January 2012
25 posts
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#327 Admit that I Stole From My Grandmother
It was the summer after my sophomore year in college. I had just been driven back from Hanford of all places. A friend of mine in college said he could get me a job over the summer where he lived. I stayed at his family’s house then at a friend of his as I waited for him to try and get me a job. A month went by before I came to my senses and realized there was never going to be a job. I made...
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#326 Reveal 3 Tiny Words to the LGBT Community on...
A few days ago I started a photo project called 3 Tiny Words. The goal was to show solidarity and help stop discrimination and hate against gays by having users submit photos of themselves with the words “I AM GAY” on them, whether or not they were actually gay. I am the first to admit that not a whole lot of thought went into it. I had an initial idea, then ran with it, throwing it...
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#325 Apply Online to be on The Bachelorette
Today’s scary thing comes courtesy of friend Nate. Good old Nate just always seems to be chockfull of ideas for SYED. I guess him and his girlfriend are big Bachelor/Bachelorette fans. I remember seeing the first couple of seasons of The Bachelor and then The Bachelorette. It was fun and new back then. Now it kind of reeks of desperation. So when Nate suggested I apply to be on The...
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#324 Put My Picture Up on Lady Boners (Gone Wild)
Lady Boners Gone Wild is a subreddit where guys post pics of themselves and women judge them. There’s a regular Gone Wild subreddit which is basically the same thing for both guys and girls. But mostly girls. So LBGW seemed to be a better fit. I figured this goes along with my Beautiful People post in putting myself out there for scrutiny and ultimately rejection. Only this time, LBGW is a...
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#323 Go to a Book Club
Whenever I think about a book club, I recall that Seinfeld episode where George joins a book club. Rather than read the book, he tries to watch the movie an hilarious hijinx ensue!
I didn’t even think they still had book clubs. Don’t people just watch Oprah for that sort of thing? But I was browsing Meetup.com for scary things to do and found a Sci-Fi Book Club. It seemed like an...
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#322 Start 3 Tiny Words
EDIT: Please visit and like the 3 Tiny Words Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/3-Tiny-Words/212658358828774!
I am pretty passionate about gay rights. Being Chinese, I know all about discrimination and prejudice. The thing about gay hate is that it’s so… stupid. And stupid things annoy me. And when something annoys me, I get passionate about it.
I mean, at least with me,...
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#321 Email the President of My Company About...
I work for a company who is waging a fruitless war against online piracy. Months ago I sent an email voicing my dissenting opinion to the committee formed to spearhead this war. I didn’t hear a reply.
Last month I saw the president at the company holiday party and gave him my opinion in person. We weren’t able to talk too much about it in depth because, well, it was a holiday...
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#320 Join the SOPA/PIPA Blackout
On January 18, 2012, all the pages on SYED directed to this page. The text is also below…
Scare Yourself Every Day #320
Join the SOPA/PIPA Blackout
Today, January 18th 2012, I’m joining companies such as Wordpress, Wikipedia, Google, Reddit and more in a voluntary internet blackout. The purpose is to protest the proposed SOPA/PIPA legislation currently trying to be passed in...
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#319 Taste... Myself
I’m just gonna warn you guys right now. This is not going to be pretty. It’s going to be the opposite of pretty. It’s going to be gross. You may gag. You may even vomit. I hope you don’t, but you might. Whatever you read from this point on, you do so at your own risk. Don’t say you weren’t warned. Because you were. Twice.
A couple of hundred posts ago, I got...
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#318 Go on an Audition for a Show About...
A few days ago I applied to be on a show about my experience on BeautifulPeople.com. They called me again today and asked if I wanted to come in for an interview/audition. Today? That was pretty short notice. I considered pushing it off till next week. But since I happened to have no work today and putting scary things off is pretty much saying you’re never going to do it, I agreed.
They...
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#317 Go to an Art Dinner with Experimental Music
Good friend Tim sent me an email last week telling me about some weird art dinner at this gallery called Public Fiction. Tim works in the Art industry so he’s always privy to stuff like this. All I knew was there was going to be some sort of vegetarian dinner with each course being paired with some sort of experimental music performance. It sounded kind of cool and scary at the same time.
...
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#316 Take a Pole Dancing Class
Awhile back I signed up for a pole dancing class through Living Social Adventures. When I went to take the class (50 miles away) I was informed, albeit politely, that the classes were for women only. Even though it said no such thing on the site and I was allowed to sign up in the first place.
I sent an email to Living Social and explained that I had spent a lot of money with them. That they...
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#315 Find Vick
I’ve been thinking a lot about spending Christmas Eve as a homeless person. It’s been one of those slow burn type experiences where I process a little chunk of it every day.
