There was a request from someone to put a link to my Twitter URL on this website. Yes, I have a Twitter URL. It will funnel YouTube comments as well as comments from this site. Also my new blog might be getting tweets too, but I'm not certain about that. I might need to check Twitter when I have time. Oh I will drop that link too.
http://www.twitter.com/#!/needmanshini
You guys can reply or hit me up there. I will answer questions in the order I recieve them.
My new blog that I am currently working on is:
http://www.incheoncharles.blogspot.com/
I have been a little slow updating it because I have been mad busy at my new job. We're talking like 50-60 hours a week. There are even days were I do not even get a chance to study foreign languages. Lately, I have been studying Korean as well as Japanese and Chinese (although I have taken a bit of a hiatus from Chinese). For anyone that is interested in studying those languages, I can be contacted through the CB e-mail or my Twitter. Again, I take messages and comments on a first come first serve basis. I have to sometimes filter through a lot of spam as well as legitimate comments. So if I do not get back to you right away, that's those are the reasons.
Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Friday, December 11, 2009
2010 New Year's Resolution
Glad to be back in the blogosphere again with another blurb for another New Year. Last year I made two resolutions: I wanted to reach over 100 books read and I wanted to save $10,000. Well I did both of these goals. I have to say it was actually tough at first to sit down and read 8-9 books per month, but then I adjusted to it and started cut through books quickly. Especially language and e-books.
For 2010, I want to try to do something different: I will try to learn 5 different languages and obtain basic proficiency in them. Three I have decided on are Russian, Fu'shah Arabic, and Uchinachuu. For those of you that do not know what Uchinachuu is it is the language of the Okinawan people. It relates to Japanese and is part of the Japonic Language Family. I also want to hit low advance proficiency in Japanese itself. In 2010 I will attempt the N2 unless I do not feel I am ready. Since I will try to move to Japan and moving and settling in costs money I will not set a quota on money I have to save, but rather have "getting over there" as the "goal" with a "job". To be more concise, I wish to be able to give myself a detailed introduction in each of the languages.
I just want to prove that you really do not need a school to pick up a foreign language. I might enroll for intensive Japanese training, but not so much in the other languages. I will also be going at it more in Chinese. I am actually heading toward low intermediate-intermediate but I need more conversation partners.
For 2010, I want to try to do something different: I will try to learn 5 different languages and obtain basic proficiency in them. Three I have decided on are Russian, Fu'shah Arabic, and Uchinachuu. For those of you that do not know what Uchinachuu is it is the language of the Okinawan people. It relates to Japanese and is part of the Japonic Language Family. I also want to hit low advance proficiency in Japanese itself. In 2010 I will attempt the N2 unless I do not feel I am ready. Since I will try to move to Japan and moving and settling in costs money I will not set a quota on money I have to save, but rather have "getting over there" as the "goal" with a "job". To be more concise, I wish to be able to give myself a detailed introduction in each of the languages.
I just want to prove that you really do not need a school to pick up a foreign language. I might enroll for intensive Japanese training, but not so much in the other languages. I will also be going at it more in Chinese. I am actually heading toward low intermediate-intermediate but I need more conversation partners.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Why Add Food to Finance and Frugality?
This topic for me is a little bit interesting for me to write about. When some of my friends visit the site, they are like "Why do you add food"? Well I add "food" for many reasons. Like I have mentioned before I like studying languages and one of the cheapest ways to practice speaking a language is to eat at international cuisine places. Today I ate at a Chinese food place (which I already reviewed) to practice my Chinese (which is rusty). However since this is a bit of a tangent, I will say I mainly like going to places that specialize in international cuisine for the people. At the end of the day, I will probably forget the taste I just acquired, but the service and atmosphere is something I will remember. Another thing I like doing is try to eat out for cheap.
