Phil’s blog

From a bag of beef jerky I recently consumed (albeit with difficulty): “Add:Bldg.2,Section B,Shoes Industry Park,Economic Development Zone of Pingyang.”

A funny thing happened a couple of nights ago. Someone knocked on my door around 10:30 at night and it was this middle aged Chinese woman who was trying to tell me that she needed to come into my apartment for a reason I couldn’t understand. She seemed harmless so I let her in. Yes, in retrospect I realize I was too trusting, should have called someone to interpret before allowing her to enter. Anyway, she walked over to the window in the living room and peeked outside behind the curtain, then asked me to help her move the table so she could stand in front of the window. I did, puzzled, and she stood there in front of the open window with the curtain over her. I tried to pull back the curtain but she said no need, so I stood there and after about 10 seconds I heard this muffled panicky noise. For an instant I was afraid this woman was crying and about to jump out my window. Then she emerged holding a chicken by neck and chest, which was clucking and struggling to break free. I looked outside the window and there was a metal air conditioner or something, so the chicken must have jumped out the window from a floor above and landed on it. I’m on the 15th floor so that’s a lucky bird. Anyway, it was hilarious and I was relieved. I laughed and she smiled, said thanks, and took her chicken home.

It’s recruiting season at Google and this year the Associate Product Manager candidates get to go on a scavenger hunt in SF. There were 5 teams, each led by 2 current APMs and with 3 or 4 APM candidates. Rather than find artifacts, we had to complete tasks and capture photographic evidence of them. They ranged from easy (mimic the pose of any statue you see) to extremely difficult (get handcuffed by a real police officer). We actually asked a couple of cops about the latter and were told that no cop would ever agree to anything even resembling this because someone could easily edit the photo, post it on the internet, and get them in trouble. Anyway, we did some interesting things, took some great photos, and had a lot of fun. People were surprisingly cooperative, perhaps because the Frankenstein mask (which we used in nearly every photo) was so amusing.

Tonight I went to wushu practice for the third time since moving out here. I started learning a spear form, and one of the moves is a left-handed cartwheel while the right hand is holding the butt of the spear with the tip dragging on the ground. I had a lot of trouble with this move at first. The second time I tried it, I accidentally lost my grip on the weapon and kicked it high into the air, and it landed about 2 feet away from a little kid practicing his form. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me. I quickly fetched my spear and said I was sorry, and the kid continued with his form like it wasn’t a big deal or the most hilarious thing ever. I stood on the side, still in shock, but also trying not to laugh. I am laughing right now as I write this. Seriously, is it possible to do something less coordinated than kicking your weapon into the air? It’s hard to imagine. On a related note, I was in my car and dropped my bluetooth headset into the space between the driver’s seat and the center console after practice, spent about 5 minutes trying to find it, and in the process accidentally sounded the horn with my shoulder. I hope nobody was around.

Anyway, embarrassment aside, it was a great practice. My spear technique has improved by leaps and bounds, which isn’t saying much because it was pretty lousy to begin with. It’s great to learn tons of stuff every practice. For my 4 years with UVA wushu, as enjoyable as they were, I did not learn as much as I could have considering the time spent. I think it’s amazing that we’ve been able to compete so well despite not having a coach. It’s unfortunate that now that I finally have access to great coaching, I have little time to train. Back at UVA, time was so plentiful. I miss those days. Perhaps that’ll be the subject of another post.

I know I’m embarrassingly out of the loop on popular culture, but I recently learned about ghost riding. From Wikipedia:

To ghost ride, frequently used in the context of “ghost riding the whip” (a “whip” being a vehicle) or simply ghostin’ is one of the latest trends to be popularized by Hyphy culture, which originated in the Bay Area of California. This act involves the driver and/or passengers of any given vehicle accelerating while in gear, shifting to neutral, exiting while it is still rolling and dancing beside it or on the hood or roof. It is one of the highest forms of “going dumb” and a representation of the style of hyphy.

It’s both hilarious and disquieting that this has become so popular. But mostly hilarious. If you’re curious, check out one of the better ghostin’ videos put together by some highschool kids, but definitely watch this clip of a guy ghost-wrecking his truck (he bails out just in time).

A bit of background: I moved into my new apartment last weekend (with help from my friend Avichal - you rock). It’s in Mountain View near the intersection of 237 and El Camino Real. Pretty nice place: two bedrooms, one bath, decent kitchen, outside laundry room, $1100 covers rent and utils. I’m living alone currently but Avichal may move into the other bedroom in a month or so, so I’ll hold out because I’d rather not live with a random craigslist user.
Anyway, I thought I’d rip off my friend Marcus’ idea and give you a video tour of the apartment. This afternoon I saw a cat outside and decided to give her a tour as well. More background: she was here when I came to check the place out a week or so before moving in, and she really wanted to come inside. So why not let her in and see what she does while doing the video tour? Comedy ensues - skip to 7:20 to see my folly. In case anyone is concerned, I came out fine; just a few thorns in my foot. Enjoy!