March 2012
6 posts
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#367 Quit... Again
When I got to work this morning, I went on SYED and everything was fine. But then as the morning progressed, I noticed the site was running slower and slower. I thought it just might be the internet connection I had at work but when I asked Nate to try where he was, it was slow for him as well. My first thought was that I had been hacked. My second thought was, “Maybe my site is getting...
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The Power of reddit and #366 Interview with Right...
I put a post on reddit with a link to my finale video on Monday night before I went to bed. I didn’t think much of it. It had 3 upvotes in the first ten minutes but that doesn’t mean anything. Anyway, I meant it more as a thank you note to reddit for supporting my work over the year and not as shameless karma whoring, which I wouldn’t have minded. I was tired so I headed straight...
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Epilogue
Well, yesterday’s post was obviously the hardest post I’ve ever written. What did I want to include? How did I want to say it? What should I leave in? What should I leave out? What kind of tone did I want?
It’s like trying to make a series finale for a TV show. Sometimes you get Seinfeld which was utterly disappointing. Sometimes you get Six Feet Under which was utterly mind...
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#365 The End (?)
From very early on, I knew that I wanted to end Scare Yourself Every Day with a big party. I always envisioned it as a huge event. Renting out an entire bar. Hundreds of people. Everyone who supported the blog and everyone who was a part of it. The Scientologists, the Mormon Missionaries. My psychic would be telling fortunes at a table. Magic Mike would be doing card tricks for everyone. There...
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#364 Last Day at Work
A month ago I quit. Well, gave my notice at least. Of course that was a difficult decision. One of the most difficult of my life. But that whole time after you’ve given notice, you feel as though you can back out at any time. Sorry boss! It was just a bluff to get more money out of you! Clearly you’re not blinking so can I keep working here?
Giving notice so early allows you ample...
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#363 Ride a Mechanical Bull
Riding a mechanical bull was on the SYED list for quite some time now. It seemed like a no-brainer. A scary fun thing to try that was made extremely convenient given there was a place with a mechanical bull 5 minutes from where I worked.
But maybe it was that convenience that made me keep putting it off until I completely forgot about it. That is until Andrzej asked me a couple of days ago,...
February 2012
29 posts
1 tag
#362 Guest Post – Bonnie
With the blog coming to an end, I’ve been thinking about how SYED started as this very personal thing and has since turned into more of a community exprience. I already had my friend Nate make a guest post about changing his look (which quickly reverted back I might add). But I wanted to hear from a reader, someone I didn’t know personally. I immediately thought of Bonnie.
Bonnie sent...
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#361 Dentists and Taxes
As the end draws near, I’m preparing myself for a big life change. Part of that involves using what health benefits I have while I can.
A little while ago I went to the dentist. What I didn’t mention was that I told him one of my teeth was feeling sensitive and painful. He said it might be because of an old filling. He could drill it out and replace it with a new one. That sounded...
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#360 Spend the Night in the Wilderness Alone Part...
Yesterday I went up to the Angeles Forest to spend the night there all by myself. I’d just settled into my tent for the night when I realized I still had my contacts in. I got my contact lens solution and holder from my bag and took them out. Then I reached for my glasses case and opened it. No glasses. Fuuuck.
I was going to sleep but I thought I should be able to see in case something...
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#359 Spend the Night in the Wilderness Alone Part...
About 6 years ago, I decided to go mountain biking in the Angeles National Forest for the first time ever. I found a trail that looked pretty good online and off I went. I got to the trailhead at 2pm. This was in December which meant I had about 3-3.5 hours of daylight. I didn’t tell anybody where I was going to be. I was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts. I only had an energy bar and some...
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#358 The Awesome Foundation - Helmet Hero
If you recall, last year I got a grant from The Awesome Foundation to give away bike helmets. I was supposed to make a video to show my experience and it was going to be shown at a party. I was pretty excited about this but it kept getting pushed back and pushed back and now it seems like it will never happen. At least before the end of SYED.
But I also kept pushing back working on the video...
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#357 Go to The Magic Castle
I’d heard about a place called The Magic Castle earlier in the year. Someone described it to me as some secret headquarters for magicians.
I’ve talked about my aversion to magicians in the past in the post where I was in a magic show. So a Magicians’ lair sounded like one of my worst nightmares. Thus, I knew I had to go there.
But you could only go there if you got an invite...
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#356 Get Colon Hydrotherapy
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS AND MAYBE A GLIMPSE OF SOME POO! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
My bum hole is kind of like my body’s final frontier. I never even saw the damn thing till I was in my 20’s. Never touched it until I thought I had worms or hemorrhoids a couple of years ago and it turned out I was just allergic to the wipes I was using. And I don’t think anybody really saw it until it...
