giardiacorp/mikewong

I've moved: to the Hapakins Haus.

Sun 5 Apr 23:10 PDT 2009

Wow, it's been almost three months since I've posted anything on here. It's been a busy time. I moved to Baltimore to seize an opportunity for short-term job advancement, and so far it's been fun, although I miss so many people in California... The snowy road above is my walk to work (but it was only snowy one day).

The Hapakins Haus is in a tower where everyone has a balcony. Yes I moved in because it rhymes with hapahaus. Just look at that logo !!

Although I don't write often, I have been doing it for a while... Don't forget about the archives !!

Water.

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:31 PST

I love water, large bodies of water. This is where I deeply feel that I am alone, and it is OK.

My Chinese name has lots of water in it, but I think that's just a coincidence. It's probably more related to the experience of floating totally alone in a dinghy in the Pacific off Baja California when I was like 3, or the experience of almost drowning in the apartment pool when I was like 4, or the experience of getting caught in a riptide in Half Moon Bay with the valedictorian, senior year of high school...

Equanimity II.

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:50 PST

I started off 2009 by finishing my first canvas(es).

I told Daniel what the piece meant and he got mad at me for "telling him how to interpret art" so I will not spoil it for anyone else, except to say that this is Equanimity II, diptych (two 2' x 2' panels of acrylic on canvas).

Massive thanks to my patron Jenny for letting me work on these at Mosspink Studios !!

I'm born again.

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:42 PST

At that November 5th anti-Prop 8 rally on Sproul Plaza, they had an open mic, and one speaker had a lasting impression on me. She took the mic and said something like, "I am a straight Latina Catholic, and I voted against Prop 8. The Bible says 'Love thy neighbor,' and people who use the Bible to discriminate make me sick." I think those words were the start of my born-again phase.

A few days after the rally, some nuns from LA mailed me a small metal cross. I recycled their plea for money to indoctrinate orphans. Why should I donate to Archbishop George Niederauer's minions, after he orchestrated the lucrative and successful Catholic/Mormon Prop 8 campaign? But I do wear the cross (thanks, nuns) as a reminder of my rebirth as a Christian. (But I am still Buddhist too.)

We saw Milk at the Embarcadero theater, and there was an amazing number of seniors. Before that screening, I was embarrassingly ignorant of much of the history in the film. I didn't realize how big the gay rights movement was, and how much media attention it commanded.

"Sad" movies don't really make me cry. But movies where people endure lots of hardship because of what they believe in make me cry. Sacrifice, bravery, heroism. So my eyes got wet a lot during Milk. Again, in the bathroom line after the movie, my eyes got wet when I saw all the seniors. These people must have been involved in the struggles going on in the late 70s, when I was a wee lad. After the crushing approval of Prop 8 by the 65+ crowd (see my graph of the CNN exit poll), it was nice to see individuals who break the stereotype.

Like me. And that speaker at the rally.
As Christians who support same-sex marriage.

The night I accepted the Lord as my savior is a powerful memory. My grandfather was a pastor. My brothers and I used to worship with his congregation in Sparks, when we went to visit for holidays. Years later, we were visiting his house in Yreka, during the final days of his battle with cancer. Grandpa woke my brothers and I, and we gathered around the kitchen table late at night. Tearfully, he said that it was his final wish to be comforted by knowing that we had taken Jesus as our savior. This man whose body was wracked with self-consuming pain had seized one of his moments of lucidity to care for our eternal souls, and it touched me as an act of pure compassion. Although he was too deaf to hear our tearful pledges, he saw us nod and gave a smile of intense relief.

Obama !! Prop 8 =(

Wed, 5 Nov 2008 23:24 -0800 (PST)

They say the average male thinks about sex once every seven seconds. But today I was walking around thinking "Obama is president" every seven seconds.

It's great that he is considered African American. It's even better that he is truly multicultural. He used to live in Indonesia with his Indonesian step-dad, and he has a hapa sister.

When Bush stole his elections, he said "mandate" about 50,000 times. He didn't have a mandate; he didn't even have the popular vote. I didn't hear "mandate" from Obama yet, but he's the one with the real mandate.

- - - - -

Xylar took me to a rally on Sproul Plaza at noon today, and one of the speakers said that he was disappointed in his African American brothers and sisters who voted 70% in favor of Prop 8. These are the people, he said, who benefitted in recent history from the civil rights movements of the 60s, and now they are in favor of restricting rights from a minority group. There was a lot of chanting "F@*%% PROP 8 !!" at the rally.

But enough negativity. My days and weeks leading up to the election were full of energy shared among the NO on prop 8 volunteers, and so much building of community with straight folks--family, friends, and coworkers--whose consciences drove them to stand on the side of equality and fairness.

At the rally today, Phillip brought up something that we can do to keep making progress, now that the election is over: Come out. He spoke about how the simple act of coming out causes those around you to vote in favor of same-sex marriage rights, because "they can see that we're normal. A little bit crazier, but normal."

Several speakers also brought up the youth vote: Californians under 29 voted 61% NO on prop 8. If we wait long enough, they said, these younger voters will eventually dominate public opinion. Here are the voter pies by age group (orange is NO on prop 8), according to the CNN exit poll that Claire Max sent me:

I think the effect of coming out is clear here:

18-29. It's still not easy, but queer people in this age group have had the easiest time in history coming out. Enough of them are out that most people this age know someone queer, and prop 8 failed by a wide margin among this population.
30-39. People in this age group had a harder time coming out, but some still did so. Most of their children are so young that they're all assumed straight. Prop 8 narrowly passes in this population, thanks to Mormon lies.
40-49. It was extremely difficult for these people to come out, so many of them may not know out queer peers. Some may have children who recently came out, but they have probably not yet dealt with it.
50-64. This generation includes people who were teenagers in the 60s, but I doubt they had an easy time coming out. Any of their out children have probably been out for a while, giving this group time to develop tolerance.
65+. This hopelessly old group is probably seen as so conservative that their grandchildren haven't come out to them yet. Kids, come out to your grandparents !!

