How to Become Creepy

Hey guys!

How was your valentine's day?
Last year I posted about valentine's day and how it is all about marketing scheme and we are all victims of marketing master minds.

But I still love valentine's day. I just like festivities in general. Or just excuses to consume alcohol perhaps.

ANYWAYS, today I am going to write about ways to become creepy.
There are creepy people everywhere I realized.
But then, it got me thinking, "what exactly defines creepy for me?"
So I went through my memories and thought about some creepy people I have encountered and before and tried to dissect the Creepy-ness, in my 20 minutes of bath time I just had. So this guide is probably going to be quite incomplete but hey, what was ever complete in my past blog posts, what the heck.
So here we go!

1. Completely believe that you are totally desirable by everyone and act as if you are doing people favor by showing you are also interested in them. 
 - What does it mean? It's easy. Believe that the person you are hitting on (or harassing them) are also totally in love with you, without any plausible evidence. What? He/she looks like they are denying you? No, no, no way. They are just shy. Keep doing that, no worries. They are getting red-faced... ohhhh maybe you are turning them on too. Yikes for creeps!

2. Be obsessive about someone in "out-of-norms" manner.
- It's hard to define what out-of-norms are. But maybe something like, collecting his/her strings of hair and keep them into your wallet like a lucky charm. Or steal their dirty sock (somehow) and sleep with it, next to your face. Or go through their trash and re-chew the gum that they chewed and spat out. Yes, it's kinda like a cult. Of course, you can do all these things in a secretive or non-secretive, or perhaps the most difficult semi-secretive manner. Semi-secretive manner is that you are not doing these acts in broad daylight for everyone to notice, but just bold enough so that the person of your obsession sorta realizes. Way to go!

3. Make us think (imagine) what you are thinking (imagining) about, when you are imagining something that should probably be kept as a secret. 
- Perhaps somewhat similar to the first one. Yeah tell us your dirty fantasy. Tell us about OUR baby's name, though we only spoke to each other only once before. Tell us how you want to put life-size dolls that look like us which you can talk to and eat with everyday. That's pretty damn creepy (wink).

4. Be obsessed with violence. 
- Everyone likes a little bit of violence. We are human. It's our nature. But no, BE OBSESSED. Like your daily morning routine should include watching a horror (really gory kind) movie just to get you started. When you watch it, you shouldn't be able to help but smile watching all that blood and disfigured corpses.  And of course, be so obsessed that you tell everyone that you one day want to try the movie scene yourself. When you tell that to people, don't forget to look dazed, to slightly smile, to use really low or hyper voice, to make your lips tremble with excitement, and to describe in details how you would. That's out of the world creepy. Maybe more like dangerous. You might have people calling cops on you. That's the down-side.

5. Look dirty and proactively approach people in a really uncomfortable way
- Get your hair greasy. Wear some dirty clothes. Don't brush your teeth or wash your face. Approach people panting. Stand to them really close, as you are panting. With the stereotype "creepy-ness" so deeply imprinted in us through media, this is an easy way for you to get labeled as "that creepy person."

These are all I could come up with during my 20 minutes bath time. It may not have covered all the qualities of creepy-ness, I think practicing these will definitely get ME to think that you are creepy.

I think definition of creepy differs from person to person. I don't immediately think of a physically unattractive guy hitting on a girl at a bar as "a creepy guy." It's when he is completely in belief that the girl is loving it though she is saying "fuck off" that makes him "creepy" to me. Or I don't immediately think of a girl stalking a guy on facebook being creepy. It's when she prints out all the conversation history on his facebook wall and make it into a book so that she can read every night that makes me kind of label her as "creepy."

It's all subjective right. It's all subjective and a very obscure line. We all are creeps in some ways or others. We all fantasize or do things that you may not want everyone in the world to know.

But, it comes out creepy to me when people are in utter belief that other people totally agree or approves whatever you do / say / think. Maybe it is a combination of ignorance and self-centeredness mixed in with adult desires that create creepy-ness... Still can't put my finger on it.

What is YOUR definition of creepy?

Word of the Day

Hey guys-

One of my colleague left the company for another company.
It was for good and I am truly happy for his advancement in career but at the same time, I was quite sad to see him go, as he was kind of like a big brother in the office for me.

