Jay Chou and School

And we can breathe a sigh of relief. Jay Chou wasn't terrible as Kato in The Green Hornet. In fact, I would say he was who saved this film from utter catastrophe. Surprised? I know I was.

Sure his English isn't top notch. But, that was to be expected. He covered it up with some clever lines during the movie and his total badass-ness. I would not have minded if the entire two hours I sat there for was watching Jay Chou beat a bunch of gangsters up in Kato-mode. Seth Rogen wasn't fun to watch at all in this film. He came off as pretentious, weak superhero who got bailed out by Kato and yet took all the credit. The villain left a lot to be desired. He had some nice moments, but was a disappointment in the end. I don't want to go into spoilers since I'm sure everyone is dying to watch this highly anticipated film (/sarcasm). It's a nice watch nonetheless.

I had to pay extra money to watch it in 3-D since that was my only option. If you can watch it in 2-D, save yourselves the extra money. The 3-D was nice and all, but not necessary. All you get for that extra $4 is a lot of stuff flying at you.

I'll give it a 6/10. Then again, I don't give high grades often to films.

Well, winter break is officially almost over. I head back up to Syracuse on Sunday morning. I'll be leaving the cold sidewalks of New York City for the colder campus of Syracuse. Break was fun while it lasted. Definitely much more fun than last year's winter break. Actually, I don't even remember how my winter break went last year. That unimportant.

Actually I do. But only one event. Last year my friend insisted that we play basketball in the gym at Queens College. My friends and I arrive to see the courts relatively empty and the girl's basketball team getting ready for practice on the other side. As my jeans are around my ankles (I wore my shorts under my jeans), someone from the other side of the gym yells at everyone to get out of the gym. C'mon, I just took my pants off.

That's it. That's all I remember from last year's winter break. There were plenty more fun moments this year that I'm sure to remember next year...hopefully. At first, I couldn't wait to go back to school. Now I'm dreading it. Most of my friends head back up to school the week after us. They have an extra week to play. How I envy them.

Sushi, Buses, and McDonald's

What. A. Day.

I don't mean that in a good "what an amazing day" way. "Most days of the year are unremarkable. They begin, and they end, with no lasting memories made in between." Sure enough, this day was one to remember, no matter how frustrating it was.

I was supposed to meet up with my friends to go eat at a sushi buffet at 12 PM in Flushing. Normally, it takes me about an hour on the bus to get there. Silly me for not taking into account New York City doesn't care if there's two feet of snow on every street.

I walk to the bus stop around 11:10 PM. I'm the second one there so I assumed that a bus just left. I thought to myself that one will come in give or take ten minutes. Ha! I watched as the group of people waiting for the bus stretched to the end of the block. Fifty two minutes. 52! That's how long it took for a bus to finally arrive. To top it off...my stop is the first stop on the route. The only other Asian in this mass of people was this Chinese lady who ninja-ed her way to the front of the line. Needless to say, she threw a fit at the driver screaming that she waited an hour for the bus (when in actuality, she came like ten minutes after I did) and that she refused to pay. She managed to rally a few other middle-aged women to join her outburst. I just wanted to reach my destination in peace.

Once I finally reached Flushing about an hour and a half later, I walked to the next destination: another bus stop to wait for a bus to bring me to the sushi buffet. As I made my way to the bus stop, I saw the bus start to leave. I gave chase. For over five blocks. I lost count at five. Surprising enough, even with all the snow people neglected to shovel and the slippery ground, I was very close to catching the bus. That was until I was stopped by a red light and oncoming traffic. Good try, Stanley. I decided to wait for the next bus for over half an hour. One came, but ignored me and zoomed right by because the bus was "packed". I'm one person. I could have easily fit. I struck up some conversations with other people waiting for the bus. Interesting characters you meet in the city that never shovels, I mean sleep.

I gave up and told my friends to finish their sushi without me when the bus never showed up. I walked back to McDonald's and waited for my friends to come to me. As I walked back, I looked at the first bus stop on the route I was gonna take.

That explains why there were no buses coming my way. The line extended further.

Well, I had hopes of some good sushi. All I can eat sushi might I add. My lunch turned from:

to this

First time ever ordering something from the McCafe. I only got it because I was cold and there was a giant poster advertising the caramel mocha. Not bad.

In a nutshell, the New York City public transportation ruined my potential lunch as it took me 3-4 hours to reach my destination (actually, I didn't even reach it). A sushi buffet lunch turned into a Big Mac, snack wrap, and a caramel mocha.

But the day ended on a much higher note. I got to see friends I haven't seen since the summer. It was good catching up. It always ends up with us having our girly guy talk until however late it gets. At least the train ride home didn't completely screw me over like the buses.

What Grinds My Gears

You know what really grinds my gears? Sorry, just had to say that. I've made not one, but two posts about this on Tumblr already. I'll just be adding more to the list of what ticks me off. Yes, it's another list. It seems like I've been making lists in my recent posts. I like lists. They add variations in my blog posts instead of just seeing a block of text.

• How snow makes people dumb.
  

I'm walking back from lecture and I'm seconds of reach my dorm. There's a bus stop outside of my dorm and woopty-doo, 3 buses arrive at the same time. So, there are many students coming out of all the buses to my right. Snow that come up to my knee on my left. Right ahead of me is a student I was walking behind who suddenly stops to wait for a chance to keep walking. But in front of her are students waiting to get on the buses. Sorry if this is a bit confusing. Needless to say, she keeps standing there waiting for someone to move. I'm freezing and I'm not waiting a second longer. I put good old common sense to the use and go back and around everyone and on to the street. I walk around the buses and to no surprise I see a clear path. I look back and I see the same girl who was in front of me still waiting for a chance to walk.

• Dumb questions in class.

Teachers who tell you that there is no such thing as dumb questions are lying through their teeth. There was a girl who once asked in high school, "Is the essay multiple choice?"

• Fake hobos (hoboes?).

I don't see any in Syracuse (or they are just harder to distinguish) but I see them everywhere in New York City. There was this one lady who claimed she had no home to go to, no food to eat, etc. The only part of her that looked like she might not have a home was the fact her hair looked like it was used as a broom. When no one on the train gave her any money, she turned around and cursed everyone out for being greedy. I see her the next day and she is wearing a completely different outfit. Looked brand spankin' new too. Again, no one gave her any money. She angrily cussed at everyone again. Rinse and repeat.

• Erasers that do a poor job erasing.

Might as well package that with a pencil that doesn't make any marks when you try to write with it. That's why I use pens for everything. Even math. I'd rather cross something out than potentially having to go through a bad eraser. That and I like writing in something darker than graphite.

That's all I can come up with now. Besides, everyone has like a million things that tick them off. No one wants to read them all either (or type them all).