Ski and Snowboarding

The other day I was asked if I skied or snowboarded. I said that I skied. Right after I said that comment, the person looked at me as if I was his parent. Quickly noticing this I then continued the story saying that I would like to learn how to snowboard in the future after making some money over summer. My statement seemed to satisfy him as his expression brightened up and cheerfully continued the story by asking where and when I would like to learn to snowboard. This is not the first time it happened to me. I never understood why we created this image that skiing is a parent thing or old people sport much like golf. I remember my parents telling me that they skied back when they were my age and it was the cool thing for them. Now skiing is just the opposite. Snowboarding is the new cool thing on the snow. It really amazes me why people care so much if one likes to snowboard or not. They care so much that I see movies where a skier and a snowboarders are racing together like in Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board in Disney channel. I find both skiing and snowboarding cool and have no problem with both. I suppose it is like the relationship between Rollerblade and skateboards or surfboards and boogie boards. I think we hate skiing because it reminds us of our parents and we feel the need to be different than them. Also it maybe just it is outdated for young people, like using a Windows 98 when one should be using Windows Vista. I will probably never find out for sure but all I can say is that I am glad I am planning on learning to snowboard. After I learn to snowboard, I can proudly say I do both rather than just skiing or snowboarding. Maybe snowboarding is funner than skiing or goes faster than skis. Someday when I am about as old as my parents, skiing will be the super outdated sport and snowboarding maybe the dieing sport much like skiing among young teens and a new sport will be replacing snowboarding.

Video Games

Video game consoles are very advanced nowadays. Games like Gears of War 2, Resident Evil 5, and Final Fantasy 13 make their characters and setting so real it amazes me every time I see one. I remember when I first saw Nintendo 64, I was shocked at how everything was crisp and 3D. Now that Nintendo 64 is nothing compared with the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Graphics of some of the game is truly amazing and feels like one is watching a movie. Not only are the graphics realistic but the game play is advanced and is nothing compared with my first game console Super Nintendo. Now in today's gaming system, there are games that are very complicated like World of Warcraft which is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that is very overwhelming at first. This game has continents, cities, forests, food, magic, all environment effects and setting, fantasy creatures and everything. It is fun to play but only after one learns to understand the hundreds of commands and spells. After the person learns to play, it starts to get exciting. Without learning how to play there is nothing one can do. As much as the games are advanced like World of Warcraft and many other games, people are always playing some of the "old school" games. I find these old school games more entertaining than today's games. A game like Mario Kart is simple and fun. Only objective of the game is to win a race. It may sound boring but it really isn't and they do not need to be a gamer expert to play. It is very hard to have a friend who never played games to suddenly pick up an Xbox controller to play Halo 3. He can try but he will probably be bored because of the complexity of the game. However games like Mario Kart, Mario Party and Bomberman are easy to learn and takes just few minutes to explain. Although I like the new games that are out, I prefer the old game system because of its simplicity. In order to have fun with some of the new games like World of Warcraft and etc, one must have skills which require time to acquire. Old school games are excellent when one is bored with couple of friends and have nothing to do. I recommend playing some of these old school games at least once.

Gifts

Mother's day is today and people are looking around everywhere for the perfect gift to their mothers. Whether it is a mother's day gift, birthday or Christmas it requires lots of difficult decision making. I know I struggle every time I have to go out to buy gifts for other people and it takes me a long time. I remember on some birthdays I just gave cash/gift cards because I had no idea what to get. To some people, I just committed a crime. I know people who go as far as saying that cash is the worst gift one can receive and have no though or feeling to the gift. It's better than receiving a coal from Santa Clause but I guess cash is almost as bad. But then what is a good gift? Am I suppose to buy the most expensive thing in the mall? Some people will argue that the gift's expensiveness does not determine how good the gift will be. However, brides receives a diamond ring on their wedding. If I'm correct diamond rings is one of the most expensive things in the mall. Although diamonds rings are expensive, it is the meaning behind the ring that makes it one of the best gifts to give to people. So should all gifts be something expensive and meaningful like a wedding ring? I think the key point in deciding the gift for anyone for any holiday is to think of the person one have to give the gift to. Whether the person is the person's mother, parent or friend it is always wise to think of what that person likes and find something that they will enjoy or love. I believe meaning is important than money. One can spend a couple dollars to make a perfect gift, if they thought through well. People always love handmade objects. I can never craft anything with my hands so I tend to buy a gift that I know will make them laugh for find some interest in. I am still learning the art of finding the right gift to people but I am proud to say that I no longer give cash to anyone I know as a gift.

