LittleBuddhaTW

The Detroit Tigers are on a winning streak again ... well, it's only two games so far, but it sure beats how crappy they were doing the past couple weeks. AND, it looks as though Gary Sheffield will be back in the line-up tonight. Now, all they need to do is get Joel "Zoom-Zoom" Zumaya off the DL (aiming for Aug. 21st, baby!) and get Kenny Rogers back in shape, and we've got a good shot at the World Series again. Woo-hoo! I got my plane and hotel reservations today for my trip to San Francisco at the end of October/early November, and I'm really looking forward to meeting DK, Trebs and whoever else shows up. Since the owners of our company are totally cheap, I figured I'd have to share a room with my boss, but I'm getting my own room, which will make it a little easier to come staggering in drunk at 2 AM ... One last thing ... it is DAMN HOT around here ... it might even be worse than in Taiwan. The air-conditioning in my apartment is weak, and so is the A/C in my office. Plus, I'm in a corner office (because I'm special like that!), so I've got windows on two sides, which gets the office heated up really fast. Anyway, I hope some of you will be able to come out to San Fran to say hi ... there's a discussion going on in the "Lounge" forum for anyone who is interested. And did I mention I'll have a hotel room all to myself ..........

I just got my plane and hotel reservations today ... and I DON'T have to share a room with my boss ... WOO-HOO! It's a pretty damn nice hotel, too ... should be fun! However, wherever we end up going, I'll need a ride ... I'm assuming Dan and Trebs will be able to pick me up at my hotel? *Hugz* Buddha P.S. - I'm scared to meet Joey too, Vic, so don't feel bad! Not scared about meeting Dan and Trebs, though ... those two are getting HUGE hugs from the Buddha!

Not sure if I'll be able to make the mid-afternoon thing, since I'm actually supposed to be working (ugh! who ever heard about working on a business trip? lol), but dinner and afterwards should be okay.

Sorry to disappoint, but it may be a while yet for that one ... The time I used to use for writing has been spent doing a lot of translation work recently ... I can only spend so much time typing in front of the computer. But I promise, there will be more stories in the future ... there are a few decent ideas running around in my head. In the meantime, I've been enjoying dkstories's brand-new story ("Rich Boy") and Josh's new story, "Jeet" (over at AwesomeDude). You might want to check those out ...

I'm $10 richer today ... I'm a big Detroit Tigers fan, and my boss is a big Atlanta Braves fan. Anyway, Detroit starting pitcher Kenny Rogers was on the DL all year so far, and made his comeback start last night against Atlanta. My boss and I had $10 riding on the game, and Kenny Rogers totally SMOKED the Braves last night. WOO-HOO! Even though I grew up in Maryland, I spent the first six years of my life in Detroit, and have loved the Tigers since I knew what baseball was. My dad always tried to get me to like the Baltimore Orioles after we moved here, but I resented moving to Maryland, so I've always stubbornly supported the Tigers. The past couple years that they've actually been winning have been great. Work has been really busy, and we got a couple big projects last week. I'm also working on two large software localization projects (translation of software ... much more involved than simple document translation) that will hopefully be kicking off in the beginning of July, one for $30,000 and the other for over $100,000. I'm not doing the translating myself, I'm just the one who's securing and managing the deals. If they work out, hopefully that will mean a nice big bonus at the end of the year. We got a new employee at work a couple weeks ago. He's pretty darn hot ... unfortunately, he's very "Christian" and has a girlfriend, but we'll see about that ... We're all planning a weekend trip to Kings Dominion (amusement park) in August. We'll drive down early on a Saturday morning, go to the park all day, spend the night at a hotel, and go to the adjacent water park the next day. I've been working so much lately, it'll be nice to have a little mini-vacation. I usually do extra translation work on the evenings and weekends. This is the first weekend in months that I haven't had any extra work to do. The extra money is great, but I've been getting burned out, so I guess I need a little rest. Finally, I've gotten totally addicted to the ABC Family show "Kyle XY." If y'all haven't seen it, you HAVE TO! It's really awesome, and the actor who plays Kyle is H-O-T (Matt Dallas).

