shrug eh, wutever

2004-05-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

:: What the...? :: I was sitting in a Chinese restaurant the other day when a woman walks in to place a take out order. Shortly after placing her order with the hostess, she blurts out, "Oh, and can you make that with no MSG, no salt, and no oil?" No MSG. No salt. No oil. At a Chinese restaurant. Call me crazy, but I don't think she wanted Chinese food at all. I think she wanted a salad.

2004-04-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

:: An Impassioned Plea :: Not to start off on a negative note or anything, but people make me sick. Actually, let me amend that; people who dole out unsolicited advice in the form of glib passages that, to them, seem to impart a form of celestial wisdom otherwise unseen and unheard of on this mortal plane make me physically ill. First off, no one was asking you. I couldn't care less about

2004-03-26T09:02:00.000-08:00

Ok, to tell you the truth, I'm pretty goddamn bored with Random Memory #4. I'm sure you are too. So, to speed things up and hopefully get to my next random memory (apparently, the only things being written on this blog), here's a brief synopsis. Enjoy. After nightfall, we: Dodged more trains. Once again, fuck you, Amtrak. Attempted to hitch a ride on a freight train hobo-style. (No, Andy.)

2004-03-19T09:47:00.000-08:00

Random Memory #4: Part Seven - "Trainspotting" By the time we reached the train tracks, it was already around 6:30 or 7:00 in the evening. It was still light out, making it much easier to, you know... see stuff. Which is a good thing. I don't know how many of you have had the chance to walk along train tracks, and thus having shared my experience, concur with my opinion that it really just

2004-03-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

Random Memory #4: Part Six – “No, Andy.” With the church way behind us, and deep in the California countryside, Andy and I finally conceded the inescapable fact that we were, to be quite honest, lost. “We’re not lost, dude.” Yes we were. For some obscure reason, we had decided that the fastest way home would be to follow the train tracks. After all, they did run past our apartment. We’d

2004-02-25T00:08:00.000-08:00

:: MORE PROOF THAT I'M GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL... :: So I was sitting in church the other morning, just minding my own business and what not, when all of a sudden, a white-haired dude approaches me. He turned out to be a deacon and apparently, there was a shortage of people handling that morning's collection. My assistance was required. Much like a certain multimillionaire caped crusader

2004-01-12T02:49:00.000-08:00

:: WELL NOW... :: So high on dedication It feels so good to get away From all this repetition This angry town, this battleground... --Yellowcard, "Star Struck" Going around in circles. It's a funny thing. And by funny, I of course mean frustrating. Eh, what are you gonna do, right? --your friendly neighborhood Alden

2004-01-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

:: AWESOME. :: If you're not perennially trapped in an office, as I oftentimes am, China can be a pretty cool place. No, really, I'm serious. Anyhow, I won't post about it here. I will, however, send a ton of pictures to my good friend Mikey for him to host on his site, captioned and everything. Just as soon as I get off my lazy ass and do it. Look for pics of me and my friends being the

2003-12-30T03:10:00.000-08:00

:: DAMN SKIPPY! :: My friends kick ass. There it is, as simple as I can put it. In fact, they probably kick waaaay more ass than your friends. So there. I win. Booyah. They send me stuff, they email me, they make my day. And now, a subset of said kick ass friends (pictured) have found their way over to the mainland to spend New Year's with me. Additionally, I've weaseled my way into

2003-12-29T02:57:00.000-08:00

Random Memory #4: Part Five - "The Presbyterians" I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Presbyterians are the nicest people on the planet. Their caring attitude towards the idiotic and thirsty is truly a credit to their religion. But I'll get to that later. Shortly after Army Guy asked us to get out of his car, Andy and I found ourselves pounding the pavement once more. By this time,

2003-12-28T02:36:00.000-08:00

:: SPIDER SENSE... TINGLING :: When moving from place to place, it is in your best interest to absorb the local culture quickly, thus adapting yourself to your surroundings, better preparing yourself for the challenges that surely await you in your new home. For most of you, this rather obvious statement will bring to mind lofty cultural topics such as art, local traditions, cuisine, or

