Hao Tran

I held a Glee-athon last week, which I think went well. I now own both of the Glee soundtracks, as well as a few singles (since not all of the songs from the show are on the soundtracks). iTunes keeps track of how many times you play the songs within your library, and looking at my Glee playlist (which has all the Glee songs I own), it's no wonder that my favorite (and most played) song is "Somebody to Love" (originally by Queen).

Being one of my favorite things in the world (Love), with one of my favorite bands in the world (Queen), on one of my favorite shows in the world (Glee), it's no wonder that it's one of my favorite songs.

Recently, I talked with a friend about my feelings towards another friend, as well as my growing feelings for another friend. After some discussion, we came to the conclusion that the feelings I had weren't really romantic feelings, but feelings of a strong, close friendship. It was merely the fact that they are females that completely threw my mind around (the determining factor was apparently the complete lack of any feelings of jealously with the fact that one of them has a boyfriend). On one hand, my mind is relieved of the self-inflicted pressure that came with romantic feelings, and I'm glad to discover that I do love my friends as much as anyone can love their close friends while still being close friends. On the other hand, my mind is a bit saddened by the fact that I have yet to discover the feelings of romantic attraction/love.

I was with some friends yesterday, promoting the Medieval Combat Club, and at one point, one of my friends asked me why I don't hit on women. I didn't really give an answer, but I think with that question, I realized that I'm not really the type of person who goes up to a woman and starts flirting. I prefer to develop a friendship first, building bridges and forging bonds. What I realize this has done is that I actually put myself into the "friend zone", which also explains why I seem to have more female good friends than male good friends. I don't think I really want to change that part about me, mainly because I think I'm looking for a romantic love that comes and grows naturally. If I never find it, c'est la vie, and I can still find comfort to know that I still have a love of friends.

Thanks to The Digg Reel for showing me this video; it reminds me of how much I like mashups, and I've had it stuck in my head for the past few days.

First off, Happy New Year! I'm actually still at my friend CJ's house, in the aftermath of the end-of-decade LAN/social.

The night went pretty well, though I actually barely used my computer at all. I played a bit of Ikaruga (Gamecube version, which I'm now borrowing from my friend Don), finally got to play Mahjong with some people (who, fortunately, were also most familiar with Japanese Mahjong rules), played a bit of cards, Last Word, and Puerto Rico. Plenty of fun, though my friends Erin and Jasmine got their poke war revenge. I can't say it was eventually coming to me though, so it's fine.

The sad part in all of these fun is the reminder that most of us are leaving town, as the winter term (for those of us on a quarter system) starts on the 4th. Also, I have obligations on both the 2nd and the 3rd, which means that today is my last full day of the break. It was coming sooner or later, but I had hoped that it wouldve lasted a little longer.

I still have plenty to think about, and who knows if any of it will lead to anything. Now, to wait patiently until the short spring break in 3 months.

Over the term, I've bought a few games here or there (mostly during the Steam Black Friday Week, or if Steam had a weekend deal). Since the break started (two Fridays ago), I've played the following:

Mirror's Edge (I liked it overall, but I wouldn't have paid the original price of $50 for it. Beat it in ~10 hours)
Mass Effect (It was pretty enjoyable, though I never really used any of the tactical features in the game. I guess I'm a fan of the brute force approach in combat. Beat it in ~20 hours).
Evil Genius (It's very similar to Mastermind, which is a flash game. It's fun, if not really slow to progress.)
And currently, I'm playing The Last Remnant. It's working out pretty well so far, and I enjoy the way it works. :)

Still too many games to catch up one, but hey, it's progress!