I can't remember how, but while hanging out with Amy a few days ago, the subject of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came up. I was a big fan on the animated TV series while I was growing up, so I wanted to take down memory lane, busting out the TMNT nostalgia sentences, but Amy was quick to tell me that she'd never really gotten into them.
So I began to explain to her what the show was about, and while I was explaining her their personalities, I started wondering which of them I was most like; likewise, I started wondering which of the turtles Amy was most like. This was quite an easy activity seeing as the four turtles were very different, and their personalities were quite distinguished and unsubtle. For example, there was "the leader", the "comic relief", etc.
With little thought process needed, I determined I was most like Donatello. Wikipedia describes him like this:
Donatello (Don or Donny) - The knowledgeable scientist, inventor, engineer, and technological genius, Donatello wears a purple mask in some versions and wields the bō staff. Donatello is perhaps the least violent Turtle, preferring to use his knowledge to solve conflicts.
Well, I'm no technological genius, but the rest fits. Or, as my mate Dan once said, "Bro, by personality, you're the only guy I know that in the world of Avatar would be an Air Bender."
Now the interesting bit is when it comes to classifying which turtle Amy is most similar to. Seeing as she doesn't know what they're like, I decided (much to her amusement) that she was most like Raphael. For those who don't know his personality, here's Wikipedia again to share that maaain knowledge with us:
Raphael (Raph) — The team's bad boy, Raphael wears a red mask and wields a pair of sai. He has an aggressive nature and seldom hesitates to throw the first punch. He is an intense fighter. He would usually speak in a Brooklyn accent. His personality can be alternately fierce and sarcastic, and oftentimes delivers deadpan humor. Still, he is intensely loyal to his brothers and sensei.
I'm not sure if Amy does a good Brooklyn accent, but aside from that, even she smiled sheepishly as I read out the description to her, and she didn't argue; she is Raph.
If it's true that opposites attract, than we are the perfect example. If it's true that opposites are best for each other too, then well, good, because I wouldn't have it any other way. Me and Amy have been through a lot, and a lot of our growing as individuals and as a couple has been born out of the vast differences in our personalities right. It goes deeper than the fact that she watches E! and I'm always watching... well, pretty much anything but that channel.
No, through my relationship with Amy and our love that has come out of it, we have both learned to be more patient, more understanding, more compromising, and less naive. It is an ongoing process of trimming the fluff to see the true beauty and true ugliness of true love. And most of all, it is a mission to get her to watch all the movies that I love. But for me and my sai-wielding Raphael of a girlfriend, it has been an intro worth having. Why do I call our first 2 years together an intro?
Because it is.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
An old Facebook note
I'm feeling a bit lazy today so I wasn't going to post today, but I upon scrolling my past FB notes, I came across this one, and I thought I'd post it again on my blog.
__________________________________
25 Random things about me
by Jesse Toailoa on Friday, 20 February 2009 at 12:44
1. I'm a very strong Springboks supporter. (2007 World Cup winners!!!)
2. When I adjust the volume on TV, it has to be an even number or a multiple of 5. I can never leave it on something like 11.
3. I keep dumb-bells by my bed that I never use. Maybe one day when I'm feeling inspired I guess.
4. Amy reckons that I'm too cheesy.
5. Group situations/discussions are dumb because I never have anything to say that doesn't stop the conversation awkwardly.
6. I never know what to say when people compliment me. 'Thanks' seems weird, and complimenting back for the sake of replying doesn't work either.
7. Although I try to act like I only listen to 'good' music, I listen to so much crap that ruins my music cred. High School Musical, Metro Station, Shania Twain, Paris Hilton etc.
8. I was in the 'brainy' class 3 years out of 5 at high school. Year 10 I was in the 3rd brainiest, and year 13 doesn't have a brainy class.
9. Somehow I became a prefect at school. They must have had an islander quota to fullfill.
10. I have a hard time trying to tell when people are being serious. I'm always the idiot who makes the joke at exactly the wrong time.
11. Even though I'm a hardout christian and I hardout love music, I dislike most christian music.
12. After writing these 25 things I will remember something that I KNOW I should have written. But alas, by then it would be too late.
13. For about a year I carried a guitar around school to make myself look cool. It stopped when people asked me to teach them how to play it.
