From Infinity and Beyond...

I'll have to say, I'm probably one of the harshest movie critics, and Toy Story 3 has made it to one of my top favorites. (And yes, I cried a lot in this movie). Aside from the cute jokes (the bookworm sighing upon seeing "Ken" wear high heels, Ken's awesome clothes ("MISSION TO MARS KEN"), and little green men), I think what makes this movie so special is the tight comaderie that exists amongst these toys and this general childhood nostalgia you feel when you watch this movie.

It's incredible to see, after three movies, how much these toys have each others' backs. They never go out alone, and they've always been there to help out on difficult situations (plot hole? I can't imagine what happened to Bo Peep and Wheezy when they were sold). Sticking together. That's another thing these toys seem to understand. Working together and sticking together. Okay, so they may have serious problems with trust (first movie and third movie they accuse Woody of lying) and sometimes jealousy ("college boy Woody", Buzz Lightyear in the first movie), but overall they've always stuck together and end up together, which I admire very much. I mean nothing they've accomplished would have ever been possible if they hadn't worked together the way they did (yeah come on, they're TOYS for goodness sake). At the end, Woody is at the crossroads for what to do with his friends, and he, of course, chooses them, despite his love for Andy. I guess I was hoping Andy would get to keep him and take him to college with him, but that would have also felt weird--who was Woody without his insanely supportive friends? I know I would be lost without friends like that. But I think we can all learn from the way these toys have managed along ten+ years of difficulties.

And I'll never forget the scene where Bonnie bounces on the bed and snuggles with all her toys. Although it was really funny when it was on screen (slow motion of Woody and the toys bouncing in the air), it struck a raw nerve in me and sent my tear ducts in action because I missed that innocence and simple state of being. It's always hard to pinpoint where and when everything changed, but I still wonder about why it's weird when I make my toys talk to each other now and it was my daily pastime from infinity and beyond ago. And where did I lose all the pleasure in making up stories and making toys kill each other or making them have tea with each other? How did it all go?


Andy was my friend as a kid, and now, we're both going off to college. We shared the same love for our toys and now are both a bit clueless of where they stand. They accompanied us in hard times. They dried our tears when we were upset. We know the best thing to do is to give them to others, so that they can dry the tears of others and provide comfort for others, but at the same time, it's extremely difficult. One thing's for sure, we can never live the way we did from infinity and beyond. Two, actually--Most of us will always yearn for the time we were free of worries and pressures of the real world. When will I ever catch up to myself on this?

I loved this movie more than I would be able to describe, for giving me that one taste of childhood and for the compassion Andy shares with me.
I guess at the end of the day, I'll look forward to something positive. So I guess although I'm missing things from before, I'll be looking To Infinity and Beyond...



Also, Happy 75th Birthday to my favorite spiritual leader of the world! (Well, not comparing with Ghandi).
You are an inspiration to millions and your love has made the world a better place. Peace be with you.

Peace,
Blaize

Selective Respect

Today...don't even ask about how today was.
I guess it started out quite well I mean by 3pm I was feeling like it was a good work day and that I'd post on my blog that it was a good work day.

At work I watched "17 Again" on HBO. My first impression (besides "Damn, Zac Efron is pretty darn cute") was "Aw, this movie is so sweet", especially the part where he talks about how much he loves his wife reading off a page but the page is actually directions on how to get to the courtroom. I watched the movie in mute and reading Chinese subtitles (which wasn't too easy, given my level of Chinese). Later on that day, things began to unfold in a way that started making me see this movie differently.

He really relied on his looks a lot.


Instance #1: They were having sex ed in class where they were passing out condoms. He talked about how sex is good when it's with that right person and stuff like only do sex after marriage and when you look at your baby daughter how you'll feel and girls need to respect themselves etc. and all the girls were looking at him like he was some gift from heaven--so special to believe in sex after marriage and all. However, if he were in his dad form at 37 years, the kids would not have listened to him at all. They'd probably throw stuff at him to make him shutup about all that old conservative daddycrap. Or if he were some loser looking kid in school, well, lol who's gonna listen to him?
Basically, he only pulled that off because he was a cute teenage boy, even though the content of what he talked about is exactly the same as what parents teach their kids.



