24

If you have some time to kill, and if you have 3 dollars, a DVD player and a TV, you should go to a movie rental store and rent the TV series called “24″ season 1 and disk 1 to watch.

After watching this DVD, you will need $15 to rent the rest of the 5 DVDs of that season, because I will bet you $20 if you can stay put without watching the rest of the season. And that’s a bet!

Well, that’s basically what happened to me this past Labor Day weekend, 3 days, 6 DVDs, well, 5 and a half, 21 episodes, around 21 hours.

I never thought I would become one of those nerds, (no offense to the friends who watched those series with me, , but it’s way harder to resist than I thought.)

Here is more info if you are interested.

Tuesday

Last night SeungGwon and I went to see Russell Crowe’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”. It was a good movie but not great. SeungGwon seemed enjoyed it a lot. It did show tons of male spirit, which can teach a person how to be a real man. However, it kept reminding me about other movies while I was watching. The customs and the fighting scenes reminded me about Mel Gibson’s movie “The Patriot”, and the sailing scenes reminded me about George Clooney’s “The Perfect Storm”. It just doesn’t have its own unique character. Surprisingly the movie rating is extremely high. If I’ve known the movie was like this, I’d rather spend my 6 dollars on Will Ferrell’s “Elf”.

Today went pretty good so far, RWS showed us the entire homework solution in class this morning, and you bet I copied everything! Haha! However there is a test coming on Thursday, but I don’t think it’ll be too hard.

I had Sushi for lunch and it tasted kinda watery. Maybe the fish is too old or something, but hopefully I will be okay.

Anyway, my lunch break is over, I’d better get back to work.

Awakenings

It’s Friday again, I almost forgot how fast time goes by. I think by this Saturday the daylight saving time is supposed to end, at least I can gain one more hour of sleep. I thought after 5 months I can finally get used to being alone, but after finishing everything for the day, that emptiness still hits me in the head, makes me staring at the keyboard for like forty minutes.

James is not feeling very well today, he looks quite tired and weak. He’s been feeling dizzy all day and I am really worried about him. For a man who is more than 70 years old, who knows what that could mean? Like his Max, I am just afraid one day when I come by his door, no one’s gonna open it for me any more. Maybe I think too much. I finally see Kate again today; it felt pretty good. I never thought I could get so attached to her. Two weeks ago she’s still just a cute dog, but now she’s already my goofy-quiet Kate. She seems knows how I felt, when I open the door, she directly came to me and won’t let go. SeungGwon likes Rudy better, but I think he’s a little too jumpy, or maybe he’s just being a 10 months old dog. James told me Kate was abused when she was young, and someone cut her tail off. I just couldn’t believe someone could do such things to a dog with such big cute eyes. We went to Penguin EDs again and had the same old BBQ, instead, no one’s talking this time, and it seems quiet and helpless.

This Friday night goes quietly and smoothly, and I just noticed that I have been using the word “quiet” 3 times already; it’s a little scary. I watched a movie called “Awakenings”, starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. “Awakenings”. It’s a somewhat old movie (1990) directed by Penny Marshall based on a true story. After watching it, I am speechless. I was planning to introduce it to you guys, but I realize that I could not think of anything to describe it. It touched me so much and there is still a mess inside my head right now. Maybe I need sometime to get over it. I found some comments on Amazon.com about this movie, and I’d like to use them to tell you guys what kind movie it is. If you have a chance, please rent it and watch it. If you don’t think it’s a good movie, email me, and I am gonna pay for it.

Rockets beat Spurs tonight with 84:63, and Yao Ming did an excellent job. I hope on tonight’s World Series game, the Yankees could win and brings it to the 7th game. We are playing against Ole Miss tomorrow, and who knows what’s gonna happen; I don’t really care any more. It’s not a home game, so I guess we probably have a better chance to win since we have lost all two of the home games. Go Yankees! Go Yao Ming! Go Hogs!

And for the last part, I’d like to post another short poem to end this long and quiet day.

The Day Is Done

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.

I see the lights of the village
Gleam through the rain and the mist,
And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me,
That my soul cannot resist:

A feeling of sadness and longing,
That is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles the rain.

Come, read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day.

Not from the grand old masters,
Not from the bards sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of Time.

For, like strains of martial music,
Their mighty thoughts suggest
Life’s endless toil and endeavor;
And to-night I long for rest.

Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,
As showers from the clouds of summer,
Or tears from the eyelids start;

Who, through long days of labor,
And nights devoid of ease,
Still heard in his soul the music
Of wonderful melodies.

Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,
And come like the benediction
That follows after prayer.

Then read from the treasured volume
The poem of thy choice,
And lend to the rhyme of the poet
The beauty of thy voice.

And the night shall be filled with music
And the cares that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.

BBQ & Berver Lake Pics

It’s a lot harder than I thought to keep up with this weblog everyday. In the beginning I thought I would have enough time write something everyday, but it turns out that either I was too busy or I just forgot about it. And after reading all that I have written, it seems like I was always complaining. Hahaha, every time is about exams, exams and exams. What are other people’s lives like? Maybe they are just too mature to complain about it. Or maybe I am too naïve to bear the pain. Either way, I need to make a change.

So, maybe you have already noticed, I have already put some photos in the “My Photo Album” page. For now just BBQ and Beaver Lake. I probably will upload the Kansas City and SeungGwon Graduation’s pictures. I took more than 400 pictures in NYC, so it’s gonna take me a while to find some good ones and put it out. Oh, by the way, for those of you that don’t know, SeungGwon is my roommate, Graduate Student major in Electrical Engineering. And for those of you who are telling me that I became more handsome, that probably is SeungGwon. I still look the same, maybe with a few more pounds.

So tonight I am gonna introduce a movie to you guys. I rented and watched it the weekend before last one. It’s called “Sex and Lucía“. And no, it’s not a porno. It’s a beautiful movie. The story shifts between past and present, fact and fiction, so a plot summary won’t capture it, but… A young writer named Lorenzo falls into a passionate relationship with a waitress named Lucía. But he also finds himself drawn to a young nanny taking care of a child who just might be the result of an anonymous fling Lorenzo had with a woman he met on an island the year before. Lorenzo fantasizes about the lives of all of these women until a horrific event sends him into a suicidal depression. This may sound obscure or flat, but Sex and Lucía unfolds clearly and beautifully, featuring stunning visual images of both nature and flesh, and weaving a poetic spell. It’s a Spanish movie with English subtitles, directed by Julio Medem and starring Paz Vega as Lucía. Before I watch this movie, my favorite movie was “Amelie”, and I was crazy about Audrey Tautou. However, I discovered that Paz Vega is just as cute as Audrey and a lot sexier then her. Those European actresses just have something that American actresses cannot compare with. And their movies are a lot smarter than American movies.

If you have a chance, I strongly suggest you to rent it and watch it; it’s worth your time.