As a response to viewing writing on merchandise on Engrish.com, I wonder if people who publish the product, with full knowledge that people will be using their products, you would think that they would get someone with an ENGLISH background to verify the sense of the writing on their products (that includes store front signage and warning labels on public transport). Or perhaps they think that someone who graduated at the top of his/her class at the local university would have a decent command of the english language instead of unawaringly, giving entertainment to the english speaking world. Then again, its because of the insouciant attitude of the business world sometimes that things do sell. For example, the idea that a 'foreign' language printed on a t-shirt would look COOL will sell. Whether or not the words printed on the t-shirt will make any sort of sense, people will buy them because they think its cool to have a foreign language/design on their chest. While we laugh at their poor use of the english language in their labelling, the North American market falls into the same category of misusing foreign languages especially when it comes to labelling clothing. For example, I once saw a girl with the word "GIRL " in chinese on her chest. If she wore that in China, people would have an affinity to laugh at the fact that she is confused about her gender and needs to wear a t-shirt informing people of her gender. Another case of misuse of language is in tatooing. It is very popular these days to get a chinese character tattooed. However, it is necessary to be informed of the character that is tattooed on the arm as this is quite permanent. I don't know if it is very cool to have the word "MEAL" tattooed in chinese. (This was on some guy's arm, caucasian, and I kid you not). Nor is it cool to have the word "MAN" tattooed in chinese because it is also quite obnoxious and retarded all at once.

MY point? I don't know if I have one because I still like to laugh at the misuse of the English language in foreign countries.

something amusing

www.engrish.com (Thanks to Cindy and her friend Sam for giving me this link)

So now it seems that most of my non-architecture friends have been to Spain and seen Gaudi's amazing work, both finished and unfinished (Sagrada Familia) and I can only experience it through books in the library and various bookstores. Well, I also experience vicariously through their recounts on how amazing the architecture is and look at their web logs and pictures as my jealousy rises to an unhealthy level. (Yes, Matt N. and Doc Wan.)

On another note, people mention that I don't ever post anything. More often than not, I have nothing terribly interesting to say but I must not be selfish. I will try to post . Just like this random blurb about nothing.

If people say , " I want to live for the moment." Then are they making the most out of that moment ? I think we got to look at the bigger picture and make the most of each moment and rather than focusing on the temporary self-satisfying moment to see if there is more to life than just living for temporary euphoria.

Is there more you can live for?

Wow. blogger has a NEW TEMPLATE!!! Amazing. So there are these quizilla quizzes and I turned out to be Neo from the Matrix

You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I can still kick Keanu's butt.

Reality: Montreal is a Sauna in the summer and a deep freeze container in the winter.

Sarcasm: I love the weather here.

Irony: the fact that I need to sweat to install an Air- conditioner.

Myth: Showers do stop your sweating.

Reality: A Cold shower and a refigerator will stop your sweating.

Reality: I live in a sauna.

Irony: I still sweat after I take a shower and bask in a room cooled to 60 F

I still have not found the intent of this web log. Some die-hard blog enthusiasts have purpose in theirs and even have particular pages to compartmentalize their intents. For example, my dear friend Adrian Fung has his thoughts divided into three components, the most popular being his humorous perspectives on mundane happenings in his own life that aren't too mundane at times. His other ones reflect a more serious side as well as his talent in poetry. I tried to do that with a page devoted to poetry and lyrics that I write but somehow, for this particular one that is supposed to be read by more people, end up being just random jibberish that probably, more often than not, doesn't even need to be put down on paper. My friend Cindy, had a blogger page once and decided to switch to Xanga because she wanted to start a discussion board on her thoughts. She writes about things she learns from her Bible studies as well as really random facts about her mundane work environment like something about cafeterias and her own lunch. I guess that is the reality of it all that we face when we write religiously every single day about little things here and there. I think I've decided that I will write more sporadically in hopes that more exciting things would happen so I could write about something random. Perhaps this page is devoted to my random babble that doesn't need to be written down. Oh, did I write that already?

