cbs @ 6pm socal time

If you think you
are beaten, you are; 
If you think you dare not, you don't. 
If you'd like to win, but think you can't 
It's almost a cinch you won't. 
If you think you'll lose, you've lost, 
For out in the world we find 
Success beings with a fellow's will; 
It's all in the state of mind. 

If you think
you're outclassed, you are: 
You've got to think high to rise. 
You've got to be sure of yourself before 
You can ever win a prize. 
Life's battles don't always go 
To the stronger or faster man, 
But soon or late the man who wins 
Is the man who thinks he can.

i am thinking maybe i should create an alternate xanga account. you can't really go all-out when you've shown your face & posted your real name on an account. real people from real life can see everything. maybe i should create an anonymous blog and try freestyle writing there.

One of South America's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes
has been spotted and photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru.

The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land.

The pictures, taken from an aeroplane, show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows.

More than half the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru, Survival International says.

Stephen Corry, the director of the group - which supports tribal people
around the world - said such tribes would "soon be made extinct" if
their land was not protected.

'Monumental crime'

Survival International says that although this particular group
is increasing in number, others in the area are at risk from illegal
logging.

What do the pictures tell us? In pictures: Brazil tribe

The photos were taken during several flights over one of the
most remote parts of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil's Acre region.

They show tribe members outside thatched huts, surrounded by the dense jungle, pointing bows and arrows up at the camera.

"We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, to
show they exist," the group quoted Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles
Junior, an official in the Brazilian government's Indian affairs
department, as saying.

"This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence."

He described the threats to such tribes and their land as "a
monumental crime against the natural world" and "further testimony to
the complete irrationality with which we, the 'civilised' ones, treat
the world".

Disease is also a risk, as members of tribal groups that have
been contacted in the past have died of illnesses that they have no
defence against, ranging from chicken pox to the common cold.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7426794.stm

Japan says to help Vietnam build nuclear power plant

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japan said Thursday that it has signed an agreement to help Vietnam build its first nuclear power plant.

The Vietnamese government is preparing to start construction of the
plant in 2015, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a
statement.

my team leader was giving me close to 40 hours a week, but it got cock blocked by management.
they say the economy is bad and they need to cut hours. it really sucks. i think i may need to get a 2nd job if they only give me 10-20 hours a week. they say the company's profit is down 8%. similar companies like office depot are down 70%!!!

so i have tomorrow & saturday off. maybe it's a nice break for me to evaluate where i am and what progress i have made thus far.

today, i helped out at my dad's store. my mom calls it "the xxxxxx effect" the xxxxxx stands for the name of the company i work for. i will never say where it is, don't ask. one of my friends thinks is shameful to work there. but i don't care. lol

anyways, the "the x effect" is definitely showing. i can actually do cashier at my dad's store with much more ease, and my greetings to the customers are of corporate america quality. i am able to memorize lists with 100 items. i think my memory is improving because i have to memorize all the aisles and the products at "x"

also, every friday, at "x" we have to check for expired grocery goods. i have to go through every item in my designated aisle to see if it's expired. it's very tedious, but i think it's teaching me "attention to detail" it's a good skill to have. i did the same routine at my dad's store and found 3 boxes full of products that were expired lol. omg, no wonder my dad's store wasn't doing too well. haha

and, today there was a huge car accident near my dad's store on sawtelle. according to witnesses a woman in a blue bmw slammed into the side of a car and ran away. the car bull dozed over a parking meter, a wooden fence and right up into the front yard of some house. 2 other cars were slightly smashed but luckily no huge injuries.

while i was walking towards this car accident. i walked into a art gallery. it had opened up a few months before but i never checked it out. i walked in and was checking out the art work. it seemed kinda plain, but was browsing anyways. then the owner of the gallery introduced himself to me. his name is norman maxwell. he is a black dude with good social tone, handsome and friendly. we talked a little about the band that was playing in front of his gallery for grand opening. he offered to give me future tickets if he came across some. what a nice gesture. i forget the name of the band, but it is supposed to be up and coming. cool stuff.

speaking of artsy, yesterday when management was cock blocking my hours, i saw that my boss, "paul" had a picture of a funny looking dude with dreads on his background picture for his computer. i asked who it was. and it turned out to be his brother who is in a band. the group is called, "two girls" and supposedly up and coming in illinois. they play gigs with audiences of 30-40 thousand. i was impressed. paul's brother is the drummer.

hm maybe this is a sign. slight brushes with artsy energy 2 days in a row. my hours are getting trimmed and i need a side income. maybe i should be trying out art. my korean friend dae told me once before that i should become a painter. he usually is right about most things. i should give it a try. i might focus on painting modern, asian-american art. maybe express what it's like being 2nd generation asian in america. also i'd like to include current global topics as theme in my art work. i don't even know how to paint, but i want to try.

