No 'Friends' with 'William Hung'

If I hear one more piece of news about William Hung, I am really going to flip!! I don't watch American Idol but this guy seems to be more popular than the upcoming winner. So what's the big deal about William Hung?! He is the worst singer in the entire world, and yet, all these entertainment news magazines love to feature him in their excerpts. Either those must be really slow news days -- no Michael Jackson or Ben-nifer news to follow or they just want a good laugh. Jeez, does William Hung even realize that people give him the attention just to ridicule him??? Everyone is laughing at him (not with him!), and yet he still thinks he is a superstar. Performing at concerts and recording a CD -- Oh, PLA-EEEEZE! What has the world come to? Has the entertainment industry gone so broke they can't afford any professional singers anymore? Every other show on the TV now are reality shows -- the TV industry's route to ditch the high-paying actors and replace them with common-follks... but please don't let William Hung replace the singers!!! That would be a huge mistake!!

So Friends is actually at the last season! FINAL-LY!! I used to love watching that show, when it was actually good. Cute story with Rachael and Ross. But then when Chandler and Monica got together, the show became waaaay-too 90210. And it got even more ridiculous when Joey started to like Rachael. My god, why don't they just make Joey fall in love with Phoebe, then they can actually make it a table for six and call it a day. The show seems to drag on forever. Got too boring. Has anyone realized that each of the actors are so "stuck" to their Friends character that even when they try to venture off to other acting projects, they can't seem to distinguish themselves? They still act the same. That's sad. They've been type-casted. I'm sure the end of the season is not going to be the last of Friends... there will be plenty of reruns to last for years!

The beauty of Berkeley High

If my old high school was as beautiful as the newly remodeled Berkeley High, I probably wouldn't have skipped so many classes. This weekend, my husband and I took BART over to the East Day to attend Berkeley High School's Open House. Revonated with fundings of a couple of school bonds, the school was absolutely gorgeous. Listen to this -- the school has a brand new dance studio with all-around full length mirrors and hardwood floors. No, this room is not the gym partially used as a dance studio. It's a full-time dance studio!! To top things off, they also have a new indoor swimming pool!! No, not a freshmen prank! A real pool! It makes me sadly remember my senior days when I had to go to the public swimming pool on Sloat in the wee hours of the morning every single day. We had to share the pool with at least 3 other groups of students from other schools. Oh how I wished my high school really had a fourth-floor swimming pool. Berkeley high also had a College and Career Resource center 4x the size of our so-called center. College catalogs from all over the country, along with all the SAT, ACT prep books you can possibly find, all within reach in this center. Their cafeteria -- no, it shouldn't even be called a cafeteria.. .It's way beyond that. It doesn't have the typical ugly long, brown tables. They have nice wood round tables with matching wood chairs, creatively placed inside a rotunda and its surrounding corridors. Beautiful -- I wish I had pictures to show. My favorite part of the campus is the big grassy area in the courtyard. There are a lot of sitting benches and a big lawn area for students to lounge during breaks or for teachers to hold outdoor classes. So nice. Absolutely love it!

As we walked around the campus, tables were set up providing information on clubs and sports teams the school offered. As I strolled along the sports tables -- BHS actually had a good variety of sports teams available. Of course there were the typical ones -- basketball, football, volleyball, baseball, etc. But there were a few unique ones that caught my eye: Lacrosse, Crew, and Water Polo (I guess that's why they absolutely need their own indoor pool). Amazing. I didn't even know these sports existed in the high school competition arena.

Of course, the visit of Berkeley High made me realize how depressing my high school was, and still is. We didn't have any of those much needed facilities. Our high school produced some of the brightest and smartest kids in all of San Francisco--a #1 or #2 in the whole state of California - yet, it is so run-down and so student-unfriendly. A green lawn? haha! The last of anything green haas now been covered with concrete to house some temporary bungalows that are really not so temporary in reality. New gym? Think again. Despite having such a strong alumni association, I can't help by wonder where do all the dues and contributions go? Why can't we make the high school a little more inviting? Hmm....time to get involved.

