New York - day 1

 this is going to look weird because I'm doing this from my phone,  but I'm in New York for the week.  took the red eye here,  probs won't take a red eye again lol  although I don't really feel tired right now. I think it's because I drink alot of water.  my gf is here with me and she's sleeping smh.  she doesn't drink any water.

 first thing,  we're staying at a really nice place on wall street.  my gf found it via air bnb  and it was roughly 200  dollars cheaper than a hotel.  I'll try to include pics later.  oh yeah  first time walking in we saw omeka okafor  who us used to  play for the charlotte  bobcats.  he opened the door for us it was on some king  chit lol.

 first thing we a te was  Katz,  fuark most apps sandwich in existence.  it was almost like we came from Seattle js for that (I wouldn't be mad either).  after that we were close to soho  so we went shopping -- I bought alot of stuff smh  at least more than I usually do.  to my credit I also got gifts for others lol.  oh yeah we saw a guy get knocked out by the nypd  bc he tried to steal a hat from tommy hilfiger  lmaoooooo get owned  nerd.  but srs the chip was like pinning him down on some wrestlemania  chit while people were tapping it with Thierry phones  on  some woooooorrrlllstaaaahhhhh  type stuff.

 anyway,  we chillin at the place now and I handled bathroom business so I'm relaxed chillin in my financial district studio reading books on business productivity ( srs). I think the guy were renting from is on his entrepreneurial thing and he has all the books on my list regarding productivity.  so ya I'm actually still reading on vacation which could be sad or really kewl depending on ur perspective.

I think it's kewl. k  bye  maybe again tmrw

How I Got My Family Banned From America On-Line

There was a time where the internet was slow, where it took 20 minutes to download a song, where literally all there was on the internet was information. This was before broadband internet -- this was dial-up. Before the Comcasts, Clearwires, Verizons... There was was only one real company connecting all of America to the internet. It was called America On-Line.

And this is how my 9-year old self got my family banned from America On-Line.

I was in elementary school. My family recently got our first computer --  a 166mHz Gateway2000. Being the curious, nerdy, Asian kid that I am -- I naturally gravitated towards it. I read all the instruction manuals. I played with all the packaged software (I spent hours on Encarta97). I could tell you anything about that computer.

So when I installed America On-Line and got my family on the internet, I definitely thought I was hot shit. I was all over that thing -- reading up on all sorts of random stuff, going into all sorts of chatrooms on some "a/s/l" type stuff tryna get girl's pictures (I would say I was 16 when I was 9, felt like a badass), reading about what video games were coming out. I was hooked.

This was also the time where I was heavily interested in Magic: The Gathering -- a card game where you create your own deck to play against other people. A nerdy card game that I was getting my ass routinely beat by one of my best elementary school friends -- his name was Mykel. (srs)

I needed help at Magic. I needed to build a better deck. I needed to beat Mykel.

Naturally, using my America On-Line know-how (lol), I venture confidently into the Magic: The Gathering chat room. I stride into the room and my 9-year old self proclaims, "i ned help buildin my magic deck plaes help me".

No response by the 50+ deep quorum. I repeat again, "i ned help wit my deck please!!!" 

Still nothing.

Frustrated, I downloaded a macro program that pretty much hacked America On-Line and allowed the user to do things that weren't allowed. One of those capabilities was being able to e-mail mass amounts of people for any number of e-mails. I was going to e-mail these people in the chat room directly. I needed to get help with my Magic deck, and my 9-year old self was going to break the rules to do it.

I open up the program, select everybody in that chat room and indicate that I want to send 3 e-mails to each -- you know, a little feeler to get some interest (lol). I go to compose my message...

"hi my name is james i need help building my magic deck. i like red but i have alot of blue and green cards. please help"

Content and satisfied with my message, I hit send. I just sent over 150 e-mails in under a second. Asking for help. With a card game.

Not going to lie, I went to school the next day super confident. I was finally going to get the help to push me over the edge -- I was finally going to be able to make a strong deck! I got home and rushed to the computer -- I couldn't wait to see all the replies from everybody in the chat room.

Instead of being knee deep in Magic: The Gathering tips, I couldn't log on. It wouldn't let me. I got banned from America On-Line.

I didn't know what hit me. I was astounded. My papa made me call AOL and find out why we were banned -- it was because of those 150 e-mails. I was in deep shit, lol.

I just got my family banned from America On-Line by asking for help with a card game.

Safe to say I got grounded for awhile, lol.

Human Capability, Curiosity, and Imagination

I feel that having both an active curiosity and imagination is very important and should be cherished. I'm sure animals and bugs and stuff also are curious and have an imagination -- its just that humans can actually make "it" happen.

A spider can be like "Man, I wanna make a skyscraper!" but it physically can't -- it can make a really nice web though.

Humans can though.

That's why it lowkey saddens me that kids nowadays are being too absorbed and inundated with technology -- they are 'told' what to think.