You Are What You Eat?

In this case, I'd have to say yes. I'm a Filipino.

It's hard for me to really compare and contrast dinners between mine and my group of friends, since we're all different. The only thing I can really think of when it comes to food is just how it tastes. We all practically use the same ingredients, same produce, same whatever. It's just the way how it's cooked is what makes it different.

When it comes to eating dinner with the family, that's when the difference really shows between other families. Breakfast and dinner is a big deal when it comes to my dad. He always wants everyone at the table as soon as the food is finished. His reason being is that he hates it when the food has to wait for other people when someone took a lot of time making a meal.

Other than breakfast and dinner, there is a traditional.. I don't know if I should even call it a dish, but it's called Lechon.

(Don't worry, that's not me)

What it basically is is a slow roasted pig. Almost every Filipino social gathering will have this roasted pig sitting in the middle of a table. It may sound pretty ordinary, but there's just something about it that makes it taste good. On Anthony Bourdain's show "No reservations" he even went out of the way to say that lechon is by far the best pork that he's ever had.

But looking at food as a whole, food is very important to the Filipino culture. Going to a Filipino party, you will always be pressured to have something to eat, regardless if you ate prior to the party. If you don't either, you'll be missing out on the dishes that almost every guest contributed and you'll be making a lot of people upset.

Food is a huge thing when it comes to my ethnicity's tradition. Although there are many contemporary variations of our food, it's still the traditional Filipino food, and it's something that can't be easily changed.

The gaming community

Gaming is a community. Ever since the age of five, I've been playing video games. I wasn't the only one that enjoyed playing video games, and how they're made, so I made friends with the same interests at me, even right now in college. Most of us stayed together by just sharing our love of video games, and the community is still growing, since all of us are all meeting fellow gamers as well.

Our interests, needs, and values that we share with each of us is what makes the gaming community. Obviously having an interest in video games would make the community, but other needs qualities that most of us should share is enjoying video games. Although it may seem like video game companies are only doing it for the money, most of us could agree that they're also having fun by making all the games for gamers out there. Also, a need for all of us is to have some kind of communication, from meeting up at some place like a mall, or a store, to meeting up online such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Xbox Live and online forums.

Occasionally, there would be some tension between the gaming community. Often, it's about consoles with which is better; the PS3, Xbox 360, or the Wii. Arguments like that would often drag on for days, sometimes even weeks without a definite conclusion. The argument always dissipates and everyone forgets that it happened. It only usually happens when a new game comes out for a certain console, but not for the rest of them.

The fact that I love video games helps me fit in with the gaming community. I wouldn't be involved with it if I didn't really enjoy video games like I do right now. I think what makes the gaming community one that I want to be a part of is how many people are involved in it. Even though most of them aren't always nice, it just feels good to have similar interests with other people.

My wallet?

I've never found a wallet or a purse lying around anywhere, but there has been about three times where I've misplaced my wallet and I'd have a random person return the wallet to me when I return. Now that I think about it though, I wonder what people actually think when they have to dig through my wallet to figure out who it belongs to.

Like any other person, I really hate losing my wallet. I start to panic and freak out when I can't find where my wallet it, because I always tend to misplace it when I have to leave to go somewhere since my drivers license is in there. Thanks to me always misplacing my wallet, I always check if my wallet is in my pocket or not every now and then, because I don't want to be caught off-guard and drive off somewhere without my wallet and getting pulled over by a police officer.

Thinking about what others would think about when they dig through my wallet makes me feel somewhat insecure, I'm not really one that likes to describe myself either, so talking about my wallet is kind of like jumping through a flaming hoop for me. Anyway, in my wallet contains a ton of cards, each having their own thing. There are four cards that I practically use daily, one of them being my drivers license. I don't think that my drivers license tells too much, except what I look like in numbers, and the terrible photo of me. Another card is my military ID which I guess some people might be surprised about. My dad is retired Navy, but we didn't travel to other countries that much, my dad did most of that for trainings aboard ships he was stationed on. We did live in Guam and California though, but that's just a fraction of other places that Military families lived in. I know a few that lived in Japan and Italy which is awesome.

Two other cards that I hold high importance are my check card, and my debit card. I use these almost all the time, and after someone sees my picture on my ID's, some might think that I'm financially irresponsible because I'm a teenager. I'd like to throw it out there that I don't spend my money on one spot. I'm actually very conscious about my spending habits and I always budget. I'm not even saving up for anything, I only do this out of pure habit my parents forced upon me, and so far it has treated me well.

The rest of my cards are from mostly restaurants and recreational facilities. So one could really misinterpret that I definitely like to spend my money on doing fun things, and I do. I have profile cards specifically for some games at Gameworks, and a license for K1 Speedway in Redmond. I don't do those often though, and the K1 Speedway card I didn't get too long ago. I had to purchase one in order to drive a go-kart at my friend's birthday party.

More cards in my wallet include those stamp cards you usually get at fast food places, such as Coldstone and Auntie Anne's. I only have one stamp on both those cards since I don't eat those often. I'm not in the area to eat a pretzel, and I don't feel like shelling out five bucks for ice cream that's being mixed with candy. I've only gotten those cards because they offered them to me, so yeah, they just sit in my wallet crying to be used. I will never answer those cries, haha.

After digging through my wallet again, I found two cards that I totally forgot about, one of them being expired. I was certified for CPR/AED on adults, and Standard First Aid from the American Red Cross. I had to take a test on CPR for my high school health class for a grade, and I decided to take the Standard First Aid test for extra credit. It's bad though, I don't remember anything from my CPR classes. I do know how to fix up minor wounds though, but I just think that doesn't compensate for forgetting everything on CPR.

Last thing I have left in my wallet are my VIP cards for some stores like Foot Locker and Game Crazy. I don't really use my VIP card for Foot Locker, since I haven't really gone there in a while. Some people that might stumble upon that might think I'm a sneaker head, but I've been out of that game for a while now since I was running out of space to keep my shoes. The Game Crazy card though, I use all the time when I buy used games. So whoever finds that and interprets that I'm a gamer, they are 100% correct.

All the things in my wallet, excluding my four important cards, are seldom used. It doesn't really mean that I don't do anything though, because most of those membership cards I've obtained are mostly from being in the spur of the moment. I do a lot of things, but my wallet doesn't really reflect all of that.

So there you have it folks, just an average guy I guess. My wallet isn't so special. Haha.

Hello

Just throwing a post out here.