cars and TVs

Back when I was young, American life revolved around the TV and the car!

I used to watch a lot of TV and wanted to one drive a car (especially that green lowrider you saw on Ice Cube's "Today Was a Good Day")

Well, I still don't have a car, and for TV............... my TV can go weeks without being turned on. My entertainment is all from the stereo or a computer.

And i'm not even alone on those trends. 

http://www.mercurynews.com/family-relationships/ci_20375950/young-americans-less-likely-drive

Driving is becoming so last century.

Since the end of World War II, getting a driver's license has been a rite of passage for teens, but that's less and less the case. The share of people in their teens, 20s and 30s with driver's licenses has dropped significantly over the past three decades, not only in the United States, but also in some other wealthy nations with a high proportion of Internet users, transportation researchers have found.

One possible explanation: Virtual contact through the Internet and other electronic means is reducing the need for face-to-face visits among young people, researchers say.
From 1983 to 2008, the share of 16- to 39-year-olds with driver's licenses declined markedly, with the greatest decreases among drivers in their late teens and early 20s, according to a study at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute in Ann Arbor. About 69 percent of 17-year-olds had a driver's license in 1983. By 2008, that had dropped to 50 percent. Among Americans ages 20 to 24 in 1983, nearly 92 percent had driver's licenses. Twenty-five years later, it was 82 percent.

and

 There are likely several factors behind the trend: a difficult economy for young workers, the high cost of buying and maintaining a car and a migration of young adults toward large cities, where there are more alternatives to driving, Sivak said. There also is evidence that social networking may be reducing the need for face-to-face contacts, he said.

Look what I highlighted in green. That means suburban life has also lost its appeal to young adults. 

And another comment in the article

  "I am tall enough and look old enough to pass as old enough for most practical purposes, and I have a passport for all other purposes," he said. "As for transportation in general ... I have no hesitations with walking and using public transit: BART, and buses where BART doesn't reach."

And look what I highlighted in green.  Walking and mass transit has gained appeal to young adults.  That's how I roll!



However, if I become a billionaire, I might still green lowrider that I've always been dreaming about! 

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Now for the TV's

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/04/07/zero-tv-homes/2061127/

Some people have had it with TV. They've had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don't like timing their lives around network show schedules. They're tired of $100-plus monthly bills.

A growing number of them have stopped paying for cable and satellite TV service, and don't even use an antenna to get free signals over the air. These people are watching shows and movies on the Internet, sometimes via cellphone connections. Last month, the Nielsen Co. started labeling people in this group "Zero TV" households, because they fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the U.S., up from 2 million in 2007.

and

Nielsen's study suggests that this new group may have left traditional TV for good. While three-quarters actually have a physical TV set, only 18 percent are interested in hooking it up through a traditional pay TV subscription.

Zero TVers tend to be younger, single and without children. Turrill says part of the new monitoring regime is meant to help determine whether they'll change their behavior over time. "As these homes change life stage, what will happen to them?"

Cynthia Phelps, a 43-year-old maker of mental health apps in San Antonio, Texas, says there's nothing that will bring her back to traditional TV. She's watched TV in the past, of course, but for most of the last 10 years she's done without it.

She finds a lot of programs online to watch on her laptop for free — like the TED talks educational series — and every few months she gets together with friends to watch older TV shows on DVD, usually "something totally geeky," like NBC's Chuck.

As for me, I still have the same TV set I had from my teen years.

But I rarely ever use it! I don't have time! Why schedule 30 minutes to 2 hours to watch some TV show?  I have other things to do. If something funny or interesting happened, I can just view view some clips of it on YouTube whenever I feel like it!


I'm much more of a music fan than a TV/film fan . TV shows are 30-60 minutes long. Films are about 2 hours long! When do I have time in my schedule to accommodate that?

Songs are just about 5 minutes long!

And a series of songs don't have to fit a 30-60 minute format!

Music is a much more time efficient form of entertainment for me! 

Haircut (part2 )

(note : These paragraphs were originally in my previous post. I cut them out and put it here instead.)




Last year,  UPhx's Dr Lorraine Mito who told me that I need to cut my hair for their "student-teaching program".   She said in front of everyone who was in the room. Should've done it private

I later e-mailed Dr Lorraine Mito that if had to cut my hair, so do the women. (Gender equity anyone?) She later backed off!

But I later left the UPhx program for un-related reasons!  (learn more at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/06/change-in-direction.html )




And to Dr. Lorraine Mito,   if I saw you this year at all, I wouldn't have cut my hair, just to show you I refuse to  be controlled like that.  I do what I like, when I like!  And I don't need your UPhx program anyways, since I'm much happier at UH's LIS program.



Anyways, I'm done with my hairstyle critics, well, maybe until the next  time a  person tells me I got a "bald spot".


