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Blog: My Star Wars Shelf

Posted on October 30th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Books, Star Wars.

[An insight into my insanity: books tipped over on their side are on my extensive and ever-growing “To Read” list.]

Well, more of a bookcase nowadays…  I advised my mom that I’d be more inclined to stay in this country if I had my creature comforts here with me in New York City…she immediately shipped me my prized collection of Star Wars books.

I’ll be the first to admit that I read too much Star Wars…and yet, if I enjoy it, really, why not?  There are far worse habits, such as smoking or drinking, that I could pick up.  If stress releif comes through fantastic escapism, then pile on my geek books.

2 comments.

Book: The Dangerous Rescue

Posted on October 30th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Books, Star Wars.

Last one, I promise…I actually feel tired now.

Title: the Dangerous Rescue
         (Star Wars: jedi Apprentice #13)
Author: Jude Watson
Genre: Young Readers
Anna’s Rating: (3/5) (A good set, actually, but not really 4/5 material…)

This final book in this story arc houses the return of Jedi Master Adi Gallia and her apprentice, Siri Tachi…Obi and Siri have, at this point, moved from mutual loathing to mutual tolerance.  Still not sure how they fall in love, but whatever…  You all know I don’t understand relationships in the real world either.

Having discovered Ona Nobis and Jenna Zan Arbor, the Jedi now finally become aware of Zan Arbor’s evil plot to bring in the credits.  The book hits on a very real truth…that governments consider a certain number of civial losses acceptable, and only shell out money to take action when the death toll is too high.  I like how these books often mirror real-world problems, even though the stories themselves are far-fetched… 

QUOTES:

“Life surprises you.  Accept the gift.”
- Jedi saying, as recited by Qui-gon jinn, p. 33

“Doubt is your first enemy.”
- jedi teching, as recalled by Obi-wan Kenobi, p. 46

“In guiding her, I guide myself.”
- Adi Gallia, speaking of her Padawan, Siri Tachi, p. 73
The takeaway lesson, I think, is this: “In guiding others, we guide ourselves.”

1 comment.

Book: The Evil Experiment

Posted on October 29th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

Title: The Evil Experiment
        (Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice #12)
Author: Jude Watson
Genre: Young Readers
Anna’s Rating: (3/5) (A good set, actually, but not really 4/5 material…)

Another enjoyable book, still dealing with the same enemy, Ona Nobis, and also introducing another character as an Enemy: Jenna Zan Arbor, the scientist bent on identifying some physical link to the Force, I think…but then, isn’t she just looking for midichlorians?  And then I had to wonder, is the whole midichlorian thing a secret that the Jedi keep from the galaxy, or is the author just assuming that midichlorians don’t exist in the first place, as they were a dumb idea that should never have been drug into Episoide 1 in the first place?

Anyways, good book, exciting and frustrating end…I’ll say no more.  Very quotable, as Obi-wan recalls all his master’s lessons as he struggles to manage without Qui-gon.  Good, simple messages for kids to walk away with - as I was ranting before, I think that’s important in a children’s book.

QUOTES:

Tahl: “I’m sure we are breaking several rules here…”
Obi-wan: “Qui-gon would like that.”
- Obi-wan and Tahl, planning rescue attempts for Qui-gon, p. 44

“Always listen to doubt.  Even in times of great haste, take time to listen.  Then trust it.”
- Qui-gon Jinn, as recalled by Obi-wan Kenobi, p. 79

“Patience…Suspend your judgement, and every being has something to teach you.”
- Qui-gon Jinn, as recalled by Obi-wan Kenobi, p. 91

“Use your opponents’ strategies against them and you take away their power.”
- Qui-gon Jinn, as recalled by Obi-wan Kenobi, p. 99

“Get your opponents to lose their grace, and they will lose their purpose…”
- Qui-gon Jinn, as recalled by Obi-wan Kenobi, p. 99

“Do not meet hate with hate.  Meet it with purpose.”
- Qui-gon Jinn, as recalled by Obi-wan Kenobi, p. 99

“Look for the obvious first.  Use what you know.  Then move on.”
- Qui-gon Jinn, as recalled by Obi-wan Kenobi, p. 122

0 comments.

Book: The Deadly Hunter

Posted on October 29th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Books, Star Wars.

It’s late and I don’t feel tired…time to catch up on some Jedi Apprentice posts!  I’ll do three of ‘em, as 11, 12, and 13 were basically a trilogy.