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#355 Apply for a Job
The day after I quit my job, I got an email from my former boss. It was about a job opening at a certain awesome late night host’s TV show. The job sounded like a perfect fit to me to be honest. I kind of sighed and put it out of my mind. I was quitting my job for a reason. I wanted to be a writer and didn’t want to let anything get in the way of that.
But when I was talking with my...
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#354 The Moth StorySLAM Attempt #2 and The Party
Ok, I’m now officially pissed off. I prepared another story for The Moth StorySLAM this week. If you recall, I went last week but didn’t get picked by their retarded method of pulling names randomly from a bag. Why is it retarded? Because everyone has the same chance. Whether you’ve told a story thirty times or none, like me. So as you might have guessed, I went again tonight....
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#353 Take a Trampoline Class
I wrote about participating in the reddit Secret Santa in December. I didn’t write about the awesome gift I got from my Secret Santa. When you sign up for the exchange, you can put some personal information in so your Secret Santa has a better idea of what to get you. Of course I put my blog down. Well, eventually I got this in the mail:
Which was awesome for several reasons. First, my...
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#352 Train at a Shaolin Temple
There’s this little place on Ventura Boulevard that says “Shaolin Temple” that I’ve always been interested in. It’s wedged between a pet store and a beauty salon. Naturally where you would think a Shaolin Temple would be.
As I said in my post about taking a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class, I’ve always been interested in martial arts with a philosophy component....
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#351 Go to an Oasis Church Service
I got a flier the other day in the mail for something called the Oasis Church. It’s one of these non-denominational Christian church aimed specifically at 20-30 year olds. The thing I noticed about the flier was that it didn’t look like a regular church flier:
Not that it was some great work of art, but most church fliers look like they were designed by a 60 year old housewife using...
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#350 Take a Ballroom Dancing Class
I’ve been pretty blunt about my dancing ability or lack thereof. You’ve seen it here, here and here. Do I need to give you more evidence?
Maybe that’s why dancing is a common theme in this blog. It’s pretty scary to me because I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. Which would be fine if I had any rhythm or any physical coordination to compensate but I...
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#349 You're My Jeremy Lin
My Dad sent me an email yesterday in which he talked about Jeremy Lin. My sister suggested I write an essay about it and submit it to an Asian blog site, 8Asians.com. It sounded like a great scary thing to do so here’s the essay I sent in:
You’re My Jeremy Lin
My Dad sent me this email a few days ago:
You must have heard of this kid, Jeremy Lin, a Knick basketball player. His rise to...
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#348 Pitch My Virginity Story to RISK! and Some...
Still smarting from the pain of not being picked to tell my story at The Moth StorySLAM, I wiped away my tears and set fingers to keyboard. Unofficial SYED Consultant, Sherry, told me about another show that might want me to tell my story. It’s called RISK! and it seems to be a raunchier version of The Moth. While Sherry suggested I tell my tale of the hole in the pocket beat off, I decided...
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#347 The Moth StorySLAM Attempt #1
Awhile back I attended something called StorySLAM. It’s a storytelling competition put on by The Moth, a radio program dedicated to the art of storytelling. Well, I finally decided I wanted to tell a story at one. There was a show for Valentine’s Day with the theme “Love Hurts.” I knew that the story of how I lost my virginity would be perfect.
While I had done something...
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#346 Be Nice on My Bike
I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic but every day I ride my bike to work is another chess match with cars where my life and death hang in the balance!
Ok. Maybe not. But look, it can be bad out there and yes it’s possible I could die.
I can’t express how bad it is to bicycle in LA. And I live in the Valley which is easier than LA proper. Still, it is a battle every time I go...
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#345 Start a Web Series
I had an idea for a Web Series called “Death and Me” where I was roommates with Death. That’s the whole reason why I borrowed the infamous wizard costume robe almost a year ago. I went back on forth on various details about the series. How should Death talk? Should he talk at all? Was I going to talk? What kind of tone would it be?
I kept putting it off because of it. Today I...
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#344 Play Accomplice Hollywood
Awhile back my friend Summer told me about this live-action scavenger hunt type game called Accomplice Hollywood. Apparently Neil Patrick Harris has something to do with it and that’s all the endorsement I really needed.
The basic idea is you and a group of people play try to solve some sort of mystery in Hollywood. There are actors who give you clues and you have to figure each one out to...
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#343 Participate in Formal Friday and Staying...
I don’t dress up at work. Part of it is I don’t want to ruin nice clothes by seating in front of a computer all day. The other part is I just don’t care. So most of the time I look only a few steps removed from my homeless person costume.
Nate told me he was trying to start “Formal Fridays” where people would come into work in the most formal attire they could. It...
