My Super Power - And Other Stories for the Road

My Super Power

I have a super power. Did you know? I am capable of forgetting what shirt I have on. Sometime between putting it on in the morning and changing into my jammies, I become unaware of the wearing. (Footnote: There's always a shirt on. I'm not that oblivious...) Perhaps this doesn't sound like much, but it is a power I've learned to put to good use.

You can tell when someone doesn't have this power; it's very obvious. They'll have on some obnoxious shirt, and they'll be smirking when you make eye contact. Perhaps you just like looking at eyes. They think you think they're clever. For me, though, I totally forget. More than once, this has led me to conduct a presentation wearing a T-shirt.


The Refactory

I've mentioned the game engine I'm working on before. It's basically a hobby, and a constant reminder to be disciplined in how I code. For any other project I work on, the quality of code is secondary to the thing actually working. Not here. And so, I've spent the last three months rebuilding the menu system from scratch. It's now amazingly concise, powerful, and low-impact, clocking in at 16% of the original size --an astonishing improvement. I'm quite satisfied.

That's all well and good for me, but I can't imagine how software companies explain to their clients that they spent three months doing essentially nothing. I guess that's why Internet Explorer hogs the memory scene with each new release, whereas Firefox is consistently better managed in this regard.


Not Your Typical Article on the Olympics

We all know the hullabaloo going on right now with the Olympic torch gauntlet relay. I've got so much nothing to say about that. But here's an interesting fact: from what I've read, the torch had a fairly reasonable reception in San Francisco. The trouble spots were mostly in Europe. However, we all get lumped together as "Westerners" whenever the Chinese speak about it. This all-encompassing term applies to everyone white, even if they're from Australia ("Southern"ers?). But why am I complaining? They could be calling us 老外 ... This is really just a public service announcement for y'all: if you manage to get dragged into a debate on this subject, make sure the phrase "Oh, that was Europe. What about America?" slips out early on.

Speaking of "fair's fair", I know a whole bunch of Chinese living in NY who were hassled after the Virginia Tech shootings because, apparently, they "looked Korean". Racism foiled by ignorance!


Thing-what?

Photos are up for the Thingyan celebration. My friend was awesome enough to actually attempt to get pictures while water was being splashed everywhere; kudos for that. These are two of my favorite photos. I am definitely celebrating this festival when I move back to America.


Operation: San Frantastic!

My room's a bit bland these days. So I ask you, my loyal readers, to suggest something for it. I'm adding the stipulation that, if it's not obscenely difficult or expensive (or offensive) to get, I'll add it to my room. Sure, I can decorate my own room. But I'm looking for inspiration here. Even bad suggestions are good: they remind me to get something to replace that hideous _____ that ____ suggested.


Bug or Feature?

There's an interesting aspect to Blogger posts: they're date-stamped with the time you writing them. For example, this article should appear to have been posted about a week or so ago. This will probably make you all frantic that you haven't kept up with my blog, and distract attention from the fact that I haven't been updating. Ah-hahaha!