Anyways, I like who I am, and I hope God likes who I am (after all I did have the same hairstyle as Jesus Christ the last few years) and that's all I care about!

Haircut

Starting from 2007, I grew out my hair.  No longer was I the guy who went to the barber shop to get my head shaved. I didn't even visit the barbers shops anymore.


Part of it was I wanted to enjoy my hair growing out since my older brothers were already losing their hair.

People say the "balding trait" comes from the mother's side of the family. I believe that  -- my father isn't balding, and his mother's side of the family are Native Mexicans. (His father's side of the family are Spanish-Mexicans.)

My mother has mostly European ancestry (with some possible native Puerto Rican DNA mixed in with the Spanish, Portuguese and German DNA).

So yeah, my hair DNA is from the European side of the family! 


Anyways, I grew my hair out since 2007.

 Like This

Last year, I finally got it braided, just for one weekend

 

And back to normal

with the infamous hat @ Macy's

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But after 6 years, I wanted a change. I cut my hair last weekend.

I didn't go to a barber, I just cut the hair that was sticking out like a pony-tail. 


Some people noticed, most were polite enough to say nothing.

the back of my head after the hair-cut

and yes, that's a bald spot!

I might grow out my hair as much as I can, but it's never going to be like the "good old days" again.


Oh well, the hair was fun while it lasted!


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BONUS PIC : from high school

Men-o-phobia continues

In earlier blog posts, I expose the sexist pigs who don't want adult males around child-oriented places with the sick sexist stereotype of "males are perverts".

 http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2011/06/omg-male-is-coming.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/06/gender-double-standards.html



Well, the sexists running the Toronto Lego-Land didnt get the memo

 http://www.freerangekids.com/legoland-scared-of-63-yr-old-man/

Readers — When 63-year-old Lego-lovin’ John St-Onge made the 3-hour drive to Toronto’s Legoland Discovery Centre, he was looking forward to seeing the fantastic displays. Instead, he became one: A perfect display of  our society’s Predator Panic.
Arriving without any young kids in tow (though accompanied by his grown daughter), he was barred from entering.  That’s the rule. As a spokeswoman later explained: “It is a child attraction so we do have this in place to protect the families and children that visit.”
So…if adults are there on their own, children are automatically at risk? The assumption being that even if not ALL adults are predators, all predators are adults, so let’s ban ‘em?
By that logic, should we allow teachers into school if they don’t bring their  offspring with them? Should kids avoid anywhere adults roam free?
In Legoland, all adults are  guilty until proven otherwise.
And there’s no way to prove otherwise. – L.
- See more at: http://www.freerangekids.com/legoland-scared-of-63-yr-old-man/#sthash.D73wjoCg.dpuf

Readers — When 63-year-old Lego-lovin’ John St-Onge made the 3-hour drive to Toronto’s Legoland Discovery Centre, he was looking forward to seeing the fantastic displays. Instead, he became one: A perfect display of  our society’s Predator Panic.
Arriving without any young kids in tow (though accompanied by his grown daughter), he was barred from entering.  That’s the rule. As a spokeswoman later explained: “It is a child attraction so we do have this in place to protect the families and children that visit.”
So…if adults are there on their own, children are automatically at risk? The assumption being that even if not ALL adults are predators, all predators are adults, so let’s ban ‘em?
By that logic, should we allow teachers into school if they don’t bring their  offspring with them? Should kids avoid anywhere adults roam free?
In Legoland, all adults are  guilty until proven otherwise.
And there’s no way to prove otherwise. – L.

Lego of common sense and treat all men as perverts, including John St-Onge, seen here with a Lego contraption he built.
- See more at: http://www.freerangekids.com/legoland-scared-of-63-yr-old-man/#sthash.D73wjoCg.dpuf

Readers — When 63-year-old Lego-lovin’ John St-Onge made the 3-hour drive to Toronto’s Legoland Discovery Centre, he was looking forward to seeing the fantastic displays. Instead, he became one: A perfect display of  our society’s Predator Panic.
Arriving without any young kids in tow (though accompanied by his grown daughter), he was barred from entering.  That’s the rule. As a spokeswoman later explained: “It is a child attraction so we do have this in place to protect the families and children that visit.”
So…if adults are there on their own, children are automatically at risk? The assumption being that even if not ALL adults are predators, all predators are adults, so let’s ban ‘em?
By that logic, should we allow teachers into school if they don’t bring their  offspring with them? Should kids avoid anywhere adults roam free?
In Legoland, all adults are  guilty until proven otherwise.
And there’s no way to prove otherwise. – L.

