Hello_Bianca and a couple of her friends were in town this past weekend, so we decided to have Korean BBQ for lunch.

Mmmm, pork belly… (“borrowing” your pic, Bianca!)

I had a really pleasant time with all of them, so when it came close to the end of the meal I told everyone I was going to the restroom.  However, what I actually did was sneak over to the front to pay for the entire check (effective tactic!).  I returned to the table and pretended nothing happened.  After a while though I kinda had to explain to them what I did since they were wondering why the check hasn’t arrive at our table.

Later, I started thinking about why I decided to do this.  I hadn’t plan on paying for everyone until we were well into the meal.  When I thought about it, I realized it had something to do with what someone did for my friends and me when we visited LA not too long ago.  He ended up picking up the check, even though it was the first time he had met a lot of us.  He went on to explain that it was fine and that this was his way of saying “welcome to LA”.  (in case you’re curious, the guy I’m referring to is junbelievable08.  Good guy!)

Well, it seems like his kind gesture really made an impression on me.  From now on, I’m going to take care of the bill more often when I’m eating out with a group of friends I trust and when I eat with cool people from out of town.  I won’t do it all the time of course, but at the very least this will cut out some of the hassle that normally happens at the end when everyone is figuring out how much each person should put in, how much change they should get, tips, etc.  Who knows, perhaps those that I’ll treat will end up paying it forward too.

Welcome to Northern VA =)

…in other news, I am becoming a thief on the side so I can afford following this new philosophy.  Hey, the ends justifies the means right?  *Evil grin*

This past month, I did a lot of traveling around VA due to work and fortunately I had time to meet with some Xangans while I was in the area.  I kind of mentioned some of this in my photo section, but I figured I should go ahead and make a post on this as well.  I’m also going to talk about a potential Houston meet in January later on, so stay with me!

First, let me quickly talk about today’s chance encounter with a tennis great.  Bengozen (a friend from my grad program and now a new Xangan) and I went to see Andre Agassi doing an event at a jewelry store in the mall (slightly random).  It was only yesterday that they announced he was showing up, so I feel lucky to have found out about it on such short notice.  Yay, another tennis idol I’ve met!  I still need to meet Roger Federer and Pete Sampras one of these days.

Here’s cluelessazn13 and me at William & Mary College a couple weeks ago.  I actually met up with her at a David Choi show before, but this time around we were able to hang out a lot longer and we got to hang out on two separate occasions.  She did a great job touring me around Williamsburg.  She hasn’t been updating on a consistent basis lately (she blames school, pshh), but if you have a chance you should visit her stuff.  She makes funny animations and has even had a few posts featured (such as this one, What Women Really Do in Restrooms).

While down in Norfolk last weekend, I had dinner with HeLLo_Bianca and hotboyollie.  This was my third time seeing her, but my first time meeting hotboyollie.  Too bad we didn’t get a chance to take a group picture, but perhaps next time.  Work sends me over there often enough, so I’m sure this won’t be the last.

This past Saturday, hollywoodfever91 came down from PA to visit her sister, who happened to live in my area.  We met up at the mall and during our conversations she said some really unintentionally funny stuff.  Here’s a sample:

“So, are you an only child?” -After telling me she enjoyed reading a post about my brother
“I was 19 yesterday.” -her response when I asked her how old she is now (she just turned 19, but that means she’s still 19…)
“You had your first girlfriend due to puberty?” -You know, I’m not entirely sure I remember why she said that…
“Do you know Calculus?” -She was referring to Cakalusa hahaha.  I’m totally going to start calling him that.

On to future events!  For New Years I will be heading to the Big Apple to celebrate.  Looks like a small group of Xangans and I will be renting an apartment during that time, so there should be some stories coming from that.  Actually, depending on what happens maybe I will need to prevent that =O 
 

Once the new year rolls in, I will be taking a trip with Cakalusa and FlipGuy31O to Houston, Texas from January 14th-17th.  None of us have ever been there, so we’re looking forward to this vacation and eager to see what this state has to offer.  We are planning on hanging out with BranmacFeabhail, jeannie_dot_com, and hodtos while we’re down there, and maybe more people if they’re around.  Hmm, I feel like I’m missing someone…

Oh yes, we’re also planning on seeing TheTheologiansCafe!  I think some of you may know him.  I’ve been meaning to pay him a visit, so that should be interesting.  We were thinking about doing a Houston Xanga lunch/dinner meet up while I was in town, which I don’t mind if there’s some interest. 

