong, he seemed crazy too, just like Joker should be, but just watching him, his character was so scary at times that it gave me the creeps.  If I was in the same room as his Joker, I’d be frightened to death.  Excellent performance by the late actor.

So, how do I compare this to Batman Begins?  Both were great, I thought.  But, I’d have to give the edge to The Dark Knight.  This was just a great movie.  Very dark, scary at times.  Batman, like Spider-man, fits the comic book hero mold that America is currently fascinated with, the unperfect hero as a tortured soul type.  Its the reason why heroes like Superman, while still famous, just does not have the same mainstream following and box office numbers today.  The only negative I’ll give for this movie is that its a bit long.  Its not that it was so long that it dragged or anything, but there was a point in the movie where I said in my head, wow, this is a long movie.  But, that definitely did not take away from the greatness.

So, should you watch this movie?  I’d say yes for sure.  Even if you are not into comic book hero movies, or action ones, this is just a great movie that I think people will enjoy.  It might be a little scary for the little kids, just cuz Ledger is so great, but I’m sure they will watch anyway because its a Batman movie.  So, go watch it and I can discuss this with you!

Some people have told me that when they read my blog, that they’d never know that was me.  I act totally different than how I express myself via this blog.  Is that really the case?  I don’t really think so.  But, who am I really?

I act pretty differently in different situations, settings, with different people, etc.  I know for sure that I am very different in work than I am outside of work.  For example, I use a lot more swear words outside of work.  Outside of the occasional shit, my language at work would be fit for Mother Theresa.

But, is that who I really am?  Is the real me at work?  Outside of work?  The way I act on a first date?  20th date?  The way I am with friends I’ve known for 20 years?  Or 20 minutes?  How I am in front of my family?  How I would be with my wife of 1 year?  Of 10 years?  How I am on a job interview? The way I act when just hanging out with guys?  With girls?  Am I really the person you see after I’ve had a few drinks in me?

I mention all of this because I act very differently depending on who I am with and what situation I am in.  There are some very good friends of mine who I know I can talk about anything with and act as stupid as I want with.  I can tell them abortion is this.  Sex is that.  I can be more touchy feely with them (Stop thinking dirty thoughts cuz that’s not what I mean!!).  There are other very good friends who I’d never ever talk about that stuff with or make certain jokes about.  Some friends I can tell crude jokes too.  Others not even close to that.

So who am I, really?  Is everyone like me, changing how they act and what they say depending on who is around?  I’d imagine so, but that’s me so I can’t imagine any other way.  Do I act differently with different people because I don’t like upsetting people or hurting people’s feelings?  I know some people don’t ever give a crap what others think, but that’s just not me.  Do I just act the way I do because of that?  Could that be the real me?  The person who acclimates to those around him in an effort to be likable?  I know that with some people I enjoy talking politics, and what’s going on in the world.  But, 5 minutes later I can be talking with someone else just gossiping about so and so dating whoever.

If I ever piss you off, rest assured that I did not do it on purpose.  More than likely its either because I was careless or in a bad mood and didn’t know better, or I don’t really know you all that well and so I did or said something that crossed the line because I don’t yet know you well enough to know where that line is.   I never mean anyone harm.  Sometimes I’m just plain stupid too.  I have this really bad habit of speaking too fast…and sometimes it gets me in trouble because I will sometimes speak even before I’ve had a chance to think about what I’m saying…which is usually the #1 reason people get mad at me.  But, trust me when I say that I’m really not a bad person.  If I don’t like you, the worst that I’d ever do to you is just not talk to you or say hi.   But, if I really don’t like you, then why would you give a shit anyway, right?  So, is this blog who I really am?  Like the way I act in many types of situations, its defintely part of who I am.

I went to watch Coldplay’s concert in Inglewood last night at the Forum.  Here are my thoughts as the day progressed starting from when I got off work (since no one wants to hear about that.)

I’m driving to pick up V from his work.  I call him to tell him I’m on my way, he gives me directions, which proceed to be wrong.  He calls me back, re-gives me new directions, which also proceed to be wrong!!  Hello!!??  I know its end of day, but we have a concert to hit!

