The Phryges

 The Phryges are the official mascots of the 2024 Paris Olympics, an Olympics that so far has been known for how weird they've been. There was a masked torchbearer during the opening ceremony that looked like the character from Assasins' Creed; a metal band named Gojira performed (yes they were named after Godzilla the sea monster from Japan), and minions stole the Mona Lisa. I usually like the Olympics opening ceremonies just for all the celebration it brings and the festive mood, but the last 2 summer Olympics have been real downers: 2020 didn't even happen and by 2021 everyone was in such a sad mood it was unwatchable, and 2022 Beijing Olympics were subdued and kind of redundant due to the relatively recent 2008 Beijing Olympics. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I found out that Beijing had won their bid for the Olympics, by the way, and it doesn't make me feel young- it was summer of 2001, a lifetime ago. 

As part of the pageantry of the Olympic games I like the mascots, which are supposed to represent the host country, the local culture, the people hosting the games. Most memorably, the 2018 Pyongchang Olympics in Korea had a black bear and a white tiger as mascots, with tigers representing Korea, and also continuing the tiger that was the mascot of the 1988 Seoul Games. This year's mascot..... are a pair of phrygian hats, adding to the weirdness. It represented freedom and liberty during the French Revolution, which I guess is significant, but wasn't the French Revolution where they executed tons of people including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette? They couldn't hae selected a more unifying and less controversial time than the French Revolution? 2022 were pandas reflecting Chinese culture, 2020 were Pokemon-looking creatures representing Japan, 2016 was part animal part plant creatures representing Brazil.... France just had to be different. 

Speaking of needing to be different, I found myself in an AMC Theater this past Friday night in Manhattan, New York City at 1:00AM (so Saturday morning) to meet my friend in the morning. The movie was "Twisters" starring Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, and Daisy Edgar Jones, and I purposely fell asleep (the movie from parts I remember wasn't bad).... I always wanted to see what it was like on a summer night in Manhattan, and I got my answer: it is really the City that Never Sleeps. Luckily, I picked a summer night that was the exact right temperature; after a hot day it cooled down to the 70's at night with a slight breeze, allowing me to walk around unfettered except for motorcycles going up and down the city streets. Time Square apparently is open all night in Manhattan, and the bright lights and ads for every TV show you can think of come on all night, and there are plenty of people roaming around like it's normal to be up at 4AM in the morning. Yes there were homeless people and people asking for money, but enough cops around to feel like it was the safest part of the city, the most unsafe I felt was actually a group of hooligan teenage girls who threw empty water bottles at me for no reason other than I was sitting by myself minding my business; ahh to be young and stupid and have nothing to do but annoy strangers for no reason at 4AM in the morning. I've seen plenty of sunsets everywhere around the world, but not an early riser to catch the sunrises.... I got one overlooking the East River and the Pepsi sign on the east side of the island, and it was awesome: glimpses of the Williamsburg and Brooklyn Bridges, Roosevelt Island, and the sun rising over the 59th Street Bridge (I believe it's aka the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge? A once in a lifetime experience for no cost, and no one to bother me for falling asleep on a park bench; just some early morning joggers and taichi enthusiasts enjoying another day in the summer in one of the greatest cities in the world. Upon going to the Empire State Building later that day, I reflected that NYC is one of the most beautiful cities in the world topographically: surrounded by water, bridges all around, natural beauty meeting man-made beauty of buildings, bridges, roads....it's like the Olympics happens here every day with all the different cultural events and languages being spoken and international flair of the city; maybe the aliens who come down and take over Earth one day will enjoy what us humans had. 

May Gray

 Apparently, there's a concept of "no-sky July" in Southern California that's preceded by a period of weather conditions known as "June Gloom" and "May Gray," which little sunlight getting through because of the marine layer created by really cold waters in the ocean surrounding L.A. Really cool concept that I've never really noticed despite living more than 10 years in L.A.... and it's helpful to remember that L.A. isn't always 100% sunny all the time.... recent winters have been so rainy that the notoriously brown and black vegetation all got so much water they sprouted green and made the hills look like the Pacific Northwest...... only to probably get beaten down by the wildfires later in the summer. 

