money, money, money, money, moneyyyyyyy

That's some old school there.

With back-to-school approaching (yes, I'm already thinking of that), the pressure of tuition fees comes up as well. I've paid for my first two years of university, but I think that's where my debt free streak will end. With coaching taking up my time during the first semester and my vacation taking up a lot of time in the summer, I've been left with few working days. Couple that with the amount of money I spent during my vacation, ahhhhh. I have about enough to pay for half a year, but then I'll be absolutely broke. I won't have money to pay for gas, a parking pass, my cellphone, and other necessities. Apple finally decided to bless us with a new iBook as well, which I have been wanting to get since Christmas. Goddamn! I've never really sweat it about money, but I am starting to. Growing up sucks. I wish I could just pay for school by mowing Quad every week or something.

world masters games

The World Masters Games started on Friday. I got a hold of a Media Pass from The Gateway and went to shoot some sports! I was on the ground level for the opening ceremonies and it was amazing! Anne McLellan looked at me and said hi, I felt so special. I only got two days of shooting, so click the picture below to see some of what I got.

i've got everything i want in my life, except a...

...girlfriend.

That's how the song goes. Right now I'm singing with B2K. It's usually only when I have too much time on my hands that I yearn for the "better half." Times like now, when I don't have a volleyball season to think about, a hard term at school to work though, or a job to consume my every waking hour. Don't get me wrong, I still about girls during those times, but it's different. Can't explain it any differently, except that it is different.

Questions just fill my mind, like why don't I have a girlfriend? I mean I'm a fairly clean cut boy (when I shave), I have direction in my life (think future, I'll be able to support a family as a teacher...I hope), I'm active (even though I like to be lazy), I'm willing to listen (often to other peoples' relationship problems), I'm funny (at least a bit), and I can sing and dance like Justin Timberlake. I guess it's just one of those things that looks good on paper, but real life is a different story.

I think there have been a few situations where I shut down a girl who was trying to start something up with me. My heart just wasn't in on it for these girls at the time. But now, looking back, I think I should've taken these opportunities just to at least have tried them out. Then I could at least say I tried and it didn't work, but it is hard to force yourself to like someone. I understand it so.

Wow, that was the first deep blog I've done in a while. I'm sure I missed some stuff on here that I thought of while I was writing this in my head, but it's the gist of it. Hope you enjoyed it!

home

by Michael Bublé.

I'm coming home, y'all.

so everybody everywhere...

...don't be afraid, don't have no fear

I'm watching a BSB special on MTV China. Let's have an update on my ventures. I bought a new phone, again. I now have two phones!! The plan is to sell my Motorola to someone in the city, last case would be to sell it on eBay. Come on people, it can take advantage of the GSM 850 network on Rogers. My new(est) phone is the Sharp 902SH loaded with the SX813 firmware. I'm gonna be the coolest cat on the block.

I've also cruised a few blocks of street vendors. There are t-shirts, flashlights, batteries, lighters, lingerie, CDs, and sex toys. Hell yes, you can buy sex toys on the street. I dunno why, but a mini porn shop on the street is just so funny to me. Just exposed dildos, vibrators, and skimpy thongs on a table with a dirty old man (or woman) selling them. I even saw this huge jade penis, weird.

Comparing Hong Kong and Tokyo? Hong Kong has a much easier train system to travel on, but I guess it's way smaller. Tokyo has better dressed people and prettier girls. Hong Kong is dirtier than Tokyo. There are more polite people in Tokyo. Cell phones are way sweeter in Tokyo (mine new one is Japanese) than in Hong Kong. Japanese cars own. All in all, I love Tokyo. Even though I don't like densely populated places, Tokyo is very much tolerable to me. Not that HK is intolerable, just that I like Tokyo better. I plan on going back in the future.

