Random Facts #5

1. One out of every eight couples married in the U.S. last year met online.

2. The White House has 132 rooms.

3. In average, over 60,000 people fly over the US every hour.

4. The ZIP code, 12345, is assigned to a company in Schenectady, New York - General Electric.

5. 90% of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.

6. During a lifetime an American Man will spend about 3,500 hours shaving.

7. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace.

8. The average number of tornadoes each year in the US is about 800.

9. Averagely, Americans save less than one percent of their incomes.

10. In total, Americans eat about 150 million hot dogs every day

Asian Pizza Failure

It's not because I'm Asian or anything like that, but I love eating sushi. I mean, who doesn't? It's just so mouth-watering.


Anyway, the other day, I came back from school and I was so hungry because I hadn't eaten much in lunchtime. I don't know why, but I had a really big appetite for a pizza. Yes, a pizza. Maybe it was because no one was home and I was too lazy to make food myself. Anyhow, I was about to call the pizzeria but right at that moment, my mom called and told me that her friend had just given her three plates of sushi for me to eat and that she would arrive in about ten minutes. So, I waited.

When she arrived, I went dashing forward and snatched all the bags she was carrying. I found the plates and took them out of the bag. Sadly, the sushi didn't have any raw fish. They were all makis (sushi rolls) with like vegetables and meat in them. They are still delicious, so I was about to eat them when I noticed that I still wanted a pizza. I kept on thinking what to do. I was in a big crisis: I could either eat the sushi and get it done with, or I could order pizza and wait thirty minutes more to get something I wanted to eat more. But suddenly, this great idea occurred in my mind. Why not combine them both?

So, I got the plates of sushi and took them to the kitchen. I arranged the sushi into a neat circle and added things on it. I put melt mozzarella cheese, "parmessano" cheese, pizza tomato sauce, and sprinkled some oregano at the end. It might sound disgusting, but it was really great. It could be because I was starving, but it was still one of the best dinners I had. My dad tried it and said it was okay but still thought that it was sort of weird. My mom didn't try it at all and called ME weird. Oh well, after all I'm the one that ate it so whatever.

Random Facts #4

1. People who are snoring are not dreaming.

2. 1 in 10 people dream in black and white.

3. Your nostrils take turns inhaling. You breathe through one for about 3-4 hours then switch to the other one.

4. Texas is the only state in the US that allows its residents to vote from space.

5. Frogs cannot swallow with their eyes open.

6. Yawning is a mechanism to wake the brain up when it requires it.

7. Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is different.

8. 76% of people prefer to eat the ears off the Easter bunny chocolate first.

9. Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

10. Babies are born without knee caps. They don’t appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age

A Childhood Trauma Memoir

Apparently, English was actually the third language that I learned in my life. I first learned Korean when I was a baby, and the first school I went to was a Spanish school (where I was obviously taught in Spanish). So, I didn't know how to speak nor write in English until I was like in first grade or something. But, how am I supposed to remember that? My mom always goes around asking me, "Do you remember this? Do you remember that?" And, I obviously don't remember since she's always talking about something that happened when I was only three or four years old. But, there is this particular story about me that my mom brought up yesterday that I actually could remember clearly.

I was about four or five years old at that time. You know, the age when you think there are monsters under your bed and ghosts in the closet. My room was located at the end of the main hallway. Since my parents' room was exactly at the other end, I just needed to walk straight from my room to get there.

Almost every single night, because of being startled by a nightmare or mostly for no apparent reason, I'd wake up. I could never go back to sleep since I had my own little world where things would crawl out of my bed and eat me alive or something (I mean, I was only four years old). So, I always went to my parents' room where I would feel safer. But, I didn't just walk normally to their room. It was dark and scary. I would close my eyes and run straight in the dark until I reached my sanctuary where I would keep on sleeping in peace with my parents.

It was okay to have my eyes closed since the hallway was wide and straight, and the door to my parents' room was always open. So, doing my nightly routine, I woke up like at two in the morning and ran on full speed straight towards the room just like any other night. But, this night was a bit different. My dad, of course, decided to leave the door closed this particular night. He didn't do it on purpose, but that still doesn't change the fact that the door was closed. So, I was running on full speed when I suddenly felt this wooden block hit my face. I somehow fell backwards and I was crying all alone in the dark. Soon enough, my parents sleepily came out of the room and turned the lights on. They got so freaked out the moment they saw me: My entire face was all covered in blood and I was still on the floor crying. But, they calmed down soon after they found out what happened and noticed that the blood was actually not that serious since it only came from my nose.

So yes, that's my story. It's probably the oldest happening that I can remember of my childhood. I guess it was a bit traumatizing for me at that time since I still remember it. Anyway, I think that's it for now.

