Tag: observations

Some things never change

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Both Jen and I signed up for a gym, since now that I’m a full-time employee with a degree of sustainable income.  This development makes me happy, because I have always enjoyed going to the gym when I used to go, and over the span of the last four years of not having a gym to go to, I have grown unsatisfied with the degradation of my physical conditioning.  Needless to say, I look forward to the anticipation of improved physical conditioning, the revitalization of muscles that I’ve felt have shrunk a little bit, and the day I realize that pants feel looser around the waist.

As of now, I’ve gone twice, and personally I feel great.  It felt good to be in a gym where I can get back to my old routine of running on a treadmill as well as mixing up a combination of free and machine weights.  I don’t feel tremendously sore like the first time ever at the gym, which means I’m not in too terribly bad shape, which I suppose is a good thing.  I look forward to ironing out a routine and adhering to it in coming weeks and months.

But man, I have to say, the meatheads.  Yeah, I know, no gym is without them, but this particular one is, well, wow.  I sort of knew it would be like this, considering it’s a gym right in the middle of Atlanta, but I’m still a little astonished, having seen it for myself in person now.  It’s amazing just how much posing and fake working out goes on in this place; it’s equally parts amusing, entertaining, creepy and sad.

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Neko-Con Stories: Is this really DDR anymore?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Is it really DDR, if you’re 100% reliant on holding the railing throughout the entire durations of every single song you play?  The game is called “Dance Dance Revolution,” not “Hold the Rail and Stomp Hold the Rail and Stomp Revolution (HRSHRSR).”

And these guys were “experts” in the “tournament.”  In every “match,” there was one guy who had a higher score than the other guy, but let’s face it, neither are winners when they’re completely handcuffed to the railing while they have epileptic seizures with their feet, more concerned with the score and not missing any arrows instead of actually, you know, dancing.

Amazingly, despite the fact that every match looked just like the previous match, there was almost always a crowd to watch.  Either they’re really impressed with their scores, or they’re all also contestants waiting for their turn to hold onto the rail and spasm with their legs to the sound of a beat.

Neko-Con Stories: Yoshi at the bar

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

As far as Nanowrimo is concerned, amazingly, I’m off to a fantastic start.  After the first six days in November, I’ve already surpassed the first 10,000 word mark.  That being said, I feel like I’m in a fairly good place, and can take some time to play catch up with my precious brog.  And since I just got back from Neko-Con, I’ve got some things to say and show.

Firstly, to no surprise, I feel old as shit, because I’m 29-years old, and watching a bunch of 12-17 year olds parading around like retards or jailbait.  Clearly, I’m out of touch to some degree, as this is literally the first anime con I’ve been to in like 6-7 years.  I don’t understand why there is such an increase of fake wannabe ravers, why people are fascinated with animal tails, why people love wearing full-bodied mascot/animal pajamas, and most of all, why there are so many people running around wearing surgical masks with stupid pins, flair, and chains hanging off of them.

But anyway, more will be written when I get to it, or remember to write about it, but until then, enjoy the litany of random shit related loosely to Neko-Con in coming days.  Like ronery Yoshi sitting at the bar feeling melancholy and wanting the hard shit.

Creepily personal advertising

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The other day, I got this envelope in the mail.  It was addressed to me in actual handwriting, in a nondescript plain white standard 5×3 envelope.  At first, I thought it might have been another wedding invitation, or maybe a card or something from the past, two of the only things that I could really warrant receiving mail from.  There was no return address anywhere on the envelope either, so for a fleeting moment, I thought maybe it was full of anthrax or something too.

Inside the envelope was a folded piece of newspaper, and a post-it note with some fairly illegible cursive writing, signed off “-J” at the very end.  I figured the newspaper must have been concealing something, acting as a wrapper for something else, maybe a card or a ticket, or something.  But it turns out that there’s nothing at all.  It was just a sheet of newsprint.

I took another stab at reading the post-it note, and realized it said “up to $3,500 for your trade-in!”  And then I took another look at the actual newsprint itself, and it coincidentally a page for a Toyota dealership in the Atlanta area.  It then dawned on me that this whole elaborate ruse was nothing but a creepily personalized advertisement, meant to fool me into thinking that an acquaintance really wants me to look at a Toyota.

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