I think a lot about Vick. Because he was nice to me when he had no reason to. He had a good heart and was a good man but just had a bunch of shitty stuff happen to him. I knew I wanted to try and do something for...
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#314 Apply to Be on a Show About...
Last week I applied to be on a shallow, looks-based website called BeautitfulPeople.com. My profile was up for 48 hours at which time members on the site would rate my looks (based of one picture) and determine whether or not I was worth to be on the site. When I checked back on my profile after 48 hours I was greeted with this popup:
What? No email? And a popup?? They couldn’t even...
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#313 Cancel My Cable
When I moved to LA, I lived in a house that didn’t have cable. But I was only 23 at the time so I probably couldn’t have afforded it anyway. Then I moved out with my girlfriend but we still didn’t cable. I didn’t get cable until about 6 years ago. Hard to believe, but I lived without cable for that long. Not only that, at the time there wasn’t really anything you...
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#312 Go to a Landmark Forum Meeting
“Now turn to the person who brought you here and tell them why you accepted their invitation to come tonight. Share,” the speaker said.
I looked over at Kelly, the wife of one of my friends. We hadn’t really spent that much time together and never without her husband. But here we were on a random Tuesday night, “sharing.”
I got an email a few days ago from Kelly....
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#311 Go to the Dentist
I used to never be afraid of the dentist. Even when I was kid and had four cavities filled. Why? A little thing our dentist liked to call sweet air. Sure, some dentists may legally have to call it nitrous oxide. All I knew was it made me feel like I was in a dream and it didn’t make getting mercury poured into a gaping hole in one of my teeth seem so bad.
When I was 23, a dentist noticed...
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#310 Attend No Pants Metro Ride 2012
I’m not sure how I heard about No Pants Metro Ride 2012. It could have come to me in a dream for all I know. But there it was. For the fourth time apparently. A day when people ride the metro here in LA and other major cities without pants. In other words, how a typical Sunday for me just in public.
I was primed for this event from my earlier Hot Cookie photo sesh. It was suggested by dear...
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#309 Eat Dinner in the Dark
A few months ago I heard about a restaurant called Opaque where you eat dinner in complete darkness. What? How is that possible? It can’t be completely dark. Maybe it’s just low lighting. What if you accidentally stick a fork in your eye? In somebody else’s? Do you have to wear pants? So many questions I needed answers to. Even at $100 for a three-course dinner, aI had to find...
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#308 Sneak into a Movie Screening
I have been known to give up easily on certain things. I admit it. In St. Louis I was ready to give up on seeing the Arch but Clara wasn’t. At Comikaze, I was ready to give up on getting a photo with Erin Gray but Lea pushed to make it happen.
I was with Lea again tonight as we were trying to go see a free screening of Haywire. There was a Q&A session afterwards. My scary thing was to...
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#307 Tell My Mom I Forged Report Cards in High...
When I was having lunch with Syliva, we were talking about the things we did to avoid displeasing our strict Asian parents. An old memory popped into my head. I completely forgot that I forged report cards in High School so my Mom wouldn’t get mad at me for getting… B’s.
I knew that I had to finally clue her in on this. I had already divulged the long, dark secret about my...
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#306 Adopt a Tiger
I just adopted a motherfucking tiger. Not a tiger that copulates with matriarchs. That was just a figure of speech. But yeah, a goddamn bad-ass tiger.
It costed just $25 through the WWF. Apparently tigers are becoming endangered or something. The money donated helps by giving other tigers flu shots, fur coats to keep warm in the winter and condoms to prevent the spread of STDs. I am 98% sure that...
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#305 Make a Profile on BeautifulPeople.com
I was having lunch with Nate and we got on the subject of looks. He said he had heard of a site that was like a “Facebook for beautiful people.” After a quick google search, we found, appropriately named enough, BeautifulPeople.com.
It’s a dating website where you have to put up a photo and apply to for entry. Your profile is up for 48 hours during which time, users can vote by...
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#304 Go to a Korean Spa
I first heard about Korean Spas from my Korean friend Julie. She explained it to me once a while ago but the only thing I really took away from the conversation was: YOU HAVE TO BE NAKED THE WHOLE TIME.
That may be an exaggeration, but you do have to spend most of your time naked. Basically, there is a male and female section to the spa. While in each section, you’re pretty much expected to...
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#303 Sing a Duet
A reader of the blog, Juliana, posted this on the wall of the SYED Facebook page:
Because of your blog, I was inspired to scare myself by posting a video of myself singing on facebook. First time ever. Thanks, Greg. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQHYpAAjK98
I was so happy to hear that the blog inspired a reader to do a scary thing. I want to hear more about stuff like this! Please feel free...