Lego of common sense and treat all men as perverts, including John St-Onge, seen here with a Lego contraption he built.
- See more at: http://www.freerangekids.com/legoland-scared-of-63-yr-old-man/#sthash.D73wjoCg.dpuf

Readers — When 63-year-old Lego-lovin’ John St-Onge made the 3-hour drive to Toronto’s Legoland Discovery Centre, he was looking forward to seeing the fantastic displays. Instead, he became one: A perfect display of  our society’s Predator Panic.

Arriving without any young kids in tow (though accompanied by his grown daughter), he was barred from entering.  That’s the rule. As a spokeswoman later explained: “It is a child attraction so we do have this in place to protect the families and children that visit.”

So…if adults are there on their own, children are automatically at risk? The assumption being that even if not ALL adults are predators, all predators are adults, so let’s ban ‘em?

By that logic, should we allow teachers into school if they don’t bring their  offspring with them? Should kids avoid anywhere adults roam free?

In Legoland, all adults are  guilty until proven otherwise.

And there’s no way to prove otherwise. – L.

Would an adult female get treated like that? Probably not, the staff will most likely "skirt the rules" in ways they would NEVER do so for an adult male.  

And this

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/legoland-dream-dies-for-man-63-over-rule-that-adults-must-be-accompanied-by-kids-1.1358249#ixzz2YZc7Xh00

A 63-year-old man who travelled from Windsor, Ont. to Toronto to fulfil a lifelong dream of visiting a Legoland Discovery Centre, feels discriminated against and embarrassed after being turned away because he didn't have a child with him.

John St-Onge has been a self-described "Lego fanatic" ever since his children were young and

he first began buying them sets, ranging from miniature cities and farmscapes to models of the Star Wars Millenium Falcon.

Once his kids grew older and found other interests, John stuck with Lego, breaking down and rebuilding their sets, and buying new ones to add to his own collection. He now has around 75 sets, comprising about 50,000 pieces of Lego.

and more

 However, she defended the policy that requires adults to be accompanied by children, saying "it is a child attraction so we do have this in place to protect the families and children that visit."

Protect them from what?   This is a public place, there's extremely low risk of any child getting sexually assaulted in public areas.  Perverts may be sick-minded but they're not stupid! That 's why do their dirty business in PRIVATE, HIDDEN  PLACES !

If the fools at Lego-Land really care about protecting the children, just have security patrols and video-cameras just in case something happens. If there's any danger a child would face at Lego-Land, it's most likely injuries from falling down. 

 

Well, there's one thing we can do about this. Let Toronto's Lego-Land know that we, the people, won't put up with their paranoid. BS! We won't put up with the stereotypes of the lone adult who just want to enjoy Lego-Land. 

 

You can contact those fools by going to  http://www.legolanddiscoverycentre.ca/toronto/about-us/contact-us.aspx

 

 http://www.legolanddiscoverycentre.ca/toronto/about-us/contact-us.aspx

And show them that we will not stand for their stupid policies! The more pressure, the better! 

 

One decade in my apartment

This month marks the 1 decade anniversary in my apartment.

Unfortunately, I don't even remember the exact date of moving in, but I do know it was in July 2003.

Also, this was before I started blogging, and before I started the habit  of writing  my "personal daily journal" which is actually a daily listing of what happened that day.  As you can see, my record-keeping habits has improved since I moved in to my new home.

 But yes, I am so happy to be able to live in the same apartment for so long.

1) First, a little background information

To truly understand my joy of my 1 decade anniversary in my apartment, you would know a few details of my life before I moved in.


For the first 14 years of my life, my family was living in a public housing complex. That complex is officially called "Puahala Homes" but it is commonly known as "Lanakila Housing". It's near a school, park and avenue all named Lanakila, so you might as well call the hood "Lanakila Housing". That's in Kalihi, an area of Honolulu with a reputation for public housing complexes and old run-down houses.

Well, by the time I was 14 years old, my parent's income was too high to continue staying in a housing complex built for low-income families.

What to do, what to do?

My parent's income too high to stick around, and they felt it was to time to "buy a house" (really, it's the bank loaning them the house on the condition they make monthly payments. It's just an ego-boost, not a statement-of-fact to call it "buying a house")

Well, they "bought a house" in some suburb in some other part of the island.

 Also, 14 just happen to be the same age as when a person goes from middle school to high school.

Shall I go to some school where in my parent's new community, a school where I dont even know anyone? Or shall I just go to the same school where my friends are going, where at least I know who the "bad guys to avoid" are?


 There's absolutely zero guarantee to being in a "safer school" if you move to a small suburb area in Hawaii. Remember, most Hawaii public schools are in mixed income districts. Most Hawaii schools have at least a suburb-type area and a ghetto within its district. 

Yeah, my solution was use my grandma's address (in the same community my parent's just left for "having too much income") and go to the same high school my friends were going  -- McKinley High School!  And use that address without getting caught. Not as easy as you think!

