Disclaimer: I am listening to some Britney Spears Femme Fatale album so I am sorry if some of my sentences do not make sense or are grammatically incorrect. The influence of social media these days...
Let's talk about motivation and perseverance and desire in no particular order since they all work together to achieve success. Everyone goes through each process differently but ultimately, these are three keys to success. For example, if you want to be "good" at piano, you need the desire to play it, the motivation to learn forevermore, and the perseverance to continue to play it after you peak (or even if you don't?). Same goes for playing a sport, starting a family, getting through school etc.. If you are missing one key ingredient, your chances for success are not possible, given that success to you means "the favorable outcome of something attempted." But to me, that also means happiness, you gotta be happy in your strive to success. If you are not happy, why pursue? I do not consider someone who makes a trillion dollars a day, but hates hates hates their job because they don't have time to do anything else, successful. Sure you are successful at making money (which doesn't matter THAT much in my opinion) but you fail at being happy, which is pretty damn important. What fun is a sad puppy?
Motivation can stem from a variety of things. What motivates you? Well for me, family motivates me greatly, and my desire to explore my interests. Competition is great motivation, but too bad I am generally not a competitive person. I'm pretty humble about some things and only if I know I can't win something do I try to compete. That is like Tour de France leader, Thomas Voekler, claiming that he has 0% chance to win the tour, but he has been in the lead for about 9 days now.. but that's a different story (it's psychological, he wants to give himself a mental buffer so that the real contenders will brush him off, thinking they will catch up easily later). I guess I am kind of like a Thomas Voekler, the best of the best motivate me as I test out their abilities. Granted I don't compete much at all, even amongst my friends for fun. I guess my friends aren't competitive in the physical sense, but when it comes to class ranks and orchestra, they are unyielding. I guess I am just different. If I know I am more capable of doing something, I don't just go all out... like when I go bike riding with pals, I don't treat it like a time trial, I stay with them and chat! It is so much more fun that way. Bad mouthing is also good motivation. Another tour example, a top sprinter from Great Britain named Mark Cavendish is getting heated media on him. The top American sprinter, Tyler Farrah, accuses him of cheating or riding dirty and whatnot, which motivates Mark to destroy the competition. He has won, I believe, 4 or 5 stages of the tour, which is mad impressive. Anger is his motivation which he creates, which is enemies cause.
Desire. You have to love what you're doing. Do you think Mark Cavendish would still be racing on bikes if he did not enjoy it? Obviously not. Thankfully he is, so his talent isn't going to waste. It's all in the eye of the beholder though. My good friend Steve was the best violin player around (I am sure this is true, he is also humble), but he no longer had the desire to play. So he made the right decision and stopped playing. What good would it do if he didn't even please himself while playing? Certainly it must be different when your heart is not in it. Let's say Steve continued to play violin, in hopes to stay the best, but he has no desire to. He will obviously not be successful because if he has no desire to, he would practice less and make some careless mistakes, and someone else who has a stronger desire to be the best would be the best. All we can say that my pal Steve was a successful violin player, and still is, given that his definition of being successful at playing violin constitutes woo-ing girls and non competitive play. I kid, but I know he is happy with what talent he possess. So did his talent go to "waste"? Not at all. Maybe his goal in life is to become a business owner, or a lawyer, or a doctor, and not a violin player. If his goal was to be a top violin player, we all know he would become one easily. He thinks he can do something better with his life, that he can contribute more than just to arouse ears (which he still can, no doubt, just not the peak he used to be at). Let's all turn heads to my good friend Jenny. She has a strong desire to become a doctor for her own reasons, that also motivate her. It doesn't end there. She desires many many things, perhaps to many to list, and it will certainly take more than five minutes to do so (inside joke detected). But knowing her personality and willingness to succeed at almost any cost, I am certain she is geared toward a successful life. Her desire, motivation, and perseverance are blatantly obvious.
