41 posts tagged “qotd”

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks. What are you thankful for today?

the past couple of weeks i realized i was thankful for something, even though it wasn't in conjunction with it being thanksgiving--more of a realization. but i suppose on this day, more than ever, i should blog about it to formalize it a bit :D

i really loved living in germany for two years during my graduate studies. but i'm actually very thankful for living in the US--and specifically, california. lately i've been thinking about how lucky we americans are to have what we have available to us. yes, these are "tough economic times" and everyone i know has been affected somehow, but i wouldn't trade two related aspects of america -- consumerism and its diversity -- for anything. the cultural diversity of where i live now, in the bay area, is unequaled anywhere i've been. in germany, there was no way i could get a boba or froyo or sushi all within 10 minutes of my house.

i've been fortunate enough to travel to four continents, and while every country i've been to has its own special and unique culture, only in very few metropolitan areas outside of the US (and, i suppose, only a few places inside the US--but the bay area is most definitely one of those places) is quality, authentic food and goods from countries around the world readily available. i could get wonderful spanish food in spain, but it's hard to get, say, good japanese food. here, i can get good spanish food and good japanese food.

perhaps this is my way of saying i'm grateful that america is america--a diverse nation with immigrants who bring a bit of their homelands to share with the rest of us.

and really, how can you hate a country that loves black friday? even if i don't buy anything, consumerism ftw. :P if i could afford it, anything from anywhere is available in my own backyard (figuratively speaking), and if not there, then online, just a few clicks away.

p.s. i'm also thankful for the SBC! (not to be confused with SBC the phone company, which really, i would imagine few people are thankful for)

Show us your favorite place to relax.

the most relaxing place i've ever been is Český Krumlov in the winter. quiet, serene, babbling river, windy cobblestone streets, a castle, the smell of firewood burning in centuries-old fireplaces...

just thinking about it is calming. aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! more pictures here.

What's your definition of home?
Submitted by NayNay72

for me, home is wherever you feel like you belong. that belonging fosters a sense of nurturing. this can be engendered by friends, family, the way the city or town speaks to you...

if thinking about this place makes you smile, it's your home.

it could mean that you're not living in your home. i actually caught myself the other day calling germany my home, even though i've been back in the bay area for a year now. odd, eh? but not really, i guess.

here are pictures of the only two places i've ever truly felt at home: tübingen, germany, and chicago, illinois.

How do you react when you're stressed?
Submitted by Deep Thinker

i eat. and boy, it ain't pretty. that, plus lack of time to go to the gym due to the stress level means this month (= a stressy month) i've turned chubby. waaah!!!! i've had cravings for so many things (and filled them all): ice cream, boba, kimchi...unpretty.

oh, and my eczema breaks out, always in the same spots: my forearms right below my elbows where they meet the edge of the desk. and, sometimes, on my upper back. grr!

Did you go to summer camp? What is your favorite memory/story? If you didn't go to camp, do you feel like you missed out?
Submitted by chris.

i did go to a series of summer camps which can be broadly divided into two groups: 1) church camps (church and christian-oriented camps in general, the best of which was asian camp -- a great experience more about growing up asian-american* than anything churchy; note i'm totally non-churchy now) and 2) band camps (high school).

[*i still remember an evening program about discrimination from my first asian camp--and crying because it was so emotional and powerful]

anyways, the one camp i'll remember the most, though, is the music camp at ISOMATA (i think it was the symphonic band camp?) the summer of 1990 or 1991 (before 9th grade or before 10th grade?), iirc. i only went for the second week of a two week camp. there was something about being in the woods, playing music at an artsy-fartsy camp. very cool. i don't think there's a particular story or event that sticks out of the other, but here are some randoms:

• seeing my first art car (before i knew that there were such things) -- i have a picture of a friend (anita) pointing at it with her water bottle. it said "objet d'art".
• practicing inside these little A-frame cabins. i remember it was a big deal if you could snag one since they were in high demand (you were competing against drama camp kids, too)
• the only other baritone horn player was a n00b so i was automatically given first chair. the first day she wore a beverly hills 90210 shirt so for the remainder of the camp our nickname for her was "90210". 
• one of the trumpet players had either an ernie shirt or some sort of cap that reminded us of ernie, so that was our nickname for him. turns out we went to college together years after (but we weren't friends; just happened to run into him in a cafeteria once).
• i learned that station-to-station calling is cheaper than collect calls. (thanks, yvette! and thanks, yvette's mom, for driving us up there!)
  