America's greatest minds offer their insights.

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:27 EDT

Overheard in the main plaza of Columbia University:

douchebag1: ...Kyoto Protocol levels are fixed by... climate change... the Chinese are being douchebags.
douchebag2: The air quality there is supposed to be really bad.
douchebag1: Yeah I heard it is DISGUSTING. That's why there are so many birth defects.
douchebag2: And generally low IQs.

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Contest deadline extension.

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:35 PDT

The essay contest deadline has been extended to Tuesday 30 September at noon PDT, due to the low volume of contestant entries.

My Bloody Valentine essay contest:

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:33 PDT

Win a free or discount ticket to see MBV at the Concourse in SF, Tuesday 30 September, by writing a prize-winning essay!

Grand Prize (1): Free ticket.

Consolation Prizes (6): Discount ticket, only $40 each.^*

Contest deadline: Monday 2008-09-29 at 12:00 PDT / 19:00 UT.

Essay title (required): "MBV are awesome and this is why I need to see them:"

Essay length: Maximum length 500 words. No minimum, but essay must be detailed enough to fully explain the two themes expressed in the title.

Other rules: Email contest entry to michael.h.wong (a Gmail account) with the subject line, "MBV." Or, post contest entry to my guestbook. Writing style is not restricted, but please use English to ensure consideration of your entry. Text only. Contest judging will be entirely done by me (with no guarantee of fairness), but these tickets are NOT reserved for anyone and are truly available to win. One entry per person. Winners will be announced by 2PM Monday, and tickets will be awarded in person at about 8PM Tuesday outside the Concourse. Please include phone number with entry.

^* As of this post, tickets are no longer available on Ticketmaster and are going for $50-60 on Craigslist. Save up to $10-60 by expressing your love for the music in words!

Vintage beeps.

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:30 PDT

I started off the Labor Day weekend with Ethan's housewarming brunch, where we could watch the wild parrots flocking from the balcony. Later that night we discovered havoc on the 101, some kind of TV 2.0 where you can chat and vote (by texting) to influence the video playlist. One user said they spend $50/month on havoc on the 101.

A little while ago I was doing something that kept making my computer beep, and I got annoyed and wanted my old beeps back. I found them on an old HD, but they were in some weird System 7 format that I could play but not convert. So I had to use the Microtrack II to re-digitize them. Many of these ancient beeps are noisy, but I think they all post-date the MacRecorder (although only by a couple of years). So I can't blame the MacRecorder.

The vintage beeps are available as a 4.3MB zipped collection of WAV files. On the modern Mac, install them by dragging to the "/System/Library/Sounds" folder (or if you don't have privileges, then the "Library/Sounds" folder in your home directory). If you have a PC, you know better than me.

There are samples of Crouton, Gabriela, James, Laura, and Marcy, as well as a bunch of fair use samples and synthesized noises. It was so nostalgic to listen to these old sounds.

Wedding No. 4.

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:17 PDT

Image credits: top right column, Lucia Ling, Neil Hombrado, Lucia Ling, Lucia Ling; top right column me and Daniel, Pat Wong; bottom two rows Neil Hombrado.

Two weeks ago we got married officially. As with our previous events, we did some unconventional things. The ceremony was Quaker-inspired, with a marriage certificate signed by all the guests present. And the ceremony and reception were in public places: we got married on the San Francisco Bay aboard the Alameda-Oakland Ferry, and the reception was held at the Hangar One annual open house. The public nature of the event made it more than just a celebration of our own union. Happening two weekends after June 16th, our wedding also served as a chance for strangers to celebrate the landmark California Supreme Court decision that same-sex marriage is guaranteed by our constitution. We were happy to be congratulated by people from ferry workers and passengers to the staff at Hangar One.

We had no official photographer, so it's great that friends and family were able to take pictures for us during the festivities. Someday I'll post a comprehensive gallery, after receiving files from all the other photographers.

For those who couldn't make it or who couldn't hear us, here's the text of our ceremony:

OFFICIANT :

May I please have the rings.

A ring is the shape of the rainbow, except that with an angular
diameter of 84 degrees, the rainbow almost never can be viewed as
a complete ring from the ground.

Today, the rainbow symbolizes two things. First, it is a symbol
of diversity in the gay community, a community that can now
legally rejoice in today's historic ferry ceremony.

The rainbow also symbolizes God's promise to man that he will not
have another tantrum and kill everyone (Genesis 9.13). Thus, the
rainbow, and these rings, will remind both of you that you are
united in love, even during the course of temper tantrums.

Following the tradition of the Religious Society of Friends,
please now exchange your promises.

MIKE : 

In the presence of Buddha, the enlightened beings, and these our
friends, I take thee Wai-Yan Daniel Tsao to be my husband,
promising with Divine assistance to be unto thee a loving and
faithful husband so long as we both shall live.

DANIEL : 

In the presence of God and these our friends, I take thee 
Michael H. Wong to be my husband, promising with Divine
assistance to be unto thee a loving and faithful husband so long
as we both shall live.

A haiku for California.

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:27 PDT

smoky heatwave air
vanishing orange light blings
like goldschlager flakes

We got married (again).

