206 - Feeling stuck

Do you ever feel like you're in a situation that you cannot get out of?

It doesn't matter whether the experience feels good or not, it doesn't matter if the people you have around you are agreeable or inharmonious company - it just hurts, and it hurts bad, to stay in the same place, within the same conditions, it just aches, and it chews at your heart slowly, and it lingers in the back of your mind for the entire time, mercilessly, like the universe is laughing at you, mocking you, teasing you, and intentionally throwing more obstacles in your way to obstruct your path in life, like God is laughing at your mistakes and your poor decisions, telling a humorous anecdote at the Table of Heaven, the story of your life right at this moment, all the Cherubim, the Seraphim, the Ophanim,  the Dominions, Strongholds, Powers, and Principalities, the Angels and the Archangels, all snickering at you, and chortling at your miserably mortal mind, throwing their fists on to La Tabella del Cielo, as they howl, Hahaha! Bad move there, Michael!, the rotten revelry that is your life, thriving on the fact that you still, to this day, are struggling like a fish brought out of water, trying to face the world with your pathetic excuse for courage.

Have you ever felt that helpless and inadequate - have you ever felt so unhappy with the cold, hard fact that you will never be able to achieve this, or that you will forever be unable to accomplish that? Have you ever felt the suffocating feeling of walls coming in on you as you try to push them apart? Have you ever felt like the last man standing, fighting against an entire army a hundred times stronger and well-equipped than you and the 5-inch-long dagger you'd much rather use to end your life with instead?

Today, I ask you the following, my readers. Have you ever in your life felt so vulnerable, so incompetent, so powerless, so feeble and forlorn, like you're up a creek without a paddle, so substandard, so sorry, so sad, so remarkably, strikingly stuck?

I hate this feeling I so depressingly describe right now, especially this depressingly so as it is New Year's Eve today. The only way I can face this is to step aside from the source of my distress, and attempt to retrieve the ratiocination that I have so dopily and dreamily displaced. Only by thinking logically, I can engage in active problem-solving - the conundrum is never a conundrum for very long once you get into the right mindset.

What do you think? How do you pull yourself out of the hardening cement? 'Cause I'd like to know.

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That will be all for 2009, my fellow haters. I raise my can of Sprite to 2010 in the hopes that you will raise whatever you're having with the same sentiments, that you, like me, are hoping for good tidings in the new year, academic and professional success, heart-filled times with your closest loved ones, and another chance to live your life individually, properly and happily.

Happy New Year, folks. If you're interested, I've written about my New Year resolution here.

And now, please tell me, do you hate feeling stuck too?

160 - When people don't take advantage of the opportunities to do stuff when they're on vacation

I went to Bintan, Indonesia with my class for a week on our graduation trip. The Nirwana Gardens Resort was so nice. To be honest, it was a lot of fun, and there wasn't a whole lot to hate. There was one point on the trip where I was reading my biological-anthropological book, by the pool, near the beach, tanning in the sun, with a citrusy alcoholic beverage by my side, next to a plate of spaghetti, and half a dozen sticks of chicken satay. Life could not get any better, all my needs were satisfied.

I know my classmates may be reading this, waiting to see what Michael hates now, what Michael just didn't feel right about, like the many times he didn't think see any good in something or someone.

So I will give it to them.

Half of us tried to go out as much as possible. We went kayaking, swimming in the pool and at the beach, played beach volleyball, ate local food (e.g., pineapple fried rice, calamari, seafood, nasi goreng), saw the sunset, drank, sang karaoke, played poker and blackjack, did some archery, and rifle-shooting, and dancing at the resort's club. Right now, my skin is peeling like crazy from going out in the sun so much, but the finished product should turn out to be awesomely tan in a couple of days.

I was so surprised by the fact that the other half of us stayed inside the resort villas as much as they did. They even brought their laptops, and their Playstation 3, and all the technology they would fill their time up with back here in Hong Kong. At night, they would watch movies, and in the early daytime, they would sleep. They did go to the pool, but only for the poolside bar, and they did go to the beach, but only for a few hours altogether.

I don't get it. Why not just do that in Hong Kong, on an island in Hong Kong? What a waste of money it is to go to some foreign place only to sleep in and stay indoors. Why is everyone just going to sleep when they feel tired? Sure, everyone is tired, but now that we're back, you have the rest of the summer to sleep and rest, don't you? Wasn't this supposed to be a graduation trip, filled with late-night chats, and late-night dips in the ocean, and late-night card-playing, and drinking, and bonding?