Already listed here that I've really enjoyed are "Sommerstrum" (Summer Storm), "Formula 17" (a Taiwanese gay movie), "Beautiful Thing" (one of my all-time faves), "Latter Days" (I've always wished I could corrupt a cute Mormon boy), "Mysterious Skin" (Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a cute butt!) and "C.R.A.Z.Y" (something about cute boys speaking French ... mmmmm). A cute French indie film called "Ma vrai vie a Rouen" (My Life On Ice) was also really good, and the main character, played by French actor Jimmy Tavares, is H-O-T. I also really enjoyed a Hungarian indie film called "Abandoned" ... it isn't overtly "gay," but there is definitely a homoerotic sub-context there. It's a very sad movie, though, so prepare yourselves. Finally, "Wild Tigers I Have Known" is another really good one, and it's pretty new (it was on On Demand a month or so ago).

Sheesh, sounds like things have been kinda crappy lately. I would be a total mess if anything happened to any of my cats. I'm lucky that they've never had any problems, even after all they've been through, traveling on an airplane for 24 hours, being moved around several times, etc. I know how much you love your cat, so I also know you're probably more concerned about her than your own health. Just make sure to take good care of yourself, and you, Sam, and Kitty will be in my thoughts. *Hugz* Buddha

I've been thinking about getting a third tattoo, actually ... And I'll be in SF in October, Vic, so if you wanna swing by and go to dinner with me, DK, and Trebs, drop me a line. *Hugz* Buddha BTW, I looked really adorable in my Calvin Klein suit today ... unfortunately, the gorgeous 25-year old Costa Rican boy I work with was even hotter ... *sigh*

Well some of you have already seen my pic (and dkstories has seen a few others ... ) ... I don't have any recent ones 'cause I'm pretty camera shy (I swear!) ... I actually have to get dressed up in a suit tomorrow for a meeting (ugh), so maybe I'll take a new one and post it. Speaking of pictures, though, I got my driver's license renewed last weekend, which I wasn't thinking of when I got my head shaved (buzzed, not bald) and let my goatee grow out, so I look like a gangsta ... but oh well ... Oh, WTF, here's one from a year ago when I was still over in Taiwan ...

It seems like all I've been doing since I moved back to the States is work ... I basically have no social life. I spent five years at college in Florida, then almost six years in Taiwan ... I had my life and friends in those places, and not being in school and not really enjoying going to clubs and stuff, it's really hard to develop a social life and circle of friends from scratch. It really sucks. Sure, I'd count most of my co-workers as friends, and we do have some social activities (we're going to a water park together in mid-June, and maybe an overnight trip to an amusement park in August), but not a whole lot. On the plus side, I'm doing very well at my job, making pretty good extra money by doing freelance translation in my spare time, and I'm learning A LOT about the translation industry. The owner of one of our partner companies in Spain came to our office today, and spent almost the whole day teaching me stuff, and I learned more in those 5 hours than I have in several months of being at work, and he is a SUPER nice guy (and that Spanish accent drives me CRAZY! hehe) We've been so busy lately that we've had to get a temp to come in and help out. He's REALLY cute and only 19 years old ... unfortunately, I don't get to work with him (I'm in meetings and on the phone with clients all the time, while he works on proofreading patent translations). At least he's nice to look at ... I get to attend a sort of translation industry trade show in San Francisco for 3-4 days in October. Hopefully I'll have time to get together with dkstories and Trebs while I'm there ... that would be pretty cool. Other than that, nothing much else has been going on ... if anyone has any ideas on how to get a "life", please feel free to share! *sigh*