And during that time, I was spending some days in my grandma's home (back in the "hood") and spending other days in my parent's house (in the suburbs).   I thought it would just be simpler if I just stayed in my grandma's home all day every day.  

 My father didn't like that idea probably because he felt he was being personally rejected by the idea of me not living with him. My mother sympathized with me, but was a bit too deferential to my father. We went back & forth on this issue. 


(there's more to the story to this, which you can read at  http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-first-3-decades-of-life.html and go to part 5 of that blog post)

After 4 years of all this arguing with my parents, my grandma finally said "just let the boy stay in my home already".

My father still didn't like it, but he was outnumbered by myself, my mom (who FINALLY showed some back-bone after years of excessive submissiveness), and my grandma.

But by the time it happened, I was almost finished with high school (with only a select few classmates who had any idea all this was going on in my life).





After high school ended (c/o99), I was an undergraduate student at UH-Manoa. During the semester, I was living in the dorms. During breaks, I was either living my grandma (still in the hood) or with my uncle's apartment in Makiki.  So yeah, a lot of moving in and out for a few years.  I was still too angry to move in with my parents way out in the other side of the island. 

I was tired of moving in & out, and tired of not having much privacy either. 

Well, my mom came to the rescue.   She knew someone leasing apartments near UH-Manoa with a good, credible deal!   Also, my father finally accepted that I just wasn't going to live with him, and he helped out too. Yeah, it was to make up for all those years. But healings got to start at some time.

2) Moving in!

So on July 2003, I moved in to my own apartment.  It was walking distance from UH-Manoa where at the time, I was still an undergraduate student.  It is a studio apartment with basic neccessities.  I dont need extra luxuries.

And I get to live by myself .   I can play my stereo when I want and I can have silence when I want.  I dont have to worry about niele room-mates asking stupid questions.  I do what I like when I like. That's the life :)

I continued to stay there, even after I was done with my under-grad years at UHM.  The area has easy to many bus routes.  It's easy to get to my workplaces and easy to get to all the important places in Honolulu. Close enough to Waikiki, Ala Moana, Kahala Mall, and downtown Honolulu.  That's the life :)


3) Home Maintenance. 

Having my own space, means I can store more stuff!

Problem was, I collected too much stuff, and I was too distracted to do much maintenance. As far as I'm concern, home was a place for sleep and storage.

But last year, I finally started to get rid of useless obsolete crap in my apartment. I wrote about the experience in the following blog posts. 

 http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-war-against-clutter.html

 sample paragraphs

I admit, I have been becoming a packrat!

I do like to keep stuff, though I'm definitely NOT one of those who keep old food wrappers for "sentimental value". I'm NOT that crazy!

 and

I kept telling myself, one of these days, you'll have time to organize those piles!

Time to face reality --- I'll NEVER have time to organize those piles!


So last night, I started throwing a whole bunch of paper piles in the big trash can outside! 

 ------------

and this one, a month later  
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-apartment-gets-make-over.html


 sample paragraphs

It's just about 3 weeks later, and I'm feeling like I'm living in a brand new place, even though it's the same studio apartment I've been living in for 9 years.

A lot of old outdated papers? Thrown out!
Big grey containers with piles of articles? Thrown out!
Old stuff that I haven't used in years? Thrown out!

Some stuff, I kept! Especially stuff I've been looking for that was hidden in a pile of useless papers!

But yeah, you'd be surprised what stuff is still in your house if you haven't had time to clean-out your stuff in YEARS!

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and this one
 http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/10/32-years-of-living.html

sample paragraphs

Since, then I have gotten a new refrigerator!

The old one was leaking! But I didn't have enough to get a new one! Though I tried to rely on my pride and am striving for more self-reliance, I couldn't take the waiting anymore. I just mentioned the issue to my parents, and they got a good deal for the refrigerator.

This also means my mother won't be able to buy additional birthday or Christmas gifts. That's fine! The new refrigerator is more important than anything else I could've gotten as birthday/Christmas gifts.

----
and one more
 http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-years-resolution.html

sample paragraphs

 And my new year started with my father coming in do repairs on the bathtub face plate, as well as replacing some filters in my toilet. :)

So yep, my new year's started with focus on home maintenance.

  4) My Life Today

This year, I returned to UH-Manoa as a graduate student.  And living where I'm at means I can just walk to school again :)

And I can still have easy access to many important places in Honolulu.

I'm more serious about home maintenance, and collection management these days.  My apartment is much cleaner than it was 1 year ago. But the work is never over!

I'm living on my own. No roommates, no one to tell me what to do, no one to get nosy about my private life!
That's the life :)


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Overall, I like living where I'm at.  :)   

I hope to stick around for a few more decades!