One of the Shouts

Antsy

2009-07-04T14:14:00.002-04:00

I am waiting. Waiting for a job, waiting to move, waiting to settle in a new place, waiting to start a new phase of my life, waiting for my real life to begin. Luckily there has been some movement on that front, and by the end of August I hope to be moved, settled, and employed.

In other news, Happy 4th!

It's Been Awhile

2009-06-12T15:21:00.003-04:00

I apologize for the time that has passed since I last posted, though I do believe my readership has significantly dropped off. No worries; I do this more for myself than anyone, though I do appreciate the loyal readers who have continued to follow me.

In the last month, I have:

- received my Master's degree (!!)
- moved into a new place for the summer
- begun to look for a job in earnest (though I was before too)
- made new friends
- seen old friends move away for good :(
- opened a Netflix account, which is my new consuming hobby
- had far too much fun drinking/going to pubs

Additionally, my family is officially moving from New York. That will be interesting. I never developed an affinity for the place we've lived for over a decade, but it will be weird to have no ties to my parent's new home. Forever after, I will always be a guest; there will be no memories tied to their house, no marks I've made in the past to call it mine in any way. I also won't have a clue as to how to get around the town. I'm happy for them, however, and excited that they're opening a new chapter in their life. I hope to do so with mine as well, and soon!

I've also been rather introspective of late, as tends to happen when a big change occurs in your life. I know that I won't be going back to school for several years, if ever, and starting my career is both exciting and terrifying. Some recent experiences have also pushed me over the edge in desiring to settle somewhere; I've been on the move for a year, and have felt like I was in transition for over 2. I want a place to call my own, and to grow some roots. Not that I don't have roots here in Pittsburgh, but they are inexorably tied to Carnegie Mellon and the people there. My life has now gone beyond the university, and while I love it and always will, it's time for me to expand my network and make new connections. It's tough when I don't plan on being in Pittsburgh past the summer though: everything is transient, every one I meet I wonder "will I ever see this person again?". I'm frustrated that this is where I've placed myself, but I suppose it's better than being at home, with nothing to do.

I hope to do more writing here during the summer, and finish my Australia series before I forget it all. Cheers!

Oh Joe!

2009-04-20T23:43:00.003-04:00

I work part time for a small nonprofit in East Liberty. Most of the time I work from home, but occasionally I have to go out to their office. At those times, I also go and grab my groceries from Trader Joe's. I just went today.

Every time I shop there, I am impressed by the store. It doesn't have as wide a selection of products as traditional supermarkets, but that makes it much easier for me to manage my purchases. I don't buy those foods that I know I shouldn't (like sweets and junk food), and even if I want to splurge, their snacks are made from healthier ingredients. Buying the Trader Joe's brand is also about the same price as Market District - and tastier - and they have a large selection of organic produce and other foods. And their prices are much more reasonable than Whole Foods.

What sets this grocery apart from the rest is their service. The cashier's are so friendly and talkative, and all the workers are very helpful. They make sure that you've found all the items you needed for the day, and chat about the weather, etc. I always feel happy after I leave.

My Love Affair

2009-04-09T14:59:00.003-04:00

Like most love affairs, this one started slow and halting. In the beginning, I actually hated you: you made me tired and sore, and were more of a drag than a source of joy. But I stuck with you, hoping that we'd get past this bad stuff and on to the good stuff soon. I was right!

I'm still tired and sore, but that is a welcome rather than dreaded effect. I've increased my confidence, and I miss you when I can't see you every day. Oh my treadmill, I love you so!

About a month ago, I decided that I needed to get off my butt and start working out again. I was very regular with yoga in Adelaide, and campus was a 3k walk each way. I didn't realize how much of a workout that was until I came back to Pittsburgh and an apartment just minutes away from everything I needed to access. So, after a month or two of nothing (I tried Bikram, but it's just too much of a hassle to get to the Strip and back consistently), it was back to the gym!

I've also had this dream of training for a marathon. Running has never been my strong point and I've never liked it. It's also caused me many physical problems (twisted, ankle, sprained knee and other ligaments) which have prevented me from developing a rhythm. This spring, however, running seemed to click. It's still hard, and I'm not very strong yet, but I've been increasing my speed and endurance gradually. In the near future I plan on running in a 5k - I figured I'd start out small. Marathons are tough!

Due to the winter, I've been running inside on a treadmill (it's also easier to maintain a consistent speed too), but with the weather perking up and my strength increasing, I've taken to running outside in my neighborhood. Let's hope, with baby steps, that I can keep this up!!

------

In other news, Pittsburgh and Oakland particularly have been filled with police from all over the country! They all came for the memorial services of the three police officers that were killed last weekend in Stanton Heights. Both Forbes and Fifth Avenue were impassable; cops came from as far as California and Ontario. My room has been filled with the noise of police sirens blaring down the street all day. It's a moving sight (and sound).

Moved

2009-03-29T01:10:00.001-04:00

I loved this witty and altogether sweet short film.

SIGNS

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

2009-03-28T13:55:00.005-04:00

My friend sent me this, and I found it hilarious (and very accurate at times). However, he revised the interpretations of the lines for men, and I like them much better. So here is the edited version:

Top 10 Rejection Lines Given by Women (and what they actually mean..)

10. I think of you as a brother. (You remind me of that inbred banjo-playing geek in “Deliverance”)
9. There’s a slight difference in our ages. (You are one Jurassic geezer)
8. I’m not attracted to you in ‘that’ way (You are the ugliest dork I’ve ever laid eyes upon)
7. My life is too complicated right now. (I don’t want you spending the whole night or else you
may hear phone calls from all the other guys I’m seeing)
6. I’ve got a boyfriend (who’s really my male cat and a half gallon of Ben & Jerry’s)
5. I don’t date men where I work (Hey bud, I wouldn’t even date you if you were in the same solar system, much less the same building)
4. It’s not you, it’s me (It’s not me, it’s you)
3. I’m concentrating on my career (Even something as boring and unfulfilling as my job is better than dating you.)
2. I’m celibate. (I’ve sworn off *only* the men like you.)

…..and the #1 rejection line given by women (and what it actually means)

1. Let’s be friends. (I want you to stay around so I can tell you in excruciating detail about all the other men I meet and have sex with.

Top 10 Rejection Lines Given by Men (and what they actually mean...)

