If you give me a fork and a knife (and also food), I will eat like a left-hander, even though I am right-handed.
According to the fork etiquette, when you are using a knife and a fork to eat, you are to hold the knife in the right hand and the fork in the left. This is also how the utensils are set in formal settings. However, many left-handers opt to have the knife in their left hand and fork in their right because they find it easier to do the cutting with their dominant hand. This also happens to be the way I eat. It has a little bit to do with my upbringing, and the rest is just me being me.
See, I grew up in Taiwan so I was used to eating with chopsticks instead of forks. The only situation in which we would using two utensils at the same time was when we ate noodle soup. In that case, the right hand would hold the chopsticks, since I am only capable of operating the chopsticks using my dominant hand. And the remaining utensil, the spoon, would be delegated to the left hand. So here’s what we have:
Left = spoon; Right = chopsticks
So what did I do when I ate noodle soup in restaurants in the United States without chopsticks? I just replaced the chopsticks with a fork in my right hand. So we have:
Left = spoon; Right = fork
So, in the noodle soup situation, the fork goes in the right hand. Also, if I was just eating with just one utensil, I would simply use it with my dominant (right) hand. Moreover, the fork was sort of established as the replacement for chopsticks. It was then given the status as the main eating utensil, and it was the one that was more complicated and delicate to operate than the spoon. Therefore, fork was always in the right hand. So what would I do if a knife was added to the mix?
Since I was never formally taught the etiquette, I just did what was logical to me: since the fork was already in the right hand, the knife would go to the other side. So we got:
Left = knife; Right = fork
And that happened to be what was only done by left-handers. I got so used to it that when I tried to do it the “correct” way, it would feel really awkward to me. I got pretty used to cutting with my left hand that sometimes I would use my left hand when I am chopping vegetables on a cutting board, if there’s something in the way that makes cutting with the right hand inconvenient.
So am I ambidextrous? Not really. I can’t write with my left hand. It feels awkward and my aim is everywhere when I throw a ball using my left hand. However, I can sometimes bat left-handed in softball games, but that comes and goes. I can bat really well with my left hand one week and have a hard time hitting the ball the next week. It’s really inconsistent. The only other thing that my left hand does better than my right hand is cutting the fingernails on the right hand, but then again, duh.
But I guess a part of it is just me being me, coming up with weird ways to get things done.
No, it’s not some kind of metaphor. I literally barked at a dog tonight.
I was driving back from work at night. When I was opening the gate to the parking garage of our apartment complex, I saw an animal. It was most likely a dog, but I wasn’t sure because it was dark.
“Is that a stray dog?” I thought. While stray dogs are quite commonly seen when I was growing up in Taiwan, I don’t really see those in Southern California. I parked the car and went to the entrance to see whether it was actually a dog.
Yep, it was. You know how I knew? Because it was barking and running towards me. I was walking away but then thought that would just make it chase me more. I decided to stop. It stopped too, hesitating.
I thought about my options. I could get into a staring contest with it until it got bored and walked away (maybe). Or I could try to open the door into the apartment complex that’s a few feet away, so if it decided to chase me, I could just lock it behind the door. I would have to move towards the door and use my key to unlock it first though, so it wasn’t the fastest option. This was when the dog barked again, pressing me to make up my mind, I guess.
So like any normal person, I decided to bark at the dog.
Now, I have a low-pitch voice, so when I bark, I sound more like a big dog than a small dog. Also, I’ve done college theater without microphones. I could go really loud if I really want to.
So I barked once. The dog got that “Oh shit, what’s going on?” look on its face.
It seemed a little intimidated, so I barked some more… this time, way louder.
And then it got really scared and hurriedly ran back out.
What a useless dog! Oh, and it wasn’t a stray dog. It was wearing a collar but wasn’t on a leash. When it ran out, a woman with another dog on a leash walked by.
I asked her if that was her dog. She apologized. Before I walked away, I shouted to her, “I won!”
So that’s my story of beating a dog in a barking contest.
