Filed under: Rant, Stupidity | Tags: America, Disgusting, Disrespect, idiocy, Immorality, Killing, Manslaughter, USA
If you didn’t already know, I’m currently in Dallas, Texas for some training with work. I would normally look forward to a trip, but this one was to the USA, which is not something I enjoy. It turns out that someone I know already is in the same class as I am. Naturally, we went and had lunch together at the cafe. He called some of his friends to come up, and they launched into a discussion.
I couldn’t help but question the things they were discussing, because they all seemed to be so surreal. It turns out that one of their roommates is a felon. He was driving under the influence, and hit another car, killing that driver [please note that these boys were chuckling while telling this story]. Then, they continued, he had gone to a party in Florida for spring break, and had taken a boat to the Bahamas. On his return, he was stopped by the coast guard, and was set another court date for fleeing the country while a felon.
I thought that this was terrible that they would still be friends with someone like this, but I presumed that despite his MASSIVE shortcomings, they must still be fairly decent people. I was wrong. Their next topic of conversation was how they caught a possum outside of their home, and then wanted to hit it repeatedly with golf clubs. Why didn’t they do it? They thought it would stain their porch with blood.
Remind me never to come to this country again if I can help it.
Communication.
How could communication, something that I value so much, be frustrating to me? Precisely because I value it so much, and because others unfortunately do not. In the same vein as other recent posts, I’ve a certain way about myself and how I interact with my friends. It sounds strong to say that I expect them to contact me every once in a while (read: every week or so), but I commit to doing the same.
Actually, what has been bothering me lately is people who don’t reply to things. If I send you something, I expect a reply. How can you just read what someone wrote and ignore it? I don’t care how busy you are (you’re likely not busier than me!), you should always be able to make time for a quick reply to a friend.
Another thing that I don’t really enjoy, is miscomminucation. You all know that recently I’ve been on the lookout for any single Asian girls within my extended circle of friends. This hasn’t been going all that well, and from what I hear, it is because people seem to have the wrong impression of me. They seem to think that I don’t care about people, or girls in particular. I wonder how such a thing could be, given my true feelings.
Yet it seems as if sometimes I unwittingly portray myself to be far more cold and calculating than I actually am. This has been inhibiting my chances of being set up by my friends. I need to find a way to stop hindering myself.
Interestingly, communication has also been playing a role at work. It seems that I am currently supposed to be in two places at once. How can this be possible, you might ask? Well, I don’t really have the answer. I just hope that this gets sorted out by the end of the week. I would prefer not to deal with the bother.
Oh, I’m also working in downtown Toronto now, at Bay and Adelaide. GO train to work nowadays for me. This means that I probably won’t get a place out in Markham, but having driven there so many times recently, I don’t think that will stop me from visiting.
Also, I’m considering making my blog visible on my Facebook page. What do you guys think?
Asian Girls
I always hear people comment on my preference for Asian girls. Most don’t understand it, and a few deplore it. But frankly, I don’t care. Being the inquisitive person that I am, I always like to know why things are the way that they are. In this case, why do I like Asian girls more than others? It is interesting to note that although people like to believe that this is a greater trend, look at the following table:
This was from a study conducted at Columbia with several hundred participants in multiple Speed Dating sessions. Please note that Asian women have the lowest fraction yeses within the group. Now this could be indicative of the Asian girls sampled, but the findings on a broader scale suggest otherwise. (Actually, though I didn’t post the information, Asian men are also the least desirable. ) The interesting finding here is that Asian women are generally rated as being among the more attractive of the racial groups, but that doesn’t hold up to dating. This is suggested as being correlated with the idea that men who are looking mainly for sex, they have a preference for Asian girls. Those looking for a relationship do not.
All that I am trying to show is that it isn’t just some ‘fad’ for me to like Asian girls. If that were the case, then I’m sure that it wouldn’t have lasted nearly as long as it has. As far back as I can remember, the prettiest girls were always Asian, even before I knew what that meant. I can pick Asian girls out of a crowd, and even some of the less attractive ones are still more attractive to me than white girls.
So yea, can you guys please stop harrassing me when I ask if you have any Asian girls that you wouldn’t mind introducing me to? I’m sorry, but the white girls just don’t do it for me most of the time.
On that note…. Anyone know any nice Asian girls in the Toronto area? 
Southeast Asian living conditions.
You know, I hate it when I’m watching a TV show about a Chinese family’s son who was abducted as a child, and the most that they can do is post posters. They paid an investigator 600RMB to try to find him, and that was apparently a lot of money for them. This makes me sick. Around 70,000 children are snatched from the streets of China every year, and the parents don’t have the resources to find them. These snatchers can sell the children (boys mostly) for 9,000RMB or more, which is a considerable amount of money.
It drives me insane to see people in these situations, mostly because I feel such a kinship with people in Asia. I feel like they are my people that are getting treated in such a terrible manner, and it sickens me that such small sums of money can make such a difference. One family had to sell their daughter because they didn’t have enough money to feed her. I wish things like these were known, I would happily pay the fee to purchase their daughter, and give her right back.