2003-12-26T00:40:00.000-08:00

:: YO. :: Happy holidays and what not. I hope things went well for everyone. Except for YOU. Yeah that's right... you know who you are. Anyway, seeing as how I've been neglecting this blog as of late, I've decided to reward you guys with a few Christmas pictures. And by Christmas pictures, I mean that they are Christmas pictures only by virtue of me taking them on said holiday. To the

2003-12-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

:: HOLD ON A SEC. THIS DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A BAR AT ALL... :: Nope. No liquor here, just a bunch of photographs and... wait a minute... this is a museum. So for the first time in five years, I decided to culture myself and step foot inside an actual museum dedicated to art and stuff. A friend of mine wanted to check out some touring National Geographic photography exhibit and asked if I

2003-12-12T17:45:00.000-08:00

Wasssaappening?! I'd like to direct your attention to the sidebar, where I've included a link to the wonderful world of Kerber Troy, a twisted little digital playground devoted to pictures of Andy and Mike doing what they do best. No, not gay porn (at least not yet), but snowboarding and getting drunk at parties. They're living the college life sans the college part, and frankly, that

2003-12-10T21:09:00.000-08:00

Random Memory #4: Part Four – “The Army Guy” To recap, visiting Mike in the hospital had been a load of laughs. Mostly at his expense, but that’s only because me and Andy are horrible people. We had annoyed Megan and Jackie to the point of getting our asses kicked out of a car. Happily, Megan was nice enough to stop the car before issuing the order “Get out.” Thanks, Megan! You’re the best!

2003-12-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Goddamn, that was whiny. --your friendly neighborhood Alden

2003-12-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

:: I'LL PROBABLY REGRET SAYING THIS, BUT... :: I have no idea what the fuck it is that I'm doing. No, seriously. I've had to think long and hard about what I want to accomplish here in China, and to be quite truthful, I have absolutely NO IDEA. I came to learn, I told myself, I came for the experience. But learn what? The language, definitely, if only for survival purposes. Experience?

2003-12-05T00:50:00.000-08:00

:: BY DAY, MILD MANNERED BARBER; BY NIGHT, SUPERVILLAIN :: Man, I wish I had a picture to post. Well, you'll just have to make do with your own imagination, I guess. I'll need you to close your eyes for this one. No, no, not yet. Idiot. Imagine the Sphinx of Egypt. Ok, now subtract the Sphinx, being careful to keep the funny hat. Now imagine that the hat was composed of human hair. Dye

2003-12-02T02:29:00.000-08:00

:: OKEE-DOKEY, MOTHERFUCKER... HAVE YOURSELF A CRAPTACULAR DAY :: Some people say I'm antisocial. They're right. I don't know what the hell happened in between July and now, but ever since I arrived in the motherland, I've withdrawn myself from the locals. Probably because they spit a lot. I used to be social, or at least more social. I met people. I hung out with friends. I didn't

2003-11-25T18:23:00.000-08:00

Random Memory #4: Part Three - "Shut Up or Get the Fuck Out." We only stayed in the hospital for about an hour. We had alienated Mike from the veterans and nursing staff, got our pictures, and had brought our special brand of sunshine to our sick friend. All in all, a successful trip. As we exited the hospital, Megan began complaining about a migraine. Girls always complain about something.

2003-11-24T01:24:00.000-08:00

Random Memory #4: Part Two I-80 Westbound. Roughly 4:00 pm. Destination: Travis AFB, California. With Megan at the wheel and Jackie riding shotgun, Andy and I decided to make complete asses of ourselves. Despite Jackie's impassioned pleas to "behave, these people have guns," we contemplated goading the MPs into arresting us. But then we wouldn't get pictures of Mikey on his sick bed.

