pat_the_great's Xanga

do be do be do

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 12:49:44 GMT

I realized that my blogs get roughly the same amount of hits when they're active as they do when they're not. Boy, was that a blow to my self-esteem. Hi spam-bots and Google spiders! Hope you enjoy my writing!

in case you've been wondering...

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 04:58:22 GMT

...why i haven't been updating this at all, it's mostly because i've been writing letters to shiyuan, and i don't have anything left over to share for this. so if you're curious, you'll have to ask her to share! ;)

ancient family history

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 04:48:34 GMT

When I left for the Philippines, my great-aunt gave me a small primer on how awesome the people of the Herrera family were, and she told me about her brother-in-law (my great-uncle), Manuel C. Herrera, who had something to do with prosecuting a case related to Ferdinand Marcos while he was still in power. I never knew exactly what it was, but I did a little Googling and found some neat stuff:

One major piece of judicial business facing the President will be a new inquiry into the murder of her husband, Benigno Aquino Jr., who was killed as he stepped off a plane at Manila International Airport in 1983. Apparently emboldened by Marcos' departure, Manuel Herrera, a prosecutor in the ombudsman's office of the graft and corruption court, came forward last week with fresh details about the case. General Fabian Ver, Marcos' Chief of Staff, and 25 other defendants were charged with conspiracy in the assassination. Herrera recalled a meeting with Marcos before the trial began in which the former President asked prosecutors to limit their indictments and suggested how facts might be suppressed. Throughout the discussion, Herrera said, Marcos subtly badgered him to bring reduced charges against some of the defendants, which he later did. At the end of the meeting, Herrera maintained, "Marcos stood up, looked straight in my face and said, 'I am a grateful man. I know how to reciprocate.' " Some witnesses at the Ver trial have indicated that they might wish to change their testimony, and Aquino is expected to reopen the case.

The rest of the article is here , and there's another one that briefly mentions him here.

Wow, I had no idea.

bye!

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 08:01:43 GMT

peace out, usa

it's been real, i'll be back!

(i had this long epic entry underway but then i got tired.)

from a recipe

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:45:26 GMT

...for "light and rich" (as opposed to dark and poor...) cornbread:

Beat whites until stiff.

Best advice I'VE ever gotten.

career couchsurfer

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:43:24 GMT

you know how people sometimes ask as a crazy hypothetical, "if you could save three things from your burning house, what would they be?"

well, i figured it out, more or less, this afternoon. seven minutes of frantic packing yielded:

-vital paperwork (checkbook, passport, fulbright stuff)
-computer + electronics (phone, nintendo ds, ipod + chargers)
-clothing (three tank tops, one collared shirt, two t-shirts, blue jeans, board shorts)
-fight gear (jiu jitsu gi, hand wraps, mouth guard)
-assorted toiletries.

before you could know it, miss shiyuan and i burst out into the bipolar bay area afternoon, feeling like fleeing refugees as we hurdled over to the bus stop, leaving the ashen husk of a former home behind. consider today the day i acknowledge that i have joined the ranks of the homeless twentysomethings.

an ode to the crappy urban outfitters in berkeley

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:46:48 GMT

alternate title: in-store credit catharsis

i have a bizarre relationship with urban outfitters. i don't like 80% of the stuff they sell there, and i'd never buy most of the stuff there anyway because it's too expensive. however, i've had about $50 in store credit over the past few years, starting with a gift card from way back when, that has gone up and down, mostly as i offer to buy people things when we're there so i can use up some of that blasted credit, and then end up returning something or another.

the latest chapter in the saga of this store credit came in the form of a pair of board shorts. i wanted a pair of board shorts because they look comfy and work better for no-gi grappling than gym shorts, and urban outfitters had a bunch on sale - $20 off the tag price. there was a really cool pair, but it was a 30 waist and i'm much larger than that, and allen was in a hurry so i just picked an okay-looking pair, tried it on briefly, and paid for it with my in-store credit, leaving me with none, which was really an extra bonus for me because i hate carrying that shit around since it always makes me feel compelled to buy something when i'm there, just because i can. you know, stupid coffee tables books and shit.

unfortunately, those board shorts didn't work - they felt loose and clumsy and awkwardly fitted - but i really didn't relish the prospect of returning them, because that meant i'd have to find something else to spend the money on. so i waited like three weeks before returning them back with the rest of their friends on the sale rack. however, something nice happened here: i returned them without a receipt, and i ended up getting refunded in store credit for the pre-sale price - about $40 instead of $20. so now i had $40 to play with instead of $20, but it was still $40 for a store that i didn't like enough to go wild in. i toyed with the idea of buying two pairs of on-sale board shorts and returning them the next day, but decided against it. so instead i stopped by the next day and used some of the store credit to buy two tank tops ($20 total), leaving me overall up one black and one canary yellow tank top but still with the same pesky $20 of in-store credit. gaaaah, i thought.

this is where karma intervened. after swiping the card, the cashier-lady frowned a little bit, swiped it again and again and again and mumbled something about the gift card server not working or something. instead of deducting the money off the card, they just bought the card off of me for the $40 and had me pay in cash, leaving me with an extra $20 AND the satisfaction of never having to feel obligated to shop at that blasted store again. feeling flush, i walked down telegraph ave., stopping by the adidas originals store (hahahaha, the only thing you can buy there for $20 are the socks), and then dropping into the buffalo exchange because the adidas store put me in the mood for shoes. while there weren't too many serious candidates for shoes there in my size (two pair of bapestas for $35 each...fake maybe? and some neat pumas), and i was tempted by an adidas black/red track jacket with fleece lining, i stumbled across a veritable oasis in a desert of men's shorts....a pair of comfortable, not-hideous board shorts that fit splendidly, for $13! the last $7 of which would cover the food i had bought over the last two days nicely. (hot dogs, 2-for-1 jamba juice and a steak taco ftmfw!)

pat 1, life 0.

this is why i'm hot, pt.2

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 03:19:20 GMT

i realized while walking from the montclair village (norcal, not socal) with shiyuan that the random size-14 nike kicks that andrew chen gave me matched the jeans and wifebeater i was wearing. i hereby dub my look, "unconsciously fly".

just wait until i get my own fashion label.

back in the bay, for real this time

Wed, 30 May 2007 04:27:17 GMT

so the wave of panic and nostalgia that hit most of the class of '07 hit me a little later, when all the bits of my apartment that belonged to others gradually made their way back to their owners, leaving us with nothing to sit on but a futon or the floor. i sat in a living room that i had never seen so bare before and thought, shit, i'm really leaving. i am leaving a

-shitload of good friends who are totally fucking awesome
-kitchen that is MINE
-apartment with a pool + hot tub
-awesome weather
-fifteen minute walk to a gym and a jiu jitsu gym
-loving, caring, darling girlfriend.
-delicious nachos.

to return to the turf that raised me and paid me. i look forward to a summer of jiu jitsu, writing freelance/blog stuff/possibly a screenplay, reading, and other work-play. then, before i know it, off to japan. if any of you are in norcal, holla atcha boy - i'll be starved for smart company.

i fuckin hate

Wed, 23 May 2007 06:41:48 GMT

scary movies wtf