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mountainfolk
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Name: Sam
Metro: Chicago
Interests: Xanga, Wikipedia, Wuxia, science fiction, cinema, cars, world history & cultures, biking, Jeet Kune Do, ping pong, classical music, computer games (FPS, RTS, RPG), classic video games (NES, SNES, Genesis, N64)
Expertise: eating, sleeping, playing
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  Sir Mountainfolk
MSN: mistersupersammy
Yahoo:  chaosifu
Member Since:
9/22/2004
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| For some odd reason, I felt compelled to write something here today, despite the lack of desire to do so for the past year. I mostly thought it was consuming too much of my time, which could be better spent doing other things. I know this is kind of a funny thing to say, since many of the people who regularly came to my site also blog regularly. But it did seem that I blogged a lot more frequently than most people, because it became an addictive habit to read and comment, write, read and comment, write, read and comment, write, and repeat the process a thousand times a week. It was too much and I eventually got sick of it.
Now you all know that I didn't leave xanga for another online community, but I actually did set up a Facebook account since the last time I submitted an entry here (Feb. 12, 2006). However, I did so not because I was interested in "connecting to my friends who are or have been in college, but because I was informed by one of my friends that I had an account already set up. Now, I knew this was impossible because I had never even typed "www.facebook.com" before. So I set up an account with my school e-mail address, searched for my name, and found an account for someone named "Samial Chao" from "Livingston High School" with my picture on it. Needless to say, I found this extremely annoying. Most likely it's someone I know, because there is more reason for someone I know to create a phony account of me than a total stranger. I also suspect the person is a FOB, because they spelled my name incorrectly. Either that, or this person is crafty, purposely misspelling my name to make it harder for me to find out. In any case, this person has a lot of time on their hands. My advice for them is to stop living vicariously through other people's lives and develop their own!
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| Food Discrimination
After our test on Friday, I went with four friends to eat at Seven Treasures, a restaurant in Chinatown well-known for their noodles. Unfortunately, we were undeservedly discriminated against by the people working there. It was a collaboration of the waiters and cooks, I'm sure. Yet we weren't thrown out or talked about behind our backs. Perhaps that would've been more tolerable. Rather, we were subjected to what I now refer to as "food discrimination," which is when restaurant segments customers and serves them accordingly.
What exactly does this mean? Well, a type of restaurant that commits this abomination the Chinese dine-in. Normally, Chinese people that speak the language will be served food that's closer to authenticity. It's also no secret that the Chinese menu contains authentic dishes that Chinese people can order with a discount. So in a sense, there is also price discrimination. Keep in mind that I'm not talking about Chinese buffets, Chinese take-out, or the clearly "Americanized" places that serve such dishes as Mushu pork, egg rolls, fried rice, and Kung Pao chicken. These places only offer non-authentic dishes, so there's really no room for discrimination. I'm speaking of Chinese restaurants that cater specifically to Chinese locals, and therefore are usually in Chinatown.
Seven Treasures is famous for their homemade noodles, which are like nothing else in Chinatown. In fact, I've even had noodles in Hong Kong and China, and I still haven't found any better. So I suggested that my non-Chinese friends try the braised noodles, either in soup or on a plate (lo mein). Everyone decided to have the lo mein, including myself, and I ordered in Cantonese. I figured our food had less chance of being Americanized if I ordered in Cantonese. Unfortunately, it didn't help because our food was way too salty and the cook didn't put on ginger and green onions that essentially make the whole thing taste good. As a result, I felt ripped off because the restaurant didn't live up to the praise I had given it in the presence of my friends.
Apparently, Chinese cooks have this belief that non-Chinese people can't enjoy authentic Chinese dishes. This can't be further from the truth, because every non-Chinese person I've met that has tried real Chinese food claims that they prefer the authentic dishes. So in a sense, Chinese restaurants that discriminate against non-Chinese people are doing themselves a disfavor by offering a less-than-optimal experience to a large chunk of their customers. I think non-Chinese people would be more likely to return to a restaurant that has served them authentic dishes.
Why was I given the watered-down version of their braised noodles even though I'm Chinese? Certainly, they could see that I know the language. Unfortunately, as long as a Chinese person is with a group of non-Chinese friends, there's still a chance they'll be treated the same way. Every time I dine at Seven Treasures with my family, my experience is the same as the last. In fact, the first time I've been dissatisfied with their food at the restaurant was this past Friday with my non-Chinese friends.
I recall one time I went to Lee Wing Wah (another Chinese restaurant in Chinatown) with about 15 other people. Most of us were Chinese and the rest were also Asian. However, because we spoke English, we were given Americanized versions of every dish we ordered. Another time, my then girlfriend and I were served Americanized dishes at a Chinese restaurant in Schaumburg because we ordered in English. I ordered in Chinese henceforth, but discrimination has no bounds as my recent experience has shown.