You gotta persevere. If you find out, once you are a doctor, that you don't wanna be a doctor anymore, you will probably become a comedian. That's funny isn't it? All of us have persevered in one way or another. I know for a fact that almost all of my friends are pursuing higher education. Why? Because they want to be successful which they will attain only after they are happy with their life. What if you are never happy with your life? Then you are miserable. Just kidding, that just means you are ambitious and always want to try new things. You can be happy and still pursue new things though; That means you are successful but still want to gain more success. If you want something pretty badly, you will give it your all to keep at it. Mark Cavendish is not going to stop winning until he is retired, and his goal is to win every sprint finish that the tour has to offer. If he thinks "I will just win a few, and see how the rest go," that mean's he doesn't have the desire to win, in which he will not be able to enjoy bike racing as much, and might even retire because he stops winning. That is a pretty extreme example that is not probable in the real world, but if he is that kind of person (I am sure he is not) then it could happen hypothetically. The concept of perseverance is most likely linked with the enjoyment of doing something.
Anywho, success is very very broad and perhaps not easy to pin point. If Voekler does not win the tour, then was his ride successful? Yes and maybe no. (First of all, it means a LOT to wear the yellow jersey, aka be the race leader. You get a lot of benefits, such as revenue and media attention). He has been in yellow for 9 days (and he is French too, so he is so prideful when he rides in it) and counting, which is an extremely successful feat, and he is tremendously happy right now. He stated that he had 0% chance of winning, which translates to "I won't win" which can translate into "I am fine without winning in the end." So if this is the case, he would still be successful if he lost because all he wanted was to please the French crowd and ride in yellow for the longest time possible. But if he really had winning intentions, then his overall ride was a failure; he did not win and is not happy, but his ride would be a success in its own right that he held yellow for so long. So its a term that is easily thrown around but maybe hard to follow, and his highly subjective to the beholder. In the general perspective though, only the final step is of any importance. For example, is Bill Gates successful? He didn't finish college. Same goes for Michael Dell and other of those billionaires. Was he or was he not successful in college? Maybe all they needed were a few classes to learn how to do what they do today to gain their glory, and simply stopped attending to do their own thing. I am sure they are happy now and they are successful at what they do. Generally, people tag the term failure if someone does not finish college, but Bill Gates and the others prove so otherwise.
Well next time you ask your self, am I successful? See if you are where you are at, and if that is where you wanna be at, and if you are happy with that. If not, do something about it! We all wanna be successful in life, whether it be learning how to swim, being a doctor, being a bum (that's not that easy for some), and only through motivation, perseverance, and desire, can we be.
-KT
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
what friends are for
It's been a long time since I have had any free time to myself. Too much has consumed my life, and I would say about 70% of that is dedicated to being around friends (that does not include the typical activities such as sleeping, eating, and breathing). Things should be settling down now since some of the rather bigger planned activities have come and gone. I guess I will kill two birds with one stone, but the two birds are not of equal weight. Here's what I've been up to:
-Bra shopping the the Galleria. It was fun. Me and Steve had great bonding time. We met a very good looking Kazakhstan girl trying to sell skin products. We didn't care and Steve got some cream rubbed on him. Sensually too. We went with two girls for your information.
-I went fishing with my family and had a madly miserable experience. The only thing we achieved was eating dinner in the car on the beach... We did not want to pay the $12 per person since we did not bring our crab nets (the best part by far), so we go to Texas City which is $5 per car. Sad to say, we got all 4 of our fishing lines stuck in between rocks and that was that. We came home empty handed, like most of the other fishers there. Bad, no bites.
-Korean BBQ is so awesome! And it looks like my cousin Natalie will be rolling in some new wheels (bicycle) this semester at UT! I am helping her select the perfect bike for her transportation needs. And her bf Ryan is too cool for words.
-Last week Steve had a birthday dinner which was rather interesting. We went to Grand Lux Cafe and we all stuffed our stomachs full. I had to get a to go box for the second or third time in my entire life! Can you belive that? We had a lot of pastries and then ended the night with some gender biased Taboo. I need not talk much about that night, given the fact that it went splendidly well for the most part, and Steve is an even bigger boy now. We also worked out on our backs and biceps earlier that day (in fact that was the last time I lifted weights).
-I am a bad bowler. I used to be decent for a casual bowler, reaching scores of about 100. Now I can only muster 60! I was the worst out of Steve Hansen and Sophee but I attribute that to my inclination to learn how to curve the ball. Nevertheless I still sucked. We went to Whole Foods earlier that evening and I ate a lot of ahem "samples".