10. I think of you as a sister (I've thought about doing you, but I just can't picture it in my head. As I tell you this right now, I'm thinking about doing you...it still ain't workin' out)
9. There’s a slight difference in our ages. (I can't picture you as a MILF)
8. I’m not attracted to you in ‘that’ way. (You’re ugly)
7. My life is too complicated right now. (You talk too much)
6. I’ve got a girlfriend (You’re ugly) - I dunno why a guy would ever say this if the girl was hot
5. I don't date women where I work (You're ugly)
4. It’s not you, it’s me (My girlfriend is on to us)
3. I’m concentrating on my career (You talk way too damn much)
2. I'm celibate (No man would ever use this)

…..and the #1 rejection line given by men (and what it actually means)

1. Let’s be friends (After many attempts at thinking about doing you, in a variety of different positions, and scenarios, I have failed on behalf of my gender and must now place you into the un-doable category) - also see "I think of you as a sister"

Scuba Training - Days One and Two

2009-03-14T17:38:00.001-04:00

A long-overdue continuation of the travel tales...

Scuba Training – Day One

Monday dawned bright and already warm. We woke up individually, and all scattered to find some breakfast before we walked the short distance to the Cairns Dive Centre (CDC), where we’d be doing our training. After meeting our trainer, a swarthy red-headed South African named Renaldo, we filled out paperwork and waited for everyone else to trickle in. The group numbered about 15, mostly Brits with a smattering of Germans, a Norwegian, an Aussie, a Dutch girl with whom we made great friends with, and a few more people. The morning was spent in theory, the afternoon in the pool, where we got into gear and had our first play underwater. I wasn’t sure if my ears would hold up; I was getting pain when I tried to dive past a few meters. Luckily, I learned to equalize quickly, and the problem subsided.

Scuba itself is a great experience. The gear is relatively simple to use, and while heavy when you first put it on, obviously loses its weight on your shoulders when you enter the water. The pool was tiny and cramped with 15 people in large metal gear and fins trying to swim around in it.

After a long day in the pool and classroom, we were able to get back to our hostel, take a kip, and then head out for dinner. A local pub had a nice deal for hostel-goers that provided a free meal with purchase of a drink. The food was plain but good and plentiful, and the vibe was just right. It made it a great and inexpensive way to eat dinner in Cairns while we were staying there.

Scuba Training – Day Two

Tuesday started even early than Monday, with more classroom and pool training. We learned new skills, and ended the day with a written exam (I passed) and diving physical to make sure we were healthy enough to endure the rigors of a dive. We ate at the same pub as the previous time, meeting with Berdien, the Dutch girl who was also doing the training course. We went to bed early again, as the next morning we were heading out to the Reef!

H.Res. 110

2009-02-13T13:58:00.003-05:00

This is kind of amazing. While it's fairly common for Congress to pass hundreds, if not thousands, of resolutions in each session, this one is particularly wonderful. I do love the "Steeler Nation".

Full text below (read it, it's a hoot!):

111th CONGRESS 1st Session
H. RES. 110
Congratulating the National Football League champion Pittsburgh Steelers for winning Super Bowl XLIII and becoming the most successful franchise in NFL history with their record 6th Super Bowl title.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 3, 2009

Mr. DOYLE (for himself, Mr. ROONEY, and Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

RESOLUTION
Congratulating the National Football League champion Pittsburgh Steelers for winning Super Bowl XLIII and becoming the most successful franchise in NFL history with their record 6th Super Bowl title.
Whereas the Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII by defeating the Arizona Cardinals 27 to 23 in Tampa, Florida, on February 1, 2009, winning their second Super Bowl championship in 4 years;
Whereas with this victory the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise has set a new National Football League standard for most Super Bowl victories with their record 6th Super Bowl championship;
Whereas the Pittsburgh Steelers went 15-4 against the hardest-ranked 2008-2009 schedule in the NFL and defeated the San Diego Chargers, Baltimore Ravens, and Arizona Cardinals during their record-setting post season run;
Whereas linebacker James Harrison returned a goal line interception 100 yards for the longest play in Super Bowl history;
Whereas quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went 21-30 for 256 yards and led the team down the field for the 19th and most important 4th quarter comeback of his career;
Whereas wide receiver Santonio Holmes won the Super Bowl MVP award with a 9-catch, 131-yard performance, including the game-winning touchdown in the corner of the endzone with 35 seconds left in the game;
Whereas the Pittsburgh Steelers new `Steel Curtain' defense, including stars James Harrison, Ryan Clark, Troy Polamalu, James Farrior, Ike Taylor, Larry Foote, Casey Hampton, LaMarr Woodley, Brett Keisel, Deshea Townsend, and Aaron Smith were ranked first in the NFL in overall team defense for the 2008-2009 season;
Whereas the Pittsburgh Steelers defense during the 2008-2009 season allowed the least points scored, lowest average passing yards per game, and the least overall yards per game in the entire NFL;
Whereas head coach Mike Tomlin is the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl championship and has continued in the legendary tradition of head coaches Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher by bringing a Super Bowl championship to Pittsburgh;
Whereas linebacker James Harrison was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year for the 2008-2009 season;
Whereas team owner Dan Rooney and team President Art Rooney II, the son and grandson, respectively, of Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney, have remarkable loyalty to Steelers fans and the City of Pittsburgh, and have assembled an exceptional team of players, coaches, and staff that made achieving a championship possible;
Whereas the Pittsburgh Steelers fan base, known as `Steeler Nation', was ranked in August 2008 by ESPN.com as the best in the NFL, citing their current streak of 299 consecutive sold out games going back to the 1972 season; and
Whereas, for 76 years, the people of the City of Pittsburgh have seen themselves in the grit, tenacity, and success of the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise, and they proudly join the team in celebrating their NFL record 6th Super Bowl championship: Now therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives congratulates the National Football League Champion Pittsburgh Steelers for winning Super Bowl XLIII and setting a new championship standard for the entire NFL.
(http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.RES.110:)

Lessons

2009-02-10T01:48:00.004-05:00

This semester, well, year really, has been one of the most commitment- and responsibility-free of my life. Having graduated out of every extracurricular organization that defined my undergraduate existence (and for a time moving across the world), I now have more free time than I know what to do with. This semester I'm enrolled in class three days a week; four days out of seven I literally have NOTHING scheduled in my calendar. In a nutshell, I'm bored as all get-out.

This was not necessarily a problem last semester; I was living in Adelaide and surrounded by people; finding company and activities was pretty easy. All I had to do was walk into our common room. It also helped that I engrossed myself in my surroundings whole-heartedly; new experiences can do that, and I didn't have much time to fully enjoy them. Still, I certainly felt the lack of busy-ness.

Multiply that tenfold now. I'm back in a city I know very well, albeit one that I still love, and it's the dead of winter. Potential for activity abound, but it's hard to rustle up the people to accompany me. Actually, I take that back; my levels of social activity would be more than adequate to satisfy me if I had more work to do. Spending most of my day inert does not motivate me well. In fact, I think having more free time negatively affects my work ethic and the quality of what I do produce. Monotony leads to lethargy and ennui, and ultimately procrastination. It also doesn't make me the greatest companion when I do get out, I think, because I'll seize that person with all the force of a reluctant recluse.