Sigh, but to each their own, I suppose. Some people like to take advantage of the locally available facilities, while others would rather use the time to relax. There are people that actually like to travel the world, and 'test out' different hotels' services, to compare their customary quality. I could never be one of those people... I must try out the food, learn a bit of the language, explore the place...

What do you guys think?
And did you miss me? (I promise noooooow I'll be a more active blogger.)

97 - Procrastination

That's it, I've spent a whole week of Chinese New Year holiday doing absolutely nothing and tonight, Sunday night, it is going to kick my fattest body part (i.e., my bumbum).

I have spent the last few hours Facebooking, going on CNN News, watching TV series and movies on my laptop and blogging. I initially put my laptop on my desk for once, instead of next to my pillow, so that I wouldn't lie there slothfully like I have for the past few days. It hasn't gone well because there are just so many things to distract myself with on the computer.

Throughout this whole thing, I've been turning my head and glancing at the books, files and paper piled up on the bed next to me, and every time I take a look at the amount of work I have to do, I have a tiny panic attack, then I sigh. I just did it again, oh, my God, it's dreadful.

So, in an attempt to reduce distractions, I've exited my Gmail Notifier, so that I don't get told that I have people on Facebook to talk to, and blogs to comment on. I'm going to rely on myself to stop watching stuff while I'm working, and I'm turning off my phone, and hiding my iPod and my Nintendo DS. I need to concentrate.

I hate going to school and seeing my friends struggle with all the work they have to do. They ask for extensions from the teachers, and calling it by a fancy-pants name like 'extension' doesn't make it sound any more like responsible action, it doesn't make it sound any more mature. I feel sorry for my teachers, who have to deal with this kind of thing for hundreds of students every year. I feel sorry for all the students who are ruining their lives being late, handing in rushed work and all. I have another point to add to this, but it's too much to talk about now, I'll post about it in the next few days.

Which brings me to my end-point: I will not be visiting your blogs in the next few days, you can expect the daily post on Do you hate it too? But that's it. It's nearly the end of the year, and I have a lot to do, but I'll be here on Wednesday or Thursday night to check back with all you lovely people who write so incredibly well.

Procrastination: Don't you just absolutely hate it when it gnaws at your fat butt?!

65 - Poor translations for Chinese food

Beef pie.

Sugary biscuit.

Doughnut.

Fried noodles.

This is actually what it sounds like exactly. Tofu with stinky additions.

It says "Ovi fermented Glutynoes Wheat". I've forgotten what it was.

I think it's red bean paste wrapped in pastry.

lol.

It's 'Heartbroken noodles', literally. '凉粉' is the 'noodles' part, and literally means 'Cold powder' as it says on the sign.

Simply, boiled noodles.

Typo.

Rice cake. Nothing else.

That is really what the Chinese says, too. It's just a fancy name for a dessert.

Very weird use of the em-dash and not a hyphen. It was fried rice.

64 - Christmas decorations are still around

Last year, it took the Hong Kong government around a month or so to completely remove all the decorations from shopping malls, big open areas, the park, restaurants and the sides of skyscrapers, and I. know. they only did it to make space for the Chinese New Year decorations.

I hate seeing Christmas decorations when Christmas has already passed. There's an apartment building I pass by everyday on my way to and from school and hanging out one of the balconies is a Santa doll. It looks like Santa is climbing up the balcony, and I admit it looks sort of cute, but the thing is: it's hanging there all year round.

My family asked if I would put away the tree. That's not very fair, seeing as I didn't 'use' the tree, or appreciate it in the slightest. I find the whole decorate-the-tree thing so darn stupid. I hate the way it sheds little dark green pieces everywhere onto the floor and again, I hate the darn music that's emitted from those lights. I think it's such a hassle too, to bring the fake tree out of the box, put it up, decorate it, only to take off all the decorations, dismantle it and put it back in the box.

It's not my fault you put it up. You put it away yourself.

And put it away yourself NOW because it isn't Christmas anymore!

63 - People who like to say it's "New Year's Eve Eve"

And on January 1st, it's New Year's Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve.

Wasn't that amusing? Was it any more amusing than saying 'Eve' twice? I think not!

Tell me: Do you hate it too?
(I haven't used the signature line for a while.)

62 - Early Christmas shoppers

The only people worse than the procrastinating idiot that does all his/her shopping on December 24th are the smug morons that do all their shopping in the summertime when everything isn't overpriced or in great demand. You know, I don't even care that you do it (okay, I care a little. I think it's unnecessary). What I can't stand is the fact that you're boasting about it at the Christmas party. Shut up. It's not something to be that proud of.

Now, raise your hands, bloggers, if you're one of these early birds? Or if you're a procrastinator?