-Me Jenny Steve and Hansen fail at biking. I think we only went one time out of lets say five or six. The only time we went, I got a gnat stuck in my cornea and it was painful beyond tears, as I could not muster any. The other time we were close to going, (We had packed our bikes on my car) a stray cat charmed Jenny, so we burned up an hour, the perfect time allotted for biking, but we end up to plan for Steve's epic 19th birthday party.
-Steve had his birthday party. Guess what happened there? Let's just say Steve was okay and so was I.. we remembered everything too! :)
-Blueberry's are almost out of season, two more weeks and they be gone! My little nephews Travis and Thai are some pretty enduring blueberry pickers! I had a great time visiting them and my cousin in Tyler. The kids are in their Lego and Starwars phase and we had lightsaber fights (even in the dark!) where they also unleashed the force upon me. I died a lot. I am not a Starwars fan, but I shall watch the movies one day... in a time frame far far away... Big props to my cousin Julie for always being hospitable as always.
-LE TOUR DE FRANCE! Omg I am in love with this. Go Shleck brothers! Cavendish for 4 stage wins! Mad props to Hoogerland for gaining polka dot jersey while getting hit by a car and Voekler for still holding yellow! And Griepel for beating Cav and showing his potential! I do not take sides, I just don't want to see Contador win again, but if he does, that means he needs Lady Luck on his side again, and will be an amazing tour! I just like all this excitement that the tour brings this year. And if you are a normal person, you would have probably understood none of what I said. Typical. No feelings hurt. Moving on now..
-Google + is the latest sensation (see what I did there? probably not lol). Let's see how it fairs against Twitter and Facebook. I am also lovin the Sensation 4G (how bout now?) as it is, and hopefully it gets unlocked soon so I can have more fun with it!
-I break many road laws. I never do complete stops at stop signs. All of the U-Turns I make are probably illegal. My radar detector is inaccurate yet I still speed when I feel the need. I try to drift in the car when I am making a sharp turn only to hear a popping sound. I text and change music while I drive. I like to scream loudly when I slam on the gas (well that's not breaking a law, it is just annoying).
-A lot of hanging out with friends can cause "problems", especially if they are just "friends". It leads to my topic of interest for tonight - the value of friendship.
I do not believe in best friends, because if that were the case, who are your worst friends? You can't have the best without the mediocre and the lame ones because if you don't then you don't have best friends! I do believe in true friends though, because false friends also exist; They just want to be your friend to benefit from it in one way or another. Here are some of my observations and thoughts:
-Friendships do not happen overnight. You can't expect me to stay up with someone all night, then expect me to know you inside out. They also do not happen in a day, or a week. It actually depends on what you do but most of the time it is insufficient, just like if you only have 200 minerals and are trying to build a command center (Starcraft reference for the nerds). More time needs to be invested (or perhaps minerals?)
-You can't talk about one subject over and over again until you beat it like a dead horse. If that is all that is tying you together, then it will either die fast, get boring and repetitive. You gotta have more common interests. The new found friendship will quickly die if there is nothing more to be said and done. I might as well join a forum and talk to people there about that one subject.
-Relationships.. you can't jump into those right away, not with me at least! And you should be friends first.. if we are not even friends, it might just not work out. Signs of rush, haste, and lust are all indications of immaturity. Sure you can have a slight pull towards any of those signs, but you gotta know when to hold back and control such actions or emotions. You can't blindly charge a battlefield, especially if that battlefield feels a lot like love (Jordin Sparks reference). It really turns me off if anything. I can still be happy, but it is a lot harder, and I deal with such people differently.
-True Friendships are unbreakable. Whatever you do, whatever you say, you still have each others backs. You don't fight like couples do, especially if it's the same sex (like if I have a true guy friend, we will be chill, and never fight like cats). It is pretty hard to find out who your true friends are, or to even make them happen, but once they are there, it is hard to lose them.
-You don't have to talk/interact with a good friend every single day, hour, second. Life happens, such as college or family, and friends end up spending quality time when permissible. Being with someone for a prolonged period of time helps you get to know them better, but after that, it's okay to go off to other things. Don't fret, cause when you interact once again, your bond will grow even stronger. It's not a relationship, so no one will suffer if there is no interaction for a period of time.