Luckily, however, my sorry and workless state might be at an end. I have an opportunity to once again become a productive member of society at a local not-for-profit adoption agency. If I do, I'll have much less free time, but I think will be happier as a result. Is it unusual for a person to look forward to working more and relaxing less?

I think this past year has taught me a valuable lesson. I ended my senior year worked to the bone, exhausted, and dispirited. I was rejuvenated by exposing myself to a society that enforces a better work-life balance and giving myself more personal freedom. In doing so, I realized that while life can't be all work and no play, it also can't be all play and no work (at least for me). Keeping those thoughts in mind for my future career, I hope to strike a good balance that leaves me happy, healthy, and satisfied both at work and beyond.

The Answer

2009-02-09T17:16:00.002-05:00

For those who read my last post, the answer is not, as you might have thought, George Washington.

Samuel Huntington, of Connecticut, was the first President under the Articles of Confederation (and Perpetual Union). He shared many commonalities with Washington; born into a modest family, raised with little formal education, and was a life-long patriot. However, Washington never signed the Declaration of Independence, as Huntington did.

After his time in the presidency, he became Lieutenant Governor and then Governor of Connecticut, until his death in 1796.

Cool, huh?

The First President

2009-02-08T14:31:00.004-05:00

The First President in United States history: think you know who he was? Let's see.

He was born in a rural colony of Britain in the early 1730s. His formal education was limited; he was mostly self-taught. His family owned and operated a farm.

His wife's name was Martha. They had no children of their own.

He was elected as a delegate to Congress. He signed the Declaration of Independence. While not known for an extensive education or brilliant speech, he was highly respected and esteemed by his fellow patriots for hard work and a steady character.

He did not own slaves, and was outspoken against slavery his entire life. After his death, he had a city named after him.

Who was he? I'll post the answer tomorrow, but guesses are welcome.

Work without Hope

2009-02-02T23:10:00.002-05:00

All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair—
The bees are stirring—birds are on the wing—
And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!
And I the while, the sole unbusy thing,
Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.

Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow,
Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.
Bloom, O ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,
For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!
With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll:
And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul?
Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And Hope without an object cannot live.

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Oz Travel Journal - Adelaide to Cairns

2009-01-25T21:49:00.002-05:00

This begins my travel journal for the 2+ weeks I journeyed through bits of Australia. My exploits will be documented here in the next few weeks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My last days in Adelaide were filled with fun and friends. They gave me a great send-off (even though I was coming back for a few days in December before my final departure). We took a tour of the Adelaide pub scene; at least, our favorites. The next day I went to Glenelg Beach for the last time with some friends. Even though it was cold, they still tried to throw me in.

From Last Look at Adelaide

Our flight to Cairns was early on Sunday morning; I had been planning this trip for several months with some of my American friends, and we all boarded the same flight. It was long, but direct, and I was able to sleep most of the way, not getting much the previous night due to last-day goodbyes. It seemingly instantly went from chilly at around 15C to hot and humid at 35C when we got off the plane at our destination.

From Diving the Great Barrier Reef

After collecting our bags, we hitched a ride with a van that our hostel provided; it was a joint operation between several of the hostels in the area, so we made multiple pickups. The driver was insane; he seemed to take it as his personal mission to drive as fast and recklessly as possible around the streets of Cairns, to scare travelers or something. We arrived at our hostel, Jimmy’s on the Esplanade, in one piece and took a look at our surroundings. Conveniently located on a major thoroughfare, and not 10 meters from a pool, a park and the ocean, the hostel was perfect. We had also managed to a get a room just for the four of us, so it was very nearly like a hotel. Ditching our bags in the room, we quickly got into our bathing suits and headed for the beach.

Cairns itself, we soon realized, doesn’t have a lounging beach, but a deserted and muddy expanse of dirt that borders the ocean. Instead, people swim in the pool directly beside it and set up their towels on soft grass, a very pleasant alternative. The afternoon was spent thus, swimming and sunbathing in the warm and strong summer sun. Australia gets much more powerful rays than I have ever experienced in the States, so it is imperative that you wear sunscreen or else you’ll get burned fast.

After showering and getting presentable, my friends and I decided to scope out the Cairns scene. It’s a very small, touristy town, and reminded me excessively of Myrtle Beach or a small coastal Florida town. Souvenir shops everywhere, cheap places to eat, hotels and hostels in abundance, and people in Bermuda shorts with accents give it all away. We wandered around for a while, and unfortunately, no place was open for food (many eateries in Australia close for the slower afternoon hours). Instead, we decided to park ourselves at a local bar and ordered several pitchers of beer until dinner time came. We ate at the same pub, and then took ourselves to a very large and wild hostel with a poolside bar to swim and enjoy the DJ.

That evening, exhausted by the day, I spent sleeping in our air-conditioned room. It was rather depressing for me that every hostel I stayed in during those few weeks of travel provided better beds than what I’d been sleeping on for the last several months in Adelaide, but it made me appreciate the comfort all the more. The next day we had to wake up early for our first day of scuba training.

Resolved

2009-01-03T02:09:00.002-05:00

New Year's resolutions can be pretty, let's just say overly idealistic, and forgotten a few weeks after they're made. I'll make a few anyway so I can return to the list in the future, and see if they've stuck:

- never feel like a day has been wasted
- cook more for/with friends
- strive for optimism and good humour, and impart those feelings to others
- stay in contact with friends, however far away they may be
- apply myself in my work with rigor, force, and determination (i.e. don't shirk)

and a final, practical, one:

- be neater!

Alice Springs

2008-12-10T05:48:00.002-05:00

I'm going forward before I go backward, but I want to document my observations of Alice Springs before I forget them.

Alice is incredibly silent.... if it wasn't so noisy. While that sounds completely impossible, it's the easiest way to describe this small Outback town. There is no noise on the roads or sidewalks, few people are walking around, and the only noise made is by insects, which are deafeningly loud. It's already pretty hot here, which I expected, about 38 today, with temperatures dropping in the next few days. Trust me to arrive just when they get lots of rain and flash flooding, but it means that the land is surprisingly green, even if the Todd River is still dry as a bone (which it is most of the year). The flies here aren't as bad as I expected, nor are the mozzies. The neighbourhood in which I'm staying reminds me a lot of home in the summertime, strangely enough. Quiet, with a park in the center that was deserted all day. I've missed summer and the heat, and am lapping it up.

