Flip a hookah? Why would you want to do that?

So I heard about this thing a little while ago, and was curious. Google yielded 2 distinct camps: those who love it, and those who hate it. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these reviews were amateur YouTube videos where the reviewer takes 6 - 12 minutes to say, "I don't like it because X, Y, and Z," or, "I love it because of X, Y, and Z."

Well, take a look at what arrived in the mail yesterday:

I was prompted to purchase and try it myself after emailing the kind folks at Hookah-Shisha.com to see if they'd tried it out.

They hadn't.

After fidgeting about for a bit trying to decide what the best course of action was to documenting and reviewing this contraption, I decided that my favorite tobacco mix was probably the best way to go, since it would allow me to compare the smoking experience with one that I'm familiar with, despite not having smoked any shisha in a week or so.

Mmm, delicious, Romman blueberry + mint.

I poked the same hole pattern into the foil that I normally use on a phunnel bowl, since the bowl on the Hookah Flip is about the same size and style.

After setting everything up, I lit up 3 Coco Nara cubes, which is not only what I normally use on a phunnel bowl but also about what most other reviews I'd seen/read online said was appropriate.

Turns out, 3 was way too many. Even on 2 coals, the tobacco seemed to burn, which is apparently not supposed to happen with the Hookah Flip. Not in the usual ashy flavored, harsh burning in the throat kind of way, but more of an intense discomfort in my trachea and bronchi, similar to breathing in a lungful of Hong Kong bus smog, but with a more delightful, slightly minty blueberry flavor. Gee, I wonder why...

Unfortunately, clearing out the Hookah Flip is a lot more work than clearing out a regular bowl. Instead of simply removing the coals and blowing into the hose a few times, I was able to lower and rotate the coals out of the way. Then I blew into the hose a few times.

Then I blew into the hose a few more times.

Then I tried taking another puff, without the coals anywhere near the bowl, and still got that lungful-of-smog feeling.

In all it took about 10 minutes of blowing into the hose, getting tired, and ultimately letting the whole thing sit before all the nastiness had disappeared and I was able to smoke comfortably again.

Once I had the Hookah Flip going comfortably, however, it really smoked like a dream. I didn't feel like I had to pull any harder than on any other bowl in the same setup, and the flavor came through just as I'd remembered it. Even after getting really into the episode of Top Gear I was watching for a while and not smoking for a bit, it started right back up on the first pull.

One thing I really noticed was how much longer the first pair of coals lasted. On a typical bowl setup, I go through a pair of coals in roughly an hour. Even after 67+ minutes of Top Gear, there was no sign of the smoke clouds I was exhaling getting any smaller or thinner. While I didn't time it outright, I'd say the coals lasted about 75 minutes. Not quite the "twice as long" advertised on the back of the packaging, but certainly longer than a pair of Coco Nara cubes has lasted me in the past.

For me, the true test was going to be when the coals finally did burn out and needed replacing.

For some reason, every time I use the Coco Nara cubes, I get a whole lot of nasty burnt harshness when I first replace the coals, and have to spend about a minute clearing things out and managing the coals before it gets good again, a problem I never had with the flat Coco Naras, although I am getting better at this and lately haven't had this problem. Since I'm still getting used to the Coco Nara cubes, I figure this is just the same as learning to manage heat properly when I transitioned from quick light coals to natural coals. Even though it's the same product, the size and mass change the heat properties, so I just need to get used to it.

However, if this thing was able to fix that problem, then in my mind it would be worth the extra ~15 seconds of setup time needed.

Well, it didn't.

But instead of nasty burnt harshness, I got that same lungful-of-smog feeling, but this time it took a lot less time to clear out and get back to enjoying the deliciousness of my Romman blueberry + mint.

However, as I'm also completely inexperienced with the "cooking" method of smoking shisha that the Hookah Flip offers, I'm willing to chalk that up to a newbie mistake.

Ultimately, I feel it's a bit too early for me to pass judgement on this device, simply because I'm still inexperienced in using it. I'll continue to smoke out of it over the coming days & weeks to see if it gets any easier to manage, and also if I can't figure out how to eliminate that lungful-of-smog feeling entirely. If I had to take a wager, I'd say I just set the coals up too close to the bowl to start.

