about: _______

the last time that my brother hit an age milestone, i did a little tribute - since he was turning 25 then, i posted 25 memories of my brother and i. i could compile a list of 30 memories this time, but that would mean that i couldn’t copy some of the ones that i put up before, and some of those are the best memories we’ve had. and also because i don’t have a billion hours to sit on the internet, i’m gonna just type five more memories so we can just add on to the list i made before (in chronological order, with my age in parentheses). so here it goes.

26. jogi keeps popping out more kids (19 and 21 years) - it’s because of this that i’m scared i’m extremely potent and i’m gonna start popping out insane amounts of children.

27. jogi goes to visit sunil in hawaii (19 years) - though i would have rather gone to kauai or the big island, i hopped the islands to maui to hang out with my brother. we drove the road to hana and screwed around on a black sand beach. oh yeah, and marveled at the banyan tree in lahaina.

28. sunil turns twenty-one (21 years) - even though he had kids to take care of, he joined me on twenty-four hours of debauchery. sadly, my night didn’t end like his twenty-first birthday.

29. sunil graduates from college (22 years) - just like seven years before, and in the same place, i threw a bunch of tortillas like my brother told me to.

30. jogi and sunil are both newly single (23 years) - for the first time in many, many moons, we were both single and living in the same town. and it was pretty amazing to finally be able to hang out with my brother all the time, almost to the point that i didn’t want to make my move to seattle. we started going out to bars together and even went to the gym together. and now he hangs out with all my college friends.

maybe in five years, i’ll type five more. we’ll see. thirty is really old. shit. i’m almost twenty-five. that’s like grandparent status.

March 31 is celebrated in some US states as a holiday remembering what civil rights leader? Name: Answer:

so yeah, yeah, i know, i dropped the ball on updating. i just got an apartment, my parents came out, and i haven’t really had some nice time to sit at home and just blog for a while. but i thought i’d update you a little on what’s going on in sunil world.

i moved into a new studio apartment on march 1. it’s the one that’s headed by the great haidar. it’s been quite a while since i’ve had my own place, and it’s definitely nice. still, i don’t have a bed (even though it’s supposed to be delivered to my place on sunday) and any other furniture, but these are all things that will happen in due time.

my family came out to visit me in seattle about a week ago, and we had somewhat of a blast. haha. we went to vancouver and victoria along with hanging around seattle for a bit. they stayed with some family out in bothell, which is like half an hour away from the city, and that was pretty annoying. when we were in canada, my brother bought a cuban cigar, but he didn’t end up smoking it all before we got to the border. he noticed it was on his dash as he was driving up to the border check, so about 300 meters from the border, he just chucked the cigar out the window. what a waste.

i’m having a hard time thinking about things to blog about. ever since i got a job and haven’t had so much time to sit around and waste, it seems like i have nothing exciting to share or whatever. hmm. i guess that’s how it is. oh, well, i have a stupid work story to share. so there’s a pepper grinder in the break room that’s about the size of a standard ketchup bottle. the grinder has a cap on it and is usually stored with the grinder-side facing up. one day when i was taking a 15-minute break, i ground pepper with the cap on for fifteen minutes. and then just left the bottle there for the next person to pick it up. and since i find humor in such childish things, boy did i get humor out of this.

as you can see, i probably don’t have anything to talk about that people want to hear about. i’ll still give you some trivia, random links and a poll. maybe i’ll have something sweet to talk about soon.

What was the last American colony to ratify the Constitution? Name: Answer:

over the course of the past week, i’ve been searching to find a place to live. i never thought that i’d be living by myself ever, but i’ve recently been on a kick to have my own place. i think since i don’t really know anyone to move out with, the laziness i have to search for the perfect roommate, and the fact that all my friends live close by has caused me to want to live by myself. i also think that the idea of living by myself and decorating my place however i want is pretty enticing. so, over the past week, i’ve been searching for a studio to live in.

there are two places that i might live in so far. one is managed by a guy named haidar, who’s dry humor reminds me exactly of my dad, and this other place called the dakar aparments (it’s still a mystery why it’s named after the capital of senegal). i’m kinda hoping i get haidar’s place because if i got to see him all the time, that would make my life that much better (i’m pretty much obsessed with his ridiculous humor). but whatever the case is, i’ll be amazingly happy to finally move into my own place.

last weekend, greg, his roommate, robin, erin, nathan, and i took a vacation to new orleans. i spent quite a lot of money (surprisingly, mostly on food, since cajun and creole food is delicious), but all in all, it was an amazing time. the last night we were there, we were able to fight our way up to a balcony so we could throw beads at people. now, usually people try and throw them to the most attractive of the bunch, but we found too much humor out of throwing them at the not-so-attractive of the bunch. and though it was somewhat repulsive, it was pretty damn hilarious. and we might go to hell for it. but we made their day i’m sure!

there’s really not a whole lot more to update about really. i spent a lot of time working and searching for apartments so i don’t have any ridiculous situations to detail about. but maybe next weekend i’ll have something better to talk about. walks and hits per innings pitched.