Title: The Deadly Hunter
        (Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice #11)
Author: Jude Watson
Genre: Young Readers
Anna’s Rating: (3/5) (A good set, actually, but not really 4/5 material…)

While not particularly memorable, it was an enjoyable read.  One of the exciting things was having a cool new villian after the death of Xanatos.  I often feel dissatisfied when the villian is offed and you watch while writers try to introduce new baddies that just don’t do the story justice.  (Example: Lois and Clark, season 1 had a really neat Lex Luthor, but after he died (the first time), the story really went downhill…not that I didn’t keep watching obsessively, but I digress.)  Anyways, points to Jude Watson for creating Ona Nobis.

Also, I think this story really helped to gain a deeper appreciation of the relationship between Qui-gon and Obi-wan…and give a glimpse of the pain Obi-wan will feel when Qui-gon is slayed by Darth Maul in Episode 1. 

Fascinating that childrens’ books written after the fact make those movies better…

0 comments.

Trooping: Puppetry Arts Theatre Halloween Carnival

Posted on October 28th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, NYC, Star Wars.

[Myself, TK-7888, patrolling the crowd]

My second Brooklyn troop - the first being the Brooklyn Cyclones game at Coney Island, which got rained out…  This was another rainy day, but thankfully, the gymnasium hosting the event had a roof.  (I’m still bummed that Skutch didn’t get to throw out the first pitch in his TC…it would have been awesome.)

 
[Left to right, it’s Mary Alice, Ray, Julie,Kris, myself, and Mike]

Fairly small event - three stormtroopers, two bounty hunters, two rebel scum, and Darth Vader deigned to grace us with his presence after he got off work.  (It’s always confusing when I have to explain to people where Darth Vader is: “Umm…he’s at work…on his Star Destroyer…”)

[Stormtrooper with cotton candy…  Canival Trooper?]

The event might have been more fun if we had had more opportunity to interact with participants…make paper bag puppets together with kids or something…but the crew running the event wouldn’t let us do anything but walk in circles without buying tickets…  I’m not gonna pay to do volunteer work.  However, Mike did buy some tickets…Ray and I used them cotton candy.

[Ray and myself, holding what might as well be our love child…mini-Joker]

Darth Vader was asked to help judge the kids’ costume context…which is kinda funny, as Darth Vader can’t really see in that helmet…  But there was only one costume that really mattered to us geeks: the toddler in the purple Joker suit, green hair, face paint, the whole nine yards…  Who thinks to dress up their toddler as a psychopathic killer?  Brilliant.

[Kris, Grimace, and myself (TK-7888)]

The other big thing, Ray insisted, was getting pictures with McDonald’s Grimace.  I have to admit…that photo’s a keeper: Darth Vader, Grimace, and a stormtrooper…classic.

3 comments.

Meaningless Rant: The Package

Posted on October 25th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

9:45am.  Saturday morning.  Undressed.  Barely awake.

Phone, ringing.

Not the cell phone.  What phone?

Ah, the main door. 

Grab a robe and answer - no, missed it.  They must have gotten in.  I’ll quickly get dressed and cleaned up so I can answer the door with some dignity.

No one comes.

I’ll go down.

No UPS or FedEx notice…

Mailbox.

A sole slip of paper, orange, waiting for me, lonely in the mailbox.  “Sorry we missed you!” declares this insubstatial representative of the US Postal Service.

But maybe I could catch you…

I bolt outside in my ECG T-shirt and lime green knock-off crocs, clipping my keys on a beltloop on my jeans.  I run onto the service road.  I look up.  I look down.  Nothing.

A man sitting in the back of a mini-van.  Will he be able to speak English?  Can’t hurt to try.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry, random question, but…have you seen a mail truck go by?”

“Ah…?”

No English.

Sigh.

“Ah, you mean post office?”

“Yes!”

“No…”

“Oh…”

“No Post Office.”

I scan the land, looking everywhere for the runaway USPS truck.  It could have been going down the cross street.  Or gone down this side and back up the other.

My eyes flashed.

There, across the street.  A mail truck.

I bolted across the service road.  I might have said thank you or goodbye…I’m not sure.

I waited impatiently for the light.  I live on a highway and the cars go flying by at speeds that even I am not daring enough to challenge.

Not even for a box full of Star Wars books.

Though I thought about it.

I jumped up and down…not for the cold, but merely my own impatience.

The light changed.  I ran.

No one was inside the truck.  I waited.

“Hi!” I said as the postal worker came out of a nearby building. “I just missed a package…would it be possible to grab it now?”