Does anybody do it post-Thanksgiving, the way a normal person would do it?

61 - Christmas greed

As another example, I was having dinner with my mother at a buffet the other day and sitting on the table beside ours was this spoiled little brat that was screaming at his parents. He wanted a Wii for Christmas a lot, and he was disrupting everyone's dinner in a two-table radius, by crying hysterically because his parents told him the painful truth of a Wii actually costing a lot of money. Horrible, horrible stuff, and I'm glad I don't know any kids personally that are like that.

59 - People who think that everyone needs to be happy just because it's Christmas

Is there a law that states that we NEED to be happy on Christmas Day? Or an eleventh Commandment on some third tablet that Moses didn't have the hands to bring down from Mount Sinai perhaps?

I don't think so, thank you very much.

At the risk of being associated with Scrooge or the Grinch, I have to tell you that it irritates the crap out of me when people have this compulsion to be happy, and reckon everyone else, in turn, should also be happy, just because it's Christmas day. There's always one imbecile, one person at the office party, or the family gathering, or the get-together with friends, that's insanely overexcited, screaming at everybody to get up and dance, insisting that everyone (happy, sad or otherwise) should 'lighten up', encouraging every single person to lose control like him/her, to go out, get crazy drunk, have a lot of 'fun'. (Look at the length of that sentence. ...Epic.)

Leave. me. alone.

I'm a nice guy. I like celebrating, and I like it when people are happy. But hey, other people... they might have some issues. So stop harassing them with your... child-at-Disneyland, Ernie from Sesame Street, perhaps Prozac-induced... joy. We'll behave however we want to. We don't hate Christmas. We hate you.

Go away, lunatic! Ba Humbug!

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Really, though, it's a great day, all hating aside. I recently watched Ghost Town. If you haven't watched it, get it on DVD because I think it's worth it. If you have seen it, you can tell me what you thought of it on my review.

Merry Christmas everyone!
Be sure to read my reflections on 2008 that will automatically be published on my other blog on the 26th!
(especially the last paragraph)

58 - 'Using' Santa for a mere photo

Alright, everyone's heard of the same old rant before. A kid is sitting on Santa's lap. Oh, it's an old, pervy man who wants kids to sit on his lap. Oh, it actually encourages kids to be personable in front of strangers. Oh, it's weird, and there's nothing really cute about it and parents force their kids to plant their asses on this old guy's lap just for a picture, so that when the images have developed, they can look at them, reminisce over the good time they had the mall with Santa and say a load of bullcrap like, "Maybe the picture will be better next year" or "This was so funny when little Torey was crying like that!"

But I'm not going to talk about that. Everyone already hates Santa and thinks he's weird. He climbs down our chimneys, he kisses our moms, he eats our cookies and drinks our milk.

I'm going to sympathize for Santa, today.

So, I was walking in the mall yesterday and saw Santa sitting on a throne on a large red podium. Kids and their mothers were all queuing for a turn with Santa and there was something off that just irritated me.

Here in Hong Kong, the meaning behind the most sat-on lap in the world is long forgotten. All parents want to do is to hurl their children at the poor fellow in the Santa costume, take a picture and scoop up their kids with a rushéd "Bye Santa!" and that would be all. I hate to be stereotyping but Chinese mothers always, always want to take photos of things that just aren't worth capturing when the subjects aren't happy and when the backgrounds are not scenic or inspiring. Hong Kong mothers want to snap away at their kid with the Santa-costumed man, but I don't think many of their kids have actually talked to Santa about what they want for Christmas.

In a way, it's good, because I think the whole concept of Santa is extremely unbelievable and unbelievably extreme. Using Santa's Good Kid & Bad Kid list to enforce good behavior lacks a bit of authenticity for most children who are ever-so-intuitive, and it's a method of discipline that is short-lived only around the holidays and for the parents, is difficult to use effectively, as well as control and maintain.

But if your kid believes in Santa and if you must use him in your parenting, let the kid talk and don't just throw him on Santa's lap, snap the pretty picture and then whisk the kid away. Consider Santa's feelings. Santa wants to talk. It bugs me when both the helpless kid and the helpless Santa are forced to smile in front of a lunatic mother with a camera.

But mothers can do anything to their own children if they wanted to. On the flip-side, you can't treat Santa that way. Santa's have worn this costume for the benefit of hundreds of mothers. They slave and they sacrifice, one child at a time every day. Be more considerate.

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For a collection of creepy Santas, visit Alan's blog, Robot Nine, for a post with images of scary Santas.

For even more images of kids refusing to take a photo of Santa, I encourage you to click here for an entire photo gallery that displays photographs in the hundreds.

