do you see what I see?

well, do ya?

if not, maybe you should check this out. you'll see then.

65 things that look like Pac Man

"uh, look, I'm probably about to get laid right now, so is it okay if I email you afterwards?"
-JU

indiana jones and the hotel of doom

aside from music, large and interesting architectural wonders are one of the other art forms I can really appreciate (paintings are nice and all, but...eh.) that said, while browsing through yahoo tonight, I came across an article that stated that construction on North Korea's "Hotel of Doom" was resuming, after supposedly 16 years of, well, abandonment.



look at that thing. isn't it incredibly ugly?

apparently the story behind that $750 million waste of concrete is that construction began in 1987 in the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang, mostly as a jealous response to the coming of the Olympics to Seoul (South Korea, for you geographically igonorant) in 1988. unfortunately, 5 years and a Soviet collapse later, construction halted on the building because of lack of funds and/or lack of public interest, and all that's left is this concrete shell you see above. it still stands as a tribute to North Korea's economic problems. the building would have been 105 stories tall, with seven rotating restaurants, and 3000 hotel rooms. but if you think about it, who the hell would want to visit North Korea anyway?

I took this off of a blog of someone who had actually seen the thing:
"The Ryugyong Hotel is not visible at night. It is 105-floors, but since it has no electricity – since construction never finished and it is empty – it disappears into the blackness of a Pyongyang night. Then it reappears again at dawn, as though it were an apparition slowly manifesting in the morning fog. Official photos of Pyongyang show the building illuminated at night, but this is a result of photo manipulation."

ain't that some fucked up shit?

I'll admit that stuff like this really fascinates me. and finding time to blog about it and whatnot is a really great way to procrastinate from the many pages of midterm paper I must write.

on that note, I leave you with this google earth image from above:



now that's some crazy star wars shit.

"our fucking couches are haunted!"
-CV

I am writing to inform the world that...

I lost a dear friend of mine today.

my poor, poor backpack pocket. my favorite backpack pocket, if you will. the zipper on you has broken and the pocket rendered useless.

so ends an era and begins a new one in which this backpack which I've managed to use and keep in working condition for the past 8 years begins to fall apart. seriously, this was my favorite pocket. I kept my ipod in there, my little reminder notebook, various other objects that were too small to keep in the larger pockets but still needed to be accessed readily, was in the perfect position since if I dropped my backpack on the ground it would receive minimal impact...

goodbye, old pocket.



what, can't a person mourn over an inanimate object he has an emotional attachment to? (that's what she said)(or he...m'eh.)

"...and feel free to shit on my pillow and toothbrush too."
-BM

so it's come to this

sleep. work. lunch. work. tv. sleep.

welcome to your new life, mark.

I hate to sound trite, yet the past month really has been a blur. seems like I didn't waste any time when it came to finding work after graduating. the day after my last final, I began full time work at this medical accounting firm in beverly hills (don't worry, it only sounds cool).

so skip over the whole graduation ceremony, the seeing of family, the ending of instruction and the various activities designed for sending off seniors. it wasn't until I sat down at chipotle in my dress shirt and pants with my steak burrito facing the window at all the people leisurely walking around and shopping that I realized that it was finally all over. my life had finally taken a major turn and I had nothing but full days of work to look forward to.

sleep. work. lunch. work. tv. sleep.

sound fun? everyone always says they don't want to get to the real world after college. I finally see why.

but fortunately for me, I'm not completely there yet (thank God for this last class I have to take). it's the final class of my undergraduate career (and I'm going to try and enjoy every second of it). isn't that frightening? I've been talking to alot of high school seniors lately, and I can't help but reiterate the fact to them that they are so lucky. they've got the best times of their lives ahead of them, and I tell them to make sure they enjoy it. cause after this 4 year long party, it's pretty much downhill.

okay, so maybe I'm being a little melodramatic. but still. college was only a couple of weeks ago for me, yet it seems so far away. knowing that for the next 40 years of my life, I'll be behind a computer in an office is kinda...saddening. in other words, oh shit.

I shouldn't complain though, I'll still be in Westwood for the next year, so maybe things aren't gonna change so much (I'll get more into that later). some of my closest friends have moved away already, and some of the people I interacted with here at school I realized I may never see again in my life. taking that into account, for me it's still

sleep. work. lunch. work. tv. sleep.

and that alone depresses me.

wow, that was emo. but it's my blog and i can rant if i want to.

"yeah you know, the greek drink ouzo. it's like being bitch slapped by a christmas tree."
-JC