I would, however, like to offer 2 observations I'd made while smoking from the Hookah Flip, and I'll let these 2 pictures do most of the talking:

In the top picture, you can see a bunch of tobacco leaves somehow managed to find their way into the base. While I've had this happen occasionally with a regular phunnel bowl, I understand that gravity is still working in favor of things falling into the base. But with this contraption, where the bowl is hanging upside down, you'd think this wouldn't happen. I don't know if I just over-packed the bowl, or I happen to have incredible powers of suction (hey-oh!), but that struck me as odd.

The second picture I feel shows something a little more concerning, which relates to the Hookah Flip's purported ability to create "purer, charcoal free smoke, by cooking the tobacco rather than burning it." While this may sound good in theory, anyone who cooks should know that overcooking something leads to burning, and in the case of this shisha tobacco, the end result is the same charred mass of crispy blackness that I get when smoking out of a regular bowl.

That said, even if this contraption doesn't change anything else about my hookah smoking experience, it certainly seems to make the coals last longer, but the tobacco seems to last just as long as it would in a regular bowl of equivalent size. It just took 2 sets of coals rather than 3 to get through the entire bowl.

Something about 3 Es?

As some people out in the world may know, a little something called E3 happened earlier this week. Through the awesomeness of a friend, I was able to attend all 3 days of the event, and it was amazing. Every booth was visually impressive, and the much fabled booth babes didn't disappoint.

Of course, plenty of the big-name, highly anticipated games were on hand...

As well as a few titles that at least I hadn't heard much about, like Gotham City Impostors...

And yes, I got hands on with that.

I also got to try the game, which was a lot of fun. Kind of like a TF2 take on the Batman universe. Or so I've been told, I haven't actually played any TF2.

Other games I got to try out included: Gears of War 3's Horde Mode, 4 player co-op Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Assassin's Creed: Revelations multiplayer, Dead Island, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, among many others. Those linked were probably my favorite, though not necessarily in the order they were listed.

Yes, that means Skyward Sword didn't quite impress me that much, but I also haven't played a Zelda game since Wind Waker, and I also haven't owned a Nintendo console since the Game Cube.

Unfortunately, there were plenty of things I wanted to see that I wasn't able to for a number of reasons, including: Mass Effect 3, the Wii U tech demo, Rage, and Modern Warfare 3 all off the top of my head right now.

Now I suppose I just have to hope I get lucky next year and get to go again.

Of guitars and video games

So a little while ago, this arrived in the mail:

But as I was working on my proposal, I couldn't really put it through its paces.
Btw, if you're wondering what's inside, it was this:

Please ignore my crotch on the bottom of that picture.

Anyway, having had a bit of time to mess around with it, though most of my gaming time right now is spent on Dragon Age II, I have to say, it's pretty damn awesome.
And here, I'm going to give you my impressions of it because, hey, why not? This blog is about my favorite occupations, and music is a pretty big one in my life. Both listening to and playing, and this thing also doubles as a controller for a video game, which is another big occupation in my life? I'd be crazy NOT to!

So first off, how is it as a guitar?
Well, seeing as the only amp I have is the SWR Workingman's 15 I bought when I first came to LA, I can't really say much for its sound. That said, also being used to awkwardly playing guitars through bass amps throughout my entire electric bass & guitar playing life, I can say that the single bridge pickup gives it a very twangy, lead sound. Not necessarily a bad thing, since with a bit of EQ tweaking you can get a deeper, punchier sound out of it.
The guitar does lack any sort of onboard EQ controls, though. Not even a tone knob! But again, that can be messed with on your amp too. I don't really see anybody using this as a main stage guitar, so I don't think there's really much need for onboard controls. Especially since it's also a fully functioning MIDI guitar, all that will more likely than not be done on the computer.

Look ma, no onboard EQ!

So how does it work as a MIDI controller?
I have no idea. No recording software on my computer.

OK, what's it like playing Rock Band with this baby?
In short: really hard.
Like every review out there has surely already mentioned, the note highway for pro guitar is like nothing you've seen before. Not sheet music (thank goodness), and not tablature. Chords give you a root note fret number and then a vague shape of what the chord is supposed to look like. Without going through the first few basic tutorials, I would have been utterly confused. That said, it's done in such a way that, like the pro keyboard mode, it's incredibly challenging at first, but confidence slowly grows as you get used to watching strange numbers and blue line chord shapes come down the highway at you.

