MOVIES: St. Elmo's Fire

Tonight I watched St. Elmo's Fire, and although, it isn't a highly reviewed film, I thought it was alright.  It follows the lives of seven friends who recently graduated from college.  All of them have different paths, but they all stick together through thick and thin.  Some of them are in relationships, while others concentrate on their careers or just have fun. 





Anyway, as I was watching, it just made realize how my friends and family are going through our post-grad lives in 2010.  Even though this movie took place in the 80s, nothing has really changed, except for maybe a little more opportunities and options to choose from after graduation.

In St. Elmo's Fire, the women of the group seemed to only have two options - career or marriage.  How limited.  Based from this movie, it seemed like the 1980s society was still strongly ran by men, but women were striving to make their way in their careers.  But either way, women were encouraged to get married soon as if there was nothing else to do after college.

In 2010, the confusion of what to do after 
college is still there after 30-ish years.  

For me, I'm on the "year-off" path, even if that may take more than one year.  I just want to gain some job experience or something to test out the waters, you know?  I'm taking it one step at a time because in this time of uncertainty, anything can happen.

For some of my friends, they are on the track of heading to med school.  It's a tough path, and they may have a couple bumps on the road.  Nevertheless, I know they'll pull through and persevere.

Other recent grads I know are volunteering or planning to around the world.  It's so cool that they have that chance to visit different places and truly make a difference in other people's lives.  I want to do this eventually, but we'll see.

Some other grads have already gotten married.  I'm glad they found that special someone and be able to spend the rest of their lives together. Best wishes to those couples! :)

Post-grad life is a confusing part of life because there are so many opportunities for grads to share and expand their experiences, yet at the same time, it seems so limited.  

A bit contradicting, but it's true...

TECHNOLOGY: The Great Cell Phone Debate

Since the beginning of this year, I've been looking forward to summer.  I would be eligible for a new cell phone along with the rest of my family, and I am definitely in need of a new phone...

I currently have an LG Shine.  When I got it in the summer of 2008, I was determined to have it for more than two years because it was more expensive compared to the free phones the rest of my family got.  I took care of it well for a while, but then I accidentally dropped it.  Although it had a mirror on the front, it never broke after all those times I dropped it.  It was really weird because I read in reviews that it breaks easily.  Maybe I just had an invincible phone; however, that wasn't the case.

Somehow the top part surrounding the mirror is detached from the mainframe.  It's still hanging onto my phone, but I don't know how it happened.  Then moisture got into my phone, which seemed to scramble the microphone and speaker.  This makes it difficult to actually talk as my friends and family know.

As much as I like my LG Shine...if I can't use the basic function of a phone, then it's time to move on... 

So I've had my eyes set on the new iPhone 4 since I found out it would be released this summer. Talk about perfect timing, right?  However, with all the media hype about its release and then the antenna problems, I decided to wait it out.

But I'm so tired of yelling at my phone to talk to my friends or having them say, "What?" or that they're only getting every other word when we're talking.  It's frustrating, you know?

I took a poll of friends on Facebook about suggestions for a new phone, and the iPhone was the clear winner! I definitely was re-convinced that it was the right choice.

Now it's just a matter of finding the funds and convincing my parents that it's worth it.

If not, this might be my backup plan...

Get one of those free phones and use that for the time being and then upgrade to an iPhone 4.  Hopefully by that time, I'll have a job so that I can pay for it and the white one will be available. ;)

*****

What do you think?  Should I just go ahead and get the iPhone 4 now or continue to wait it out with a free phone?

FRIENDS: iChat

Today, Madison finally upgraded to a MacBook Pro, and her brand-spanking new computer is super shiny and includes a place to insert memory cards for cameras! Lucky! My Mac is two years and 2 days old, and it shows with the cracks, discoloration, scratches and the thousands of files it's holding.  I always tell myself that it's just really loved because it's amazing and hasn't really failed like my HP laptop.  I think that one just needs to get rebooted or something. Darn all those random Windows updates.

ANYWAY, Madison was super excited to get her Mac up and running that we didn't wait for tomorrow to test the iChat.  We got it all figured out and started chatting, even after a few error messages.  Yeah...I'm not sure what was going on there.

Then after a while, Evan called and joined us.  I never did video chatting with two people at once.  It was sweet to see both Evan and Madison and talk to them at the same time.  I think we'll have fun experimenting with this, especially since we found out that you can record videos while chatting...

Have you seen some of the videos we have made together?  If not, here's the last one we made. I think it's probably one of the best ones. :)

YAY for iChat!  Video chatting is so cool and definitely a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, especially those who are miles away! :D

BLOG: 2 Week Hiatus

Just came back from Colorado a couple days ago and realized that I haven't updated in two weeks! Yikes!  I have several posts to put up so please bear with me.  But as for now, I'm super tired, so I'm off to bed.

