No this is not some fancy scheme that involves communes and co-ops or other hippy ideas, and no, we are not going to call in the Orkin man and have them exterminated as much as Vinhboy would advocate for that. In fact, this only addresses MY problem with the homeless, and not a wide scale solution by any means. I hope this idea spreads, and if it does it might actually make an impact. So here it is..

I would say on average I come across 1.33 homeless persons a day in San Francisco. I would say 1 out of every 5 times I would give them something. I have given leftovers after leaving a restaurant (which I most of the time regret because I love eating leftovers from restaurants). I have bought a fast food meal and brought it back to the person which was frankly more leg work and money than I expected it to be. i have had my fries rejected by people, and the worse was when I gave this guy all the change in my pocket and he threw it back at me while I was walkign away. It turned out to be only about 19 cents because most of it was nickels and pennies. I think he became angry because he wasted his time counting out what I gave him. The times I don’t do anything I feel guilty about relatively how much I have and why I did not spare anything.

There are two responses to this guilt pang:

1. “They’re only going to use that money for crack (which is probably true).
2. Yes, they will use that money for crack but their life is so crappy why couldn’t you help them obtain momentary bliss by helping them buy some crack?

Either way give or not give you are not really helping them out and all the smart types(intellectual assholes) will tell you that you are actually harming them by giving them change, or your conscience will annoy you. The ultimate solution is fruit. I now give fruit to people who ask for change. This is my rationale:

1. It’s healthy nutritious food and you are actually nourishing the recipient (fast food is almost as bad for their health as giving them a few cents for crack..although they probably could use the calories..)
2. It’s cheaper than crack/fast food. You can buy a single serving of fruit for uner a dollar.
3. Most fruit is portable.
4. There’s only one fruit to count.
5. If they don’t want it you can be 1000% sure that they are a crack head.No asshole is going to tell you, “You really shouldn’t have given that guy fruit”

So now I keep a fruit handy just in case. Today while walking to the metro after work, a crack head came up to me and asked for change “to get something to eat”. Most crack heads are really polite when they ask. If only all society could be as nice as crackheads asking for change.. Anywhoo..I whipped out the apple I had in my pocket and offered it to him. He said he did not eat apples.. little comedic pause followed after he said that because he now knew I Aknew he was lying. I asked if he could give it to someone who might want it. He said sure, and I was happily on my way after meeting my new friend, Johnny AppleCrackee.

So join my quest folks..Open your heart..spare a pear..Give a grape..Bring a banana..make fruit the new crack.

~p

I do… That’s why I don’t write in my blog that much anymore.

Almost every time I sit down to write something, I end up deleting it because I get scared that what I just wrote might cause undue retaliation.

On a slightly related note, I have been contacted twice by reporters from popular news outlets regarding my blog postings. I guess this means some of the things I write do get good traffic?

In fact, my post about how much I hated “sex in the city” got a ton of traffic leading up to the movie release. Until Google bumped me off the top… why???

Anyways, here are things that I like to write about, but don’t because I am scared:

1) The Bush Administration
2) The Chinese government
3) The Vietnamese government and just Vietnam in general
4) Anything against popular social networking sites such as Digg.

To be honest though, sometimes I don’t write because after reading what I write, I realize how uninformed and stupid I sound. This is the greatest gift blogging has given me. It is like a self-analysis session that helps me rationalize my thoughts and actions. Perhaps if everyone blogged, the world would be a better place??

Honestly, if people sat down and wrote out the reasons why they act the way they do, maybe they’ll realize how unrational and retarded they are…

But first off, let me try to explain something. Even though I used the title “Gambling for a living”, or more appropriately “Gambling as a job”, I do not believe that playing GOOD Poker is considered “gambling”. It is true that MOST poker players are gambling, but that is only because they play bad poker: fishing, counting on seat changes for luck, playing with emotions, and betting more than they can afford to loose. However, if you if you really understand the game and have the discipline, you are not “gambling”. You are simply taking advantage of favorable statistics.

But regardless of what I think, there are always two sides to every story, so here are a few pros and cons:

CONS
1. Potential of Loss – You could end up loosing everything. I see these people in the poker rooms everyday. Hanging on to the last chip, asking random strangers for a loan, going into massive debt just to make a bet.
2. Lack of prestige / Stigma – A professional poker player does not have the moral bargaining chip of a brain surgeon, a firefighter, or a teacher. As a poker player, you realize your dreams by shattering someone else’s dream. It’s like selling crack for a living.
3. Nothing to fall back on – You can’t really take the skills you have at the poker table to any other job. Plus, it wouldn’t fit anywhere on your resume.

PROS
1. Easy life style – No need to worry about climbing the corporate ladder, wearing a tie, or preparing a resume.
2. Potential of Huge Winnings – You could become the next Phil Ivy, or win enough tourneys to make more than just a comfortable living.
3. Freedom – go wherever, whenever, you want.

But anyways, all of this is a moot point.

1. My girlfriend wouldn’t let me do it anyways
2. I think I can get rich faster doing web stuff.
3. I already enjoy most of the benefits listed in the PROS section.

The sad part is, I was thinking about my dog at the time and how I want to get home ASAP b/c I left it alone all morning.

Shocked, and not knowing what to do, I frantically called my girlfriend. To be honest, if it wasn’t for her (unhealthy) affection for animals of all kind, I would have probably pretended I didn’t see the dog and drove off. ( Yea I know, I am horrible… )

But being the new improved me, I took the dog to the Vet. They immediately began checking it and giving it xrays etc… I sat around for almost an hour while they did that. I also said yes to paying $150 for the examination.

