Matticus

Second lunch delicious. Tried beef brisket, pasta salad, and chicken. Toured lower decks of ship. Acquired casino card, 6 beers, and a complimentary bottle opener. Bill is going to be amazingly high as this is only day 1.

Wish friends were here. Need people to enjoy activities with. Like the driving range. Pool looks incredible.

Went to secret VIP deck. Interestingly, aunt had room upgraded to  VIP suite. They have own private pool, sauna andhot tub.

Ratio of asians to everything else approximately 15:1. Curious. Were ae all the sexy ladies my age? Have yet to discover. Will explore the night club and lounge.

But casino first.

Not sure what to do for day 2. Perhaps catch some reading of Dan Brown’s Inferno.

First cruise! Unfortunate that vessel not named Enterprise. Will take pictures later upon boarding.

Ran out of paper and was unable to print documents for boarding.

Oops.

Always have paper. Called Norwegian. They said it’s not a problem, just have reservation number and travel documentation handy.

Now do I have lunch onboard or should I eat first?

I feel like I should’ve packed more. But then I realized I can always just buy more when I hit Seattle. Packed Hawaiian shirt. Will attempt to “fit in” with locals onboard.

Day one plans are as follows:

First stop: Casino.

Second stop: Restaurant buffet.

Third stop: Casino again.

Switched to a Tumblr theme on my personal blog. I like the way it looks. Gives me the freedom and flexibility to add snippets, short thoughts here as I want. Look isn’t finalized yet. Still have to add links and menu stuff later.

First, I believe a recap is in order. I signed up for Club 16’s Healthy Transformations program. It’s a year long program with fitness exercises and food plans. The Doc said my blood pressure was really high and I was under enough stress as it is. I have a difficult time relaxing anyway.

I guess I was curious to see if it would really work. It’s a $200 investment for the year so I figured why not? Chelsea is the name of my trainer. She’s been an incredible help. I think I would have tapped out earlier if it wasn’t for her being there to keep pushing.

Food

• No more chicken fried rice
• No more 30 chicken wings at the bar
• No more deep fried stuff
• No more fried chicken
• No more pizza
• No more desserts (Was never a dessert person really)
• No more 1 AM Denny’s run

I felt the diet effects immediately. In the back of my mind, it feels like my stomach is churning. It’s hungry but I can’t do anything until the right times. Thankfully, video games do a great job in distracting the mind (and the stomach).

Yesterday’s Workout

Yesterday was elastic day. We started off with some quick pushups first. I hate pushups. So we did 30 except after every 10, our hands would rotate to different angles (I’m not actually sure of the significance of this). Sometimes the hands would face outward, sometimes they would face the same direction.

It’s like a skipping rope except it’s elastic-y. We did a variety of leg extensions and arm extensions. I don’t know the exact names. I’m not a gym nut and I can’t remember all the technical names. I’m sure with time it’ll come to me but until then, I just try to mimic her movements as best as I can. I’d step on the rope, extend my arms all the way above my head before gently lowering them down. The resistance on those things are insane. Even the easy one took some effort but I have a sneaking suspicious I selected one that was too short.

Another one I did targeted each arm exclusively. I’d step on the rope and then keep raising and lowering my arm. It’s like trying to start a lawnmower. Actually, now that I think about it, my actual lawnmower took much longer to start then this particular exercise.

Those ropes look like they make mean slingshots. I wonder if I can rig up a harness with several ropes, load up those medicine (or whatever weight balls) and let them fly.

Probably not a good idea. But one must always improvise in the event of the zombie apocalypse. High velocity weight training balls make great projectiles.

But I digress.

To cap off that day, we finished with a final round of team pushups. It involves doing a pushup, then clapping the hand of your partner. Thankfully we did one hour. I doubt I would’ve been able to do both hands. I got to 18 before I collapsed for a few seconds. Managed to finish off the last two with some significant effort.

Today’s workout

A 930 AM workout? Weeks ago, that would’ve been absurd. But I agreed. I went to bed at around 230 AM to finish a column that was due that morning. To make sure I didn’t fall asleep on the treadmill, I made sure I loaded up on some extra caffeine. I’m probably not supposed to, but I needed it.