The lesson here is simple. If you're Chinese and you wish to take your non-Chinese friends out to dinner at restaurant that serves authentic dishes, order from the Chinese menu if you can read it. If you're Chinese-characters-illiterate like I am, make an effort to deliberately but politely tell the waiter to make it authentic. If you're not Chinese and wish to eat authentic food, ask the waiter what's popular amongst Chinese customers.
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| Question of the day: Which websites do you visit most frequently? E-mail doesn't count. I go to my school's website, Google, and Wikpedia every day. I'm trying to get on Xanga every day like in the past. Ah yes, I forgot to mention various porn sites. Hahaha...
It seems like a lot of people are switching over to MySpace. I created an acount a while ago but left it idle. It seemed to me that the main attraction of MySpace are the little messages people leave on each other's sites that resemble shoutouts. The main reason I was uninterested is that the blogging aspect of the site seemed underdeveloped and largely unused. What I like about Xanga is that blogging/writing is the main focus. People that used Xanga solely as a tool to attract attention to themselves were the first ones to jump over to MySpace. My thoughts are GOOD RIDDANCE.
Anyway, I'm writing this because I came upon some guy's blog whose most recent entry says, "I heard that Xanga is DYING? Do you believe this? Please respond with reasons." He's also leaving this as a comment on random people's sites. In response to his question, I think people's tastes are changing. Probably MySpace is more interesting to more people right now. However, there's a minority that would never prefer MySpace over Xanga because they don't consider MySpace an attractive product. If Xanga wants to keep up with MySpace's recent success, it'll probably have to offer some of the useless (in my opinion, anyway) garbage MySpace does. However, Xanga isn't going away any time soon because it's still the 2nd most popular social networking site.
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| I hate waking up at 6am Monday - Friday. I did it in high school and have been doing it again for the past few months, yet I have never gotten used to it. One of the side effects of being a "night person" is that I have trouble falling asleep. Admittedly, one of the most irritating things (quite arbitrarily so) to me are the dark circles that appear under my eyes. They're there even when I get enough sleep, and get significantly worse if I don't. Although I may be completely wrong, I'm inclined to believe East Asians look significantly worse than other stocks of people when they don't get enough sleep. It seems like black circles are more conspicuous for yellow-skinned peeps. Does anyone else think so?
I've been so busy lately. There isn't enough time to do everything I want. Consequently, my posts have been sucking recently. Creativity is lacking during times the brain is occupied with bullshit routine. I'll use my spare time sitting on the train and walking to class to think
about new entries to write. I plan to start regularly commenting again so it'll be as months before when I diligently checked my subscriptions.
If you're Asian, do you ever wake up and find that the epicanthal folds (skin folds of upper eyelids) of your eyes don't match? Mine don't match half the time. I try to fix them but sometimes to no avail. =(
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| You can get a free iPod. Just click here
and follow the directions. You have to participate in an online
offer and get 5 other people to do the same. Afterwards, you'll
be eligible for a free iPod through the mail. I recommend
choosing a free or trial-period offer. You could always cancel
before they charge you anything.
I saw "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" last Friday. I read
it a long time ago and the movie helped me remember much of the
story. The book is an excellent piece of children's literature,
but the movie falls short like almost every other film
adaptation. The beginning of the movie was good. The
pacing was just right and there were some funny moments, but it got
cheesy towards the end. I thought it was kind of funny
that Lucy's teeth were so messed up at the tender age of 8, but
appeared straight at the end. I thought, "Damn, they
have braces in Narnia?" Maybe it was magic.
Another film adaptation, "Memoirs of a Geisha," is coming out the end
of this month. I think other parts of the world have already had
a chance to see it. I laughed out loud when I heard the
characters speaking fobby English in the TV spot. I can never
take a movie seriously if the language spoken doesn't match the
setting. It just becomes one big joke, especially for a movie
like "Memoirs of a Geisha," which is supposed to have historical
value. Oh well, I've heard the book isn't historically accurate
anyway. The guy who wrote the book, Arthur Golden, was sued by
Mineko Iwasaki, the geisha whom he interviewed while researching for
the novel. Basically, he mentioned her name in the book, despite
their agreement of confidentiality. She also didn't like the way
Golden modeled characters and events from those of her own life, but
portrayed them negatively for dramatic purposes.
I don't agree with the general concensus that Zhang Ziyi is an amazing
actress and looks like a goddess. Does she never smile because
her teeth are so terrible?
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