-Close friends are honest and shouldn't lie even if it benefits you. They tell you things they wouldn't tell other friends. They tell you the truth knowing it won't impact the friendship. There is no such thing as telling too much as a good friend always listens and provides some feedback if needed.
All of that being said, how do you know who are your close friends? Certainly you can tell, but sometimes a bit more time is needed to evaluate it. It should all come together rather naturally and it is something YOU should not "test" on purpose just to see what happens or how your friend will react. That is called desperation or something and such a situation where a "test" is necessary will just happen, like a lightning strike in the sky. Perhaps the two value each other's friendship differently, but that is not common, either one of them has high standards or other various infinite complicated reasons. Those friendships tend to be less stable and true, but nevertheless can happen.
Some people say I am too nice, and that is true. Sucks for me! Haha I kid, it's both good and bad, but I think summer's given me a lot of chances to play with this attribute of mine. Sure it is easy to take advantage of me, but it doesn't happen often, and if it does happen, I try my best to make sure it does not happen again. Sometimes I feel pretty evil this summer, and ironically it feels good at the right times and in the right circumstances. Let's see if that changes!
I guess the title is a bit of a misnomer since I didn't really state what friends are for. Or did I? Hmm... actually come to think of it I don't think I did at all. How odd.
If you are reading this now (you probably are not, its 1AM!) you can get a free HTC Sensation 4G online till 3AM online... if you get a new plan. Pretty hot deal I must say. Here is the link (which will probably expire after 3AM today)
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-detail.aspx?cell-phone=HTC-Sensation-4G
My guess is that they want customers before the ATT merger, but don't wanna delve in to deep or else they may lose business. I guess the people who knew about it beforehand would get it.. but you need to be a new customer with 2 year contract. Get it if you can cause its a pretty nice phone, and it isn't even living up to it's full potential due to software limitations!
Anyway that last part was random, I saw that posted up. Looks like it's time to waste more time before I sleep!
-KT
-Bra shopping the the Galleria. It was fun. Me and Steve had great bonding time. We met a very good looking Kazakhstan girl trying to sell skin products. We didn't care and Steve got some cream rubbed on him. Sensually too. We went with two girls for your information.
-I went fishing with my family and had a madly miserable experience. The only thing we achieved was eating dinner in the car on the beach... We did not want to pay the $12 per person since we did not bring our crab nets (the best part by far), so we go to Texas City which is $5 per car. Sad to say, we got all 4 of our fishing lines stuck in between rocks and that was that. We came home empty handed, like most of the other fishers there. Bad, no bites.
-Korean BBQ is so awesome! And it looks like my cousin Natalie will be rolling in some new wheels (bicycle) this semester at UT! I am helping her select the perfect bike for her transportation needs. And her bf Ryan is too cool for words.
-Last week Steve had a birthday dinner which was rather interesting. We went to Grand Lux Cafe and we all stuffed our stomachs full. I had to get a to go box for the second or third time in my entire life! Can you belive that? We had a lot of pastries and then ended the night with some gender biased Taboo. I need not talk much about that night, given the fact that it went splendidly well for the most part, and Steve is an even bigger boy now. We also worked out on our backs and biceps earlier that day (in fact that was the last time I lifted weights).
-I am a bad bowler. I used to be decent for a casual bowler, reaching scores of about 100. Now I can only muster 60! I was the worst out of Steve Hansen and Sophee but I attribute that to my inclination to learn how to curve the ball. Nevertheless I still sucked. We went to Whole Foods earlier that evening and I ate a lot of ahem "samples".
-Me Jenny Steve and Hansen fail at biking. I think we only went one time out of lets say five or six. The only time we went, I got a gnat stuck in my cornea and it was painful beyond tears, as I could not muster any. The other time we were close to going, (We had packed our bikes on my car) a stray cat charmed Jenny, so we burned up an hour, the perfect time allotted for biking, but we end up to plan for Steve's epic 19th birthday party.