I do have 2 complaints about the guitar, though.
First: the string mute that MUST be used when playing Rock Band happens to sit where I strum and pick most comfortably, forcing me to shift my picking hand closer to the bridge, which feels a little awkward for me.
Second: the high E string seems a bit less sensitive than the others when playing Rock Band, which means I have to use significantly more force for it to even sense that I've plucked the string. It's not bad enough that I feel I need to return it or even post about it on the Rock Band forums, but it did make completing some of the tutorials a little harder than they should have been. Then again, maybe I just need to use a heavier pick?


That's not a lipstick pickup, it's a foam string mute! And yes, the fretboard is made of plastic.

If you want to see all the pictures I took of my "unboxing" of the guitar, click here.

OMG NEW SHOES!!!!!111!!!1!1oneoneeleven!!!

Sort of.
I just ordered myself a pair of these from this place.
Why?
My friend works at Zappos and gave me a 20% off coupon. The boots are already cheap enough as it is, and given my weekly Sunday games, and adding to the fact that I seem to slip and fall a lot, I figured I might as well see what a pair of cleats will do for me. Plus, now I shouldn't have to buy another pair of boots for many, MANY years to come. Was I planning to buy more? No, but that's not the point. Perhaps if (when) I move back to Hong Kong and there are more CIS alumni/teacher games, I can actually play.
I'm going to need to work on my stamina and overall fitness, though. Which is why I'm also thinking about getting this, now that I have one of these.
I feel like the first step would be to actually start running first, but then there's always the argument that if I spend the money on the product, I'd have to use it in order to get my money's worth, otherwise I'll have effectively thrown my money in the garbage. Still, I'd rather not fall into that trap because I've done it before with largely negative results.

Come to think of it, I wonder if I'm subconsciously forcing myself to exercise more already? I picked up a new pair of these (though not from that website) a couple weeks back, and have thus far put a fair amount of work into going back to the rings again.

Honestly, what kind of occupational therapist would I be if I didn't take the time to engage in a few of my favorite occupations from time to time? Though I suspect as this OTD project progresses, I'll have less and less time to engage in said occupations, but I'll worry about that when the time comes.

One last thought: Why did I cryptically link everything in this post, without mentioning anything? Am I really hoping my readers will click all the links?
Let's be honest, there are probably 2 or 3 of you out there reading this. The rest of the internet doesn't even know I exist. I don't think I have anywhere near remotely enough internet clout to get away with something like this.
Then again, it's the internet. It doesn't really matter who I am or what I do.

Bricks and Citrus Cucumbers

I just finished watching Brick, and I gotta say, it's one of the best films I've seen in a while. If I had to liken it to another film I'd have to go with something like Layer Cake or Basic.
Drugs, sex, and murder. In high school. Very film noir.
That's my 10 word summary.
Truth be told, I had it figured out by the time it was half way in, but watching how everything played out was still very exciting, and even though most of the minor characters don't get fleshed out very much, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was probably at the best I've seen him in a while. Granted, I haven't really seen a lot of things he's been in, but I found myself drawn to him, despite knowing next to nothing about his character. I also liked that very early on in the film I stopped caring about who Emily was, or why she was killed, and I just wanted to see how things were going to play out. Only at the conclusion did the film draw the attention back to Emily, and it wrapped up in a way that, at least to me, was very satisfying. Perhaps the worst part of it was that, when all was said and done, I still didn't really care about her. Rather, I was glad to see Brendan's arc in the brief period of time covered by the film come to a solid close.
I would highly recommend it to anyone who's a fan of film noir and whodunnit-type films, though it does start rather slow.

Throughout the film, I was also smoking a mix of Romman Summer Crisp & Lemon. Given the very summery feel of Summer Crisp, I was curious to see how I could make it more of a wintery flavor, given the rain we're currently experiencing in LA.
I gotta say, I largely failed. I did find a nice flavor mix, though.
I would definitely smoke it again in summer, or next week even, only...I'm all out of lemon.
I'd happily mix Summer Crisp with cherry, Good Times, rose, watermelon...or almost any of my other flavors, really. Though it is also very good on its own.

Now, to get a few more friends to join in the shisha smoking & movie watching...

Like a Chica Cherry Cola...?

