It's that time of year again: A string of holidays that promote the consumption of candy, chocolate, and other sweets. The offending holidays' names? Halloween (all about candy), Thanksgiving (you need some dessert and apple pie to balance out all the turkey and gravy, right?), Christmas (Candy canes and silver lanes aglow and all that), then a sneaky one because it's the next calendar year but still in that winter season: Valentine's Day in February, and in Japan there's even a BACKWARDS Valentine's Day called White Day where there's even more chocolate consumed......Really a damning time for our already inflated waistlines, especially with all the processed sugars in candy, the winter hibernation and sitting around and cold weather really doesn't help any of that.
Continuing the rant (It's not over!), candy is the one food that actually gives no nutritional value! All it does is give people a sugar high and doesn't fill them up (actually does the opposite by giving a stomache). Count running out after sugar too, because sugar that tricky fellow gives a quick boost of energy for like the first minute of the run, you feel on top of the world, and then it rips the high from under you and there's a major crash, no energy.
My personal nutritionist (she also happens to be my wife) tells me that we should eat a lot of foods that have different colors because they all have different nutrients to them.....especially green, red, purple, orange, etc.......that's awesome for a salad. But chocolate.......chocolates have all the wrong colors, the thick coating of brown, the milk chocolate white indicating dairy, cheese, and richness.....and the golden yellow of peanut butter, very ominous colors for a healthy lifestyle. Also black? really dark chocolate = really bad for teeth.
With all those caveats to discourage kids from eating candy and getting hooked on candy, here are my top candies to have (if you must, use with extreme discretion):
1.) Snickers: Hungry? Why wait. The heyday of the chocolate/sweets industry left us with so many great commercials, and their advertising campaign still produces great ones like "You're not yourself when you're hungry. Have a snickers." Couple that with the rich creamy milk chocolate and peanut butter taste, it's what most people think about when they think of a chocolate bar.
2.) Kit Kat: Gimme a break, gimme a break. Break me off a piece of that.....(even featured in an episode of The Office, Andy trying to sing that song, it was so mainstream). Very crispy, has its name ingrained on each piece for more subliminal enforcement, wafer-style makes me want it just thinking about it. Also comes in Green Tea now, and Japanese people give them out for people taking exams as encouragement because it sounds like "Must win" in Japanese.
3.) M&M's: still people dressing up in the colorful costumes and used to own a M&M shaped chair. Like the variety of peanut butter, cinnamon, and the ability to stop after consuming just a few pieces of regret.
Further down: Reese's gets mushed too much
Underrated: Almond Joy. Almond + chocolate + coconut = enough of a taste differentiation from other chocolates to feel really special (ever notice how some chocolates just mix together and it all starts tasting the same after a while?)
Only consume if you're in a bind and there's literally no under candy around: Hershey's. Bland, no innovation, maybe they shouldn't stay "unchanged since 1899" anymore and actually like, you know, evolve and improve .
Snickers's inferior cousins: 3 Musketeers, Milky Way.
Twizzler's or Red Vine: really, are these even candies?
Seriously though, I can't believe my parents let me consume all this stuff when I was a kid and ruin my teeth/my diet/ become chubby! They're scientists too, they should know about addiction! I had to become an adult to detox on all these sugars! Shame! Only give ONE piece of candy as a reward for eating a WHOLE salad or doing a FULL workout. Nothing tastes good anymore after eating candy, and the artificial of it all comes out. Eat sweet fruits like grapes or oranges as a replacement, you'll thank me later, kids of the world.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Monday, November 6, 2017
中華街 (Chinatown)
Whenever I go to a new city, I'm interested in ballparks, tallest buildings, landmark structures, statues, and.....where its Chinatown is located. My first residence in America was near Chicago's Chinatown, after all. Like major airports and sports teams, a city is not complete without its Chinatown.
I've lived in Los Angeles and surrounding areas for several years now, and there are some atypical things about this city: the lack of tall buildings in downtown, the lack of public transportation (one of the only cities I've ever been to without a direct train ride form the main airport (LAX) to downtown, or anywhere for that matter), the proximity to the beach and large expanse of beach land, the forced relocation of many families from Chavez Ravine to build a baseball stadium (Dodger Stadium), etc., etc. This past Friday night, MJ and I visited one of the more puzzling aspects of the city, to me: the relatively abandoned Chinatown.