Before he left, earlier in the week, he taught me one word that he thought was so important and captures the beauty of Japanese language, which hit me as well so I would like to share that with you.

The word is "お陰さまです," (Okagesama Desu).

The word "Kage" means "shadow" in Japanese. So the directly translation would probably be like "your dear shadow."

"Shadow" in Japanese can mean a lot of things. like we use idioms like "he was supporting you in shadows," meaning "he was supporting you secretly or quietly or unnoticeable ways in the back."

But this idiom is used more as "thanks you" or "fortunately." It's not even a big word or anything special. In fact, it is used in a pretty light way a lot of times.

"Okagesama Desu." The mentality of this word is more for showing gratitude for those who have been supporting you in very non-obvious ways.

There are a lot of people who support us in very un-noticeable ways.

I think when we achieve great things or accomplish something, we are often tempted to credit ourselves.
True, in a competitive place, you have to find a way to shine and beat the race.

But this simple word, though people use it as a "thank you" linguistically, has its beauty in its mentality to remind us that we can never accomplish anything ourselves.

Yes, if you are a project manager, you should be the one in the spotlight. But when you are making a big presentation in front of these clients or management board or something, probably you are not the only one who worked on that presentation, especially if you are in a corporate setting.

You may have 3 bar charts in your slides, which 3 different people took 3 hours to come up with using complicated database.

In the eyes of audience, these may be just 3 bar charts. But you should never forget that these people also took time and effort to complete your slides.

It is quite easy to forget that there are army of people who are behind your back, when you are so blinded by the bright spotlight to make you shine.

"Okagesama Desu." That's what my colleague taught me.
And I will be forever in his debt to be reminded that I should never forget the fact that whatever I achieve, I could not have done it alone.

Oh there's also great read if you are interested in the relationship between "shadow" and japanese culture. It's called "In Praise of Shadows" It is a beautifully written essay and I highly recommend it!

Les Not-That Miserable Me

Hey Guys!

From the title, some of you... probably most of you can already guess what this post is going to be about.

Yes, it is going to be about food.


Just kidding!!! Of course it's going to be about the movie "Les Miserable," starring Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, Anne Hathaway and of course, the gorgeous Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne. Oh yeah and Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena B Carter as well.

I had no idea Cohen is starring the movie and I was like "is that... Borat...?" in the theatre. yeah ok, whatever.

I am here NOT to write critique for the movie.

I am actually here to talk about how I learned something new.
About how to prepare myself before watching a movie.

Embarrassingly, I didn't know the synopses of Les Miserable before.
Never read the book or never watched other versions of the novel's movie.

SO, basically I was asking around if anyone has seen this "Les Miserable" and if they have, I also asked them, "how was it?" or "what did you think?" or "did you eat popcorn?" or just you know, mediocre questions.

I was told by several people that they balwed their eyes out in the movie.
OR some told me that they were depressed or thought about life and stuff like that.

After hearing all these comments and such, I decided I should DEFINITELY bring something to wipe my tears and snot during the movie.

I thought, handkerchief?  Oh no. It wouldn't cut it if I need to blow my nose. Snot all over your face if you need to wipe your tears after blowing your nose?
GROSS.

So I bought myself 4 new packs of pocket tissue papers. You know what those are right?
These.

Not particularly these but I bought the ones that were soft and had moisturizers in them and all these fancy stuff to treat my nose nicely.

I watched the movie last Friday.

What happened to the tissue papers?

I USED NONE. WHAT! WHAT!

I did NOT shed a single tear before, during or after the movie.

I was in shock. with myself. I was thinking, "am I so cold-hearted that I couldn't cry in a movie that others bawled???"

But then, after the discussion with those I watched the movie with, we concluded that we were over-hyped or over-prepared to shed thousand tears.
You know, it's kinda like... uh... when you are SO hungry and dying to eat tacos and thinking you can gobble down 500 tacos but when you actually sit down for tacos, you only manage to eat 2 tacos.

Do you get it? I was just over-prepared.
I thought I would look puffy-eyed, red nosed, and still hiccuping coming out from the theatre. ... I guess at least I didn't look gross and miserable that way... but I was SO ready to cry.

The movie itself was good! and I liked the music and stuff.

BUT next time I know that I can't be over-hyped or over-prepared or set the expectation to cry or laugh or be scared or be hungry too high. I can save tissue money that way. Lesson learned.