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:47 PDT

We've had a lot of practice. The first domestic partnership ceremony in Ann Arbor Michigan was the biggest deal. We still consider that our wedding, although there is no real same-sex marriage in Michigan. It rained on our wedding day, and Daniel said that according to Chinese superstition, a rainy wedding means a marriage that will last forever.

But now I guess it really is marriage... at least... until November. We may get divorced then, if the voters feel that would be best for us. Alex Liu doesn't want us to get divorced in November though. He's recruiting volunteers for Marriage Equality USA, which will be putting on events at Sacramento Pride this weekend, SF Pride next weekend, and the Frameline film festival continuing through the end of the month.

star I Voted!

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:28 PDT

The Barry Hermanson pie chart.

We have a new electronic voting machine. I wish I'd taken a picture. Instead I just have this pie chart I came across while researching ballot choices, from Green congressional candidate Barry Hermanson, who narrowly lost to a Republican last April, after beginning his campaign at Burning Man 2007.

Anyways the new voting machines produce a paper trail, which you can watch scrolling by inside a tamper-proof plexiglass box, secured by a cable-tie. Its ease of use is intermediate between an ATM and an airport check-in screen.

I'm so happy being in the Green Party. I did a spot check today: I actually looked over the ballot measures and made decisions, some firm, some wishy-washy. Then when I went to the Green website, they agreed with all my firm decisions, and for the ones I was wavering on, the Green logic convinced me. When a platform just makes that much sense, I cannot vote against it, even if it may be practically irresponsible.

Astronomy Picture of the Day !!

Fri, 23 May 2008 10:43 PDT

Heh heh.

Ad space available.

Thu, 08 May 2008 18:16 PDT

You can tell by the 2007 watermark and the Chevy billboard (it's blank now) that this was taken when the I-80 Bay Bridge Approach temporary structure was up. The new permanent structure is about twice as close, so the next round of Google street views will show our windows and their contents at double the resolution. I should get a giardia logo banner.

My Bloody Valentine !!

Wed, 07 May 2008 21:45

Tickets for the SF show in September go on sale Sunday morning. Peter said this is presale, but I don't know what that means. On sale is on sale, and sold out is sold out. I'm supposed to be remote observing at Berkeley until 8am, so I guess I'll have to stay up til 10. And then it's Mother's Day. Well who needs sleep anyways.

People keep calling this "once in a lifetime." I want to say "Whatever, it's just a show." But we're listening to the 4th track of Tremolo EP now--because Daniel doesn't know who My Bloody Valentine is--and it's already bringing tears to my eyes. I guarantee I will be bawling like Margaret if I make it to the show in September. List of shows that were so good I cried:

Slowdive
Bjork
Sigur Ros

It's not a long list. Plus just think about it: If a general band from the early 1990s were playing a show in September, you would have to sit through all their new stuff--probably crap--just to hear the old stuff you love. But MBV doesn't have any new stuff !! Perfect !!

Did I mention I wrote a page about shoegazer music? If you have anything to say about it, I can add it to the responses, or you can just post to my guestbook. My Bloody Valentine are #1 on my top 10 shoegazer list, just like they are on everyone else's top 10 shoegazer list. But anyways, I deserve to be at this show dammit !! If ticketmaster screws with me I'll die.

Blast from the past.

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:55 PDT

I just want to clarify that the bad-guy bisexual character in this short is not based on me. It's based on this other guy who was an English major. I wuddnt no English major. Also, there are adult situations and possibly some language. Franck just gave the first 40 seconds this review: "OMG .. it is very depressing."

I haven't watched it in years, but I just saw some other footage from around that same time, and it made me think about how old I am now, and how young I was then. Daniel said I'm hotter now.

I think I like being old.

PS. *SORRY* if you see a bunch of multiple posts from here. Technical problems. I figured out that it was caused by a failed variable reload in my blog-update page in my browser, but it was very difficult to debug because @#)($*@#)$* Dreamhost stopped supporting X11 so I couldn't just open up the site directly in emacs. =(

Go Blue !!

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:00 PDT

Ann Arbor has got some exciting things going on this weekend. Bobby McFerrin !??!

Siberian wallpaper.

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:23 PST

The aerial images of Siberia and the Sea of Okhotsk have been uploaded to my desktop wallpaper collection.

HK photos.

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:11 PST

Hong Kong was delightful. I keep thinking of people and places that I wish I had also photographed, but I the 93 pix I posted on picasa will have to do.

The cover slide (above) is a doctor's office a block away from Daniel's parents' flat; he (she?) has the exact same name as me! Also in the album are lots of pictures of Daniel, lots of pictures of the HongKong and Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism \ Architecture 2008 in an old police station/jail, my nephew Jonathan and his classmates competing in their sports day (加油 !! 加油 !! 加油 !!), some meals, harbor photos, and aerial snapshots of Siberia.

Cats and travel.

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:50 PST

Happy new year. I'm accompanying Daniel for part of his annual HK Chinese New Year trip in a couple of weeks. This will be a very novel experience for us. I've been training him to take care of me by acting clueless in Chinatown. He's been training me to keep his rice bowl filled without having to say anything. That way, I'll be alert enough to take care of his mom.

In the meantime, we have two cats.

We'll be out of town for two weeks, and Mandy said she would take care of Mao. But she got a kitten (Iggy) for xmas, and we wanted to make sure they could get along. So we're having him get to know Mao at our house first, and Mandy and Peter will be able to sleep for a few nights. Right now Daniel is snoring and the cats are chasing each other around the bedroom. There is no door so we can't close them out.

Lakota secession.