It might be a somewhat sizeable amount of money to me, but it could change their lives for the better. Which is more valuable? Numbers, or love? I’m sure you can presume where I stand on that. I’m thinking more and more that I want to live in Asia for at least a few years. My drive for economic success has been waning lately as I consider what is truly important. I know that I will never have any real monetary problems, but I no longer feel the need to accumulate a massive fortune. I think I would be much happier helping those that I can, and enjoying my life while I have it.
This is Frustration [i] because there are a lot. Hopefully I can take the time to make this into a little series, but we shall see how things go.
Manufacturing in Canada – Get Over Yourselves
I am fed up with the complaints by the Auto Workers Union and other supporters who claim that Canada needs to maintain a manufacturing sector at such a high cost. Have none of these people ever taken a course in Economics? One of the first principles you learn is Adam Smith’s Law of Comparative Advantage. This means that yes, we can produce things here… BUT, it makes more sense for people who are comparatively better at it [say, countries with cheaper labour], and that we should instead specialize in capital intensive businesses. That means a migration to the services industry.
In case you missed it, this shift has been happening for more than 20 years. Why you decided to go into a “career” at a car manufacturer where you have no leverageable skills is beyond me. So please, don’t complain that you lost you job and now your family is going to be homeless. You should have thought ahead and not put all of your eggs in one basket. Furthermore, to ask that the government subsidize the manufacturing sector so that you can keep your job is absurd. You’re taxing the rest of the population to artificially maintain your job. This increases costs across the board, and merely spreads the pain. Sorry, but I don’t want any of that.
No, I think these people are the cause of their own pain and suffering. If they took the initiative to improve their process even just a little bit, then the overall product would be that much better. Lookat the GM Plant that is getting closed in Oshawa. 2,500 workers losing their jobs in a town that is built around the plant. It is devastating for the local economy. Yet when you look in the plant parking lot, not even 10% of the cars are a GM brand. If the people who build the cars won’t even stand behind their product, then why should we? Does this not lead us to conclude that we should let the company die?
GM shares are at their lowest point in more than 50 years. This is nearly unheard of for such a large company. This is not even accounting for inflation. I haven’t done the calculations, but I’m sure that if we factor inflation over the past 50 years, we would find that GM shares are actually at their lowest point… Ever. I would even hazard a guess that they are lower than the initial IPO in real terms.
So please, I ask the people who are currently following the pack like shepherdless sheep to take a step back and look at where they are headed. If everyone goes to teacher’s college, we will have an abundance of teachers, and you won’t get that ‘great job’ that you want. Hell, if everyone goes to University, then the value of a degree becomes meaningless, and you’re back to working at McDonalds. Why don’t you just skip the fees, and get yourself a job today.
We are missing people in the skilled trades. I urge parents to push their children toward skilled trades or university depending on where their skills lie. Stop trying to force a square peg into a triangle hole.
I’ve been told repeatedly this week to ‘waste time’ while others catch up so that we can all be at the same pace. I’m sorry if it takes you 3 hours to do something that only takes me 15 minutes, it shoudln’t slow me down. I am bored out of my mind as I run through Facebook, blogs, articles and otherwise over and over again.
Can’t you just let me finish the course early and then go do something useful?
/end rant.
This morning I was planning on waking up around 7:00am or so, as I had left my computer desk at 11:30pm or so to go to sleep. Unfortunately circumstances didn’t work out like that. I started watching Itoshi Kimi E (いとしきみえ）and then my mom called on Skype. We talked for about an hour, then I finished my episode, then I watched another, and before I knew it, it was 2:30am before I got to sleep.
Rather than setting my alarm and depriving myself of sleep, I figured that I would wake up when it felt natural. Too bad I didn’t think it would be this late. Now I have to prepare a case for class at 3pm. As for my paper, hopefully I can work on it at some point today, I want to get another 4 pages written. I’m currently at 4 pages out of 25. I have another 4 papers due next week, so I need to get started on them at some point before my groups kill me.
Filed under: Rant
I was assured that once I moved the blog off of Facebook, that people would be more inclined to comment, so that they could a) be anonymous, and b) since I wanted them to. Dammit, nobody comments still. Isn’t it easier checking this than Facebook notes?
I have written 4 pages, single spaced, into a notepad. I think that when I transcribe this to the computer it will only amount to 2 or 3 pages. This is unfortunate considering I have to hit 25.
I need to change my strategy. I’ve been working on this for about 3 hours now and don’t have nearly enough. I have to go eat lunch (30 mins) and then be out of the house 2 or so hours after that. So, I have 2 hours to put together a presentation for class tomorrow. I have run through two cultures and am starting on a third out of seven. I then need to add context. I suppose I will start to skim the next cultures looking for key points, and elaborate on them later.
I will get it done. Can’t say the same about Intel case, Facebook case, Take-Home test, Mediation paper, or the two simulation reports. Bah, who am I kidding, of course I’ll finish everything. I always do, right? Right?
You all know how much I care about my friends. In light of a recent post, you all know how much I really do want you all to succeed and to go on to greater things. Most of you know how generous I can be, how patient, and how willing to do whatever I can. Yet I think few of you know that this has its limits. If you ever try to take advantage of me in any way, or under-value the friendship that I offer to you, then I will have to change what I offer to correspond better with what you feel I am worth.
I’m worth more than that. Not just now, but in the future. I make the effort to keep up my friendships, I expect you to do the same.