Drive there is not so bad actually.  Took us just over an hour to get there, where we then ate at Carl’s and I had my first ever 6 dollar burger.  The burger is aiite.  I had cheese on my so wasn’t happy.  I like my plain old Famous Star better.  Maybe it’d of been better w/o cheese.

We arrive at the Forum, and parking is 22 bucks!!!  Are you kidding me???  I know that the Lakers left the Forum 8 years ago, but do you really need to gouge people into paying those prices??!!  If 2000 cars park there, that’s a good 40k!!!  That’s more than some people make in a year!

We get there at about 7:30, where some guy is playing some weird music with weird animation.  Nobody was really into it.  If facing the stage, we’re on the left side, about 100 feet from the stage and 3 rows up.  I thought the seats were great.  Too bad Ticketmaster ripped us off with a 25% surcharge.  Damn them.  How does the government yell at Microsoft all the time for having a monopoly, but they do shit against Ticketmaster??

Some small group named Sure Water or something then proceeded to play.  They were not bad, but they gathered more interest than the first dude.  Forum is still only half full.  I notice while arriving at my seat that the people who come to watch Coldplay are much, much different than the people I noticed living in Inglewood while driving through the streets to get here.  Much different.

Lot of cute Asian girls in crowd….are they a big fan of Coldplay?

Coldplay finally comes out at 9:15ish, and everyone proceeds to stand up and never sit down again.  I love their music, and with the sound system playing there, it was awesome.  Bass was killer.  Lights were done well.  They played a nice mix of older and new songs.

As the concert proceeds, here are some things I noticed.  There are a lot of people who know all of the words to every single Coldplay song, as you can hear the whole audience singing along.

The 2 girls in front of us were smoking pot and drinking a lot of beer.  V told me they were making out too, but I didn’t see that, as I was looking at the stage.  They were obviously high/drunk though.  Haha.

There was a cute girl behind me.  Think she was Korean.  No other thoughts there, but that’s always a nice to mention.

Band played maybe 15-20 songs….all were very fun and I enjoyed all of them.  At one point they ran off the stage into the crowd….running literally a few feet from us, then performing in the stands above us, maybe 40 feet away.  Was kinda cool.

After it was over at about 10:30ish, V and I both agreed it was awesome and we both had a lot of fun.

Walked to our car, where it then took us literally 45 minutes to leave the parking lot!  If I’m going to f-ing pay 22 bucks for parking, you’d think they could at least hire some policemen to allow us to exit the premises in a quick and orderly manner!!!  Damn them.

When we’re finally leaving the parking lot, notice a cute girl in a Fit.  She needs to get into my lane, so being the gentleman that I am, I let her in, and she waves at me and I wave back.  Turns out there is another cute girl in the back seat with the window rolled down.  Once again, no real comment here, but like I said, always nice to see a cute girl…..

Ok, overall, lots of fun.  This was actually the first concert that I’ve ever been to and I was not disappointed.  Music was tight, everyone seemed to have a good time.  Would I go to another concert?  Definitely.  Hopefully I can fnd one where Ticketmaster doesn’t rape me.  I actually don’t have the Viva la Vida album, so will have to get it.  I liked the songs.  Finally got home at about 1:00 am, got ready, and then went to sleep.  Great time overall

I finished reading the Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards and here are my thoughts.  Its a book that my friend let me borrow.  So, I decided to go ahead and read it.  The story starts out in the 1960’s.  Its about a doctor, David Henry, who due to uncontrollable circumstances one stormy winter night, is forced to deliver his wife’s baby.  The baby turns out to be a healthy little boy.  So all is well.  Or is it?  Surprising to all, another baby  is subsequently delivered.  This one a little girl.  But, David being the doctor that he is, recognizes immediately that this new girl, his daughter, has Down’s Syndrome.  During this time period, he knows that children born of this have heart problems, die young, and live a very difficult life because they are mentally and emotionally slow.  What does he do?  Something that changes the rest of his life, and his new family’s as well.  He gives the baby girl to the nurse, named Caroline, and tells her to bring her to an institution, and then telling his wife that their baby girl was stillborn.  The nurse is astonished, and does as she is told.  But when she gets there, she can’t bear to give the baby up and leaves town and raises her as her own.  The novel subsequently follows everyone through the decades to see how everyone’s lives turned out based on that fateful night.

