Etiquette of eating crab and other shellfish

I had an interesting experience today going to the Chinese restaurant with mis amigos chinos. We ate crab and I had to place to put my shells. I asked the chinos what to do and they said to just put them directly on the table. I was twitterpated! How rude is this? But its not. So here are some guidlines for eating crab.

1. When eating at a Chinese restaurant, you may just put your shells whether they are shrimps, clams, oysters, lobsters right on the table. BUT NOT WHEN YOU ARE DINING AT SOMEBODY'S HOME.
2. When eating crab at a European or American setting, you will get a plate to put your shells.
3. You will also get a finger bowl so that you can clean your hands when you're done. A crabfork and crackers will also be given to you at a classy place. It should be placed above your plate before you arrive to your seat.

While we are talking about the Asian restaurant, you must know some etiquette that is different.

1. At a most Asian diners, you may be given wooden disposable chopsticks. In Japanese culture it is insulting to sand your chopsticks together to get rid of any splinters.
2. It is recommended that you wipe down your chopsticks if they have been sitting at the place for awhile.
3. Never stick your chopsticks into the rice and leave them there.
4. When eating rice, bring the bowl to your mouth (totally not okay in European dining)
5. Do not expect 5 star service when going to your local Pho place. They will tell you where to sit as soon as you walk in. When in doubt, just get the Number 1 large. Don't ask questions.
6. All Asian restaurants serve complimentary tap water. Most serve complimentary tea. This isn't normal for Europeans because in Europe it's rude to ask tap water.
7. Tipping isn't a city in Taiwan. You should tip like you would any other American restaurant.
8. When asking for more tea, simply leave the lid open.

The Etiquette of beer pong

This summer I had a very different experience playing beer pong that I would like to share. In order to be more clean, this group of people put water in the cups and had two cans of beer on each side. Every time the other team made a cup, you set it aside and sipped your beer. I lost because I forgot to pull the cup and the other team made that cup again claiming the "ghost cup" rule. My partner and I were flabbergasted! So I said I would never play beer pong again. That is until I played it the right way.

College students all over have been playing beer pong ever since plastic cups were invented. The point of playing beer pong is to get the other team drunk, not to win. If you play for bragging rights or play to win, you are missing the whole point of beer pong. So I would like to present some rules to make beer pong a respectable drinking game.

Cups must always be filled with equal amounts of beer

For people of my generation, this is a no-brainer. But for the current college students, they seem to be okay with not drinking the substance in the cups. If both teams are just supposed to drink the can of beer with water in the cups, it is not a fair drinking game. You cannot regulate the amount one drinks if the cups themselves are not filled with beer and they are not drunk. If you do not like beer, then fill the cups with a cocktail, wine cooler, wine, or even pure liquor. To make it even more interesting, fill most of the cups with beer, but put liquor in a few. Having to drink the beer from the actual cups also gets rid of this juvenile "ghost-cup" rule.

Drink your own drink while playing beer pong

Chances are that if you are playing beer pong, you are at a party that serves alcohol. So you should also be drinking some beer while you are playing. I feel it is rude to not drink while you are playing a drinking game. You wouldn't drink water if you are playing King's cup, what is the point of putting water in the King's cup?

Bitches blow and dudes finger

I think most people use this rule. There is no reason that you couldn't do the opposite. But it's a tradition and you should obey this rule to honor our fallen comrades who made this rule.

On Fire

This is a bullshit rule. I don't even understand it, but if you are drunk, like you should be when playing this game, you shouldn't comprehend this rule anyways.

The Rebuttal

I also think this is a bullshit rule that was invented by law students, but it can also be very fun to make a cup and stay in the game. I think if there is one table and lots of people wanting to play, lets just have it be that the last cup gets drank along with the remaining winner's cups.

I hope that the next time I play beer pong, it is an honorable drinking game. Gentlemen and ladies need to drink from the cups in a traditional and honorable way. I hope that I play with honorable people who want to drink and are willing to risk getting drunk if they suck. But if everyone is drinking, nobody should have superior beer pong skills. If somebody is bragging that they are a better beer pong player, make sure they are drinking and maybe get them a couple of shots so their shit-talk can be nothing more than shit-talk.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody!

I had a very pleasant Christmas with family and friends at my parent's house. New Years was uneventful, I didn't have a sip of alcohol on New Year's eve. The night before was a fun time with friends in which I enjoyed a nice white elephant exchange.

Resolutions:

I'm not sure if I want to create resolutions. Goals are nice projects that if approached unattached, can be very rewarding whether you complete them or not. I have my sights set on moving into the professional world this year, however. I want to find a gig conducting opera locally. It's something I have never done, but I think I would be good at it. So my resolution is to get an opera gig sometime this year.