For the last year or so I've felt a constant "May Gray" running a team of people... it's not easy being the manager in charge of upwards of 20 people, and I'm not boasting that I have any power whatsoever, it just so happened that I had worked before with a partner at a law firm and she gave me control as team lead of the case to hire my own team of people to work with and supervise on various tasks. I always thought I'd be a good manager of like a chain store or some sort of task force, as I'm fair and diplomatic, understand others' needs and can can clearly articulate what to expect, always available for communication, etc. Turns out, bossing people around is almost as tough as being bossed around. It'd be one thing if everything on the team were superstars, or if everyone was bottomfeeders, but often there are varying levels of performance, and it's easy to fall into the trap of rewarding hard workers with more work, as I feel comfortable putting them on the tough tasks because they do a good job, but the ones who slack off and do a sloppy job get put on the easy tasks because that's all I can trust them to do. I can see why people say 20% of people get 80% of the work done. That's actually pretty close to the actual ratio in a lot of organizations; there just isn't any prevention of bad employees. You can vet them all you want, check out resumes, do interviews (I interviewed every single person on the team myself) and the interviews sometimes are inversely proportionate to the potential employee's performance: those who assure me they are really good, have plenty of experience, and have no problem accomplishing tasks can easily just become unresponsive to emails, think their work is really good when it's not, take forever to complete an assignment, and generally make very little contribution to teh team. Contrast that to a few poeple who I had no confidence in after the interview, worried about their language abilities, didn't have strong work experience, who turned out to be key contributors to the case who I don't know how I'd survived without them. It's ironic; I think those who boast about their abilities might just be really good at talking about the job and getting the job, without actually being good at the job, whereas those who aren't good at talking may be just being humble or not good at selling themselve.s So the interview is really hard to determine who's going to turn out well (I'm sure there are organizationl psychology classes and seminars all about this....) it really requires a trial period, maybe one week or however long it takes to get a good sample of the employee's work and work habits, get to know them on a day-to-day basis. That of course runs into some of the same problems as the interview: they bring their best foot forward when they know the job is on the line, but then take the foot off the gas once they know they have the job. The incentives are gone. It's really a tough dilemma, which is why companies spend so much energy trying to find the best candidate, especially employees: once you bring them on, you're stuck with them. 

Solution: Independent contractors; termination at-will, can end the relationship at any time. Of course the really good candidates are not going to accept that, so you're stuck with those who are only willing to do independent contractor relationships. Now you're beginning to understand the dilemma it is being the leader of a team. And that's not even starting to tackle with 20+ team members the individual complaints, the request for time off, and everyone looking at the leader for guidance when the leader (me) doesn't even know what's going on half the time and don't want the burden of having to address all the issues. So next time, when being ambitious and gung-ho about a promotion, be careful of what you're in for.... you might not be prepared for it. (I'm thinking of Kamala Harris, the new presumptive Democratic nominee for President). She might be ready to debate Trump, kiss babies, be in the spotlight, select a VP (just wait if the VP is a flop), ask for donation money, but what happens if and when she actually wins the election? Will she be ready for all the responsibilities of not just any leader but the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth and the free world? I don't know; no foreign relations experience (never been to Europe, or the border), never was the governor or mayor of anywhere, never served in the army.... I have my doubts, but open to see her try. 

Regime Change (政权更迭, 정권교체, 政権交代)

 Today Joe Robinette Biden, 46th president of the US, announced his decision to not seek re-election, therefore ending his presidency after one term when in new January a new president is announced. He didn't say he's stepping down as President, so he's going to finish out his first term and that's it. I think everyone at some level, no matter how much you disapprove of Biden's policies or work as President, can empathize with how difficult it was for him to do that. We've all had grandfathers, and nowadays my parents are closer to Biden's age (81) for comparison, and I can sympathize with the sorrow of giving up on a position you loved, fought hard for, wanted to finish. My mom in particular actually appreciates her job and wants to finish what she started instead of go off into retirement and not be involved in anything, have people depending on her and working as a team. But then again, my mom's just a research scientist at a pharmaceutical company, the world will go on without her. Joe Biden's the president of the United States, it's literally an existential issue or at least a matter of global importance who the president of the U.S. is, so his appreciation for his job can't come before the welfare of the country and the world. My friend's mom, a physician, also says she can diagnose early signs of Parkinson's showing, so in a few years I think Joe might unfortunately develop more symptoms and it will be clear to him and everyone else that he did the right thing. Sometimes, as painful as it is to admit it, keeping on doggedly at something and tryingto make it work just doesn't work. Life isn't like those "Just do it" Nike commercials urging you to never quit, or movies showing the main character finally reaching their goal despite various obstacles.... sometimes life just ends, or a part of your life just ends. 