This was a good book, I thought, but its not my type of book.  It was very interesting to see how each person’s lives are affected as a result of David’s decision to give the baby away.  He bears that secret his entire life, and so it affects both his wife and his son.  As for Caroline, she also has her own difficult path in life, raising a baby with Down’s Syndrome in a society that doesn’t readily accept her.  This book has sad moments, but I don’t think its a sad story/book per se.  I think its more about love than anything, for love does not just encompass happiness and joy, but also pain and heartache.  So, like I said, this was a good book to read.  Its a story that if your friends read as well, you can have many types of conversations about it.  What’s right, what’s wrong?  Was it really about love, etc.  Did David really give the baby away out of love for his family?  Go read it, and maybe you can be one of those people I discuss it with.

Its funny how people get used to doing what they do, so much so that when things even deviate slightly, it affects us.  Or is it just me?  I am a total creature of habit and routine.  Every Monday through Thursday I wake up at 7:00 am everyday, get ready to go to work, get to work at 8:00, do my 9 hours and get out at 5:00, then go to gym, work out, get home about 7:00 pm, eat dinner, shower, brush my teeth, then just blog/surf/chat online or read/play video games, then go to sleep at 11:00 pm.  Friday, same except after work hang with da guys, eat dinner, maybe watch a movie.  Whenever anything ever comes up that might disturb this routine, I always ask myself first if its worth it because I hate straying from my routine.  So, if I hang with you on a weeknight or on Friday, then you must be worth it for me to stray, cuz that irritates me.  Its one of the reasons I don’t like working too far past 5:00 pm.  I totally don’t mind the work at all or the fact that I’m staying late.  I just hate not being able to go to gym because I don’t want to get  home past 7:00, cuz that’s when I eat!!  Usually if I have to work too late, I’ll just skip the gym and go straight home cuz then I reach my routine quicker by skipping a step.  Don’t like it!

When I was a little kid, I think I just used to wear shorts and a shirt to sleep.  I don’t even remember, but I think that’s what I wore.  (Hehe, well, you know how my memory is, so for all I know I could of slept naked).  Anyway, when I was in junior high I think, my mom bought a pair of flannel type pajamas for me.  Just a long pants and button up top.  I thought it looked silly, but I wore it.  I never looked back since.  Now, I cannot sleep in my bed unless I’m wearing pajamas of some sort.   Seriously.  When I’m like in Vegas or on vacation, for whatever reason, I can wear shorts and a t-shirt and be fine.  But if I’m in bed in my room, it has to be pajamas.  I’ve tried shorts and t-shirt because its freaking hot the last few weeks, but no go.  Just felt funny.  I even tried wearing just my pajama bottoms and wearing no shirt.  Nope.  Now, it could of been just the fact that it was hot, which in and of itself bothers me, but when I put my pajamas back on, it was still hot but I eventually fell asleep.

What else?  I never ever wore any type of jewelry in my life until I graduated.  My mom got me a necklace and a pendant.  I wore it, and ever since have had it on 24/7.  When I take it off now, it feels freaking weird, and I feel more naked then I do if my shirt was just off.  I don’t know why, but it just doesn’t feel comfortable when its off.  I usually only take it off if I go swimming.  Right when I finish, I just have to put it back on.  I’ve never worn a ring before.  I wonder if I ever get married, it will feel the same way?

Why is it that when I first wore pajamas or I first put my necklace on I was okay with it.  Wasn’t I used to not wearing them, and so putting them on would put me out of my comfort zone/routine?  Or, maybe I just liked wearing them so much that it became my comfort zone?  Who knows.  Am I the only creature of habit out there?  Does anyone else have any set routines they have to follow or am I just the freak with the weird habits and bad memory????