I have been accepted into a week-long conducting program in Leipzig at the end of February, but money is tight and I'm not sure I want to pursue it anymore. It's going to cost me a lot of money. I got my cousin's bachelor party in Vegas a week after I get back from Germany. All that money and I could be skiing in Tahoe and taking trip to LA and San Diego to rock climb and play on the beach.

Soup's on!

Tomato Bisque with garlic bread and Bijan's sinful arugula salad

Tortilla Soup from 2 weeks ago

P.E.

As I was waiting for one of my colleagues to vacate the bathroom so I could make a deposit, I went over to talk to the P.E. teacher who was supervising his class playing soccer.

Rian Rodriguez: Man, you got it great! You get to run around in the sun and play some soccer all day.

P.E. Teacher: I wish... For the most part, all your students want to be in your class, right?

Rian Rodriguez: Yeah, for the most part.

P.E. Teacher: Most of these kids don't want to be here. The ones that do like sports get out of taking P.E. because they have sports, what is left is the general population of kids who hate taking P.E.

Rian Rodriguez: I remember how my two favorite subjects in 4th-6th grade was Band and P.E., what happened in 7th grade that made it so bad? Maybe getting bullied in the locker room?

P.E. Teacher: That could be it, because 7th grade is when you started changing in front of people. It's also when you get a bad attitude about other things and by the time you get to high school, P.E. isn't fun at all anymore.

Rian Rodriguez: I remember teaching a couple of classes where no one cared or wanted to be there, it really sucks. Thats too bad that kids don't look forward to playing in P.E. when they're in high school. It's only when they get older when they will realize what they were missing out on.

The End of Violence

Today I got an email from MoveOn.com about how our progressive politicians are going to back Obama in extending the tax cuts put in place by Bush. The democrats want to increase taxes, basically. I would like to pay less taxes, so I'm not going to sign their stupid petition. This is such a political move to raise taxes. Democrats think they are being fiscally responsible by doing this. Republicans just want more money for themselves and I'm inclined to agree with them. We should cut spending if we want to save some money.

So let's cut the war! Our clandestine operations are merely helping the rich. Violence costs way too much and it is a human choice to be violent. All religions teach non-violence, yet none of these pious fools listen. They use their religion as an excuse to be imperialists. We raise armies to protect our lands and way of life, but I see no threat to our lands in North America.

I'm taking up a cause to end violence. It should start in schools and churches and should be supported by governments. Naysayers will say that it is impossible to end violence, but I firmly disagree. In my own life, I have never been in a fight. The only violence I have ever been a part of was being bullied in middle school, some incidents where my parents chose not to spare the rod, and my brother and I quarreling over something ridiculous. I have shot a few guns in my life, but only at paper. In no way was I ever thinking of shooting somebody or using a firearm as a weapon. Shooting guns is a fun sport though and should be a sport for people like me who have great eye-sight.

Just like Gene Roddenberry invisioned an Earth where currency was a thing of the past and everyone had a personal communicator, I share his vision. We have cell phones now and iPads and iPhones. We can access any information from pretty much anywhere at any time. Replicating food, transporter beams, and space travel are in the works. Data storage is something that has made huge leaps that were never thought possible. Medicine has artificial organs. So why aren't we revolutionizing social issues?

Violence is a choice. Do your part in being peaceful and we can end violence.

Economics and Politics

Watching the PBS news hour, I learned that giving a tax cut to the top 2% wealthiest people in the USA would cost around 70 Billion, but extending unemployment would only cost 19 billion. Where would this money go? 70 Billion to the richest people would probably help wealthy people put their money in their business, which would create jobs for the middle and lower class, right? Maybe they would give bonuses to their top management. Do you really think this money would be spent here in the US in stimulate the economy...probably not.

If you spend it on unemployment, that money would be spent on stuff here like housing, food, automobiles, and stuff that would essentially stimulate the economy. Am I missing something here? Why would republicans want to choose the 70 Billion dollar option? Greedy bastards.

I think we should also get rid of our nuclear weapons. Call me naive, but who would really try to turn the US into a crater? I feel like owning a nuclear weapon is like owning a semi-automatic gun, only if you are afraid of your neighbor do you need one. What government would even have the resources and military to invade the US? I feel that the only reason other people are getting nukes, like North Korea and Iran, get them because they are afraid of us. Lets show the world that we are done with our imperialism. Lets keep our military to defend our borders, but why bother with anything else?

Lets spend that money on education. Imagine how enriched our lives would be if public education in America had the budget that our current military has? Imagine how our world would be if we dismantled all of our military and just spent it on education. So much fear rules our world.

I'm done with fighting and war. People fight because they're afraid. In high school why do kids fight? "You disrespected me, you disrespected my girl, you disrespected my friend." Gangs fight because of some economic disrespect, "you're selling drugs in my neighborhood."

Let's just make music together. Let's write, paint, sculpt, build, make movies, grow fruits and vegetables, care for animals, study history, explore space. Seeing this as our future, there is no room for fear, only love.