About

What it is
Random blurbs, mostly during my down time when trying to not think about what I was doing during the day.  I always seem to have three conversations going on in my head.  Not quite sure why that is, but some of the stuff that rolls through my mind while stuck commuting or washing dishes might be worth getting written down somewhere.  Maybe interesting, maybe not, it's an attempt at doing something even slightly creative for the sake of catharsis.  Just like the DJing, the music, the photography and video projects that I jump back and forth from.  Someone's got to have a way to get get a mental escape; here's one of mine. 

Theoretically if I could stick to just one thing to wind down or as a hobby, I could do that one thing pretty dang well.  But I have a hard time with that.  I've always had trouble concentrating for any extended period of time.  Maybe I should have brought it up when I was a kid and be diagnosed with some sort of learning thing, but coming from what I would guess is a traditional southeast Asian family, any discussion of the sort would end up with a statement that there's really nothing wrong, and that I'm just making excuses for not studying / working / listening hard enough.

I also use this to store crap I rarely look for but have a hard time finding it when I do.

What it's not
This is not an attempt at true journalism.  Words dumped here are my opinion and mine only.  People may agree, they may not.  There are certainly better resources on the web for real news.  But maybe the product of my mental escape could give you an escape of your own?  

Why FlipFob?
Flip as in "Filipino", as in that's what my parents are and what their parents were.

Yes, technically it's supposed to mean "F****ng Little Island People", but I have a hard time with that.  Has anyone seen a map of Southeast Asia lately?  There are alot of islands.  And there are alot of people on those islands.  Presumably people of similar heights.  So why should the Philippines be singled as having a bunch of under average height folks?

And honestly, "Flip" doesn't have much of a punch when it comes to a slur.  All the other slurs out there (Gook, Chink, Beaner, Kraut, Mick, Nip, etc.) sound much harder coming off the tongue than "Flip".  "Hey you F****ng  Flip, just get your gas and go!" doesn't quite come across the same way as any of the others would in the same sentence.  Go ahead and try it for yourself.  Say it out loud, but make sure the windows are closed.  You wouldn't want someone getting the wrong impression.  See what I mean?

Fob as in "Fresh Off the Boat" which I'm not, but that's not to mean that I don't have any Fob tendencies every so often.  Nothing wrong with that, I don't think.  For those who don't know, a Fob is someone who's new to the US, and doesn't quite understand the local customs.  They still act as they would have in their native country.

Also, if I substitute "reverse" as a synonym for Flip, then we get "Reverse Fob" is what I think I am alot of times.  Reason being is that I was born and raised in the US.  I grew up in a multi ethnic neighborhood in Chicago.  My first best friend was from India, and the majority of my friends growing up were Spanish.

I have no idea what it means to "act Asian" or "act Filipino".  Well, I have some idea.  I can mimic my parents' accents (as all first generation US Asians can) and taught my non Asian friends how to eat without utensils.  I listened to New Wave, wore lots of black and had weird hair in the 80s.  I got shut down by Asian women who only dated white guys and I remember our first VCR being a Betamax.

But I also listened to Freestyle, never hung out at the Rizal Center, think a woman with a Spanish accent is damn sexy, and prefer Guinness to San Miguel.

About Gene
I've got way too much stuff on my plate.  Admittedly alot of it is my own doing.  You would think that the standard responsibilities and stresses of everyday life would be enough, but I've got to add more to it.  Part of it is an attempt to take my mind off of the day to day stress that weighs me down.  What I don't want to do that by vegging out in front of the television chomping down cookies and chips.   Plus the state of late night television is feast or famine, and either is bad.

So in an effort to do something positive with my time while in between loads of laundry at two in the morning, I've been putting time into some creative endeavors - music, photography, videography, and random geekness.