Has it really been a month since I last blogged? Wow! Anyway, I've been keeping busy with work. This week is especially insane, since we have a 75,000 word Chinese to English rush project coming due. I'll probably have to stay late the next couple of nights to get everything proofread. Also, my assistant is out until Thursday, so I've been having to do twice the work, and it seems that when he's out, all the crazy requests start coming in. One thing that's turned out to be kind of cool with my job is that my boss seems to really like me. He confides in me a lot, stuff he doesn't talk to anyone else about (and probably shouldn't be talking to me about), asking for my advice, etc. It's kind of a good feeling. My current job isn't exactly my "dream job," but I still think I'm doing a lot better than most people. Plus, I've got a good boss, something that seems pretty rare nowadays. I'm also picking up about $500/week's worth of extra translation work to do at home and on the weekends, so I should have my credit cards paid off by this summer ... woo-hoo! Our company picnic is coming up this Friday. I'm making my famous pasta salad, and I'm trying to find a Durian fruit (look it up!) to take. Remember how I mentioned before that Kevin Zegers is, like, the hottest guy ever to walk the face of the earth? Well, I've changed my mind. Shia LaBeouf (from 'Disturbia,' and soon to be starring in 'Transformers') now has my vote for the hottest guy. He's sooooooooooooo dreamy! I watched him in "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" last weekend, and it was really good. I also watched "Alpha Dog," and it was much better than I expected, albeit extremely depressing. Anywho, I'd better start getting dressed for work (which is a lot easier nowadays, since the company announced that casual Friday is EVERY DAY!)

Luc, I'm sorry I haven't been around a lot lately. Maybe if I had been around for you to talk to, things wouldn't be as bad as they seem. I just read Mark's posting of Scott's e-mail, so I'm glad you're ok and are in the hospital. And not to sound insensitive or anything, but GET YOUR SH*T together! If I EVER hear you say anything that incredibly STUPID again, I will drive up there, hunt down your pasty white butt, and throw a 20kg cast iron Buddha statue at your head. Don't you EVER, EVER, EVER scare any of us here like that again. There are people out there (including here) who care about you and would do anything to help you through whatever issues you think you're going through. I may have been busy lately, but I would drop everything I'm doing to help you if you'd just asked. And Sharon - YOU TELL HIM, GIRL!!! *woot* *Stomps off in an annoyed huff* Love, Buddha

Today marks Elton John's 60th birthday, and he's "still standing" better than he ever did. He is playing a special celebratory concert at Madison Square Garden tonight, which will be streamed live on MSN Music at 8:30 PM. Here is the link in case anyone reads this in time and wants to catch it (although it should be available for at least a few days afterwards for anyone who wants to see it, and there will probably be a DVD, too): http://music.msn.com/eltonjohn?GT1=7704& I had a pretty productive day today, running errands all morning, and bought a new set of speakers for my computer just for the concert tonight. I really need to get a new computer (the laptop I'm using now is about 3 years old). Unfortunately, computers are expensive, and I need to get my credit cards paid off before I invest in a large purchase like a computer. The good news is that I got a nice tax refund this year, which will go a long way in paying those off. I should be all set by this fall (or maybe end of the summer). I watched a REALLY good German film yesterday, called "Summer Storm." It's a gay coming-of-age story, starring Robert Stadlober (a really HOT German singer, who also has a nice butt ). It's one of the best gay films I've seen, right up there with "Get Real" and "Beautiful Thing." It's definitely worthwhile if you get the chance to see it. And finally, the Florida Gators made it to the Final Four in the NCAA Championship Series. They'll be playing UCLA next, and it's very possible that there could be a re-match of the last national championship football game if Ohio State makes it to the final game as well. That would be interesting! GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!

Uhhhh ... but he ain't even cute! Now, Chris Richardson (the guy who they've compared to Justin Timberlake) ... he's H-O-T!!!!!