Every night, when it’s quiet, I think about how to provide more value to my readers. Sure, I talk about puppets, Power Rangers, and so on, but truth to be told, those things are not all that useful to most of you.
So, what should I do? And then it hit me. I’ve seen recipes on so many blogs, many of which not even food-related. These blogs can be about making money online, personal development, parenthood, or whatever, but they all have recipes from time to time. That’s why I decided that I got to put some recipes here too!
So here’s the first installation: how to make Caesar salad. And of course, I am going to take it up a notch and provide some information that you won’t see in other people’s recipes because I am such an awesome blogger.
1. Carefully clean each leaf of the romaine lettuce. Chop it up.
2. Peel the parmesan cheese, and then finely dice it. Then, use a buttering knife to crush it into a paste. Put this paste on the croutons.
3. Next, we make the dressing. Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, egg (beaten, not stirred), Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper into two tea spoons of water. Stir until it has an even consistency.
4. Fillet the anchovy. Add it to the romaine lettuce and croutons. Put the dressing on it. Set it aside.
5. Next, put the eggplant, corn starch, and uranium into a baking pan. (You can buy uranium at your supermarket’s baking supply aisle. I buy the organic stuff from the farmer’s market.) Put this into the oven and bake it at 500 degrees for about an hour.
6. Open the oven. The chemicals released by the eggplant, corn starch and uranium should create significant energy vibration. This is called a tri-sprintec reaction and it will generate a black hole. This enables you to time travel. Take the salad you set aside and step into the black hole. (Caution: You want to be careful, as the oven might be hot.)
7. Make sure you step into the black hole at 23 miles per hour in the north-east-west direction. This brings you to Rome of year 50 BC.
8. Find Julius Caesar and give the salad to him.
And that’s all the steps it takes. You now know how to make Caesar salad (and bring it to him too).
Actually, more like hectic month. These past few weeks have been really busy. As some of you know, I am an iPhone app developer during the day (more like during the night these days). There’s a conference for wireless/mobile technology called CTIA coming up this weekend, so we are working extra hard to wrapped up something for the client to take to the conference. The development is not over yet and there will be things to fix afterwards still, but it is supposed to look and behave like it’s ready to hit the market. So, quite a lot of work for us, but at least that will be over by the weekend. That’s the thing about a hard deadline: it can’t be pushed. You will be stressed. But at least you know when that stress will be over (or actually, just diminished) and you will have something to look forward to after.
Nope, not apologizing for the lack of postings, but I do want to check in with my regular readers.
In these past few weeks, I’ve spent more time making an RSS reader (which is a part of the iPhone app) than actually using an RSS reader. My inbox exploded. Also I have quite a few puppet videos sitting there waiting for me to watch, so next week I’ll be playing catch-up with those. I will also be attending a four-hour workshop taught by puppeteer Allan Trautman. Don’t know if it’s going to be good, but I definitely am looking forward to it.
After 17 years (from 1992 to 2009), Jay Leno left the Tonight Show, marking the end of an era.
Oh wait, he’s coming back, isn’t he? Never mind.
Who cares about Jay Leno? I mean, What I really want to talk about, is something a lot more important: Power Rangers. Last year (2009), it is announced that there will not be a new season of Power Rangers in 2010, and that, marks the end of an era. Fourteen years (from 1995 to 2009) is a long time for any show. In fact, I’ve just took a stroke down the memory lane by watching the opening of all the Power Ranger series in 14 years. It took about 17 minutes. From the music and the way the characters look, you can see how the idea of what is cool has changed over the years. It’s quite interesting to see. Watch it here: Part 1 (Zordon Era), Part 2 (Post-Zordon), Part 3 (Disney Era).