HENCE, I shouldn't be asking around people about the movie that they have watched, which I have not watched but want to watch.

... Does that make sense...?

Well, I don't watch much of movies anyway. Pff, whatever.

Anyways, if anyone has not it yet, I recommend it.
Trust me, you won't cry. or maybe.... maybe not...

If you'd like to melt your heart...

It's been quite cold these days in Tokyo...

and my heart is cold too...


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED SOME LOVE AND WARMTH!!!!!!


I didn't actually scream these words but you know what I mean?

No? NO? what? I'm not lame and sad like you Yuri...??


fine then....

BUT if anybody is feeling low and cold, I have a perfect website for you. before that take this survey to find out if you are suitable for this site:


1. Do you like animals in general?
2. Do you like small things?
3. Are you feeling low and cold?

The survey was kind of a spoiler but WHATEVER.
If you answered yes to all the questions, you will be addicted.

one warning tho; you might get addicted and might not able to get out of this site.

ENJOY!
http://attackofthecute.com/

creative ad...?

HI!!!!!


I was flattered to find quite a few view counts of my last post after my long absence.


It definitely pumped me up to start blogging about.... ehhhhh random crap that I see/come up with/ think about/ hear or even dream about again. 


But really my excuse was probably way too lame so I'm not going to keep my hopes up about attracting too many readers... 
BUT I SWEAR I WAS SO SO OVERWHELMED BY WORK!!!!!! 


It's funny because when I physically talk a lot, which I did for the first month of my full-employment, I tend to not talk to myself too much. Like I'm doing right now. Obviously, I didn't talk to real people much today. 








What? Yuri, your excuse is still too lame, now shut the fudge up??? 


No, I can't. I'm sorry..... 


What??? then why don't you either stop talking to real people OR stop mumbling to yourself completely so you can focus on one thing at a time???




HEEEEHHHH, good idea mate. But that is going to make me socially inept soooooo no. 










ANYWAYS. Today I would like to talk about this creative advertisement(?) that I saw in Shinagawa station couple weeks back. 


For those who are not familiar with Shinagawa station, it is one of the central stations in Tokyo, which is a nearby station from my house. 
It's pretty scary in the morning, since there are probably 1,123,940,946 people walking to the SAME direction towards to their offices. We have a lot of office buildings around the station.
Unfortunately, I go against the heavy current of 12039846570870976543 people every morning when I go TOWARDS the station. 
GO AHEAD OFFICE PEOPLE, DROWN ME HERE. NOW.


YURI GET BACK TO THE MAIN POINT!!!! sorry. 


So yeah, in a ginormous station, there was an ad for Sony. I saw this around 6pm after coming back from work. Here are some photos. 

NOW everybody, find differences between the two photos. 

hmmm, what? yeah there's a guy in front of the box on the bottom photo. true true. 

What? ok fine, the angle of the photos is different. yup the screen is showing different things. great!!!

NO, YOU BLIND, THE GUY INSIDE HAS MOVED, GODDAMN IT. 

There was a real human inside this glass box in the MIDDLE of the station. 

No idea how long he had been in there or FOR WHAT PURPOSE, but he was there. 

Viewing something through that robotic, futuristic, and kind of unstylish headset thing. 

It's called HMZ, 3-D TV set. 

WOW. REALLY. 

The 3-D movies have been in some serious trends but now TV??? 

WITH THAT HEADSET??

Apparently, that headset itself IS like a TV and you can enjoy watching 3-D Spider-Man through by wearing it. How cool.

And it's only $799.99, £799.99 or ￥59,800!!!! WHAT A BARGAIN!!!! 

My suggestion?? We should all buy them and gather up in one room and watch a movie through that headset TOGETHER. 

No, no, it doesn't matter if we all look dorky or maybe even a little creepy. 

I feel like Sony kind of left out that movie watching is also a group activity/entertainment for some people... including me. 

Of course, for those who like watching movie regardless, this headset should be quite ecstatic. 

Good job on the advertisement though Sony!! 

But I must say the guy inside the glass box looked a little... mmm weird. that's all. 

you lucky people.

HELLO YOU LUCKY READERS.

Why lucky? 

Because you got 2 posts in one day.

That's a miracle.

You don't get 2 posts in the same day on Yuri's blog.