December 2011
30 posts
1 tag
#302 Throw a Dinner Party
A couple of years ago I threw a New Year’s Eve dinner party. It was a pretty extensive undertaking. About ten people showed up. It’s hard enough making food for that many people but I also got ambitious. I had just seen Ratatouille and learned that Thomas Keller actually created a real recipe for the Ratatouille in the movie. I thought shit, I want to make that.
I did. It took forever...
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#301 Meet a Reader of SYED
I met someone through this blog before. It was very early on, only about a month into it. Most of the readers I had at that time were because of my first video and not because of what I had written or what I was doing.
Since that time I’ve had 300 posts. I’ve revealed countless embarrassing and intimate details of my life. The whole of SYED like one giant personality assessment of...
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#300 Sing Karaoke
When I started SYED almost 10 months ago, one of the first things I ever thought of doing was singing karaoke.
At that time, I had never been on stage in front of people. Now I’ve done that a handful of times. But I still can’t sing. If you haven’t heard me not sing before, you can always look at the entry where I wrote and sang my own song.
Karaoke always seemed like a bad...
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#298 Submit a Snooping Story to This American Life
My sister let me know that This American Life was asking for stories about snooping. From their website:
We’re working on an upcoming show about snooping - you know, reading someone’s diary, email, etc - and we want your stories.
We want to know who snooped on whom (the story can be from the POV of the snooper or the snoop-ee), what was found out (if anything), and what happened...
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#297 Get My Hair Cut
I’ve had a mohawk for most of SYED. I shaved it for a post awhile back. The response was surprisingly positive, unless people were just being nice. Though it wasn’t just from people I knew. Strangers came up to me and complimented me on it. Suddenly, just by having a haircut, I gained some cool points which when you have zero to begin with, is pretty, well, cool.
I have to admit. It...
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#296 Spend Christmas with My Friends
Christmas for me used to be something special. Like every kid, it was a magical time. I’ve always liked not knowing things more than knowing them. All those wrapped presents. Anything could be inside. The anticipation is what makes that amazing. I guess that’s why I love David Lynch. His movies are like presents that even when you unwrap them, you still don’t know what the fuck...
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#295 Spend Christmas Eve as a Homeless Person
Just an FYI, this is probably the longest post I’ve ever written but it’s also the most important and I hope you read all of it. I’ve tried to break it up into sections to help readability.
Two previous scary things I’d done with homeless people (giving water and having dinner) lead me to today’s scary thing: I would spend Christmas Eve as a homeless person.
Why...
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#294 Holiday Baking and Chick-Fil-A
Today’s scary thing is a two-for (and not in the good sexy way). For the past few years, I’ve baked cookies and given them out as gifts for the holidays. At first it started out pretty simple. I made chocolate chip cookies. That’s it. Then it evolved into this elaborate thing where last year I baked chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal date, ginger snaps and chocolate cherry....
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#293 Take Charge of a Conversation
I’ve said before how I’m not really keen on talking to boss men in my company. I still talked to the president of my company about a less than comfortable topic.
Today I found myself at the last of the company holiday parties. I was talking with a few of my coworkers who are generally pretty outgoing people. I had a ton of work to do and wasn’t going to stay long.
Then the VP...
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#292 Reach out to My Mom
A little while back, I told my parents that I was going after my dream of being a writer. My mom seemed like she took the news really well. My father said she just wanted me to be happy.
So when I got a phone call earlier this week from my mom, I didn’t think much of it. But it turned out to be one of the worst phone calls I’ve had with her in a long time.
There was no yelling or...
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#291 Watch Earthlings
I’ve heard about the movie Earthlings for awhile. No it’s, not a high octane action movie about the people of Earth banding together to fight a seemingly insurmountable advancing horde of alien Hippos. It’s a documentary narrated by Joaquin Phoenix about how we treat animals like shit.
I had also heard it was one of those movies that shows in gory, graphic details all the...
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#290 Send a Snarky Tweet to a Celebrity
In my quest to get more readers to SYED, I’ve been more active in my Twitter account for the past few months (PS - follow me, I occasionally have something somewhat funny to say!). Twitter is weird though. It’s hard to get followers. One way is to tweet at celebrities in hopes they retweet you. Then some slack-jawed drool zombies will see your name and think that they should follow you...
