The Department of War

On one of the episodes of Manhattan, there was the Secretary of War coming in to inspect the progress of the Manhattan Project in the New Mexico base.

I have heard of the Department of War before, but I used to think that it was created as a separate department from Department of Defense in order to handle the involvement of the United States in both WW1 and WW2.

Oh dear, I was wrong.

Apparently, up until 1947, the Department of Defense was called the Department of War.

I have always wondered why the United States has been embroiled in a war elsewhere in the world for most of its existence, but now I finally understood.

Semantics matters, people.

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I am playing Pokémon Go using wifi-only connection, in French!

Though Pokémon Go was released on 6th of July in the US, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and several other similarly-awesome countries, I did not install it on my iPod Touch until the 8th of July because I had other matters to tend to.

And little did I realize that I was missing out!

However, now that I have installed it, I discovered that the language of my Pokémon Go corresponds to the language I use on my iPod Touch, which is...French!

Ah yes, I simply chose Team Mystic because blue is the closest color to my favourite colour of all time, aquamarine. Also for the fact that the French call it Équipe Sagesse (Team Wisdom), which gives it a Ravenclaw-like aura.

Do you remember that I do not have a mobile data plan on my cellphone? Though I own a Samsung Galaxy S5 now, I only bought it for its high-resolution camera. This means that in the last two days alone, all the Pokémons I have caught are locatednot too far from a wireless router.

These are the Pokémons I have caught so far:

Those names are the original French names, as giving a nickname to Pokémons is something I had never done (even during the good ol' days of playing Pokémon Red, Gold, etc).

For those of you unfortunate enough to be living in countries without Pokémon Go, you only see 19 Pokémons on my screenshot even though the Pokémon list says 28 out of 250. This is because some of them are Pokémons I have lovingly evolved myself!

This wifi-only connection is a handicap, because this means I will never be able to challenge a gym if it had not had a wifi connection present in its vicinity. So who knows, I may just decide to obtain AT&T's $45/month prepaid plan which also includes mobile data sometime soon...

I may decide to post more updates on my plan to become Pokémon Master once I have reached my goal of obtaining 50 Pokémons, so stay tuned!

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How to finish your American college education faster and cheaper

So the college education costs around $10,000-30,000 a year. If you're lucky, you can get scholarships and/or grants that can help you pay for them.

However, there are some unlucky few among you who have to pay twice the in-state tuition simply because you come from out-of-state or even from a foreign country.

Whether or not you pay a lot for your college education, you still want to graduate as soon as possible, right?

Then CLEP is the solution for you.

CLEP, which stands for College Level Examination Program, is a group of tests that assess college-level knowledge in several subject areas that are administered at more than 1,700 colleges and universities across the United States created by the College Board.

So for example, if you take a CLEP for Macroeconomics, and you pass that CLEP, you will be given 3 credit hours for that Macroeconomics class (without having taken the class at all).

What kind of CLEP tests are offered?

Almost every General Education classes are offered! General Education classes are the very basic classes that every American college student have to take, regardless of major. These include Algebra, English, History, and some Science classes.

Some colleges also offer major-specific classes such as Psychology, Business, and Nursing.

How do you study for CLEP?

There are two free websites that can help you with that:

1. Education-Portal (no registration needed)
2. Coursera  (registration needed, but all classes are free)

Other things you need to know about CLEP...

Be aware that not all colleges accept or even administer the CLEP tests. You need to find out for yourself by asking your college staff or advisers whether or not CLEP tests are accepted for college credits.

Also, CLEP tests are not free. From what I have seen in several college campuses, it ranges from $80 to $150... However, since it is still much cheaper than tuition for an actual class, I still suggest you take it.

Formats are different for each CLEP tests, but you can be rest assured that each CLEP test carries mostly multiple-choice questions with only a few short-phrase sentences (with the exception of language class CLEP tests where there are some essay questions).