What is the highest grossing movie of all time? Name: Answer:

the title says it all. i have returned. from a really long ass hiatus. i’ve been without a computer for so long, i kinda forgot what i even did on here to blow my time. but i’m pretty sure it won’t take that long to remember how i used to waste five hours of a day just sitting on wikipedia looking at random shit or using stumble upon to find ridiculous webpages. or of course, to begin updating this blog again and continue my promise to regularly update this (which i still will, the me-without-a-computer period doesn’t count).

so i’m going to new orleans this weekend for the mardi gras celebration. when i was getting donuts before work the other day, there was some black dude hanging out outside the shop and told me that he would watch my car and make sure i wouldn’t get a ticket, and if i did, he’d pay for it. this obviously didn’t make any sense to me because the guy looked like he was poor as shit, so i started talking to him about why he was literally telling everyone who was parking on the street that he would watch their car and make sure the meter maid didn’t ticket them. well, in the half and hour conversation i had with this bum, i found out he was from new orleans and that he’s going back this weekend. we also exchanged phone numbers. i’m probably not going to call him when i’m there.

also, in other traveling news, i’m planning on driving up to alaska this summer. i’ve kinda wanted to do this for a pretty long time but just not actually gone and done it. but this is happening for sure. there’s a place in fairbanks that has a room that they set to -40 degrees (celsius or fahrenheit) and you can pay them to go around and play in it. they even give you a bucket of water that you can throw when you’re in there to see what happens to the water!

in some more traveling news, i plan on living this winter at the south pole. more info about that later.

so, since it’s been some time, i’m gonna show the trivia standings. here they are:

jon rolling - 7.5
sanjog gopal - 4.5
nathan burkhart - 4
erin zaletel - 4
amy smith - 3
adam smith - 2
aj belshe - 2
maia hoelzinger - 2
chris spencer - 1
greg benezra - 1
sean bell - 1
jaclyn backhaus - .5
darren nakamura - .5
cassie fronzo - .5

i’ve decided that i’ll mail someone a prize once they reach 13 points, and at that point, i’ll reset the scores and start again. and then the first to get 13 after the reset will get a prize. and so on and so forth. so it’s still anyone’s game. i’ll post the answers to the questions once someone reaches 13.

anyway, i think that’s all for now folks. i’ll try and update at least once a week since i work now and don’t have as much free time as i used to.

In what year was the first U.S. Census? Name: Answer: Bonus Question: Whose mouth is that in the picture? And from what movie? (1 point each): Person: Movie:

alright, so i know that a bunch of you just thought that i got website a.d.d. and stopped updating my website, but the truth is, i really wanted to, but couldn’t.  about three weeks ago, my computer’s motherboard died and i have been computer-less since.  i even ordered a new computer and it’s taking them still two more weeks for them to ship it to me.  so this will be my only post until i finally get a computer.  and i promise that when i get a computer, i’ll start updating again.

since i last updated, there have been a few changes in my life. i have a new girlfriend now, and things are going well. my job is flowing nicely and i might even be able to score myself a promotion in the next month. and to top things off, i should be able to move into my own place by march! so all in all, everything is pretty exciting now.

in three weeks, around the time that i actually get a new computer, i’m going to be heading to new orleans with greg for mardi gras. i’m thinking that we need to get some wacky costumes to wear there to fit in. you know, something that’s gonna make us stand out as the coolest kids that side of the mississippi. so i ask you readers, what should me and greg dress up as for mardi gras?

so at work the other day, i reinforced the idea that i’m not able to poop in a stall next to someone that’s pooping. back in the dorms, this situation happened and i heard the other person’s plop, and i uncontrollably laughed until the other person got the fuck out of the bathroom because he thought that my laugh was going to pierce his skull, and others from the hall came in to ask me what the hell was going on in there. and just a few days ago, i was pooping next to someone that was pooping and i was trying my hardest to not break out in laughter. but after a little bit, i heard the man start to make barfing sounds, and that was the last straw. there was only 30 seconds until i would break out into uncontrollable laughter so i got the hell out of there as fast as i could. and now i vow to never poop next to someone ever again.

you know, on that note, i think i’m gonna leave. see you guys again when i finally have a computer.

