| 29 apr 2001 yesterday my dad stopped by on the way from dallas to taiwan. we had our usual dim sum at hong kong flower lounge in palo alto. it was a pretty good visit, considering the last time i saw him, i was pretty pissed at how he was behaving when we went down to houston. anyways, he said something really funny, or rather, unexpected from a dad figure. we were talking about girlfriends, and he mentioned that he had watched my mom for a while, and finally "pounced" on her when he went after her. funny! he described the chasing as being like a lion jumping on its prey; i'm not sure my mom would agree to what he said, but it was pretty enjoyable. another thing he said was to never feel like i have to settle for someone, which is really good because that means he and my mom aren't like pressuring me or anything. i know i've only been single for like a year, after some long relationships, but i do think they worry about me sometimes. all in all, it was a pretty good visit; my dad's really good about making efforts to see me; even though he only has a few hours of layover, he usually rents a car and drives all the way down to see me, even if it's just for a few minutes at my office. i've never said this before, but i think i'll just fall apart when my parents pass away. we're not really affectionate or anything, so this is a pretty big statement. i do love my parents. ----- i had this gross dream last night. it involved ants of some sort, and one ant jumped on another and bit into its head. after a while, the dead ant's head came off, and we scooped out this gross shiny ball out of its body. some scientist guy plucked out a lopsided gunky thing, and took his scalpel and scraped out what was an ant egg. i guess we were harvesting ant eggs or something. anyways, it was gross. but only in retrospect... it's funny how in dreams even the strangest scenarios make perfect sense. does that mean we have our reality sensors turned off during slumber? ----- i didn't anticipate spending the entire day on stanford campus yesterday. after seeing my dad, i dropped by stanford to buy a newspaper to look for places to live. i stopped by taiko drumbuilding to say hi, but then i decided to watch the documentary filming of the group by a film student. shit. i was supposed to make some headway in finding a house or apartment for me and jay... this housing search is going to start stressing me out. i know that people say that the housing market is coming down in the bay area, but i don't think that means anything except for the fact that things won't be SUPER ludicrous anymore. i don't see housing opening up all over the place for cheap; i guess that's too much to ask for. but anyways, i took some pictures of the two-hour filming of taiko playing in an odd place... a grassy field next to the mausoleum where the founders of stanford are buried. strange. either my camera can't focus, or 640x480 just isn't enough resolution. i hope it's not the former. afterwards having dinner with some taiko folk, i went to see san jose taiko's spring concert. now those of you who know i was cut by them recently know that this had a potential to be a really uncomfortable situation for me. i think i have a hard time being objective about their performance, but having other experienced taiko folk around me allowed me to see if my opinions were just me. the simple fact that i wasn't moved by the drumming, which is the total opposite of the stanford taiko concert i saw last week. there weren't any songs that just made me groove in my seat or make my blood stir. i'll grant them a well-executed, well-staged and well-played performance, but the songs in the repertoire just weren't that interesting, except for two, "prime time" and "hayaku." the former was a funny, playful take on improvising in a complex rhythmic structure (measures of 5, 7, and 11 beats), and the latter was a really fast, drill-like piece. and nobody does better bachi (taiko drumstick) twirls like stanford taiko! ha! the big question is whether i could see myself play with them onstage, doing the things that those people were doing. and the answer is not really... with all the happy smiley songs, i don't think i could force out happiness, and with the serious ones, i don't think the songs are intense enough to keep me interested. so my conclusion... it's probably a good thing i was cut now instead of finding out later that the group's repertoire doesn't really fit my style and needs. with the exception of one thing... i really want to just fucking play! hm. that's a contradiction. i take it back. i don't want to just play. i want to play stuff that i like. that makes more sense. right? because if i just wanted to play taiko, then i should be happy and ecstatic about anything, but that's not the case. right. ----- after the concert, i went... to my first frat party in like 6 years. i don't mean the asian frat scene... i mean the white frat scene... lots of caucasian folk, tons of beer. i went to see a taiko dude play bass guitar in his band, and he was really good. all the girls i went with were dancing away. i don't dance any more. freshman year, i was a CRAZY dancer. then i think sophomore and junior years, i toned it down and actually looked presentable. :) senior year, when i started going out with karine, i was a cool and detached grooving kind of dancer. and then i just stopped. hm. maybe i really am not as silly as i used to be. there is a direct correlation between my silly powers and my dancing freneticism. ----- anyways, i'm here at work on a sunday afternoon because i need to use the printers and stuff... i'm creating my "class page" for my upcoming five year college reunion... you know, create a page about yourself to be put in a book with hundreds of other people, so that hopefully someone will stop by your page and be captivated by something and decide to call you up. maybe i really am desperate. HAHAHAHA. just kidding. |