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 10:49 PST

Pancho, a graduate student at work, sent out an email a few days ago to everyone in the department about the Lakota secession. On 20 December, a delegation of Lakota leaders announced that their people were withdrawing from treaties with the United States. Fascinating !! I did some reading about this, and here are the best links I found so far:

Links

Intro from Fox News (20 Dec). A quick read, summarizes the initial announcement. I could not find this story on CNN, msnbc, or sfgate, and Google didn't turn up any mainstream media hits. Even the Fox page has a "news.com.au" sticker on it, so there is absolutely no mainstream US media coverage of this.

An opinion response from author Kathryn Graham (21 Dec). Gives great background info on Leonard Peltier (still in prison), Russel Means (member of the Lakota secession delegation), and the Second Battle of Wounded Knee (or "WK II" in posts in the next link).

A Local News report in South Dakota's Rapid City Journal (21 Dec). This one is particularly fascinating because of the 483 comments (as of now), including a surprisingly low number of ignorant knee-jerk "patriotic" comments. European comments show great excitement and support for the secession, and local Native American comments reveal a complexity of the secession issue that's not immediately apparent from looking at the Fox News article. Some of the comments say that the delegation is meaningless and that Russel Means is acting on his own, which is probably what led to the next press release...

...from the Strongheart Warrior Society (27 Dec). I'm not sure what this society is, but Sitting Bull was its leader at one point, so I don't get the impression that it's a group that Russel Means set up to advance a personal agenda. In any case, they support the withdrawal from US treaties by consensus.

Analysis

Why is there no mainstream media coverage of this? Because the State Department has not yet responded. Lack of response is a powerful message that the media are actively cooperating with. The media will wait for a State Department response, and then bias their coverage towards the federal position.

I'm curious how this nation would be able to provide social services, when it is opposed to both taxation and natural resource exploitation. But we'll see if it gets that far. The Lakota Nation, along with Tibet and 67 other groups, belong to the United Nations' Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. The Lakota Nation is relying on international pressure to keep the US from violently suppressing the Lakota activists again. But would UN peacekeeping forces invade the US to intercede? I doubt the security council would even be able to pass a simple resolution against the US for a violent suppression of Lakota sovereignty. The 69 unrepresented nations and peoples are inside many recognized nations, and these powerful nations don't want to see their own minorities achieving sovereignty, so much of the world will just look the other way.

Gimme gimme gimme.

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 23:30 PST

Ok, I decided what I want for my birthday, xmas, and every other occasion where I deserve a gift: a plant. It will be a NYE resolution to successfully take care of plants in '08. Plus plants are fun presents because there are so many to choose from, and Mao needs something to snack on.

Guns, clubs, and gentrification.

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:31 MST

Earlier this year Boris had a rare brain aneurism and almost died. He is seen here recovering from brain surgery in May.* Boris kept speaking of a whole new perspective on life, which Daniel and I eagerly anticipated. But alas, the email exchange copied below (sent between Daniel and Boris yesterday) shows that nothing has changed.

Boris: did you hear the shooting that took place in your neighborhood?
Daniel: yeah i saw someone lying in front of the grocery store. lotsa cops and some fire trucks too. what happened? gangs?
Boris: i don't know exactly, i just saw this on sfgate. but that is pretty messed up. i think our neighborhood has gotten worse in recent times. there was another robbery or incident at that liquor store a few months ago, and the suspects actually ran into my building's garage! there were like 40 cops that canvassed the area. luckily the guy was captured.
could be gangs... did you get a closer look at the victim(s)?
Daniel: didn't take a close look. i'm not the kind. usually pretty apathetic about things on the streets. our neighborhood is much better than the mission when somebody gets shot every weekend i think . . . ya wanna move to concord now? or back to palo alto? =)
i never encountered anything in my neighborhood . . . what did SF Gate say?
Boris: sfgate didn't say much, as usual. just that 3 people got shot with serious injuries. not sure if it was random (hope not).
well, judging by the turn of events i don't think things are too different here than the mission. fri and sat nights are crazy here. last weekend i saw a guy break into a car parked on the street right below my apt. i've seen fights right across the street. it's a zoo out here.
the only reason why this @*^\%! happens in our hood is because of the handful of ghetto night clubs here. we need to shut them down.
Daniel: the night clubs' been there since i was in college dude. cars get broken into every single night from our hood to the office's hood if you haven't noticed, since day one.
i'm the wrong person to complain about the hood =) i'm pretty relaxed and i don't mind much. i just enjoy. sounds like you should move to a gentrified hood. try noe valley?
the reason this is happening is because some human-beings are under-developed. but we have to share the world with them. so $#!^ happens and we'll just deal and make the best out of it. one of the nightclubs is hardly ghetto. can't even wear tennis shoes and get into BOSS on harrison.

Boris: you sound more jaded than relaxed. :P
this area is already becoming gentrified. we just need to speed up the process. don't know about you, but i don't care to dodge bullets or step over dead bodies.
be safe out there!

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* This is actually three co-added photo frames taken by Ben. Apparently Boris did not move at all between exposures, although nobody had told him to freeze.

Domestic tag-team.

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 02:25 PST

Daniel and I have been together since 1995. And I have been a DJ since 1998. Last week he started mixing CDs, and tonight we went to a party and came home and did a 60-min tag team set together on CDs and vinyl. It was so romantic !! !!

Teachers fired for having too many margaritas at Epcot Center.

Sat Dec 1 5:03:31 PST 2007

After Jenny showed me Teachers expose private lives online, I decided to lock my myspace profile. My facebook profiles were already locked.

I am on the side of those who call these myspace-checks by employers "invasion of privacy." It's true that public profiles are, well, public. But they should be considered part of an individual's private life.

