Multiple Choice (多项选择, 多肢選択, 객관식)

 Recently during the Jeopardy hiatus I've been missing the daily kick of Jeopardy questions that comes with it, so I've been rewatching a show that was my earliest exposure into the trivia world (or was it jeopardy in the old days after school a 4PM in the Chicagoland suburbs? I'm not sure) but the late Regis Philbin's voice really brought back some memories. Talk about the "hardest working man in show business," Regis apparently once had the record for longest time spent on US televison, in part due to the hourly episodes of WWTBAM from 1999-2002, airing DAILY on network American television. Boy what a time to be alive, a game show with difficult trivia questions and people winning thousands, maybe even a million dollars, every night of a whole TV season, and being rewarded for their general knowledge (I wouldn't call it intelligence necessarily, more ability to absorb and recall information, which is mostly what trivia is). Nowadays network television isn't what it used to be in popularity, and even if it was I feel like people would be more interested in The Bachelor, Love is Blind, and other matchmaking shows, drama shows rather than learning facts. Jeopardy is the last bastion for trivia lovers, and really the last resort for people like me to get on national TV if not for committing a crime or some chance event. 

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire had a great format because each question after the $500 question essentially doubled the size of the pot, ($32,000 to $64,000), and that's not even factoring in the "minimum winning levels" past $32,000 where you couldn't leave with less than that after passed $32,000, as well as factoring in the fact if you got the quesiton right, you have a higher expected value to get to the million dollars, so that swung the odds in the contestant's favor to go for it. If the contestant was 50-50 about a question, narrowing down to 2 choices, then game theory says the contestant should go for it, even it's a blind guess between 2 choices. There were plenty of times watching where I yelled at the TV (retroactively from 20+ years in the future) after the contestant had narrowed it down with the 50-50 life line (or somehow was between just two) to GO FOR IT! But of course it's not my money, and Americans and poeple in general are irrational about money: For people who need every cent to get by in life, I get walking away with a certain amount of money, especially after the big stock market crash of 2000 wiping away people's fortunes. Then again, though, you walked into the studio with zero dollars, it's essentially a lottery, they're not taking money away from you..... it's all funny money for the game anyway, and a million dollars at that time (and even now, to an extent) is lifechanging money, $32,000 is not. For every contestant who walked away without guessing, you can think of it as taking their money and running, but you can also frame it as they're voluntarily giving up their chance to double their money right then and there, but also giving up the chance to continue to life-changing money, which $32,0000, or $64,000 or whatever, certainly is not. As their financial advisor (which I certainly am not qualified to be), I would have advised them to go for it. (especially if they're young with no kids, you have your whole life to make money if you don't get it). 

Who wants to be a millionaire is similar in many ways to Jeopardy because it tests some of the same material (which musical is about a performer named Louise who became a stripper? Answer: Louise), how many Von Trapp children were there in the musical Sound of Music, which was the only president not to be nominated by his party for a second term (at the time, now we have Joe Biden joining the record books! A: Franklin Pierce) but what's fascinating about is the format of multiple choice versus free response of Jeopardy. MJ loves multiple choice! And I get it: multiple choice gives you a fighting chance at a question even if you have no idea about what the answer is, and you don't have to reach deep in the crevices of your mind to come up with the name of a fish, a river, a Seven Wonder of the World, etc., so coming up with candidate answers itself is tough to do for most people. So yes I'm saying multiple choice is easier than free response. But of course that means the questions could be made harder whereas Jeopardy routinely offers some softballs like "which state is the Sunshine State" or something. Multiple choice also eliminates any wrong answers that you might have had that were not included in the given choices, in this case narrowing it to 4. It also allows you a chance to analyze all 4 choices to see what were the 3 in common and the 1 that sticks out, analyze the words given, the dates given, to see if it triggers something in your crevices. Not all questions, but definitely a good portion of questions, I would not have known after the question, but knew after the choices were given, like what's another name for "cerumen"- a.) earwax, b.) sweat, c.) saliva, d.) blood. I had some inclination of hearing that word somewhere, and it's in fact deep in my notebook of trivia questions I've compiled over the last 3 years, but I couldn't have come up with it unless........I just had a feeling when earwax came up that I had heard, that feeling of "bell ringing." At the same time, I think of the other ones in process of elimination, I've never heard of other names for sweat and saliva, and if there was one I wouldn't think it would be named cerumen. Plus, I would NOT have been able to answer the question backwards: If someone asked me on Jeopardy what was another name for earwax, I wouldn't be able to produce "cerumen." I don't even know how to pronounce it, I've never said it in a conversation in my life. But multiple choice, you don't need to say it for the first time ever on live TV, an extraordinarily difficult thing to do in a pressure-packed situation. But you don't need to do that in multiple choice, you just pick the one that's there (especially good if you'are a visual thinker). The beauty of multiple choice, on so many different levels. 

