It seems like my past few posts have always begun with an excuse. I apologize for the constant — well, I suppose with my blog it would be more like occassional — stream of excuses that have filled my blog as of late. Unfortunately, not only is this blog going to be an excuse, I am afraid that it is going to be one gigantic elaborate excuse for not posting.

I don't think I'm cut out for blogging. Time just flies by, and I cannot believe that January was really six months ago. I also try to do too much in my posts, with each attempt becoming more and more elaborate until I either run out of ideas, run out of time, or run out of persistence.

So why have I broken my silence? I really have no idea. I'm not posting any interesting news or pictures, or any photoshop project ideas that have bubbling around in my head. These are just some thoughts that I had while I was washing dishes today.

Before I begin, however, I have a disclaimer for you to keep in mind. This post has nothing to do with any circumstances in my personal life, so any attempt to extrapolate juicy facts about my life is highly recommended against, while teasing and insinuations will be utterly ignored.

The Curious Phenomenon of Asian Wives

I believe that when I was only eleven years old or so, one of my friends commented how two Asian guys in her church had married Caucasian women. While I do not remember my exact response, I do know that I exclaimed in amazement. Two Asian guys marrying two Caucasian women? How odd! So thus at a very tender age, I had already noticed one of the important facts of life. A lot of Asian women marry non-Asian guys.

More recently, a friend of mine who was studying human development was rather amused to see that out of all interracial marriages, the Asian female/Caucasian male was by far the most common. Why I will not pretend to know all the reasons for this, I just wanted to point out some of the interesting things I have seen in such relationships.

Out of many such couples, at the moment only two come to mind where the husband is completely fluent in the Chinese language, while most Chinese women are fairly to completely fluent in English (I am afraid I cannot comment about other nationalities as I have not spent much time in other Asian cultures). Thus, we can extrapolate that most Caucasian men do not take the time or are not capable of becoming completely fluent in their Asian wife's language, while Most Asian women take the time to learn or have already learned English. While I admit that Chinese is hard, on the whole Learning Chinese is not important for most guys; I am not necessarily condemning them for it, however, since usually It is not that important to the women if the men learn Chinese or not.

The culture differences are also a big reason for such relationships. As the joke that I heard in the Philippines said,

Heaven is if you can eat Chinese food, wear European clothes, have Japanese electronics, live in an American house, and marry a Filippino wife.

I do not remember the exact wording of the joke, but the general idea is that Asian cultures expect a good deal more out of their wives: they are to be submissive, take care of their in-laws, and go through a grueling health regime after the birth of each baby. In Western cultures, however, husbands are expected to do things like buy flowers, have good manners, and help their wife out around the house. Thus when a Caucasian husband marries an Asian wife, they get the best of both worlds. Both the wife and husband do not need to work as hard, while they both will receive greater appreciation for what they do for each other.

I do not have a conclusion or a point to make on this subject, but I do have four questions for the people who still come around to read my site. If you guys are willing to answer, I think it will be interesting to hear your thoughts.

1. Have you ever even entertained the possibility of having a cross-cultural marriage?
2. How important would it be for you to have your spouse learn your language?
3. Would you be willing to marry someone who is not interested in learning your native language?
4. What aspects of your culture would you consider to be important to pass on to your children if you had a cross-cultural marriage?

1. Have you ever even entertained the possibility of having a cross-cultural marriage?
2. How fluent would you require yourself to be in your potential spouse's language before you married?
3. How important would it be for you to have your spouse learn your language? For example, would you be willing to marry someone who is not interested in learning your native language?
4. What aspects of your culture would you consider to be important to pass on to your children if you had a cross-cultural marriage?

Happy New Year!!!

Okay, so it's a little late to be saying that. Like... a week too late. But I'm going to say it anyways.

First of all, I would like to apologize to my loyal subscribers for not keeping any of my promises. I know I said I was going to make another movie poster. I planned out the theme for my next one... actually the next two posters. I just never had the time to finish them. I know I also said I was going to write two more essays about the Ludwig story. If you were wondering, I also planned out what I was going to say and even wrote down notes about different ideas that I had. Though I had the best of intentions, I ended up not having the time to do it for a few weekends... and then it ended up not applying anymore.

So the moral of the story is... never promise to do anything on Xanga, because most likely you will end up not doing it.

Though I didn't do what I promised, I ended up doing something else completely: I redid my site with a special 2006 theme. If you are reading this in your digest, come to my site and take a quick look if you have the time. I know I know, a new design is not something to get all excited about. But then again, my site was never something a normal person should be excited about.

I do have something interesting to write about though. I went to Hong Kong the week after Christmas with my Dad, and it was a really cool time. Hopefully I will have time tomorrow to write about it... but I'm not promising anything! 