OH BY THE WAY

I just started twitter so if you.... just IN CASE you wanted to follow me, my twitter name (is that what you call?) is yuriistweeting 

SO ORIGINAL RIGHT?

I wanted to be "yuriisontwitter" but apparently it was already taken. Fascinating. 

I really have nothing much to tweet about but I gave into the peer pressure and the temptation to look "cool and trendy."

.... I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING.

'YURI YOU ARE SO BEHIND THE GAME, JUST LIKE WHEN YOU STARTED THIS STUPID BLOG."

well.... I know I'm actually just a tech deaf trying to keep up but just a loser who is unable to do so... 

whatever. bite me.

that's all.

Somebody please explain to me.

Why Troy Davis was executed?

Yes,I know everyone's sick of this topic and I am just here to write another entry like EVERYONE ELSE to cry out the injustice of this messed up world.

No but really, why?

For anyone who's taken basic law class, which I did when I was in college (although it was business law class, it also covered basic criminal laws), there is a term called "reasonable doubt" when somebody is being tried. It's one of the fundamental rules in criminal laws, well, at least that's how I perceived.

And? How was Davis executed "beyond reasonable doubt?" After 7 out of 9 witnesses flipped their stories? And when there was no physical evidence present? And when some witnesses named another guy as the real murderer? When most witnesses confessed that they were pressured by police?

And all these claims were dismissed as "it was too late" and without "substantive claim of innocence?"




REALLYYYY????? REALLY????? HOW????


Yes, maybe some years passed when these witnesses flipped stories. But 7 out of 9???? And did these prosecutors and justices think these witnesses have forgotten or developed Alzheimer that the new claims were bogus or not "substantive" enough????




And after all these organizations and public figures and millions of people protested against
so-obviously-not-legally-justified sentence, the Georgia state still had the authority to kill this man, who was potentially innocent.





I would like to know, what kind of legal loop hole this is.


Troy Davis, we would never know now whether you were truly innocent now.
If you were, I am so sorry and please rest in peace.

When you are away for one month....

Things change so much that it hurts your brain.

No? Well, it freaking hurts mine.

I was away from this blogger for one month and what is this?
The whole thing changed!!!!!

I JUST got used to this blogger thing and they change everything!

And is it necessarily a lot user friendlier than before???

I'm really not sure.

AND ALSO.
I was away for an intensive driving camp (which I will talk about in details in next post) and I only had an access to internet through my new iPhone 4.
So I wasn't at all isolated or deserted from all things cyber, like when I was in Sardinia.

BUUUTTTT I just opened my facebook page through my laptop this morning after returning and

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???

I mean what is this new privacy setting thing and what is this new photo viewers and what what WHATTTTTT!!!!!!! And now we can video call through facebook?

Am I the only panicking over these matters? Am I not able to keep up with this constant changes in social network or technology in general? Maybe this is a sign that I am getting old and being pushed back as a "generation before"....

I just can't do with this mothereffing technology.

Do you feel the same way?
I seriously should open a technology rehab center. 

Talk like Italians.

Hi!!!

I have been on vacation and hence I have not updated my blog for almost a month.
I know. I know. I don't even wanna talk about it. I've been so lazy. This is shameful and I should probably booed out of the blogging world by now. But as you know, I am shameless and have the balls to update it even after one month of absence. THERE I SAID IT. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW,

Anyways.

I've been in Italy where I'm staying at my boyfriend's house for a while.
It's been so relaxing... and I know I deserve it!!!!
Why? Because I'm Yuri. That's a good enough reason.

What? Yuri, you are an arrogant bitch?
... I kind of knew...I'm sorry...

Ok, so Italy, right.
It's frigging great!! Food, beaches, people and everything!!
Especially people though, I must say, are lovely here.

And it is so interesting to people-watch here as well.
I don't speak much of Italian, but I understand a bit and when they converse, I get the context of what they are talking about. But mostly I understand the context by their body language.

Yes, BODY LANGUAGE.
If you have not known already, Italians are known to express themselves with a lot of gestures.
And I would like to introduce some so that you can pretend like you are talking in Italian. Like me.