14. My favourite TV show of all time is Lost. Haters keep hating, you just know that the show is too cool for you. Also, if you say "they're STILL on the island???" I might punch you in the nose.
15. Will Ferrell is my favourite comedy actor. Step Brothers = crude but ridiculously funny.
16. I'm part Chinese but I can't fight like one.
17. I hate getting 20 new notifications on Facebook and none of them is a comment on my page.
18. My earliest memory was running to hug my mum when she was pregnant with my younger sister Laura. I'm too lazy to run the calculations on how old I must have been.
19. I like to run after cats when they run away from me. Not too sure why.
20. It seems that every time I put my iPod on shuffle 'Spaceship' by Kanye West comes on.
21. My Samoan name means 'tree in the valley'. My English name either means 'gift', 'god exists', or 'wealthy'.
22. When I watch Laughing Samoans with my family I pretend to laugh at everything. I think they might disown me if they found out I don't find it that funny.
23. I am terrified of slugs and snails. I know they are really really slow and they can't harm you, and that it's an irrational fear, but there you go. Hold one up to me and I'll run screaming like a girl in the other direction.
24. I love walking long distances alone with my iPod.
25. I love Amy Klootwyk.
__________________________________
25 Random things about me
by Jesse Toailoa on Friday, 20 February 2009 at 12:44
1. I'm a very strong Springboks supporter. (2007 World Cup winners!!!)
2. When I adjust the volume on TV, it has to be an even number or a multiple of 5. I can never leave it on something like 11.
3. I keep dumb-bells by my bed that I never use. Maybe one day when I'm feeling inspired I guess.
4. Amy reckons that I'm too cheesy.
5. Group situations/discussions are dumb because I never have anything to say that doesn't stop the conversation awkwardly.
6. I never know what to say when people compliment me. 'Thanks' seems weird, and complimenting back for the sake of replying doesn't work either.
7. Although I try to act like I only listen to 'good' music, I listen to so much crap that ruins my music cred. High School Musical, Metro Station, Shania Twain, Paris Hilton etc.
8. I was in the 'brainy' class 3 years out of 5 at high school. Year 10 I was in the 3rd brainiest, and year 13 doesn't have a brainy class.
9. Somehow I became a prefect at school. They must have had an islander quota to fullfill.
10. I have a hard time trying to tell when people are being serious. I'm always the idiot who makes the joke at exactly the wrong time.
11. Even though I'm a hardout christian and I hardout love music, I dislike most christian music.
12. After writing these 25 things I will remember something that I KNOW I should have written. But alas, by then it would be too late.
13. For about a year I carried a guitar around school to make myself look cool. It stopped when people asked me to teach them how to play it.
14. My favourite TV show of all time is Lost. Haters keep hating, you just know that the show is too cool for you. Also, if you say "they're STILL on the island???" I might punch you in the nose.
15. Will Ferrell is my favourite comedy actor. Step Brothers = crude but ridiculously funny.
16. I'm part Chinese but I can't fight like one.
17. I hate getting 20 new notifications on Facebook and none of them is a comment on my page.
18. My earliest memory was running to hug my mum when she was pregnant with my younger sister Laura. I'm too lazy to run the calculations on how old I must have been.
19. I like to run after cats when they run away from me. Not too sure why.
20. It seems that every time I put my iPod on shuffle 'Spaceship' by Kanye West comes on.
21. My Samoan name means 'tree in the valley'. My English name either means 'gift', 'god exists', or 'wealthy'.
22. When I watch Laughing Samoans with my family I pretend to laugh at everything. I think they might disown me if they found out I don't find it that funny.
23. I am terrified of slugs and snails. I know they are really really slow and they can't harm you, and that it's an irrational fear, but there you go. Hold one up to me and I'll run screaming like a girl in the other direction.
24. I love walking long distances alone with my iPod.
25. I love Amy Klootwyk.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Soul Soup
There's randomly a Chicken Soup For The Soul book in our car. No idea how it got there or who owns it, but I havn't seen one in ages, so I decided to flick through it and read a few stories. When scrolling through Chicken Soup books, I just skim through looking for stories that fit my reading criteria, which consists of 2 points:
- It can't be longer than 4 pages.
- The title can't be too cheesy.