oh yea, i recently learned a new mental skill. it started when i was watching america's top model on mtv. tyra banks was giving advice to a nervous girl. she said that she should imagine the people around her without any clothes on. this would ease her tension. so i gave it a try. when i was nervous and around people i would just imagine everyone without any clothes. it worked, but maybe too well. i would get hard-on's and it wouldn't stop so i changed themes.

i decided to morph my surroundings, use my environment as a canvas and just create random art from it. i think i am getting really good at it. sometimes i would create something so random & weird that it makes me laugh. i'm laughing in my car for no reason at all except i created an image in my mind. what an odd way to entertain myself. but it works.

lately, i like to pull out the round green, yellow & red street lights and juggle them in my hands. i would let them drop to the ground and let them bounce. i would pull out the yellow street paint and turn it into a whip and whip the area around. i would pull the white paint off the street and let them float up into the air to create words or objects. i like to pull trees out of the ground and use them as brooms. today i saw a baseball player swing his bat at the pasadena mountains he scooped the bottom half away like ice cream and a large portion of the mountain just flew off into the sky and away into space. wtf is going on with my brain. very odd right? but, i like it.

i must learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn learn.

this always bugged me, and i still don't know what the hell it is.

what does the yellow star next to your id in the messenger list mean?

6am to 1:30pm lol

6am!!!

i think kindness is a skill that can be learned and honed, as much as it is intrinsic.

as i work my new job, i run into different types of kindness or lack thereof.

i must learn and absorb as much as i can and use this skill to increase the quality of my life
and those around me.

top things on my mind concerning this skill..

1. talking shit. don't talk shit behind people's back. even if the person is not present, it leaves an emotional & mental footprint of the shit talking within my conscience. when i meet the the person the guilt from shit talking will be recognized by a keen person. not talking shit means to be free of guilt & negative emotional baggage that i carry from talking behind people's backs. not only this, people will respect me if i have the discipline to holding back from talk badly of others.

2. tone of voice. i realized that controlling my voice so that it sounds pleasant is a necessary tool to emit kindness. sometimes it doesn't even matter what i'm saying. as long as i have a pleasant tone & warm emotion to back it up, everything i say sounds good. this one is a hard one for me. i need to work on it.

3. simple considerateness. little things such as holding doors for people, being polite in words & attitude, courteous actions, just anything that shows that i remembered the other person and acknowledge their existence is a good thing.

4. remembering people. remembering the helpful good things that people have done for me instead of just forgetting it, is a positive kindness skill. if i remember people, they will remember me.

5. saying thank you. showing gratitude and acknowledging good things that people have done for me is a basic way of keeping good relations.

6. saying hi. a simple hello & how are you doing? is a basic skill to maintaining the most basic connection with someone. from a simple hello, you can start a conversation or a new friendship if a good vibe between 2 people has been ignited. if there was no hello, there would have been no progress or beginning.

7. holding back negative emotions. even if someone pisses me off, i should hold back on letting the anger out 100%. i should at least wait till it's lowered to 10% before i say anything. especially with a customer. no matter how annoying they are, i will try to be as friendly as possible, to train myself to be kind in any circumstance.

8. decent attire. how i am dressed & looking has an effect on the people around me. if i look sloppy & dirty people will be negatively effected. in contrast, if i look good it will have a positive effect on my relationship with others. basic hygiene a must for favorable human relations.

9. listening to others. not interrupting people while they are talking and letting them finish everything they have to say is important so that you show you are listening and respect what the other person has to say.

10. the right attitude. this one is gonna be the hardest for me. emitting a good attitude that is friendly, peaceful & fun. i gotta still figure out how to do this. this is prolly the most important thing. i've been working on being manly, strong, and not putting myself down, so, i think i am letting out a very defensive aggressive aura. i think i am slowly learning how to control it so that i can just let this type of energy out when i need to. i need to build an peace-time aura so that i can use that while i am just going through my normal day. being stuck in one aura may be a sign of inflexibility. adjusting, emitting aura's at will, as they are necessary may be where i should aim at. when i say aura, maybe i just mean emotional tone. the emotional tone i emit has a distinct effect on those around me.

11. always smile. try to smile as much as possible. not only is it contagious, the smile goes from the face and effects the heart and creates a positive warm feeling. this positive warm feeling dispels all negative thoughts and lower emotional being. the smile is a magical, simple cure to all things negative.

o shit, why did i come to my computer, i know it wasn't to write these things above... hmm.. oh yea i need to find out if bally's is open today. laters all.

12. ignoring or minimizing people's weaknesses or negative traits & concentrate on their good.

13. letting the small things go.