I'm probably on the losing side of this argument, but a teacher's behavior on myspace is totally analogous to her behavior in a bar, a restaurant, the sidewalk (away from school), or Disneyworld. When my friend Anne was a GSI at umich.edu, and she would say things like "Oh no, I couldn't go to that club, students go there and some of my students might see me there," I always thought that was a ridiculous attitude. But now I find myself locking profiles, and I feel like I'm being forced to turn into Anne. I don't have anything to hide on these profiles, but you never know what irrational biases a boss or search committee might have.

Having a locked profile is like going out and not being allowed to say anything to anyone you might meet. How much fun are you going to have doing that?

Let's say hypothetically that I was considering students for a research assistantship. Would it be acceptable to look at their facebook profiles and use information there in my difficult decision on which students to consider for interviews? I think it would be totally immoral. But according to the example I see from the Arizona school school district in the article, my approach would seem to be valid. That's lame.

Colin Powell on affirmative action.

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 02:40 PDT

So I posted a few conversations about affirmative action over the summer. I didn't know what I expected, or wanted, but I knew that I wasn't happy about the conversations. I guess what I was waiting for was something that I could agree with. Well, I finally found it. Here is what Colin Powell (Colin Powell !!) said in response to the question, "Do you still support affirmative action?"

I have always supported affirmative action. I believe there is still a place for it. I spoke at the 1996 RNC in San Diego with my friend Ward Connerly [a black opponent of affirmative action] sitting in the audience. He had warned me that he would walk out if I made any reference to affirmative action. And when I did express my support for it, I looked right at him, and he didn't move. Affirmative action is a concept that is probably not a growth industry. I'm glad it will eventually go away. But when I go to these inner-city neighborhoods, including across the street here in the Washington area, you can't tell me these kids have the same opportunity that other kids have or that my kids have. Is it because they're black that these kids are at a disadvantage? To some extent no, to some extent yes. We can't deny it. Therefore, to the extent that we still believe it appropriate to provide some way of balancing the legacy of the past, I think we have an obligation to do so.

-- GQ October 2007, p. 274.

So let me just say, before I pass out from the fumes emanating from this magazine, that what did it for me was his realization that it's not about trifling for YOU AND YOUR PRIVILEGED OFFSPRING, but about compassion for those who are still suffering from the legacy of colonialism and racism.

Rimpoche in SF.

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:37 PDT

Old pic... good times. Rimpoche is coming to San Francisco this weekend. Here is some info about his talks:


fri/sat 21/22 sept special events


  GEHLEK RIMPOCHE at noe valley ministry (1021 sanchez at 23rd)

  "Spiritual Practice: Why Bother?"
  fri 21 sept / 730-9pm / $15 suggested donation

  "Living Enthusiastically"
  sat 22 sept / 2-5pm / $30


this weekend is a rare chance to see rimpoche in san
francisco. rimpoche is my spiritual master, and you
know he gives good talks because i keep going back to
michigan (and new york) for his teachings. but why
should you go to these teachings?

* highly-entertaining lectures: expect a peppering of
  old tibet stories, buddhist parables, and pop culture
  references.

* these are public talks. no prayers, chanting, or
  mumbo jumbo. just down-home tibetan buddhist wisdom
  for the modern san franciscan.

* like any buddhist master, rimpoche has celebrity
  friends (most notably philip glass, mike wong, and
  the late allen ginsberg).

* "lightbulb moments:" many people (incl. me)
  frequently find answers to current personal problems
  within his lectures.

* i'll be there and i haven't seen you in a while.

* i'll be the MC.

* this is not a cult, this is the culmination of 2000
  years of spiritual practice that is as relevant now
  as it was in buddha's time. 

* rimpoche is progressive and anti-anti-gay.

* i need someone to help me carry my dad's wheelchair
  up to the second floor for the saturday teaching.

* there will probably be a question/answer session at
  the end on saturday. those always rock.


you can check out rimpoche's bio and the abstracts of
the two talks on the flier i whipped up for him:

  http://giardiacorp.com/G482/GehlekRimpoche-SF07.pdf

you can also visit jewelheart.org for more info about
the center. thanks for reading !!

Another Asian's take on AA.

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 00:10 PDT

I don't know why this response was easier to take. Maybe because not caring seems better than caring the wrong way.

mikewong: i hate situps so boring
mikewong: hey can i ask you a question
mikewong: we'll still be friends either way
cali 2.0: ok lol
mikewong: what's your opinion about affirmative action
cali 2.0: u mean on basis of admission and stuff
cali 2.0: 11:51 Away Message: GYM TIME!!!! hoo rah!Today is arms&back dayCall the cell or text. Ill probably won't answer b/c phone in the locker so leave a message.
cali 2.0: im going to the gym b4 it gets late
cali 2.0: 11:51 cali 2.0 came back
cali 2.0: ill answer that later

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Damn, this blog is sounding political. What's happening to me? Would you rather see pictures of whatever is dangling out of Mao's ass this week? Are you upset about me posting your IMs (albeit anonymously) to the web? Do you think that depleted uranium munitions are totally justified and should not be considered WMDs (And before you say yes, consider that half the DU sites I found were Christian sites decrying the use of DU munitions, and we should be looking to our churches for moral guidance.)? Render opinions at the guestbook, since I am too dumb to have comment fields on my blog like some DIYers do.

Uranium double-post.

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:27 PDT

US/UN forces have used what many consider to be nuclear "dirty bombs" extensively in places such as Kosovo, Kuwait, and Iraq, with a total radiation dose on the order of 400 times more than that at Nagasaki in WWII.

What ??

When Rowena and Crouton invited me to see a performance of the San Francisco Mime Troupe in Dolores Park, I was expecting to see Charlie Chaplin look-alikes doing classics like The Invisible Box and The Invisible Rope. Instead, I witnessed a musical set in modern-day Iraq, with the only true mime tricks consisting of Dick Cheney doing an awesome Robot-On, Robot-Off set.