-Steve had his birthday party. Guess what happened there? Let's just say Steve was okay and so was I.. we remembered everything too! :)
-Blueberry's are almost out of season, two more weeks and they be gone! My little nephews Travis and Thai are some pretty enduring blueberry pickers! I had a great time visiting them and my cousin in Tyler. The kids are in their Lego and Starwars phase and we had lightsaber fights (even in the dark!) where they also unleashed the force upon me. I died a lot. I am not a Starwars fan, but I shall watch the movies one day... in a time frame far far away... Big props to my cousin Julie for always being hospitable as always.
-LE TOUR DE FRANCE! Omg I am in love with this. Go Shleck brothers! Cavendish for 4 stage wins! Mad props to Hoogerland for gaining polka dot jersey while getting hit by a car and Voekler for still holding yellow! And Griepel for beating Cav and showing his potential! I do not take sides, I just don't want to see Contador win again, but if he does, that means he needs Lady Luck on his side again, and will be an amazing tour! I just like all this excitement that the tour brings this year. And if you are a normal person, you would have probably understood none of what I said. Typical. No feelings hurt. Moving on now..
-Google + is the latest sensation (see what I did there? probably not lol). Let's see how it fairs against Twitter and Facebook. I am also lovin the Sensation 4G (how bout now?) as it is, and hopefully it gets unlocked soon so I can have more fun with it!
-I break many road laws. I never do complete stops at stop signs. All of the U-Turns I make are probably illegal. My radar detector is inaccurate yet I still speed when I feel the need. I try to drift in the car when I am making a sharp turn only to hear a popping sound. I text and change music while I drive. I like to scream loudly when I slam on the gas (well that's not breaking a law, it is just annoying).
-A lot of hanging out with friends can cause "problems", especially if they are just "friends". It leads to my topic of interest for tonight - the value of friendship.
I do not believe in best friends, because if that were the case, who are your worst friends? You can't have the best without the mediocre and the lame ones because if you don't then you don't have best friends! I do believe in true friends though, because false friends also exist; They just want to be your friend to benefit from it in one way or another. Here are some of my observations and thoughts:
-Friendships do not happen overnight. You can't expect me to stay up with someone all night, then expect me to know you inside out. They also do not happen in a day, or a week. It actually depends on what you do but most of the time it is insufficient, just like if you only have 200 minerals and are trying to build a command center (Starcraft reference for the nerds). More time needs to be invested (or perhaps minerals?)
-You can't talk about one subject over and over again until you beat it like a dead horse. If that is all that is tying you together, then it will either die fast, get boring and repetitive. You gotta have more common interests. The new found friendship will quickly die if there is nothing more to be said and done. I might as well join a forum and talk to people there about that one subject.
-Relationships.. you can't jump into those right away, not with me at least! And you should be friends first.. if we are not even friends, it might just not work out. Signs of rush, haste, and lust are all indications of immaturity. Sure you can have a slight pull towards any of those signs, but you gotta know when to hold back and control such actions or emotions. You can't blindly charge a battlefield, especially if that battlefield feels a lot like love (Jordin Sparks reference). It really turns me off if anything. I can still be happy, but it is a lot harder, and I deal with such people differently.
-True Friendships are unbreakable. Whatever you do, whatever you say, you still have each others backs. You don't fight like couples do, especially if it's the same sex (like if I have a true guy friend, we will be chill, and never fight like cats). It is pretty hard to find out who your true friends are, or to even make them happen, but once they are there, it is hard to lose them.
-You don't have to talk/interact with a good friend every single day, hour, second. Life happens, such as college or family, and friends end up spending quality time when permissible. Being with someone for a prolonged period of time helps you get to know them better, but after that, it's okay to go off to other things. Don't fret, cause when you interact once again, your bond will grow even stronger. It's not a relationship, so no one will suffer if there is no interaction for a period of time.
-Close friends are honest and shouldn't lie even if it benefits you. They tell you things they wouldn't tell other friends. They tell you the truth knowing it won't impact the friendship. There is no such thing as telling too much as a good friend always listens and provides some feedback if needed.