Voting for Dubya would lead one to believe so ... the fact that Sanjaya is still on "American Idol" is the final proof. OK ... so I *love* "American Idol" ... I didn't even know what it was until a few months ago, since they didn't show it over in Taiwan. I'm sure it will wear off eventually ... but for now I'm enjoying it. Why? Probably because it gives pathetic people like me the room to dream that "normal" people have a chance at something great. At any rate, the fact that people keep voting for this Sanjaya kid, the absolute WORST performer on there, is just mind-boggling. Apparently, a lot of it has been precipitated by this VoteForTheWorst.com site, which encourages people to vote for the worst performer and thus ruin the show. What these idiots don't realize is that what they're really doing is trashing the dreams of someone who actually does have talent, while embarrassing someone else who doesn't belong on that stage (and knows it). When I found out tonight that Chris Richardson (who is TOTALLY GORGEOUS ... not to mention pretty darn talented ... one of the top two or three performances from last night) was among the bottom two vote getters, I almost had a conniption fit ... and that Sanjaya kid wasn't even one of the bottom vote getters! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR! OK ... enough of that for now. Nothing else is really going on in my life. Work is ok, I guess. My boss keeps giving me new responsibilities, but not more money, which sucks. I like my job (sort of), but I think I'm more valuable than what I'm getting paid. Nevertheless, I can see how I do need more experience before I can get a higher paying job, and where I'm at now is giving me lots of experience. In about a year and a half, I should be able to get something a lot better. Anyway, we'll see ... As for stories I've been reading, I'm following Dom's new story. It's not my favorite of his so far, but I'm enjoying following the continuation of Owen's life, even if he only seems to be a minor character in this one. I had started reading John Francis' "Pieces of Destiny," and was really enjoying it, but now it seems to have just stopped. Bummer ... When am I going to write again? I have no idea, honestly ... I have tons of ideas ... constantly ... but that's part of the problem ... too many ideas to just sit down and put one to paper (or screen, as the case may be). Also, when I get home from work in the evening, I'm just too darned tired to sit at the computer any more ... either that, or I have extra translation work to do. I've been thinking about maybe going back to Taiwan, although I don't think it's very likely. There isn't much room for career advancement over there, and I wouldn't want to go through all the hassle of packing up my life again to move halfway across the world ... it's quite a strenuous experience. Who knows, maybe I will in another year or so, but for now I guess I'll stay here, pay off my credit cards, and see what happens.

Well, he's not gay (as far as I know), but he has said that most of his (guy) friends are gay ... hmmm ... A gay boy can dream, can't he? And yes, I have seen "Transamerica" ... that is one FINE piece of derriere on that boy ... *RAWR*

So, I've decided that the hottest guy alive is Kevin Zegers (he was the kid in those cheesy "Air Bud" movies - but now he's all grown up, and boy has he grown up!) His most recent movie, "It's a Boy Girl Thing," was actually produced by Elton John and his partner, David Furnish. If anyone doesn't know who he is, go Google him ... trust me, he's F-I-N-E. I was soooooooooooo disappointed last week when Sundance got booted from "American Idol." He was definitely my favorite of the guys, ever since he totally tore up the classic blues song "Stormy Monday" in his first audition. Now that he's gone (in favor of the "ghastly" -- as Simon would put it -- Sanjaya Malakar) my fave guy is Chris Richardson. Not only is he pretty talented, but he's HOT. Yeah, I guess I'm shallow ... oh well. Anywho, I think I'm gonna go drool over more pictures of Kevin Zegers now.

I don't remember ... but I'm thinking I'm probably going to find out eventually ...