Who is the only U.S. President that was sworn in by a woman? Name: Answer:

a lot of you know that it’s very normal for me to write an end of the year blog or do some reminiscing about the past year or whatever you would like to call it, because i’m obsessed with dates and stuff. i usually outline all of the people in the past year that have impacted my life and exactly what they have done, but i don’t know if i want to do that this time. i think i’m just gonna summarize the year very quickly, and be done with it.

i said this before, in my old blog, how much 2008 reminded me of 2004. like almost exactly. in the first semester of 2004, i was trying to get over a failed relationship. i still thought maybe we could be back together. finally, by about may, i realized that we’re not gonna be together ever again, and to just continue on with my life. i spent the summer kinda trying to make new friends or start a life without her in it, and by the next august, i moved into the dorms again and made all of my current college friends. and pretty much never really saw her again.

in the beginning of 2008, i was trying to get over a failed relationship. it was hard for me to handle the break up and i still thought that maybe we could get back together. by may, she moved to california, so i pretty much realized that we’re not gonna be together ever again, and i had to just continue on with my life. i spent the summer trying to figure out how to make new friends now that i’m out of college and how to start a new life without her in it, and by the next september, i moved to seattle and made all of my current friends there. and so far, i haven’t seen her again.

they teach you in school that you should read about history so it doesn’t repeat itself. i think i really did forget about my past enough that the same thing happened to me again.

but moving to a good note, i think i made a great decision in my life. it didn’t look like it was for a long time. i gave up a great girlfriend, i gave up an opportunity to go to medical school and pursue a lucrative career, and i became a vagabond, all for purposes of finding myself and learning to be independent. for the first eleven months, it really looked like it was turning into shit. but over the past couple weeks, i have finally realized that i made the right decision. and that’s why i’m excited for 2009.

so it’s time. time to move on from 2008. remember not to forget this time.

The longest lasting total solar eclipse of the 21st century will occur in what year? Name: Answer:

today is my last day before i head home for the holidays. and you know what’s cool? i’m actually legitimately sad that i’m leaving seattle. after all these months, i’ve finally made enough great friends and done some pretty awesome things to really finally call this place home. and it makes me really excited. i haven’t had a home really for like eighteen months. and to be honest, that’s what i was kinda trying to accomplish when i came here; to see if i could move off to a random town with nothing and somehow build up my life from scratch. word. life is good.

i am listening to mariah carey’s always be my baby right now. this reminds me of traveling to europe. me and keenan had a handful of songs we sung while strolling the streets and this was one of them. some of the others were michael jackson’s heal the world (though keenan wanted to kill me for singing that after a while), tool’s vicarious, a perfect circle’s judith, and daniel powter’s bad day (though i wanted to kill keenan for singing that after a while). there were a lot more stupid songs we sung, mainly really bad pop songs.

this whole weekend, it snowed here and the city shut down again. i was pretty much stuck in capitol hill all weekend, but it provided for lots of great entertainment. we had sleepovers galore and i got to witness some intense making out happening in the couch right next to me! i also spent like hours on buses because that was the only way i could get places (though i didn’t feel all too safe). i even got to watch the titans slaughter the steelers and got the last laugh among all the steelers fans who were heckling me the whole game (which was really annoying because i wasn’t doing anything to provoke them, haha). all in all, a great weekend. now i’m getting ready to head outta here. how sad.

the holidays in the desert though will definitely not disappoint. aj and chris are both gonna be here for the break, which i’m incredibly excited for. even adam shalom is coming back to town and me, him and vinay are gonna jam for old times sake. haha. it’s probably been like five years since adam came over to my house. once a fatdam, always a fatdam. my parents will probably also freak out that he’s coming over.

wow. i am really, really excited right now. i should stop typing about going home for break. i’m gonna start packing stuff right now. see you next year, seattle (hopefully with no snow, so i can actually get places).

What was Harry Truman’s middle name? Name: Answer:

so i’ve been in falling snow a few times. most of the time i was on a mountain skiing or snowboarding, but in boston i was in a blizzard where two feet fell and during my senior year, a few inches fell in tucson. but yesterday was definitely a first for me. i had a snow day. i didn’t have to go to work because the snow closed my way to work. and it did it today too. now, it would be all fun and games, except i had to get my car towed home because i tried to make it to work but couldn’t. that wasn’t so hot.

when i left for work, there was probably half an inch on the ground so at that time, i should have just decided not to leave. but since i’ve driven in snow only a few times, i really wanted to have some fun. only when i was on the freeway and realizing the roads still weren’t clear, i made the decision to turn around. but it was too late. there were a few close calls where i practically started driving on a sidewalk or was sliding sideways down a hill for a few feet, but i continued on until the ultimate stop. when trying to go from the 405 to I-90 east there’s kind of a big hill that you have to go over. consequently, a couple cars didn’t make it up, but drew traction lines toward their ditch off the road. when i tried to go up the hill, i followed their traction lines and i couldn’t make it up either. so i backed up into a tunnel that we had to go through and camped out there for a while. and after some time when i realized the only way i can get out of here would be to call a towing company, i called one up and they said it would be around one and a half to two hours.