The town is surrounded by mountain range on two sides, hills really, as there are no true mountains in all of Australia. There is also a significant Aboriginal presence here that I hadn't experienced in any other city, including Cairns. Most anyone else walking around will be tourists, either arriving for their Uluru tour or just returning. I will most likely venture into town after I return from my tour, to take in dinner at a pub with the people I've met, as most people do, but otherwise I don't think I'd feel entirely safe wandering around at night. It's a different kind of discomfort that I felt in a city or in King's Cross (a strip club and gay mecca in Sydney that, by both day and night, is a mixture of seedy and gentrified). You can't blend in with the locals like you can in a city, and since it's not a busy place in general, I stick out way more.

The hostel I'm staying in is quite lovely, though certainly not at first glance. It looks rundown, but the rooms are spacious and clean, the beds new and incredibly comfortable, and a back patio with a pool that is perfect for outdoor barbecues. Several people were grilling burgers in the Aussie style tonight for dinner that smelled unbelievable. Their kitchen is also incredibly clean and well-equipped, so I cooked dinner for the first time in a long time, and loved it.

Tomorrow I leave bright and early (6am) for Uluru. I'm really excited, as most of the people I've talked to today have said good things and mentioned lots of hiking. There's also cliff-jumping possible in the Garden of Eden, at the bottom of King's Canyon (since they've gotten so much rain recently), which will be welcome after a 4-hour hike down. I cliff-jumped in Cairns before I left and loved it, so I'll be glad to repeat the experience (I have pictures of that I'll post later).

Cheers mates!

Cairns

2008-12-02T07:15:00.002-05:00

I'm currently in Cairns, QLD, reading to get to the Great Barrier Reef and see some amazing things. I will be traveling for quite some time, so I won't get to update this blog until I'm settled somewhere probably. Look forward to tons of pictures and stories. :D

Onward to the Reef, Sydney, Alice Springs and the Outback, Adelaide (for the last time), LA and the Palm Desert, and finally, New York!

Election Day

2008-11-04T09:25:00.008-05:00

Today is Wednesday, November 5th. I am at least 15.5 hours ahead of you, America. I will be watching, with the rest of the world, as the results come in from this historic election. (Most likely I will be in a local pub for the whole of the afternoon, drinking a pint with the bartender bribed to tune in to CNN.)

I never fully realized, until living on the other side of the world, exactly how important we are. As I've mentioned in these previous months, the people I've met here are well-versed in American politics, culture, current events, and history. I don't think it's just because I'm surrounded by educated people; the general interest of the nation is palpable. There was an excellent post that summed it up very well on Daily Kos today, which I highly recommend reading if you want to know how they feel.

Americans have influence they know not of. Sure, we say we "know", but truly you don't until you witness it firsthand. People have come up to me and asked me if I've voted. People who, with trepidation, ask me if I voted for Obama, worried that I will say no. People who tell me they wish they could vote too, and that my vote is also for them.

Our politics is no longer confined to ourselves or our shores. We have come to a time when our vote counts for more than just us, but for Aussies and Brits, Indians and Iraqis. They hope, as I do, that our country will finally be put on a new path, a better path, one that respects, aids, and collaborates with the world. One that can finally break loose of the confines of the isolated past, and move into a 21st century, global society. Our vote matters most to us alone and always will, but increasingly, and forever, it will matter to them.

Election Day, November, 1884

If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and
show,
'Twould not be you, Niagara--nor you, ye limitless prairies--nor
your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
Nor you, Yosemite--nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic
geyser-loops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,
Nor Oregon's white cones--nor Huron's belt of mighty lakes--nor
Mississippi's stream:
--This seething hemisphere's humanity, as now, I'd name--the still
small voice vibrating--America's choosing day,
(The heart of it not in the chosen--the act itself the main, the
quadriennial choosing,)
The stretch of North and South arous'd--sea-board and inland--
Texas to Maine--the Prairie States--Vermont, Virginia, California,
The final ballot-shower from East to West--the paradox and conflict,
The countless snow-flakes falling--(a swordless conflict,
Yet more than all Rome's wars of old, or modern Napoleon's:) the
peaceful choice of all,
Or good or ill humanity--welcoming the darker odds, the dross:
--Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify--while the heart
pants, life glows:
These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,
Swell'd Washington's, Jefferson's, Lincoln's sails.

- Walt Whitman

You are more powerful than you realize. Do it for yourself, do it for you family, do it for your country, and do it for the world. VOTE.

The Great Ocean Road: Day One

2008-11-03T00:28:00.003-05:00

Continuing from Melbourne...

Tuesday dawned overcast and cold. And by dawned, I truly mean that I arose at sunrise. For the next three days I would be travelling back to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road, a stretch of coastline that is famed for its beauty, and we started early. Because it is incredibly popular, many tour groups routinely take this route back and forth from Melbourne to Adelaide, and I joined one run by Groovy Grape. It turned out to be a great decision, because the size of the group was smaller than other tours, and the people I went with were amazing. Everyone was young and international: I met people from Holland, England, Belgium, South Africa, Germany, Austria, and Quebec (she was adamant about that point). My friend and I were actually the only Americans. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been missing the camaraderie of people in their early-to-mid 20s until I was surrounded by them again; Adelaide as I’ve known it really lacks the 20-something crowd.

As we left Melbourne I knew the weather would not be on our side; it started to rain before we even got very far. We stopped at a small diner for some breakfast and continued driving until we hit Bell’s Beach.

Bell’s Beach

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

Bell’s Beach is internationally known as one of the best surfing spots in the world; it is home to the Rip Curl Pro Surf and Music Festival, the longest running surfing competition in the world. One glance and you can see why; the waves seem perfect for surfing, and this is coming from a person who has never surfed.

We continued driving, and the ocean front that opened before us was beautiful. We arrived at the entrance of the Great Ocean road by mid-morning. The road was built in memory of the “Diggers”, or Australian servicemen, who died during World War I. The construction of the road, starting in 1919 and lasting until 1932, also provided much-needed work to those returning from the war. The road also opened the coast to the rest of Australia. Previously, travel between the coastal towns of Victoria was incredibly difficult, relying mostly on water commerce and travel. The road made these towns accessible to the outside world.

Sign

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

We made a short stop at a nature preserve, where we saw koalas hanging out in the eucalyptus trees and colorful and very gregarious birds.

Can you find the koala?

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

Koala

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

Birds

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

After eating lunch in the town of Lorne, we drove into the rainforest of Otway National Park. It’s surprising to find a rainforest in this part of the country; I’d expected them to be confined to the more tropical northern and eastern coasts. We took a short hike through a bit of the place, and I learned that this temperate rainforest is home to the Australian mountain ash, a species of tree that grows to a massive size, and some of the largest ferns in the world. Lovely place.

Rainforest

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

Driving again down the coast, we made our way to the first of the coastal rock formations we would visit on the trip: The Loch Ard Gorge. The gorge itself was not incredibly impressive, though interesting. However, the story of its naming made the visit worthwhile. I won’t relate it here, but for those who are interested...