For one, I regretted having taken Algebra class in my community college. I had to come and sit in class for Algebra which was too easy simply because I have learned it long ago in my high school in Singapore. The class was so shockingly easy and so useless that I had to spend my class time reading manga. If I had taken CLEP for Algebra, I could have just bypassed the class altogether and get 3 college credits automatically.

Colleges put the cap of taking as many as 40 to 50 CLEP credits for 4-year undergraduate students, which means that if you take around 40 CLEP credits before the end of your first three semesters, you could graduate with a Bachelor's degree in as fast as five semesters!

So...what do you think? Let me know if this tip is helpful!

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What a Masonic (Freemason) temple of Cincinnati looks like from the inside

This is me during the World Choir Games 2012 in Cincinnati, showing what the inside architecture of a Freemason temple looks like.

In case you do not know, the Freemasons are a secretive bunch of people. Hence, the very fact that I am able to show this video to you is already a historic moment in itself.

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Au revoir!

Now that the Maître family has moved to South Carolina, my family is going to miss them.

I first met the aged couple at church in November 2009. Most fellow churchgoers call them "the French couple", primarily because Mrs M. Maître is a Belgian citizen with a thick French accent, while Mr P. Maître is a dual French-US citizen with only a slight French accent.


The couple and I got along quickly, primarily because I can understand French. So at times Mrs M. Maître speak to me in French, though my replies came back in English.


Despite me having studied some French back in Indonesia, my very first introductions to French meals such as couscous and Bourdeaux wines came by when they invited me to their occasional dinners.


During those days when my mother and my sister haven't come to USA yet (in case you don't know, I spent around 15 months living by myself in USA, since Mom and my sis hadn't got enough money to come here), Mr P. Maître came and took me to the clinic and waited for me whenever I fell sick.


Then during the World Cup 2010 in South Africa, I asked them if I could come over to their house to watch football. I had no cable in my house because I never watch TV you see (except for playing my DVDs, Wii, and PS3). They welcomed me for all the Japanese and French matches, without hesitation.


In summers, I was also welcome to come to their house to swim in their rather-large pool.


When they decided to move to in a South Carolina town to be closer to one of their daughters, my family and some of their friends were rather saddened. They conducted a farewell party just two weeks ago by their pool, and there was quite a turnout. Though the Maître family do not belong to the elites of the town, it seemed like most people who have known them have a quite favourable opinion of them.

They are indeed, kindhearted souls.

Mr P. Maître told my family is the last time they will be moving, and alas, we have no idea when we will be seeing them again. The distance from my town to their town is around 640 miles away. We exchanged e-mails and Skype accounts, in case we want to communicate again online. However, they will always be remembered as good friends who have been there in times of need, and they shall be missed.

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on Indonesian Americans

Below is my little masterpiece in the "What I really do" meme, focusing on Indonesian students in USA and Americans of Indonesian descents alike.

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List of cities with more population than Wyoming

Living in Wyoming, where the population is only around 580,000, must be extremely boring.

For one, it is the 10th largest state in USA. However, in terms of population, it is the smallest state in the country.

In case you don't know what a population of 580,000 would look like, I'll give you international readers some comparison. The following are mid-sized cities around the world that have more approximate population than the entire state of Wyoming combined:

1. Leeds, England (799,000) 
2. Kagoshima, Japan (600,000)
3. Bandar Lampung, Indonesia (790,000)
4. Vancouver, BC, Canada (600,000)
5. Louisville, KY, USA (597,000)

Sad, ain't it?

I am having a hard time myself living in a mid-sized town like this one in Northern Kentucky. Outside of work, going to campus, and occasional hanging out with pals, it is dull here.

I can't imagine what how dismal life could look like if I were to relocate there.

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on Small towns

Living in the suburbs has plenty of perks.

For one, it is much safer than big cities. Unless I'm parking the car for the night, most of the time I leave my car doors unlocked. Nobody steals cars here.