Oh and I loved the fastest-finger questions: always putting 4 different things in order, usually chronological order of what came first, time-wise, which is in my wheelhouse of remembering when things happened in history. I would have loved to get a crack at that show too (now that I'm much better than my 13-year-old self watching blankly about old TV shows I've never heard of like Hill Street Blues or Starsky and Hutch). it might still come back with Jimmy Kimmel! But no more fastest-finger questions, they just select contestants now to go directly the Hot Seat, I guess they don't want to risk having a dull contestant anymore or one that doesn't fit the demographic requirements that network TV needs to cast on their shows! 

Thirteen Lives

 I think for a lot of people, there's life before the pandemic, and life after the pandemic (and life during the pandemic). But usually people point to March 2020 when everything shut down as the natural dividing line between 2 types of lives. Before March 2020, I lived a life very much on the go, always looking for the next thing, reporting to work at least 5 days a week, very goal driven about making as much money as I possibly could, and life passed at a breakneck pace (or so it seems looking back on that lifestyle). I didn't focus on the world around me, as it was more about learning languages and playing dodgeball, almost in that oreder. I don't think MJ and I traveled to to as many places as we did neither, as I wasn't curious about it all, it was just noise. I had such tunnel vision that I missed out on one of the most compelling stories of 2018, the story of the Thai soccer team trapped in the caves. I did remember hearing brief updates about it interspersed with scores from the World Cup going on in Russia that year, but I may have just mixed it up with the Chilean miners from 2010, a completely different situation. To me Thailand was probably half a world away, with no connection to my world, and Thailand was not one of the languages I was interested in. That was also the summer of stocks taking off and my first summer of investing heavily in the market, so instead of international news I was trying to find the next Amazon, or next Microsoft, etc. 

My post-pandemic self is interested in learning about the things I missed pre-pandemic. I just watched the movie "Thirteen Lives" by Ron Howard starring Viggo Mortenson, Colin Ferrell, and Joel Egerton, and man Ron Howard does a great job at recruiting real life events and making us care about the characters. From Apollo 13 to Backdraft, I'm hooked by the real drama of these events, however accurate they are. There's some debate about how accurate some of the details are, and of course every movie is going to have some artistic license, but in general everything is true: a group of cave divers came to rescue the kids from an impossible situation where the floods had blocked off the entrance and divers had to swim hours just to get to the kids. They first had to find the kids (already 10 days in), then realized there was bad oxygen in the cave so they had a limited time to get them out, and of course impending storms would make the floods worse and make it even more impossible. I did NOT realize how close the kids were to not making it out alive, and it was kind of a miracle just to get any of them out at all, with a brilliant idea being born out of necessity to use anesthesia to conserve air and get them to not move and have the divers pull them out like cargo throught the caves. And somehow it worked, a medical device + escape story! Truly a made-for-TV event except it was real. And the cave collapsed on itself a few days later due to the rain and heavy flooding, so all the help from the rescue teams and the volunteers in the area keeping the water out of the caves really made a difference. Everyone involved was a credit to mankind. And I was just at work during the whole time, blissfully unaware of all the details and just only focusing on myself and my selfish circumstances, trying to make as much money as I could for myself. 