Loch Ard Gorge

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

At that point, the clouds that had been threatening us intermittently all day finally released, and we got soaked. Rather than going to our next destination, the Twelve Apostles, and freeze while we waited for sunset, we decided instead to stop and unload our things in Port Campbell, our accommodation for the evening. After doing so, we hauled ourselves back into the bus to watch the sun set on the Twelve Apostles, the world famous limestone rock formations on the coast.
It was bitterly windy and cold, and the group of us huddled together for warmth and a respite from the biting wind. Because of the heavy cloud cover, the Apostles didn’t get a chance to “do their thing”; the rocks change color during sunrise and sunset, and it is supposed to be stunning. Despite this, they were still very impressive.

Twelve Apostles

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

We returned to our accommodation, a small house very near the water, and ate dinner around the fire we had built. The evening was spent in good conversation with my new friends, followed by a warm and comfortable bed; the next day we’d be getting up early to go back to the Twelve Apostles.

Sunset

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

Best Picture Ever

2008-11-02T10:52:00.003-05:00

What does this picture show? It is not just that, if trends don't markedly change in the next 48 hours, Obama will be winning the Presidency by a huge margin (touch wood), nor the more novel fact that Virginia is going blue...

It is the fact that Arizona is leaning Republican. McCain's home state isn't even a strong bastion for the candidate. Two more days...

Melbourne: Part Two

2008-10-29T10:36:00.004-04:00

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

The last full day I had in Melbourne started out just as cold and overcast as the previous one. We got up early (to clarify, I took this trip with my friend Christie) and spent part of the morning at the American Consulate, an unassuming office in a large building on St. Kilda Road. (Christie had lost her passport, the motivating reason for the visit in the first place). Luckily, it didn’t take long, and I was able to have a leisurely breakfast of… a bagel and cream cheese! While there are bakeries everywhere in Australia, very few if any actually sell bagels. Yet another craving satisfied.

One of the more frustrating idiosyncrasies Australia has is that shops close incredibly early nearly every day. In Adelaide, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a retail store that stays open past 5pm; in Melbourne, they’re open until 6pm. This presents a problem, because virtually everything else you would want to see as a tourist holds the same hours, so you end up rushing to fit everything in. We decided, due to the restricted shopping hours, to visit more stores in depth and look through the Magnificent Seven – the seven major arcades in the city center.

Block Arcade

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

By midday the sky was clearing up and it was slightly warmer, which made for much more pleasant city walking. We had lunch at an Indian place, after scoping out the dismally small Chinatown and finding nothing appetizing (disappointment). At this point we were on the west side of the CBD, close to some of the older buildings like the State Library and Parliament, and both of us wanted to see the two major cathedrals of Melbourne: St. Patrick’s and St. Paul’s.

Parliament

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

Spring Street

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

St. Patrick’s was far more magnificent than St. Paul’s; photographs can’t really capture its size. The inside was a true-to-form cathedral, with small alcoves and chapels ringing the inside, and a lovely organ and choir pit. Technically, I wasn’t supposed to be taking pictures inside, because a mass was about to start, but I didn’t realize that until I was leaving anyway. St. Paul’s was under construction, unfortunately. A lot of unsightly scaffolding marred the beauty of its interior.

St. Patrick's

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

St. Paul's

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

Some of my friends had told me that I couldn’t miss the National Gallery of Victoria, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It is the oldest, and largest, art gallery in Australia, boasting some very fine works from all the major periods, including those famous artists like Rembrandt, Picasso, and Rubens, along with Aboriginal and modern Australian pieces. We took a tour of the gallery with a knowledgeable docent, who gave us more information than we ever could have gotten of both the pieces and the building’s history.

National Gallery of Victoria

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

The building itself would have been worth the trip. It was designed by the Australian architect Roy Grounds and completed in 1967, and renovated in 2003 by Mario Bellini. One of its main features is a water wall as you enter the building, flanked by steel sculptures of an entire town of people (8 in total), from Arnhem Land in the Center. Another is a large stained glass ceiling, designed by Leonard French.

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

After spending time at the gallery, we made our way to the Chapel Street Precinct, a hip shopping place where you can find both upscale stores and trendy, bohemian boutiques. After spending time shopping in both the city center and Chapel Street, we now know why Melbournians are so well-dressed. Dinner was at a Mexican-fusion restaurant on Chapel Street, where the food was excellent, if not very authentic.

Chapel Street

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

By this time, Christie and I were even more footsore than the day before, so we stopped back at our hostel to recuperate before heading back into the city for drinks with friends from Adelaide who had just arrived in Melbourne. Before we left, however, I needed to make a stop at the famed Monarch Cake Shop to see if their desserts lived up to their reputation. And with a slice of flourless chocolate cake, I got a little bit of heaven.

Walking to the tram stop that night on the Southbank of the city, we passed by a fire show that happens twice each night. There are huge columns placed down the river that shoot up fireballs, synchronized with one another. I so wish I had brought my camera. To stay warm while we were waiting for the tram, we jumped in to the Casino quickly, a massive place that is fairly busy even on a Monday night. We couldn't stay to play (not that I would really want to), because the next morning we had to get up bright an early to catch our bus for the Great Ocean Road, where we spent three glorious days....

NEXT UP: The Great Ocean Road – Day 1

Melbourne: Part One

2008-10-29T07:30:00.001-04:00

Let me just clarify the tone you will be hearing throughout these next few posts: Melbourne is amazing. The next few paragraphs (well, many, actually) could possibly be considered a “gush” of just how awesome my previous week has been.

It was the first trip I’ve taken outside Adelaide since I’ve come to Australia, and it was incredibly overdue. A few friends had gone in August, and I definitely regretted not joining them, but it worked out excellently regardless. Melbourne is the closest city to Adelaide in Australia, and that’s saying something: it’s a 10+ hour drive. Luckily, the flights there are cheap, which the exchange rate makes even cheaper, and flying domestically is a breeze in comparison to the US; there are no liquid restrictions, you don’t have to strip down to your knickers going through security, and I wasn’t asked for ID once.

The city itself is much, much larger than Adelaide and in vibe and style very European. It was influenced by a heavy immigration from Italy, Greece, the UK (of course), and more recently South Asia. I stayed in the small suburb of St. Kilda, about a 20-minute tram ride from the heart of Melbourne and right on the beach. It’s considered a young, hip place catering significantly to backpackers. Lots of bars and great restaurants, the beach a 5-minute walk away, which during the night provides a starry view of Melbourne’s lights down the bay, and Luna Park, an historical theme park with a wooden rollercoaster, games, and the gaping face of a clown through which you enter.