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I'm going on holiday on the 26th!

What happens to the blog, you ask?

Well, I have prepared posts for the next few days while I'm gone and they are all set to be published automatically. One post per day, just the way you like it. Do you sense how much I love you all?

Just in case any of you miss my holiday messages on my other blog on Christmas Day and New Year Day, I wish you all a snowy (or foamy) Christmas that will hopefully include a lot of awesome food and bonding with the people close to you. I've certainly loved sharing everything that I have here on blogspot with you and it goes to show that hatred need not be a bad thing at all.

Enjoy this last week of 2008, you deserve it after such an eventful year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

4 - Partaking in Halloween without knowing the meaning behind it

In Hong Kong, there are roughly 900,000 kids, at or under the age of fourteen, who celebrate holidays such as Christmas, Easter and Mother's Day.

These kids receive a multitude of gifts in late-December, as well as go scavenger-hunting for chocolate eggs in March or April. And on Mother's Day, these kids get together with their fathers to give a meaningful card and/or present (perhaps a chocolate egg?) to their Mommies, in true honor of their undying commitment and unconditional love.

Tonight, apart from the slutty women and drunken alcoholics at Hong Kong's local drinking and clubbing area known as Lan Kwai Fong (蘭桂坊), HongKonger children will also be enjoying their own style of impish fun, knocking on doors and ringing doorbells, in the hopes of receiving gummy bears, chocolate bars, lollipops and other confectioneries, simply for wearing a costume that heightens their already-innate ability to look cute, innocent and ignorant.

Yes, ignorance is what I will be discussing this Halloween, or should I say Hallow E'en, as the Irish used to call it. Hardly anybody in my local community actually knows what Hallow E'en is about, and while I agree that the origins of a holiday is trivial knowledge, I firmly believe that it is important for one to at least partially understand the significance behind a holiday before spending time, effort and money engaging in its festivities.

So let me teach you a bit about Hallow E'en. While some occasions such as Mother's Day are pretty self-explanatory, Hallow E'en, like Christmas, Hanukkah and many others, actually has more to it than the modern-day customs that we now know of.

Hallow E'en is short for All Hallow's Evening (Oct. 31), and is the eve of All Hallow's Day/Hallowmas/All Saints' Day (Nov. 1), which basically celebrates all the saints.

I bet you didn't know that the act of trick-or-treating is, in fact, a distorted imitation of what was known as souling.

Back in the Middle Ages, souling is what you would do if you were unable to obtain food for yourself, either because you were a child or you were poor (...or both). You go to people's homes, knock on their doors, and then sing a bunch of crap 'celebrating' dead people and the homeowners then reward you with a soul cake (pictured right, mmm...), each one symbolizing a single soul being sent off to Purgatory. This is where All Soul's Day (Nov. 2) comes from.

I apologize if I may sound a bit upset soon.

Thanks to American cultural media (really... I'm sorry), souling became trick-or-treating, and the dirty, filthy, ragged clothes on the backs of children and beggars back in the Middle Ages turned into the whole wear-a-Halloween-costume thing.

I can actually live with all the kid vampires and kid witches and kid werewolves trick-or-treating, because at least these children are maintaining the essence of the whole creepy, scary, death-related vibe. I mean, bring on the mummies, and the ghosts and Frankenstein's monster (which reminds me — I get irritated by the smartasses that feel the need to repeatedly point out that the monster is actually nameless and it's the creator that's really called 'Frankenstein'.)

Anyway, back to the costumes.

Why the Hell is Pikachu walking around outdoors on such an evil night? Why is Sailermoon celebrating dead souls? Why are these princesses, angels, clowns and cowboys associated with this holiday? Oh, look, it's Mickey Mouse. And there's George Bush! And there's CHUCK NORRIS! I just don't understand. Least of all, the groups of parents that have proudly dressed their children such that they appear to be a regurgitation of the Justice League.

Unlike my previous posts, I have no solution. I'll stop there. I'll simply continue to live through this disliking of mine: that is, stupid costumes and ignorance regarding meaningful holidays.

But you should know: There are many hypothesized reasons as to why Hallow E'en exists at all. I just went with the most obvious answer here, and if you really do want to find out more, the Wiki. page was quite enlightening, as were several sites that came up on a Google search.

What do you think, readers? Should we know more about our holidays? Did you already know about souling? Do you hate it more when the monster is mistaken to have the name 'Frankenstein', or do you hate it more when people point it out? Is this post too long? I mean, my fingers are exhausted...

And finally, what are you dressing up as for Halloween?
I, myself, am a vampire this year. Happy Halloween! >:[