Random Facts #3

1. Laughing strengthens the immune system.

2. The color blue has a calming effect on humans: It causes the brain to release calming hormones.

3. Blueberry juice boosts memory.

4. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

5. Kissing is healthier than shaking hands.

6. If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on the right side (and the left side if you're left handed).

7. No piece of normal-size paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.

8. The city of Portland in Oregon was named after a coin toss in 1844.

6. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.

9. In Korea and other East Asian countries, the age of the person is counted from conception and not physical birth.

10. When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.

Lights, Camera, and Action!

So, you might wonder who this is. No, it's not me. It's this other Asian kid I know from the school. It's hard to explain this photo in a few sentences so here's the story.

Our Spanish teacher works as an actress. Her friend (who happens to be an executive producer or whatever) needed to have Asians for a commercial that they were going to take. So, the teacher gave my friend and me the phone number to call the company. We called, and this person told us to come visit that afternoon to try out for it, and so we did. They first took pictures of us in different angles and we had to do different kinds of faces. Then, they recorded a video where we had to say a short speech introducing ourselves. It was kind of weird since we were in a typical room where the background is completely white and all the lights are pointed towards you. But, we managed to do it and they told us that they were going to call us if we were chosen. Since they didn't call me afterward, I just forgot about it later on.

About two weeks later, right after coming back from a lovely trip on Holy Week, I received a phone call right when I was getting off the plane. My friend and I were chosen to be two of the four people that were going to come out in the commercial. Of course, we were very happy. We skipped a full Wednesday of school just to go to the commercial. We were even happier now.

So, we went to the place we had to go to. The other two actors were another Korean guy like us and a Vietnamese woman. We asked the director what we had to do for the commercial. To put it short, we all ended up acting as Chinese people and the commercial was about China entering the World Cup for their first time. But, it didn't matter that none of us were Chinese since all Asians look the same with their funny little eyes (that was sarcasm by the way). And, I had to act as a typical guy on the streets in China, holding a long wooden pole with two buckets at the ends full of vegetables. Let's just say it was interesting.

Anyway, we at least got paid well. So, this is a photo I took when my friend was about to start the scene he had to do. I just felt like sharing.

Read Me Carefully

1. It's impossible for someone to bite their own tongue using all their teeth.

2. Recent scientific studies show that 96% of the people who somehow managed to do this, had a higher brain capacity than an average man.

3. You have tried it by now and probably noticed that you can do it.

4. Numbers one and two were false. Most human beings can do it.

5. You thought, for an instance, that you had a gifted mind. But, now you notice how silly you were, trying to bite your own tongue just because of a random blog post.

6. By now, you are either laughing because of your silliness, or frowning because of your anger towards the blogger that posted this.

7. You have nothing better to do since your still reading this.

8. You really want to stop reading this because it's getting really boring, but you just can't. You want to finish reading until the last number.

9. I really have nothing else to write though.

10. Nothing.

Random Facts #2

1. Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but he declined.

2. An earthquake on Dec. 16, 1811 caused parts of the Mississippi River to flow backwards.

3. Astronauts get taller when they are in space.

4. Canada is an Indian word meaning ''Big Village''.

5. Early Romans used to use porcupine quills as toothpicks.

6. The U.S. Government spent $277,000 on pickle research in 1993.

7. All the swans in England are property of the Queen.

8. Animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by a lightning strike.

9. Crocodiles swallow stones to help them dive deeper.

10. Dogs and cats, like humans, are either right or left handed ("pawed").

Daily Life

I don't know if anyone is interested, but this is my schedule for an average weekday of my life: I wake up. Sleep five minutes more and wake up again. I get ready for school and go back to sleep. I wake up again when it's almost time for the bus to come pick me up. I go down to ride the bus and stare out the window in the freezing coldness, thinking of nothing. I go to my first class trying to force myself not to fall asleep. I get a little snack on our twenty minute break. I go to my second class and actually pay attention to the teacher. I go to the third class and keep on staring at the clock from time to time, hoping that it would be 11:30 (which is when our lunchtime starts). I happily go to lunch to eat and technically do nothing for the next hour. Finally, I go to my last class and wonder why time seems to go a lot slower at this time of the day. After finishing a strenuous day at school, I struggle to choose whether to stay "afterschool" or not. While trying to decide what I should do, I end up staying because I miss the bus. I goof around with others for an hour and ride the bus back home. I eat a small snack and try to do homework (but something always distracts me). Next thing I know, it's already time for dinner and I eat again. I finish my homework really fast and heavily go to sleep because of the tiredness I get from wasting all my energy for the day on nothing necessarily very important. Seems very boring, doesn't it? Well, anyways that's my daily life.