Thirteen Lives, for me at least, reminds me that there are more noble purposes in life than just going to work every day, and people who actually specialize in cave rescues (I'm sure there are all sorts of niche rescue workers like firefighters, volcano rescue teams, desert rescue teams, etc., but this was something I never heard of) and people risking their lives to help others. That team should have made international news and hailed as people of the year, but instead it probably went to some musician or politican or movie star because everyone loves popularity- just checked, in 2018 Time's Person of the Year was "The Guardians" of truth, so not bad, but in 2023 it was Taylor Swift, and I'd argue these rescue divers put a lot more on the line like their own safety than Taylor Swift ever has. (Just one man's opinion). The anesthesiologist/ rescue diver who checked the health of the 13 boys in the cavey, Richard "Harry" Harris, became lieutenant governor of South Australia, so I guess he did get a hero's welcome and credit went where it was due. Reminder for me to breathe the fresh air once in a while, read the news, get inspired by something, it's not always bad headlines and political news and the latest junk on social media, sometimes, once in a while, there are inspiring stories that make you feel good about life and want to make something out of one's life, more than just trying to make it through. 

Robin Williams

 Jeopardy recently had a category called "A 90s Kid," perfect for kids who grew up in America during the 1990s, in my opinion the best decade in history, right before 9/11, economy was on the up and up (America was actually running a surplus instead of increasing deficit like we are now), minimal wars, the CHICAGO BULLS, etc... it was great being a '90s kid. And part of being a '90s kid was the prevalence of Robin Williams the actor in my life. I had no concept of Robin Williams in his prior comedy career or his previous movie roles in The World According to Garp, Good, Morning Vietnam.... I just remember him in many of the movies made for kids/ families that I saw at the time: Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, Flubber, Jack... I remember specifically growing up with him on my screen many of the times and after growing up, still renting movies from Blockbuster (remember Blockbuster?) specifically to watch him, in movies like One Hour Photo (kind of a dud) and Insomnia. In most roles he was funny and made me laugh, even in serious roles like Good Will Hunting, and MJ often sites Dead Poets' Society as one of her favorite movies. (I remember my 7th grade English teacher had a poster of Dead Poets' Society in her classroom all the time, not sure if it was inspiring her teaching philosophy or more she just liked the movie or Robin Willaims. I guess one of life's deepest mysteries, I'll never know now). Not a single time watching his movies did I think that there was a deeply disturbed human behind the actor, who had a cocaine addictions in the 1970s and was struggling with alcohol and depression. Finally, the depression caught up to him in 2014 when it all became too tough to take and he took his own life by hanging, same way Anthony Bourdain died, another icon and guy I looked up to.

    In my adult life, I've come to understand that despite having a difficult childhood due to my weight and ehtnicity and overall appearance, I did not suffer from many physical problems or emotional problems, a very lucky break for me that I get to miss out on depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disease, or any number of various afflictions that can occur to a person. You can have addictions to a whole parade of horribles, from drugs to drinking to smoking to pornography to chocolate to painkillers to gambling. I realize that I'm pretty ignorant about these symptoms and diseases until it actually affects me, which is the case with trying to have a baby. But yea, depression is a really tough one because you're fighting against yourself, and you don't know when that bad side of depression is going to hit and life like a roller coaster of highs and lows, the most thrilling of highs but the deepest valley of lows. That may be why I don't see "I love you" as much to MJ, I just don't get those emotional highs as much and I'm not seeking them, but I also don't suffer the emotional lows and hitting rock bottom, I'm more of a go-cart stay on flat land kind of guy. Robin Williams was apparently not. His highest highs and lowest lows allow him to generate his talent to being a movie star and actor, and even the lows helped him craft stories about himself, but also eventually caused him to kill himself. 

    I'm now going to pay homage to Robin William's art by watching The Birdcage, another movie from those glorious 1990's (1996) where Robin plays a gay couple with Nathan Lane. Ah 1996, another election year, one for which I don't remember as much day to day drama as 2024. The good ole' days of getting home from school, finishing my homework, and watching Robin Williams come from the world inside a board game along with rhinos, hippos, and elephants and fight to beat the game so he can escape that world. And then watch that movie over and over again until I had to return it because it was the only selection I had, no Netflix or Amazon Prime or streaming services to have infinite choices from. The simpler times of life. 

