I updated my template today. Dude these things really takes up time for me. I lack the genes for web design, but imitation is a skill well-honed from school. Well, even typing up a blog entry moves slowly for me; I make solid use of that backspace key in search of the right words.

Well, nothing happened much for me last weekend, 'cept on last Friday I visited the scene shop of a very cool local theatre production company called Theatreworks. They schedule I think about 8 or 9 plays every year but still give you an intimate, mom-and-pop shop feel. I get envious of these smaller but more colorful companies. =) So they recently started this group, called the SET, for younger people interested in plays and productions, and Friday night was one of these behind-the-scenes SET events that I attended. Jodi who lead the volunteer program and Patrick of the scene shop took us into the back of company building, a spacious warehouse space chock full of wooden beams of different widths, tall slender steel and aluminum structures, and various assemblies that looked like could have easily come from a furniture or housing factory. Sitting within a clearing near the center was a mostly finished set, the structure and floors of half a log cabin, for their next production, On Golden Pond. The finish on the wooden staircase, the rough texture of the stone fireplace, windows opening to a wilderness, all look quite real until you step very close or peer behind them. You would then realize that the stairway was hallow and the stones were made of cheesecloth glued to foam. It was learning a bit about the magic behind the production process -- pretty cool. And they also had a few fun items lying around, like an exact replicat of a Ford Model-T with the original frame. They fitted a golf cart engine to it, but can't drive it on the street cuz they would need an electric vehicle registration! Another was a giant silver high-heel made of foam. Apparently people have rented it from them before, maybe for parties or such.

So that was Fri night. The rest of the weekend, I slacked off, switched between reading random magazines and Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch, a Dutch author I've recently picked up some admiration for (hmm... I just found out the Dutch even made a movie about it.. I must check out). Went to dinner with a CMU friend Markus and talked about what new car I should buy (VW Corrado VR6 vs Mitsubishi Gallant VR4) and old video game consoles like the Sega CD. Rode with some nvidia interns to the outlets in Gilroy but decided not to buy anything.

Hmm... I'm itching to post up some new music to share with you guys (some more j-rock, in fact), but I've nowhere to place mp3s. Can't wait until I can get my hands on a decent desktop with the nForce2 motherboard, move into a new place with decent broadband, and be able to serve up my own stuff.

Hehe... I enjoyed chopstick's mini course on "Urban Parking Consulting in the Community." Of course, I think the lecture notes are incomplete. Why aren't these important locations pinpointed on the map itself? =) I'm waiting to sign up for the guest lecture series called "How not to Get Towed in Downtown Toronto."

Cheeseness aside... cheers.
-- 12:40 AM

OH, and the word of wisdom for tonight is, don't go driving crazy around Schenley. in fact don't drive crazy anywhere, unless you really know what you're doing. I bet none of us do. Two of us can attest that the excitement of rounding corners at hair-style changing speeds cannot compare to the "thrill" of working with insurance claims and hospital bills, or the wrath of parents for that matter. And although one of us doesn't quite regret their accident (why squint your eyes at me), neither would recommend acting brashly and stupidly on the road. at least find a big parking lot for that. or double pad the sides of your car with pillow cushions or something.
-- 3:02 AM

DIVERSITY in the bay area is amazing, even overwhelming. You can't always take that for granted. There are no easy road signs pointing out psychedelic trance camp-out parties in the wilderness of San Joaquin valley, or the commentary film on gun violence called Bowling for Columbine playing at berkeley and stanford. But certainly, it's hardly possible not to find an interesting festival to scope out or some recreative activity to hone your skills with every weekend, if you've put in at least a tinge of effort and don't mind the necessary commuting around. I sometimes wonder if the occasional downfall of diversity is the loss of individuality. This area can be a very nurturing place for anyone to be yourself, discover yourself, remodel yourself. At the same time, I find myself tracking the paw prints to too many pursuits of different interests and end up losing the scent and the trail to all of them, and in straying from my pursuits I lose the scent of my own individual. The trick is to focus on and savor a few excursions at a time. Otherwise I'm a child in candy store, glutting myself with so many confections that each loses its unique flavor. Charcoal and pastel drawing. buying and fixing up a new car. expanding my exposure to literature and world affairs. training myself to indulge in my job (this may be most difficult). For the mean time, the game plan is to concentrate on these things. That and of course to write more on my blog. Each entry always unfolds at a tortoise's pace. it really does. but I haven't stopped writing down ideas, nor getting into troubles to tell you all about. I'll enlighten you in due time..
-- 2:06 AM

LIFE and death. A pair of words so oft-quoted we might hear them in the news, use them in our conversations, without giving a second thought. Yet life is not the opposite of death. Birth is the opposite of death. Life, it is a progression from birth and death. a journey between many births and many deaths. We teeter-totter between dawns and dusks of countless activities like unsteady seesaws in the sandbox of life. Creation begets recreation, deconstruction reveals destruction. We plow like shooting stars across shimmering night skies, dodge everyday space debris in silence and harmony, orbit ourselves between summers and winters, fearing to venture too close to the big globe of warmth and energy that could also burn and obliterate us, hesitant to let go of its hold and never again be seen. Light fosters dark, shadow defines existence. The end of a chapter is but the opposite page of another's beginning.
-- 2:03 AM