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Perfect Food

Most everyone loves chocolate chip cookies, whether it be homemade or not. It is easily one of top foods loved by Americans. Chocolate chip cookie is plain and simple, just the chocolate and cookie. Not to mention chocolate chip cookie towers over other kinds of cookie. It is the king of all cookies. I find that chocolate chip cookie is one of those food where people goes crazy about. I know my friends sure do. First they get super excited by hearing the word chocolate chip cookie. When it comes time to eat them, everything must be perfect. With chocolate chip cookie I think there are just too many things going on. I have seem people, including my friends, who complain every second (while eating the cookie of course) that it is not good or "perfect". To them a good chocolate chip cookie must be soft, good balance between the chocolate and the cookie dough, and a non deformed shaped ( a good round cookie). It goes good to perfect when the cookie is fresh out of oven and has milk to eat along with. Milk is a huge deal to them. I have seen number of people become upset when I bring them chocolate chip cookies without milk. I always wonder why it matters so much. I think the cookie tastes fine without milk. To those chocolate chip cookie lovers if it is not perfect they treat it like an oat cookie that none likes. If the cookie is perfect they will go endlessly about how it is good. This seems so exaggerated to me and takes so much effort to eat something so simple. Another thing I can not seem to understand is dipping a hard "bad" chocolate chip cookie into a milk. I think this is a good idea because it tends to soften up. However not everyone seem so excited because there is always that one spot that is still hard. With all this said I just enjoy both "perfect" and "bad" chocolate cookie. Also I tend to reject milk. It sounds crazy to some people but I try not to dip my cookie in milk because I hate getting my hands and floor wet. Hope I did not offend any perfect chocolate chip eaters I know my friends will be pretty upset if they see this post.

Homemade food

Many people love the homemade foods their parents or grandparents make for them. They tend to perfer the homemade food than the ones from the restaurants. Everyone have their special homemade food, my favorite homade food is the soup of broccoli my grandparents make me. There are many reasons why I prefer homemade than anythning else. I love my soup of broccoli because it is part of me and my memory. I remember as a child, I would always have the soup at least once everytime I visited my grandparnts. Seeing their smiles while I drink the soup of broccoli makes me happy and I am sure they enjoy seeing my smile as well. Also my grandparents' homemade soup's taste is always the same and never changes as long as it is made by them. I can tell that the soup is filled with love and my grandparents always ask if I would like another cup after I finish mine. Another thing about homemade food is that it can bring a family together. I always enjoy helping my grandparents make the soup and eating together the soup we made. While eating, my grandparents tell me of how they learned to make the soup from their parents and how they helped out just like how I did. I am always interested in hearing their story and it makes me appreciative of the history of our homemade soup. Not to mention, the soup is very healthy. Someday I would need to learn to make the soup on my own to keep the family tradition. What is surprising is that even if it is not homemade soup of broccoli, whenever I drink one, it always reminds me of my grandparents' soup. It is not the same taste as my grandparents' soup but the memories still come back and makes my meal exciting. I would not care if there is a soup of broccoli that is the best in the world, for me my grandparents soup will always be number one. No other soup in the world has the memories and love like my grandparents' soup.

Pasta versus Noodle

A few weeks back I had shrimp garlic spaghetti for dinner in my dining hall. For a dining hall meal, I thought it was delicious. The rich flavor of garlic went well with the pasta. That very night I had a late night snack, cup ramen or cup noodles. I ate my cup noodle wishing I had a real ramen from Tokyo instead of the cheap instant one. After finishing my cup noodles I noticed that I had two noodle meals in a row, shrimp garlic spaghetti and cup noodles. I then wondered what makes them so different and why. It is common for ramen to include garlic, shrimp and vegetables which are also used in spaghetti as well. Also the main ingredients for both pasta and noodle are made from dough as far as I know. So why is it so different? The obvious answer is that they come from different origin. Also ramen noodles are dipped in a bowl of soup where spaghetti is placed on a plate with a sauce. Another difference is the way in which we eat the two meals. To eat spaghetti, one usually use a fork and twirl it to make into a ball. By twirling the pasta to a ball it makes it easier to eat in one bite. Ramen on the other hand uses chopsticks and is eaten by lifting the noodle in the air to cool it off before slurping down the noodles. So I suppose there are differences in the two meals, but not with the pasta or noodle itself. It may not be the noodle or the pasta that determines what the meal is called. If we were to do an experiment and had just the pasta and noodle on a plate, would we be able to tell the difference? My answer would be that they would not be able to tell the difference. I suppose the way we eat, tools we use to eat and flavoring such as sauce or soup defines the food. Pasta or Noodle alone cannot be a spaghetti or ramen.