Wrong Way Corrigan

 Douglas Corrigan was an aviator who had the misfortune of coming after Charles Lindergh's famous transantlatnic flight from New York to Paris in 1927, but in 1938 Corrigan did someting almost as famous in just the absurdity of his actions: He took a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, CA to Brooklyn, New York, and then he was supposed to take the flight back home to Long Beach, but instead due to "mechanical failure" and supposed misreading of his compass he wound up crossing the Atlantic and landed in Ireland, thus completely going the wrong direction he was supposed to go (indeed, almost the opposite opposite) thus earning himself the nickname "Wrong Way" Corrigan. He's probably one of the best cases in American history of someone doing something weird and off the cuff not for any award or merit or practical purposes, but just to get famous for doing something that absurd, the philosophy of "if I'm not going to be the best at something at least I can be the most memorable." It's now become a common technique in social media with prank videos of people rubbing people's hands on escalators, the Australian break dancer at the Olympics named Ray Gun who did an absurd dance that got zero points but everyone couldn't stop talking about her, more than even Simone Biles or Noah Lyles or any of the other major winners who got celebrated for their achievement. No, I think people have picked up on the fact that it's hard work to be the best and not everyone can make it, but it's not as hard and anyone can do something crazy and get attention, be the modern day "Wrong Way Corrigan." Just ask the "Hawk Tua Girl" who became famous overnight much like Ray Gun for something completely without merit but people just loved. 

As American society is going "Wrong Way Corrigan" with the people it chooses to give attention to, I feel like in some ways my life is going "Wrong Way Corrigan." For quite a while I always had a clear purpose in mind, to learn Japanese, become the best dodgeball player I can be, learn Korean and be able to converse in Korean, earn as money as I could at work to save up money, and then most recently learn as much trivia as I could. Those goals kept me hungry, kept me driven, kept me centered on my quest if you will towards a clear end point. Recently, however, I've felt more lost than anything, just because all my goals have stalled, have been completed, or I lost interest in them. I've lost the need to learn as much Japanese as I could, I'm no longer active in the dodgeball community and I've lost the hunger to prove myself in a kids game with no Olympic Games or really any recognition in the general American culture as a real sport (doesn't help that I'm 37 years old), earning money never gets old I guess but it's more of a "compelled to do" rather than something I get up eager to do in the mornign, and trivia.... still learning but starting to realize how little TV shows want someone like me to get on the show. Oh yea and fantasy baseball....why am I still stuck on it, even though I missed the playoffs this season and should be disattaching from such a trivial game with no meaningful practical application? I spend my days essentially working on my computer, getting distracted every 10 minutes to look at my phone for the next dopamine hit whether it's a chess clip or news item of someone "owning" someone. Oh and chess......I might be going wrong way in skill level, in some ways I'm improving my speed chess game but in other ways I might be worse than I was in high school, when I took it more seriously and didn't make as many mistakes because I was so locked in and wanted to win so bad. Now I'm just doing it casually, hae nothing to lose, and make sloppy mistakes. Going the wrong way in life.....I think at some point many adults feel it and feel like they've peaked, leading to a midlife crisis, but I don't necessarily think that's what I got, I just feel like the whole world is passing me by, and I'm just stuck in slow-mo or quicksand, or worse going the wrong way. 

Speaking of aviators, this weekend I went with some friends to the Camarillo Air Show in.....surprise, Camarillo, where my parents have lived for the last 20 years now. It's like the complete opposite of the world I normally reside in, with everyone watching the skies for pilots flying crazy patterns in the sky, with planes, helicopters, and all kinds of aerial vehicles and also parachuting out of some artistically. A lot of military people on site, from Air Force, Navy (like Top Gun) and Army, etc., all supporing the Air Show. I think if I had went a different route in life and joined a military organization out of college or even out of high school, I'd have a totally different experience and maybe even be flying an airplane at some point. That seems really liberating, to be flying above the clouds and seeing the lonely earth below. Some people say you forget about all the troubles of life when you reach outer space and look back at Earth, and realize it's just one big land mass, and there's so many different worlds out there. I imagine that's what aviators feel too when flying their own planes up there, basically free to go anywhere they want to go and not restricted by roads or gravity. No wonder Wrong Way Corrigan purposely took the wrong way and went to Ireland. 