First of all, there are 2 Chinatowns in Los Angeles, "old Chinatown" near L.A. downtown and then "new Chinatown" in the San Gabriel Valley areas of Monterrey Park, Alhambra, etc. As far as I can remember, my family has only ever gone to the "new Chinatown," and left the "old Chinatown" behind. But as MJ and I walked down the mostly-abandoned streets of Broadway and Main making up the main areas of old Chinatown (you can even find street parking, which is a sure sign an area is not busy!) we couldn't help but wonder why the place wasn't more bustling with activity. It's got a lot going for it:
1.) location near downtown L.A. and Dodger Stadium: I pass Chinatown every time I run from my office in downtown L.A. to Elysian Park and Dodger Stadium. It's a short bus ride away from downtown and even has a gold line subway stop now connecting to L.A. Union Station. It's more accessible than the airport and much closer to the financial center! Don't have to wait in traffic!
2.) Recognizable film presence! Rush Hour starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker was filmed at the Foo Chow Restaurant and it's displayed prominently on its walls attracting patrons to come in, as well as parts of Lala Land.
3.) New restaurants springing up! MJ was very interested in Howlin' Rays, a fried chicken joint imitating the famous Nashville hot chicken places. Videos showed lines formed for lunch, but the restaurant was closed by 4PM on a Friday! Incredible, indicating that there's demand for stuff, just not at dinner, when people go to more hip areas of Los Angeles. The legendary french dip sandwich place called Philippe's is also there. The place is just brimming with history and tradition!
4.) New residential developments cropping up, although local residents (mostly Chinese and Hispanic) are not happy because the higher-end shops and residents they're attracting are not the type that fit the local tradition.
5.) Food's pretty good and cheap! People love Chinese food! Store owners seemed to be Chinese and making authentic Chinese food (dim sum!) and prices were certainly low enough to get my attention as opposed to blowing $60 plus on the newest trendy joint in Hollywood/Santa Monica.
L.A. supposedly is an upcoming and city, and there are new areas that become hip and trendy, so there's definitely hope for "old Chinatown" to have a makeover, especially the convenient real estate where it sits. I just wish that on a Friday night after a long week for Los Angeles residents where Halloween happened and the Dodgers lost an epic 7-game World Series and have many reasons to disperse of some pent-up energy, that MJ and I would not be the only ones sitting in a decent Chinese restaurant (the B rating just shows how authentic and hole-in-a-wall it is!) and disappointed to find that the hot chicken place we heard so much about was closed. Free Chinatown! Make old Chinatown great again!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
I've lived in Los Angeles and surrounding areas for several years now, and there are some atypical things about this city: the lack of tall buildings in downtown, the lack of public transportation (one of the only cities I've ever been to without a direct train ride form the main airport (LAX) to downtown, or anywhere for that matter), the proximity to the beach and large expanse of beach land, the forced relocation of many families from Chavez Ravine to build a baseball stadium (Dodger Stadium), etc., etc. This past Friday night, MJ and I visited one of the more puzzling aspects of the city, to me: the relatively abandoned Chinatown.
First of all, there are 2 Chinatowns in Los Angeles, "old Chinatown" near L.A. downtown and then "new Chinatown" in the San Gabriel Valley areas of Monterrey Park, Alhambra, etc. As far as I can remember, my family has only ever gone to the "new Chinatown," and left the "old Chinatown" behind. But as MJ and I walked down the mostly-abandoned streets of Broadway and Main making up the main areas of old Chinatown (you can even find street parking, which is a sure sign an area is not busy!) we couldn't help but wonder why the place wasn't more bustling with activity. It's got a lot going for it:
1.) location near downtown L.A. and Dodger Stadium: I pass Chinatown every time I run from my office in downtown L.A. to Elysian Park and Dodger Stadium. It's a short bus ride away from downtown and even has a gold line subway stop now connecting to L.A. Union Station. It's more accessible than the airport and much closer to the financial center! Don't have to wait in traffic!
2.) Recognizable film presence! Rush Hour starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker was filmed at the Foo Chow Restaurant and it's displayed prominently on its walls attracting patrons to come in, as well as parts of Lala Land.
3.) New restaurants springing up! MJ was very interested in Howlin' Rays, a fried chicken joint imitating the famous Nashville hot chicken places. Videos showed lines formed for lunch, but the restaurant was closed by 4PM on a Friday! Incredible, indicating that there's demand for stuff, just not at dinner, when people go to more hip areas of Los Angeles. The legendary french dip sandwich place called Philippe's is also there. The place is just brimming with history and tradition!
4.) New residential developments cropping up, although local residents (mostly Chinese and Hispanic) are not happy because the higher-end shops and residents they're attracting are not the type that fit the local tradition.