2003-11-20T03:34:00.000-08:00

I know I've told this story a zillion times, but shit... my mind's gone completely blank despite my urge to post, and I need new material. Random Memory #4: Part One - "It's Not a Tooomah" "Dude, get that shit checked out. It's starting to frighten me." Spring, 2001. It appeared that Mike had contracted a strange deformity. For the last week or so, the side of his neck had been giving birth

2003-11-18T20:51:00.000-08:00

After four trying months, I've come to the conclusion that I utterly, completely, and thoroughly suck at doing my laundry. The puzzling thing, though, is that I never used to suck at it until I got here. But then again, I've always had help from a big white box courtesy of Whirlpool. Oh, I go through all the motions. I separate my whites and my coloreds. Insert perfectly obvious racial

2003-11-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I last posted one of these things, so here goes another Random Memory. Random Memory #3 Ah, snowboarding. Truly one of the finer things in life. Snow, fresh air, good friends, and incredible, mind numbing terror. Depicted above from right to left are: Tom, sporting a baby blue polo shirt thingee (dude, what the hell was up with that?), Andy in his signature hat,

2003-11-13T23:01:00.000-08:00

Man, I love caffeine. Especially today. It's the only thing keeping me from performing a spectacular face plant into the keyboard with which I am typing this post. But why am I tired? It's because I stayed up half the night. But why did I stay up half the night? Because some fucker decided it would be a good idea to try to break into my house. Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday.

2003-11-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Hong Kong, or as I prefer to call it, "Paradise." Well, not exactly paradise, but it's a whole world closer to heaven than Beijing. They have 7-11 here. God, I freakin' love the convenience of this place. Restaurants (cheap ones) within walking distance, convenience stores within walking distance, banks within walking distance, public libraries full of books in English. Hey,

2003-11-04T03:31:00.000-08:00

I get to go to Hong Kong tomorrow. Why? Because I'm special, that's why. Actually, it's because I have to take care of my visa, which still says I'm a tourist and not a full-time employee. I have to leave the country in order to change my visa type so that I can reenter and stay. If that doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense to you, you're not alone - it confused the hell out of me the

2003-11-02T01:47:00.000-08:00

:: PASS THE BUFFALO WINGS :: It's getting cold. And I'm not just talking about the weather, either. I'm homesick as all hell right now. Might have something to do with the fact that I'm the only one at the office at the moment. Might have something to do with the fact that my boss left the country yesterday, leaving our department to wonder what in God's name to do in his absence. Might have

2003-10-30T20:44:00.000-08:00

:: I WANNA BE LIKE MIKE :: Mike was my college roommate. Mike drinks. Drink, Mike, drink. Good Mikey. The following is the reason why I, and everyone else for that matter, should consider Michael Lee Kerber a hero. Demon eel: u better be drunk, dammit Qwiksilver99: im ason wawste Qwiksilver99: d Qwiksilver99: so

2003-10-29T20:38:00.000-08:00

This city's too big, I've decided. Too many people, too many cars, too much area to cover. That's the thing about Chinese cities. You can spend hours riding around in a car and not leave city limits. Much like I had to do this morning. And no, I wasn't going around in circles, smartass. Just one big circle. Beijing is laid out like a giant target, with several concentric Ring Roads growing

2003-10-26T19:25:00.000-08:00

Long time no post. Eh, it's not like I'm disappointing anyone. So something interesting happened yesterday. Something which casts a huge shadow of doubt on whether I can stay in Beijing for the period of time I previously anticipated. My boss was laid off. To most, having a superior canned by the upper echelons of management is a God-send. To me, well... it doesn't bode well for me at all.

2003-10-16T00:18:00.000-07:00

Feeling especially lazy right now, so I'll keep this post short. :: RANDOM BEIJING PICS :: Ah, can't start a tour of Beijing without a shot of a humongous flying Chinese flag. Recently (Oct. 1), China celebrated National Day, China's equivalent to the Fourth of July. On that day, I decided to buy me a new pair of shoes - nothing like engaging in a little capitalism to celebrate the Communist

2003-10-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

:: DUDE... WHO KNEW? :: Sooze124: so my friend stella told me about this thing she saw on the "vegan" channel Sooze124: where this guy had a cage full of kittens and their mother Sooze124: and they were al lfreaking out and clambering up the sides of hte cage trying to get out Sooze124: because the dude had