We opened up with 5 minutes on the elliptical as a quick warmup before switching to the treadmills. Now out of all the different cardio machines, I dread treadmills the most. I would be starting off by walking 3.5 miles /hour before gradually increasing the incline of the treadmill between 6 to 15. I got through maybe 16 minutes of it, but it was tough. I was alternating between 6.5, 9, 12.5 and 15. Each setting would be a minute. Towards the end of it, I placed my hands on the pulse tracking thing. The machine said I was approaching 180 beats per minute. I had to slow it down to 2.8. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t keep up that pace for that length of time.

My shirt was soaked in sweat. My face was dripping with sweat despite the fact I was wearing a headband. After some slight cramps, we polished off the session with some stretches.

I just wanted to jump into a bath tub full of nothing but ice cubes and cold water to cool down.

It’s been under a week. My body feels like its under siege from both the reduction in food and from the physical workout I’m experiencing.

This is going to be a long year.

Tomorrow I’m going back for more. Strength time!

Random conversations

Chelsea: “We should signup for a triathlon in March”

Me: “By we, you mean you, right?”

Chelsea: “Nope!”

Me: “Oh dear”

I read this article on the Toronto Star the other day about Asians and being in school. Even though it’s way out in U of T, I can see some of the similar trends effects here on the west coast. I agree with some parts of it and disagree with others. Heck, this piece might even seem contradictory but I do understand both sides of the argument because I’m living it right now.

What amused me the most was when of all the things to get annoyed about, people get a little butt hurt when the universities there are called “Too Asian”. I mean really? Perhaps it comes from years of having incredibly thick skin of putting up with morons in online shooters who say far worse things, but that doesn’t phase me one bit. Like it or not, that observation is probably true in some areas. I don’t think that particular headline is trying to say that being Too Asian is bad. I view it as more of an observation that the Asian demographic is simply dominating those schools.

Being an Asian kid is sometimes downright impossible. The bar is so high that even if we do reach it, it just isn’t good enough. I don’t know if that’s reflective of my childhood, but I can tell from speaking with other kids from different racial backgrounds, that level of life and death pressure isn’t as harsh.

When I was growing up in my younger years, I was often 1 of like 5 asian students in my entire grade. I never played the race card! So people saying that our universities have too many Asians should probably just suck it up and deal with it just like I did when I was growing up.

Speaking of that, I remember when I was a kid, I’d come home with an A on a test. And my dad said “Where’s the A+?”. And I just about sagged my shoulders. Now repeat that over the course of 15 years until that kid is in University. After enduring years and years of being so close to reaching that standard and not quite hitting it, guess what? That kid has now reached a point where they just don’t give a shit. What’s the point of trying so hard to get that elusive 98th percentile grade and mark if it isn’t even good enough or pleasing enough?

And that’s when they give up. Because they know no matter what they do, it isn’t good enough. They stop trying.

If I had to do it all over again, I don’t think I would’ve gone into University at all. I probably would’ve stayed in Kwantlen and pursued Journalism. But it wasn’t until my first and second years in actual University did I realize my talent, but my passion for actually writing. Even right now, I feel like I’m driving in a 5 ft blanket of snow with both my tires spinning aimlessly, not going anywhere at all. I’ve been in post secondary for 5 years now. Now my GPA has tanked to the point where even if I ace a semester’s worth of full courses, I will not be able to lift my grades to the point where they can make an impact.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming anyone. I only have myself to blame. I foolishly thought I could be like any other person and take every other course that other people would take. That’s just not the case.

There is nothing wrong with raising the bar. We live in a competitive world where only the strong and the best survive. But that doesn’t necessarily equate to memorization or ability to manipulate numbers. I think the number of immigrants over the past 20 years into Canada have steadily raised the standard for students to enter post secondary. It makes our degrees that much more valuable and more desirable, I think. Those that work hardest and those that want that education should deserve to have a shot at it, no matter what race or gender or sexual orientation. For me, it isn’t that different from WoW. I don’t care if you’re a girl, black or gay. If you can play the game at a high level, you can play for me. Educational standards should be based on merit and not some weird population percentage.