As more and more evidence exists about alternate universes and multiverses existing, or that our universe is just a simulation being created by someone else, I often wonder what would happen in different universes: would the bullet that grazed Donald Trump's ear last week actually moved to the right and hit him and killed him? Does Joe Biden continue on as President into the general election and the Democrats take their chances against Donald Trump? So many unanswered questions that I ask about my own life: where am I living in other alternate universes? Made it rich from cryptocurrency and living in a mansion somewhere? Or never moved to U.S. and stayed in China only to be beaten down by the intense competition there and living just a straggler's life, married to a "farmer's wife" as MJ calls them? It's hard to know how anything would have played out. Today my sister Emily very nearly won $91,000 at blackjack if she had just put a little money in the "Diamond Deluxe" square of her blackjack hand which would have entered her into a lotto to win the big jackpot offered at the casino for triple diamond 7's dealt to her: would need to have 2 diamond 7's in her hand, and then the dealer (from a 6-deck shoe, almost impossible), also dealt himself a diamond 7. 3 diamond 7's = JACKPOT. If Emily would have just had any money in the "Diamond Deluxe" square, she would have won $91,000 on the spot. I've seen someone win it before: the casino manager has to come verify, the table completely stops, paperwork is drawn up, lawyers have to get involved, you have to sign for it, and they don't pay you cash: all part of a check that is sent to the federal government and reported as income, so you end up probably seeing about $50,000 of that money. BUT STILL..... I've never won anything close to lotto money like that before, and I'm sure Emily hasn't. Bonuses like the Diamond Deluxe and other Blackjack bonuses hit very very rarely, and when they do they inspire other people to send good money after bad.... trying to hit the bonus. It's a sucker bet, where the payout is much less than the odds would dictate. Sadly, the people around Emily blamed her for not putting a bet in Diamond Deluxe, "you would have won $91,000!" "Why didn't you play that?" Everything is hindsight after it actually happened. Those people were just jealous that someone else hit it, it wasn't like they would be happy if Emily did get it, in fact they probably would have been even more upset if Emily did hit the lotto. The fallacies of gambling, I often find some of the worst people at casinos, definitely not somewhere to try to make friends or have pleasant conversatinos .

Assassination 暗杀, 暗殺, 암살

 Over the weekend there was an attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump in Pennsylvania. This must have been what it was like to hear about Ronald Reagan's near-death assassination event, or JFK's successful assassination. (In fact, we were kind of due for an assassination attempt of a President or an ex-President running for President). Except now in 2024 we should have all the technology and experience from previous assassinations to root out these type of events. Already there are tons of conspiracy theories proliferating on the Internet, but apparently this was a case of a lone shooter somehow getting on top of a roof with an assault rifle- type of gun and fired 3 shots at Trump. I know it's hard to track everyone at a Trump rally, but there are also a ton of people at airports, and each one of us has to go through tedious TSA security (I again lost my shoe in the conveyor belt recently!) just to get to our flights, yet political rallies don't get checked for weapons? Seems like a gross oversight since the speaker, especially someone who is divisive, has a lot of power, and inspires both positive and negative emotions in people, is standing right in front of everyone in plain sight, by nature is in a clear line of sight and full danger, and he's just a sitting duck for anyone with a gun to fire on......except there should be snipers in the area, security guards, and "countersnipers" who are supposed to scan the area for suspected snipers and take them out. In fact, it was ingrained in my mind as a kid that Secret Service agents are trained to take a bullet for a President or important political figure, like that's their primary job and why they get paid; they can fool around all the time at all other times, but their sole purpose of being is to step in and take a bullet for someone more important for them. This didn't happen, or nearly in time, and then this wasn't like JFK's assassination in a motorcade moving around different streets in Dallas, nor is it Ronald Reagan moving out of a building into a limo, this was a pre-planned event in one specific spot that should have been scouted out beforehand, secure the surrounding area. I can only imagine that maybe the Secret Service, like a lot of other organizations in the world, isn't as well-run and professional as we have an impression of them being, hire people who are distracted by smart phones and TikTok videos, and probably get lulled into complacency due to all the different events that DON'T end in an assassination attempt. 