Who wants to join us that’s in the Houston area?  If so, let me know and I’ll start planning it out.

I think that’s all for now.  Weeeeeee!

When I was 18 years old, I really wanted to (and actually thought I would) get married by my early 20s.  I know, what was I thinking?  It sounded plausible at the time.  It was what I naively thought was suppose to happen given what I’ve seen on television and what not.  I assumed I would easily find my true love in college and marry her shortly after graduating.  Soon after that, I would start raising my first kid when I was maybe 24 years old.  Yup, it seemed so obvious to me that was how it would work.  I was already with someone I considered very special at that moment, so I was part way there!  Things were going as planned.

Fast forward to today.  Currently at the age of 24, I’m no where close to being in the position to do any of those thing I predicted.  The 18 year old Alex would be quite disappointed.  Thankfully, my expectations for my marriage plans has changed with time and experience.  Now, I’m thinking I want to ideally get married in my late 20s or early 30s, after I have found my footing with life.  Who knows if that will actually happen, but I hope my estimations aren’t too far off.  I want to be youthful enough so I can be an active part in my future kids’ lives as long as possible.  I like to become a great dad someday and I truly look forward to that phase in life (not anytime soon though; the world and I aren’t ready for little Alexes roaming around just yet!).

What made me want to put my thoughts down about this subject was something one of my best friends said to me a few weeks ago.  I asked him “of our core group of friends from high school, in what order do you expect all of us to get married?”  I did not anticipate him guessing I would be one of the later ones to hit that landmark, so when I heard that from him it really bothered me.  Was he accurate?  Will it actually take me a while?

Facebook has only made me question myself more, with it constantly showing me updates from peers getting engaged, married, and/or having babies.  Seeing so many of my friends with different last names and growing families already only reminds me that time is speeding forward, whether I want it to or not.

Once again, I’m not saying I want to be married now…but I wouldn’t mind finding the person I would eventually marry at this point.  Do I think things will work out for me in the end?  Sure.  Do I still have this feeling of uncertainty inside me that I can’t quite shake off?  Yep =/ .  I really don’t want to find myself falling behind.

(Man, you know you’re starting to get old when you begin worrying about this stuff.)

Maybe it’s just me, but I think hellos and goodbyes are more complicated than they appear.  If you think about it, there are a lot of ways for them to go wrong. 

For instance, one of my most memorable mess ups was back in high school when I was first introduced to this new girl.  She put out her hand for me shake apparently, but I became confused when I noticed she had her palm facing down instead of sideways.  Before I knew it, I found myself grabbing her hand and kissing it.  Remember, this was in high school and that was totally not the typical way of greeting someone for the first time.  I’m pretty sure we both instantly blushed once we realized what just happened and I made a speedy exit out of there!

(That girl did ended up being my girlfriend about a year later, so perhaps it wasn’t totally the wrong move )

Anyway as I was saying, miscommunications like that seem like they can easily happen.  The sheer number of possible actions you could take doesn’t help.  For example, you could formally shake hands, informally shake hands, fist bump (aka bro fist), high five, wave, head nod, kiss on the cheek, hug, bow, Eskimo kiss (the way this guy insists on doing) and even butt slap (the way this guy insists on doing.  Geez, no means no!) just to name a few.  You can probably eliminate certain obvious actions not to take given the situation and person you’re dealing with, but that still leaves room for error when you decide what to do among the remaining options.  What if the other person decides on a different action than you?  Before you know it, you’re shaking somebody’s fist.  Err, whoopsies.

Overall, I would say most of those types of interactions do go smoothly with me.  I usually go for a firm handshake for formal occasions, when I meet newly acquainted people or when I greet guy friends.  I give hugs for female friends that I don’t see all the time.  Waving to friends that I see often is usually alright.  However, there are times when those actions don’t feel like the best choice.