Why spend $12 for Ma Pang Tofu when you really do not have to? Sure it will not taste high class, but it will still taste good if you read the food reviews and decide for yourself. I mainly do the food reviews so I can point out places in Reno which are cheap to eat at with good service and to mingle with people. A lot of the ideas I got from learning about frugality I learned partially from my stay in Okinawa, Japan and from my final year in college. When I lived in Japan, I woke up one day to find that I had a $700 phone bill from calling home. I was irate that I let my bills pile up. I was borrowing money from my teachers and paying them back from the money I was getting (meaning less money for the next month to live on). I had a bad habit of buying textbooks. And when I say bad, there would be days where I chose the highly detailed textbook over food. Literally. When I came back to America, I saved a little money, but that was all put towards paying tuition for my final year. Seriously, I was in financial straits.
Afterwards I started to get influenced by my room mate. He was saving all this money from doing content writing online. Sure some of his habits were out there, but he knew how to pinch a penny. I got a job with the city of Reno working for the Recreation Department and I was making terrible money due to the fact I could only work part time. But seeing my roommate living on half of what I make (which was $850/month!) I got to thinking about how I was going to save a bunch of money. When I moved I had the same job, but more bills, yet I managed to figure out a way to save $300/month. I basically split the rent of the house 4 ways and paid utilities which took most of the money. I had changed, I was not spending money like it was water. I became more cautious, less careless. To me it was not about how much I could make because I was beyond that. I was about how much I could save. When I finally moved on to Sam's club I was mainly focused with budgeting.
Now how does all this relate to food? When I was struggling there was one luxury I was determined not to live without ever again. That was food. It is food that keeps us going and trying a different country's food or native cuisine was one of the things that motivated me to save more. I wanted to be able to buy food at any given point without stress. So what did I do? I budgeted the money and cut the fat from my life. (i.e. video games, wastefulness, and textbooks) And this is when I came out with the golden frugality rule. Pick one luxury and budget accordingly. My need for language books will never be satisfied. I realize that. However, I will restrict my self to where I pick that as a luxury for that month and eat out less. So when I called my blog, Food, Finance, Frugality I meant "food" is 9 times out of 10, my luxury in life and even though I am frugal, I will not bend on eating out because it indirectly helps me in my other goals which is meeting people and communication. There are things in life that should be enjoyed, so if you enjoy food, by all means eat good food. If you enjoy video games, budget for video games. If you enjoy other things budget for it. You will be psychologically more well rounded.
Why spend $12 for Ma Pang Tofu when you really do not have to? Sure it will not taste high class, but it will still taste good if you read the food reviews and decide for yourself. I mainly do the food reviews so I can point out places in Reno which are cheap to eat at with good service and to mingle with people. A lot of the ideas I got from learning about frugality I learned partially from my stay in Okinawa, Japan and from my final year in college. When I lived in Japan, I woke up one day to find that I had a $700 phone bill from calling home. I was irate that I let my bills pile up. I was borrowing money from my teachers and paying them back from the money I was getting (meaning less money for the next month to live on). I had a bad habit of buying textbooks. And when I say bad, there would be days where I chose the highly detailed textbook over food. Literally. When I came back to America, I saved a little money, but that was all put towards paying tuition for my final year. Seriously, I was in financial straits.
Afterwards I started to get influenced by my room mate. He was saving all this money from doing content writing online. Sure some of his habits were out there, but he knew how to pinch a penny. I got a job with the city of Reno working for the Recreation Department and I was making terrible money due to the fact I could only work part time. But seeing my roommate living on half of what I make (which was $850/month!) I got to thinking about how I was going to save a bunch of money. When I moved I had the same job, but more bills, yet I managed to figure out a way to save $300/month. I basically split the rent of the house 4 ways and paid utilities which took most of the money. I had changed, I was not spending money like it was water. I became more cautious, less careless. To me it was not about how much I could make because I was beyond that. I was about how much I could save. When I finally moved on to Sam's club I was mainly focused with budgeting.