The point

Something that seems to be glossed over in that article is that those students should be encouraged to do something positive and productive. This doesn’t always mean going into medicine, being an engineer, or any of that. I’ve realized that status and security are incredibly important for Asian families. They want that level of financial security and prestige which is why their kids are often pushed into those directions in life even if they have zero desire. I know a friend who makes quite a bit of money managing a shop for servicing cars. My dad likes to remind me that being a bus driver had great perks like a strong union, good pay and security. Refrigeration mechanic, aircraft mechanics or electricians (any trades really) are all viable options as well. That is what should be taken away from this article. The fact that there are alternative ways to achieve success and to have a mind open to such possibility. That if a kid doesn’t think they’re cut out for math, sciences or pharmacology, that there are OTHER things they can do and I don’t mean flipping burgers or dealing drugs either. There is hope. Obviously it isn’t going to be easy, but he paths are there.

Too much is being read into it, in my opinion.

Where being too Asian does make an impact

Where it makes a big difference though is when the teaching assistants and profs are super Asian. And I mean like fresh-off-the-boat asian. You can have a degree from Harvard and the intelligence rivalling Hawking. But the fact of the matter is, if no one in your class understands what the hell you’re saying, you shouldn’t be teaching it. I’d rather take a second or third tier instructor with the ability to teach and communicate over the smartest Professor who can’t speak English worth a damn. It’s not fair to us as students to not only try to learn the material, but translate what they say at the same time.

And when a TA has to resort to writing step by step solutions on paper instead of actually talking to students about it, that’s a problem.

I had a Stats professor once who was just incredibly hard to understand. At the end of the semester, I wrote a scathing review of the prof and the course when all the feedback sheets were handed out. Not that it did anything because he was there still teaching next year after that.

As for my future, it’s just like the weather outside – Cold and desolate.

This year at BlizzCon was one of the happiest I’ve felt in years. I was completely in my element with the crowds, the people, the friends. The convention itself was lackluster. Not a whole lot of news breaking or otherwise. We got a new demon hunter class for diablo. Some updated starcraft 2 maps. Cataclysm would be available at midnight. Yeah, that’s okay. But it wasn’t earth shattering like last year’s expansion announcement.  I demo’d a ton of new maps like Blizzard DoTA and Starjeweled.

I haven’t done a list post in a while, so let’s do it.

- WoW Insider Reader meetup: Completely blown away by the scope and scale of the operation. Everything really came together. We had the whole pool deck and patio.

- The bar: I got the bartender’s name and tipped him real well. And that’s the secret. When there are two lines to get to the counter with 30+ people and you’re waving money for drinks, they know you. I did one better. While people were ordering from the counter, I waited at the back side.

Even bought my guildies drinks.

“Hey guys, what do you want?”

“1 Jack and Coke!”
”Make that 2”
”Hey I want one!”
”I’ll take one as well!”
”Six!”
”Seven!”

Oh what the hell.

“HEY AJ! TEN JACK AND COKES!”

Now if only they’ll put out more DPS.

- Seeing old friends: Met some of my guild mates from last year. I didn’t get a chance to hang out with them as much largely because I was busy. But this year? We all stayed in the same place. We reserved a bunch of suites together. 12 beds in 3 rooms. It was spacious. Nothing fancy, but it did the job. Had that nice dorm room atmosphere as Wyn so eloquently puts it. Ran into people who I had met last year.

- Meeting new ones: New guild mates joined for the first time. Completely not what I expected but we got along amazingly well. Also great to have met my old starcraft friends of almost what, 10 years now?

Had only I stayed with Starcraft, things would be different.

- Getting Iced: Didn’t know about this drinking game until I saw the crew. Basically, how it works is this:

If a person sees a Smirnoff Ice, that person needs to get down on one knee and chug it unless they are carrying their own Smirnoff where they can then “ice block”. The attacker then has to drink their original attack Ice and the defender’s ice. I got Iced once. One of my other guys got iced twice on the same day. Someone slipped one into his bag.

And yes, that’s me getting Iced by my guild. Crafty guys. I had just stepped out of the shower. One of them mentioned something about my Macbook. So I turned the corner into my room and there it was lying in front of it.

Ugh, mango is terrible.

- Meeting one of the lead game designers: Ghostcrawler was standing right there.

He was surrounded by a legion of people asking about different classes and balance questions. Chugging drinks like a monster too.