Here's the guide for you!!
http://www.alfredocassano.com/buyitaliangestures.html

I went to watch waterpolo game a several times because my boyfriend's brother plays with the national youth team. And I must say, again, it was hand-gesture fiesta during the game.
I mainly saw the "What" gesture (chapter1), "Look at that asshole!" gesture (chapter 1), or "take this" gesture (chapter 3).

Oh yes. They will yell, scream, and protest to the referee AND players. and I'm not talking about the coaches, mind you, I'm talking about the general audience.

It's intense, but definitely entertaining. They also do it when they are watching games on TV.

And me? well, I'm still process of learning. But I definitely learned one very importance gesture that will get you through life.





"I'm hungry."
Please refer to chapter 3.

You learn those gestures, you can probably almost seem like you are speaking Italian.

Have you gotten yourselves some “SWAGS”?

Apparently the word "SWAG" is in nowadays.

Grandma Yuri is SO slow to catch up with trends like this
and she catch up on them when they are already on their way out of "cool-ness."


Oh yeah, I'm a loser. Now just shut up and let me be.


So coming back to reality, this word SWAG has been around for a while.
Obviously, the word came from the hiphop culture, in which the word describes something/someone with style, confidence, or just some sort of coolness I GUESS. SO VAGUE.
  
But recently the word "swag" is EVERYWHERE.
LIKE EVERYWHERE.
it's almost like the word "HOT" that Paris Hilton used WAAAY BACK.
I don't really understand how people use it though.
Some blame the over usage of this particular vocabulary on Mighty Justin Bieber. Of course.

Out of curiosity, because I am bored and always looking for completely useless new information,
I looked up the meaning of "swag" on google dictionary, once again, my long time best friend.

According to Mr. Google, Swag means...


swag (noun)
1.
a. An ornamental drapery or curtain draped in a curve between two points.
b. An ornamental festoon of flowers or fruit.
c. A carving or plaster molding of such an ornament.


2. Promotional items, especially when given for free, considered as a group.
3. Slang Stolen property; loot.
4. Australian The pack or bundle containing the personal belongings of a swagman.
5. Slang Herbal tea in a plastic sandwich bag sold as marijuana to an unsuspecting customer.


intr.v. swagged, swag·ging, swags
1. Chiefly British To lurch or sway.
2. Australian To travel about with a pack or swag.


So basically, anyone using the word "swag" is referring to themselves as thief or ornament.
I have no idea whatsoever to how this word turned itself into some gangster slang…
But I guess languages are fascinating that way.

Why did I even start this pointless discussion?
Because I watched a youtube video recently by Kingsley that talks about this slang phenomenon.


 
For those who are interested. 
Here:

You know you made it in NYC when...

I have left NYC.
Yes I left. Permanently... Well... for now at least.
I will come back and visit though!!!
But I know things will not be the same from now on, now that I have moved back to Tokyo and starting my job in October...

So what's my blog going to be???

GOOD QUESTION!!!! Any guess??
......

Final Answer????





I'm abandoning this blog...

JUST KIDDING!!!!
OF COURSE NOT!
I like blogging. I like talking to my imaginary audience about my daily thoughts which are often nonsense.
But I like it! So I think I will just keep on blogging.
I will keep on focusing on my city life (it's gonna be in Tokyo)
occasionally reflecting my old days in NYC mixed with some travel and food stories.
So basically everything about my daily life?

What? Yuri, that's so boring, I don't care about your life??
HEY!

Anyways.
My experiences of three years in NYC were great. Truly amazing city.
I met great people, learned a lot, and certainly grew a lot. No, not my height. as a person.

I think I have become more patient, more independent, and more critical.
At the same time I think I learned to appreciate what life offers and all the obstacles as new challenges.
I will not trade my experiences in the city for anything else really.

Speaking of experiences, you do get a lot of culture shock when you move to a new city.
NYC IS the prime example for that matter.
 I mean...dirty subway, mean people, and over-priced food and drinks? COME ON.

But as I said before, through those negative or difficult experiences I have learned and grown so much.
And I can say with confident that I made it in NYC... ohhhh yes Jay-Z, I did it.
Why am I so confident about this?

Well well then... let me share with ya'll a little story of mine that made me conclude that I made it in the concrete jungle.

So...I believe it was in September. I was walking back from class to Union Square subway station after a long long day. I was exhausted, irritated and maybe a little bit hungry.
As a result, I probably looked quite bitchy as I walked by. But that's not that unusual.