Wealth Distribution (财富分配, 富の分配, 부의 분배)

 As Squid Game Season 2 is arriving later this year (2024!), I rewatched some of the first incredibly successful season of Squid Game, and couldn't help feel myself getting sucked in emotionally by the depths of despairs that the main characters suffer, mainly due to their lack of wealth, whether it be due to bad business investments, bad gambling habits, bad bosses, etc., their problems were caused by money and lack of it. It's telling that the 2 most successful cinematic successes in Korea, Parasite the movie, and Squid Game the TV series, both center on the theme of class inequality and wealth inequality. It's apparently a problem in South Korea, but it's also a problem in the U.S., China, literally every single country in the world. Wherever there are people, the wealthiest people want to stay rich, so the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. One of the most heartbreaking sequences in Squid Game is Episode 2, AFTER participating in the Red Light Green Light game and knowing of the full consequences of losing, Giheung goes back to real society and finds himself begging for money to help fund surgery for his diabetic mother, who can't afford the surgery because Giheung had sold the money for health insurance. How many people in the world have been placed in a similar situation and can resonate with that feeling? Unfortunately it is not a rare feeling in today's world, where many many people have to suffer so that a few people can live their dreams and make all the money they've ever wanted in the world. And it's not just because the wealthy people worked hard and deserved it more, that's a tiny drop of water in the pool of factors that make one rich, or poor enough to be desperate to ask one's ex-wife to help finance the surgery. It's devastating but very very real, as far as I can tell from visiting different communities in the U.S. and everywhere. The real world is so much different from what's depicted on TV of celebrities, parties, people having fun, luxury yachts; the real world is a world of thankless jobs, corporate bureacracy, paying for your mortgage and insurnace, dealing with mean bosses, paying money to coporations that don't care anything about you except your money. 

I can just so many of those interactions in Squid Game actually happening in real life, arguing vehemently about money, promising things you can't promise, being so far into debt there's no coming back from it, life is just miserable for those people. And it's more common than people think. 

In an election season that's turned really weird, I'm as disillusioned as ever about all these power-hungry people running for public office who want more power, to make themselves more famous and powerful and asking normal citizens for money to fund their campaign to get elected so they can be more powerful. All they want is your vote! It's just the same as companies running advertisements: all they want is your money. Some companies specifically benefit off of your inability to pay back your loans by charging usury-level rates. Basically rich people benefiting off of poor people, the rich robbing the poor to give to the rich. 

Today my parents and I went to a few open houses around the Los Angeles areas to see what kind of real estate money can buy....and the basic premise is, if you want anything that is livable in a decent neighborhood with amenities and working functions, it starts at a million dollars. Seriously, a million dollars. Not even counting property taxes, paying the realtors, condo association costs, repairs, redoing the carpet for some of these places, the starting price is just right there..... a million dollars. It's just an absurd amount for a normal house, and obviously it's that high because it's L.A. and inflation and a conglomeration of reasons, but the cold hard truth staring you in the face at the end is that price tag of a million dollars, something I thought basically made you rich when I was a kid. Now it just makes you an in-debt homeowner in Southern California. I make a pretty good salary way above the median salary in the U.S., and even I balked at the price; how does a normal person afford a house nowadays? It's just a product of the wealthy buying up all the best things in life (SoCal weather, good neighborhoods, near Trader Joe's, etc., etc.) and buying at high prices, and leaving the scraps for the rest of the world at inflated prices. That's the world we live in now, and if left unchecked it only gets worse. That's MY number 1 issue in this election, and I don't think based on either candidate just firing emotion-based and personality attacks against the other, that we're gonna get it. Because hey, the politicians are part of that wealthier class, what incentive do they have to change the system to take themselves down? 

Locks (锁, ロック, 자물쇠)

 Today a 40-year-old veteran locksmith came to my condo and fixed a bunch of my locks, an issue that I never thought much about when living in our condo but now when it's coming time to either sell it or lease it as a rental unit, it's so important to have everything working in the right order. It reminded me how many doors we have in our unit: We are the proud owners of at least 10 doors just in my 1400- sq ft unit, not even counting the front door of the unit, almost all of which come with a lock on it (come to find out, not very high quality locks by nature because the designers of the condo purposely skimped on inner doors). Turns out the problem with the lock not locking was that it just needed a little bit of readjusting to put it back in place, getting the lock to slide in and applying some WD-40 to get it to lubricate. There's a lot inside a lock we don't see, probably almost as complicated as what goes on inside a human brain. There were also locks in my home that I never use that I didn't even think about before the locksmith arrived, so he helped me better understand the home that we had purchased. And locksmiths, it turns out, are much sought after! It took a 3-week waiting list just to get this guy to come out. People need locks, not just for safety and security but also to put in their keyless AirBnB-friendly locks, change the locks after buying the unit from a previous owner because you never know who still has the keys from the previous owners, stuff like that. Another aspect of home ownership I didn't think about before buying, along with property taxes, "special surcharges," painting the walls, leaky roofs, old water heaters, and a host of other things. Good thing my condo has nice bay windows to look out of to make myself feel better. 