I often hesitate with how I greet guy friends I’ve known for a long time.  A regular handshake seems too formal, so I sometimes go for the informal handshake.  That feels odd as well because in the past we would never do that.  We only do that now because we don’t see each other as frequently, but I detect a hint of unsureness from all of us whenever we greet or say our goodbyes.  The default option is just a wave and verbal “Hey!” and “See ya!”, which works…but it doesn’t seem like it’s enough. 

A similar problem appears with my female co-workers.  We know each other well enough that a formal handshake feels too formal, but a hug feels a bit unprofessional at this point in time.  Once more we go with the waving and verbal choice, but I still sense hesitation from both sides as to how we should handle those situations.

Do you ever have those moments of hesitation right before you greet or say goodbye to someone?  If so, you probably understand where I’m coming from.  With all the factors that play out, I’m surprise I don’t mess up more often!

Some of you may recall my story last weekend where I almost fell asleep while driving back home.  This weekend, I had to make an even longer trip and I wanted to avoid something like that happening again.  I came up with this brilliant plan: sing loudly, badly, and obnoxiously in the car ride as a way to keep my brain alert and myself awake throughout the trip.  To ensure that I would stick with the plan, I decided to film myself*.

Below are a bunch of small clips I put together for your entertainment**.  Rest assure, this video is very silly and should not be taken seriously at all.  I made sure to ham it all the way up.  I’m not even that embarrassed of this because I know most (if not all) of you do the very same thing when you’re alone in the car as well!  Come on, admit it.  Don’t lie!

How are your ears?  Bleeding yet?  Excellent!

*Before anybody says anything don’t worry, it is actually not difficult to hold the wheel and hold my Flip cam with my left hand at the same time while focusing on the road.  Just in case though, I did only film when there was little traffic around and while I was in the middle lane going just 5-10 miles over the speed limit.

**Although I had fun making this video, I can’t guarantee that you will definitely enjoy watching this video.  At least I told you all beforehand what to expect going in.  You have been warned!

SodomyClown                         VaneDave      

lil_squirrel4ever                       NimbustheDragon

npr32486                                  skylar_rose

   SonyChak                               Ordinary_gir1

RaquelHiggins005                            SeedSower        

ItIsAllGravy                         Coffee_Kaioken

Now, imagine you are walking down a dark alley when you suddenly encounter one of these groups.  Based on the images above, which group of supernatural creatures would you LEAST want to run into???

Demon?                Frankenstein?                    Ghoul?                    Vampire?

Werewolf?                   Witch?                      Zombies?

I think I almost fell asleep at the wheel this weekend.  I normally pride myself for being exceptionally good at staying awake and alert while driving, but it looked like the combination of playing tennis, lack of sleep, getting up at the crack of dawn, setting up and greeting people at a big conference, and the long drive there and back was too strong for me.  I tried to snap out of it by chanting “WAKE UP WAKE UP FOCUS FOCUS!!” over and over again to myself, but I continued to drift off.  Fortunately, I was able exit the highway and find a big parking lot where I was able to nap before proceeding on the rest of my journey.

That was probably the closest I have ever come to that happening and it made me think.  What if I had fallen asleep at the wheel and crash, injuring or even killing myself in the process?  That would not have been favorable, to say the least.

This reminded me that I have yet to write down what I would want to see happen after my death, in terms of a funeral or viewing.  I need to remind myself to write a proper will in the near future, but for now here are my wishes for how I want my funeral/viewing carried out if the unforeseeable were to happen. 

To my family:  A small private family funeral would be nice to have.  Nothing too fancy please!  I don’t need to be put in an expensive suit and casket, so just find a good deal somewhere (I heard Costco has some low priced caskets, so maybe get one there).  Besides that, do whatever you think is right to do.  I don’t need everyone to say something for me at the funeral.  I know how hard it is for certain people to express their feelings, so I won’t feel disrespected if you don’t say something.  Just thinking it would be enough. 