The next trip is to China tomorrow. We're going to see the terracotta warriors, then go to Shanghai. I'll get my opinion on a third large city there. Until next time...

for sale

My Motorola V600 is up for sale. I just bought it here, but today I saw the phone I originally wanted. It's a really nice phone with a camera, Bluetooth, speaker phone and other things. You have to be on Rogers though because it uses a SIM card. If you're on Rogers and are in need of a new phone, please consider it. I will include the HS820 Bluetooth headset (I think it's Motorola's newest model, it has Bluetooth 1.2 compatibility) and you can have the package for $300. The phone alone is about $285. If you just want the phone, I'll give it up for $225 (or shout me an offer). Please help a brother out! If you know someone (who is on Rogers) that always complains about their phone, tell them I have one for sale!

drinking in hong kong (not LA)

Today, I can honestly say that I had some fun. I spent a day out with my god-uncle (I think that's what it translates to) and crew and the night was with my uncle and cousin. My uncle gave me the phone I decided to buy (the Motorola V600) over a few drinks. My little cousins (just turned 17 Mike and 15 year old Marco) got into the "bar" as well. Crazy. I had two Carlsbergs (they're huge here) and we decided to go to a different bar when Marco went home. My uncle thought that Mike could pass as 18, and he did. The next bar we entered was a little different, in that people played some games. My uncle is a self-described "over-the-hill" (I'm guessing 40s), but he said that they (the over-the-hills) still go out to the bars. Now this is different than the Edmonton oldies who go to have a couple of drinks at Overtime (both locations, but downtown more), because the Hong Kong oldies have a couple drinks and play a few games to relieve some stress. Hong Kong is a much faster paced city, so they drink to let it all go. My uncle calls my cousin a 3 o'clock "something" (I forgot the word). Three o'clock in that 1 and 2 o'clock for the nipples and 3 o'clock for the beaver (haha, my uncle [Ryan, this uncle is the Mini's dad] is a funny Honger. Honger humour is so funny because it's so corny). Anyways, he calls her a 3 o'clock something because she stays out until 3 all the time. Okay, lemme write about some drinking games I learned tonight before I go to bed.

These two games both involve the use of dice. You need a plastic, opaque cup and five dice for each player. Okay, let's begin:

The Lying Game (or bluffing game)
This one involves some strategy. Here's how you play:
First, everyone shakes up their dice really well. You decide on a player to go first. This person starts off by guessing how many of each number of dice there are in total of everyone's dice. For example, if I am to guess: I would guess that there are four fives in all of everybody's dice. Ones are wild, unless somebody guesses that there are a certain amount of ones, in which case a one is only a one. Then the next person guesses, but this time, they must say there are at least five fives or four sixes in all of the dice combined. This means that you can guess that there are the same number as the previous guess as long as the number on the dice is more, unless you pick a higher number. In the case of four fives, I can say five dice of twos, threes, or fours (or ones if somebody said ones); but I can also say five fives or five sixes. I don't have to go up in increments of one either, in that I can say 6 or more fives right after the previous person says four fives. This game goes on until somebody opens up their dice. This means that they think the person is lying (or bluffing). If I said eight fives and somebody calls me, everybody opens their cup and pull out all the fives they have. If the total is 8 or more, then I win and the person who called me loses. If the total is less than 8, then I lose (because I bluffed) and I drink. This game is a game of strategy and is more complicated than it sounds. Mike got crunk in this game (and eventually puked).

The Lucky Star
This game involves a little more luck. It is kind of like poker, in that the ranking of hands is used. The five dice act as five cards with the ones acting as aces (the highest card). Everybody shakes up their dice and opens them up (unlike the last game where the dice are kept secret). Then you separate your dice into poker hands. You can have pairs, two pairs, trips, full houses, straights, or nothing at all. After everyone opens up, the person with the lowest hand gets to shake again. They can shake any amount of dice they want (for example, if they have a pair of threes, they can keep them and try to go for a three of a kind or four of a kind). If they open up and are still the weakest hand, they drink. If they are not the weakest hand anymore, the new weakest hand shakes again. This can go around the whole table, but you can only shake twice (your first shake and a reshake). This means that if you are still the weakest hand after your reshake, you drink. If you are the weakest hand after somebody reshook and you already reshook, then you have to drink (are my tenses correct). This one is more of a luck game. Know your poker hands.

Now I'm a little buzzed right now, but I had some super fun. There are other games where you use your hands like rock-paper-scissors, but I didn't learn those. Hope you have fun with these games! I hope I remember them when I come back, so that I can teach them to you. Now this laptop is killing my sperm and it's past 3 o'clock in the morning, so I have to sleep. Enjoy.