Monday

On Monday, helped Ryo learn driving, then we had lunch at mistuwa. We went to GameStop beside Barnes & Nobles on Stevens Creek blvd. Ryo wanted to trade-in for a nitendo. It was sold out. I'm interested in Red Alert 3 but I don't wanna spend money these days. So we had coffee and hot chocolate at B&N starbucks, and read some magazines. Ryo looked for a novel to buy, but he couldn't decide. I read Catcher In The Rye, and bought it since it's $6. I love the narration in it. There's a new special edition of To Kill A Mocking Bird. I already read the novel and own a worn out old copy. It's one of my all-time favorite novels. I do not want to waste money buying another copy, but it's good for a gift.

We went to GameStop outlet at Valley Fair. The nitendo set Ryo wanted was sold out there too. Then we had dinner at Khan's Restaurant, one block away from Santana Row. It sounds mongolian, but it's a Vietnamese restaurant. I prefer the Pho (beef/chicken broth with rice noodles) there to the Pho at neigborhood Pho outlets. I think they use less MSG and put in more effort in making the broth, which I read could be delicious without using any MSG. Same thing for burmese fish broth with rice noodles (mone hin ga). Mone Hin Ga is to Burmese like what Pho is to Vietnamese and Ramen is to Japanese. Although diners use MSG to enhance taste in mone hin ga, one (like my mom) can cook it without using any MSG and still taste very good. I don't know whether it works for Ramen, because I know Ramen is heavily dependent on dashi, which is an indirect MSG.

We went home after dinner. I watched Gnarls Barkley's live performances on youtube. Their performance of "Crazy" at MTV Movie awards was hilarious; they dressed up as Star Wars characters. Cee-Lo was Darth Vader, who was unmasked to sing, and reportedly, ex-Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna, who is a Gnarls Barkley's freelance associate, played drums as Chewbacca. He must have felt real hot in that Wookiee costume, but he looked so funny. Didn't know Darth Vader could sing. Here's the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HvTNAXqB88

The following is something for both film majors and people who doesn't know that there is such thing as film major in universities, or have no idea what we do, although it's a comedy and more of screenwriting department. How George Lucas found inspiration for Star Wars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2i_nLClAUU