The second point is important. Something about some of those titles just really puts me off. I just don't ever feel like reading a story called something like really cheesy like "I Called Out Again", or "Passionate Pursuit Of Possibility". I can't quite put my finger on it, but maybe seeing the moral of the story from the outset also makes me less inclined to read those kind of stories.
On the other hand, I'm all about the vague-ish ones that could be about anything, like "My Dad". It's like... ooohhhh... what about your dad? Sure we know it's about the dad, but what does he do? Is he the man? I bet he was the man! Time to sass up this story...
*reads*
Bro, your dad IS the man!
I have found though that my cynical soul is a lot less affected by these touching tales than it was back when I was 15 or so. Back then, every little story made me want to give my kidney away to a sick strange-looking man with a good heart. Or write a sweet quote every day for my neighbors without them knowing it was me. Or do the dishes. Or something.
Not now though.
- It can't be longer than 4 pages.
- The title can't be too cheesy.
The second point is important. Something about some of those titles just really puts me off. I just don't ever feel like reading a story called something like really cheesy like "I Called Out Again", or "Passionate Pursuit Of Possibility". I can't quite put my finger on it, but maybe seeing the moral of the story from the outset also makes me less inclined to read those kind of stories.
On the other hand, I'm all about the vague-ish ones that could be about anything, like "My Dad". It's like... ooohhhh... what about your dad? Sure we know it's about the dad, but what does he do? Is he the man? I bet he was the man! Time to sass up this story...
*reads*
Bro, your dad IS the man!
I have found though that my cynical soul is a lot less affected by these touching tales than it was back when I was 15 or so. Back then, every little story made me want to give my kidney away to a sick strange-looking man with a good heart. Or write a sweet quote every day for my neighbors without them knowing it was me. Or do the dishes. Or something.
Not now though.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Injustice
You didn't win, and I'm not saying you should have, but Paul, you made this season that much better. I'm probably going to stop watching now.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Few thoughts 17
- Well, this hiatus was definitely shorter than I thought it'd be. I imagined I'd be out of the blogging game for over half a year or so, but for more than one reason, I'm feeling the buzz again. I didn't like the thought of just posting in my blog for the sake of posting, so I've waited for that particular fire to burn again, and it feels like it is indeed burning again.
- Romans 8 is my favourite passage in the Bible. Not only are some of my favourite verses sprinkled across the whole thing, but I find it to be a very encouraging chapter, in a realistic way. If you're a believer, read this passage and literally speak it over yourselves. Yeah, I used literally correctly. As in speak it out loud. The power of your words is immense, and what better way of taking advantage of that principle than to speak life and God's promises over someone, even yourself?
- I watched 'August Rush' with my sister Donna but we had to return the DVD to United Video before we'd finished watching it. Then I watched the first half of 'Good Will Hunting' with my other sister Laura before I again had to return the DVD before it was overdue. I have nothing to say about this other than I wished we'd finished watching them both because I love those movies.
- "Whenever I meet somebody who has a kid, they have to show me a photo of their kid. But whenever I show them a photo of me to show to their kid, I'm weird." - Demetri Martin.
- I've realized in the past week that you don't have to google search "inspirational people" or look in Encyclopedias to find true heroes; no, I've found that some of the people closest to me are the very people I want to be most like right. I thank God for putting you guys in my life.
- Romans 8 is my favourite passage in the Bible. Not only are some of my favourite verses sprinkled across the whole thing, but I find it to be a very encouraging chapter, in a realistic way. If you're a believer, read this passage and literally speak it over yourselves. Yeah, I used literally correctly. As in speak it out loud. The power of your words is immense, and what better way of taking advantage of that principle than to speak life and God's promises over someone, even yourself?
- I watched 'August Rush' with my sister Donna but we had to return the DVD to United Video before we'd finished watching it. Then I watched the first half of 'Good Will Hunting' with my other sister Laura before I again had to return the DVD before it was overdue. I have nothing to say about this other than I wished we'd finished watching them both because I love those movies.
- "Whenever I meet somebody who has a kid, they have to show me a photo of their kid. But whenever I show them a photo of me to show to their kid, I'm weird." - Demetri Martin.
- I've realized in the past week that you don't have to google search "inspirational people" or look in Encyclopedias to find true heroes; no, I've found that some of the people closest to me are the very people I want to be most like right. I thank God for putting you guys in my life.
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