Alexander the average

11.29.04 (1:11 pm)

Well, I went to the Alexander the Great with high anticipation. It was suppose to be a epic movie equalling Troy, which was released a few months ago. What a disappointment it was. The movie was flat from the beginning to the end. Even the battle scenes were pretty lame and seen it before feel to it. I would have thought with an all star cast like that, it would turn out better but I think the weak point started with the script. The dialog was pretty stale, nothing seem to work. I would not recommend this movie except on cable. 2 out of 5 stars. - eben

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What to expect when you get old...

11.15.04 (4:52 pm)

So, I have been thinking about turning 43 in a few months. I have noticed that my body has gone through a few changes. If you are not at this age, you may find this blog to be what to expect when you get to my age. 1. Food tolerance: I used to have a stomach of cast iron. I could eat as much of whatever I wanted and I had no problems. Eat a pizza at midnight and go to bed, no problems. Over eat Indian food, no problem. However, last few years, my stomach has been not so dependable. I get a heartburn after eating a pizza late at night. If I am eating Indian food, I'd better be careful on how much I eat or I pay for it later (can be a painful experience). I find myself avoiding really spicy, sour or salty food. 2. Metabolism: Well, the days of eating whatever and how every much is gone. I use to have decent metabolism and if I wanted to lose weight, I could lose 10-20 lbs in few weeks with sensible diet and exercise. Now, I can eat as half as much and exercise twice as much and I won't get the similar results. I almost gave up about weight, just trying to be healthy by eating reasonable and excercise to keep my heart and muscles health. 3. Recovery time: I used to be able to over do exercising or playing and be sore for a day and that was it. Now days, it takes me 3-4 days to recover from over doing it, whatever it may be. Soreness stays on, they don't go away as fast as before. Advil is my best friend. I get a great deal from Costco buying the industrial size bottle. 4. Noise factor: I miss the days when I crank up the volume and rock to the music. Now days, I find myself turning down volume while I am driving or just listening. I find myself listening to more mellow music also (not Barry Manilow level but something less than Guns and Roses). 5. Nose hair: What is the deal with the nose hair? I don't remember them growing when I was young. Now days, I have to trim them every couple of weeks or they protrude out. What is that all about? Nose hair? I used to tease older people who didn't trim their nose hair. Now I find myself with the same problem. Sigh, I just gotta keep remember to check the mirror once in a while. Same goes for the eye brow. I gotta trim that to reasonable level once in a while. Now I can empathize with what women have to go through everyday. 6. Groaning: I used to laugh at my father when he sat down. He would groan everytime he sat down. I thought it was funny for some reason. Now, I am making that same noise when I am sitting down. First of all, I am mortified that I am turning in to my father. Second, I don't know why I am doing it. It's sub-conscious. It's not about pain. It doesn't hurt to sit down. It's just comfort factor I guess. It just feels good to sit down. I hope I don't groan doing something else. Can't imagine groaning while be intimate with someone. That would a sure way to end the date quickly. 7. Time factor: I used to be bored when I was much younger. Bored that time didn't go by fast enough. I coudn't wait until the day was over. Now, clock does indeed move faster. I look up and it's already quitting time. I mean, where did all that time do? Did my brain just shut down long enough where I didn't notice the gap in time? Did I fall a sleep and didn't know it? Last 20 years went by twice as fast as my first 20 years, I swear. 8. Lost body parts: I am noticing that some parts of my body will never come back. That is a sad thing. Like a part of a toe nail that never grew back after my surgery for an ingrown toe nail. Like half the tooth I had to lose to accommodate for the new crown. Like some semblence of muscle around my body. Perfect or near perfect skin that had no blemishes. Instead I gained parts like nose hair. 9. Flexibility: I haven't tried to touch my toes in a while because I hate failing simple tests. I used to be very flexible. I was able to reach things that I can never try now days. I try to stretch because I was told that it helps with flexibility. Well, I tried but it didn't help for me. May be if I lose some inches around me that could help. 10. Energy: Well, this part is what I miss the most. I was able to party in to late hours, sleeping for few hours and function fairly well after some caffein. Now days, I don't even bother going out until late. It just leaves me drained the next day. I hope I don't get an active 25 year old girlfriend soon. I think she will leave me dead and inherit almost $25 I have in the bank. - eben

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The Incredibles...

11.09.04 (9:16 am)

Just saw this last night and I must say I was impressed. I thought the animation was just superb, specially the way they expressed emotion and movement. It was so real, I don't think any animation I have seen in the past has duplicated something like this, at least not for animation of human. The story line was original and the dialog was very well done. It may have been a bit formulaic, but still very crisp in delivery. I would definitely recommend it. - eben

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Nawlins

11.01.04 (11:59 am)

Well, just came back from my trip to New Orleans. It was just fantastic. I would highly recommend going there around Holloween, if not for the Mardi Gras. The town, specially the French Quarter area, is just one party town. It seemed to me. May be it was the Holloween spirit but it certainly was festive. I did get to see some ladie's boobs but not too many. However, the costumes left very little to the imagination. They very revealing indeed. For a dirty old man like myself, it was a night of eye candy parade. Ahhh, what I would give to be in the 20s again.   Enough about that. I took a tour of the city on a bus and learned a lot about the city. They call it the Crescent City because the city was founded around the crest of the Mississippi river. I have learned that most of the graves are above ground crypt type because the land is a swamp and after a bad flooding, most of the corpses under ground would not stay there. I have learned that the only active, large commecial city at the time of the Louisiana Territory purchase was N.O. It was center of the most marine merchant activities of that time. It's still the number 2 port in the US after NYC. Although the gambling is illegal in N.O., a loop hole allowed casinos to exist in the city. They classify them as gaming not gambling, thus blackjack tables, slot machines etc can be operated in the city. Good ol' southern judicial interpretation at work. I would really recommend the place as a vacation spot. The Bourbon street was really jumping on Saturday night, even though it was the night before Holloween. I was surprise to see so many people in costumes and walking around. There were a few strip clubs and even a sex act club on the area but haven't had chance to check them out. I gambled, ate (deep fried alligators were just declicious, not to mention the great Cajun food) drank and generally partied silly. Although I didn't drink as much as I thought I would, one large Hurricane and I was done for the night. I took some pictures but ran out of battery on my camera so I didn't get any good shots. I will see if I can port it sometime. It was a good times for me. - eben

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