A day without spending money

Has anyone realized how hard it is to spend a day without spending money? Unless you decide to stay home and do nothing -- I find it almost impossible to go about life without spending a single dime. Just today, we went out to Golden Gate Park to visit the newly restored Conservatory of Flowers. Admission tickets alone are $5 each. Despite the exotic flowers and rare plans, it was a good 85 degrees inside the building. Common knowledge reminds us that this is the so-called greenhouse effect....but the high temperature was also turned on deliberately to satisfy the tropical plants that required such humidity and warmth. After much walking and sweating, there was definitely a need for an iced-cold drink to replenish lost bodily fluids. So, there, another $2-3 spent on drinks. Even on such a low-maintenance outing such as a stroll in GGP, close to $20 was spent for 2 people. Just imagine tacking on lunch and dinner -- and maybe a movie afterwards -- and then meet up with friends for a drink at the bar? Wow, the tab just adds up quickly!!

Survivor

I am addicted to watching CBS's "Survivor- All Stars." I find myself religiously tuning in every Thursday night at 8pm to watch this show. I don't think I have had a following to any show other than the news. I never really watched one entire series of Survivors before. They already had 7 seasons. I've watched episodes here and there, but never in its entirety. So, I don't exactly know why I have such a strong interest in this one -- maybe because it is the last season where they brought back the old players back from previous seasons to do this one show. They are down to the last 6 people now. There is this one Chinese girl there who was sure to be on the chopping board and get voted out tonight, but she won immunity (which means she can not get voted off). Good for her. Not because she's Chinese I'm rooting for her -- but I'm glad she won because the other 6 people hated her and wanted her out. But against all odds, she proved herself and won herself immunity. HA! It's almost like "TAKE THAT!!" I don't think she will last, but at least she got through this round!

Population Growth

Blogspot has been quiet recently. No one is really keeping a weblog anymore. Anyways, recently I heard from the news that the Sierra Club is now divided on the population growth issue. And here today, there is a news documentary on this very topic -- populaton growth and birth rate. In Japan, there is a major population decline. With its crowded streets and subways, you would never think that they didn't have enough people, but statistics show that there is only 1.3 children per woman. Most women want the independence so they delay child birth. The Japanese age pyramid is elderly-heavy. So, social security for the seniors are down the drain in Japan. The only way to remedy the decline of population growth is to take in immigrants. But of course the Japanese is against that idea as they want to keep their ethnicity pure. On the flipside, India's population growth is out of control. They have actually implemented a 2-children policy (as opposed to China's 1-child policy). With the policy in place, Indian families are also choosing male babies over females. There are many reports of female infanticides in India. India is estimated to be 35 million females-short. Men will have problems finding a bride. It is now illegal for the doctor to do ultrasounds to determine the sex of the fetus. Many interesting facts in this documentary. In the U.S., I think there is so much research and statistics gathered that the government will find a way to keep us in line with population growth. United States is actually the fastest growing modern country in the world. As in all educated countries, Americans are also delaying the child-bearing age and keeping families small. However, government policies have it so that there is enough immigrants to fill in the gap. Immigrants make the country more vibrant and diverse. But in all issues, there are always good and bad. Some will argue how immigrants can take away jobs, etc. Interesting topic -- I almost feel like this is a classic college term paper topic!

Definitions

A friend of mine forwarded this to me today and I thought I'd share these "definitions" with you...

Worry = the most destructive habit
Losing self-respect = the greatest loss
Excuses = the most crippling failure disease
Self-pity = the most worthless emotion
Selfishness = the ugliest personality
Fear = the greatest problem to overcome
Dedication = the most endangered trait
Youth = our greatest natural resource
Encouragement = the greatest "shot in the arm"
Peace of mind = the most effective sleeping pill
Giving = the greatest joy
Wisdom = the world's most incredible computer
Hope = the worst thing to be without
Generosity = the most satisfying work
Smille = the most beautiful attire
Love = the most powerful force
Integrity = the most prized possession
Enthusiasm = the most contagious spirit

Daylight savings time

Spring forward!

Dream

I had a really weird dream last night. So weird because it seems almost real. I dreamt that my manager came by and told everyone that our office will be closing. The office will be moving to Singapore. When asked who would be offered to relocate, he said he does not know. The content of the dream seems like it's a forecast to what's about to happen. I don't ever recalling myself being able to predict the future...but does this dream actually mean something?? It doesn't help that just a couple of weeks ago, senior management passed out a survey to all employees asking each one of us to indiciate whether we would be interested in relocation, and if yes, where? Their explanation for the survey was that from the past 2 relocation experiences, the process was handled poorly. The employees were not given much time to think about the option. Anyhow, I am almost certain that everyone took that explanation with a grain of salt. It was likely that they are preparing for possible relocation plans. Maybe all that led to my dream. It must have been.