To all my friends and anyone else that cared for me:  A bigger, more public viewing would be awesome to have with you all.  The most important thing I want from this viewing is that you make sure it’s more like a celebration than a funeral.  I’m serious!  Make it like a toast or roast instead.  Talk about the good times, the funny times, the silly times, and other memorable moments you’ve had with me (do me a favor though and hold off on some of the uber embarrassing memories please).  Show some of my pictures and videos on a big screen while you’re at it so people have something visual to see.  My viewing better not be boring or else I’m coming back to haunt you all!  Just kidding.  Anyway, I’m sure some tears are inevitable, but I want to see much more smiles and laughter all around people!  It is how I would like you all to remember me.  I hope a lot of you can make it.  It would mean a lot to know I touched so many people during the time I was here.

Oh, one last thing.  Don’t you forget about me, alright? 

FYI:  Just want to remind you I’m still very much alive as of right now haha, so no worries (at least not yet!  Dun dun dun).  Hopefully we don’t have to plan for this event until the way, way distant future.

Sorry I haven’t been really posting lately.  I kind of procrastinated on a big grad paper this past week, so I was spending a lot of time working on that.  I’m finished though (woohoo!), but now I have to study for a mid term coming up next week.  In addition to school work, I have two major work-related events coming up.  One is a giant annual meeting where pretty much anyone that’s in charge of tennis programs in VA is going to and the other one is a weekend wheelchair tennis tournament I’ve been put in charged of organizing.  Busy busy!  I’ll see if I can update in between all that.  Knowing my procrastination tendencies I probably will.

Anyway, while I was working on my paper this past week I managed to distract myself A LOT.  One of the things I did was watched old videos I’ve taken that are on my FB account.  Unless you’ve stalked me you probably haven’t seen these, so I figured why not show you guys some of my favorites?  Here you go:

One of the first videos I’ve uploaded was of my friend practicing his cultural show routine…inside a Domo costume.  We just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to film this!  I love my other friend’s reaction in the background and how my friend accidentally kicked that tiny ironing board at the end.

As I was cleaning out my room during my last night as an undergraduate, I found a pie I bought that I totally forgot I had.  I ended up using it the same way anyone else would have; I slammed it in my friend’s face in the middle of the dorm quad!  Judging by the sound, I might have hit him a tad too hard haha.  Oh well, he volunteered to be the receiver!  Who would have thunk pieing someone in the face would be so satisfying?

I came home one day to find this random cat in my yard.  Unlike other wandering cats in the neighborhood, this one was not shy at all.  The cat would end up doing this weird but cute falling over routine around me.  I was very tempted to keep it for myself, but alas it had a collar and belong to a neighbor.

Just for fun, my friends and I decided to lip sing a My Chemical Romance song for a “willing” audience.  However, we did not know we were being recorded until at the very end, hence our reaction.

Spiders were coming out of a hole in my suitemate’s room.  His solution?  Spray it down and ducktape the hole afterward.  Solid plan, but boy was the build up to it entertaining!  I just love the commentary throughout this video.  I apologize for my loud laughing and I apologize to you, Kevin, for posting this

I’ll end this with one of my most recent videos that I took in CA of FlipGuy31O and shillykins pillow fighting.  Take a wild guess who wins.  I’m not quite sure what sumoneoverthere is doing in the background…

Okay, that’s all for now.  Gotta go do some studies and work!

I have a friend that I see once in a blue moon nowadays, but whenever we meet up he likes to bring up funny memories from our college years.  One of his favorite memories was a time I more or less lost my cool on the tennis courts.  As far as emotional explosions go, it wasn’t like one of those crazy, exaggerated blow ups you see on many reality shows.  However, the fact that I can count with just one hand the number of times I’ve lost it in public probably made this stick out in my friend’s head.

I generally try to let things slide and look on the bright side whenever I can.  If you’ve seen Ktown Cowboys (if you haven’t, you can watch it here) you could compare me to Rob in terms of demeanor.

Like Rob though, I can only take so much before my anger-o-meter fills up!

On that day, my friend and I were playing tennis against two other people.  I guess it was a really bad day for me because I wasn’t staying very calm or collected at all.  I felt like I was hitting way too many easy volleys into the net as well as turning into a double faulting machine.  It was very frustrating, but made more frustrating whenever I saw the other team celebrate my mistakes (sportsmanship dictates that as a no no).