All of that being said, how do you know who are your close friends? Certainly you can tell, but sometimes a bit more time is needed to evaluate it. It should all come together rather naturally and it is something YOU should not "test" on purpose just to see what happens or how your friend will react. That is called desperation or something and such a situation where a "test" is necessary will just happen, like a lightning strike in the sky. Perhaps the two value each other's friendship differently, but that is not common, either one of them has high standards or other various infinite complicated reasons. Those friendships tend to be less stable and true, but nevertheless can happen.
Some people say I am too nice, and that is true. Sucks for me! Haha I kid, it's both good and bad, but I think summer's given me a lot of chances to play with this attribute of mine. Sure it is easy to take advantage of me, but it doesn't happen often, and if it does happen, I try my best to make sure it does not happen again. Sometimes I feel pretty evil this summer, and ironically it feels good at the right times and in the right circumstances. Let's see if that changes!
I guess the title is a bit of a misnomer since I didn't really state what friends are for. Or did I? Hmm... actually come to think of it I don't think I did at all. How odd.
If you are reading this now (you probably are not, its 1AM!) you can get a free HTC Sensation 4G online till 3AM online... if you get a new plan. Pretty hot deal I must say. Here is the link (which will probably expire after 3AM today)
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-detail.aspx?cell-phone=HTC-Sensation-4G
My guess is that they want customers before the ATT merger, but don't wanna delve in to deep or else they may lose business. I guess the people who knew about it beforehand would get it.. but you need to be a new customer with 2 year contract. Get it if you can cause its a pretty nice phone, and it isn't even living up to it's full potential due to software limitations!
Anyway that last part was random, I saw that posted up. Looks like it's time to waste more time before I sleep!
-KT
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
austin awesomeness
This weekend I took a trip to Austin with some pretty normal friends named Jenny, Steve, and Hansen. We departed Saturday morning around 8:30am and received a brochure from some random lady about how to spend time with family. That is exactly what we set out to do this 4th of July weekend.
I told my parents on Friday that I was leaving for Austin and they were not too happy initially. They made me rent a car that would make the costs high... and I feel bad since I was planning to take my car. Oh well we got to have fun with a rental car as always. Thanks to GPS (which we relied heavily on), we never really got lost. We prepared a ton of fruit for the trip: apples, mangoes, watermelon, pineapple, peaches... yeah we were healthy snackers, aside from the chips and Jenny's Mountain Dew.
Come Saturday. We meet up with Ruyi at Jester and unload our belongings. Parking at UT sucks, so we had to go to a garage that provides free 30 min parking. We had to monitor the time closely and we had to make 2 trips just to move the car so we would not get charged $3. I am not used to driving hills so a cop gave me a warning to slow down, I think I was going 20+ mph when the limit is 15 mph. I have learned my lesson. After an hour upon our arrival, we decide to meet up with Ruyi's friends at Frank's, a place known for hot dogs. I didn't fancy the idea of going there but I was on vacation so I could care less. On the way, I scraped the bottom of the rental and went the wrong way on a street for a few seconds. I hate down towns and I dislike the idea of paying $7 for parking. Once inside, I got a Chicago hot dog and a chili cheese hot dog, which was pretty heart attack looking. What was cool about this place was that they had a reservation on the top floor (which was where we were eating) and the manager had to bribe us to leave. He offered us shots, drinks, cookies, and chocolate wrapped bacon. We took the bacon and cookies. Austin is getting a bit weird for us.. but in a good way.
After eating, we planned to go to Hamilton Pool. It is a pretty, naturally made pool. The drive took about an hour and we find out that it is pretty much closed. Bummer. Then we did a quick revision and decide to go kayaking in Barton Creek. That was pretty tiring because the river was vast. Steve, Hansen, and Ruyi's friend Rosalyn jumped off a bridge, kinda like gorge jumping. My shoulder was sore the next day. We wanted to go see bats and meet up with my old high school friends but we ran out of time because all five of us decided to take a shower. Instead, we simply eat dinner and a Korean BBQ trailer named Correanos. That was delicious. We wanted to go to 6th street afterward, and we did, but to no avail. We are not 21 so we could not get into anything. Hmm but the night was not over. We ended up drinking "smart water" and call it a night at 4am. I got no sleep that night but I got rest.