He looked at the orange slip.  “Ah, this is the even side of the street.  I can’t help you.  I only do this side.”

“Oh…”

“Roy does the even side.  You could ask him.”

“Roy.  He’d be down there?”

“Yeah, he should be.  You must have just missed him.”

This time I did thank the man before I began running down Ocean Parkway.  Down, down I went, not tiring.  Had the biking helped, or were Star Wars books actually that important to me?

When the lights turned red, I darted across the highway half-way between two blocks.

Perhaps they were.

I ran down the bike path, staying to the side, hoping not to get in any bikers’ way.

And then I saw it.  Another block down.  A USPS truck.  Parked.

I kept running, farther, longer, faster than I ever had.  My goal was in sight.  I could walk back.

Half a block.  The truck set into motion.  Something inside me moaned in agony.  But it couldn’t be more than one more block now.

Except that it turned onto a cross street.  And when I made it to the corner, it wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

I checked the nearby side streets.  I stood in the middle of the road and looked down.  I waited on the corner, wondering if Roy would come back.

But he didn’t.

I stumbled back up Ocean Parkway in defeat.  My books gone.  And I couldn’t make it to the post office until NEXT Saturday.

I sighed.

The man was still sitting on the bumper of the minivan parked outside my building.  “Did you catch him?”

“No…”

“Well, you can go to the post office and pick it up.”

No…there wasn’t time for that.  I had to go dress up as a stormtrooper…there was no time to pick up Star Wars books.

4 comments.

USA: NYC: Blue 9 Burger

Posted on October 22nd, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Food.

This week, we tried Blue 9 Burger at Rebekah’s recommendation.  No options to order our burgers medium, medium-rare, or rare…this is a one-burger-fits-all joint.  And the burgers, I admit, are skinny little things…yet there was something very tasty about them: it made you want to eat another.

I had the Mango Infusion burger…not sure if I actually got the advertised mango chili, or if they just slathered on some Thousand Island dressing, but it was darned tasty.  Maybe not as filling as you might long for, but where else can you get a decent burger in the East Village for less than $5?  Gray’s Papaya hotdogs aren’t filling either…that’s why you buy four hotdogs when you go there.

The fries were also good - though the cheese fries were just plain fries with nasty, melty, American cheese squirted on them.  For those of you who know me too well, you know I won’t touch Kraft singles with my bare hands.  Once I saw what cheese fries really were, I ran back to the kitchen and told them to hold the cheese on my order.  (I should have known by the confusion that ensued when I asked: “What kind of cheese do you use on you cheeseburger?”

All in all, not a bad deal…but not something I would go out of my way for, either.

0 comments.

Blog: Something to Make Me Smile

Posted on October 19th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

[Myself, in my new ECG hoodie, enjoying a mug of Godiva hot cocoa.]

On a random but more cheerful note, here’s something that makes me smile (I don’t figure it’s healthy to dwell on the numerous negative aspects of my life):

It was the night of Labor Day, 2007, and I was frantically getting ready for the first day of school.  My dear friend Rebekah was in the neighborhood and wanted to drop by for ten minutes.  Insanely busy though I was, how could I not set aside ten minutes for a friend?  I have company so rarely that it was an honor.  I agreed.

Rebekah showed up with a great big shopping bag - a gift for me, a school survival kit.  I’m not a fan of gifts.  I dislike people feeling obliged to spend money on me at Christmas or on my birthday - I end up feeling I have a financial debt to the giver, and I never know how to repay the debt.

Yet how lucky I was that Rebekah understands me so well - she hadn’t spent a dime on the gift, she immediately assured me: everything in there was found around the house.  Bags full of snack food, tea bags, a mug, hot chocolate, bar chocolate…a frame, stickers, a paperweight, decorations…a first aid kit with everything from Q-tips to headache relieving medicine…more stuff that I can’t even recall anymore.

I felt pure gratitude that I don’t even know if I’ve ever fully expressed (and this post won’t do the trick as I don’t think Rebekah reads this blog).  But as I sat curled up in my new Empire City Garrison hoodie today, longing for the heat to be turned on, I thought of that special gift, part of the remains of which I now keep at home to get me through long nights of lesson planning and university assignments, and I dug out the Godiva hot chocolate mix that I’d been saving as a pick-me-up for just such a miserable day…

And with my new geeky hoodie that Bobby was kind enough to ship out to me so quickly, and my mug of delicious hot chocolate cupped in my hands, warming my fingers, my day seemed a little less bleak.