Perhaps it is the strange exhibitionist complex that we all have in keeping an 'online' journal for others to know what we are thinking about even when we don't want to talk to anyone about it but in the paradoxical mindset that we want people to ask us how we're doing and what we are thinking about. Otherwise, I'd be writing in an encrypted word document or in a diary that I hide under the mass of dirty underwear that sits in the hamper in my room.


Why have I written all of this? To keep my viewers entertained and wanting to come back. It's like a restaurant: You read the menu, enjoy the food, and leave a tip. If the food's good, you recommend the restaurant and you come back. Of course hopefully you try new things on the menu but it's an acquired taste. Once again, random analogies.

So my conclusion is that there is none. This blog's intent is dedicated to the random blabbings of my brain.

Note: If you are ripping off people's page codes (esp. Blogger pages) Please ensure that you are not ripping off the whole thing and try to make it original. FYI Mr. Joseph Kan 's blog page has been contributing to the many hits of Adrian Fung's blog site. Joe. CHANGE YOUR CODE EVEN IF YOU're using the SAME TEMPLATE!
Adrian: Thought you'd might like to know.

Taken from a July 2002 entry:
On pickles:

"...Of course none of this i am typing is making any sense. But hey, do blogs have to make sense? for examples, i still think the word pickle is not a verb but rather the cucumber that has been preserved in sugar and vinegar and other gunk. See we have changed the meaning of the word pickle.. so there fore pickle is in reference to the vegetable. so there fore if A=b and B=C then therefore along wit hthis logic. if a pickle=CUCUMBer that has been preserved then CUCUMBER =VEgetable then A=C and a pickle is a vegetable. In refuting alli's statement on a pickle being a former vegetable, i use the argument on a more serious note that if a human is in a coma indefinitely, and needs life support and tube feeding, do we still consider them a human being or a vegetable?"

Bus Stops ---
Part 1:
Bus stops can be perceived as a physical location where issues like convenience, accesibility as well as availability determine the location of the bus stop. It is also a place where we find the sign that notifies the bus driver that it is a place to pick up/ drop off passengers as well as informing the bus driver that perhaps nearby, there is a popular cafe that regular passengers often purchase their coffee, or an academic institution where regular passengers feed on vast amounts of information that will probably be never used.

Bus Stops: Part 2:
We might find the neglected garbage can that over flows with unwanted flyers for a sale at the fur coat store and empty McDonald's soda cups.

We might find the nervous boy who is on his way to that cafe to meet the girl he first saw and fell in love with in philosophy 101 who asked him if he wanted to go talk about their class.

We might find the man sleeping in the occasional bus shelter who has no home and wanders from bus stop to bus stop looking for a bench to sleep on.

We might find the mother who is trying to stop her baby from crying while holding tightly to her other toddler's hand who tries to poke the man sleeping on the bench.

We might find the countless cigarette butts that litter the base of the bus stop post of the man who missed his bus.

We might just find the half-eaten apple core abandoned by the girl who didn't want to carry her garbage on to the bus.

We might just find a pigeon that pecks at a cookie crumb covered bus transfer that sits under the man sleeping on the bench at the bus stop.

You never know what you might find at Bus stops.

I really have no interesting anecdotes except perhaps for the fact that my brother joins my list of homicidal drivers. He probably will not appreciate this entry but I doubt he reads this. I think he does not know it but he scares the living daylights out of my poor grandfather who sits in the seat next to him as he tears down the street in my grandparents car. The car is fairly new and is more of a sedan and not built to fulfill the dreams of the stock car driver wanna-be.

I have no aspiration to write. Just to say there are a lot of weird and dysfunctional people out there.
(I came to this ingenious conclusion through hours of television viewing)

I have been criticized lately for not writing more interesting entries as of late, but that has been due to an uneventful life and a sudden loss of interest in collecting the random thoughts that are dissipated in the fleshy material i call my brain. (Run on sentence.)

Is there a particular topic that you would like me to write about and reveal my often skewed perspective of things? Post it in the comment list.