Then it happened.
This small white woman, probably around 30 years of age came up to me as I was crossing the university place crosswalk.

She looked at my face and stopped me saying "excuse me!"
I stopped and said "yes?'

Woman: "I need to tell you this as I saw you walking...."
Me: "...ok?"
Woman: "You have so much energy...So much negative angry energy..."
Me: "(thinking to myself) ah one of those psychic tellers, you."
Woman: "You have so much negative energy in your womb... in your VAGINA."

I SWEAR TO GOD this is EXACTLY what she said to me. I SWEAR.

Now I'm thinking back, I couldn't quite figure out what she meant by that.
I could only think a few possibilities.

A. I am infertile
B. I am deprived sexually.
C. I have some kind of infection down there.
D. All of  the above.

Anyways you wonder what my reactions were??
I plain burst out laughing in her tiny little face saying "whaaattt???"

Then she just told me "that's all" and walked away.
That tiny woman made my week... no... month!
But that's when I realized that I made it in this big city...

And you can too.
If you can laugh at incidents like this, quite disturbing and offensive, you know you have conquered the big concrete jungle. I am just so grateful for all things that happened in my life (including this woman) and people that were part of it.

Technology Rehab

I strongly believe that overuse of technology should be considered a new form of addiction.

I'M NOT KIDDING!
You hear all these teenagers getting arthritis because they text too much or these people who spend 30 hours a day on a web (doing basically nothing) everyday.

I hate to admit but I think I was an addict, until I involuntarily checked myself into technology rehab the other day. Well, more like being laptop and TV less. Thank GOD I still had my smartphone.

So a few weeks back, I had a senior thesis show which I used my laptop to show my presentation.
After repeating same script to explain all the visitors about my project like 50 times,
I was desperate to leave the place to quench my thirst with some cold beer. 

"BEER BEER BEER BEER." as I was saying to myself like an alcoholic on NYC streets, I left the school building. I got home, got down home with a bottle of holy, life-saving, out-of-this-world, and COLD beer, and got ready to watch some funny stuff online on my laptop...

Then I realized..."I FORGOT MY CHARGERRRRRR!!!" in the room I left in desperation.
Frantically, I called everyone. No, it was nowhere to be found.
Next morning, I went to the building at 8am.

The security gave me the "ouchh" face as I was explaining my urgent search to found the charger.
No. Nothing. Called the lost and found. Nothing.


AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I WAS GOING CRAZZZZYYYYY!!!

Fine, I thought, and I ordered a replacement order on Amazon.
It was only 11 bucks!! Amazing, I thought. On top, it would arrive tonight!! YESSSS!!!!
Oh how did I do that without the laptop? well, I thanked school for once for having computers in their labs.
Thank you New School.


I get home later after my internship at night. And there, it was waiting for me....
hah.... we met again...charger...

As the anticipation heightens, I slowly took out the cord and plugged....in.....


Then......IT DOESN'T FITTTTT!!! NOOOOOO!!!! DOESN'T CHAAAARRRGGGEEEE WTFF!!!

There, that was the reason for my technology rehab. I didn't have TV either cause I returned it back to my BF (whom I borrowed it from for a year).
So what did I do the next 3 -4 days or so? mmmm


played with my blackberry (which I can only read emails, check fb, occasionally read news)

The rest of the time, I dedicated it to zoning out, napping, eating, oh, and reading Jane Austin's Emma.
How's Emma? So far she's annoying the bones out of me.


After checking out of the rehab, (after 3 days of waiting and wishing that the charger is right this time) I can proudly say that I am a technology addict again!!!

You guys should try too. I highly recommend it! No really, it will clear your head somehow.

How to get extra something for free at Shake Shack

I know what you are thinking...

I know you are thinking.. "wow yuri, someone's been too lazy to post anything for 14days."

Please! Please don't give me that dirty look!!
I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

Ok, whatever.
Man, I think I am falling into running-out-of-ideas-to-talk-about syndrome that I believe all bloggers face all the time.

Anyways!

So the other day, I was craving burger.
Succulent, meaty, and sexy burger.
It was around 4pm on Sunday.

So what would Yuri do?

Go to Shake Shack!!!
I'm not crazy about that place, to be honest.
I just don't think they are as good as people rave...
That's just me though!!