5:00 in the Morning

5:00 A.M. is about the time when I would be waking up (or at least trying to) to get ready to go to school. I think it's a bit too early. Anyways, so today I heard the ring of my alarm clock. Annoyed, I smashed the snooze button so that I would sleep only five minutes more. Before those five minutes were up, this friend of mine called me. I angrily answered the phone and I tried to shout at him because he just woke me up, but I was too tired and sleepy to do so. This was our conversation:

Me: "...Hello?"

Friend: "Hey, what's up?"

Me: "Nothing... just that someone decided to ruin my Tuesday by calling me at five in the morning while I was still asleep... you?"

Friend:"...Nothing... just that my dad received a text message from the school a while ago, saying that there is no school today."

Me: "Wait, seriously? YES!!! Virtual hi-five! Thanks for telling.

Friend: "Your welcome. Do you want to meet up today and do something?

Me: "I don't know. We will figure that out later. But for now, I do know that I am going to go to sleep... so see ya!"

Friend: "Okay then..."

So, yes, I didn't go to school today; apparently, there was some kind of a big strike for buses. I'm not really sure. I should check on it later. Anyways, so today would have probably been the only day where I actually felt happy at 5:00 A.M.

Funny or Just Weird?

So, this friend of mine showed me a video of this Asian band called the Poreotix. Besides the fact that I'm also Asian, I thought it was... well... interesting in a way. I really don't know how they managed to keep all that glitter to randomly throw after the end of their show but anyways, here it is...

The Haunted Houses of Our Lives

Which exact time and day of the week do you hate the most? I'd say Sunday afternoon. The sunset on a Sunday always reminds me of the long and hard week ahead. It just always hits me that the next day (Monday), I would have to work all day long and after barely surviving, I would notice that I have four more days until the next weekend. It's like the feeling you get when you are staring at the door of a haunted house before actually entering it. The feeling of not wanting to go in but at the same time, feeling kind of curious to know what's inside it. But, once you get in, you always want to get back out. I mean, what a joy we all get when we arrive to the exit of a haunted house (Friday). All the haunted houses are different in some kind of way: Some are more crooked than others, some have different colors, some have different shapes, and some are spookier than others. But, we all have to go through each of them at least once in our lifetime. Anyways, so here I am, on a Sunday, staring out the window, looking at the sun disappear in the horizon... Oh great.

Random Facts #1

From now on, I've decided to start listing some random facts every once in a while just for fun. Well, here's my first list.

- In an average lifetime, a person walks the distance equivalent to five times around the Earth's equator.

- The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

- The number 57 written on Heinz ketchup bottles represents the number of varieties of pickles the company once had.

- Elephants are the only animals on Earth with four knees and are also the only mammals that can't entirely jump.

- When someone dies, their hair still grows for a couple of months.

- The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.

- On average, there are 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald's BigMac bun.

- The king of hearts in a deck is the only card with the picture of a king without a mustache.

- The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

- Triskaidekaphobia is the phobia of being scared of the number 13.

Perfect Day to Complain

As I mentioned before, I'm just going to post whatever I feel like, and well, today I felt like talking about how annoying parents can be sometimes when it gets to getting good grades. Obviously, all parents want their children to get good grades at school; that's just normal. But, doesn't it start to bug you when they get so hysterical about it? Don't you just get annoyed when you get good grades and they are still not satisfied? Isn't it annoying that the grades you expect is not even half of what your parents expect? Don't you just hate it when your parents think that you are not "good enough" if you're not number one in everything? Well, I do. This is what I usually hear from my parents when I work really hard and get really good grades: "Well, I guess it's good... but try harder and do better next time, okay?" They expect our grades to always go up, and that's why most of the students are always nervous when the school sends out report cards. Now that I have noticed how my parents won't ever be satisfied, I really shouldn't even bother trying. I think all of you have the freedom to do whatever you feel like. Don't blame me if something goes out wrong, because I'm not telling you to flunk your next algebra test on purpose; I'm just saying that you guys should get good grades only to satisfy yourselves and not your parents (because they will never be fully satisfied until you are the best in everything). I don't know why I suddenly wanted to talk about this, but it probably has to do with the personal experience I had today with my parents today morning... but I won't go so deep on that because it's a long story. Anyways, I guess that's it for now... Oh and happy new Lunar Year.

READ ME!

Welcome! Well, this is one of those blogs with many random but interesting stuff with posts that probably don't have to do with anything from the ones before. But please, do take a look because it's worth it and please try to enjoy while your at it. Thank you.