It's been about a month since my last blog entry, so I thought I should write something. Not a whole heck of a lot has been going on in my life. I haven't really made much of an effort to meet people since I got back from Taiwan, so my social life is basically non-existant. I either don't have the motivation to get out there and do something with my life, or I'm too lazy. I've been beginning to wonder if I made the right choice to come back to the States. Things just haven't been working out the way I had hoped/planned. I don't dislike my job, and I'm lucky to have really nice co-workers (except for this one old Chinese lady that everyone dislikes) and a really nice boss (an ex-Army guy with the personality to match, severe Type A personality -- but he really is a great guy and treats us all well) ... but, I wouldn't want to be doing this forever, especially not for the money I'm making. I mean, shit, with the money and effort that I put into my education (double major at a really good university, and a M.A. in one of the most difficult foreign languages you can possibly undertake to learn), and nothing really good is emerging. It's thoroughly depressing. I've done quite a bit of freelance translation work in my spare time over the past couple of months so I can get my credit cards paid off more quickly. I don't really like doing it, because I don't have the patience for that kind of work, but it pays decent. I don't understand how people can be full-time freelance translators. I guess it's nice that you can make your own schedule and pick and choose the projects you take, but it's extremely monotonous, feast or famine, and not much room for career advancement. But to each their own, I guess. I signed up for that "Blockbuster Total Access" service where they mail DVD's to you, instead of having to go into the store. I like it, cause you can get all kinds of independent and foreign films that you couldn't usually find in the stores. I've seen a few good ones so far. I watched "Beautiful Thing" and "Joe the King" this weekend. Both were EXCELLENT. I would highly recommend both, and "Joe the King" reminded me of Vance's kind of story quite a bit ... I could picture him writing the screen play for that. As for reading, I haven't been doing a whole lot of that lately. I have been following Dom's "In the Fish Bowl," but so far don't like it as much as his other stories. I really hope he'll finish up "With Trust." But, having written a couple stories myself, I know that if the inspiration isn't there, it ain't gonna happen. I've also been reading "Pieces of Destiny" by John Francis over at AwesomeDude. I really like the way this story is going. I'm also still following EleCivil's "Laika," and was really happy when I saw the latest chapter posted last week ... it'd been a while. It was a GREAT chapter, too, and the interaction between Brandon and Nick was extremely well-written. I could literally feel what they were feeling as I was reading ... the emotions were so familiar and so well described. Anyway, that's about it for now ... not much else to say.

So, I just celebrated my 29th birthday ... well, I wouldn't exactly say "celebrate," cause I hate the idea of getting older. But as us Buddhists believe, it is inevitable ... old age, sickness, death, suffering, etc. I've been totally captivated by the whole "Miracle in Missouri" story, and was so happy to hear that they found those two boys. I saw the older one (who was missing for 4 1/2 years!) today on "Oprah" ... you could see in his eyes that he's been through hell. I even cried when he got to meet for the first time the two cops who spotted the truck and notified the FBI ... he literally melted into their arms when they hugged ... it was sooo sweet! However, I was disgusted when I found out that the penalty for a Class B Felony Kidnapping charge in Missouri (which is what that creep is being charged with against the older boy) is only 5-15 years of prison time! That SICK BASTARD deserves to be locked up for the rest of his pathetic life. It hasn't come out yet whether there was any sexual abuse involved (although the older boy's parents said on "Oprah" that they believe he was molested), and if it did happen, that scum should be castrated. The state of Missouri definitely needs to toughen its laws. 5-15 years for what he put that poor kid through is shameful ... absolutely shameful. On a happier note, I'm very honored to have received so many nominations for the 2006 GA Members' Choice Awards for SOOTB. It was a fun (albeit difficult) story to write, and I do have something else in the works. And while I'm here, I need a little computer help ... somehow I managed to get the toolbar at the bottom of my screen (you know, that has the "Start" button and all) moved from a horizontal position on the bottom of the screen where it should be, to a vertical position on the right side of the screen ... how in the heck do I undo that? I didn't see any way to move it back when I right-clicked over it and it had options for the tool bar, and re-starting the computer didn't put it back in its original position ... HELP!!!!!!

Wow!!! Thanks to everyone for all of the sweet wishes ... I didn't really do anything fun for my birthday, but they did give me a cake at work. My parents may be taking me out to eat this weekend ... I'm in the mood for a nice, big juicy steak. Thanks again, y'all!

Wow! I must say that I'm extremely flattered to have won three awards! Thanks, Nick! Have a great New Year!