I'm really a big fan of CoQ10 now! Seems to be improving my heart health and at least raising my hemoglobin levels so I can donate blood whenever I want without fear of low iron levels. I never really thought about taking supplements except when I had acne and was looking for anything and everything to fix it, but I really regret now not taking supplements earlier in life..... apparently we all naturally have some deficiencies and vitamins just balance those out, that's why they're called "supplements.' Sometimes I'm just so worried about everything else in lifethat I don't take care of me. That's why this past week I went to a chiropractor for the first time in my life to get an "adjustment" for my back that apparently has a knot at a trigger point and is pinching a nerve or something. Not too scary but hopefully just knead it out? The chiropractor session was just basically sitting on a series of different massage chairs with pretty strong push, but also this one device that sent electric waves to my back to try to disentangle that area. Let's hope it works! I thought the chiropractor upon first discussion was a hack who was just trying to get me to do as many sessions as possible before giving me the real cure (and refusing to send me for an MRI to see if it's a herniated disc or something bone-related) but I'll just blissfully keep doing his prescribed treatment plan of 6 trips of chiropractic sessions until it magically gets better! 

Wake (葬礼, 葬儀, 장례식)

 I was today years old when I learned the difference between a wake and a funeral- I never really thought about the difference, and luckily for me I haven't had to attend many. A wake is more of an informal gathering of friends and family so that they can visit the deceased, whereas the funeral is more of a religious ceremony more formal with various other rituals associated with it. My parents are not religious (although they claim to be Buddhist when solicited by religious groups) so the wake they put on for my grandfather was more of a wake, where we had his body on display at a local funeral home for us to visit and say goodbye and make speeches, etc. A funeral would have been more involved, and sometimes families have been a wake and a funeral. I think my grandpa would have liked to have as little formality as possible about death,  very practical about the whole matter, and if asked he would have said in Chinese (roughly translated): "I'm dead already, so I won't care anyway. Anything is fine."  and so would I (hopefully that's a long time away and don't have to think about it for a long time, nor anyone else in my immediate family).

I had to think about wakes this week because I learned that a childhood friend of mine (Anup Sarode, friends from Concord Elementary and Cass Junior High) passed away at the very, very young age of 37 (happens to be my age too). I lost touch with him in the wild social experiment known as high school, but I remember birthday parties and visiting each other's homes back in 5th grade or so, watching the movie "Gattaca" with Ethan Hawke, I think probably having a sleepover or two, meeting his parents and his sisters, just being kids. I felt bad that he passed away and that he was suffering from depression, like maybe I was responsible for it because I wasn't there for him, or at least my 6th-grade self wasn't there to defend him against bullying or all the pain that kids have to suffer through. Not having gone through depression myself, I do think a lot of depression begins as a child, when you're at your most vulnerable and most in need of approval and friends and unfortunately seek it in the wrong people, other people your age who are the least forgiving or understanding or caring. Part of me wants to just transport both of us back to his basement and playing video games and watching Gattaca, just forever be kids without caring too much about what the outside world thinks, all of our repsonsibilities, all the twists and turns that life takes us, just stay in that room and stay alive, free. 

I realize now why wakes/ funerals are so difficult: It's the last time ever you really truly think about someone, and after that wake is gone it feels like their life is truly gone, that their memory starts to fade after that one time of remembrance, and then they are gone to history. So at that wake it's important to remember the good times, deliver platitudes about the deceased, but also be sad and broken up about it all at the same time. It's really difficult to do it for a parent or grandparent, but it must be doubly difficult for a sibling and even worse, a child. As I grow older my thoughts about life and death have evolved, and I have become more accepting of death as perhaps a passage to somewhere else, that it comes for everyone and what if it's more freeing for some who are suffering pain in this life, but it still doesn't make it less painful to think about a life ending, someone who can still be enjoying plenty of things in this life and so many possibilities and do everything that life can offer. And of course selfishly I think about myself and my own mortality, what will happen when I eventually die, and what is after life. It's not a pleasant feeling to go to wakes, but it's a necessary part of life. 