So this is a thanks, really, to all the good people in my life, who go out of their way to make my days a little brighter…although I’m not the best at showing my gratitude, I remember you and I think of you, and even years later, your kind deeds still fill my heart with warmth.  Thank you.

1 comment.

Meaningless Rant: E-mail Accounts

Posted on October 19th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Meaningless Rants.

Just a short rant regarding a recent annoyance in my life.

Anyone who is reading this likely has an e-mail account.  It provides quick, easy communication.  I’m not sure how I would survive without e-mail these days.  Most organizations, be it a company, a school, or what have you, have come to a similar conclusion.

So my university has decided that school e-mail accounts are mandatory.  They have told instructors to ignore any e-mails recieved from private student accounts and only respond when a student e-mails from his or her Fordham address.

And then the school where I teach, which does not even recycle paper, has decided to “go green”.  No more handout notices to teachers - we get e-mail notices.  (Nevermind that the computer they put in my classroom is so old that it takes no less than ten minutes just to get in and view the first e-mail.)  But we cannot provide our private e-mail accounts - no, we’re assigned e-mail accounts from the Board of Education.

So every day, I’m supposed to check, in addition to my e-mail, my work e-mail and my university e-mail.  The latter two I have yet to figure out how to even change the password.  As a result, half the days that I actually remember to check these accounts, I lock myself out in the vain attempt to decode the password (one of which is a combination of parts of some zip code that I’ve lived at in the past ten years, I can never remember which, combined with parts of my social security number, and the other is a random assorment of letters, numbers, and symbols that make Chinese characters look simple.)

I don’t understand why I need designated accounts when I don’t even have a desk job.  Or why can’t they at least make their forwarding options obvious so I can just forward it all to my g-mail account?  (Or at least make the option for changing your password more obvious!)

So here I sit, multiple tabs open, my .COM and .GOV and .EDU accounts all open as I contemplate the meaning of my existence…each account seems to be reminding me of an aspect of life that I feel I am desperately behind in.  I’m longing to relax and socialize, then feeling guilty every time I go out with friends or pick up a book that has nothing to do with any class I’ve ever taken. 

And with all this on my mind, I venture out into the world. 

And people see me and they say: “Smile, Anna.”

0 comments.

USA: NYC: Trailer Park Lounge & Grill

Posted on October 19th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Food, NYC.

[Decor at Trailer Park Lounge & Grill]

So, I went to a Birthday at Trailer Park Louge & Grill, which I looked up on the ‘net before the event.  While fame often means the owners feel little need to make decent food, it boasted having been featured on Food Network, so I figured it was probably decent.  Having run about the city sampling different burger joints, I was curious how a famous place would compare.

[Myself with Ruby, the birthday boy.]

Trailer Park boasted an 8 oz. burger…no fancy burgers…no toppings choices…but a plain burger can be might good, so I ordered one, medium-rare.  What I got was a thin, weak, slightly burnt medium-well burger, a flat slab of ground beef no more than four ounces in weight, a single leaf of lettuce, a single slice of tomato less than half the size of the burger, and three slices of pickle.

 
[Skutch, wearing my glasses.  One nerd to rule them all, right?]

The burger had no juice, had no flavor.  It tasted like one of those frozen hockey puck-like patties.  Now, maybe that was the goal, to explicitly serve crappy, white trash food…but if that’s the goal, really, I could just stay home, save some cash, and have a Hot Pocket.

 
[Myself, with the champagne in a can…not woth the $7.75 I paid.]

The disappointments weren’t limited to the burgers.  The service blew.  We had a reservation for 8pm, and we arrived at 8pm, but we had to wait until 9pm for our table, which rather pissed us off.  The tater tots, which I’d heard were delicious, paled in comparison to the frozen ones my mom bakes.  And my champagne in a can was not only tiny, but came served already opened, which made me wonder if it actually came in a can, or if they just fill cans with bottled champagne.

 
[Part of the group at Trailer Park…going ’round the table, vaguely left to right, it’s Eric, Jenn, Ruby, Kris, myself, Julie, Danny, and Ralph]

About the only redeeming quality of the place was the sweet potato fries, which were crispy, not soggy, and quite sweet.  The decor was neat, but it didn’t make up for all the other short-comings of the place.  The next time my friends and I drop $500 on a meal, some decent service and tasty food are called for.

[Somebody needs to photoshop in the Elvis Trooper here…]

2 comments.