Monday, July 8, 2013

Four Minor Topics

Culinarily Challenged. :
I don’t like wasting time on making food. The most I ever do is stick something in the microwave, stick frozen pizza in the oven, or stick frozen dumplings into boiling water and letting them cook (yes, a lot of sticking). My parents, however, are old-school Chinese cooks, and to their credit, they can come up with some incredible concoctions sometimes. Since I’m no good at it, I’ve made a note to inherit mother’s recipes when FINALLY I move consistently into my own home in a different city than my parents. . Certainly there’s more than just the recipes to learn like HOW to actually do it.
But really, do onions really need to be peeled from the actual onion? Do carrots really need to be sliced to perfection? Does meat really need to be marinated and “kept in” for days to let the favor soak in? Really? I prefer Subway.

Windows Moviemaker, more like Lifesaver:
Just discovered this program on my computer and I’m loving it! Can’t believe I haven’t utilized it before, and it totally explains why so many videos are downloaded onto Youtube (nice looking ones, I might add) Now that I’m finally arrived in the 2010’s decade by buying an Iphone, I can take videos and then post them up all the time! Also, I’ve solved the age-old dilemma of how to add music to my videos. Huzzah! I feel unstoppable.

AP Japanese, Easy as Cheese?
My sister is in the midst of the high school SAT/AP test crunch, and I noticed that in addition to the normal test subjects, there are also AP Chinese, AP Japanese, and other AP language tests. The Chinese tests I would ace for sure (not trying to boast, I had the advantage of learning since birth), but the Japanese doesn’t seem all that hard (except for the listening part, which I’ve also lagged on). I would say the Japanese AP exam is similar in difficult to the Japanese Proficiency Test N3 level (N5 being the easiest and N1 being the hardest, native level speakers-only test). Right now my reading ability is N2, and getting really close to an N1. I do plan on taking the N1 Japanese test eventually. (Well, actually, I should probably start with an easier one and build my way up). I’m strictly in the minority on this one, but sometimes I do miss those old AP tests and unleashing my knowledge of US history/European History on a test and getting a 5. Ah, those were the days when I thought I was really smart.

Fantasy Baseball- Introducing Bench Remorse

We’ve all been there before……making bad lineup decisions, leaving a guy we were going to start on the bench and then watching that guy vastly outperform the guy you started. Sometimes, as in my case, it costs you in the fantasy playoffs. What is your philosophy on if it’s “Your fault” for “Bench Remorse” as I like to call it? Logically, I’m rationalized it many times that I’m only responsible for getting the best lineup out there and whatever happens after is out of my hands, which is probably the most reasonable and sane explanation (as long as you get the best lineup out there), but Bench Remorse definitely creeps back in when Alfonso Soriano hits 2 HR’s and 4 RBI’s while the guy you started, Justin Morneau, goes a flat 0 for 4, and you’re in a tight rice in HR’s, RBI’s, and avg. That happened yesterday.Bench Remorse is a b****.

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan  

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