Allen Lew's Thoughts

On Friday, I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean for the second time. It didn’t excite me to see it a second time, especially when it was going to be me and Joey only at first. Turns out our group of two turned into a group of 10. Granted, I don’t think I’ll see like 4 of them again, but frat guys Billy and Jesse were there, as were Jacqueline and Shoshana. I had a good time, but we left two guys behind, which I kind of felt bad about. Not only that, but I hate Joey’s insistence that he must sit next to a girl when we go to the movies, who in this case was some girl named Julie he met at his Christian fellowship. It’s not like it matters too much, though; at least he didn’t hesitate to tell her that I was his best friend, which was cool. After the movie, I took Shoshana back to her place, where we saw frat bro Nick and Sho’s roommate Vicky watching Conan ‘O Brien. So that’s what they done together after I set them up? I left about 20 minutes later, and jetted home. All in all, a better night than I expected.

It’s been 3 days past it, but I think the party we had at Alpha Delta Phi on Saturday was the best party thrown by a frat this year. There was an awesome turn out, thanks in part to all the frats going down south to UCLA for the game (Cal lost 23-20 in OT). Everything went well, plus it was great seeing old floormates Sean, Fred, Joey, Wenjie, and Vicky in the same place again. It was just awesome hearing that Joey was dancing; he never dances, so you know the party had to be fun. Great music, great crowd, just awesome atmosphere. Just wish I didn’t have to bartend so much that night, but I met some girl named Emily and her friend from LA (she just had to keep reminding me about how she was so happy she remembered my name). Nothing happened though; she wasn’t very attractive and I had nothing to talk to her about. Oh well. Great party overall, and the best Alpha Delt party in a long time.

Funny Quote–mnk17fx (2:09:02 AM): Jacob said like “dude I so wanted to bring you (referring to me) to food orgy [over at Loth, where they get naked and cover themselves in chocolate], but I couldn’t find you”
knightangel007 (2:09:48 AM): that’s great
knightangel007 (2:09:55 AM): I would have never sat next to you again
mnk17fx (2:09:59 AM): haha
mnk17fx (2:10:19 AM): I don’t think I could have sat next to my self

Power Rangers Movie!

What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!)
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I’d say that’s about right.

Funny Quote-I hate physics because it’s so malicious. god damn physics. (sing to tune of goldfish song)-one of Patrick’s away messages.

Hmm, this week I seem to have noticed a lot of extremely bad pick up moves guys have tried to execute in the last week. It probably all started after I had watched an episode of Made on MTV and watched as the guy failed a lot of the times to get a girls number. Now I know I have done a few bad pickups in my day, but nothing of this caliber.

Hey look a dollar-That’s what one guy said in the middle of physics class. As he pointed to it, the girl managed to turn her head for just long enough for him to put his arm around her. Of course, there was no dollar on the floor and she did find out. Well, at least a slap fight didn’t break out, and it looked to be just good natured fun between friends.

The wink–Saturday, October 6th was one of our home game Saturday’s over at Alpha Delta Phi, where we have food and entertainment for friends, alumni, and their families. One of the brothers, though, did something outrageously funny. I noticed we gave a nice look and a wink over to one of the younger guests at the house. She was at most 16 years of age, and when I noticed what he had done, I just started laughing. It was so funny to me, but my frat bro did not share in the humor and proceeded to kick my chair. Well, she then gave us both an odd stare, which meant she knew something was up. So, we just stopped fighting right there and said nothing about it.

I think I’ll be giving her an A today-Two of my GSIs proceeded to complement their students. My physics one had complimented a girl on her clothing, which was a nice pink tank top and jeans. She was nice-looking yes, but was this appropriate for behavior? I’m not so sure. Well, it wasn’t so bad, though. At least it wasn’t as bad as my chem GSIs compliment, where he said something like “yes, you know have two smiley faces, the one on your paper and one on your face. It’s lovely.” Maybe it didn’t quite go like that, but it was awkwardly phrased and not the best way to go about talking to a girl.

So why do I bring this stuff up? To be honest, I had a blast laughing at all the guys stumble on their face as they try to make a move on a girl. I think this serves as a lesson for all of us guys as to what not to do.

This song speaks to me on so many levels. It’s called Genius by Duncan Sheik, who some of you might remember as the guy who sang the song Barely Breathing. Check it out.