2003-10-10T04:39:00.000-07:00

I hate chain letters. I really do. Especially those that threaten me. You know, the "pass this on to thirty people in the next hour or you'll die a horrible death" chain letter. Oh, hell, I'll just post the damn thing... hi. my name is jenna. i am seven years old and i am dead. i have red eyes, black hair, no ears and no mouth. pass this on to fifteen people in the next hour or i will

2003-10-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

:: "OW." :: Or rather, "HOLY SHIT!!!! IT BURNS! IT BURNS! OH, GOD, MAKE THE HURTING STOP!" ...And that was my reaction to dinner the other night. Now, I like spicy food. Mexican food? No problem. Thai food? Yeah, ok, I can hang sometimes. Mongolian? That's crossing the line. The other night I was taken to a restaurant that specialized in Mongolian hot pot. Ah, Mongolian hot pot -

2003-09-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

:: AN OPEN LETTER TO THOSE WHO RELIGIOUSLY USE THE TERM "AZN PRYDE" :: Dear Idiot(s), Stop it. First of all, it's spelled "Asian pride." I know you think it's cool to chronically misspell things, but really, it's not. Writing in mostly consonants may be acceptable at mental institutions and certain areas of the Deep South, but in the real world, I'm sorry to say, it's frowned upon. Don't

2003-09-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

Regrets. They’re a natural part of life, it seems. Much like taxes, death, and painful gas, regrets belong to the category of the Unpleasant and Inevitable. They make you squirm. They keep you up at night. They cause you to utter Homer Simpson-esque phrases like “d’oh” and “doooooonut.” I, in my infinite wisdom, forgot to pack raingear. Dooooooonut. I thought I had prepared well. I

2003-09-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

Eh, too lazy to post anything worthwhile, so I'll just post pictures of my morning commute. Mundane, you say? Screw you, I say. This is the start of my commute. Insert something humorous to say here. Oops, traffic jam. Go sheep dude, go. Ah, finally, civilization and pavement. I don't know about this one. Just some random guy. And that wraps up my commute. --your friendly

2003-09-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

:: DAY TWO :: Pissed off at the world right now. And getting out of bed this morning was the hardest thing I've had to do in a while. Screw this. I'm having coffee. ...And so ends another chapter in mankind's quest for knowledge. --your friendly neighborhood Alden

2003-09-13T03:36:00.000-07:00

For the sake of science and to further the knowledge of mankind as a whole, I have embarked on a grand experiment. I have decided to investigate the effects of caffeine withdrawal on a stressed out individual on the brink of a nervous breakdown/homocidal rampage. Ok, so I ran out of coffee and I'm too lazy, er, busy... yeah, that's it, let's go with busy, to go out to my local Starbucks for

2003-09-09T03:30:00.000-07:00

:: MY NEW ROOMMATE :: Recently, I was surprised to find that my humble little shack had become a little more crowded. Meet my new roommate. This is Eduardo. Eduardo is a gecko I found living in my bathroom (see pictures of his magnificent habitat below), a find which cemented my idea that all geckos are inherently perverts. The first time I saw him, I thought he was a piece of gum someone

2003-08-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

Well, shit… It’s just about nine o’clock in my proverbial little neck of the woods, and while most white collar office drones are relaxing in front of their televisions at this moment, I am still sitting at my desk. At the office. Fortunately, I’ve caught a short break while I wait for yet another pizza to be delivered to what has become my primary home. Work’s been killer. Our current

2003-08-24T01:05:00.000-07:00

Holy sweet and merciful crap. It's been a hectic few weeks, and this is the first chance I've had time to put electronic pencil to electronic paper. I can only offer my most profound and deepest apologies. ... Now that all the sarcasm's out of the way, let's see... what can I say? Oh yeah, I promised you guys a look at my bathroom. Well, as advertised, here it is, my state-of-the-art