For the last few hours I've been sitting here at my desk doing 2 things: doing some preliminary research for my new OTD project, and trying out Fantasia Mon Cherry. This, thankfully, ends my 3 consecutive days of trying new shisha flavors. Last night I tried Romman Cherry, on account of having found the joys of cherry flavored shisha at Beirut back home in Hong Kong.

Between the 2 cherry flavors, Romman tasted a bit like artificial cherry candy, perhaps a Jolly Rancher or Air Head.
Fantasia, on the other hand, tastes more like a black cherry soda.
Honestly, I like them both. Different flavors for different moods and occasions, I guess.

As for the research, well, Universal Design is a bit of a tricky beast. As has been the case since I decided to tackle Universal Design for my OTD, finding any amount of decent literature, let alone peer-reviewed articles, on the topic has proven quite difficult. I've largely been limited to literature that AARP, USC, and The Center for Universal Design at NCSU have put out. Not a whole lot by way of peer-reviewed articles there, and as far as I've been able to find, nothing at all on how UD can benefit individuals other than any given specific population: the elderly, individuals with physical disabilities, etc.
Perhaps this will serve as a decent step towards my needs assessment, but that's always a difficult argument to make: There's no material written on the subject, so I should write it!
Still, I suppose it's better than nothing.

Sweet Start

I guess I might as well start out with what initially brought the whole "blog" idea to my mind: hookah.

I just got my new shipment of hookah coals & tobacco in the mail yesterday from Hookah-Shisha.com, which included their Valentine's Day promotional free 50g pack of Sweet Start.
So, why not try it out?

When I opened the sealed package I was hit by a smell that reminded me of bubblegum ice cream. Honestly, as sweet and nice as it smelled, this was a bit off putting, as I'm not too fond of really sweet shisha flavors, despite my lifelong love of candy.

At first the flavor and smoke were incredibly light, which surprised me considering the Romman name on the packaging, but after adjusting the coals the smoke got thicker and the flavor came out more. The flavor stayed light and sweet, not nearly as overwhelming as the smell, which was kind of nice. After the first hour, though, it got a little old. I stuck it out until the end of the bowl and came to the conclusion that it'd be better as a mixer. What to mix it with, though, I'm still not sure.

After writing all that, I just realized - it almost tasted like cotton candy.

All that said, I hesitate to give any sort of positive/negative or 10-point scale type of rating for this.
Seeing as I think I may end up reviewing more flavors and/or mixes in the future, I will instead say this: If you like sweet shisha, but are not a fan of the many artificial fruity flavors out there, then this may be for you. If you prefer your shisha a little less sweet, perhaps along the lines of jasmine or rose, then you likely won't like Sweet Start.
If, however, you're like me and like a lot of different flavors then I'd say give it a shot. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but you just might be.

Oh look, I started a blog!

Why? Because it's easy? Because everybody's doing it? Am I hoping to pick up chicks with my clever posts?
Honestly, I have no idea. I may never post here again, but hey - it's free, so why not?

So, why "My Favorite Occupations?"
Well, if you've known me for any amount of time and have talked to me in the last 6 or 7 years, then you'll know that I am an occupational therapist. What is occupational therapy? Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it.
If you don't feel like reading all that, I don't blame you. But if you really want to know in any amount of detail, it'd probably take me a lot more words than that article has.
But basically, it's a profession that strives to help others get into or back into everyday life, doing the things that are meaningful to them.
See, here we're not talking about your job occupation, but looking at anything that occupies your time. Your occupations, then, are the activities and tasks that are meaningful to you.
Yeah, it's not the best name we could have picked, but that's what they went with way back when, so we're kind of stuck with it.
But, because what we do as occupational therapists is so client-centered, you hear and learn about a lot of different occupations that people have.

The way I see it, I have a wide range of interests, both professionally and personally, so this may be a great place to display my passions for the world to see.
Also, I like to talk a lot.
I mean a LOT. If allowed to, I could probably talk about anything and everything for hours on end, perhaps only pausing to eat or drink a little.

Actually, the idea for a blog probably started a year or so ago, when I thought about posting some tutorials on hookah preparation, hookah smoking having become a new occupation over the course of a year of casual smoking at hookah bars.

So, here it is. A place where I may put my favorite occupations on the internet to be read, berated, and taken out of context at the reader's whim.
Maybe I'll post something again soon, maybe not for a while, and maybe not at all.
I think I said that at the top of this post already. Oh well.