One of the central themes of the musical was the ten times greater cancer rate in affected areas, which I thought was a clever invention meant to make the US look evil. But in the end, they claimed that everything in the musical was true, except for the part about Condi having Dick Cheney's robot remote.

I looked around on the web and found out that it was indeed true that we had been exposing civilians abroad (as well as our own troops) to "depleted uranium." I have some comments about the details of this up on my work blog. One of my students came up to me after the radioactive decay lecture to tell me that he had found similar conclusions in a report he wrote for high school the previous semester.

Critical Mass and affirmative action?

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:39 PDT

cali 2.0: idk, i think they lost their way like most groups do
mikewong: when did you start thinking that
cali 2.0: when the cyclists started ignoring traffic laws but want to be treated like traffic
mikewong: oh ok so day 1
cali 2.0: basically
cali 2.0: if they're gonna act irresponsibly and/or unsafely, then fuk 'em.
cali 2.0: all or nothing no preferential treatment/behavior
mikewong: i hope that is not your stance toward affirmative action
cali 2.0: i don't really believe in affirmative action.. it's just as bad as not having it
cali 2.0: and affirmative action has worked against me
mikewong: its not really for you
mikewong: its for people who suffer from a legacy of slavery and colonization
cali 2.0: i have suffered
cali 2.0: also that would be every race/ethnicity on the planet except maybe the basque, since they've never been conquered

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New phone.

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:19 PDT

Not like anyone checks here before texting me or anything, but I did get a new phone about a week after the old one broke. And it has a camera. And Daniel has new shades.

Don't text me...

Sun, 20 May 2007 01:23 PDT

My phone's display is broken.

Kundun, "the Presence."

Sat, 12 May 2007 02:22 PDT

They say that Tibetans refer to the Dalai Lama (pictured wearing a visor above to shield him from the bright lights at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium) as Kundun, "the Presence."

Well, here on my block there is also a presence. A police presence.

Rewind: ever since moving in, we have heard noise until 2 or 3am on our street from kids who drive in from around the Bay to come to the 18+ club around the block. I don't really mind, except when they smash bottles, break into cars, harass girls on the street, etc. Anyways, I'm sure they got a call at least once a week for some disturbance. I've seen plenty of ghostriding out the window, spontaneous after hours dance parties in front of the headlights with the stereos cranked, brandishing of firearms, as well as some thing where they drive down the street and swerve in and out of parking spaces. Whatever. This happened every single Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, and cops would make a pass by once or twice a night at the most.

A few weeks ago, they tore down the freeway across the street. Cars are diverted onto a temporary structure. For the next year, there is no parking on our street, which is only 8 feet wide now, while they rebuild the freeway. Cops have been posted on our block literally 24 hours a day since the demolition, for the sole purpose of preventing people from parking on the street. This has got to cost the taxpayers.

I just think it's very telling that the cops are mobilized for the interest of the contractors working for Caltrans, but not for the people who actually live and work on the street.

To serve and proctect... INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.

Allergic conjunctivitis?

Fri, 11 May 2007 00:02 PDT

Keroleen showed up at our house walking around with an eye that looked like this. I never saw anything like it, so I called Ethan (the MD) to ask him about it. He needed us to take some pictures and send them to him. He diagnosed it as allergic conjunctivitis. But after looking at that wikipedia page, I saw that it could have been pinkeye or a Chlamydia infection. Great... Thanks EBMD, for not telling us we were in the same room as someone with pinkeye or ocular Chlamydia.

Please conserve.

Thu, 03 May 2007 19:33 PDT

I was reading an old issue of The Chronicle from last week, in which an article discussed the lack of snowfall this winter and the need for everyone to conserve water. Uh... thanks. The Chronicle's helpful tips for conserving water:

Shower with someone else. Shut off the water when you're soaping up. Take shorter showers or bathe with the tub a third full.

I was so upset at this article. Mainly because there should be a comma after "shorter showers," but I guess that's why French Boy used to read The Economist to learn English, not The Chronicle. But I was also upset that they didn't include Mike Wong's helpful tips for conserving water:

Grow crops that use less water than alfalfa, cotton, rice, and irrigated pasture. Prevent large agribusiness abuse of loopholes in water subsidy law meant to benefit family farms. Reduce water loss during pumping and transport. ^{[1, 2, 3]}

My expensive new toy.

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:42 PDT

It's not approaching its tenth birthday, like the Octopus, you can't use it to buy stuff at 7-11, and don't expect a free ride if you use up your card during a trip.

It cannot absorb paper farecards, like the SmarTrip, and you can't just show up at Metro Center, wait in a short line, and pick one up for five dollars.

If someone swipes your wallet at 5pm on a Friday, you have to wait until Monday (assuming it's not a holiday), at which time you can report the loss and have them put in an order to cancel your card within one business day. You are liable for all charges racked up on your stolen card from 5pm Friday until some time on Tuesday when the cancellation takes effect. It is not compatible with transit benefit programs of any kind. It can be recharged only by credit card, and only in chunks of $45. You cannot even enter the system if you have less than $10 on the card; it will trigger a $45 recharge.

But there's something intensely enjoyable about walking up to the faregate like you don't know it's there, and in one smooth 2-second motion, whipping out your wallet and swiping the pad, cruising through the gate without losing stride or even opening your wallet.*

* It is prohibited to enter and exit the faregates this way. EZ-Rider users must remove the card from their wallet and physically touch the card to the sensor pad for at least two seconds.

Boddhisatvas on Ice.