"At one point hes like, I need to go to the washroom, I’ll be right back. Where is it?"

He looks around, then I step in and say "Over here GC, let me show you". The washroom’s behind the bar, so I lead him there and amazingly no one follows. I stand outside patiently while he does his business and then he comes out and says "Thanks, what’s your name?" (Yes, he washed his hands)

"My name’s Matt. Matticus is my handle."

"Matt… Matticus… *peers at my name tag, squints, double takes* … As in World of Matticus?…"

"Yeah!"

"Dude, great to finally meet you in person! We love your blog!"

I just about died. Had to blink back a few tears.

- Cheesecake factory: Actually ate there instead of drinking there. Love the Rib Eye. Just could not get the Cheesecake. Really wanted to try the cheesecake. Its called a Cheesecake factory. They had pumpkin as their seasonal special and I missed out on it.

- Hilton after party: The community team was in full force at the Hilton after party. So many people were in the lobby. My guys almost got thrown out. Thought it was BYOB. Nope! Not the case! We just stashed it outside in the parking lot. Even met the legendary Zarhym!

He’s one of the community managers on the Blizzard forums.

Only person I didn’t get to meet was Daelo. He’s the one who designs encounters.

- Beer drinking contest: First person who beats me in a beer drinking contest got a 30 day time card. I don’t know who wouldn’tve gone for it. its like a free month of WoW since I’m terrible at chugging. Picked up a few tips from my guild mates though.

- Meeting someone special: Every once in a while, you meet a person who who commands your attention. They have a presence which can pacify even the most angriest of bulls. When I met that individual that night, it was as if every problem I held on my shoulders just vanished. She was beautiful and amazing to talk to. I just wish we had more time.

But, in true fashion, I screwed up. I didn’t see the signs. I was just being dumb. I wouldn’t realize it until I was back home when my team informed me of what happened and what I (apparently) missed.

Why didn’t I publish this copy on my other blog? Because that’s for matticus, not matt. Some elements are the same, but this one was more personal.

Best. Show. Ever.  Then again, I haven’t been to all that many shows. But I was incredibly taken aback by a majority of the performances tonight. Usually, the orchestra has a set list they go through and sprinkle in a few games that are more recent.

So what did I hear last night?

I heard some older themes from:

• Megaman
• Frogger
• Super Mario
• Legend of Zelda
• Tetris
• Sonic the Hedgehog

Some recent stuff like:

• Mass Effect 2 (Yeah Tali!)
• Bioshock
• Assassin’s Creed 2

And of course, the traditional staples like

• Halo
• World of Warcraft
• Final Fantasy medley
• Chrono Trigger
• One Winged Angel
• Castlevania
• Kingdom Hearts

Some cosplay action during the night too. There was a costume contest at the beginning just before the show. I saw Mario, Aeris, Zack (Final Fantasy 7), Francis (Left 4 Dead), Link, Rikku, and Earthworm Jim. There were a bunch more, but I can’t remember who they were or they were from obscure games.

Earthworm Jim won with Zack really close behind (he had that massive sword). No Arthas though. What gives? In fact, I don’t remember seeing any Warcraft characters.

There was a segment where they called up two volunteers to play and compete in a game against each other with the orchestra playing live. The game was frogger and they called up a guy and a girl. The guy went first, and only got two frogs to safety or something. The girl went after his 90 seconds were up and just completely destroyed him.

if they come into town again next year, I definitely want to go again. Here’s a clip that someone shot from several years ago.

Wouldn’t mind seeing some more themes from Starcraft (when Starcraft 2 is released). I always liked some of the stuff from Call of Duty 2 as well. Lastly, I hope they update their Warcraft suite to include stuff from the recent expansions.

Saw this movie today during the day time. Think I might go to the movies by myself more often.

Anyway, I liked the movie. At the very least it’s worth a “rental”. Its a great fantasy fix until the Last Airbender(other Avatar) movie comes out. When I was a kid, I’d spend a lot of my youth reading about Greek mythology and dreamed about what the world would be like if these Greek gods were still here among us. I’m tempted to grab the books now. I just feel kind of awkward going into the children’s section just to grab the set.

Female lead actress is cute.

But I digress. I always check out the female lead actress (actually, I check out any actress, I don’t discriminate)