Update - four drinks and counting

... I just luuurve getting plastered on other people's tabs.

"Stuck" at LAX

I'm typing this entry from a workstation (free) at the Air Canada VIP elite lounge (also free). I'm sipping on my (free) Caesar cocktail, after finishing my (free) dinner. In about two hours I'm going to be going to gate 23 where I will be boarded executive class (free) aboard a direct (free) flight to YYZ Pearson International. How did this chain of events come to be? Well, my gentle readers, the tale had unfolded thusly:
My original flight was to Leave LAX at 5:45pm and arrive at Vancouver at about 9pm. After a two hour layover, the red-eye would resume, flying to Toronto to arrive at 6:10am EST (3:10 Pacific). The flight, however, was way overbooked - the announcement came up asking for four passengers to give up their tickets for an alternate flight. I duly volunteered and was offered a $300 voucher for Air Canada, a 10:30pm direct flight, upgrade to first class, a meal voucher, and access to the VIP lounge. I feel like I just won the lottery.

Gentle readers, please excuse me if I make any typographical errors. I've had 3 drinks already and plan to make my red-eye in a rather comatose state.

Cheers,

-Tao

Back to TO

I'm headed back home! I hope they don't make me turn on all my electronic toys. I'm taking the following gear with me on my flight:

• Laptop (grad present for bro)
• Digital voice recorder (for dad)
• Camera
• Game Boy (for two hour layover in Vancouver)
• iPod
• Cell phone
  

I resisted the urge to bring my own laptop and my backup camera. Such a geek. Tee. ^_^

Solar death ray

I found this site online, it is quite hilarious. The guy built a giant concentrator mirror to harness the power of 100 suns. Behold as Darth Vader wilts under the power of this fully operational death ray.

http://www.solardeathray.com/

Aw, nuts

Yesterday, I was over at a friend's cousin's house looking at a '94 Kawasaki Ninja 250R. I took it for a short run around the block, but not for too long because:

1. The tires were old
2. I wasn't wearing a helmet
3. No registration
4. Pennsylvania license plate
5. No motorcycle license (haven't received it in the mail yet)
6. No insurance

Anyway, not that big a deal, since it was a quiet residential neighbourhood. I did a silly thing bringing it up into his steeply sloped driveway. I didn't point it 100% straight and it bumped into the curb. No, the bike didn't crash, and no, nothing fell down. I did however learn two important lessons:

1. Don't sit with your legs spread
   
2. Don't sit with your crotch right up against the tank

Ouch. But no damage done, which is all good. I think I'm going to get some riding pants with crotch protection.

I left a deposit on the machine.

Vanity, thy name is Tao

I've had my Ontario plates on for the longest time, well past the "legal" limit of 20 days in California. So I am thinking of getting a vanity plate to replace it. Any ideas? You can test to see if a plate will work by following this link to the DMV website. I'll send a nice prize to the person who submits a plate that I actually end up using.

I used to have INT NET as my plate, and I'm intrigued by the possibility of having 8 letters to work with. Unfortunately, THE TAO is taken.

Lazy

Yeah, that's me. I've always got grand plans for self-improvement and "cool" projects I can embark on, but following through is always such a drag. The following is a list of things I have on the front and back burners:

Progress:

• Learning to play guitar - Just trying to re-build my calluses so I can practice for more than 30 minutes without finger pain. Making some progress on "Gimme one reason" by Tracy Chapman, and of course the good ol' "House of the Rising Sun". I will attempt to progress a little before taking some real lessons.
• Riding a Motorcycle - Last weekend was a blast, this coming Saturday I will get my permit when I pass the course. One of my co-workers has a cousin who's selling his Kawasaki Ninja, which I will be getting.
• Reading more - I finished Proficient Motorcycling this weekend, and on Tuesday I put down Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Currently reading The Lady Tasting Tea and The Clash of Civilizations.

No Progress:

• Exercise; get bigger/stronger - I haven't been to the gym in a month, this is very sad. However, I am trying to run at least twice a week, and my last weekend's
  
• Consistently break 100 in golf - I haven't played a round of golf since October, and this isn't going to change anytime soon.
• Travel - Well, that's TBD. I'll do the Frisco and San Diego thing when time permits.
• Photography - I got to get out a bit more, this will go hand-in-hand with the travel. I've got to watch my expenses, but next on my purchase list is a nice tripod and a flash. I have yet to make any prints recently, and I will have to do that and put them up in some nice frames as well.
  
• Art - Music first, then art.
• Girls - I guess this is "supposed" to be the central activity around which everything else in my life rotates, but I haven't had much time yet to go out and chase girls either. Now that is sad.

The Getty

This weekend, I did two things: I visited the world famous Getty center. Photos from the Getty are up on my PBase account. Keep in mind I haven't retouched the photos yet, which makes a big difference. They'll look a lot better after Photoshop, promise.

The second thing I did was taking the first half of my Motorcycle course, which was plenty of fun. In fact it was so fun that I think I'm going to go out and get one after I get my license. More updates to come!

10 things I've never done in my life

So Karen tags me to list "10 things I've never done in my life."

Therefore, I am obliged to post:

I HAVE NEVER...

1. Been to Disneyland
2. Woken up next to someone the next morning and regretted it
   
3. Seen a ghost
4. Won anything in a lottery, raffle, contest etc. This excludes the time we bought lotto tickets with the change left over after lunch and won more tickets (which we lost).
5. "Experimented" with, well, anything in college
6. Gotten the "birds and the bees" talk from my parents. Not that I remember, at least.
   
7. Read more than 3 pages of James Joyce's Ulysses in a single sitting; I am on page 120.
8. Broken any bones (knock on wood)
9. Worn a tuxedo
10. Voluntarily listened to an entire Pink Floyd song - I have 6 tracks on my iPod.

For my East Coast peeps

izzle

-izzle (iz'-zl)

A suffix added to the end of the last syllable of a word, originated by Snoop Dogg as a method to make words rhyme.

Usage: –izzle is best used when preceded by a consonant sound.

Ex. 1: Fo' Shizzle / "For Sure"
Ex. 2: Neptizzle / Neptune
Ex. 3: Valentizzle / Valentine
Ex. 4: T to the Chizzle / TC / Tao Chen

Master of my domain

Hey, I just picked up my first domain name in a while today. I bought thisistao.com - currently I've pointed the domain directly to this blog, but in a couple of months, I hope to have it point to a general personal domain, with a link to here.

Threads

That's T to the chizzle in the house, throwin' up Westside. Represent, yo?

Freedom

So I'm finally done the damn exam. 8 hours of pure hell.

The synopsis is as follows:

Morning: whee, this is just like the old exams I practiced on. I hope they like my answers.
Afternoon: Mother&*^*&%!!! I didn't know it was humanly possible to make multiple choice questions this hard!

Those multiple choice questions had layers upon layers of meaning - It was as if I was trying to figure out why Kasparov moved his pawn up a square instead of two. I sincerely hope I get more than 50% in the afternoon - I'm too old to do this again, I think my mental bones would snap if I gave this marathon another try.

Results in August, more to come.

-Tao