I think locks is one of those things I get triggered by, and it has manifested itself in the worst times because MJ has locked the door on me during an argument and I've become irrationally upset even though it's probably a good physical barrier to let both sides cool down before more damage is done (Good thing that particular lock was working!) I have some psychological trauma from locks, not the physical locks, I've never been locked inside a car or locked by myself in a meat locker or anything (ending of Season 1 of the Bear) but I've always felt locked out of the "cool people group" or out of the law firms I wanted a job at, or the top "elite" universities I applied to out of high school. Even though I live in probably one of the most free societies in the world where I can go almost anywhere anytime with money, a phone, and a car, I've felt locked out of certain levels of society, unwanted. It's easy to say people shouldn't be affected by popularity or having people like you, but I always felt I never got invited to the "VIP" table or the "cool college parties" or been allowed to move on in reality TV casting process, even the Game Show audition processs. I've always felt locked out, like something wasn't right about me, I just wasn't enough for other people, I have to bring something to the table for other people to like me and I just don't have it. That's why they say "college opens up so many doors" or "knowing so and so opened so many doors for me," I know what it's like to open those doors and I got really excited about opening them like being able to work at the jobs that I get selected for, or picked for dodgeball teams, or invited to friends' weddings. But the flip side is I also know the unspoken rejection of NOT being selected for a team, and how much it reminds me of not being able to sit at certain tables in high school, or people not wanting me to play with them, etc. Bruno Mars has a catchy song that goes, "I've been Locked Out of Heaven...." I definitely haven't been trapped in Hell or anything like that, I've been very lucky in life and get to do a lot of things many people in the world don't get to do, but I still can't help feeling I get deprived of some experiences because of these locks in society preventing me from getting in. 

I guess that's part of the frustration of not being being able to have a child yet, I've been made by society to feel like this big giant club of people who all have kids (including so many friends who have been invited to that party and are there now), and I'm just on the outside looking through the window at something I can't have, even though if I join the party I might find that the party isn't for everyone and might be more than some have bargained for, I still feel locked out of the cool kids' club..... more on that later as the marathon journey continues (hint: I visited a urologist recently and I may be locking myself out of heaven). 

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

 Contrary to popular belief, the popular phrase "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" is not from the Bible, it's from a 1697 play by William Congreve called the Mourning Bride. Soemtimes phrases are timeless and created to fit nicely into the English lexicon; they just capture the idea so smoothly. 

I realized recently I know all these trivia facts and general knowledge about the world, but I really don't know how a woman thinks, I've never seen the world like a woman would. Not to generalize all women into one type or anything, so many women behave so differently, but I would have liked a basic introduction and general overview of the female psychology and mind. As a child I grew up with a younger sister and a very involved mother, but I wouldn't say I was necessarily surrounded by women in my life; in fact I pretty much steered clear of any meaningful contact with girls my age, not really even being friends with any of them much less having any relationships. It was all just all dudes, all the time. (Which is hard enough if you ask me for teenage kids like me who tend to be unpopular to survive in social hierachies). Maybe I should have watched more movies about the female mindset than just the overly reductionist "What Women Want" or read more books like "Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars" (ironically written by a male authro), or more books with a female heroine or protagonist like "My Antonia" or "Little Women," "Anne of Green Gables" or even "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (written by a man, haha) instead of all male authors like Tom Clancy or Shakespeare or Dickens; real interaction with someone who could explain it better would have been extremely helpful too. Any older sister would have been very, very helpful to understand all the benefits that men have and don't have to deal with that women do. Hormones, emotions, so many body parts that need constant adjusting, need to look nice, need to discuss feelings and emotional attachment. I missed all of those when I was at chess club with all-male friends or at poker night with male buddies. As one of MJ's friends put it so elegantly, "woman are always thinking about the relationship, but the man is just thinking about lunch." 