5.) Food's pretty good and cheap! People love Chinese food! Store owners seemed to be Chinese and making authentic Chinese food (dim sum!) and prices were certainly low enough to get my attention as opposed to blowing $60 plus on the newest trendy joint in Hollywood/Santa Monica.
L.A. supposedly is an upcoming and city, and there are new areas that become hip and trendy, so there's definitely hope for "old Chinatown" to have a makeover, especially the convenient real estate where it sits. I just wish that on a Friday night after a long week for Los Angeles residents where Halloween happened and the Dodgers lost an epic 7-game World Series and have many reasons to disperse of some pent-up energy, that MJ and I would not be the only ones sitting in a decent Chinese restaurant (the B rating just shows how authentic and hole-in-a-wall it is!) and disappointed to find that the hot chicken place we heard so much about was closed. Free Chinatown! Make old Chinatown great again!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Saturday, November 4, 2017
口出し and わりこみ - Interrupting someone
Speaking to other kids was a chore as a kid. No rules to social etiquette, so lots of speaking whenever one wanted (irresponsibly), butting in to someone else's sentence without a second thought. Upon becoming an adult one learns a lot about how to behave, unwritten rules about proper etiquette in various types of situations, but people still butt in and break the rules . It's often not listed in a handbook or cheat sheet anywhere (although, I've always advocated for a "How to be an Adult" guide for those who don't get it, but it's a subtle art to master everything. One of the most important indicators of someone "getting it" is when to jump into a conversation, avoiding interrupting someone.
It depends on the culture, but it's important to let someone finish their sentence or train of thought. This is often indicated by the sentence losing steam or coming to an end, at which point there is a slight pause and an opportunity is presented to give one's own thoughts and reply to what the speaker had just said. This is often an important time also to let anyone else who's listening get a chance to speak, so as not to monopolize the conversation. It's called being courteous and being considerate of others. Sometimes, even around my "friend circle" and very educated adults, the etiquette of not "cutting in" gets lost as people just jump in with their own ideas without letting someone finish their own thought.
1.) Often, Japanese people complete their conversation partner's sentence for them. This is actually considered polite if it's just to confirm what they were saying, not just jumping off into a new topic and totally dismissing what the original speaker said.
2.) Someone who always butts in can be diagnosed as "not being able to read the air," or just not gauging the atmosphere, unable to read the room. "Reading the room" is one of the most important cliches in social circles, knowing who is who and who has what agenda, who is friends and allied with whom, those are super important.
3.) If you do happen to interrupt someone who wasn't done talking, apologize and ask him/her were finished .Let him or her finish.
4.) One of the most frustrating things when talking in a group is having a great follow-up or joke right after original speaker is done speaker, but someone else jumps in first and takes the topic in a different direction, and the joke/thought doesn't make any sense anymore.
5.) What happens if 2 more more speakers start speaking at the same time? BOTH should stop! Then make eye contact and defer based on various factors like age, sex (ladies first!), and then maybe urgency to make the point, how much each potential speaker has been given a chance to speak earlier, etc. Whatever the case, don't just keep talking thinking the others will stop by their own accord! Some inconsiderate people will just keep talking in a daring game of "chicken" to see if the other person will just stop if they're persistent enough. HAVE COMMON COURTESY!
6.) If you originally interrupted somebody when starting your thought but made the statement anyway, at the end of your statement direct it to the interrupted party by going "sorry what did you want to say?" etc. By this time they might have lost all interest to speak and clammed up but it's important to give them a chance to get back into the conversation that they just got elbowed out of.
7.) It's different when engaging in a domestic quibble/fight/verbal battle/ debate. In those ways words are used as a weapon in a mounting conflict, so I understand sometimes emotions and competiton getting in the way of things and things being blurted out. But in fights (MJ and I unfortunately do this and know all too well!) it might more important than usual to listen to what the other person says first before blurting one's own thoughts.
"Warikomu" in japanese can mean either cutting into a conversation OR the traditional sense of cutting in line, and line-cutting is definitely something society needs some rules for. Can you cut in line if your partner/friend was saving a spot for you? If it's ok for 1 person, what about 6 or 7 people coming into the line with just 1 person holding a spot? Is that OK? Are lines even an effective way to order people anymore? (maybe create a market where people who pay more get to go to front of line?) There's definitely been times I thought I was in line, then someone just comes in from somewhere else and doesn't see the imaginary construct I created and just goes up to the front, leaving the line in his or dust. I'm super conscious now of it and make sure I ask if anyone is in line BEFORE I step to the front of the register nowadays to make sure I'm not hypocritically committing my own pet peeve.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
It depends on the culture, but it's important to let someone finish their sentence or train of thought. This is often indicated by the sentence losing steam or coming to an end, at which point there is a slight pause and an opportunity is presented to give one's own thoughts and reply to what the speaker had just said. This is often an important time also to let anyone else who's listening get a chance to speak, so as not to monopolize the conversation. It's called being courteous and being considerate of others. Sometimes, even around my "friend circle" and very educated adults, the etiquette of not "cutting in" gets lost as people just jump in with their own ideas without letting someone finish their own thought.