But I'm afraid I've overstayed my welcome.

I have nothing against staying in Kentucky. It's just that I was raised as a city person. Living in a small town/suburbs like this gives me an endless sense of boredom. Sometimes I lie awake at night thinking how beautiful life would be if I could just pack and move to some nice cities such as Washington DC.

Seriously, it's dull living here. No excitement, no nightlife, nothing. Unlike back in New York, you can't find Chinese restaurants open past midnight.

Even the McDonald's close at Midnight.

I need to move out!

Granted that everything goes according to plan, I am slated to graduate with a Bachelor degree from university in 2014. At the point of which I am thinking of resettling in Charlotte, NC or Savannah, GA...where the tropics and the beaches are always within reach.

Or even the birthplace of my sister...Richmond, VA.

Damn, I absolutely love that city!

An ideal one would be a city that's not too expensive to live in (in terms of housing and groceries), has a metro train system (I love commuting by train since it reminds me of Singapore) and does not speak Spanish.

This leaves most of Florida and Texas out of the equation.

Let's just see later, I guess.

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It's too late for swimming

The iPhone's weather app is showing a temperature of 13°C , which means it's too late for swimming now. It's a pity that none of us had the chance (nor the wills) to swim when it was still warm outside.


A friend suggested going to Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, OH if we want to have an indoor waterpark experience. I guess I'll check the place out after the bills are paid for the month.




I have been blogwalking on some Indonesian blogs lately, and seeing some snapshots of Indonesian cuisine made my mouth water. Especially when it comes to my fave Indonesian meal of Martabak and Pempek Palembang (I blame this on Kimi! Oh by the way, I've put your link in my blogroll! ^^).


An Indonesian friend in California told me that even Indonesian restaurants in the country (which mostly converge in California, NY, and Texas) don't taste as original as the ones back in the tropics, particularly since their respective owners want to comfort more of the American people's tastebuds.


Shucks. I should make it a target to have an annual pilgrimage back to Singapore or Indonesia or even Netherlands to taste Indonesian food every once in a while.

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(499th) day of Summer

While signs of autumn seemed to have arrived on early September (it dropped from 28 C to 12 C in less than 24 hours, how annoying is that?), some people just can't wait to have autumn back on the doorstep.

Ah, autumn!



The most romantic month of the year in Kentucky is not February.

It's October, when the rustic charm resonates in the surroundings with early steps of autumn. Autumn in Kentucky also tends to have more rain than any other time of the year, which gives the impression of living in the outskirts of Oregon.

Calm, peaceful, and slightly cool. Makes you want to cuddle with your lover.

When I get married, I'd probably have the ceremony outdoors in autumn. Winter would be freezing while summer would be too sweltering.

Spring would confuse people as to what dress code one should wear, since the cold days and hot days come alternately.

Not that I have anyone in mind though.

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Do you know that there is no undergrad thesis in USA?

"Liberal Arts"

That's what I tell people when they ask me what I major in college.

Liberal Arts? What's that?

Oh, I study some stuff like history, politics, maths, geology, English...

*silence*

(It is a fancy name for "Undecided", really. I take the General Education requirements during the first three semesters, which is why I am allowed to declare myself as a Lib Arts major)

So....I am in the middle of a predicament here. My third semester is coming and by the middle of spring 2012 (or latest by May 2012), I should have declared a major already.

Some folks suggested not to fret about it, saying "you'll know it when the time comes", but I should know better.

Declaring a major is like getting a girlfriend. If you declare the wrong one, you can still break it up and take a major in another, but then you're stuck with wasted credits and may have to repeat a semester or two.

And if I didn't find the most suitable major for me, I would graduate with a degree that provides me a pathway to jobs that I disdain. By then it would be akin to having a annoying, bossy, jealous, hen-pecking wife.

Therefore, following my mother's advice, I explored several majors and their possible career choices...