Now how does all this relate to food? When I was struggling there was one luxury I was determined not to live without ever again. That was food. It is food that keeps us going and trying a different country's food or native cuisine was one of the things that motivated me to save more. I wanted to be able to buy food at any given point without stress. So what did I do? I budgeted the money and cut the fat from my life. (i.e. video games, wastefulness, and textbooks) And this is when I came out with the golden frugality rule. Pick one luxury and budget accordingly. My need for language books will never be satisfied. I realize that. However, I will restrict my self to where I pick that as a luxury for that month and eat out less. So when I called my blog, Food, Finance, Frugality I meant "food" is 9 times out of 10, my luxury in life and even though I am frugal, I will not bend on eating out because it indirectly helps me in my other goals which is meeting people and communication. There are things in life that should be enjoyed, so if you enjoy food, by all means eat good food. If you enjoy video games, budget for video games. If you enjoy other things budget for it. You will be psychologically more well rounded.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Food Review: Asian Gardens
I have been a bit busy juggling other side projects, but finally I am back to entertain you with another long awaited food review. Last Wednesday, I went to Asian Gardens to enjoy some Beef Chow Fun. Let's see how they did.
Taste wise. it was really good and the portions was excellent. The meal was filling, dispelling any pre-notions that I needed to eat again afterwards. So if you think that Chinese food is not filling, you need to try their Beef Chow Fun. Oh and for the plant eaters, they do have vegetable Chow Fun as well. +1
Service was excellent. I also tipped excellent in kind. She was eager to please and was willing to bend over hand and foot. She had tea, water and sodas at the ready in a New York minute. +1
Presentation, it felt like a Chinese restaurant and that is a good thing. The food was symmetrical with the atmosphere. I felt at ease when I went there. +1
Value for the money. I have to say that the billing was somewhat steep. Do not order a soda there, it will cost you $2. If you are paying anything more than $1.50 plus tax, then you are paying too much of beverages that cost about 8 cents for the chemicals to fill up your cup. There is no need to be up charged on that. The value on the Chow Fun was generous so I have to give this a certain balance. +5
Menu Variety. Good but I think they should axe the sushi menu. I know they are the same owners as Sushi Boat, but seriously, if I wanted to eat Sushi at a Chinese restaurant, then I probably do not distinguish difference in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean culture. And that would be ignorance on my part. Sure I understand they might get requests for sushi, but it feels awkward in a non-sushi specialty shop. Especially since I can go over next door and order the exact same thing. There is nothing wrong with non Japanese people making sushi, but I just do not picture sushi in a Chinese restaurant especially when it is not a sushi bar or a Japanese style cuisine specialty shop. +5
Overall Asian Gardens get a 4/5. My recommendation is just to order the food and no drinks. They were expensive.
Taste wise. it was really good and the portions was excellent. The meal was filling, dispelling any pre-notions that I needed to eat again afterwards. So if you think that Chinese food is not filling, you need to try their Beef Chow Fun. Oh and for the plant eaters, they do have vegetable Chow Fun as well. +1
Service was excellent. I also tipped excellent in kind. She was eager to please and was willing to bend over hand and foot. She had tea, water and sodas at the ready in a New York minute. +1
Presentation, it felt like a Chinese restaurant and that is a good thing. The food was symmetrical with the atmosphere. I felt at ease when I went there. +1
Value for the money. I have to say that the billing was somewhat steep. Do not order a soda there, it will cost you $2. If you are paying anything more than $1.50 plus tax, then you are paying too much of beverages that cost about 8 cents for the chemicals to fill up your cup. There is no need to be up charged on that. The value on the Chow Fun was generous so I have to give this a certain balance. +5
Menu Variety. Good but I think they should axe the sushi menu. I know they are the same owners as Sushi Boat, but seriously, if I wanted to eat Sushi at a Chinese restaurant, then I probably do not distinguish difference in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean culture. And that would be ignorance on my part. Sure I understand they might get requests for sushi, but it feels awkward in a non-sushi specialty shop. Especially since I can go over next door and order the exact same thing. There is nothing wrong with non Japanese people making sushi, but I just do not picture sushi in a Chinese restaurant especially when it is not a sushi bar or a Japanese style cuisine specialty shop. +5
Overall Asian Gardens get a 4/5. My recommendation is just to order the food and no drinks. They were expensive.
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