Acland Street, St. Kilda

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

St. Kilda also boasts some of the best bakeries in Melbourne, including the Monarch Cake Shop, the oldest patisserie in Melbourne (more on that later). The hostel I stayed at was excellent; full of young international people traveling around Australia, clean and well-kept, and it also helped that in staying in an all-girl’s room we received free towels, shampoo, and champagne every evening.

I have to mention the public transportation system because it factored so much into the ease of seeing Melbourne. A mixture of electric trams, buses, and trains criss-cross the city, and in the center they have digital signs which indicate the time remaining until your tram reaches the stop. If only our cities could provide such an efficient service. I have a feeling that this will not be the first indication that our infrastructure is woefully in need of updating.

I got into Melbourne Saturday evening, just in time to have dinner and a quick walk down the beach. The next day we decided to get up early to explore. Unfortunately, the weather had taken a nasty turn (which remained for the rest of the trip) and we were cold the entire day. We walked through the Sunday morning arts market, where local artisans sell their wares every Sunday, on the way to the tram stop. Heading into the city, we decided to explore Queen Victoria Market, the largest open-air market in the southern hemisphere.

Queen Victoria Market

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

There were hundreds of small vendors selling anything and everything, from produce to clocks to clothing. I’ve never been good at haggling, so it was probably best I didn’t buy much. I did, however, eat poffertjes, which are these unbelievably delicious Dutch pancakes, covered in either sugar and lemon juice or cream, jam and fruit that I’ve found in Adelaide as well.

Poffertjes

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

After perusing the market, we walked into the city to wander. The shopping in Melbourne is so good; they have many beautiful arcades (basically throughways through buildings lined with boutique shops) that are as historical as they are lovely. Most of the shopping in the city center was far to high-end for me to afford, but it was good to see what was on offer. Collins Street is the premiere shopping street for those who can afford the clothing. We decided to take a ride on the free tram which circles the city from the south end to the north end, both to learn a bit of the history of the most well-known landmarks and to get to our next stop: Lygon Street.

Lygon Street marks Melbourne’s Italian precinct. As I mentioned previously, there is a large Italian population in Melbourne, and this is marked by great eating. There we found a small restaurant to eat lunch, and I discovered that great pizza can really be found in Australia (I had, by this time, an incredible craving since Adelaide’s leaves much to be desired). Since Lygon is located very close to the Melbourne Museum, we decided to check it out.

Melbourne Museum

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

Royal Exhibition Building

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

The Melbourne Museum is a large, spacious, and thoroughly modern building, designed by Baulderstone Hornibrook (I kid you not), and is the largest museum in the southern hemisphere and located right next to the Royal Exhibition Building, an immense pavilion and a World Heritage site. It contains exhibitions of ancient, modern, and natural history and boasts an IMAX theatre complex. We had just enough time for a quick walk around some of the exhibits before the start of The Dark Knight. It might sound like a silly thing to do, see a movie both of us had already seen in theatres in a city as great as Melbourne, but the movie was phenomenal, IMAX is great, and by this time we were so footsore and chilled that any place to sit and be warm for a few hours sounded very welcome. And it was totally worth it to see in the IMAX.

After the movie finished, it was time to get back to the hostel in St. Kilda, grab some dinner (an excellent veggie burger with lots of toppings, but thankfully no beetroot this time) and made it an early night, well, after briefly wandering into a packed pub.

NEXT UP: Day 2

Just Right

2008-10-27T20:01:00.001-04:00

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Feta, Spinach, and Roasted Capsicum

2008-10-12T23:08:00.005-04:00

I know this is not the traditional day for doing this list, but Thursdays are not the only day to be thankful!

From McLaren Vale Wine Tour

- Wrapaway, for providing me with tasty and healthy lunchtime alternatives
- my camera, which is good enough to compensate for my novice photographic abilities and captures memorable moments with great skill
- the springtime, which is glorious in Australia
- Boost smoothies, for being YUM
- getting American mail, most notably my absentee ballot!
- the internet for keeping me in touch with family, friends and American news
- The West Wing
- JB Hifi, for having a copy of Season 2 of The West Wing for a modest price
- the beach, and the pier on the beach. Who cares if the water could have sharks in it?
- being so close to amazingly beautiful (and tasty) wine country. I have gained such a greater appreciation for fine wine.
- my friends in Australia, with whom every adventure is fun and always hilarious
- the American exchange rate, which is now low enough to make Australia livable
- the next two months, which I anticipate to be jam-packed with fun and wonderful memories
- my family, who have been so supportive and understanding with me being so far away, and my mom for learning IM lingo (she uses "lol" now!)
- having a family vacation in the desert when I return to the States
- barbecues on Sundays

The Real Great Depression

2008-10-10T08:22:00.002-04:00

I recently stumbled upon this interesting article by Scott Reynolds Nelson, a history professor at the College of William and Mary and Williamsburg, VA. It compares the current financial crisis not to the stock market crash of 1929, but to the Panic of 1873 and subsequent 4-year depression that followed. There are a surprisingly large number of parallels to our current situation, even from over 125 years ago, most poignantly being the unregulated issuance of mortgages in Europe that ultimately led to a liquidity crisis and meltdown of hundreds of banks. The author also attributes many events in the following decades to stem from this (brush off the dust from your American and world history knowledge, folks):

- The Gilded Age, including the reign of Rockefeller, Carnegie, and others
- Anti-Semitism in Russia and Eastern Europe
- Increased religious fundamentalism
- Collapse of unions
- 1877 railroad strike

You can extrapolate from there, to see the ramifications of this depression in decades to come...

Photo Dump

2008-10-07T11:08:00.002-04:00

I've finally uploaded all of the photos I've taken in Australia in the last two months to Picasa! Because my internet is so incredibly slow, it's like pulling teeth, but I managed to get through it at last. Of particular note are the photos from my most recent winery tour of the McLaren Vale, which goes down in infamy.... Enjoy! I know I did. ^_^

Adelaide Botanic Gardens

McLaren Vale and Maslin Beach

Adelaide Hills Wine Tour

Morialta

One Amazing Weekend

2008-09-21T11:09:00.002-04:00

This weekend was pretty awesome, so I figured I'd share it with y'all.

Friday:

Impromptu pub crawl, starting out with free Asahi beer (tasty!) at a swanky pub down the street. They were doing a promotion, and because I knew the bartender, we kept getting additional vouchers to drink more. Then on to a tour of the East End pub scene, basically. I met up with some friends, and joined them for actual pub crawls, and finished the night at a pub I'd been to and didn't remember. It was good to finally see it.

Saturday:

Lazy morning, followed by casual lunch and shopping on Rundle. It's good to just get out and see all the fashions I can't afford. Then, because of the major partying done the previous evening, we sat in to watch movies and tv shows. Once, a movie I'd been wanting to see, and now know that it so lives up to the Oscar it received, and Blades of Glory, for funsies.