Anup, Rest in peace man. 

Fundraiser (筹款活动, 모금행사, 募金活動)

 Every year around this time, an annual tradition starts in the dodgeball community: fundraisers for people to go to internatinoal dodgeball tournaments. There's probably a hint of jealously in what I say, but I really don't feel like donating to unworthy causes, and raising money to go to a dodgeball tournament is not a worthy cause. I know many people in the dodgeball community, have friendships with many of them, but it's the same dilemma I've had since high school and having some money to spare: how far is the extent of my charity? It's hard enough figuring out what to spend money on in terms of necessities like mortage, insurance, car payments, food, travel, etc., then there's infinite possibilities to spend money on discretionary funds, but then what part of the budget do I spend on favorite charities, worthy causes, covering costs for other peoples' emergencies, sudden deaths in the family, etc. Honestly, there are an infinite number of good causes to donate money to: just go on GoFundme.com and look through any number of campaigns and fundraisers. Then there's any number of charities I've donated to before: American Red Cross, St. Jude's Hospital, Unicef, Big Cat Rescue, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, etc., etc. No one teaches you on what you should allocate your money to, how to spend you money in that regards, what proportion of your monthly salary you should spend on charities, what impact does the money you give actually help, etc. (If I "round up" at the cash register at CVS to help the Children's Fund, how much do those cents help in the overall scheme of things?) It's hard to say, there's no definite answer, and the most tangible result is the quick jolt of "I did something good for the world" when you give that money, and then you never think about it again. 

For dodgeball fundraisers, I know what the money is going to: travel costs for the player that you're helping. For certain people, I get it: this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them to go, they've been battling some disease that requires them special accommodations, etc., but for the majority of the fundraisers I see, it's an annual event (so every year they're asking for money) to basically fund their vacation and a fun time for them, not really helping society. Here's a thought: If you can't afford the vacation, don't go! Maybe they're a really good player at dodgeball, but in a sport where there's really no money involved or no Olympic medals invovled or anything, that spot on a team could just be filled by another player who can make it. I've donated before to these things too, and it'd be nice to get a "thank-you note" or something for the money that I pitched in, or maybe a tax deduction? Nope, all I get is that little GoFundMe note asking me to pay the additional money to GoFundMe to run the fundraiser on TOP of the donation that I'm getting, like tipping the company to take my money. If I'm that good of friends with the person, I can just Venmo that friend directly if they need money to go. Often my donation will get lost within all the people who contribute to the campaign anyway. I just don't get the point of it. Maybe it's because I come from a privileged background where I never had to ask for any money or initiate any fundraisers, so I can't see it from their point of view, but if I'm lacking for money, wouldn't I ask for something other than dodgeball? Maybe if I need medical expenses, emergency fund or something, but dodgeball is like the opposite of emergency and "I really need this." Maybe it's also an American thing; growing up in an Asian family I just wouldn't think of owing someone else money, or asking for money, it'd have to be if I'm desperate. Instead some Americans will ask for money in the most trivial of situations, just because they want to maintain their lifestyle and "pursue their passions." I'm all for them doing that, but call me Scrooge but I don't have to subsidize that. 