See? I learned my lesson, didn't I?

Today is a first for me on this Xanga. Rather than posting pictures, write about myself, or try to make my subscribers laugh, I am going to interrupt my exciting lineup of movie posters and write some of my opinions. While many people write what they think about current events, as a rule I steer clear of anything where I give my thoughts on different subjects. Why? Because I do not want to be boring... and pictures always get a lot of eprops.   However if you do not mind, join me this once in my reflections as I unwrap my new soapbox I just purchased from the store.

Echoes from the Cloud

Glimpses of a murderer's past life through the internet

“Both teens kept weblogs...” (CBS News, November 14)

One week ago on Sunday, November 13, a tragic incident shook the tiny Pennsylvanian town of Lititz. When 14-year-old Kara Borden returned home after a late night out with 18-year-old boyfriend David Ludwig, it led to a confrontation early the next morning, resulting in the shootings of both parents.

When an Amber alert was issued for the suspected kidnapping of Kara by David, the internet began to buzz with activity. Various acquaintances of David began to discuss this story with confusion and disbelief. On the Crossings, a site devoted to members of the ATI home-school program, people began to wonder if a home-schooler with that same name could possibly be the murderer of two parents. As people put two and two together, they were able to find their weblogs.

Soon, different true crime weblogs (www.planethuff.com/darkside, http://voicelessvictems.org) also discovered the various websites and pictures of the teens on the internet. They discussed their profiles and blogs, looking for clues for what could have driven David to make such a drastic decision. While some of their opinions seemed a little overblown (such as the speculation of the inherent violence of a boy who smiles while skinning a deer or poses with a cutlass—which I think should be attributed to boyish bravado than anything else), the general conclusion was everything indicated these were normal teens.

When the media mentioned the teens' blogs and posted screen captures of their profiles, a storm of readers and comments descended upon their sites. By this time, anybody curious enough and armed with the know-how to google could voice their many and varying views. From comments of sympathy and pity to comments of hate and revulsion, from the blindly naïve to the idiotically ridiculous, the different websites quickly racked up a couple thousand comments until they were shut down. One thing was evident: now that even the Average Joe can find glimpses of the lives of both criminals and victims, the way that law-enforcement, media, and the public view crime will change.

While I am usually jaded about the shocking nature of crime, the fact that I discovered so much about their personal lives certainly changed the way I looked at this news story. Being able to read David's website and see his personality made him a person rather than just a name in the news. Because of the internet, even though I am in Taiwan I was able to discover that not only was David about the same age as I, but he was also enrolled in the same home-schooling program. This eerie similarity completely distracted me for days on end.

As my good friend Christina mentioned in her blog, we discovered we had similar views while discussing this story on AIM. We were both perturbed at the way the media handled the two family's personal information and the disturbing comments left on David's site by professed Christians. I was so filled with frustration at the pettiness of human nature that I found myself mentally constructing arguments to refute their views. At the same time, I was afraid that my attempts would be futile and only aggravate the situation.

Now that it has been a week since the event and most of their personal sites have been shut down, I feel I can express my thoughts more clearly and objectively. While I completely agree that what David did was terrible, I would like to spend some time in my next couple blogs discussing some of the factors and events that I believe make this story worthwhile for Christians to contemplate.

Will you take the time to join me in pondering the wrong choices of these two teens that led to such a tragedy?

To my dear, loyal, and patient readers,

I apologize for once again waiting a very long time before posting. I hope the wait has been worth it, for I am pleased to announce that I am beginning something special. What is this special series, you may wonder?

THE BOBA AWARDS

For the BOBA awards, you, my faithful subscribers, are my academy. You get to pick the best picture, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor... you get the idea. The first picture that I bring to your consideration is 'The Pirates of the Lakes: The Curse of the Wolf Turtles'.

In the year 2005, all the missing treasure in the ocean has been found by roving and battling pirates for nigh 30 years. The grim Russian Captain Nikolai has decided to leave the well explored ocean and sail into the unknown: the uncharted waters of the Lakes. Along with his first mate Chilling Chen, the feckless Uncanny Kennan, and brawny Bootstrap Brown, they are in for an adventure like none other, for they know not that the Lakes are haunted with strange creatures... the fearsome WOLF TURTLES.

Starring:
Nikolai Payne...........................Captain Nikolai
Timothy Chen..............................Chilling Chen
Kennan Gillson.......................Uncanny Kennan
James Brown.........................Bootstrap Brown

Directed and Produced by: Payne and Chen sisters

Director of Photography: Tosha Payne

If my schedule permits, I shall bring EXCITING new additions for your consideration. My next picture is already in the works... but please be patient. Though most pictures have already been filmed, it will take some time for the special effects to be completed.