The Last Minute

If there is one thing that I am guilty of, it is being a huge procrastinator. My friend likes to say that procrastinators that are actually able to do all the work that is presented to them, and do it without cutting corners are much smarter that others because they are able to do the amount of work it took one person to do in 2 weeks to do in a few hours before this is true. I don't think this is true at all because every time I have some sort of assignment I regret it every time when I leave myself no time to do anything else other than the assignment.

To be honest, I think I'm somewhat cursed. I have a "skill", if you want to call it that, that I know exactly how long something will take me, and I won't start it until I have that much time left to do it. Sometimes it even surprises me when I'll start and think that there will be no way I finish this in time, and then somehow be able to finish it in time, and with good results.

So it certainly holds true to me that if it weren't for the last minute, I wouldn't get anything done.

Love, Hate, Better Start Walking

Hello, I have no provocative insights for today, so instead I am going to take this opportunity to rant about my relationships. Not my social relationships however, but the love hate relationships between me and cars.
To start from the beginning, I suppose we need to go back to my road test, which I failed twice before finally getting my license. Here let me complain a bit about the road test itself. I’m not sure how they choose the locations of the test sites, but it must have something to do finding the place least representative of normal driving conditions. A traffic light with no stoplight? A divided residential road? Then the actual test lasts at most ten minutes, and consists of making 2 right turns, two left turns, a three point turn, and parallel parking. This is supposed to represent my everyday driving going to and from work? I think a real driving test should at least include changing lanes on the highway, or merging into heavy traffic or something. How often do I need to parallel park? I haven’t done it since I passed my road test.
Now on to the cars themselves. Before my first road test my dad bought a car for me to use once I got on the road. It was a 1989 Mazda 323, manual transmission, that his friend was ready to junk. Well a failed that first test, but in between that one and the next, a discovered another car for sale: A black 1994 Pontiac Firebird, for only $700. Well a car that cool, for that price, with only some “minor” problems, I couldn’t resist. Well after we got it home we discovered that, in addition to the radiator fan not working, the brake lines were rusted out. So there it sat on my driveway until someone cared enough to have it fixed.
So when I finally did pass the test, with my car in disrepair, and a stick-shift I didn’t know how to drive, I found myself stuck behind the wheel of my dad’s minivan. While he drove the Mazda, I got to play soccer mom. After a few months of this, finally my dad taught me how to drive stick. In one night. Which begs the question: Why did it take so long for him to get around to it. So now I’m upgraded to stalling out in this hunkajunk for a while. With summer approaching, we finally paid out to have the brakelines in the firebird replaced, nearly a year after it was purchased. At long last, I was driving the car of my dreams. After the car overheated once and we got the fan working, all seemed well. Except for the leaking coolant line that had to be replaced. And the sparkplugs and wired that were corroded and falling apart. And the door that never closed right. And the cooling system that wouldn’t pressurize. After the EGR valve rusted out, it became apparent that this car was the worst investment I ever made. With hardware too rusted and stripped out to get the old valve off, the car is currently out of commission. At least I had the old Mazda to fall back on, until the turn signal/ wiper switches assembly busted a few days ago. So now I’m stranded at home with two cars that don’t work, and a driver’s license that wasn’t worth the trouble.

KINNECT HACK

For those who are interested in making interactive environment with Kinnect.
Here are some links.


12 BEST KINNECT HACK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho8KVOe_y08

KINNECT HACK COMMUNITY
http://kinecthacks.net/

PHYSICS INTERACTION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWGPNZbQWhM&feature=player_embedded#at=150

INTERACTIVE SHOPPING IN MOSCOW
http://vimeo.com/19168462

FIRST KINNECT ART EXHIBITION
http://vimeo.com/19873422

KINNECT VERSION OF DDR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDlBWTvztoU&feature=player_embedded#at=45

HANDS FREE VACUUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxzoomerowo&feature=player_embedded

KINNECT STRING INSTRUMENT
http://vimeo.com/19904802

KINNECT HAND PAINTING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VTAz-o1W1E&feature=player_embedded

My earliest memory.

I have two dreams I remember from when I was a kid. First, the one from when I was younger…
It takes place in the first house we lived in Glen Cove. For some reason, I was scared of our front door. The shadows it casted, the positions of the windows, it all bothered me. My nightmare was a reoccurring one in which I would be on my plastic tricycle. I’m cycling as fast as I can, the hallways get bigger and longer, The door keeps chasing me. The hallways are dark. The door gets closer and closer. I wake up.