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 15:49 PDT

I went to the UCB library to look at The Wheel of Sharp Weapons, by Dharmaraksita. Rinpoche will be giving a teaching on this text at a Labor Day retreat in Ann Arbor, and I wanted to browse it before deciding whether to go. While sitting in a nice leather armchair in the concrete spiral staircase in the main library, flipping through the pages, I somehow absorbed one passage.

I remembered it as something like, "If someone is mad at you in an argument, always assume that it's truly your fault." The full text of verse nine is actually:

Should impulse arise now to seek our own pleasure,
We must turn it aside to please others instead;
For even if loved ones should rise up against us,
We must blame our self-interest and feel it's our due.

Acually practicing this feels weird. It feels like I'm letting myself down, letting myself get trampled. But what is really getting trampled and threatened is my ego. I mean the ego in the colloquial sense, not the psychoanalytic definition of the ego. Like an inner Gollum, the ego resists spiritual progress.

Since Daniel is pretty much the only loved one to rise up against me these days, remembering this passage has made home life easier for both of us. I'm looking forward to a full teaching on this book.

Our block is closed off to traffic, with cops posted at either end of the block, due to the freeway demolition right across the street from us. For some reason, on my way to the donut store, I started thinking that there was a parallel between our legal system, in which killing cops or government workers results in increased criminal penalties, and the karmic system, where your accumulated negativity is greater if you assault a Boddhisatva than if you assault a regular human. Boddhisatvas are kinda like the equivalent of a Catholic saint, or more like a candidate to be a Catholic saint.

Cat shit.

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 21:14

I was on the way home from work when I got daniel's text, "Mao puked in the bathroom".

We met at Powell and Ellis for dinner and then, on the way back home, Daniel mentioned that Mao puked twice, and he had cleaned up only one of the instances. So I knew part of what was waiting for me at home.

I came in to find a piece of shit, unusually far from the catbox. The rest of the pile was still in the box, but this seemingly bisected piece of shit must have somehow been dragged a couple of steps.

At the same time I had to fix both of the toilets. While I was fixing the upstairs toilet, I heard Daniel screaming from downstairs, "Mao smells like shit !!"

So I resolved to wash the cat's feet. He never seemed to freak out around water much anyways, so why not? Better than having shit-prints all over the place.

Indeed Mao didn't mind the foot-washing. But while turning him around, I happened to notice a 7" length of shit-covered dental floss coming out of his ass, with the cleaner parts generally stained yellow as if by some concentrated curry. I held him down and started pulling it out, but he kept making that strained pooping face. Both of his cheeks bunch up, making his whiskers rhythmically come together like hands clapping in front of his face.

It was too gross so I just cut it. And disinfected the tub for the princess. And fed the cat more food. Hopefully he'll take care of this himself.

[UPDATE] Ha ha, Kirala has two tails too !! !!

Mini-Feed.

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:06 PDT

Mike Wong posted a new album on his photos page. 12:44am

Mike Wong is excited for Hawaii next weekend !! 12:45am

Mike Wong just noticed that two people actually discovered and used his guestbook. 1:05am

Transitions.

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 22:53 PDT

I hate transitions. I hate going to bed. I hate waking up. I hate mixing electro because I never want to fade the first song out, and short cuts are better than long blends for electro. I procrastinate ferociously when it's time to work, and once I start working I hate to get up to go to the bathroom or get water. I hate leaving work to go home for dinner, and once I start eating I'm the last to finish eating. I don't want to take a shower, and once I'm in the shower I don't want to get out. I procrastinate going to parties, and I hate to leave parties once I'm there.

I prefer to call this Transitional Disorder rather than simple laziness.

A father-son letter.

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 16:11 PST

Dear Daddy,

This blog entry is your birthday present. I just wanted to write you a quick note to tell you some thoughts I had yesterday while we were on the early morning hike with your high school buddies at Shoreline Park in Mountain View.

I'm sure you recall the short conversation we had with one of the aunties that went like this (except it was all in Mandarin):

auntie: you understand chinese?
me: a little bit.
auntie: you're cute.
me: not at all.
auntie:hahaha !! "not at all??!!?!" kids these days always say "of course i am."
auntie: do you have a girlfriend?
me: uh, no.
daddy: he has a boyfriend.
auntie: hahaha !! (immediately runs away)

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That conversation made me realize two things. One, I've changed a lot since my college years, when a remark like that from an auntie would have really upset me and made me uncomfortable. I was a little annoyed that I had to deal with an interrogation, but it didn't affect my blood pressure. My self-worth is no longer so easily influenced by what people think.

But the other thing I realized is how lucky I am to have a father like you. Many parents would have been ashamed of their kid. Instead, I have a father who doesn't tolerate B.S. from people who try to broadcast and propagate their own ignorance.

So I wanted to thank you first for being so supportive of my sexual orientation. But even more, I wanted to thank you for little things like the shoreline conversation, and the restaurant dart-gun incident, that show us you simply won't put up with anyone else (other than you) scolding your children.

Homophobia is not an intrinsic Chinese family value. Family is an intrinsic Chinese family value.

Yesterday, you totally out-Chinesed that auntie.

Love,
Michael

Gays on a plane.

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 12:42 PDT

I head about this story in The New Yorker from Jenny, but it's all over the blogosphere anyways. The basic summary is two guys were flying on American Airlines together, when the flight attendant woke one up and told him to stop touching the other one (he was leaning on his boyfriend while napping). Passengers inquired about whether this was because they were gay, and eventually the captain came out and told them to stop touching or the plane would be diverted.

If you think I'm misrepresenting this, you can read the story and a response from American Airlines.

