I think one of the worst things you can do in a relationship is to act as if you're the victim. I'm not talking about being a victim of an abusive relationship. Now, that's simply wrong. I'm talking about telling the other person or even thinking that you're the one who should be comforted, you're the person who is on the losing side, you're the one who's tired, you're the one who's busy, you're the one who's being neglected, you're the one who's making the sacrifices, and the other person is basically an insensitive and selfish ass hole who doesn't truly love you. Do you do that? Do you sacrifice for someone and make sure that the other person knows about the fact that you've made the sacrifice? Is it really a sacrifice if you're actively seeking some sort of recognition? What makes you feel that your life is harder to live than the other's? Just because the other person doesn't show the same type of symptoms as you do, doesn't mean that the other person has no worries whatsoever. Let's just say, for the sake of the argument, that the other person really doesn't have any worries. Does that mean you should try and make his life more "exciting" by introducing pointless arguments that point back to the alledged fact that you're the victim of the relationship? You may think that you're the victim and you're doing all the sacrificing, but if you were to have a real good look at yourself you just might start to realize that you're basically asking everything to revolve around you, you, you, and only you.

I've always thought, and still do, that there's never a time when one person is 100% at fault in a relationship. You can always imagine a case where either one of the person acts in a totally altruistic way (I don't believe in pure altruism, but that's a whole another entry) and give in to the other person. However, that's a lose-win situation.... a zero sum game. That's not an ideal relationship. If you think you can live your life in a constant lose-win struggle, then you're obviously a better person than I am. Maybe it's my scientific mindset that drives me, but I prefer a win-win situation... a positive sum game. You try for a certain period of time doing your very best to understand the other person's situation, then you try to see if you can show the other person where you're coming from. You're trying to find a way to bring out the win-win solution. Take a moment and think about how you act to your significant other. Are you guilty of the "victim of the relationship" syndrome? I'm sure everyone is guilty to some extent, but so long as you're aware of it you can either decide to change yourself or find somebody else who can put up with that sort of behavior. That's the only two options you're left with after you've given your shot at trying to make the relationship work for both parties involved.

Everyone has the right to be happy. If you really love that other person you'll naturally do your best to make that other person happy. However, if that process involves making yourself unhappy then perhaps you two are simply not compatible. Being in love with somebody and being a compatible partner are two different things. Think wisely.

Beware of the "WLI Reservations" scam!! I have already been ripped off for 1 month ($7), and thank god I realized that I was being ripped off before it was too late... Here's some info about another person who was ripped off just like I was. I was able to cancel my membership through their website, and they say they're going to refund the monthly fee for September that had been charged to my account, but it doesn't look like I'll be getting my monthly fee for the month of August back. Grrr... People are saying that I got signed up without my knoweldge (probably a victim of fine prints) through buy.com or other similiar online vendors. I'm gonna try and contact them to see where exactly they got my info and if I can get all my money refunded... Buyers beware... Arggggh...

Pu ha ha ha ha ha!

Sometimes it's quite astonishing how little some of these so-called senior managers know about leading project team members. Some may know how to manage budget, but most are clueless when it comes to leading people. Perhaps all those books they've read, all those years of experience they've had never really made it to their heart... *SIGH* It seems like most of them simply don't take the time to try and understand their team members. You can argue that it takes too much time, but if you're not willing to spend time on building that relationship with your team members, then I'd say you should give up on the whole "working with others" gig. Sit down with them and try to first understand where they are coming from, then see how you can help them work more efficiently. Find out what it is that drives them to work hard on a project and what it is that makes them happy. Unless you're dealing with the devil himself, making your team member happy will directly efect the quality of the project results. Spend time earning their trust. Yes I said earning their trust. Don't you for a second think that they should earn your trust first. If there's one reason why seniors are called seniors, it's because they are supposed to be more humble, and more respecting of others. Now if you've worked with me and I don't practice these things, then lemme know cuz I'd like to know.

Why didn't anybody tell me how good "24" was??? I just thought I'd check a few episodes out by borrowing the DVD from Blockbuster since my cousin was all goo-goo-ga-ga about it, then *BAM*... I was hooked... So Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday I kept going back to blockbuster to borrow more episodes and eventually finished it (all 24 episodes of season 2) Tuesday morning around 3AM. I really had to finish what I had started... pu heh heh. Since I rarely watch TV, this whole DVD rental thing is pretty darn convenient.