Clearly I’m a genius
If she only knew it
but somewhere in her radius
I really blew it
I know, I know what I said to her
and I know what I did
What I don’t know is how I could ever be
so incredibly stupid

you don’t really need to know every last detail.
Its hardly worth telling
suffice to say I said that I would be there
i never came through

Maybe I’m a genius and
she just don’t see it
I fronted, I should have admitted,
she saw right through it
I never thought that I could be so underhanded.
somehow I’ve cornered the market on
the double standard

you don’t really need to know every last detail.
Its hardly worth telling
suffice to say I said that I would be there
i never came through

For this act of genius
and so many others
I know I should apologize
and see how it goes

what am I waiting for?
come on, come on, come on, come on

what am I waiting for?
come on, come on, come on, come on

what am I waiting for?
come on, come on, come on, come on

what am I waiting for?

to all of the geniuses…

sha la la la la la sha la la la la la la la

come on, come on,

you don’t really need to know every last detail.
Its hardly worth telling
suffice to say I said that I would be there
i never came through

Extra, Extra, Read all about–Computer crashing, Ukraine-style
-Are you addicted to your computer? Are you looking for a way to escape? The Ukrainians may have a solution, but a very extreme one.

I was having a short conversation with friends about relations between people and basically I have complied an interesting little model for the way we think about people. I call this the model The Zones. Each interaction (or lack of) yields a specific relationship with a person and hence a specific zone a person will fall into. Now people can move into one zone or another depending on circumstances (i.e. breakups, run-ins, etc.) Here’s how I break it down (and no this is not technically a hierarchy):

1. The untouchable zone: These are the people you might have stared at, fantasized about, or just think about, but know nothing will, ever, ever, happen between the two of you. You will never even be just friends. Classic examples are the captain of the football team, the head cheerleader, or a celebrity. Sorry, but that’s just the way the ball bounces sometimes.
2. The approachable zone: Then, there are people you can see occasionally and say hi too, and maybe they’ll say hi back. However, you’re not good friends with them and it will take some considerable effort on both parts to form any kind of bond what so ever. Good luck with that. Examples include jocks and cheerleaders sometimes, as well as just people with high profiles.
3. The dating zone: Basically, anybody who you be would interested in romantically and is attainable. This includes friends who you harbor some feelings for, that cute guy/girl you ran into some place, or just somebody you met in a bar.
4. The friend zone: When you say, “we’re just friends and nothing more” (and mean it), then that person has reached your friend zone. You know the person and you are glad you know him/her and like being around them; nothing more, nothing less. Best friends, just people you talk to occasionally, people you can stand to be around for an hour, and more are in this zone.
5. The enemy zone: You have no interest in this person in any way, shape, or form so you lock him/her up in this zone and hope never to see them again. Your archenemies, that weird person you met in a bar, and your ex could all receive this dubious distinction.

Simple isn’t it? Of course, it’s also possible to be moved from one zone to another like dating pool to friend zone (though I think it’s impossible to go from approachable to untouchable, but I could be wrong). Now, it’s sometimes hard to define certain people’s zones, as it does get a little gray sometimes, and of course, each person interacting will have their own ideas as to where they place a person (or where the other person placed them). There probably wasn’t much of a point in making this classification scheme, but I think it’s interesting.

I don’t know why, but I suppose my train of thought is not exactly what we call normal sometimes. I suppose it’s either keen mental quickness or a couple of screws loose in my mental facilities (personally, I like to think it’s a bit of both). Well whether or not it was random, I did think about the following:

-Am I honestly that nice? Like so many people keep saying “you know Allen, you’re really nice” or “you’re so nice.” I guess I could be, since I seem to live to help people. After all, it is my 24 hour-a-day, seven-day a week job. I guess people don’t find a lot of that nowadays or something.
-You know if I was honestly bothered by a lot of people asking me for favors, people wouldn’t be asking if you know what I mean. However, if I do something for you, I do expect some favors done for me. It’s only fair.
-A lot of people I’ve talked to have reached the same conclusion about this summer’s music as I have, in that it sucked royally. I mean a lot of it was just bad and some others sounded exactly the same as each other. Nothing really stood out and that was the major problem. However, John Mayer and Fountains of Wayne could mean redemption for the music industry.
-Speaking of music, anybody get a lot beeps and hisses on the files they download off Kazaa? Man is it annoying. Well, it maybe time to switch to another file sharing program, as it is caused by a company called Overpeer which set up servers for other people to download these bogus files on Kazaa. I guess WinMX wins as my next best alternative for now, but I really wished they cleaned the ugly interface.
-It’s starting to bother me how people can hate people in general, especially people they never meet like celebrities. I guess I’m a little idealistic about this, but seriously it seems to take little effort to hate someone and it seems to expend energy to be nice. It should be vice versa and it could be good to expend some energy towards hating people, towards liking them.

Alright off I go. See ya.

No, this wasn’t as bad as the Crossroads incident where I spilled soda on Joey’s friend Elaine or when I bumped into some dude at the Unit 3 cafeteria and made him spill his soda. This didn’t even involve spilling of any kind. This was just plain old stupidity on my part. This happened on Thursday, September 11 when I went out to Cafe Milano with Eddie and his boyfriend Joe and two people from my physics discussion named Hamid and Jennifer to do the physics homework. Having already finished the homework the night before, I was just there to help, but being bored I was free to joke around and make silly comments, thereby lightening the mood. It seems to have worked since I managed to get a few laughs and then I saw that I made a very seemingly attractive girl sitting at the table and just smile. And every so often I saw her tilt her head ever so slightly and listen to the banter that went on. I guess I should have invited her over, seeing as how she was just sitting by herself, but I doubt physics would have interested her much. Then, the group decided to call it a night and go home, but me, Eddie, and Joe stayed behind to catch up a bit. I spoke to Eddie about the damsel and he had noticed the same thing. He had told me to go over and talk to her and I was hesitant. Then, we decided to go home and I left that girl behind without saying anything. After telling some other people about it, they were apparently stunned by my failure to act.