2003-08-13T06:08:00.000-07:00

So it appears that the Xanga weblog community is experiencing a DDOS attack of some sort. Which doesn't bode well for me at all, seeing as how Xanga sites comprise about 30% of my online reading material. It also doesn't help that the Chinese government blocks access to Blogspot URLs - I've missed out on a few of my favorite weblogs these last few weeks. And so, instead of reading the thoughts

2003-08-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

Man... the working world's tough. S'ok though; I'm learning - which is a good thing seeing as how that's the reason I came here. Lately, my department's been staying at the office for about 14+ hours a day and we haven't had a day off in a while - too many things to do, y'know. Mail server, web server, website, acquiring new inventory, hiring new personnel, training new personnel, dealing with

2003-08-07T22:13:00.000-07:00

I've gotten quite a few requests to put up pictures of my current home. Morbid curiousity, I suppose. I guess you want to see if all that I've said about my place is true or not. Well, this should the the first in my series, "A Guided Tour of Alden's New Life." You can all thank Kimmy for this - she's given me the awesome power to put up my pictures on my blog. :: KICK ASS VIEW ::

2003-08-07T04:35:00.000-07:00

Y'know, I've often thought about including a comment section to this humble blog of mine. It seems like everyone else and their mother's got one. I guess I COULD get a comment box... but I probably won't, given all the cons. Oh shit, here it comes... another one of my half-assed lists. :: WHY I SHOULDN'T HAVE A COMMENT BOX :: 1) It's too much work. And I am lazy. 2) I think

2003-08-06T07:53:00.000-07:00

Ok... I'm bored. I might as well update you guys on what I've been up to the last few days. I'm still at the office. It's about 10:35 PM right now. I've been here since about 9:30 this morning. Not that I mind, really... at least I have the Internet to keep me busy. Our server's been a little bitch all day ever since some software developers decided to crash it this morning. No, it wasn't

2003-08-06T04:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you guys can make out the picture too well - it's pretty grainy. I spotted this rare specimen of the Mullet just outside of Beijing's Temple of Heaven, whose entrace you can see just to the right. It seems to be a variant of the Common Mullet, a creature that usually prefers the sanctuary of American trailer parks. The common mullet prefers the flat, tornado-prone expanses of

2003-07-31T23:02:00.000-07:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sick of dealing with my folks. Even from thousands of miles away, they can find some way to ruin a perfectly good day. So I made a mistake in an email I sent out to an acquaintance. Yes, it was a glaring mistake on my part, and I am sorry that I made it. Addressing someone you barely know in a semi-formal email as you would a good friend is a huge

2003-07-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

Well... it's been ages, hasn't it? Sorry about that. I just moved to the new office and this place has been a friggin' mess. We just got a bunch of new computer equipment - toys, if you will - and we've had to set it all up. That's been... troublesome, to say the least. That, combined with the fact that our high-speed internet connection is not working at the moment, has made things rather

2003-07-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

So I had this really great post yesterday, but then the bastard computer I was on decided to restart itself. Go figure. Looks like you guys have to settle for this subpar stream of consciousness. Tough. Deal with it. Been absent from the keyboard the last couple of days. Yeah, I've been lazy. Sue me. On Sunday, I got to see the Celestial Temple, one of the oldest Imperial structures in

2003-07-12T05:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, it looks like my place is going to be a lot more permanent than I expected. Greeeeat. So I found out a few interesting things about the Beijing housing market. Seems like it's common operating procedure for an apartment complex to demand that their tenant stay for a full fourteen months. Hell, I don't know if I'll be staying here that long. Also, there's the little matter of landlords

2003-07-11T04:13:00.000-07:00

Hurray for boredom. So what did I do all day? Jack shit. I was supposed to be reading a Java technical manual, and I did. Sort of. I don't know about the rest of you out there, but every time I get started on a technical manual of any sort, I start daydreaming. About what? None of your friggin' business. Spun around in my chair a few times. Yeah. That was loads of fun. The office

