Yeah it sounds absurd, right? It's a law in China now. Gave a total WTF reaction when I heard it over NPR on my car ride this morning.

CNN covered the same story here:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/02/world/asia/china-elderly-law/index.html

It's cases like this where I'm damn glad I live in the United States where we may bitch a lot about our freedoms being compromised, but they in no way compare to situations in China. I mean if conservatives are claiming the government interfering too much into our personal lives, and asking us to do things we don't necessarily want to do, is it really as intrusive as something like this? It's basically taking away all context of your relationships in your parents (or children) and imposing a law on the family. The only thing remotely comparable I can think of are child support policies which places the obligation of financial support on a parent so they become a "dead-beat-dad". (or "dead-beat-mom" I suppose). But when they bring in the other aspects to it, that you're also responsible for your elderly parent's social welfare and that you have to try to live close to them if possible, I could just imagine tons of people responding to that type of question with a flat out "No".

A few of my close friends come to mind. Not everybody grew up in a puppies and rainbow childhood. Some kids were raised by verbally and physically abusive parents. What does your law make of that, China? If a parent is so hated by the parents that there's good reason for the children not to see them, forcing a visit by law really help things. I can think of such a conversation right now. "Hey Pops. Here's your money for food and lodging for a year. Go fuck yourself. Peace out." Just who in the hell do they think this law is suppose to target anyway? People who have fine relations with their parents are going to see and care for them already. The people who don't chose not to for a reason.

On a side note, I do admire that the Chinese culture in general places great care of elderly in general. I just don't feel it needs to be a law. Let people are naturally do good things. Caring for someone is has meaning if it's done out of free will.
I'll leave you guys with a nice heartfelt video of one of my favorite Jacky Cheung songs, that's sort of a tribute to dads and parents.

Since the future of Xanga is tenuous at the moment. I'll join the many others and work on blogging as if these next few entries will be my last on here. I think I can work my way up to 300 before its all said and done. That would make a good stopping point.

First some updates.

I did go and see the doctor. Check-up went fine. Those initial concerns I had turned out to be nothing to worry about. I just needed a medical professional to tell me things were all right and they are.

Work is going more smoothly now. Was finally able to get the promotions for two more people on my team to clear.

Tons of family members are trying to set me up on dates. Pops is in China right now, but before he left he was gave me the phone number and a picture of a girl I loosely understood to be the niece of a family friend. I shake my head in speechless and unimpressed. Can't imagine the conversation he had to get the arrangement in place. Recently people have been running around anxious broadcasting that my single life was a big concern to them. And I'm like... really it's nothing you should be stressing over. I'm not sure if it's the language barrier, but I can't get through to them that who I end up dating, how fast we move in the relationship, and plans for marriage is my decision and none of their business. It's not like I'm not mentally or emotionally prepared for the next stage in life. I was engaged six years ago and no one was watching me like a hawk. It's not like I'm not connecting with girls. The past several relationships I've felt were ones we would expect to find when dating. Many work out for a while when you reach a point when you see it isn't worthwhile to pursue further.

Got a phone call from my brother in China yesterday. It sounded like an emergency since he tried calling twice, and left a message with mom too who called me saying to call him back. So it turns out that the cousin of my sister-in-law (his wife) had asked about me. It turns out she was single and without a boyfriend, and somehow in the conversations that those in the family circles naturally had, several people thought that we may make a good couple. Well we'll give this particular set up a few points in it's favor. First, I do remember this young lady from my brother's wedding and she was indeed attractive. Second, my brother did, before bringing up why he called, ask me first if I was seeing anyone currently.

Yes, I told him. I am dating again and explained the situation. It's still really early to tell at this stage with the young lady I'm seeing, and it would make much more sense for me not try anything with this cousin-in-law at this time. He gave me more details, that she was studying abroad in Australia. The distance is really not giving this any more favor.

Funny thing about being part of a big family + in your early 30s + single, is that even if you don't make a big deal about it, other people will. And this means you have to address conversations and situations like these set ups I just mentioned.

I want to say a short prayer to the people have suffered losses and injuries in Boston.

It's a maddening world we live in, and the strength and spirit many have shown over the past few days have really touch our hearts. We keep our heads up, to both stay vigilant, and to proclaim our courage and love for one another.

