Looking Ahead..

Filed under: Miscellaneous — Posted by:
at 12:19 am on Monday, June 26, 2006

Yesterday, Ry said something that I think was very insightful. She wants a relationship where we both look forward to the future together. Instead, she feels that only she is looking ahead, and I’m looking …at her.

I don’t know if that is true or not, but it is insightful because it really drives home her feeling that I have much more free time than she does, which is true. I have been searching for a job, but not that actively it seems, because if I were, then I wouldn’t have so much time. So upon re-evaluation, I decided it was best to devise a rigorous schedule to stick to that would have me complete 4 interviews hopefully by Friday in the hopes I get an offer before July 18. Next week will be difficult to work on things because of AX and the Independence Day weekend so I really have to make the most of this week. If I don’t get a job offer by July 18, then it is likely that I will have to take the JET position. Not that I don’t want to go to Japan — that would be a great opportunity, but for reasons I mentioned in a few posts ago I really don’t want to resort to Plan B.

I am focused. My mantra for this week…

I will try my best. <– work hard
I will be productive. <–be busy
I will be active. <– seek out opportunity

Lost in Translation…

Filed under: Miscellaneous — Posted by:
at 3:10 am on Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Ry and I are both fond of Josh Groban. We’re both also fond of Spanish. (Muy interesante, Jonathan..)

I’d taken about 3 years of the language in High School and it’s sad that what was once fluent has now regressed to very broken Spanish. I tried to translate this song on the fly while we were listening to it in the car and could barely catch half of it. Now armed with my Spanish dictionary, I’ve done it a bit more justice.

Listen to the beautiful ballad here

 Si Volvieras A Mi  If You Would Return to Me

¿Cómo sobrevivir?
¿Cómo calmar mi sed?
¿Cómo seguir sin ti?
¿Cómo saltar sin red?

Con ese adios tan salvaje y cruel
Me deshojaste la piel
La eternidad en final, se quedo
Y un desierto es…mi corazón…

Ay si volvieras a mi
Encenderia el sol mil primaveras
Si regresaras por mi,
Seria un milagro cada beso que me dieras
Pero hoy te vas
Y no hay vuelta atrás

¿Qué habrá despues de ti
Más que estas lagrimas?
Si hasta la lluvia en el jardín
Toca musica sin fin…
Sombria y tragica…

Hoy de rodillas le pido a dios
Que por el bien de los dos
Algo en tu pecho se quiebre al oír
A este loco que se muere de amor…

Ay si volvieras a mi
Encendería el sol mil primaveras
Si regresarás por mi
Sería un milagro cada beso que me dieras
Pero hoy te vas
Y no hay vuelta atrás

Y desataste un huracan
Fuego y furia de un volcan
Que no se apagar…
Como olvido que fui
Esclavo de ti…ya no puedo mas…

Ay… si volvieras a mi vida,
si volvieras
Si regresarás por mi
Seria feliz otra vez
Pero hoy te vas
Y no hay vuelta atrás

How to survive?
How to calm my thirst?
How to continue without you?
How can I jump without a net?

With that farewell, so savage and cruel
You tore my soul.*
In an eternity of finality, I remain
And a desert is…my heart…

O if you would return to me 
The sun would ignite a thousand springs.
If you came back for me,
It would be a miracle each kiss you would give me.
But today you are leaving
And there was no turning back.

What more will there be after you 
[other] Than these tears?
Like the rain in a garden, 
Playing music without end… **
Somber and tragic…

Today on my knees, I pray to God
That for the good of the two of us
Something deep in your chest breaks to hear+
This crazy [man] that is dying from his love…

O if you would return to me 
The sun would ignite a thousand springs
If you came back for me,
It would be a miracle each kiss you would give me
But today you are leaving
And there was no turning back

And you unleashed a hurricane,
Fire and fury of a volcano
That cannot be put out…
How can I forget that I was
Slave to you…  I cannot bear it any more

O… if you would return to my life,
if you would return
If you came back for me,
I would be joyful once again
But today you are leaving
And there was no turning back.

*lit. "to take/peel a petal off my skin" - like a rose petal. it’s a beautiful metaphor for someone getting into the core of you, like the center of your soul.
**off topic, but apparently "tocar el violin" (instead of "toca musica") is slang for the american slang equivalent of ‘be third wheel’. not that it has anything to do with the song
+pecho figuratively means ‘deep down’ or one’s ‘heart’

Any spanish speakers out there, I happily take critique on my translation :)

so the summer begins…

Filed under: Miscellaneous — Posted by:
at 7:52 pm on Sunday, June 4, 2006

- i am looking for a place where i could do internship. idealistically, i should have done it this summer, but since i didnt start taking this seriously early enough, i obviously ran out of time. id like to work with something tennis related preferably, but i cant really gauge how stupidly i should be to chase after only what i want to do. it would be awesome if i ATP or ITF offers a position for the internship, but when it comes down to "ok, so what do you wanna do if they dont?", i cannot find any plan b so im like "well, what do i do now?" ive been searching through internet, but there is a big gap between what i could do and what i want to do, and ive found it pretty hard to see which one of those i should focus on to what extent.