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#342 Write a Letter to Future Me
My friend Matt sent me a text awhile back about writing a letter to myself in the future. I looked around tonight and found a site called FutureMe.org where you can send your future self an email. This is what I wrote:
Dear FutureMe,
You’re 46 now. Hard to believe right? I hope you stuck with the writing and are now doing that for a living. If not, I hope you have found something as...
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#341 Watch The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her...
This post contains SPOILERS! Oooohhhh!
There are certain movies that come out when you’re young that maintain a mystique throughout your life. The longer you don’t see them, the bigger their mystique becomes.
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover came out in 1989 when I was 14. It caused a big stir because it was unrated due to some both sexual and disturbing content. Of course...
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#340 Tell the Story of How I Ripped a Hole in My...
Some of you may remember when I admitted that I ripped a hole in my pocket to beat off at work. This is the story of that…
When I first moved to LA, I signed up with a temp agency. They ended up getting me a job at Los Angeles County Museum of Art or LACMA.
They put me in a spare office in the membership department which was located underground. It was a windowless room that was more like...
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#339 Apply to a Modeling Agency
I was talking to a couple of friends who work in fashion. I was talking about how I was quitting and thinking about ways to make some extra money. One of the girls said I would make a good fit model.
I never thought I’d make a good any kind of model. But I had no idea what a fit model was.
They explained it to me. At fashion design companies, they hire these fit models to wear clothes for...
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#338 Go to the "Gayest Super Bowl Ever"
I was talking with my coworker, Rachel about how I hadn’t planned anything scary for Super Bowl Sunday. I wanted to do something related to football but couldn’t think of anything. Rachel said she had the perfect thing for me to do and forwarded me an email.
It was a flier for a Super Bowl party our company’s LGBT Group was throwing at a new gay nightclub in Studio City. It was...
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#337 The Cinnamon Challenge
Like most people, I’ve been seeing videos of people attempting The Cinnamon Challenge all over the interwebs. If you don’t know, the challenge is to consume one spoonful of cinnamon. That’s it. Most people spit it out within seconds, blowing powdered cinnamon everywhere. I was home tonight with no plans, bored and figured I’d give it a shot. Of course I thought I would be...
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#336 Write a Press Release
My friend Erin has been hounding me to write a press release about SYED. My initial reaction was resistance. A press release seemed so futile. Did anybody really read those things? Wouldn’t it be better to have a more targeted approach to get my blog noticed?
Also, I felt kind of dumb writing one. I hate when people try to make a big deal out of something they’re doing. That happens...
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#335 Tell My Mom I Quit
My mom was aware of my intention to quit. I just never told her when it was going to be. I knew that clinging to that vague hope that I might not actually do it was allowing her to be somewhat functional with me. As usual, I considered not telling my mom that I actually quit. Or at least delaying the news until a “better” time. But there’s never really a better time for...
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#334 Quit My Job
About six months ago I wrote this post about taking control of my life. I was cryptic about it because that was the moment I decided I was going to quit my job. Not some fantasy but 100% quitting. It was after a particularly bad day at work and I just made up my mind that it was going to happen. I was miserable and thought that there has to be more to life than this. At least for me. I even told...
January 2012
30 posts
1 tag
#333 Ask My Boss About the Fate of Our Department
Last year my company was bought by a large corporation. Slowly, starting from the top, management has been replaced. Each manager starts replacing the existing people with their own people. It’s only natural. Why would a new manager work with a team they don’t even know? They want to bring in trusted coworkers they know. So the staff changes trickle down and now they’re reaching...
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#332 Make a Monthly Budget
People think I’m good with money. I am for the most part. But I’m the first to admit that when I was younger, I rebounded pretty heavily from my stingy parent’s upbringing.
My parents are cheap. But they have an excuse. They’re from China and grew up without much money. Their penny pinching ways have always been a source of contention with us. As a result, when I got my...
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#331 The Bachelorette Audition Video
Last week I applied online to be on The Bachelorette. I found out then that the online application was just the first part and they suggest sending in a mail application along with a video. The instructions for video offered some questions to answer along with some do’s and don’t’s. My first idea was to make a video comprised of all the don’t’s in the video. But then...
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#330 Be Interviewed for Share Art LA
You may recall a month ago when I mangled a young lady’s lovely rendition of What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve by singing along with her. I actually met Juliana briefly after my Mortified show in LA. Since then she’s been a reader and supporter of the blog.
Last month she told me that her and her friend Dana, were starting a website that was dedicated to promoting local artists...
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#329 Get Set Up on a Blind Date By My Friends
A couple I know told me a few weeks ago that they wanted to set me up with one of their friends. Being set up is a very tricky proposition. Especially when you’re trying to setup your friends. To be honest, I don’t know why people feel the need to embark down that road. Well, I know the optimistic reasons. It’s always great when friends end up dating because then it just makes it...
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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...