The next morning, I wake up around 9 or so while everyone else is still snoozing for the most part. We did a McDonalds run and Ruyi got a Pikachu that lights up. It is pretty cute. We quickly rush to Hamilton Pool and have to wait for a good 2 hours, which was well worth it in the end. I recommend that place if you ever hit up Austin, Texas. And thanks to Steve's awesome plan to purchase fifty nuggets for ten dollars, we did not go hungry. After that, we all showered except me, and meet up with my ex Spanish teacher Scott to see some bats fly out under the bridge. It was an amazing site and I enjoyed hearing the squealing. There were a ton of people and parking was hectic as always, but free as well. Then we eat dinner at Threadgrills and I got Chicken fried chicken and did a roulette to choose my sides. I waved my finger up and down the extensive sides list and Scott told me to stop twice. I picked some interestingly good tasting grits and corn. The grits were surprisingly yummy, even Scott and Jenny agreed (they don't like plan grits). We want to go to a honkey tonk saloon after that but it was closed, and the other club was reserved for a private party. Out of luck we were, but we did get some Amy's ice cream. I got the Kahula one, and the alcohol impaired my senses just a bit. We part from Scott and find out that the night was still young, it was merely, lets say 11pm or so. We go back and drink some more "smart water" and decide to dash to the capitol of Texas. We were very happy people. After a bit of wandering, me and Ruyi had to go to the restroom and we did just that, except I kept Austin weird and did it discretely in a dark alley. Shh. After that we go back again and talk about deep stuff, deeper than Jenny would have liked, but not deep enough to turn her away, as she instantly woke up when we started to talk about her mom, among other things. I took a power nap, then my much needed shower, and was back in action, talking the night away. Me and Steve put on a great orchestral duet in F major, and everybody loved it. It just kept coming and coming, all night long. We topped Jenny's from a few weeks ago. Good job Steve. We end up sleeping at 5am.
I woke up first on Monday morning at 10, then 10:30am, while everyone was dead asleep. Being hungry, we eat at Pluckers, a wing place. I got an unlimited wing deal for $14 and I ordered 40. I snuck some across the table to my loyal dog stevey, who barked "woof woof" and I felt so sorry for my poor dog that I had to lend him some wings. I think I ate about 34 wings that day, and that is all I ate for the most part. My stomach was miserable all day and I fell into a food coma.. but not after singing our hearts out at Juicytart! I got Taro and almond froyo and we sang karaoke for a good hour or so. We are very talented singers who could start a business if we really wanted to. After that, we got some leather bracelets from a weirdo on the street who probably ripped us off. It's all good though as it represents our friendship indirectly, as we all agreed to get one if one person got one. Jenny got a music one, Steve got a peace sign I think, I dunno what Hansen got, and me and Ruyi got Christian fish. After that we packed our stuff in 10 minutes because the rental car was due in about 4 hours (it takes about 3 to get back) and said a farewell to Ruyi.
That was our trip to Austin in a nutshell. We got weirder by going there but I think I am becoming more normal as time goes on in Houston. I would definitely go back to Austin again, as I probably only did 1% of the things available there.
I told my parents on Friday that I was leaving for Austin and they were not too happy initially. They made me rent a car that would make the costs high... and I feel bad since I was planning to take my car. Oh well we got to have fun with a rental car as always. Thanks to GPS (which we relied heavily on), we never really got lost. We prepared a ton of fruit for the trip: apples, mangoes, watermelon, pineapple, peaches... yeah we were healthy snackers, aside from the chips and Jenny's Mountain Dew.
Come Saturday. We meet up with Ruyi at Jester and unload our belongings. Parking at UT sucks, so we had to go to a garage that provides free 30 min parking. We had to monitor the time closely and we had to make 2 trips just to move the car so we would not get charged $3. I am not used to driving hills so a cop gave me a warning to slow down, I think I was going 20+ mph when the limit is 15 mph. I have learned my lesson. After an hour upon our arrival, we decide to meet up with Ruyi's friends at Frank's, a place known for hot dogs. I didn't fancy the idea of going there but I was on vacation so I could care less. On the way, I scraped the bottom of the rental and went the wrong way on a street for a few seconds. I hate down towns and I dislike the idea of paying $7 for parking. Once inside, I got a Chicago hot dog and a chili cheese hot dog, which was pretty heart attack looking. What was cool about this place was that they had a reservation on the top floor (which was where we were eating) and the manager had to bribe us to leave. He offered us shots, drinks, cookies, and chocolate wrapped bacon. We took the bacon and cookies. Austin is getting a bit weird for us.. but in a good way.