- im thinking about quitting the job at Japanese Garden. ive been thinking about this actually for awhile now already, but its just that the job is really boring and not interesting. i mean, anybody could just stay in the garden and watch, and even though i am getting paid 8$, if it doesnt interest me at all, honestly, it is waste of my time. waste of my life. my ideal is to work with something that i am good at and make the best of myself. surely, it is better to get more money, but i wouldnt wanna learn from what i do totally reluctantly and i dont see where this would leads me, i mean, simply, i cant think positive in regard of the job at all. i heard from my new suitemate that theres a position opening at the pyramid to set up the court or the stands when we have a game of college basketball or valleyball or whatever. sure, maybe it is a little different from what i am really good at and what i really want to do, but with this job, it seems that i could find relationship with my ideal in order to lead me closer to it. the pay is just the wage and not that great and everything, but i think i’ll just go ahead and apply to try it out.

- ive got a japanese roommate for the first time since i came to america. shes two years younder than me and shes very nice, but due to one stupid unreasonable fact that she is japanese, theres something that doesnt sit right. anyhow we have heck a lot of japanese students this summer(when i say japanese, i mean japanese born and risen in japan). expecially in the dorms, where it barely has the population, the number of japanese students could be close to the half. to me, who have safely and successfully avoided the sticky collective culture of japan in america, although i like my roommate and her friends for their personality and all, to be honest, its just that i question myself or feel uncomfortable that it is japanese that i always hear or that i always speak in. its probably that i feel guilty that i am not trying my utmost on what i should be doing, and gives me stress a little bit. however, despite of this fricking hot weather, all of my suitemates keep their doors closed all the time for some reason, so even though i would love to get to know them, i dont know what i wanna do about it. this is my fourth year in the states, but all this time whenever i heard people said "living in the country doesnt automatically make you better at english" i thought that wasnt my case. but now i feel that it maybe is this summer.

- it is interesting how summer that didnt seem to be busy starts to seem busy once the school starts. virtually, however, im not that busy and i do have time. im pretty sure if i wanted to go out, i could, and of course there may not be any problem to go on a trip even if i did. however, its just that if i do allow myself to do all that, i think i’ll feel that it is infidelity to all the things that i should do now / the resolution that i made this year for myself to keep / the responsibility that i should have to what i said that im willing to work hard for, and i dont want that. of course no matter where id go, the trip would be a good experience, and i think there will be things to learn, but since im such a butt head, i sense that when what should be done is not being done, even if i try to expand the horizon, it would end up being just halfway. what is this? does this mean that im not having fun with my life? am i taking it too seriously? or rather, am i just contradicting myself because as i say what i say, im still hanging out and eating out with my friends and running and taking a so-called break from the management book and writing this? well, nonetheless, whatever i say, in the end, what i think right is all i have to believe and rely on, and that no matter how illogicalal the guilt that i feel may be, it is undeniable and i cant lie to myself is also the truth. but to be honest, if i try to think about this all the way, i think what will be there is not that i am busy or id feel guilty or anything complicated, rather its just that its too much trouble and めんどくさい will be the truest reason to myself. its too bad that if i were to say so though, that i definetely wouldnt be considered as a good person from human and human society in general and even more so in terms of human relationship. i think more than anything, that is annoying and too super めんどくさい to me…why cant we say exactly what we think although we value the honesty?

Summer Break in Spring

Filed under: Miscellaneous — Posted by:
at 2:40 am on Thursday, June 1, 2006

We saw STOMP at the Pantages. Front Row woohoo  .....  Irish Pub Boozin ...Jonathan and his gay palm 

Date at Boomers -MiniGolf, Arcade, and Kart Racing  X-Men 3 Premiere 12:15AM  We went to Universal Studios. While constipated.

Here are some pictures that highlight the stuff we’ve been up to that Ry was talking about in the last post.

There are more than these 6 pictures… just CLICK any one of the pictures to be brought to the gallery album with more. (check out Page 2 of the album for a bonus movie emoticon )

In order left to right, top to bottom are: STOMP, Cooking Curry, Limerick’s Irish Pub, Boomer’s, XMEN3, and Universal Studios.