Oh, and here's something really cool that made my day. You know how I talked about the fact that eversince I got a car I missed being able to read on the bus? Well, recently I realized that they have audio tapes of books so that you can listen to it while you're driving (yes, yes welcome to 1980, I know..). Isn't that awesome???! It really won't work for hands-on types of books, but for other types of books I think it will work just fine. Man, this totally made my day... I'm gonna start looking for audio tape versions of books that I can listen to while driving. :)

A live action Initial D movie??? Sounds cool, but given how badly these Chinese directors screw up Japanese animes by turning them into movies (Street Fighter, City Hunter, to name a couple), I'm not really gonna have any high hopes...

Oh, I just did one of those online questionaire things here and was caught by surprise... The result was quite astonishing...

Yay~ I got the "Most Improved" award ( just another way of saying that I sucked so badly in the beginning ) at the BMW Autocross event. ^^. The trophy was a miniature cone (The orange cone used in marking tracks during autocross events). Dave could have gotten the award for being the fastest had he not knocked off a cone. My time was 21.86 and his was 20.23. Man, that was fun. It was kinda different from the Mazda Revitup event. I think it was less of a school compared to the Mazda event, but good fun, nonetheless. I did like the fact that you get personal feedback from the instructor who always sits on the passenger side. They also had free cookies, brownies and drinks~ (I suppose it still doesn't beat the C-Spot event that provided participants with sushi... heh heh) I also got to see the new 5 series. I must say I was plesantly surprised to see it in person. Trust me, it looks 10 times better in person. I thought it was fugly in the magazines, but I'm not too sure now that I've seen it in person. You be the judge. The event was somewhat dissapointing since it was so short, but we really did get to take those cars to their limits. We really abused the breaks on the first practice session where we were supposed to just stomp on the break full-throttling on a straight run and also while cornering just to get used to the breaking and the ABS chracteristics of the 330i. I must say that I was thoroughly impressed with the breaking power of the 3 series.

My driving impresion of the 330i was that it felt much more firm and nimble compared to the Mazda 6 or my dear Bora. I think its suspension set up makes the biggest difference. Mazda 6 handled well, but I think 330i handled better. The car didn't really have as much torque as I had hoped. I'm a bit spoiled by my car's full torque coming out at 1950RPM... That initial oomph was slightly less felt with the 330i. It may also have been the shifting characteristics of the automatic that we were using, though. Given that the upshifting seemed overly smooth, the computer may have been shifting a bit to quickly (I'm not sure, cuz I was never watching the dash. You know you gotta constantly be looking in the direction you wanna go~ :P )

The recurring theme while driving cars other than mine is that I really need a new steering wheel. The 3 spoke steering wheel on the 330i was compact with a nice grip. The same was the case with the Mazda 6. After I modify my suspension, the steering wheel would have to be my next mod.

I'm seriously considering making this a permanent hobby starting next spring. This is not only fun, but believe it or not, it makes daily driving much more enjoyable as well (and safer, too) ^^. If I ever have kids, I'm definitely going to put them up in some sort of performance driving school for a couple of days as soon as they get their license.

Alright, going to have dinner with cubbie and Caro tonight @ the Olive Garden. :D

Did everyone already know about this crazy incident involving a bomb that went off around the kneck of a pizza delivery man? I've been out of the loop for the past week and just heard about it at work today... That's some crazy shit, man... Only a couple hours from Pittsburgh.... o_0;. Ah, yes... Media feeding me with more fear.... pu heh heh. ;)

Sometimes I wish I weren't myself... Sometimes I wish I weren't as devoted to the things I do. Sometimes I wish I weren't as workaholic as I am. Sometimes I wish I didn't have such aspirations to be good at the things I enjoy working on. Sometimes I wish I weren't so independent. Sometimes I wish I were totally insensitive to other people's needs. Sometimes I wish I didn't think as much. Sometimes I wish I weren't so fucking sentimental enough to be triggered into this mood by listening to some sappy song... Maybe things will be a lot better that way...