Instance #2: The whole entire story. How he got back with his wife. It was because he was a young kid again and was able to talk to his wife from a different standpoint. She listened to him then, and wouldn't have if he weren't the young highschool student he was for that time period. Partly because his wife didn't know it was him, but I felt that a lot of the time she took his word for things more because he was young and attractive. And all those things he talked to her about she never would have taken in if he were in his old husbandform.


I had to get out of work today as soon as I could. I was stifling for some reason.


So here goes, the Naked Story of the Day: Someone who's been working at the restaurant is back and is coming to work with us again. To make a long story short, he's this experienced bartender and he wants to work as a waiter and everyone started swooning over the fact that he's actually doing the "harder" (?! if thats how you'd describe it)/"more tiring"/"lower position" work. I mean they were even apologizing that they asked him to takeover for a shift.

I respect him. I really do. He's been here for a long time, and he's undeniably one of the best bartenders around.

But on the other hand, I respect everyone. I respect this guy who's joining us for day shifts for the rest of the month. I also respect the person who's just come in yesterday for his first shift. I respect the person who's been here for two years. I respect the boss. I respect the customers. Unless someone has given me reason otherwise, I respect everyone.

Why is it that there is a hierarchy created and it's okay not to respect people "below" you but if you dare offend someone above you or give them "less respect than they deserve", you'd better be thinking of ways to make it up to them right away?

I'm not saying he doesn't deserve this respect. Sure he does. It's just why have I been treated this differently coming into work? I'm not being all high and mighty going like "hey I'm so good", I'm just saying that people should treat each other with an equal amount of respect, regardless of where we come from and all. I mean look, when someone else is asked to take over for someone's shift, no one is this nervous and that appalled that I am willing to take a shift. Every judgment is predetermined by a status and social hierarchy already.

I think I need to spend some time with my old friends. Balance is key. I'm still muddled about it even after writing about it. I mean this whole thing is a problem amongst the Asian community. Filial Piety and respect. It's okay for an adult to yell at a kid but if a kid complains they're screwed.
Something like that. Double standards. That is going to be another post someday.

I'm going to play Sims 2 tonight and call it a day. This day cannot get any more butthurts than this. Thank god for dance tomorrow morning.

Peace (or praying for some),
Blaize.

Congrats On Your New Job!

I have not posted in AGES. Partly the perks of doing the International Baccalaureate (I still cannot spell that) (yes I used spellcheck okay?) and partly because I'm Asian. And everyone knows while the rest of the world is living their lives up, Asians are in their rooms doing long division at two months old and calculus by the second grade.

So a few updates.
First, I finally got my hands on a copy of Tangled, by Carolyn Mackler (turns out books.com.tw isn't that bad at ordering books) and I have to say it was pretty darn awesome, like all her other books. The only complaint I'd have is that it's too short. And no I'm not trying to be all like "Aw man, why did it have to end it was so great!!", I mean it, it was kind of too short. I felt like the characters all went through 1 twenty-page "event" and suddenly their lives are different. Okay so maybe that happens in real life and all but I felt like I didn't really get a good enough chance to really immerse myself into the book and understand all the characters really well. I still liked The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things more, though Tangled is quite a cute novel as well. Maybe I still like believing in the outrageously ideal life and perfect situation where things always follow through after shit happens.
I can't say I don't want that though, given the situation I'm in now. Well, I've been praying on that to happen for a long time. I guess my 4.3 this semester was a nice touch to my half-slacking off (hey...I was studying for IB exams).


Second important update: I have a part time job now. It's been consuming most of my life so I don't really know why I'd refer to it as part time. It's eight hours a day at a restaurant (10AM-6PM). And when there are a lot of customers, it gets pretty hard to handle. I started out with a work schedule where I didn't have two consecutive days of work, but today is the second day of four consecutive days of work (only to be broken by a small event known to Americans as Independence Day and to me as My Birthday). Anyways, prior to joining the crew, I constantly hung out at the restaurant, because I had a small gig there with Scarlett during New Year's. It seemed like the coolest job ever, mixing drinks and serving those awesome drinks to customers you chat with all the time. And the boss--he's awesome! He's this chill guy sitting outside smoking or drinking a bottle of beer who looks after us like his own children and always has a friendly chat. Not to mention he's a great propaganda artist and a normal artist as well.