But I wanted a decent burger without tipping anyone, or being seated.
So I headed to Shaky Shacky.

There were small line, despite the odd time of the day.
I finally got to the cashier, who kind of looked nervous; perhaps it was his first day of work.

I ordered, double shack burger and cheese fries.
Don't judge.

After saying my order, he goes
"do you want everything for your burgerS?"
I caught that he spoke in plural but ignored and said
"no onions"
Then he goes
"Anything else beside burgers?"
I was confused but I said
"um, the cheese fries?"

Then the check-out proceeded.
I wasn't really paying attention and looked back my receipt 2 seconds after he swiped my card.

"WTF $15!!!????"

Apparently he put in extra cheeseburger, as he misheard me when I ordered cheese fries in the beginning.
No wonder he asked me twice and no wonder the burger was plural.

So I went back to cashier to cancel my order.
Obviously he refunded me for the extra cheese burger.

BUUUTTT here's the miracle.

When I got to the counter to pick up my goodies,
the extra cheese burger was waiting for me.

As a good citizen, I told the staff the cheese burger was by mistake.

Staff:  "well, we made it already so you can take it."
Me: "what, er, are you sure?"
Staff: "...yeah. I mean it's free for you."
Me: "I know but um, OK!!!THANKS!!!"


End of story.

The moral: when you go to shake shack, mumble your order so the cashier mishears you and charge you for extra something. Then go back to him and complain so he will refund you while the item is already in the making, and take the free stuff.

What a wonderful world.

How to comment on my blog....

Hi everyone,

I recently got a comment from someone that they cannot comment on my blog.
I was very upset to hear that because
It was blogger setting's fault, not the boring-ness of my blog that prevented people from commenting!!!!

Now my comment field is enabled!!
Feel free to leave any comment... just... be nice...about it. please...

That's all!

How to ride trains...elegantly.

I'm sleepy.
This time of the year, I am especially sleepy.
I'm usually a morning person who wakes up before the alarm goes off.
But recently, I've been hitting snooze...
I almost overslept for work once...

SHAME! SOME DISCIPLINE PLEASE!

Anyways. Enough about me sleeping. Oh, but yesterday, I dreamed about myself sleeping.
Isn't that weird? You are sleeping when you are really sleeping as well...

OK ENOUGH YURI, ENOUGH.

So yesterday, I was on a train on my way back home from school, around 9pm,
and I witnessed a few things and the title of this blog crossed my mind.

Honestly, New Yorkers need to ride trains in more elegant manners.
Not that it's any of my business but it's just annoying to see some things.
So here are some things that I saw.

I was standing in line when train arrived. There was this very thin, tall, pretty lady behind me, and several others waiting in line as well. As soon as the door opened, this pretty looking lady pushed everyone out and rushed to the open seat. NOT ELEGANT. 
And then, I was standing on the corner near the door and the train got to the next station. This guy, a broad shouldered man that looked like Peter from Family Guy, came in. He was eating a hamburger with one hand, and he bumped into me with his broad shoulder (I swear it was intentional), then gave me this glare. I mean WTF. NOT ELEGANT. 
While the thin pretty lady was sitting on her comfortable seat and the broad shouldered guy was eating his burger, there was this guy standing across me. He looked normal, until his hand reached near his crotch area and started scratching. Then he went on to put his hand INSIDE his pants to have better scratch. REALLY???? IN TRAIN?? That's why you have to wash your hands after you ride train. You never know who touched what. SO NOT ELEGANT.


All these things happened in 10 minutes or so of riding the train ok?
Imagine being on a train all day long.
I don't want to imagine what I will have to witness.
Here are the basic rules for elegance:

1. Don't fight for seat. Your legs won't break into half.
2. Don't eat in the train. It's just gross.
3. Don't bump into people on purpose. It's mean.
4. Don't scratch your balls. It's just gross.
5. Just stand/sit quietly, or talk with moderate volume of voice.
And just get off the train. Say "excuse me" when you need to push people.

I think these people above need to re-do elementary school.

Have a safe train ride everyone!

Valentine's Day!! Let us all be the slaves of corporate marketing!

Valentine's day... it is a special day for people to appreciate/confess/drop some dollars for their love.

Very romantic.