1. French. I know I would love and savour every minute of studying this in college, but admittedly the career prospects are pretty dim. My family would have spent at least US$35,000 in university tuitions by the time I graduate in 2014, and the starting average pay for French grads is not even half that. Hence, no.

2. European History. I can't take this major know, for the same reasons as above. However, it would be a great major to take a Master's thesis in.

3. English. Oh please, this is America. They don't even speak (proper) English here.

4. Finance/Business. Dad suggested this one, due to my preference in not dealing with customer service in my jobs. I can become a financial analyst, accountant, economist, and the likes with this major. I am still not too keen on studying Economics though (it has always been my weakest forte amongst all Social Science subjects), hence I am putting this as a second-in-line.

5. Computer Science/Information Technology. True, I have neither experience nor knowledge in this subject. But so does most CS/IT students I know of. The one that allures me most is the very fact that people in this major end up graduating to take high-paying jobs (ranked No.5 most lucrative university discipline by CNN money). So I am thinking...what the hell, why not?

6. Business Informatics. This actually combines the two majors I mentioned above: Business and CS/IT. I would reckon that it would be more sought after than the last two, since it combines the financial acumen of its graduates with their fluency in programming language and software cognition. But I also would reckon that the level of difficulty would be high, since two different disciplines are meshed together to make a fiendishly tough stuff to study.

What about the final thesis? Do you think you can do the final thesis of CS/IT or Business or whatever tough stuff that you're gonna study? I bet it's gonna be a tough, tough one

Thesis? Art thou jesting me?

There are no such thing as thesis for undergrad students in USA, darling. In most Asian countries, yes, there is a thesis examination (or dissertation or "skripsi" in Indonesian language in case there is a term confusion here). On Asian undergraduate thesis, you have to write a 50-100 page research paper which has to be defended in front of a committee.

But not in USA. Thesis/dissertation in USA is only for those taking Graduate school or Doctoral schools.

There is a final paper for some US majors, yes. But even then, it is only practised at some private colleges and does not normally have to be defended in front of any committees whatsoever. Your paper is to be graded by one or more university instructors, but still, you don't have to defend it.

That's the best part of it, I guess. I would very much prefer making a speech in front of a podium. Defending a thesis in front of a committee, where four years of toil and sweats and $35,000 student loan sits on it, would make me (or anyone, for that matter) very, very nervous.

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Borders Liquidation in the era of e-book

It is safe to assume that the US public in general have mixed feelings about the recent announcement that Borders Group is liquidating its stores all around the country.

At least that's what I feel. With the ascent of Amazon's online store, together with those offered by Kinokuniya and Barnes&Noble, rolling heads would not only be expected, it is also anticipated.

Experience tells us that most people don't read a book more than once in their lifetime. Once they finish the book, they hardly ever open it again (unless it's a textbook, dictionary, Atlas, Road guides, or Holy scriptures). So what's the point of purchasing a book if you can get them for next-to-nothing or even free in online stores?

Some would argue that they still prefer to hold the physical book in their hands instead of reading e-book from a Nook or Kindle. Well fine, go to the library and check out a title. It costs nothing and it's that simple.

However, even though we have anticipated this shutdown of bookstores for a long time, I would like to ponder for a moment here. Of all the three bookstore behemoths I have visited, Borders is usually the one that provides the best convenience of all. They're generally smaller than either Barnes&Noble or Kinokuniya, but the atmosphere of Borders is the most welcoming to customers. You can even sleep and lay down on the hundreds of available couches while browsing magazines and comic books.

I gotta admit I'd miss that when the last store finally closes.

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Sometimes

Sometimes I wish I could go back to that life in the tropics, to Indonesia.

In the tropics:

• Life was much slower-paced,



• I had more close friends I could hang out with,



• It was much easier to get a date,



• I had my entire family (including cousins, aunts, etc) reachable within a short bus ride, and



• Martabak vendors are just a short motorcycle ride away.