1.) Often, Japanese people complete their conversation partner's sentence for them. This is actually considered polite if it's just to confirm what they were saying, not just jumping off into a new topic and totally dismissing what the original speaker said.
2.) Someone who always butts in can be diagnosed as "not being able to read the air," or just not gauging the atmosphere, unable to read the room. "Reading the room" is one of the most important cliches in social circles, knowing who is who and who has what agenda, who is friends and allied with whom, those are super important.
3.) If you do happen to interrupt someone who wasn't done talking, apologize and ask him/her were finished .Let him or her finish.
4.) One of the most frustrating things when talking in a group is having a great follow-up or joke right after original speaker is done speaker, but someone else jumps in first and takes the topic in a different direction, and the joke/thought doesn't make any sense anymore.
5.) What happens if 2 more more speakers start speaking at the same time? BOTH should stop! Then make eye contact and defer based on various factors like age, sex (ladies first!), and then maybe urgency to make the point, how much each potential speaker has been given a chance to speak earlier, etc. Whatever the case, don't just keep talking thinking the others will stop by their own accord! Some inconsiderate people will just keep talking in a daring game of "chicken" to see if the other person will just stop if they're persistent enough. HAVE COMMON COURTESY!
6.) If you originally interrupted somebody when starting your thought but made the statement anyway, at the end of your statement direct it to the interrupted party by going "sorry what did you want to say?" etc. By this time they might have lost all interest to speak and clammed up but it's important to give them a chance to get back into the conversation that they just got elbowed out of.
7.) It's different when engaging in a domestic quibble/fight/verbal battle/ debate. In those ways words are used as a weapon in a mounting conflict, so I understand sometimes emotions and competiton getting in the way of things and things being blurted out. But in fights (MJ and I unfortunately do this and know all too well!) it might more important than usual to listen to what the other person says first before blurting one's own thoughts.
"Warikomu" in japanese can mean either cutting into a conversation OR the traditional sense of cutting in line, and line-cutting is definitely something society needs some rules for. Can you cut in line if your partner/friend was saving a spot for you? If it's ok for 1 person, what about 6 or 7 people coming into the line with just 1 person holding a spot? Is that OK? Are lines even an effective way to order people anymore? (maybe create a market where people who pay more get to go to front of line?) There's definitely been times I thought I was in line, then someone just comes in from somewhere else and doesn't see the imaginary construct I created and just goes up to the front, leaving the line in his or dust. I'm super conscious now of it and make sure I ask if anyone is in line BEFORE I step to the front of the register nowadays to make sure I'm not hypocritically committing my own pet peeve.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
청개구리 (The Green Frog)
Just learned more Korean today! (Was very inspired by the "Do you want to eat some ramyeon?" idiom from last night). Apparently, a green frog is a rebellious child who does the opposite of what his mother tells him (or her? not sure but I feel like it's more likely to be a son) to do. So the mom, anticipating the son to do the opposite of what she says, tells him to bury her near the river, thinking he'll do the opposite, but instead he actually for once in his pathetic life does what he's told and honors his mom's last wish, and the mom's body washes away when the river swells up. First of all, sad story, and a great lesson about not burying people in low sea levels, but I feel for the parents! Some kids are just born to never follow directions, and you never know when these "green frogs" will finally mature and turn into full adults and actually get it. It could be really early (teens), 20's, or never! It's different for everyone. Second of all, these are the kinds of stories parents deliberately tell their kids to affect behavior, and now having gone through that process I see how effective it is. It's like the story of Santa Clause to get kids to behave well, or Gods, or the story of the Boogeyman, or that there are sharks in the ocean that will eat them if they go too far out, or that if you swallow gum it'll take 7 years to pass through your system, etc., etc. As a lawyer it sounds like the kids should band together as a class action and sue their parents for fraud and deliberating misrepresentation, but as parents it's brilliant: kids will always be curious if parents tell them "NOT to do something," they'll inevitably want to do it. (Should have told the kids recently who threw rocks on a highway overpass and killed a driver with a rock- horrible story, every car driver and passenger's worst nightmare) You need something so scary but believable to scare the kids straight into not doing that activity, ever.