The second is one where we are on a family trip to Hershey Park. They have just added a new section, a Prehistoric Land. We walk down these steps to a dusty atmosphere with red rocks. The tour guide stops us there. We see various dinosaurs in the distance. We can’t progress any further for safety reasons. Someone asks if the dinosaurs make contact, he says no. We stay there for a bit longer. I’m with my parents, brother and sister. A T-rex makes its way over. We all awe in its presence. And.. then, it eats my sister. Everyone panics and runs. My brother and I run together. I never know what was to come of my sister. Maybe the dinosaur would poop her out. I don’t know.

And actual memory, I have no idea. My brother and I would always play video games together. At night, I’d convince my parents that I’m going to bed, and then sneak into my brother’s room to play some SNES. And he’ll tell me bedtime stories. Funny thing I didn’t notice at the time was his bedtime stories were things he’d currently be learning in history class. My favorite was the one of the French Revolution… I don’t remember what that war was about, or what his story was like. I’m sure it was full of funny sound effects and elaborate tales. After he went away to college, I’d beg him to tell me that story when he would come for vacations.

I remember going to Florida to visit Ya-kun and family when I was around 5 or 6. I was in Ya-kun’s room with my brother. They dare me to call our sisters a “bitch” and maybe other curse words in exchange for candy. Of course I did it, and was rewarded with candy and chocolates. The girls yelled at me and screamed as I ran back to the boys’ room. After coming back from Florida, I had missed Christmas, and I ran back to my room to find a copy of SNES Super Street Fighter II on my pillow with a bow. One of my favorite Christmas presents til this day, and best Christmas’s I’ve ever had.

Is College Necessary?

I read an article online recently that said, "Learning on College Campuses found that after two years of college, 45% of students learned little to nothing. After four years, 36% of students learned almost nothing." These statistics are quite alarming making one to wonder is it even worth it to attend college?

I believe that going to college certainly is NOT necessary to become successful because there have been people who have gone on to do great things with just a high school degree. But in today's world having that college degree does make it easier for a person to get a job. The workplace is getting a lot more competitive and with a college degree a person would stand out from other applicants who may not have one. Simply put it having a college degree would increase the possibility of getting a job. College may also seem expensive because the tuition is increasing yearly, but having a degree after you graduate from college may provide you with a better salary then someone without a degree; so it will be possible to pay off loans.

Also, being in college may not only be for academic reasons, but it can be for social as well. Many college students are learning to network as they chat with friends or other students. This networking can be highly beneficial for them in the future.

Back to the statistics. It is natural for a person to forget some of the things that they learned if they are not constantly reinforcing their memory of that certain topic or subject. For example if a person is nurse, and they took a class in art history in college to fulfill an elective; at what time during their profession as a nurse will they have to incorporate music? I understand that students should learn some things that are outside of their field of study. But there is a massive amount of time spent learning subjects that may not pertain to our future occupation. Instead we could have used that time and learned more things about our profession.

Little Help

After an hour or so of building a snow castle, I felt accomplished. I felt that me and my friends had done something great and amazing with just a plastic shovel and a few garbage cans. It amazed me how fast a small group of people could build something like that. With good teamwork we were able to make something that would've taken us hours to do by ourselves individually. It felt great to sit in the castle and just bask in its glory.

This story has more to do with snow and an awesome castle it has to do with what people can accomplish when everyone chips in and helps. If only people in the world today could be as enthusiastic about building an igloo when it comes to helping solve the issues we face in the world today. With the amount of problems if all of us were just a little more helpful in chipping in to help solve some of the issues we face all around the world we could all make a big difference. I'm not saying to go save the world but helping out wouldn't hurt. Oh I forgot to mention my back was

Monster Trucks

Every year, I go with a large group of my family on some sort of outing. Typically, I would go with my brother, a bunch of my cousins, and some aunts and uncles. In the past, we've been to broadway shows, camping, sporting events, and much more. These were great because it's something that we all like to do. We usually get together one day, and just vote on something that we would all enjoy and then do it. It's something that everyone looks forward to.

But this year, it was a little bit different. When we all met to decide where to go, the idea of a monster truck show came up. One of my cousins was the one who suggested it. At first, everyone was a bit confused; we all pretty much thought why would anyone want to go see a monster truck show. It was just very different from what we were accustomed to doing. But then my uncle suggested that it would be a very good change. So after further deliberation, we all came to the conclusion that we would try something new, and if we didnt like it, we would plan something else.

So last week, we all went to the monster truck show. It was at Nassau Coliseum. It actually turned out to be a lot better than I expected. It was very loud, and smelled like burnt oil the entire time, but still pretty cool nonetheless. The picture above is one that my cousin took on her phone. Everyone was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining it was. From the monster trucks crashing over cars to the dirt bikes doing flips off ramps, it was an event that I would recommend to anyone. Sometimes, change is good.