oh oh! in 6th grade we went to wrightwood, a science camp, and one of the rules was "no aerosols" (you know, environment and all) but LOL someone snuck in a can of deodorant and used it before cabin checks. i remember one time the counselor came in to look around and she remarked how nice it smelled. hahahaha i'm *sure* she was on to us, but back then, we were all "neener neener, you dumbass!" (ok, well, but stated a bit more respectfully).

speaking of camps, i love this movie:

which had one of my favorite movie musical segments ever:

On whom do you have your most embarrassing/scariest crush?
Submitted by Jillzey.

i don't really have any embarrassing crushes--they're pretty much the standard ones. but hmm. i think i'll make a list of members of the opposite sex (since i'm gay, in case you didn't know) on whom i have a woman-crush (the gay version of a man-crush?). let's see. how am i defining this? i guess someone who, if i were straight, i'd want to marry. :P

in no particular alphabetical order:

• samantha bee from the daily show
• veronica belmont internet superstar (who i keep wanting to call victoria LOL--oops/sorry)
• bonnia cha contributor to cnet sites
  
• nena singer (of 99 luftballons fame)
• sandra rinomato host of property virgins
• maya rudolph from snl 
• emily saliers from indigo girls (if she weren't also on my team)
• justine shapiro from globe trekker
  

there are undoubtedly more, but this is what i could come up with within 15 minutes, so good enough for now!

What is the quickest false assumption people make about you?
Submitted by JJ.

i'm not sure i can answer this one directly since i'm not sure what people think of me off the bat--well, no, what people incorrectly think of me off the bat. maybe the people i've met are too nice to tell me? lol.

one assumption that someone told me about, though, keeps running through my mind; i can't help but keep thinking about it. a bit of background: during the orientation meeting for my grad school program in germany, we all had to introduce ourselves (all in english, since the program was taught in english). anyways, i'm the only american guy there (save for one of the profs) so i blah blah about myself.

one of my classmates later told me (after we had become friends) that when i started speaking she (and her friend, so it wasn't just her) was in utter shock because i spoke english perfectly! well, i was taken aback--i mean, of course i'm a fluent english speaker! i was born in los angeles, for crying out loud! then she clarified--it was because i don't look like i should speak fluent english--at least not to her. growing up i doubt she knew any children of asian immigrants, and the asian people she knew from her undergrad were all directly from asia so they spoke english with an accent.

i really don't speak chinese at all (i can maybe try and say a couple phrases here or there--haven't spoken it since i was a toddler), so i'm not even sure what my voice would sound like if i could speak chinese fluently. i can't even imagine it!

but you know, i've made the same assumption about asian-germans (as in asian-american, but asian-german). it still blows my mind to think that there are asian people whose first language (or at least the langauge they are most fluent in) is neither their ancestor's native tongue nor english (like it should be either, say, korean or english, since that sort of dichotomy was what i grew up with). there were quite a number of asian-germans i noticed on the buses around town and it was such a hoot hearing them speak fluent german.

crazy and sad and interesting and yet indicative of how far we have to go in terms of being "one world" or "a global society".

If you could, which film would you un-watch or which book would you un-read?
Submitted by Kate.

ok, this will be a very unpopular answer, but i'd like to take back the hours i spent watching The Dark Knight. completely and utterly unenjoyable. yes, yes, heath ledger was a great joker, but other than that, the movie just didn't do it for me. i expected very little going in as i'm not a fan of the franchise, but it didn't even live up to my already-low expectations. i think part of it is that live-action superhero movies kinda scare me, so maybe i had built up some sort of mental wall so i didn't allow myself to get fully absorbed into the movie. nevertheless, i enjoyed it so little the first time around i have no desire to see it again.

good thing it only cost me $1!

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?
Submitted by J.T.

ah! a question i've often thought about. i'd love to have the power to stop time. then i could sleep whenever i want, or if i was late getting a project done (=like now), i could "extend the deadline" (and be able to go out for sushi with my friends!).

bah!!!

it all started thanks to a certain tv show that i used to love as a kid...

How have people mispronounced your name?  How is it supposed to sound? 
Submitted by Lorie.   

well, ok, most people know "jonathan", right?

but i've gotten jonatan, jonasan, yonatan (especially here in germany).

even when i say my name is "jon" people mess it up (again, especailly here in germany.)

don't even get me started on my last name... :) (it sounds like the german word for "cow"...hence i'm reluctant to begin a phone conversation by stating it, as is the norm around these parts!)

when calling someone: "Hello, Cow here!"

when answering the phone: "Cow!"