This is an odd post.

I woke up in the middle of the night to a dull chest pain that lingered longer than I liked. As I expect is a common reaction with many people nowadays this prompted a Google search for "dull chest pain". The internet totally feeds into people's hypochondria nowadays.

Well you can imagine my surprise when most of the top results referred to warning signs of a heart attack. Then all of the sudden I start second guessing to see if I have shortness of breath, to see if it's dizziness or just grogginess I'm experiencing, whether the feeling in my upper body joints really constitutes pain and discomfort. My mind starts to wander to see if any of thee recent things could be a trigger.

• 3 weeks back I began running again when I had stopped for a long time. I remember how it ached bad the first few days. This may just be a consequence of me gradually getting back into shape.
• The one cigarette I had at a friend's engagement party two days ago. Had not been smoking in a long time though. Something that small couldn't be it could it.
• My poor posture sitting at my desk in the office and in my bed when reading at night.
• I've been weighting myself recently and noticed that I fluctuate between the border of "healthy weight" and "overweight". My meals have been less regular recently and I'm now 4 lbs over. Disgusted at myself because I had such a good stretch of being 3-5 lbs under.

Maybe one or all what I listed has something to do with it. Regardless, what I really should do is:

• Make an appointment to see a doctor
• Work to stop smoking
• Continue to exercise regularly (probably take the strategy of gradually ramping up)

Let this be a tip to any one in their 20s, or 30s but still parities like they are in their 20s.

It's very helpful to keep a bottle of Drano underneath your bathroom sink for cases such at the events that happened this evening:

If a person in your residence (either your roommate or yourself) vomits on your bathroom/kitchen sink/tub/toilet to such a degree that it clogs the pipes. Ye classic Drano is a lifesaver in such a circumstance of clearing the pipes.

You're welcome.

Side note. Placed #3 for our group in bar trivia. Lead 4 of 6 rounds. Pretty awesome performance if I don't say so myself. Sleep time now. Good night.

-Jimmy

Another side note: Edited this blog entry the next day. Drunk blogging made for bad spelling, and generally bad blogging.

One of my older post (Was it really 4.5 years? God I feel so old when I realize my blog goes that far back) was this one (Entry 219) about songs sampled from earlier 80s songs. I must say that I've built a pretty kick-ass 1980s playlist on Spotify. It's 575 tracks, and to give a proper sizing, it means I can play continuously the whole day without repeating the same track twice. My goal is to get it up to 1000. Anyways, an interesting byproduct of my playlist-making is that I keep on finding connections of later decade music (1990s - 2010s) and later back to hits in the 80s. It's really cool the very moment you realize it.

Sometimes the reaction is: "Holy shit, awesome! That's why I love this song so much. The hook sounds just like this other song I grew up loving." I'm pretty sure these are obvious samples with a fresh spin that pays homage to the past hits.

Good examples of Holy Shit Awesome

2009 Deadmau5 - Ghosts N Stuff feat. Rob Swire (1:10 But Iiiii just wanna play it right) & 1989 Chris Isaak - Wicked Game (0:50 No Iiiii wanna fall in love)

2009 Eric Prydz - Call on Me (0:10 Call on Meeeee. Call on Meeeee.) & 1981 Steve Winwood Valerie (1:03 Valarieeeee, call on meeeee.)

2010 Iyaz - Solo (0:13 I don't want to walk this earth...) & 1993 Janet Jackson- Again (0:21 Sud-den-ly the memories...) Ok technically 90s not 80s, whatever.

2011 Bingo Players - Cry (Just A Little) (0:32) & 1988 Brenda Russell - Piano In the Dark (1:17)

Other times I react with: "Whoa. Is something up? Did this person just (knowingly or unknowingly) steal this tune from another artist?" Pink Floyd Echoes vs Phantom of the Opera is a common reference.

Examples of Whoa Is Something Up?

1994 Elton John - Can You Feel the Love Tonight (0:10 There's a calm surrender, to the rush of days) & 1985 Survivor - The Search is Over (0:07 How can I convince you, what you see is real?)