Glenn 1 18 85 (11:09:08 PM): dude what were you thinking
Glenn 1 18 85 (11:11:04 PM): dude you shoulda have said something
Glenn 1 18 85 (11:11:43 PM): you don’t just pass an opportunity like that

Crossminded186 (2:23:39 AM): its just another opportunity that slipped by

mnk17fx (3:24:56 PM): i told my friend back home [about it], he was like “you idiot”
BearPaw402 (3:25:02 PM): lol
BearPaw402 (3:25:09 PM): Im thinking the same thing man
BearPaw402 (3:25:24 PM): I was just trying not to say it

mnk17fx (1:48:54 AM): you know something, a lot of the guys i’ve talked to say i’m an idiot for not talking to that girl at cafe milano
VickyD8183 (1:49:02 AM): you were
mnk17fx (1:49:07 AM): you too?
VickyD8183 (1:49:28 AM): yeah, but i didn’t want to say it

superman92684 (3:52:50 PM): DAMN
superman92684 (3:52:54 PM): U ARE AN IDIOT

Ah well, I shouldn’t put much stock into this I guess, but I thought the comments were pretty funny.

It bothers me when somebody does something chronically, over and over again. Hell, it even bothers me that I am chronically bothered by the fact that I am bothered when somebody does something chronically.

This entry is just begging for comments. So give them to me.

Let’s see. Tuesdays, I have Southeast Asian Studies 10A, which oddly enough is taught by a nerdy white guy. Quite peculiar and not only that, but he has a really bad lecture style, where he just sits in front of his chair and reads off lecture notes he prepares. Not only that, but he doesn’t put up any of the foreign terms on the board (which for a Southeast Asian Studies class is just about all of them). Physics 8B is no picnic either what with Prof. Waterhouse as the lecturer. It certainly shocked a bunch of us on the first day as an Australian woman, not exactly what you imagine as a physics professor. She also has an unusually bad style of lecturing by just writing huge amounts of text on overheads and then pausing for seconds upon end. That is just god awful teaching.

Well this Tuesday was a little brighter, as I finally turned 19. To celebrate, I went out for pizza with Vicki, Sho, Dave, Joey, and Kyle over at the north side La Val’s. Restaurants seem a little nicer on the northside, as they seem generally cleaner and better kept. The pizza was pretty good and we all just sat, hung out, and talked about random stuff like suicide, Virginia Woolf, and the Greek system here at Cal (gee, how did we get to those topics?). Unfortunately, weekday birthdays are always a drag and reality has to sink in after a while, what with studying and all. Yeah, I can honestly say I am not looking forward to my b-day falling on Thursday next year, the day I hate the most in the week. I’d like to see how easy it would pull people together for that.

Oh well, I leave you with some interesting facts about September 9 and I hope to make your special occasions extra nice.

Interesting Facts-Actors Adam Sandler, Hugh Grant and Michael Keaton and singer Macy Gray were all born today. Also, on this day, 1,281 convicts staged a revolt at the Attica Prison in Buffalo, hence the chant “Attica.” (source: The History Channel). Also, California was admitted to the United States and William the Conqueror died on this day in 1087 C.E. (sources: a couple of internet pages).

Also, Edwin Jackson of the Dodgers made his major league pitching debut as starter on Tuesday, which was his 20th birthday. To top it off, he beat Randy Johnson, last year’s NL Cy Young award winner. Recap.

This is not some clever attempt to cash in the popularity of David Letterman’s popularity. In fact, it is a rather obivious and shameful attempt. Well if you wanted humor, you wouldn’t be reading my journal (oh wait, some of you do read it for laughs, darn it). Here’s the run down of the top 10 reasons I need a digital camera:

10. Naked Loth girls swimming in the ADPhi swimming pool (nuff said)
9. Naked Loth guys swimming in the ADPHi swimming pool (Gee, how did that get in there?)
8. To make funny photoshop pics (click the following: Fred’s Funnies and Superfriends or my photoshop creation)
7. Getting tired of guys bragging about how big their SLR is.
6. Do I really have to go on?
5. I can make it look like I met Christina Aguilera
4. So that my pal Kai can stop bothering me to take pictures of naked guys swimming in the ADPHi pool
3. I go to UC Berkeley
2. To remember every place I’ve fallen down in the world
1. I want one for my birthday this September 9th.

Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?

By the way, the song, John Lennon-“Imagine” was released September 9th.