I often feel like the green frog in my relationship with MJ. She says don't get blood on the towels, I inevitably get blood on the towels. She says don't put fruit garbage in the wastebasket because they attract fruit flies (and instead put them in the freezer, an ingenious idea I never thought of), I inevitably leave some fruit in the wastebasket. Maybe one day she will say the opposite of what she wants to happen and that'll be the one time I finally heed her orders! Maybe she should make up a story about bad stuff that will happen (like if I don't pick up all my nails I'll turn into a green frog or something, and it'll effect change- incentives drive people's actions).
The green frog is just one in several animal imagery words Koreans use, like "all women are foxes, all mean are wolves." I love animal imagery when learning language, which is pretty universal in most languages: we learn faster things we can visualize, like equating women to the image of a fox, as opposed to all the different ways to say "agree" or "support" that have so many different variations and require the most brutal method of rote memorization. I feel like if corporate tax law or the California Code of Civil Procedure had animal metaphors and laws that were named after animals or related to animals, I (and many others) would remember a lot more of them. (OR if the punishment for felonies was something incredible like the offenders will turn into green frogs or something)
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
I often feel like the green frog in my relationship with MJ. She says don't get blood on the towels, I inevitably get blood on the towels. She says don't put fruit garbage in the wastebasket because they attract fruit flies (and instead put them in the freezer, an ingenious idea I never thought of), I inevitably leave some fruit in the wastebasket. Maybe one day she will say the opposite of what she wants to happen and that'll be the one time I finally heed her orders! Maybe she should make up a story about bad stuff that will happen (like if I don't pick up all my nails I'll turn into a green frog or something, and it'll effect change- incentives drive people's actions).
The green frog is just one in several animal imagery words Koreans use, like "all women are foxes, all mean are wolves." I love animal imagery when learning language, which is pretty universal in most languages: we learn faster things we can visualize, like equating women to the image of a fox, as opposed to all the different ways to say "agree" or "support" that have so many different variations and require the most brutal method of rote memorization. I feel like if corporate tax law or the California Code of Civil Procedure had animal metaphors and laws that were named after animals or related to animals, I (and many others) would remember a lot more of them. (OR if the punishment for felonies was something incredible like the offenders will turn into green frogs or something)
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Monday, October 30, 2017
逆転勝ち (Come-from-behind victory)
October 29, 2017 will live in most people's memories as the Sunday right before Halloween (Tuesday this year), or Week 8 of the 2017 NFL season, or the weekend Robert Mueller announced there would be indictments coming out on Monday for the Trump administration's Russia investigation, but for baseball enthusiasts and Los Angeles/ Houston residents it will be forever remembered as one of the best baseball games ever played, Game 5 of the 2017 World Series. For MJ and I, it will be remembered as the first time MJ and I watched a baseball game together almost from start to finish (and it was 5.5 hours long!) and even listened in a brief pause to the radio broadcast of the game! It took a really special game to do that, and this game was definitely it.
For most of us, the unknown is an exciting prospect, it's in fact a huge motivation for the will to live. We want to know what happens next, how that exotic food tastes, what we got on our test, what monsters await in the haunted house, etc., etc. Whole economies are driven by it, like the video game industry luring gamers into new worlds packed with thrilling surprises and unbeatable bosses (Playstation's ad recently capitalizes on that, blatantly telling gamers that they're catering to the common person's sense of wandering into the unknown.) It's in our blood, our DNA, our ancestors did it and explored, there's a sense of excitement about getting to uncover a secret, getting to know something that we didn't know before. It's why I (on a whim) took MJ to the Palos Verdos South Coast Botanical Garden today, we were going to go to the beach but I just could not hold back from stopping by the new place and find out what's there. Answer: nothing too exciting, and more a park than a garden, but now I have the satisfaction of knowing. I've conquered the unknown.
Sports operate mostly the same way. It would be boring if people just told us what the score was, we want to know by watching the game and seeing how it plays out, thus providing ourselves the experience of conquering the unknown. Most baseball games, unfortunately, get boring because the results are known (or are assumed to be known) after a certain score is achieved or a team goes ahead by enough runs. But on the night of October 29, 2017, nothing was known about the game until the final score: 13-12, in 10 innings. If there's anything that can be gathered about the game, it's that score: baseball games never go 12-12. Even if one team scores 12 runs (very unlikely), the other team almost never scores exactly 12 too.....it's usually a blowout, like 12-1, 12-2. What was also unique about this game was how many ties there were: one team jumped out to a lead, and the other tried to come-from-behind, the most exciting type of game. In any sports game, one team takes the lead, and unless you're a diehard fan of the other team, your competitiveness and thirst for a good game wants the losing team to come from behind and catch up to make it exciting, because in a tie game or something close to it, there's a thrill of not knowing who's going to win, especially in the game of anticipation, baseball.