I had an internship at Starbucks last year, where I went through their employee training. Training for four things: History of Starbucks, Coffee Communication, Quality Customer Service, and Barista Classes. A manager of a store taught each of the classes, and every employee was required to go through these classes. I thought this was great because each and every employee has a good foundation about everything from how to describe the difference between coffee from Tanzania and coffee from Sumatra to why Howard even got this Eureka idea of "Starbucks" in the first place. And it gave us all something to appreciate about the store and all of us learned how to make drinks and everything.

Well, at the restaurant, none of that. I was given "training" by someone working there for half a year. And since I'm telling the Naked Story on this blog, she really needs to loosen up a bit. I mean if the chopsticks are slanted she complains. I don't know, I guess it's nice when the restaurant looks totally spick and span perfectly aligned, but I feel so uptight doing everything so perfectly and in my honest opinion it doesn't matter that much. I can't help but to think how the rigidity of work is what gets me down all day. And to pull through an entire day I have to constantly tell myself: Welcome to the Real World, kiddo. Or: It's only for two and a half months (two and a half months??!). Or: I'm doing it for the experience (yeah, what am I doing if I get paid 350NT an hour for tutoring services?).

I love some other people there though. I guess we just click better than other people when we're working. And I love my boss, he's really great. But there's just that rigidity there and the following month I have so many shifts it's intense (it's like five days a week now). I don't get to learn to make drinks because I'm new. I have to stay outside and do all the choresy stuff, while some other people are chillin' because it's "not their job to do the outside chorsey stuff" (why? well because they've been there longer. what?!)

I don't know. I'm just so pooped out I can hardly attend dance classes (and I love dance classes and have to finish forty classes before I leave for the states. So if anyone wants to join me, let me know (it's 150NT/class) I need some classes to be used up). I hate to admit it but it's just too true that I keep wondering what it'd be like if I applied for Starbucks. Then I keep thinking of my dad, who swears the secret to success anywhere is "Adapt to your environment, don't let the environment adapt to you". Then I feel guilty and start wondering what would my dad do or what would so-and-so do in this situation?

I guess I'm just too tired by the end of the day to think about how much fun I'm not having working. No one said money was easy to come by, but gee, the Naked Story is that tutoring an evil kid who hates learning is easier than this (yes, those kids who hate English that I tutor English to).

Anyways, I guess this post is getting too long again and I'm seriously extremely burned out for the day. The Naked Story is although I love the congrats on getting a job, I'm not having the greatest time of my life. So much is left unsaid that I feel like I'm being corkedscrewed down and once someone opens the champagne I will explode with inside emotion. My temper seems to inch up on me too often as well.

So I've decided to post on my blog at least once a week, though I'll try to more often than that, given people actually read all this. Think before you take a job is my advice of the post, and really imagine yourself in the position before you take the job too.

And god I want to open up my tutoring services again, cuz I miss them like crazy. I'm in Taipei, so if you want me to teach English (for conversation) or Spanish (as second language) I'd love to, given it fits in with my work schedule. (email me blaizexia@gmail.com, though I don't know why someone who is able to read my blog will need me for English conversation). Tutoring never took my by surprise.

"It's for the experience...it's for the experience..."
Says the one who's being burned out by the experience.


By the way, the food is great at the restaurant I work at. And yeah, two meals. Awesome. Come by if you have the chance. Also, I've been downing more black tea than I've drank in two years. Cuz it's free for me. Joy to the fattening fructose of the world.

So if I've gone MIA (yes, Geetu, I'm sorry) it's cuz I don't pick up my phone at work, and work is taking up so much of my time, so I'm hardly in contact with my own phone. (And the horrible battery for iPhone doesn't help much either).

Peace,
Blaize.