1992 Mortal Kombat (1:00) & 1985 Sandra - Maria Magdelena (0:00)

So, this might be where some of you might step in to argue...

"Hold up, J. So I know Wikipedia acknowledges the sampling of Janet Jackson, Steve Winwood, and Brenda Russel. But it makes no mention of Chris Isaak's Wicked Games in Ghosts 'n' Stuff, just like it makes no mention of Survivor in Can You Feel the Love Tonight? Aren't they in the same category?"

I suppose the distinction I'll draw is this. I love many of Elton's songs, but I have a tough time believing that Elton would acknowledge he sampled from Survivor. Deadmau5 on the other hand posted this on his soundcloud site. Call it Exhibit A:

https://soundcloud.com/fuckmylife/luvnstuff

What is it? It happens to be Deadmau5's (or is the proper punctuation Deadmau5') fiancee Katherine Von Drachenberg (Kat Von D) remixing Ghosts 'n' Stuff with the very lyrics of Wicked Games. It's actually a very beautiful song, and a phenomenal Valentines day present. It's like a wink and a nod to Chris Isaak that Deadmau5 has him to thank for at least a portion of Ghosts 'n' Stuff's success.

I liken this how I feel copyright should be handled. To me sharing, and transforming media is generally good for the world, so long as the original creator of the content is credited in some way. It just rubs me the wrong way when someone is dishonest by making people think they came up with new material themselves.

Here's my new favorite song of the week:

Catchy huh? I love the hook on this. The lyrics make you wonder if there's a story behind the dark poetry. What's upsetting is that this song was for a brief moment on Spotify and then disappeared. Makes me have to jump to hoops to have it on my playlists. Among my favorites songs when driving are synthpop tracks, and I'll probably be following CHVRCHES to see what they come out with next.

Last Monday a few friends hit Zeitgeist in SF because they had Pliny the Younger on tap. I was excited to try it as it referred by many as the best beer in the world.

What sucked was that they ran out within 2 hours, and I was 20 minutes too late in arriving there. The rest of my friends got to try it thought, and I'll have to wait for my next opportunity since the brewery only makes this version 2 weeks out of the entire year. It's not devastating since it's only a matter of time and the brewery is right here. This is one of those extra things I really appreciate about living in the Bay Area.

Well I still had drinks and conversation with my friends at the bar anyway. Nickel mentioned his recent move to his apartment near the Mission with his new roommate. He was saying that part of feeling more "grown-up" is rotating his furniture and art decorations to nicer pieces rather than have things that a college grad would typically buy. We talked about finding original paintings sold in the area, and my friends were saying that they were considerably expensive even for art that didn't look that good. They also asked me if I would ever sell my art. I gave them the same response that I did when other people have asked me this before. I produce art for my own reasons. It's my passion, it's my time away from the hustle and grind of work and stress. It just didn't feel right for me to put a price tag on something I created from that passion. I feel it cheapens it somehow, that some meaning is taken away from it.

So thus far I've never sold any artwork I've ever created. Granted I have gotten prizes for pieces I've submitted into contests. A holiday card design for Coopers and Lybrand (before they became PricewaterhouseCoopers). Two designs for Oakland's Lunar New Year Art contests. Some years back I also designed the cover art for the first album from Khaled (a friend of a friend).

In striking an agreement as to how my painting was to be used for the album, I told Khaled that I didn't want to sell the work to him. I was perfectly fine with signing an agreement not to redistribute prints or pass the image on to some other person for commercial purposes. I did however want to maintain ownership of the original piece. Because it means something to me. It was the first time I crafted a painting using the styles and rhythms of a set of music to guide my brush. I couldn't give the product of that journey away, nor attach a price to that experience. He told me he can totally understand this. For him as a musician, his work is intended to be distributed to the masses. Much like that of a writer. His work is intended to be replicated and dispersed, so it's makes much more sense for that to be sold. With a painting however, you only have one. If you give that away, you give away the one truest form of your art creation. Why do we value live performances so much? It's very similar. We are closer to that art piece's original form.

It's been months since I picked up a paintbrush. There was a piece that I've had unfinished for over 4 years, from the days when I was learning how to work with oil. This was second oil painting I ever started, but only yesterday did I put the final touches on it to complete it.