Back in January of 2007, the price of gas here in So Cal was like $2.25.  Now, its closer to about $4.50.  I used to think that, oh well, its not a big deal.  If you couldn’t afford to buy gas, then take the bus or whatever.  I know, kind of a selfish and ethnocentric attitude.  I can still afford to buy my gas every week, and I don’t ever think twice about driving some place far just cuz of the cost of gas.  But, I started thinking about this more.  I buy about 15 gallons/week on average.  Over the course of a year, that’s close to 800 gallons.  Assuming a $2.00 per gallon difference, that’s $1600 bucks more I spend on gas than before over that year.  That’s more than what my LCD TV cost!

But, its not just the cost of gas.  It goes beyond that.  Food prices are going up, shipping costs are going up, plane tickets, etc.  It is getting crazy out there, and the only ones profiting from all this are Bush’s oil friends.  If oil companies are making record profits quarter after quarter, then why can’t they lower the cost of gas?  Will it cut into their record profits?  Hmmm.

Regardless, I don’t want to get into another “We have the worst President in the history of Presidents” rant.  I used to think that all these people complaining about high gas prices were just whiners.  But, I think the prices are sufficiently high now and effectively affect the price of everything else that they actually are correct and have reason to complain.  If I actually had to pay rent and crap, I think I’d be whining more too.  I really was contemplating taking the bus to work.  I’m not like some people I know where I look down on people who do that.  Nothing wrong with it at all, but the schedules are just not flexible at all and I refuse to wake up at 6 am every morning if I don’t have to.  I can still afford to pay for that extra hour of sleep luxury.  I don’t plan on buying a new hybrid car either.  That’s not a wise move for anyone unless they were already looking for a new car anyway.  I plan on driving my 2002 car until it dies.  Have 100k miles on it now, but it still runs great.  Maybe if it dies I’ll consider a hybrid.

The sad thing about all this is that the prices will not be going down significantly anytime soon.  And what’s worst, there’s really nothing we can do about it in So Cal.  Public transportation is just not feasible or convenient as I mentioned earlier.  And most of us live too far from work to walk or bike.  This area was built around the fact that you have to drive a car to get around.  Alternative sources of fuel are years, if not decades away.  Telecommuting is becoming more prevalent, as are 4 day work weeks, but I don’t think that helps all that much.  The only light ahead of the tunnel is that Bush will be leaving office soon.  Perhaps gas prices will go down after that, assuming McCain isn’t voted in and becomes Bush II.  But, even if they don’t go down at least we can then say Bush is out of office, and that alone could be joy enough to throw a party.

The 4th book by Dennis Lehane about the private investigating duo of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. In this one, the two are hired to find a missing 4 year old little girl. The police and surrounding neighborhood have no luck finding her, so the relatives get desperate and decide to hire a private investigator to try to do what the police have not been able to. So, Kenzie and Gennaro work with the detectives on the case, and come across a huge 400 pound drug dealer named Cheese Olamon, who they knew while growing up. Can he be involved? And if so, how?  Is the little girl really dead and all this a waste of time?  Things get desperate and escalate as they always do in these types of stories/novels.

I really liked this book.  It was definitely my favorite of the four books I’ve read involving these characters.  It had a great ending, I thought, and one I wasn’t really expecting.  I just thought it was a good story over all and it brought up many questions to ponder.  I’m not going to bring up those questions because I don’t want to give any spoilers.  I’ll just mention some that can be said about many types of books and stories.  The missing girl’s mom is a deadbeat.  Is this karma for that?  Should you always follow the law to the letter or is that not always what’s really best?

You do not really need to read the previous Lehane novels to pick this one up.  So, if you just like a good mystery, detective novel, you should read this.  They actually made a movie of this novel, directed by Ben Affleck.  I can see why they chose this one of the four to make a movie.  I don’t think it did great in the box office, but I will watch it when it comes on cable for sure.  In my experience, the book is usually better, but I want to check it out.  I think Casey Affleck plays Kenzie and Michelle Monaghan plays Gennaro.  Go read the book and let me know what you think!