And now, even though the Dodgers are down 3-2, the World Series heads back to Los Angeles for a game (maybe 2!), and the unknown of what might happen on Tuesday (Halloween night!) will drive fans crazy wanting to known. Enjoy!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan.
For most of us, the unknown is an exciting prospect, it's in fact a huge motivation for the will to live. We want to know what happens next, how that exotic food tastes, what we got on our test, what monsters await in the haunted house, etc., etc. Whole economies are driven by it, like the video game industry luring gamers into new worlds packed with thrilling surprises and unbeatable bosses (Playstation's ad recently capitalizes on that, blatantly telling gamers that they're catering to the common person's sense of wandering into the unknown.) It's in our blood, our DNA, our ancestors did it and explored, there's a sense of excitement about getting to uncover a secret, getting to know something that we didn't know before. It's why I (on a whim) took MJ to the Palos Verdos South Coast Botanical Garden today, we were going to go to the beach but I just could not hold back from stopping by the new place and find out what's there. Answer: nothing too exciting, and more a park than a garden, but now I have the satisfaction of knowing. I've conquered the unknown.
Sports operate mostly the same way. It would be boring if people just told us what the score was, we want to know by watching the game and seeing how it plays out, thus providing ourselves the experience of conquering the unknown. Most baseball games, unfortunately, get boring because the results are known (or are assumed to be known) after a certain score is achieved or a team goes ahead by enough runs. But on the night of October 29, 2017, nothing was known about the game until the final score: 13-12, in 10 innings. If there's anything that can be gathered about the game, it's that score: baseball games never go 12-12. Even if one team scores 12 runs (very unlikely), the other team almost never scores exactly 12 too.....it's usually a blowout, like 12-1, 12-2. What was also unique about this game was how many ties there were: one team jumped out to a lead, and the other tried to come-from-behind, the most exciting type of game. In any sports game, one team takes the lead, and unless you're a diehard fan of the other team, your competitiveness and thirst for a good game wants the losing team to come from behind and catch up to make it exciting, because in a tie game or something close to it, there's a thrill of not knowing who's going to win, especially in the game of anticipation, baseball.
And now, even though the Dodgers are down 3-2, the World Series heads back to Los Angeles for a game (maybe 2!), and the unknown of what might happen on Tuesday (Halloween night!) will drive fans crazy wanting to known. Enjoy!
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
World Series ( ワールドシリーズ) and おなら
For the second straight year, the city that I'm currently living/working in is hosting the World Series. And if the 2016 Chicago Cubs was any indication, the millions of (newly indoctrinated, it seems like) Los Angeles Dodgers fans will be very very happy in less than a week. Living in a city that is part of a World Series is exciting, there is a buzz in the air every day that you can sense through conversations on public transportation, the amount of sports gear that people are wearing (still not very many in L.A., to be honest, people gotta be stylish), radio reports, lunch conversations at the company breakroom, mass quantities of people gathering at the stadium and blocking up traffic hours before the game even begins, and the amount of people stuffed into bars during game time to witness the event. I personally avoided all the hype in Chicago last year, but bars were charging $200-$300 cover just to get INTO the bars and be part of the festive atmosphere of rooting for the Cubs with other crazy drunk fans. There's really nothing like celebrating a World Championship though and the thrill of the victory parade embracing a city though. Dodgers fans, more than the spoiled Lakers fans who had many years of consecutive success that it got a little dull, deserve this: Dodgers haven't won the World Series in many fans' lifetimes, just like Chicago.
A World Series game or bar showing the game would be an excellent place to let go of a loud, unadulterated fart, or onara in Japanese. 65,000 screaming fans at Dodger Stadium, open air to the natural confines of Chavez Ravine so the fart wouldn't contaminate the air, etc. It's becoming a troubling issue for me, the increased occurrence of farts, or the need to do so. I used to have excellent "butt control" for farts to restrain them and force them back down, but recently they've become more widespread and dangerous, like wildfires spreading in the Southern California mountains.
Embarrassing situations recently where I've farted:
1.) While running: it's becoming the number 1 time when my body feels loose and ready to emit all the toxins and gases it's built up over the day. It's not fun, though, to be running and let out an audible "pfff" just as I'm passing a fellow pedestrian.