It's a painting of gondola seen from across the waters of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, Italy. It was an experimentation in getting the right textures for water ripples, the sky, and clouds. At this stage, I was happy with my use of lighting but not quite satisfied with the composition of colors. There are also hints of my style developing at this stage. I'm a fan of the impressionists, and have adopted more of their look over time. This piece was at a time when I was leaning more toward realism, and I remember being quite concerned about the shapes and colors matching the photo I was using as a guide. It took me several weeks painting and repainting over areas to get it close enough to likeness. Then in my next painting immediately after than, a little disgusted at how much time I sunk into my last piece, I whipped together another painting in one hour. Simply guided by my mood and letting the motions of the brush dictate themselves. Amazingly I was much happier with the outcome of that painting and decided never to concentrate too much on realism ever again.

The completed piece above was given to my friend for his housewarming gift yesterday. No charge.

I love it when an actress or actor surprises me. Now Anna Kendrick was great in "Up In the Air", but I recently watched "Pitch Perfect" and absolutely loved her in that movie. When she busted out with Cups by Lulu & The Lampshades I was blown away. "Wow she can sing," was my immediate reaction.

The Riff-Off is one of my favorite scenes from the movie:

Now. Not intending to hate, but I'm not a fan of Glee. The songs are great, but when trying to watch a few shows the sitcom style doesn't really do it for me. But I do admit to secretly being a fan of "Bring It On". And there movies have a very similar themes. Fun takes on school competitions, that wow people more for their artistic feats.

You know how they say the Olympics takes the place of war in some aspects, because we get to have each nation's best athlete battle each other. Well I'd love to see a Performing Arts Olympics at worldwide scale. The games will include:

1. A-Capella battle (in the style of Pitch Perfect)

2. Dance Battle (in the style of LXD)

3. Cheerleader battle (in the style of Bring It On)

4. Rap Battles

5. DJ Battles (in the style of turntable.fm)

6. Battle of the Bands

7. Live Street Graffiti Battle

If they have the X Games for Extreme Sports. I don't see why we can't make the A Games for the Arts? That would be awesome. And I'm sure others can add to this list.

Of course the natural follow-up question to ask is... Will doping scandals rock these competitions ask well? I hear you get really creative when you're high or intoxicated.

I'll try to keep this relatively short. Just wanted to get back in the habit of writing again.

At the end of last week at an after work happy hour a coworker mentioned. "Y'know J you seemed pretty down the last two weeks or so. Are things okay?" This took me by surprise as I didn't realize that my mood is so easily picked up by other people. Or him specifically since we we're friends or anything. "Yeah I'm no longer seeing anyone if that's what you mean."

Such was the habit of mine in the past to not blog enough about my happy times, and then come back to Xanga when those times pass. So here I am to collect my thoughts on how I'm feeling:

The last three months were amazing. This American Life aired a story about a couple who dated each other 13 years then decided to try dating other people for 3 months. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/486/valentines-day-2013. The guy in the story was super honest and open with people, and found it hard not to get emotionally attached to the girls he was dating. I can TOTALLY relate to that guy. I am THAT guy.

Another co-worker who's the mother of two kids told me a story of how she got together with her husband. This was at that the same said happy hour; in fact the event was her going away party. Well they knew each other since college, but her husband purposefully never dated her because he had assessed her as marriage material. So it was only many years later when they were both around 30 or so that they began seeing each other. The dates were more like interviews with each other about whether the wanted children, what kind of family, where each preferred to live, etc.

I agree from her husband's perspective that I (any probably most guys) have a predetermined notion in our heads about which are the girls we want to fool around with and which are the girls we see sharing our lives with. Yukino was a part-of-your-life girl, so she shaped much of my emotional attachment mindset in throughout my 20s. Arietty was a have-some-fun girl, and she gave me a refreshing perspective. And Rose, her red hair and charming scent will leave an impression for some time. A might-have-been that was not to be.

She said "carefree" was what she was looking for. I had interpreted that to mean "worry-free" and "drama-free". Easily done in that regard, and some outstanding moments at that. It occurs to me that "carefree" to her likely meant something else. She just didn't want me to care for her (about her). I don't mean that in a sad way either. That's just the way it was.