Sunday:

The pinnacle of this weekend. It was a perfect day, mid-20s with a cool breeze and not a cloud in the sky. I walked through this amazing arts market that happens every Sunday in Adelaide: food and crafts and great stuff for sale. There's a place called the American Candy store, which sells cupcakes of all varieties. Not quite up to the level of Dozen, but still great. And pofferjees, which are these great Dutch mini-pancakes, which you cover in cinnamon sugar or confectioner's sugar and cream. Yum!

The good food didn't stop there. The walk through the market was shortened so we could get to the real attraction: Cheese Fest '08! It was packed with people. Cheese makers from all over South Australia (and one from Tasmania) came to provide tastings of their best cheeses. There were a few SA wineries that were also there (Nepenthe, check it out, because it's awesome!). Imagine the best cheeses you've ever tasted, in one venue, and you just walk to stall after stall trying them all out, with a glass of amazing SA wine in your hand, the sun shining, and live music playing in the background. We met up with a few American friends, and sat in the grass after we had fully sated ourselves with cheese and drank wine until the sun started setting.

The only downside, if there is one, is that I got sunburned for the first time in a year. It's pretty brutal here (no Ozone layer and all) and so I have to remind myself continually from now on to apply copious amounts of sunscreen before all outdoor excursions. Also, I didn't bring my camera, so there is no documentation of these events. In future I need to do so.

Summer has arrived, and as my mother just perceptively said, "it's good for the soul to be in the sun". If you want to find me in the next three months, that's where I'll be.

OMG: Gas prices increase 5 cents!

2008-09-15T11:34:00.005-04:00

While I am no longer in the US, I still try to keep up-to-date on American news. I'm not abroad for very long after all, and since we are the largest exporter of media in the world, it's actually hard to stay disconnected for long. In fact, as I've probably mentioned before, the people I meet here (albeit a highly educated, largely international, and therefore fairly biased sample) know more about American lifestyle, politics, policy, and history than many Americans. Since coming to Australia, I have definitely gained a lot of perspective as regards home; funny, how leaving a place can make you see it more clearly. The price of gas and oil: while its near-constant increasing price is hurting everyone in the US, and will more than likely hurt me when I get home, I doubt it will be nearly as high as here (about $1.50/litre) or elsewhere like Europe, where it is even higher. The minimum wage: we've just increased it to $7.50 per hour, set to occur in 2009, and Australia leaves us in the dust with a minimum wage just increased to over $15.00 an hour! And our election system: is this extended campaign period that the US is known for, which lasts over a year and racks up a bill the size of many small countries GDPs, really necessary?

While it has grown clearer that no government is perfect, and that every country has its problems, embarrassments, and controversies, we could all stand to gain a little perspective. This refreshing snippet from the Senate's Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Bipartisan Energy Summit caught my attention:

SENATOR SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (RI): Gentlemen, we’re in the middle of a near total mortgage system meltdown in this country. We have a health care system that burns 16 percent of our GDP, in which the Medicare liability alone has been estimated at $34 trillion. We’re burning $10 billion a month in Iraq.

This administration has run up $7.7 trillion in national debt, by our calculation. And there is worsening evidence every day of global warming, with worsening environmental and national security ramifications. In light of those conditions, do any of you seriously contend that drilling for more oil is the number one issue facing the American people today?

(Long silent pause during which nobody answers.)

WHITEHOUSE: No, it doesn’t seem so.

While I am certainly taking his soapbox speech with a hefty helping of salt, I do hope that our government, and what's more its people, will open their eyes and focus on what really matters.

My Holy Charge

2008-09-03T02:48:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine introduced me to the following article in the latest edition of GQ, and I loved it so much I thought I'd reproduce it here. I hate that I'm missing the season!!!! But I'm going to search for the games on FoxTel and in pubs here, and spawn new Steelers fans internationally. ;)

Because the Cowboys may be America's Team, but the Steelers are God's Team.

A Steelers game is a holy war, a fight for what is virtuous and right. To live here in Pittsburgh, where Heinz Field sits like a fat temple bursting with kielbasa-loving believers, is to know all there is to know. Unflinching, unconditional, ours is a faith handed to us from Grandpa or Great-Grandpa, the guy who first got the season tickets and passed them down through generations. (The waiting list for season tickets is ten years long - you have to wait until someone dies.) Divorcing couples have been known to wage custody battles over season tickets; ex-husbands give in and sit with ex-wives, sharing nachos and a cold Iron. Hey, it's the Steelers.

We are born into our religion, and we are baptized, and we receive our Communion. A Steelers fan never strays. You move to Denver, or to some fancy Sunbelt place, or even to California, you stay a Steelers fan. People say the Cowboys are America's Team, and we think that is so adorable. So very precious. Listen, people: The Steelers are God's Team. Hometown boy Bill Cowher having passed along to sainthood, we embrace a new messiah, Mike Tomlin, trusting in the guidance of our holiest family, the Rooneys (because they're from Pittsburgh). And now, of course, we have big Ben Roethlisberger, who can make us more than a tiny bit nervous, and Hines Ward, with his eternal smile (he smiles, we think, because he gets to play for Pittsburgh), and Troy Polamalu, who embodies the sort of humanity we expect of our Steelers. Good people. Good people. Hey, they play for Pittsburgh - a rusty promised land where there is so little left to be proud of. So we will sit and wave our terrible towels and battle the gray chill that cuts to the bone, wave that towel, wave that towel in praise. We will do this because it is our life's work. We will continue to give birth to baby Steelers fans, and we will continue our charge to take over the world, to convert you and you and you. We are missionaries charged with leading you toward the light of Steeler Nation. It's probably a rule in the Bible somewhere. Oh, it probably is.

An Election of Firsts

2008-08-29T11:47:00.003-04:00

As nearly everyone with access to daily news has been aware of for months, this 2008 election year in the US is making history, with the first viable black candidate the country has ever seen. There has been so much hype about Barack Obama's candidacy, and so much hype about the hype that it's exhausting and a tad numbing. Being in another country, I've avoided much of it, but even all the way on the other side of the world, people keep asking me "Is this election over yet??" (Incidentally, it seems most Australians and other ex-pats I've met can hold an intelligent conversation about American politics.)

Much of the news this past week has gone to the Democratic National Convention, held in Denver. But today John McCain stole the spotlight by announcing his landmark choice for a running mate: Alaska governor Sarah Palin. At first, it seems like an astounding choice for him to have made, one no one really saw coming. However, she is young and female, and in this tough election of firsts, he made a unique choice that can rival Obama's campaign for change and better secure that elusive female vote. Not to mention her ties to the oil industry and right-wing agenda as governor of Alaska attest to the fact that she fits in well with the GOP candidate's campaign platform. No matter the outcome, McCain has ensured that this election will set a record for the United States. I just hope that this isn't all the election will come down to....