2.) In an elevator when I think I'm alone, but suddenly the doors open and in walks an unsuspecting fellow occupier of the building. There's only one real culprit: the secrecy and feeling of being alone backfires as a telltale sign that I'm the culprit.
3.) In an air conditioned car: at least you can roll the windows down.
4.) In the bathroom with no music playing, and you know other people are occupying the bathroom. (Louis CK the comedian did a funny skit about this). Everyone knows what's going on, but it's still awkward enough to avoid eye contact.
5.) I've gotten too used to MJ being around that I've let my guard down and farted in front of her too many times without trying to hold back. Every time I do it, I feel like a little bit of her ever-lasting respect for me dies. (As I write this, MJ farted while sleeping next to me. So maybe she can read my mine and subconsciously gets some revenge on me by doing the same).
6.) A couple times in my life I've had to restrain myself so hard to suppress a fart that someone asked if I was OK, and other times when I try to restrain the fart the stomach growls almost as loud as a fart, like an internal bomb going off that's barely covered by the outer skin layer.
7.) Getting up into an airplane can REALLY cause stomach queasiness and farting. I recommend not eating too much before getting on a flight, and it's the worst place to get caught farting: everyone knows it's you, and there's no where to escape the shame.
How to cure farts? Pretty obvious to avoid oily or fatty foods and eat more salads and such, but also not eating at random times: midnight snacking is REALLY conducive to "getting gassy," as MJ and I refer to it as.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
A World Series game or bar showing the game would be an excellent place to let go of a loud, unadulterated fart, or onara in Japanese. 65,000 screaming fans at Dodger Stadium, open air to the natural confines of Chavez Ravine so the fart wouldn't contaminate the air, etc. It's becoming a troubling issue for me, the increased occurrence of farts, or the need to do so. I used to have excellent "butt control" for farts to restrain them and force them back down, but recently they've become more widespread and dangerous, like wildfires spreading in the Southern California mountains.
Embarrassing situations recently where I've farted:
1.) While running: it's becoming the number 1 time when my body feels loose and ready to emit all the toxins and gases it's built up over the day. It's not fun, though, to be running and let out an audible "pfff" just as I'm passing a fellow pedestrian.
2.) In an elevator when I think I'm alone, but suddenly the doors open and in walks an unsuspecting fellow occupier of the building. There's only one real culprit: the secrecy and feeling of being alone backfires as a telltale sign that I'm the culprit.
3.) In an air conditioned car: at least you can roll the windows down.
4.) In the bathroom with no music playing, and you know other people are occupying the bathroom. (Louis CK the comedian did a funny skit about this). Everyone knows what's going on, but it's still awkward enough to avoid eye contact.
5.) I've gotten too used to MJ being around that I've let my guard down and farted in front of her too many times without trying to hold back. Every time I do it, I feel like a little bit of her ever-lasting respect for me dies. (As I write this, MJ farted while sleeping next to me. So maybe she can read my mine and subconsciously gets some revenge on me by doing the same).
6.) A couple times in my life I've had to restrain myself so hard to suppress a fart that someone asked if I was OK, and other times when I try to restrain the fart the stomach growls almost as loud as a fart, like an internal bomb going off that's barely covered by the outer skin layer.
7.) Getting up into an airplane can REALLY cause stomach queasiness and farting. I recommend not eating too much before getting on a flight, and it's the worst place to get caught farting: everyone knows it's you, and there's no where to escape the shame.
How to cure farts? Pretty obvious to avoid oily or fatty foods and eat more salads and such, but also not eating at random times: midnight snacking is REALLY conducive to "getting gassy," as MJ and I refer to it as.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Monday, October 23, 2017
따돌림 (Bullying)
Bullying, unfortunately, is present everywhere. It's present in classrooms, on playgrounds, it's present in America, in Europe, in Asia. It's not just constrained among kids, they just bully people because they don't know any better. Adults know better but they still bully other people.
Definition:
use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants.
It's the use of superiority to bully other people. Different levels of power exist anywhere, not just at school. Look at our presidency and major leaders in Hollywood, just as an example. Employers have power over employees, police officers have power over regular citizens (false arrests), Hollywood producers using their power to coerce female actresses into doing things they don't want to do. it exists at every level of society. It's one of the easiest things to do when one gets power: abuse it by exerting that power on others, whether it's because you were the victim of the same kind of power abuse before, you secretly enjoy it, whatever the cause. Adults should know better; kids bully because they are not conscious of doing it, and are insecure themselves, and a variety of other developmental issues, etc., but kids bullying other kids is one of the most underrated issues never to hit the national media, it doesn't appear in headlines, it doesn't show up in trendy videos or campaign speeches because kids don't vote and don't have their voice heard as much as adults, which makes it that much scarier.