Here in the Midwest:

• I barely get enough sleep,



• It's a nonstop cycle between my full-time work shifts and my full-time college,



• I have nigh no time to even meet any close friends,



• so far, the last girl I asked bailed out on me,



• I only have my Mom and my sis (in August), and



• TacoBell sucks. Really sucks.

I mean, I do admit that we have Skyline Chilli here, but it does not diminish the very fact that TacoBell sucks.

Moreover, despite the fact that Kentucky is the origin of Kentucky Fried Chicken, I tell you the truth here: Kentucky restaurants in Southeast Asia have better-tasting chicken meals than KFC in Kentucky.

Seriously.

However, anybody were to ask me if I'm interested to visit Indonesia now, I would answer NO wholeheartedly.

I am not interested in that whole "new life, everybody has changed" thing that my friends and family members are gonna display in their faces when I meet with them.

I love the old them in 2009. I prefer the old them in 2009. I am totally not interested into those new changes they have in their lives.

If only I could go back and revisit those Indonesians of 2009 (as opposed to the Indonesians of 2011, who mostly sucks like hell), that would be heaven for me.

Seriously.

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Missing the very concept of "holiday", and "hanging out with buddies"

To be honest, sometimes I do miss being back in the tropics, in Indonesia. Such as sitting around and lazing around for several days in a stretch on a hammock at home, which would somehow be my very definition of nirvana at this very moment.

Prior to going back to continue my education in college in Northern Kentucky, I had the very impression that college life would be just "an extension of high school", where I can meet people around my age (i.e., late teens or early 20s) and perhaps, somehow, pick up a date.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I took a random sampling of student age of two classes I attended, which are American Government (Pol 101) and Human Geography (Geo 160). Out of 20-plus number of individuals who attend those classes, a staggering percentage of approx. 85% to 90% of them are above the age of 26.

Admittedly, there are certain classes in campus which are filled with mostly younger group of people, but for me to join those classes, I would have to switch my major (or declare those classes as electives, which in the end could very likely die off as non-transferable course credits).

I have nothing against befriending older people, because as a matter of fact, having people who are much older than me as me friends does help me to have a more mature outlook on things I face in life. I could even confidently say that I am a more mature person today than I was before I even met those people.

But I still somehow could not deny the fact that there is still this hollow, this void, that needs to be filled by hanging out with people my own age. Veritably I tell you, I have even forgotten the last time I went to the mall or theatre with somebody else my own age.

So it gets quite lonely for me most of the time, and going to college does not necessarily changes that.

As a matter of fact, with my back-to-back schedule of working in the office for 40 hours a week and attending classes of 15-20 hours a week (Yes, I do attend summer classes), I hardly have any chance to have a recess at all, let alone finding time to socialise with people. The two days that I am granted leave from office every week are only used for sleeping long hours. Or, if I'm fortunate, try out some Wii games and watch DVDs before the slumber.

I haven't had a stretch of week-long holiday for nigh two years now. I have no life. It's summer yet I have no social life.

I just wish it's Canada already.

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Be strong, Japan!

American prayers are with you.

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Amish people

A conventionally well-dressed kind of lady in her 20s came to the counter demanding assistance. After she was helped and walked away, I called a co-worker.

"Dude", I remarked, "That lady looks just as if she comes out of a Jane Austen book"

By well-dressed, I really mean conservatively covered up in an Victorian style of fashion. Nobody, absolutely nobody dresses up like that in America these days (except for Halloween).

an approximate image of what the customer's attire looked like. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

"Oh, she's probably Amish", Rob answered.

"Really? We have Amish in Kentucky?"

I've always thought that the Amish are confined to the New England region of Massachusetts or Pennsylvania.

"As a matter of fact we do. There are two towns I know of which are Amish"

"So they don't use electricity or telephones there?"