Charles Lindbergh

 The Spirit of St. Louis. "Lucky" Lindbergh. First transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. These were all things Charles Lindbergh was known for, but later on in life he was disavowed as a national hero because he made a speech about the Germans and seemed to sympathize with the Nazis during WWII. A classic example of someone labeled a "hero" in American history but with a little digging and background you saw that he lived an eccentric life, was sucked up into the hero culture that American society thrives on, and died with ill reputation. Life is not all about fame and making it on TV or being known for something, but nowadays it's increasingly more important. We are conditioned from birth to celebrate heroes and ignore the common people who aren't special, but the ironic thing is that the mass majority of us will never be special, were born into obscurity and won't ever be known for anything, yet we let the lucky ones who do get all the star treatment and soak up all the good stuff, in hopes that we will somehow ourselves rise to those ranks in the future. Anyway, the story of "Lucky" Charles Lindbergh, or at least a different side of it than everyone is used to seeing, was detailed nicely in Bill Bryson's book "One Summer" about the summer of 1927, almost 100 years ago. That's the cool thing about history: the characters are different, the technology is (much ) different now that it was then, but the same human ideas and themes persist. There were movies back then, just silent movies (including the "It Girl" Clara Bow; there were war heroes (Lindberg), there was baseball already, there were presidents (Herbet Hoover and Calvin Coolidge, who were both as Bryson described at best eccentric presidents but at worst really detrimental to their country due to their pride and personal agendas), there were mobsters (Al Capone, who everyone just accepted as kind of a cool guy, part of the entertainment industry and paying off the Chicago police). It's fascinating what America was like back then. 

As the Summer of 2024 arrives and comes out in full force, the smells of people on the bus and on the street grow much more difficult to stomach; MJ warned me about them but it suddenly got really bad; there are people who just get on the bus smelling like they haven't showered in days, and it's accentuated by the excessive, simmering heat. I once worked at a law firm in New York City where one of the associates I worked with, whose dad was also a lawyer, told a partner not to take the subway in New York City because that's where the common people were (this was in September, so the worst of the heat waves in summer had passed, but now I get it). Just like in Parasite where there are 2 different societies, there's the society that takes the bus and subways and public transportation, and there's another society that takes private cars, private jets, rides first class, and stays away from the stench of the street. That's present in Korean society, in many societies around the world, but especially in America. But we continue the system in hopes that we or our children will one day (if you work hard enough!) reach the first class, living off the fat of the land. That's the dream they sell us, and for some people it does come true, if you work hard enough you can make it, but statistically not everyone is going to make it; we can't all be Charles Lindberghs and do something special. 

Muriel's Wedding

 I relish past summers, especially as a kid or student, because summer was different: unlike the slog of the school year and the mundane doldrums of the winter months, summer was a time of exploration, to doing that summer job that I liked (to this day getting paid $12 an hour at my summer camp job is still the most memorable, if not lucrative job, I've ever had. I've forgotten a lot of details of all my other jobs as they just get filed into obscurity after I'm done with them, but I'll always remember the summers 2006-2011 when I was a camp counselor) to going to different cities for work, summer has always been the time to make the most memories. As adults, though, we're forced to repress ourselves and continue doing all the mundane stuff ad infinitum, rinse and repeat, churn the butter until we don't need to anymore. I've always said I'd spend a summer just reading, or going to Australia, or in some way be someone totally different than who I usually am. One of those ambitions was just to do a summer of all the classic movies I've never seen, back to back to back to back, without pressure of deadlines or setting a time limit for myself, because that's usually why I fail to enjoy things: I dont' have enough time, no sooner have I started something than I'm already planning an exit out. to the next thing, that I don't let it marinate and actually enjoy. 

Well, at least for one day this summer, I got to do that: I watched the movie Muriel's Wedding, a Jeopardy favorite and a movie set in Australia .... and I needed a comedy. 30 year anniversary! Great movie if you're an ABBA fan, as it nearly has as many hits as "Mamma Mia! The movie" and fits into the theme of the movie, a girl down on her luck who grows up in a harsh world. Also reminded me that the seasons are reversed in Australia: summer is in December-January, winter's in July, right about now..... so maybe I should go there to cool down? I've always imagined Toni Collette to be a star who was born that way, but she is very much Muriel in Muriel's wedding, a bit overweight, not classically good-looking, and smiling in an enthusastic but what some might call uncool way. I sympathized with her character immediately trying to fit in with the in-crowd but being rejected just for being herself; I think most of the world would sympathize with the underdog character, not James Bond or any of those superheroes fitting the "Chosen One" character arc. Most humans probably view themselves as the "chosen one" hero of the story but in reality we're just NPCs (non-player characters) who don't amount to much in the world, and unfortunately eventually we learn that and just accept it. That's the theme of Muriel's Wedding, she goes on this crazy adventure (full of ABBA music) and makes it to the big city, Sydney, changes her name to Mariel, and gets involved in an immigration wedding (who hasn't?) but eventually realizes her place in the world and accepts who she is (exactly what the patriarchy and the powerbrokers in society want the message to be for us commonfolk, some would say). Oh and a great depiction by Rachel Griffiths (you've probably seen her in other movies but never placed her) as a cancer survivor and Muriel's friend; a great reminder that cancer can hit anyone at anytime with little to no warning. Sad, funny, and uplifting movie. I can see why Jeopardy likes it. Was it enough to get me to go into a classic movie binge this summer and make something out of this summer? We'll see! 