Recently Burger King (of all companies, Burger King) released an ad in which a 10-year-old (or so) is bullied by his friends at a Burger King, and adult customers in the store are monitored to see if they do anything about the bullying. Unfortunately, many don't. If I saw bullying at a restaurant, I'm not sure I would intervene neither. Laws in this country disincentive people from stepping into other people's business, there's been situations where good people try to help but end up doing more harm than good, or like parents step in and wonder why you're trying to effect their child. Unfortunately it's a lot up to kids, and there's a ton of bullying in schools that adults don't know about. When kids are sent to school, whether it be elementary, middle, or high school, they're going into a prison-like environment where the kids are the inmates, and there's only a certain amount of guards (teachers) to make sure bullying doesn't happen, and even if the teachers see it they don't necessarily handle it correctly. Or the kids just disregard the teachers. As a bullied kid at school, it's one of the scariest things to be the one getting picked on. The bullies always seem to be more popular and well liked by others (where is where they get that source of power, knowing that they have more social standing than others so it's a power trip. And finally, finally, when you've been bullied your whole life and finally get some power over someone, you want to use that power too......it's so tempting, and it takes every ounce of willpower and a mature person who knows better to not turn into the monster yourself. It's a vicious cycle, bullying is, and the only way to break it is to try to reverse the trend by not bullying others, and hopefully that kindness is passed in reverse towards the initiators of bullying.
As a victim of bullying, I wish and hope to be able to address the swept-under-the-rug issue of bullying in schools, whether it's as a teacher in the future, or as a volunteer, or someone with influence over the educational system, or even as a parent hoping to prevent my own child from being bullied.......adults tend to forget about bullying when we've outgrown it (even though there are forms of bullying in adult life too), but it affects everyone and must be addressed adequately.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Definition:
use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants.
It's the use of superiority to bully other people. Different levels of power exist anywhere, not just at school. Look at our presidency and major leaders in Hollywood, just as an example. Employers have power over employees, police officers have power over regular citizens (false arrests), Hollywood producers using their power to coerce female actresses into doing things they don't want to do. it exists at every level of society. It's one of the easiest things to do when one gets power: abuse it by exerting that power on others, whether it's because you were the victim of the same kind of power abuse before, you secretly enjoy it, whatever the cause. Adults should know better; kids bully because they are not conscious of doing it, and are insecure themselves, and a variety of other developmental issues, etc., but kids bullying other kids is one of the most underrated issues never to hit the national media, it doesn't appear in headlines, it doesn't show up in trendy videos or campaign speeches because kids don't vote and don't have their voice heard as much as adults, which makes it that much scarier.
Recently Burger King (of all companies, Burger King) released an ad in which a 10-year-old (or so) is bullied by his friends at a Burger King, and adult customers in the store are monitored to see if they do anything about the bullying. Unfortunately, many don't. If I saw bullying at a restaurant, I'm not sure I would intervene neither. Laws in this country disincentive people from stepping into other people's business, there's been situations where good people try to help but end up doing more harm than good, or like parents step in and wonder why you're trying to effect their child. Unfortunately it's a lot up to kids, and there's a ton of bullying in schools that adults don't know about. When kids are sent to school, whether it be elementary, middle, or high school, they're going into a prison-like environment where the kids are the inmates, and there's only a certain amount of guards (teachers) to make sure bullying doesn't happen, and even if the teachers see it they don't necessarily handle it correctly. Or the kids just disregard the teachers. As a bullied kid at school, it's one of the scariest things to be the one getting picked on. The bullies always seem to be more popular and well liked by others (where is where they get that source of power, knowing that they have more social standing than others so it's a power trip. And finally, finally, when you've been bullied your whole life and finally get some power over someone, you want to use that power too......it's so tempting, and it takes every ounce of willpower and a mature person who knows better to not turn into the monster yourself. It's a vicious cycle, bullying is, and the only way to break it is to try to reverse the trend by not bullying others, and hopefully that kindness is passed in reverse towards the initiators of bullying.
As a victim of bullying, I wish and hope to be able to address the swept-under-the-rug issue of bullying in schools, whether it's as a teacher in the future, or as a volunteer, or someone with influence over the educational system, or even as a parent hoping to prevent my own child from being bullied.......adults tend to forget about bullying when we've outgrown it (even though there are forms of bullying in adult life too), but it affects everyone and must be addressed adequately.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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