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Jamba Addicts

Everyone loves Jamba Juice. I know I sure do. It may not be so populated as Starbucks, but at times they have some huge lines in front, especially around summer times. In my hometown, Jamba Juice is where teenagers hang out. It is their hot spot. Jamba juice is always at a convenient place and is the best thing to get after a hard workout. not to mention, Jamba Juice menus are all healthy, made of fresh fruits and yogurt. I think I have tired everything on the menu except the wheat grass. For those who are unfamilar with Jamba menus wheat grass is exactly as it sounds. They grind up just grass and put them in a cup. My personal favorite menus are the Caribbean Passion, Coldbuster and Razzmatazz. I recommend getting Jamba Juice at least once. However there is a downside for everything. Jamba Juice has been criticised for having too much sugar in their juices. Also the worse part is that people get addicted to it. It became a habit for me to go get Jamba Juice after every swim practice and swim meet in my high school days. I swam everyday except Sundays, so I had Jamba Juice 6 times in a week. Some days I would have one after school and one after practice. My friend who also swam with me got into Jamba Juice so much that he got himself a 50$ Jamba gift card so he wouldn't have to waste his cash. Everytime me and my friend went, we always got Power size, the biggest size they have. Jamba Juice is not cheap either, 50$ gift card didn't last my friend half a month. Jamba Juice is great and will always be better than Starbuck, Robeck or any other place in my opinion. Being a Jamba addict is alot better than being a fast food cheeseburget addict, but still bad in a way. Going into college, I controlled my sugar/fruit hunger and now I go once a month or so. Reason I don't go so often is probably because Cal State Long Beach doesn't have a Jamba Juice on their campus. Good news for me. Being a Jamba addict will get one poor and sugar high. One must control their need no matter what kind of addict they are.

Food and Memory

The other day when I came back home from college, I had dinner with my dad at Olive Gardens. I didn't want to have a boring dinner time with my dad, but he really wanted to so I couldn't resist. I would rather see my friends from home. So I drove to Olive Garden feeling like this is going to be a waste of few hours. It has being a very long time since i went to Olive Gardens and couldn't really recall last time I ate there. I ordered my meal and the bread sticks came along. I forgotten everything on the menu at Olive Gardens but somehow I knew that their bread sticks were good. I picked up a bread stick and took a bite. Sure enough I was right, it was delicious and went for some more. At that moment when I went to grab my second bread stick, I realized why i knew about Olive Gardn bread sticks so much. I ate their bread sticks in my high school swimming club. From then on I recalled my memories about the forgotten days of my high school swimming and how we had a pasta feast with breadsitcks from Olive Garden to celebrate our County Championship. Memories after Memories of good old times flowed in my head while I munched on my bread sticks. I probably ate more bread sticks than my main dish. After reminiscing about my high school, I felt appreciative and felt like I went through a picture album. It certainly made my dinner alot fun than I expected. It's amazing how a flavor of taste can bring back memories. As we get older we forget more and more of our past. Some people can't recall their memory no matter how hard they try. However I believe that even those people can recall their memory, they just need something to remind them. For me food was the key to recall my high school memories, and for others it may be pictures, friends, songs or some random object that may be special only to them. It is hard to recall one's memory alone but using other stuff or getting help from others may be the key to remembering the forgotten days.

Fast food from around the world

There are so many fast food restaurant around us today, its unbelievable! I'm not just talking about American fast food like Carl's Jr or McDonald but cultural/international fast food restaurants like P.F Chang's, Taco Bell, Del Taco, and Panda Express. It's not a surprise to us to see a Mexican fast food restaurant or an Asian fast food restaurant whenever we step outside our doors. People enjoy eating these international food so much that we made them to fast food to have them cheap and availalbe at every possible place one can imagine. These cultural fast food are very very sucessful not to mention. They may not be good as the traditional Mexcian or Asian food but its close enough or some don't care about the traditional taste as long as its fast food. People from couple decades ago would not believe how much foreign food we eat today or how theres a fast food every mile of each other. Why are they so popular? What drives us to want them? Is it because we are tired of eating pizzas and hamburgers? Are we eating international food because we think its healthier even though it's still fast food? Are we attracted to fancy names like orange chicken and eggroll? (not sure why orange chicken is named that way even though it's not orange, and eggroll doesn't look like its rolled in eggs, just crunchy brown stuff). Whatever the reason is it's popular and everyone is going crazy about it. The question is however; will we be intersted in food from other countries like Egypt , France, Germany, India, Arabia, etc. Are we going to love them so much like our Mexcian and Asian food that we make them to fast food restaurants as well? I think there is a possibility that we might. In couple decades from now we could be walking into an African fast food restaurant ordering what maybe strange to us now. It's only a matter of time before we realize that other countries have delicious food and be eating food from around the world within few blocks of our home.