"Well certain Amish people nowadays use the phone in case of emergency, and most have used electricity too. But it's kinda interesting though to see how most of them still resisted the more recent technological advances of cellphones or computers"

"Yea. That's fetching"

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Jungle Jim

"Malaysia stole Sabah from our country", our Filipina friend told us during a lunch in China City restaurant.

"I know", Mom agreed. "We share your grief"

While Mom is referring to the classic age-old spat between neighbouring Asian countries of Indonesia and Malaysia over Batik, Reog dance, or any traditional songs, as an American I could as well refer to the Malaysian flag...which curiously looks a tad too similar to the flag of my country.

Earlier versions of this US flag was adopted in 1777.

Malaysian flag, adopted almost 200 years later in 1963.
Readers may decide for themselves who copied whom.

Speaking of Asian countries, every person I know in Northern Kentucky have told me at one time or the other about how the Jungle Jim have a section entirely dedicated to Indonesian groceries, so we decided to check it out. Jungle Jim is an "internationalized" version of Wal-Mart, in which is carried food from the whole globe.

Since it is (inconveniently) located 35 miles away to the north taking the Interstate I-75, I declined to drive. I wanted Mom to drive there instead.

If there are two conditions in which I am unable to drive the car, it's going thru the interstate or under heavy snow. Trucks in America are always intimidatingly huge and the interstate itself has three to four different lanes for each way that driving in it is always more of a drudgery.

After learning the hard lesson of almost getting lost as far as Grant County after the drive back from the last New Year's countdown in Cincinnati, I decided to print a full, detailed driving directions off Google Map from our apartment toward Fairfield. A bit excessive, I know, but for us, anything north of Cincinnati, Ohio is uncharted territory. Especially if you don't own a GPS.

So when we got there, it turned out that JJ did not actually have an Indonesian section. JJ did have a Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, and Malaysian grocery section dedicated to themselves.

Frustrated, I looked at the Malaysian section anyway. And there were they, Indonesian spices and paraphernalia such as the Relaxa candy or Astor wafer or Bango soy sauce nestled in the very edge of the Malaysian shelf.

Kerupuk Udang (Shrimp crackers) are somehow priced a bit steep $9.00 for a bag of raw, uncooked crackers; so we decided not to purchase that.

But the Indonesian soy sauce? Mmm hmmm, I miss that!

If there is one part of Indonesian cuisine that I could never find the closest equivalent to, it is the Indonesian sweet soy sauce.

To substitute sambal kacang, you could always mix ground peanuts and a bit of hot sauce.

To substitute Martabak, you could always opt for the local City Barbeque's corn bread (though I have to admit that Indonesian Martabak tastes a million times better).

To substitute most Indonesian crackers, there are a vast variety of Tortilla chips, starting from super hot habanero-spiced ones to the regular ranch or cheese-flavoured (the medium spicy tortilla tastes oddly similar to Keripik singkong pedas, by the way).

But Americans, Japanese, Europeans, or the rest of the world thereof do not have any close equivalent to...Kecap.

Seriously.

Shoyu, Worcestershire, oyster, or any Kikkomans do not even add up in terms of getting half as close to the mollases-thick, sweet, and creamy dark Indonesian soy sauce of Kecap manis.

Hence we purchased quite a large quantity of it, thinking that our venture up north the interstate would not be an oft-made travel, citing reasons of saving the car fuel.

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The Post-Adolescent, Pre-Adult, Not-Quite Decided Life Stage

Such is the title of an article by Robin Marantz Henig in 22 August 2010 edition of The New York Times Magazine. Sums up what it means to be 21, methinks.

Now what have I achieved so far during the 365 days leading to my 21st year?

Frankly, not much:

1. I haven't got a girlfriend yet. Contrary to my age-old image of being the boy too shy to talk to girls, I am no longer reluctant to express my feelings upon anyone I have a crush on. If I think she's pretty or witty, I say it upfront: no poems made, no mooning around. I have not dated anybody purely due to economical reasons. To date a girl in America simply costs too much.