Look out for those updates. :)

Good night!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

It's America's birthday, and unlike everyone else, I'm not really doing anything to celebrate.  It's another one of those holidays where we didn't do anything. Family traditions seem to have lost their splendor.  Not sure what that's all about...

Anyway, last year during the fourth of July, I was in Canada, studying abroad for 6 weeks.  In Montreal, they had an International Fireworks Competition every Saturday night during the month of July, and since the fourth fell on a Saturday, we saw Australia's presentation that night.  How cool is that?  Even though we were abroad, we still got to see some really cool firework displays.  So basically, I celebrated the fourth in Canada, watching an Australian fireworks display.  

Doesn't get anymore international than that! Except maybe the Coldplay concert I also saw in Montreal - British band entertaining French Canadians (among others) while watching an American fireworks display (yeah, that was still going on).

Compared to last year, this year was pretty pathetic.  Oh well. At least we're going on a family vacation soon.  Hopefully that'll bring up my morale.

For now, it's not much of a holiday.  I need to get back to finishing up these job applications.  They've been sitting on the back burner for far too long.

Hope you're all having a fantastic fourth of July!

P.S. I would have made this blog post a bit more political but decided against it.  We can get into American politics later...

WORLD CUP: Quarterfinals II

Wow!  That basically describes how I felt about today's World Cup games.  Excitement. Disappointment. Frustration. Victory.  It was a day filled with lots of emotion for all teams and fans watching all around the world.

Germany vs. Argentina

The video above gives a quick review about the game (still don't understand why I couldn't share similar videos yesterday. lame).  Germany took the lead early and kept it for the entire game.  Germany moved so swiftly with the ball, finding gaps in the Argentinian defense and making plays that were executed with ease.  They made it seem easy to score those goals and send Argentina home.  

I was hoping for Argentina to score a couple goals, but none got passed the German goalie.  It was also hoping for Messi and his team to make it through to reach that same pinnacle that their manager, Maradona, was able to achieve years ago.  Sadly, their journey was put to an end today.

Paraguay vs. Spain

No video to embed this time. ESPN needs to be more consistent about the sharing feature for these videos. 

In the bracket I made, I have Spain winning the whole tournament, so I definitely cheered them on as they battled Paraguay.  Tough match. Both of them had great defense to keep the offense from scoring.  The offense of both teams also had several opportunities, but it wasn't until the second half when things changed. 

There was penalty kick drama for both teams during the match, but neither team came out with a score.  David Villa finally broke the scoreless drought in the 83' minute, giving Spain the victory!  It was tough match, but Spain came through! 

I'm glad they are still holding on.  The semifinals are not until Tuesday so another two day soccer break.  Hopefully, my withdrawals won't be as bad.  Good thing it's a holiday weekend with Independence Day tomorrow! 

The semifinals bring Germany vs. Spain and Uruguay vs. Netherlands.  More excitement! I can't believe the World Cup is coming to a close soon. A month of soccer went by so fast, but it has definitely been a joy to watch thus far. Until next time soccer fans! :)

WORLD CUP: Quarterfinals

After two days of no World Cup games, I was going through a soccer withdrawal.  Never thought I'd go through one of those, but it happen.  I didn't know what to do during that time when the World Cup usually is on.  I tried watching TV, but seriously, nothing else is on. Summer television, especially daytime television is terrible! :(

However, World Cup action is back!  I was so stoked for the first day of the quarterfinal matches! :)

Brazil vs. Netherlands

I was ready for another Brazilian win, but the Netherlands took a 2-1 win.  I thought Brazil had it in the bag when they scored a goal within the first 10 minutes.  The rest of the half was scoreless.  It was funny watching the game with my mom because they showed a close-up of Ricardo Kaká, and my mom was like, "He's cute."  Good times. :)

The second half started, and Brazil's defense slowly unraveled.  Netherlands got the equalizer (as the announcers would say) with a free kick that was headed in by Felipe Melo (an own goal!).  The Netherlands took the lead with another header - this time by their own player.  Brazil couldn't get back, and to make matters worse for them, Felipe Melo received a red card in the 72' minute.  With 10 players on the field, Brazil tried their hardest to tie-up the match, but they came up short.

It was sad to see the 5-time champs get eliminated.  I was rooting for them to make it to the Finals.  Pretty sure a bunch of people's brackets are messed up now.  Mine has been messed up from the group rounds (pretty sure I didn't do it right), but yeah.  It'll be interesting to see how far the Dutch will go now that they've conquered the #1 ranked team.  It's definitely games like this that change everything and make the World Cup so interesting to watch! LOVE IT! :)

Luckily, that wasn't the only game...