Luckily for me, when the vet contacted the owner, she agreed to pay for the charges, so the Vet allowed me to go home.

Although I feel bad for hitting the poor dog, I blame all this on the dog’s owner. It is highly irresponsible to let your dog run around all day while you are off at work. They told me that this is NOT the first time this dog has ran off. I wish people would be more careful with their pets so that I don’t end up hurting another poor animal.

I am guessing its something I should consult a doctor about, but it happens so rarely I don’t remember to report it. I tried searching on the internet but could not find anyone reporting the same problem…

So, are you here because you have the same problem? Please let me know…

Today, I had an equally strange dream… I dreamed Barak Obama lost the Presidental race. Man I was disappointed. I was like, “damn, you freaking ‘tards, do you want another 8 years of Bush?”

Speaking of Barak Obama, I loved the way John Stewart translated the whole Obama elitist controversy. John Stewart asked, don’t we want an elite president? someone who is better than us? Why would we want an average person to run the country? remember the last time we did that?? Anyways, I think he has good point. I do hope our next president is smarter than us all.

But not all is loss. Because of all the years of training in PHP and CSS, I now have a healthy appreciation for Rails and I am constantly amazed by the things it can do with one simple line of code. The way Rails code organize makes me shutter thinking about my old PHP programs. It also makes me wonder if the guy who wrote Rails had prophetic powers because he seems to know exactly what I need…

Funny fact: The guy who invented one of the first modern toilet is named “Thomas Crapper”. The narrator had the galls to say “While crapper was making a name for himself…” :)

Funnier fact(maybe?): In Asia mostly everyone is right handed because back in the days you reserve your left hand to wipe your ass. LOL. :)

Have you ever been to a friend’s house, and their toilet is completely yellow? Or, is your toilet yellow? I don’t think they make yellow toilets… Disgusting… How do people live like that?? My toilet is white… You can come see for yourself if you don’t believe me…

This is partly because I have resulted to just sitting down. Yea, the idea sounds ultra (insert bigot statement here), but I can’t aim for shit, so I might as well save myself the trouble of having to clean afterwards. The only problem with sitting down to piss, is that you end up wanting to take a “crap” too. How do girls do it??

Speaking of “crap”, I wonder why they have not invented a toilet with a vacuum system that sucks the stink in. Seriously, why let the stink escape into the air around you… Why not put he vacuum right in the toilet, so that it sucks the stink right as it comes out of your cake hole. I should invent this and become rich! I will call the technology the Vinhner. One day people will say. I gotta take a “Vinh”. That sir, would be awesome!!!

Take for example, the battle over who should be the next president. Obama? Clinton? McCain? Or the controversy surrounding the China Olympics. Should China be punished for the way they govern? Or should we leave China alone and learn to clean up our act before pointing the finger? Better yet, can we decide once and for all what came first? The chicken, or the egg?

To be frank, I am getting tired of having to deal with other people’s opinion. I get sick of having to make compromises with other people because they don’t agree with me. Hell, I am annoyed that we always drink “Orange Dream Machine” at Jamba Juice because that’s the only flavor my girlfriend likes!

Anyways… My point is, I think we should use the internet as a tool to unite like minded people. And I am not simply talking about a forum for car-hobbyist, Hillary Duff fan club, or foot-fetish. I am specifically talking about using the internet as a way to connect people from around the world who think EXACTLY, or close to EXACTLY, alike.

Seriously, I would love to meet another person who thinks and act just like me: a pompous jackass with an insatiable thirst for coconut juice! That way we can form a special group and sit around agreeing, and complementing each other all day… I don’t know about you, but sounds like a hell of a lot more fun than sitting around arguing with people because they can’t see things from your point of view.

Now, I do realize that the idea of forming a perfect group of people is Hitler-Nazi and KKK like, however, my idea is different in that my groups of like-minded-people are intended for sharing of ideas and NOT to be used as a form of “elitism” or superiority. The group is NOT about being better than others, but it is about being with people who can understand what you are saying, and can honestly put themselves in your shoe.

Many of you are probably going to say, “Vinh, you’re an idiot, that’s what friends are for. Don’t be all spastic just because you don’t have any friends…” But no, that is not true. A friend, family member, significant other, or even a spouse, is not necessarily the kind of person that you can be like-minded with. Take me and my girlfriend for example, we disagree on so so so so so so many things. If our relationship was based on compatibility, we would be two strangers on bus heading in opposite directions.

Ideally, people in your group of like-minded-people would be like an exact replica of you thought process wise. You would agree on political issues, order the same plates in a restaurant, and most of all, you should definitely know the answer to the question… “Are you a wader? (as in toilet paper)”

Anyways, I can’t wait until something like this exists on the internet for me for find my like-minded-people. Or maybe, if I was smart enough, I could create the site to help people find their like-minded counterpart. Either way, I think we should hurry with the development. It will save me a lot of frustration listening to people around me giving all sorts of bull crap I don’t agree with.

I have always thought that “seven of nine” tight outfit was a bit riskee, but damn, this old Star Trek makes captain Jane Way look like grandma.

Captain Kirk was a pimp! Of the five minutes that I saw, Captain Kirk’s female crew member wore short skirt uniforms that would make any man be ok with being lost the “delta quadrant” forever. On top of that, for some reason, Captain Kirk began making out with scantily clad female “aliens”.

Inter-gallactic pimp?? Explore the universe, one bra strap at a time… Man, where do I sign up?