I have been made to feel the way those passengers probably felt by American (and other airlines), but not for such blatantly discriminatory reasons. Usually it's something like "You're late, you can't fly." But this is not acceptable. There were enough American crewmembers involved that someone should have realized it's time to kiss ass and apologize profusely. Possibly worse is the HRC response, which could be paraphrased "AA gave us lots of money, so they didn't do anything wrong." I know you're a political machine, but at least pretend you represent the gay people you claim to represent.

Screw American, and screw HRC. You have a nice logo, but I'm picking a new favicon.ico.

More invertebrates.

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 13:58 PDT

Last week we filled up two tables at Kabuto for sushi, at it was tasty. Matt had never eaten mirugai, so Daniel drew him a picture on the butcher paper tablecloth. Near the end of the meal, a sushi chef brought us two complimentary bottles of beer, either as an apology for forgetting to bring Daniel's fried shrimp heads, or as a token of admiration of Daniel's artistic ability. Not sure which.

jconcep, the ex-roomie from Michigan, is staying at our house this week. The past week or so, even before she got here, has been totally hectic, and there's no way I can keep up with posting pictures or text about it. But it's cool living with someone who uses flickr a lot. I'd always thought it must be easy to generate a photostream, and now that I've watched someone doing it, I'm wondering if this may be a way to keep up with the bandwidth of real life. Maybe I'll even put "generate a photostream" on my list of 500 things I most wish I had time to do.

I need to stop blogging and get back to the mountain of work that has to be done in a week.

Imagine how much more boring chatter I'd be spewing if that little punk on Shattuck hadn't knocked my coffee cup out of my hand.

Muir Woods.

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:09 PDT

Muir Woods pix: Banana Slug Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps sp.)

I spent the weekend with Daniel's coworkers (a welcome back party for Nellie, the company picnic, and Boris came over after the picnic) and with the fams. My mom has been wanting to go to Muir Woods for a while, so we all did the loop on the paved trail, with a brief excursion out of the national monument and into the state park. These pictures are from the state park.

I don't know why, but I get more excited by the little things. We were surrounded by these enormous sequoias, but I spent most of the hike scouring the ground for exotic fungi. We saw a bat, whose wings were translucent in the forest sunbeams, and a deer with two babies. But the only things I wanted to photograph were a banana slug and a slender salamander (Batrachoseps sp.). I found the salamander coiled under a rock; we looked at it and put it back near its home. Its legs are so tiny and fragile.

Oh yeah, people have generally stopped asking, but if you want to know what I think about Pluto's status, I have a long entry about it on my astroblog.

Mao's moods.

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:55 PDT

Daniel found this page by Sarah Hartwell at messybeast.com that helps us interpret Mao's moods. Daniel kept asking me "Does he look happy?" and I could only say that I didn't know. But now I can inform him that Mao is either saying "**** you" or he's excited/angry/irritable. Weo, Mao knows where to scratch if he gets REALLY mad, and it hasn't happened yet, so it's all good.

Also, the messybeast.com page was very instructive about the practice of "middening." Someone in the last couple months was a victim of this and I really had no idea what was going on. I wish I could remember who told me about this so that I could go back and educate them about middening:

They may use faeces to mark territory - a behaviour known as middening. Middening cats deposit their faeces in a prominent spot (often on top of a tuft of grass or the middle of a path), often choosing the same place again and again to advertise their continued presence. Middens are usually located at disputed areas of territory where challenges are likely to occur. Sometimes this is indoors, the usual place being the bed. A cat which has been upset by an intruder or unusual event middens in the place which smells most strongly of its human family, reinforcing the family bond. Humans don't see it the same way.

Burned.

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 05:18 PDT

Ok this is really embarassing, but I temporarily messed up something in my brand new RSS feed and FeedBurner is not reflecting the fix. So things may be rough for the first few posts as I figure this out.

I forgot to mention that I was inspired to do this because of Marcus's perpetual slickness. And that's how I found about about this method of embarassing myself known as FeedBurner, and that's how come I stayed up all night coding in broken perl.

Hello world.

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:57 PDT

I don't even know if it was worth it, but I spent a couple days figuring out how to ... uh ... syndicate this site. What's the word, feedcast? Blogcast? I forgot. All pointless, since I hardly ever take the time to write any more.

But maybe that is the point. Why keep coming back here every day when I never write? Just click the fresh new RSS icon in the lower left, and add me to your aggregator. I promise it will be low volume.

giardiacorp/mikewong

I've moved: to the Hapakins Haus.

Water.

Equanimity II.

I'm born again.

Obama !! Prop 8 =(

America's greatest minds offer their insights.

Contest deadline extension.

My Bloody Valentine essay contest:

Vintage beeps.

Wedding No. 4.

A haiku for California.

We got married (again).

*star* I Voted!

Astronomy Picture of the Day !!

Ad space available.

My Bloody Valentine !!

Blast from the past.

Go Blue !!

Siberian wallpaper.

HK photos.

Cats and travel.

Lakota secession.

Links

Analysis

Gimme gimme gimme.

Guns, clubs, and gentrification.

Domestic tag-team.

Teachers fired for having too many margaritas at Epcot Center.

Colin Powell on affirmative action.

Rimpoche in SF.

Another Asian's take on AA.

Uranium double-post.

Critical Mass and affirmative action?

New phone.

Don't text me...

Kundun, "the Presence."

Allergic conjunctivitis?

Please conserve.

My expensive new toy.

Boddhisatvas on Ice.

Cat shit.

Mini-Feed.

Transitions.

A father-son letter.

Gays on a plane.

More invertebrates.

Muir Woods.

Mao's moods.

Burned.

Hello world.

star I Voted!