Eh, anyways.
Valentine's day, as commonly known, is a day started by Saint Valentine, a Christian priest, who helped young people marry under the prosecution of Roman emperor Claudius II. For his kind action, Saint Valentine was executed on February 14th. According to another legend, this saint confessed his love to a young girl the night before his execution by sending her a card, which was signed as "From your Valentine"... (sources: History.com)

OK THESE LEGENDS HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO HISTORICAL FACTS PEOPLE!

First off, there are at least 3, yes THREE martyrs called Valentines and we don't even know which one it is that we are celebrating.

Second, some historians argue that there are no romantic associations between St. Valentines up til certain period of time. Some go on and argue that Catholic Church used the date of St. Valentine's death in order to "christianize" the Roman pagan holiday Lupercalia (a day of fertility which happened to fall on between February 13 - 15, convenient!!!)

From these research, we can conclude one thing.

WE ARE ALL SLAVES OF MARKETING FROM ANCIENT TIMES!
Ah, the power of marketing... Love it.

In order to not fall into corporate hands by submitting myself into buying corporate Valentine's goods, I had to look for an inexpensive alternative to celebrate this HOLYday of romance... And found some interesting ideas...

HERE:

1. Make a memory jar. Take simple slips of paper and write a favorite memory on each one. Be specific, and try to record as much about the occasion as you can. Tuck them into a jar or wooden box, tied with a bow.

2. Build a romantic fire. Host your own indoor picnic, complete with a bottle of champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries.

3. Recreate your first date together. What were you wearing? Where did you go? Do you remember what you talked about? Spend the evening reminiscing and reflecting on how far you have come as a couple.

HERE COMES MY FAVORITE IDEA....!


4. Spoon. 

HAHA ok.

5. Choose a book in which you are both interested, fiction or nonfiction. Read a new chapter each night before bed. This cozy tradition will allow you to spend some quality time together and often makes for thought provoking breakfast conversations.

6. Make a tape of the songs special to your relationship. Include "your song," songs from your wedding, songs from favorite movies. Add a personal voice dedication and leave it in his briefcase, Walkman, or car stereo.

7. Turn off the TV and play a game of Scrabble or Pictionary.

OMG this website is soo NOT helpful with ideas. But just in case you guys are interested, here is the website that I pulled the ideas from.

http://www.creativehomemaking.com/inexpensive-valentines-day-ideas.shtml

#17 is my favorite, although it's pretty much the same as #8 and #17. Repeat much?

Hopefully this post has helped you reconsider... well figure out how to spend this marketing-filled date with you loved ones! I'm going to sit home and watch movies with some beer and wings. Let's recreate Superbowl feasting!

HAPPY ST. VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!! <3 <3 <3

If you want to find your love-at-first-sights...

I just found out today that there is a page called "Missed Connection" on Craigslist.

Am I really behind in this online relationship/community thingy??

I was like "WOW" when I looked at this page.

I mean really, there's some quite interesting shit going on here.

So basically, if you want to find "Laura" or "Jordan" that you met/talked/hooked up in a train, or someone whom you just saw on a train, you got a perfect site for that.

Here's an example of a post:

Title: Blond with tats on Dolphin gym - m4w - 35 (East Village)
Message: See you at Dolphin on 4th st lately. You're blond with a big tattoo on your arm(which i love!)and a few other tats-one on your neck too i think,,I wanted to say hi but you had headphones on and seemed like you were being bothered by some other guy there and i didn't want to seem like him..Just think you are cute and unique and maybe single? Hope to see you there more. I'm not creepy I swear! I just find you interesting and wouldn't mind getting to know you sometime. Wonder what you are listening to all the time?


...Yes, you are creepy and yes, you are like the"other guy" that was bothering her too, dude. Really, I had never imagined there would be a day cragslist will become a mean to track down a guy who opened a door at Macy's and smiled at you.

Really people, REALLY???? I have nothing against it. If that's what you call fate, go ahead and be my guest. But if any guy ever put a posting about me on the site, my reaction will be "wow, that's creepy" at the very least. Whatever happened to human interactions nowadays.

JUST ASK THEM FOR THEIR NUMBER IN PERSON goddamn it.

Anyways, if you are looking for "Alex," that were in front of you buying mocha frappecino yesterday, hey, get on the craigslist quick!!! Or maybe you can go back to the starbacks and talk to him. I know- I know- the former is much more romantic eh??