only thirty minutes went by until a truck came up behind me and said he was supposed to tow a silver corolla and i got hella excited. i only had to wait thirty minutes. he towed me all the way to my freeway exit and plopped me down in a parking lot. it was pretty expensive, but at least i made my way home.

about three hours later, i got a call from the towing company that i called. they said they were under the tunnel and they can’t find me. so that’s when it hit me. when the dude who towed me said he was looking for a silver corolla, he was actually looking for a different silver corolla, most likely the one sitting in a ditch. oh well. i took someone else’s tow and made it home pretty fast. and got to play in the snow. and now i don’t have work today either. so it looks like i ended up getting the long end of the stick. like i’ve always said, white things are always better. and snow is not an exception.

when i asked what your favorite thing about my new site is, two people answered “my butt”. i really want to know who those two people were. just for statistical reasons.

In what year did the movies Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, and Forrest Gump all debut? Name: Answer:

i went to oregon yesterday on a random road trip. the plan was to drive to a drive-thru safari two-thirds of the way into oregon. to be honest, the safari was probably the most lame part of the whole trip because there were no animals. except gemsbok. we also stopped in portland at a place called the acropolis, which used to be just a steakhouse, but since the zoning restrictions were lifted in portland, they added a strip bar to it (there are a lot of places in portland that have done this). all in all, the road trip was good fun. and since i hadn’t slept the night before, i was loopy as all hell and laughing at just about everything. like gemsbok. i also got my first speeding ticket. but it was total bullshit. oh well. i still had a fun time cruising around oregon.

i have noticed that a lot of you don’t actually comment on my blog entries, but you send me secret messages to me via trivia answers. some of you have middle names that are actually things you want to tell me about your life, some of you just send a trivia answer that’s a “hey what’s going on, nice site!” or some of you just straight up try and humor me with your name and answer. i think people like to remain anonymous to the rest of the world, so that’s why i get comments via the trivia submission instead of through the blog comments. haha, oh well, i find it very humorous. especially the person who put their name on the holy roman empire question as “antarctica” and their answer as “antarctica (i rule)”. whoever submitted that, i would like to know. i found it to be pretty freakin’ funny.

it snowed in seattle yesterday. apparently, it only snows a few times a year here so i may have seen my last snow of the season in the city. i tried driving around in capitol hill the morning after and a bunch of the roads going up the hills were sheets of ice. i was about half way up one of the hills and my car couldn’t get the traction it needed to finish going up the hill so i had a little fun sliding back down the hill into the main street. luckily it was 9 AM on a sunday morning so really no one was out on the streets. except for this bum peeing on the side of the street who watched me slide down the hill while he was urinating.

i thought i had a bunch to write about since i haven’t blogged for a while, but i’m actually just really tired and i probably should catch up on some sleep. so i’ll end this entry with this:

me (11:06 PM): gemsbok.
amy (11:06 PM): what the hell does that mean
me (11:07 PM): zinc fingers.

What is the longest word that contains just a single vowel? Name: Answer:

so i’ve been reading a pretty sweet book called zero: the biography of a dangerous idea. it’s about how the number zero wasn’t accepted for thousands of years and how that caused problems in different societies. it also touched up on something that i’ve thought about for a really long time.

i’m gonna preface this with something my brother said to one of my friends, who was pretty much the only math major friend that i had. (if you knew the other math majors at my school you would know why. there was this girl math major that looked like my friend’s brother. yes. brother. there was also a russian guy who looked like a rat and smelled like 100 packs of cigarettes. and we also can’t forget mr. jeremiah rounds. he was very round.) anyway, my brother asked my friend “what is there to talk about with math? like if you’re a political science major, you have lots to discuss with your friends, or if you’re a psychology major, there are all sorts of studies you can discuss, etc. but with math, what can you really discuss?” my friend continued on by saying there are a bunch of things to discuss. but i didn’t really listen. because i kinda agree with my brother. to a certain extent.

there is one thing that i love discussing about math. and that is division by zero. in a field that is so concrete and based on truths that transcend our physical world, there is but one thing that we have not been able to define. and that is the division by zero. it’s seemingly where all of our logic fails and symbolizes the mere fact that our research is not over. that there’s still one problem to solve. and will we ever solve it? probably not. that’s the beauty of it. we have agreed to disagree with division by zero. (by the way, anything divided by zero actually equals 42.)

Name the artist and song title (one point for each, two points total). Name: Artist: Title: If the embedded music doesn’t work, click here to listen.