Tang Dynasty

 Recently Jeopardy made a pretty silly pun asking about a certain dynasty in Chinese history, something like "Empress Wu Zhao added a little zest to this dynasty, and the answer was "Tang" like the orange fizzy drink. I liked that the clue asked more about Asian history and culture, didn't like that they are just throwing 2 totally different pronounced words together, "Tang" in Chinese has a flat A sound, while "Tang" the American drink they spent into space is an A sound. I took exception to it. But yes, Tang Dynasty ruled China from 618 to 907. It's just one of many dynasties in Chinese history, from Qin, to a Qing (2 different dynasties), Ming, Manchu dynasty also called Song, the Sui Dynasty, and then times of turmoil and unclear power like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (my personal favorite) and the Warring States Period. Unfortunately there have not been a Yan dynasty ever (never too late!) US high schools when I was growing up had an American History class (and the AP exam) and a European History class (with the accompanying AP Test), but no Asian History, or African History, or South American/Latin American History. Very Euro-centric, which I understand due to so many people in the US being descended from the Europeans, and also so many advances in technology and art and consequential battles/changes in power, but as America becomes more and more racially diverse maybe add a little Asian history so we can learn the names of all the Chinese dynasties or the Prime Ministers of India, for example? Kind of big, what those 2 countries are doing, but also Japan, Korea, IndoChina, Kingdom of Thailand, Khmer in Cambodia, etc. Kinda important to a lot of people. 

Visiting China is such a mindblowing experience (my mind was actually blown during my short visit there recently because I was on very little sleep and really didn't know where I was half the time) but right out of the airport was the use of the Shanghai Maglev train with max speed of 300 km/hr (or 186 MPH). Really convenient skipping all the stops the normal subway would have stopped and just flying through the countryside. When asked about the tallest buildings currenlty in the world, most people would be able to come up with the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (you can supposedly see 2 sunsets in one day, one at the bottom of the tower, and then ride up the elevator to the top to see the second sunset), then maybe you can pull the Merdeka Building in Malaysia for 2nd, but 3rd highest is in Shanghai, the Shanghai Tower. They just keep competing to build the highest building in the world because everyone jsut wants to be the best at something I guess (I remember when the Willis Tower in Chicago was the tallest, but now it's like 12th. Shanghai Tower is pretty similar to every tower MJ and I have ever visited like the Shard in London or the CN Tower in Toronto or the Prudential Tower in Boston; you get a nice viewing area at the top with 360 degree views, except Shanghai is extremely hazy, low visibility, and the water is.......brown. That's what happens when there's 26 million people living in the city I guess. 26 million! That's the whole state of Florida packed into one city! Incredible. And When I walk around Shanghai, I definitely get that vibe of 26 million; I'm always reminded just by getting in a subway how many people there truly are, it's like feeling lonely in a huge crowd, just being overwhelmed by the sheer mass, feeling insignificant and just a small fish in a big pond. And in Shanghai I feel like just another Asian-looking face in a sea of other Asians; I don't really think about it in America but I am the minority in America, people will notice that I am Asian. In China, EVERYONE looks like me; I fit right in and feel even more lost in the crowd. That and people assume in Asian countries that I speak the language, which is a blessing in China where I do speak the language, and a curse in Korea where I stare blankly when someone speaks to me too fast in Korea, I can't catch up to what they're saying despite all those years of listening to Korean audiobooks. 

I ate in Shanghai where Bill Clinton ate!