2. I am quite eloquent in French. Though my Japanese remains somewhat constant, if not degraded.

3. Before my mother came to USA, I spoke Indonesian only twice. The past year before my mother came, I probably spoke less Indonesian than Obama's Jakarta speech altogether. And those two occasions were the times when I had Indonesian customers coming in from Columbus, Ohio (which is the only city nearby that has a significant Indonesian community).

4. I tried having...oh well, never mind. I only did it once though!

5. I have not enrolled in any tertiary institutions. Though this is about to change soon.



Other than that, everything else remains in situ.

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A year without watching TV

More than a year has gone since I last watched the television, and I must say that it was not an experience I miss.

By watching TV, I mean staring blankly at the gossip talks or reality shows or news frenzy which offer nothing else but a report and a simple exploitation of the forays of human life (with commercials every 10 minutes). Playing game consoles would not be considered as "watching television" then, since there is no outside information showing up on the screen other than my Wii game display.

I do own a TV set, albeit a used 680p one a friend sold for $20 earlier this year. In a small Midwest US town such as where I live, you need to buy at least a small dish (regardless of having a membership to any cable/satelite) in order to get any channel receptions on your 680p, because the only TVs that receive free channels these days are the HDs.

I could have easily purchased a dish for $50 at the local electronic shop, but since I only bought the TV in order to play Wii, I considered having a dish as an unnecessary expense.

So I decided to stick to playing DVDs on my laptop and Wii for my home entertainment purposes.

One of the drawbacks (or perhaps benefits - as one might see fit) of not watching TV is that I am never updated with the outside world. I did not know anything about the Haiti earthquakes or the 2010 Indonesian tsunami until I chanced upon either stories on Yahoo! News.

Some people might wonder.

How is it possible to live without the mightiest invention of the 20th century?

Simple.

You only need two things: a computer set and a working internet connection.
For occasional news, browse the internet. That way, you only get to see the relevant stuff. I mean, if you are a middle-aged businessman, news about the Wall Street or Obama's economic policies are indeed relevant, but you would also waste at least some 30 minutes a day going through commercials and a heap of rubbish like Justin Bieber. But if you are a 15-year-old girl, the reverse might be true: you find Justin Bieber as the walking deity while all the foreign lingo they have about Wall Street just doesn't make sense.

For watching reality shows or TV series or 80% of movies that has ever enterred circulation in the Western world, subscribe to Netflix or rent movies from Blockbuster. I have a subscription to Netflix where I can have as much as 3 DVDs shipped to me at any time for $17 a month. Every time I am finished watching a DVD, I can mail it back to a Netflix centre in its prepaid postage envelope and receive another DVD I have pre-ordered on the next day. That way, I can rent as many as 25 DVDs in a month for that same amount of $17 (Oh and by the way, that subscription also includes unlimited Instant Streaming thru the net, where you can stream almost any movies on circulation more than 2 years old or full episodes of any informative channels such as History, National Geographic, and Discovery without commercials).
Hence, if you feel you don't need to know any new bombings in the Middle East or flood in China or the latest gossips about Sandra Bullock (which are going to be have new updates every week anyway), why would you need a TV?



P.S. The Netflix is excellent, I know, but too bad as of today they only exist in USA and Canada. I know everybody elsewhere can stream movies instantly thru websites such as Surf The Channel . However, Netflix does not redirect you through a third-party Chinese website or obliging you to watch some Korean language commercials first. And yes, Netflix does have complete seasons of True Blood, Smallville, Lost, Alias, or House from Pilot to Finale.

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A conversation

Below is a conversation between two unidentified strangers I happened to overhear quite a while ago.

female: So if you don't have any family members in America, why exactly do you come to the country?
male: Because...hmm...
female: Hmm?
male: ...because I wanna meet you! *flirtatious grin*

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