2003-07-09T04:14:00.000-07:00

Whoa, its been a whole week since I last posted. Ok... here goes. So I've been hanging out with my boss a lot lately. Well, I pretty much have to, seeing as how he's the only one I know who can speak passable English. Actually, his English is quite good. Anyhow, we've been hitting up a few bars - my boss seems to think that the best way for me to learn Chinese is to hook up with a few local

2003-07-02T05:52:00.000-07:00

Goddamn, it feels good to be online again. Granted, I'm on a 56K modem, which is currently going at 24K. Sorta feels like I've gone back in time to 1992. At least I've gotten the chance to log on again, though. Life without the Internet, well... can it really be called life? But perhaps that's just my inner engineer talking... that little bastard never seems to shut the hell up. Anyhow,

2003-06-30T04:30:00.000-07:00

Whoa... totally different world over here. I don't have much time to blog an entire entry... just a quickie. Living conditions - sub par. Traffic laws... what traffic laws. Weather - hot and sticky. Work - pretty slow. Language - incomprehensible. I'll write more later. Take it easy. --your friendly neighborhood Alden

2003-06-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

One more day. One more day of familiar sights and sounds. One more day of life as I know it. One more day before I get to start over – in a new place, with new people, and a new job. I’m excited to go. There’ll be so much to see and learn. Good or bad, the experiences and the lessons they’ll bring will last me a lifetime. I know I’ll come back a better individual. But I’d be lying if I

2003-06-21T02:19:00.000-07:00

Wow...

2003-06-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

Long time, no post. I’ve been busy though, and hopefully, my account of what’s been happening will make up for the lack of entries. It’s been an incredibly eventful couple of days. So much to take in, so many thoughts to sort through, so many things yet to accomplish. Some of you might remember a few of my past postings regarding a job in Beijing. I wrote about how I happy I was about

2003-06-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

With my impending graduation, I've gotten to thinking about what graduation means nowadays. After much thought and deliberation, I've come to the conclusion that graduations mean absolutely nothing. Especially high school ones. I'm not saying that the conclusion of a four year journey isn't noteworthy. Not at all. I'm just saying that Americans have forgotten that a graduation is a privilege

2003-06-01T02:09:00.000-07:00

Hmm... strange night. My buddies and I went to hit up a bar tonight. We decided to hit up Scores down by Foster City, and on our way there saw what was perhaps one of the saddest things I can think of. As we got onto 280 South, we noticed something strange up ahead. A white minivan was pulled over to the side of the road and the driver had gotten out of his vehicle. He was waving at

2003-05-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Wow... my apologies for the last post. That thing read like a crack addict's lunatic ravings. With any luck, this one will redeem me somewhat. Or just subject you to my next Random Memory. Eh, still haven't decided. Been pretty absent from the online journal the last few days. It isn't for the lack of time - I've got plenty of that on my hands. Just haven't been too motivated to do

2003-05-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

For the next eighteen minutes, I'm going to write down whatever comes to mind. So, something slightly interesting happened to me today. I got to meet a 1984 Olympics gold medal winning gymnast today. Apparently, he knows my dad. Seemed like a normal enough guy. Except for the fact that he could probably kill me with one arm. No really, this guy's forearms were ridiculous - like Popeye's

2003-05-25T17:17:00.000-07:00

Random Memory # 2 Ah, the summer's almost upon us. And, sadly, I, in lieu of actually doing cool stuff, find myself reminiscing of summer activities past. Which brings us to this Random Memory. In fact, I suppose this'll be the first in a summer themed series. Kinda like a slide show of my past vactions... only with less pictures. And more idiocy. If I was proficient in HTML (like my

2003-05-22T23:52:00.000-07:00

Every so often, I get around to reading the news. I found this article on the Yahoo! news page. It's about the SARS outbreak in China and how the virus itself doesn't seem to get weaker with each subsequent generation. Interesting Choice of Words "SARS, however, does not appear to be weakening. WHO experts are still trying to determine the maximum number of people who have become infected in