Recently, I've suffered for my lack of understanding of the female mindset. You would think I would have learned by now after being married for 7 years, in a relationship for 8, but maybe being a man just means never truly understanding how a woman feels. I can easily brush off something that happened 10 minutes ago and move on to something else pretty quickly, our DNA is built differently. 

Sadly, I realize the TV shows and movies I watch also influence my man-centric thinking: just recently watched Jake Gyllenhall movie called "Guy Ritche's The Covenant" about US army in Afghanistan; total guy movie full of guns, shooting, heroism. No female presence in the entire movie, barely any woman in the movie. The Amazon.com TV show I'm into now, The Boys, is male-dominated: it's right there in the title. The show is kind of about men ruining the world, like Homelander the evil superhero manipulating the world with his superpowers. I just gravitate to these shows that have men in them, I guess that's what our society drives us towards. Obviously more female heroines in today's media, but I was ingrained as a kid to gravitate towards males. House of Dragon: essentially the story about 2 strong female characters turning into a family drama, I don't really like it as much as Game of Thrones, which was much more male-dominated. Do I have a male bias? Probably, so sometimes I do need to put on different glasses and look through a more feminine lens and think like they do. 

Breaking ( 霹雳舞, ブレイクダンス, 브레이크 댄스)

 Speaking of interesting things about the Olympics, one of the newest sports to be added to the Olympics this summer is called "breaking," also called "b-boying" or "b-girling." I respect breakdancers and all they do and ability to keep a rhythm and dance in ways I can never do on the dance floor (I always just embarrass myself at weddings), but what really qualifies as an Olympic sport anymore? More importantly, why has dodgeball not become an Olympic sport yet? Dodgeball at least has balls, keeping score, teams facing off head to head against each other..... what is b-boying? The others I've seen that are pretty banansas are "artistic swimming" (I get competitive swimming and racing to see who's faster, but I didn't even know swimming could be artistic). The amazing thing to me is that there are really good people who are masters at this, whom we never hear of except for this one event every 4 years. That could be dodgeball! I remember break dancing was a thing that was big among my junior in 8th grade, it was just "cool" that everyone would do, and one girl kept asking me every time I message her on AIM (AOL was big back then and instant messaging seemed like the cutting edge technology, which it kinda is still, the precursor to texting which is the only way people communicate nowadays) if I "learned how to break yet." I'm pretty sure she was joking, or saying it in a "no way this guy does that" kind of way because I was nerdy, unathletic, overweight, wore glasses, and definitely wouldn't be the kind of guy who did "breaking," but maybe I should have insisted on signing up. Maybe I'd be an Olympic champion by now. 

Also at the Olympics: cool Korean shooter Yeji Kim is lighting up the Internet, exuding "main character energy." Pretty easy way to look good in front of a camera: shoot something. Really stylish. 

Today I saw it.....very depressing signs around the local university around my house while on my jog: Welcome Class of 2028! I get why colleges put those signs up, to welcome the freshmen and foster a sense of community and belonging at the university, but boy oh boy does it make people out of college and have been for a long time feel old. I remember in 2010 I was running around USC and saw signs saying "Welcome class of 2014!" and thought, boy that's a long time away. or was it in 2014 seeing signs for Class of 2018? Whatever it was, that time has long passed by. Cruel, Cruel summer. (Banarama song, and Taylor Swift song). I guess it is already August now, and college kids are moving back in for college, but I wasn't ready. 

Speaking of songs, I've been watching old re-runs of trivia shows now that Jeopardy's most recent season is over (just a 6-week hiatus, but still, feeling lost without it) and watching "Win Ben Stein's Money." Cool show, Jimmy Kimmel was the host for most of it before he went onto bigger and better things. The set of questions for the late 1990's and 2000 was very differnet than what it is now, but sometimes it still makes me happy to get the history questions right, or remember. The other show right in the same time period is Jeff Probst (still hosting Survivor seasons now!) hosting Rock and Roll Jeopardy, about just popular music of the 60's - 90's. There's a LOT I don't know. Reminds me of a whole world of music and facts that I've missed out on in life, kind of like breakdancing. The cool thing about band trivia is the name of the bands are pretty entertaining as well as their origins. Mister Mister was from the band members referring to each other sarcastically like in a rival band's album, Twisted Sister, Iron Maiden came from the name of a torture device, etc. It's all pretty cool stuff.