Uruguay vs. Ghana

With Ghana beating the U.S. in the last round, I was definitely rooting for Uruguay.  Plus, I really like watching Forlán and Suárez when they play.  I was watching the national anthems, and I admit that the Uruguayan anthem sounds like it tells a story. 

The first half was basically scoreless, but both teams had so many opportunities to get the ball into the net.  In the extra time before half, Ghana scored the first goal far down on the field.  Although I was unhappy about the goal, it was an impressive shot.  It's really surprising that Muslera was unable to stop it, but I suppose it was a fast moving ball. 

Ghana had a 1-0 lead over Uruguay when they came back from the half.  Ten minutes within the second half, Forlán took a free kick and bent it straight into the goal.  The ball looked like it was going to go over the crossbar but it swerved down into the net.  The game was equalized and remained that way for the rest of the match, even though both teams had several attempts on goals.  Regular time ran out, and the score was still tied.  

Going into an extra thirty minutes, it was intense to watch as both teams played their hardest, trying to get that one goal to help them move on to the semi-finals.  However, it didn't happen.  You could easily tell that both teams were getting frustrated and desperate as the number of fouls escalated.  Everyone was determined to do anything to stop the other team from winning.  This motive was best displayed in that last minute of the game.  

Ghana had possession of the ball with a free kick only meters away from the goal.  The ball goes up into the middle of the penalty box where scads of players from both teams are waiting.  

Attempt 1: Ghana header is blocked by Uruguayan goalie.

 Attempt 2: Ghana tries to kick the rebound in as Uruguayan defenders try to get the ball out of there in the mist of confusion.

Attempt 3: Ghana gets control of the ball again and aims to shoot again.  Suárez and another Uruguayan player are in the box.  As the ball soars toward the goal, Suárez plays goalie and commits a hand ball, giving Ghana a penalty kick.  Suárez also receives a red card.  

Can we say intense?! I couldn't believe it.  

Gyan took the penalty kick and missed, pushing the game to be determined by penalty kicks.  Five players from each team have one shot to make.  Ghana was so close to ending the match right there and then but no.  On to the penalty kicks...

This was so intense that I couldn't even remain in the seat.  I was standing right in front of the TV, meticulously watching each player take their shot.  For a moment I thought each player was going to make their shot, but then Muslera saved one and one of the Uruguayan shooters kicked his ball way over the crossbar.  Muslera saved another one, giving Uruguay a winning chance.  Sebastian Abreu took the last penalty kick with his soft left-footed shot, clenching the win for Uruguay!

This game had intensity from the first kick-off to the last penalty kick.  I was so into the game too - screaming and yelling at the TV, jumping up and down, etc.  This was one of the few times I got so emotional about a sporting event.

It was sad to see Ghana leave the tournament, especially since they had a whole continent's support.  They were representing Africa since they were the only African county to make it out of the group stages.  I feel like Ghana put up a good fight and making it to the quarterfinals is still really impressive.  I have a good feeling they'll be back in the next World Cup.

On Facebook and Twitter, I was checking out people's reactions to the game, and people keep saying Suárez cheated.  Even if he didn't put his hands up, he still would have been in the way of the ball making a goal.  As I mentioned early, when it comes down to it, competitive athletes will do what it takes to avoid losing, and this is exactly what Suárez did.  The ref called it correctly too; hand ball in the box results in a red card and penalty kick.  Gyan had the opportunity to bring Ghana to victory but missed it.  What's been done has been done. Suárez misses the next game as well.

I can't wait to see the next matches.  Germany take on Argentina, while Paraguay take on Spain.  Both should be excellent matches!  So excited! More World Cup news later....

P.S. I was going to include some video, but ESPN.com disabled sharing. Lame. :(

BOOKS: The Tales of Beedle the Bard

After reading Wuthering Heights, I checked out what books I haven't read on my bookshelf.  Browsing over my Harry Potter shelf (yes, I have a shelf dedicated to the lightning-scarred wizard), I found The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which I received as a Christmas gift a couple years ago.

The book is a collection of wizard fairy tales.  It was first introduced in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I read one story a night, which was just enough to get through it in five days.  Good bedtime stories too.

I was most intrigued by "The Tale of Three Brothers" because it directly connects with The Deathly Hallows.  I recognized it within the first few sentences.  Guess I really am a Harry Potter nerd and definitely won't deny it.

Another story I found interesting was "The Warlock's Hairy Heart."  It was a bit gruesome (well, as gruesome as a children's book can be), but that was what made the story so twisted. 

Anyway, it was a quick read before finding a more challenging book.  Reviewing my bookshelf again, I found a couple unread books that were gifts or that I bought in high school.  I wanted to check out some other options I had but quickly became overwhelmed with how many books I wanted to read.  I wish my house had a database, like the library, so that I could see what books we had.  I was hoping to read The Count of Monte Cristo, but I don't think we have it.  So until my next BOOKS blog post...