Onasteek Updates

dude, so i started working out with this personal trainer. that's good. and he's really pushing me. that's good too. typical routine: running or bicycle, quads, calves, shoulders, upper back, chest, triceps, biceps, lower back, abs, obliques. mind you, at least four sets of each, plus two exercises per muscle group. this is good.

but DANG! i'm sore.

i just have to convince my body that's good too.

(anyone reading this who doesn't know me.... i'm like 30 pounds below the average weight for my height and age. so don't think i'm all buff... you wanna see someone who's buff? here.)

BTW, it's all part of this "get fit" binge that has become the cornerstone of my final quarter at Medill. I think it's partially motivated by the fact that: 1) I want to get a job in a good news station, and I think if I look 16 (which presently I do), that's not going to happen, and 2) Going to Hong Kong made me feel tall. Those South Chinese.... But then coming back here made me realize, me has a ways to go. hahaha. sleep time, peas out.

My pal over at Angry Asian Man posted an email he received regarding the Shaq-Yao controversy:

"You people still eat cats and dogs, and it's the 21st century! You're dirty, devious, and ignorant of American ways. You treat your fellow man like crap and then expect the whole world to fawn over you for a simple joke! The real joke is in your pants and in between your ears, nothing in either place. We will watch Shaq kick your sweet and sour ass in the upcoming game! It's you liberal cat eaters that need to get a life and apologize to the American people for the atrocities committed against our soldiers in the war with Japan. Which by the way we kicked your ass there too."

There's more, but let's just say the email ended with the suggestion that we "treat your own people with a little dignity and you may find that American Caucasians and African Americans will treat you with respect!"

POINT NUMBER ONE: Most of "us" have never eaten or feel the penchant toward eating domesticated animals. This "delicacy" is found only in some places in Asia, and in many countries it's an illegalized trade! This brings up my next issue....

POINT NUMBER TWO: HOW HARD IS IT TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ASIANS AND ASIAN AMERICANS!??!? For example, we have French Caucasians and American Caucasians. We tease French Caucasians with "hoh hoh hoh" derisive laugh, and we may tease American Caucasians with New York, Chicago or Southern accents. So, why do we tease Asians and Asian Americans with the same mock Chinese accent??? I don't speak with an accent. So if you want to make fun of my voice, tease me for having a bit of a nasal sound. Tease me for speaking with a southern California vernacular. Tease me for using silly metaphors to describe things. These are all stupid things that I do! BUT DON'T TEASE ME FOR SOMETHING I DON'T! How simple is that?

POINT NUMBER THREE: How can you say that all my Asian American friends, having grown up in the United States, all products of the American high school system, all well-versed in the "American-speak" of Generation X (and Y), all who felt the pain of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, all (the males) who are enlisted in the Selective Service until the age of 25, all who grew up on Sesame Street and G.I. Joe and The Cosby Show, all who have American driver's licenses, eat at fast food restaurants, use credit cards, listen to hip-hop or alternative rock or jazz or even pop, work for American companies, hold American passports, who have possibly experienced love, life, liberty, voting, ownership, consumerism, and at times bigotry.... how can you say we're ignorant of American ways? And yes, by the way, in patrotism I am an American. In culture, I sometimes clash between my parents' immigrant traditions and my U.S.-born tendencies... but seriously, the latter wins out far more than the former.

POINT NUMBER FOUR: I'm not from Japan. Period. Oh, and you're telling me that the Japanese Americans in World War II didn't suffer enough for the sins of Japan and for the ignorance of the American people? Yeah, and we did kick their "ass," didn't we?

POINT NUMBER FIVE: If by "treat your own people with respect" you mean my fellow Americans, I must apologize for the appearance of lack of respect. But if you mean that I have committed human rights atrocities against people in China.... well... umm.... no. I haven't. And neither has the rest of Asian America.

POINT NUMBER SIX: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT. I am a HUGE LAKERS FAN. While it's definitely cool to see someone of my race playing in the NBA, you can believe that I was pissed as heck to see the good ole' Purple and Gold lose to the Houston Rockets. Let's share the sports fanaticism, huh? If I watched the NBA for the Chinese people, don't you think I'd be a Clippers fan (said with suppressed snicker)? Don't group me because I look different.

So, once again, you can tease me for being a Lakers fan, you can tease me for being absent-minded... but don't categorize me where I don't necessarily belong. Oh yeah, and down with all those liberal cat eaters... and the conservative ones too.... whatever that means.