As mistakes began piling up from me, I felt my anger-o-meter go up and up.  I went from just sighing, to slapping my leg, to whacking the net hard with my racket. 

I missed this one last easy volley that ultimately pushed me past the tipping point.  I let out a roar and almost smashed my racket into the ground.  Fortunately, I manage to hold back on that move and instead chose the next “best” thing: I punched the light post.  Several times.  I might as well have screamed “ALEX SMASH!” just to top it off.

After I was finished, I calmed down and got ready to play the next point.  However, when I looked up I saw everyone else was not getting ready to play but instead was staring at me in amazement.  Finally, my friend spoke up.

“Uhhh Alex, your hand is bleeding.”

I looked down and saw that he was correct.  At this instance, my frustrations dissipated as I started laughing at the ridiculousness of what I just did.  I ended up finishing up the match, wiping away the blood from my leaking knuckles between points.  Good times.

No wonder my friend won’t let me live this down XP

Hey, I’m going to look on the bright side!  At least I didn’t pull off a Mikhail Youzhny (skip to around :38):

Too bad he’s doing it wrong.  When I do the Youzhny the racket doesn’t break me…

*Faint sounds of people in the background and the ruffling of someone’s pants*

I heard two minutes of this on my voicemail today.  Yet again, another random person has butt dialed me.  I’m sure it happens to others, but it definitely feels like it happens to me at a higher than average rate because of my name.  How?  I’ll get to that very soon.

Don’t get me wrong.  Overall, I am quite satisfied with the name “Alex Chan” and wouldn’t want to change it if I could.  However, I have to admit there are some annoyances that comes about due to my name that I wouldn’t mind not dealing with or hearing about anymore.  The following examples are minor, but reoccurring gripes I have:

“Oops sorry, accidentally called you…but um, hi!”
As I mentioned before, I get a lot of accidental calls from people I’ve given my number to due to the fact my name is often one of the first names on people’s contacts.  When I don’t get those awesome voicemails, I sometime luck out and instead have awkward conversations with people I haven’t talked to in years!  Got to love that.

Me thinks more people should be friends with Aarons and Abes so my name gets pushed down the list.  Mhmm.

“Really, you don’t have a middle name?”
Is not having a middle name uncommon?  It sure seems like it whenever I would mention that fact about myself to someone and they would act surprised by that revelation. 

I eventually asked my parents why they didn’t give me a middle name and their answer was they didn’t know they could at the time.  I suppose it was a good thing they didn’t give me one after finding out the method they used to choose my little brother’s middle name.  His middle name is Sun, the abbreviated version of Sunday, which was the day he was born.  Had they done the same with me, my full name could have very well been “Alex Sat Chan”.  Eww.  I think I’ll go enjoy my non-existent middle name instead.

“Are you related to Jackie Chan?”
Ah, the most popular reference my last name causes people to mention.  If I wasn’t such a fan of Jackie Chan’s work I would probably hate him or something given all the times people bring him up in initial introductions.

Nowadays, I like to play along with people by telling them he is actually my dad.  I would lead them on for a little while until I eventually clarify my statement, explaining that while my dad’s English name is Jackie Chan, he is not THE Jackie Chan.  Fun stuff.

“Wait…aren’t you Alex K. Chan from California?
I just did a quick search on Facebook to see how many people have the same exact name as me.  I ended up getting over 4,500 hits.  There sure are a lot of Alex Chans running around!  I even saw girls with the same name as me.  Wouldn’t it be weird if I find myself dating one of them one day?  Hmm…

Anyway, having such a common name has caused me bad mix ups in the past.  Two years ago I wrote this entry about a horrible job interview I experienced.  Long story short, I waited 3-4 hours for an interviewer to meet me only to find out the organization had contacted the wrong Alex Chan to interview!  They said they would call me back to remedy that mistake, but they never did.  Those lying punks!

You know, after writing this down I’ve come to realize these annoyances don’t really bother me so much as they humor me now.  In the great scheme of things they aren’t so bad at all!  If those are the worse issues associated with my name, I think I can live with that.  Alex Chan is a fine name .