When we first came to the United States, we watched quite a few kids TV shows. One reason is that they are scheduled to show after school let out (as in, between 3pm and 5pm), and the other is that they are easier to understand than, say, court drama. And one of such shows is Power Rangers. Okay, maybe those are not the real reasons. Maybe I just love Power Rangers because watching robots and alien monsters (both clearly men in rubber suits) beat the crap out of each other amused me to no end. But hey, this show taught me important English words such as “morph”, “sabre”, and a gazillion things that you can yell out when you think your weapon / armor / robot / victory is really awesome (“That was awesome!” “Cool!” “Right on!” “Yeah!” “All right!”).
The series that we watched the most episodes are Power Rangers In Space and Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy (because they came out in 1998 and 1999, respectively). Now here’s what I loved about them.
Power Rangers In Space
Ah, look at the video. Aren’t they a good-looking bunch (even the villain)? I liked the dynamics of this group. In the series before this one, the main story line consisted of teenagers given the power to protect the Earth. However, at the end of Power Rangers Turbo, the villains managed to destroy the Turbo Megazord (the Rangers’ robot), capture their wizard mentor Zordon, and blow up the Power Chamber, causing the Rangers to lose their power. The Rangers had to flee into space, where they encountered a Power Ranger from a different planet who gave them different morphers so they could have powers again. The four old Turbo Power Rangers plus the Astro Ranger from the different planet became the Space Rangers.
This series was unique in that instead of living on Earth (each going to school and having their own life and so on), they are living on a spaceship. This created many more opportunities for them to interact. Also, the spaceship allowed them to explorer the universe more. The fact that four of them were Turbo Rangers before, while another was from another planet also created interesting dynamics.
Also, the Rangers in this series had all suffered some kind of loss. The four old Turbo Rangers had lost their old power and Zords (robots) before. The Red Ranger (the one from another planet) had been forever looking for his sister, who was kidnapped when she was just a child. And also all of the Rangers were searching for their captured mentor Zordon. Although still mostly light-hearted (it’s Power Rangers after all), the series was less slapstick than previous series and took on a more serious undertone. This series also wrapped up a long story arc six years in the making. At the end of the series, most of the universe was taken over by the villains and several Zords were destroyed. The battle at the end spanned episodes and was epic. At the end, Zordon sacrificed himself to use his essence to wipe out the force of evil. At the end, the villains were defeated (after six years) so that’s definitely major pay-off. It was an awesome series.
Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy
Power Ranger In Space was more polished than the previous series, in my opinion. However, the series that followed it, Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, looked even better. Maybe the cameras improved? Everything just looked a lot newer and sharper. Prior to this series, the cast changed gradually as the plot lines progressed and everything followed an overall story arc. But as mentioned before, this was wrapped up. Starting in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, each series had its own team of Rangers and a self-contained storyline.
To be honest, I do not remember the individual characters as much as I do with Power Rangers In Space, but this series had a more complex story and more twists. For example, the Pink Ranger Kendrix sacrificed herself to save the Space Ranger Cassie. Later Kendrix’s spirit saved Karone, who was the Red Ranger’s sister from the previous series that was kidnapped, raised, and brainwashed to become the Power Rangers In Space’s main villain Astronema. And Kendrix made Karone the new Pink Ranger. Also there was this mysterious ally, Magna Defender, who was really cool because he had his own costume, armor, music, and Zord. Magna Defender was an ancient warrior who was seeking revenge for his son. He was sealed away in a pit until he decided to take over the body of Mike, who fell in by accident, and was the Red Galaxy Ranger Leo’s brother. Later in one battle, he sacrificed himself to save the space colony. Mike was freed from his control and the spirit of Magna Defender officially passed the power to Mike. Okay, see? I told you it was complicated.
One of my favorite thing about this series was the fight scenes. The Rangers in this series all used sabers. That made the fight choreography a lot more interesting than, say, having people shoot lasers at each other.
Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue
Unfortunately, after those two strong series, Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue just didn’t do it for me. It was about this team of Rangers consisting of a fire-fighter, a life guard, and so on, that came to rescue when villains terrorized the city. I was fine with that premise, but the way the power was given to them just didn’t do it for me. Since the oldest series, the power sources were mythical. For example, the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers got their power from the five Power Coins. The Space Power Rangers used Astro Morphers whose power, presumably, was derived from something extraterrestrial. The Galaxy Rangers got their powers from five mystical swords, known as the Quasar Sabers. All of them derived the power from some kind of mystical source.