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#289 Have Dinner with a Homeless Person
I was riding back from Rite-Aid with some very un-embarrassing items when I passed by a homeless man. He was a middle aged black man, slight build, carrying a backpack. The last time I encountered a homeless person, I gave her water. Afterwards, my friend Matt suggested that I buy a homeless person lunch as scary thing. Not just buy them lunch, but actually eat it with them.
I thought of that as...
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#288 Go to Board Game Night Alone
I’ve done my fair share of solo social outings. Tonight I continued with that by going to a board game night alone.
This particular board game night was put on by my friend, Bob. I saw by the guest list that he was inviting some people that I knew. I also knew those people probably wouldn’t show up. I also deduced that Bob was inviting people from different social circles. It’s...
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#287 Date Again
It’s been no secret that recently I’ve been going through past my relationships and really trying to think about where I am in life and who I want to be with.
Awhile back, a girl, Kate, wrote me on OKCupid. She sent me a really nice message about reading my blog and enjoying it. I remember seeing it and I meant to respond, as I always do when someone writes me, but at that time I...
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#286 Go for a Winter Night Swim
I don’t get along with the cold. Probably because I’ve always had the metabolism of a humming bird. Growing up New Jersey didn’t help matters. On winter mornings, I’d position myself over the heater vent on the floor and tuck my shirt over it so the hot air would engulf my body. I’d take hot showers for so long my Dad would yell at me for using up all the hot water.
...
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#285 Message Someone on OKCupid Without Seeing...
Last night, as I was browsing through OKCupid, I realized that the first thing I looked at on a girl’s profile was their picture. In my defense, the photos are located at the top of the profile so how could you not look at that first? Plus, who are we kidding here? You have to be physically attracted to someone in the first place. That’s the initial hurdle.
But lately I’ve been...
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#284 Participate in Reddit Secret Santa and Catch...
I’ve never done a Secret Santa. I’ve heard about it on TV and in the movies but never actually participated in one. At work, we usually have white elephant type gift situations. Secret Santa just never came up.
When I saw that Reddit was running a Secret Santa, I decided to sign up. On their website are photos of all sorts of wonderful, thoughtful gifts redditors have received from other...
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#283 Buy Embarrassing Items in a Drug Store
So I saw this tweet by Mortified producer, Anne:
Just bought a box of Fiber One cereal and some toilet paper, and was disappointed that the cashier didn’t even smile. #poopisfunny #I’m5
which I thought was funny, but also it made me think about how embarrassing it can be to buy certain items in a drug store.
Awhile ago, I thought I had hemorrhoids. I know, sexy. But really, not to...
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#282 Ask My Friend for His Honest Opinion of Me
I’ve been thinking a lot about myself and relationships. I used to think that I wanted to get married and have kids. Then I wasn’t so sure. I don’t know exactly why that changed. I used to think I knew what I wanted in a girlfriend. But then that completely went out the window with Clara. In short, I’ve been a bit confused about everything. I was going to have coffee with...
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#281 (Try to) Take a Pole Dancing Class
Last week I got an email for a Living Social Adventure for a pole dancing class.
Of course this set off a SYED detection alarm in my head. It sounded like an awesome thing to try. I had been thinking about taking a pole dancing class for awhile, actually, but just not gotten around to doing it yet. So I signed up for it immediately. Not only was it a class, but it also came with THREE drink...
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#280 Become an Ordained Minister
Nate is always trying to get me to go to Chick-Fil-A. I won’t for two reasons. I don’t eat chicken and I don’t want to support a company that is against same-sex marriage. But then I hatched an idea for an awesome scary thing. I would stage a gay wedding at one of their restaurants and video tape it as a protest against the company. Of course, I would be the Minister performing...
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#279 Talk to the President of My Company
Awhile back, I wrote this entry about sending an email to the President of my company, voicing my opinion on our anti-piracy movement. I never heard anything back, nor did I expect to.
Well, tonight was my company office party. I asked Andrzej and Nate what scary thing I could do at the party. They suggested I talk to the President of our company which would be a scary thing in itself. We work...
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#278 Give Blood
I don’t have an unusual fear of needles. I certainly don’t like them. I don’t wake up some mornings and think, “Hey, today would be a good day to be stuck with a needle!”
When I was a kid, I had terrible allergies. The doctor did a test to see what I was allergic to. They gave my parents a BOOK of things to avoid. In addition to never going outside and only drinking...
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#277 Give Someone an Early Unexpected Christmas...
My experience in the kitchen at Sunny Spot really made me think about people who just starting out, struggling to get a career going. The guy that I mentioned, “Lime” is his early 20’s. He has a girlfriend and going to get married soon. And he’s slaving away in a kitchen so he can go to school to study computers.
He was really nice to me in the kitchen; encouraging and...