After eating, we planned to go to Hamilton Pool. It is a pretty, naturally made pool. The drive took about an hour and we find out that it is pretty much closed. Bummer. Then we did a quick revision and decide to go kayaking in Barton Creek. That was pretty tiring because the river was vast. Steve, Hansen, and Ruyi's friend Rosalyn jumped off a bridge, kinda like gorge jumping. My shoulder was sore the next day. We wanted to go see bats and meet up with my old high school friends but we ran out of time because all five of us decided to take a shower. Instead, we simply eat dinner and a Korean BBQ trailer named Correanos. That was delicious. We wanted to go to 6th street afterward, and we did, but to no avail. We are not 21 so we could not get into anything. Hmm but the night was not over. We ended up drinking "smart water" and call it a night at 4am. I got no sleep that night but I got rest.
The next morning, I wake up around 9 or so while everyone else is still snoozing for the most part. We did a McDonalds run and Ruyi got a Pikachu that lights up. It is pretty cute. We quickly rush to Hamilton Pool and have to wait for a good 2 hours, which was well worth it in the end. I recommend that place if you ever hit up Austin, Texas. And thanks to Steve's awesome plan to purchase fifty nuggets for ten dollars, we did not go hungry. After that, we all showered except me, and meet up with my ex Spanish teacher Scott to see some bats fly out under the bridge. It was an amazing site and I enjoyed hearing the squealing. There were a ton of people and parking was hectic as always, but free as well. Then we eat dinner at Threadgrills and I got Chicken fried chicken and did a roulette to choose my sides. I waved my finger up and down the extensive sides list and Scott told me to stop twice. I picked some interestingly good tasting grits and corn. The grits were surprisingly yummy, even Scott and Jenny agreed (they don't like plan grits). We want to go to a honkey tonk saloon after that but it was closed, and the other club was reserved for a private party. Out of luck we were, but we did get some Amy's ice cream. I got the Kahula one, and the alcohol impaired my senses just a bit. We part from Scott and find out that the night was still young, it was merely, lets say 11pm or so. We go back and drink some more "smart water" and decide to dash to the capitol of Texas. We were very happy people. After a bit of wandering, me and Ruyi had to go to the restroom and we did just that, except I kept Austin weird and did it discretely in a dark alley. Shh. After that we go back again and talk about deep stuff, deeper than Jenny would have liked, but not deep enough to turn her away, as she instantly woke up when we started to talk about her mom, among other things. I took a power nap, then my much needed shower, and was back in action, talking the night away. Me and Steve put on a great orchestral duet in F major, and everybody loved it. It just kept coming and coming, all night long. We topped Jenny's from a few weeks ago. Good job Steve. We end up sleeping at 5am.
I woke up first on Monday morning at 10, then 10:30am, while everyone was dead asleep. Being hungry, we eat at Pluckers, a wing place. I got an unlimited wing deal for $14 and I ordered 40. I snuck some across the table to my loyal dog stevey, who barked "woof woof" and I felt so sorry for my poor dog that I had to lend him some wings. I think I ate about 34 wings that day, and that is all I ate for the most part. My stomach was miserable all day and I fell into a food coma.. but not after singing our hearts out at Juicytart! I got Taro and almond froyo and we sang karaoke for a good hour or so. We are very talented singers who could start a business if we really wanted to. After that, we got some leather bracelets from a weirdo on the street who probably ripped us off. It's all good though as it represents our friendship indirectly, as we all agreed to get one if one person got one. Jenny got a music one, Steve got a peace sign I think, I dunno what Hansen got, and me and Ruyi got Christian fish. After that we packed our stuff in 10 minutes because the rental car was due in about 4 hours (it takes about 3 to get back) and said a farewell to Ruyi.
That was our trip to Austin in a nutshell. We got weirder by going there but I think I am becoming more normal as time goes on in Houston. I would definitely go back to Austin again, as I probably only did 1% of the things available there.
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