However, for the first time in the Power Rangers series, all these things were man-made. The robots, the morphers, the suits, and everything else were made by humans using advanced technology. And then a captain recruited some of the best people to become Power Rangers to fight crimes. I called them “the artificial rangers”. That really didn’t do it for me. People have different preferences, I guess, but that premise really killed it for me. Where’s the myth? Where’s the destiny? What’s so special about a team that’s chosen by some random guy? That just killed it for me. I stopped watching.
Of course, there are a lot more Power Rangers series after that. Some of them were considered good too, I think. But I got busier and no longer had time to watch TV in those hours. I still catch an episode or two every now and then, but since I am not that familiar with those characters, I am not as invested and don’t care for them as much.
And wow, that has got to be one of the most researched blog post on this blog. And it’s about Power Rangers, of all things. Oh well, who knew?
One thing I love about Twitter is that they are short. A lot of times I would have a random idea that just pops into my head. It might be clever. It might be stupid and yet entertaining. It’s something that can’t really be developed into a full story or an article, but it feels sort of brilliant at the moment. So what can I do with the idea? Well, I can post it on Twitter!
For example, I would be reading about someone using “I just need more space” as an excuse for breaking up with his girlfriend, instead of thinking “man, what a lame excuse!” (okay, maybe I did) or “that’s a load of crap”, I thought “You know who would love to see more space? Astronomers and astronauts!”. And then I would proceed to chuckle to myself cuz that thought amused me.
Maybe the fact that English isn’t my first language has something to do with it. I often see weird associations between words that other people just wouldn’t see. I remember once I was playing an improv game where there’s a cast member hosting a party and has to guess the identities of his guests. One of them was Sherlock Holmes. When the party host was having a hard time guessing it, I did not come into the scene to do detective stuff, or talk to some Dr. Watson or anything. Instead, I came in as the landlord and said, “I heard you will be going on a vacation, so I want to give you this reminder: be SURE to LOCK your HOMES.” See? Nobody else would come up with something like that.
So, since there are weird ideas (often play-on-words) that pop into my head all the time, I figure I would put down those thoughts somewhere. And Twitter is perfect for that. So here’s a collection of some of them. If you already follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen many of these and hopefully found them somewhat amusing.
An astronaut said he wanted to break up with his girlfriend. Girlfriend asked why. He said he just needs more space.
A juice blender was broken. When you turn it on, all it does is vibrate and does not blend. It was sold to James Bond.
Charlie was a baby boomer. He escaped from prison one day but cops are not worried, They knew that when a boomer ran, he always came back.
Bob always have lots of dead lines to meet. Bob is a telephone line repairman.
The package has arrived and the online tracking system said it’s signed by “front door”. Teaching my door to write finally paid off.
A forbidden fruit a day keeps the doctor away.
When you say “hehe”, it’s a very light laugh because it has a combined mass of 8.005204 amu.
I am bad at geography but at least I don’t think America is India. How come he gets a day named after him?
Did you know? You can’t spell “fine art” without “fart”
Also, you can’t spell “bar food” without “barf”
Don’t talk to walls. They don’t have ears. Try corn instead.
A donkey cloned himself. A horse saw it and said “nice ass”. The donkey said “Yep, I totally made an ass out of myself.”
The book title “The Old Man and the Sea” provides subtle linguistic cues that makes old people want to go on a cruise.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a fake picture is equivalent to an one-thousand-word lie.
I am a radical person. I get to the root of everything, no matter how complex, whether real or imaginary.
Just realized that “Connecticut” contains both the word “connect” and “cut”.
What is love? Good question. The answer is, of course, “baby, don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me, no more.” Simple.
The dive board is an invention based on humans’ primitive desire to jump off a cliff.
When musicians look at the FACE, they can read between the lines.
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