2003-05-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Random Ranting So with me having nothing to as of late, I've gotten to thinking. Yes, I am capable of that action. And no, nothing intelligent has come to mind. But there has been one nagging issue... Why the hell do people talk on a bus? Ok, let me amend that... why the hell do people talk to ME on a bus? Do I just strike people as something of a friendly individual? Do I look like I

2003-05-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

I'm Baaaaaaaaaack... Well, it's been a while since I last posted. I'm sure I was missed by my audience of three people. Nothing too much to report since I last wrote. Lemme see now... Been applying for jobs - writing cover letters, tweaking my resume, calling people... y'know, all the good stuff. I've pretty much given up on the China thing at the moment. I'm not too sure that my job will

2003-05-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

It's not that I'm Unemployed... It's more like I'm occupationally-deficient... Went to a job fair in SJ yesterday. Wow. What a waste - it was the worst career fair I had ever attended. I found out about this job fair on Sunday, so I figured, hey, I might as well go all out for this thing. It's not like I had anything better to do, anyhow. So I polished my resume (a task that took my dad and

2003-05-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

Ah, the Joys of A College Degree So I sat in on a few of my friend's classes at SJSU today, and y'know what? I've learned that some people should do us all a favor and just SHUT THE FUCK UP! That is all. --your friendly neighborhood Alden

2003-05-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, I can bore the hell out of you guys by posting about my day. But I'm not going to do that unless something cool happened. That being said, I will now revert to my Random Memories. Yes, that's right. Instead of boring you with details of my current day, I will bore you with details of previous ones. Random Memory #1 Some people wonder why I'm so desensitized to violence. You know, I've

2003-05-06T23:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, by popular demand, here's my 100 THINGS ABOUT ALDEN LIST (Well, actually, just one person has demanded this. But she has been pretty damn stubborn about this.) 1) Kimmy made me do this list, proving, yet again, that I am a tool. 2) I was born in a Third World country where the equivalent of a luxury sedan was a llama. 3) My high school graduation lasted over three hours. While people

2003-05-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Cinco De Mayo, everyone Ah, is there a more blessed holiday than Cinco De Mayo? Probably not. I mean, when else do we celebrate a French defeat? O hmm... scratch that. I guess we can celebrate that any day of the week, I suppose. But when do we get to celebrate a French defeat AND drink Coronas? That just spells fun for the entire family. So what am I doing this Cinco De Mayo?

2003-04-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

Fuck SARS. Right in the ear. Still sidelined in the States. Been pretty pissed about it, too. So what have I been up to these past few days other than walk through my days in a perpetual fog of disappointment? Not a whole helluva lot. Been helping out my dad, mostly. Well sort of. Business nowadays is slow to the point where I don't see a reason for me to help. Really. It's that bad.

2003-04-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you that came out last night for dinner, thank you. It really meant a lot to me seeing you guys there. For those of you that didn't make it out to the bar last night though, I need to share a bit of news. I'm not going. Well, at least not yet. Just as we got to the bar, my boss called me from China. He told me the situation there was pretty severe and that everyone was

2003-04-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well now... where to start? So I have a job now. Ummm... yeah. As all of you know (unless you've found this site by accident or don't know a damn thing about me), I'll be shipped off to the mainland in a few days. Once there, I'll have to adapt quickly - or die trying. I don't speak the language, I'm not well versed in the technical aspect of my new job, I don't know the culture very well,

2003-04-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

Took this off of my friend's blog... ok, so I'm copying her... whatever. Gives you something to read, doensn't it? Anywho... Name:Alden Name Backwards: Nedla (what the hell was the point of this question?) Does your name mean anything? Apparently, it means "old friend." Go figure. My parents took this name from an engineering magazine. Were you named after any one? Some guy in an engineering

2003-03-27T22:51:00.000-08:00

Seems like everyone and their mother is getting one of these things. Not that I'm a stranger to this medium. Not at all. Never had the privilege of having my own, is all. Well, what can I say on this first posting? Not a whole helluva lot. Partly, this blog thingee is put up for your amusement, digust, or what have you. Partly, it's up just so I can spew my brain puke all over the internet

*shrug* eh, wutever

shrug eh, wutever