So, Christmas was alright, I suppose. I haven't really celebrated Christmas for the past 5 years or so, since I was overseas for so long. It definitely isn't the same as when I was a kid. I got a new watch, which is pretty cool, a sweater, a kitchen table, and that's about it. My grandmother came in from out of town, and it was nice to see her again. The nicest part, though, was having yesterday off work. I wish I'd had more time off, especially since the situation with this Farsi translation project just keeps getting worse. Ugh. I don't know what got into me yesterday, but I started trying to look up people online that I haven't spoken to in years and years. I looked up the real "Ryan" (from SOOTB), who I haven't talked to in almost 10 years, and sent him an e-mail. He hasn't replied yet. I'm not sure if I want him to or not ... if I find out that he's married and has a kid now or something, I'd probably be pretty bummed. He was so gosh darned cute. And then I looked up the namesake of "Toby" (even though they're nothing alike, except for the name). I went to camp with him back when I was in middle school. He was totally adorable too (at least back then), and was one of my first crushes. I sent him an e-mail too, but got an automated response that he's out of his office until January 2nd, so I guess I'll have to wait until then to see if he replies (or even remembers me). The cute boy that I've been seeing is on vacation with his parents, so it's kind of boring around here ... not that I get to see him all that often anyway, because he's in school and works part-time. Hopefully we can work on that. I don't really mind all that much, though, cause I don't really want anything too intense or time-consuming at the moment. Anywho, that's about it for now. Merry Belated Christmas to everyone, and Happy New Year!

Have you ever just had one of *those* days? Ugh ... today was one of those. Every problem or annoying situation that could have come up at work did ... and we had one really annoying problem with a Farsi translation job that we're working on. My boss underestimated the word count by 2,000 words, and promised a much faster turnaround time than was at all reasonable. It's not exactly easy to get Farsi translators, and the ones that we do have live on the other side of the world, so you have to count on at least a 12 hour delay in communicating with them ... the boss didn't think to take that into account, yet still expected me to get it done based on the original turnaround time. I bitched him out and told him that he screwed it up, so he had to call the client and tell them that they're going to end up paying for 2,000 more words (twice, since they wanted a translation AND back translation -- which is a silly thing to do anyway), and that we would have to deliver late. I stood my ground and he did. I live about 6 miles from work, but traffic here is always a pain in the ass. So, it usually takes me about 20-25 minutes to get to work and back in the evening. Tonight, it took me 2 hours to drive 6 friggin' miles! I couldn't believe it. I still have no idea what the deal was. I saw a bunch of cop cars, and a chunk of the road that I take (and that's always backed up) was blocked off with flares and stuff, but I didn't see any sort of problem. It was a royal pain in the ass and left me in a none-too-good mood. At any rate, I'm finally home, and now I can relax for a few hours before I have to go to bed, then get up in the morning and do it all over again. I've also been working on a translation project in my spare time. It's not that big, only about 5,000 words, and I've had tons of time, but it's highly technical stuff. I only have about one more page to go, and I'll be sooo glad when it's finished. I'll end up making about $400 extra for doing this, so that'll be nice.

In principle, I agree. If hitting is the absolute last resort to defend yourself (or someone else who can't defend themselves), then I don't think gender matters. However, I think actually striking someone is an absolute last resort. One thing 11+ years of martial arts has taught me is that there are many ways to diffuse a conflict without hitting someone, some physical, others non-physical. As for the physical methods, there are many methods to subdue someone who is trying to hurt you without hitting them (i.e. arm bars, pressure points, joint locks, etc.) Anywho ... Nick, I sure hope your dad isn't still hitting people, whether it's you or your step mom. In reading "What's the Difference Between Me and You," there was some behavior on the part of your father that was extremely disturbing, and hearing this makes it even more so. If he's still hitting people, pulling hair (as he did to you in your story), or whatever, that is absolutely inexcusable. So is hitting Taylor. So cut it out, and find a more mature way to deal with whatever problems you're dealing with.