Onkaparinga Gorge

2008-08-02T04:19:00.002-04:00

Today, I went hiking (walking, to Australians) in Onkaparinga Gorge. It's incredibly close to McLaren Vale, a main winery area that I will be going back to at some point for wine-tasting. It was less like walking and more like scrambling over rocks and wading through the river. While Australia is apparently going through a several-year drought, it didn't seem like it today, or for the last month, because of how much rain we've been getting. The river was higher than anyone had seen it before, and I was soaked from the knees down. Hiking in water-logged boots is never fun. However, I got to see some great Australian countryside. No kangaroo sightings yet, though!

Inspiration

2008-07-25T21:35:00.002-04:00

Randy Pausch died yesterday morning, finally succombing to the pancreatic cancer he'd battled for several years. He was an inspiration to many, especially Carnegie Mellon students, for the wisdom by which he lived his life, and imparted to us in his final acts of teaching: his last lecture.

His speech at my commencement this past May was the best part of the ceremony, eclipsing even Al Gore. It is a memory I will cherish the rest of my life, and his words I never want to forget: you don't beat the Reaper by living long, you beat the Reaper by living well. "If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you."

Pictures Finally!

2008-07-24T22:58:00.003-04:00

Finally, I am posting the pictures I took nearly a month ago. Enjoy!

I've been feeling rather antsy lately. It's been a month since I've arrived in Adelaide, and while I enjoyed that month, I'm getting to the point where I'd like to do more, see more of the area and Australia. However, I am severely limited by a very small budget and no personal transportation. In a few weeks some of my friends were considering a trip to Melbourne, which I'll probably end up going on. But I guess I'd really like to be more active in Adelaide, and do something other than drink on weekends.

Last week I attended a meeting of Adelaide Bushwalkers Club, hoping to finally meet some Australians my age and find a group of people to explore the outback regions with. Unfortunately, I was cruelly disappointed. While the group itself is very active, and the hikes they go on seem very fun, the average age of the group was mid-50s, with many people in their 60s and beyond. I invited a few of my friends along, and we were the youngest people there. I am not necessarily opposed to enjoying the company of older people, and I'm sure they have the energy and strength to do strenuous hikes, I would have preferred a much wider mixture of ages, and a few still in their 20s. I'll just have to keep looking for a group that suits my needs.

Updates from OZ

2008-07-11T22:10:00.002-04:00

I finally got my act together and uploaded my pictures from Australia. They're of Adelaide and North Adelaide. I haven't gotten out of the city at all yet, but have plans in the works for a short winery tour and Great Barrier Reef snorkeling in the near future. Otherwise, life is good, better than good, despite the fact that I haven't been properly warm for any length of time in weeks. Something they don't tell you before you leave the US is that the rest of the world doesn't heat their buildings like the US in wintertime. My bedroom is consistently between 9-13C (50-58F), non-insulated, and with a completely inadequate space heater. Needless to say, I don't spend much time there other than sleeping.

In the near future I will be racking up many new pictures, once I get around to hiking with an organisation I discovered through a co-worker. However, being completely unprepared for this kind of cold weather, I might not start hiking until it warms up a bit (oh, to have days of 17C again!).

EDIT: My internet is so bad here that I think I'll forego posting these pictures until I get a faster connection. One hour for only 25% completion is certainly too long.

In OZ

2008-06-27T02:35:00.002-04:00

For those of you anxiously awaiting my first reports from across the world, I'm sorry it took so long. For those who haven't been on the edge of their seats, well, ok. I've been in Adelaide for 5 days, and this is what I've learned:

- be careful crossing the street; the cars come from opposite directions here
- it's pronounced PREM-ier, not pre-MIER
- Australians don't use central heat
- everything is expensive but sushi, laundry, and wine
- it's pronounced BRIZ-bon, not Bris-bane
- they don't use cheques, or checking accounts
- they take occupational health and safety very seriously
- international students are very nice
- I need to start including myself when I speak of international students
- their $2 coins are smaller than their $1 coins
- people love American media, and know more about US politics than many Americans
- Vegemite really is eaten often on toast
- they eat pumpkin as a vegetable, and rarely use it in dessert
- there isn't enough water in the toilets to see it flushing the opposite direction (sorry!)
- the birds here are CRAZY loud
- music tastes stink
- what they consider the depths of winter really feels like October
- did I mention how incredibly expensive everything is?? A 12-oz Coke can be AU$3.00

I have really been enjoying myself so far, barring the first day when I got hit with an unusually high dose of homesickness (rare for me). I'm trying to quickly learn the metric conversions for everything, but it's a challenge. It's fun to be an ex-patriot, surrounded by other ex-pats. I live in a graduate-only college, and most of the people who live with me are international as well. There are very few Americans, which is unsurprising, but I have met, other than the ones who came with me, a botanist from Duke, and a Canadian. The rest are from Europe or Asia. You find that people quickly segregate into smaller communities: the Chinese eat together, Continental Europeans all hang out together, though they all speak in English to one another, and what I can fondly refer to as the "Commonwealths" (English, Irish, New Zealanders, Australians, Canadians, and Americans) have been spending time together. As always, I'm one of the youngest, but it doesn't really matter.

I've already taken lots of pictures, but as I don't have access to internet in my room, I haven't uploaded them. Once I do, I'll post them here and on facebook. It's a beautiful city, if smaller and more suburban than I had been expecting, and I'm looking forward to spending 6 months here. Stay tuned for more updates! I'm sure there will be many, and illustrated!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2008-06-20T01:06:00.003-04:00

In 14 hours!!! Two days from now, I will be across the world in Australia for the next six months! How excited am I!? Well, very. And a bit nervous, anxious, and worried too. I suppose this is often what happens at the onset of a possibly life-changing adventure. I haven't been this far from home in my life, and living in another country will be an adjustment. Also, the fact that my layover in Detroit is short enough that it's possible I could miss my connecting flight to LA if I'm delayed, and that I just got hit (as in today) with food poisoning that had the potential to be severely debilitating to my travel. But I'm so pumped anyway! The sickness is gone, I'll run across the airport if I have to to catch that darn LA flight, and god dammit this time two days from now I'll be looking out onto an Australian beach (albeit incredibly jetlagged and travel-weary).

I'm living my dream baby!!! Wish me luck!

Triple Digit Days

2008-06-07T00:05:00.002-04:00

Can you believe it? And it's barely June! We're sweltering here in the Upstate, and have been reduced to sheltering in our albeit very nice basement. It's way cooler. It is now two weeks until I leave for Adelaide, and boy is it craaaaazy stressful. I still have many preparations to make, and am feeling the pressure. I'm sure it will all work out, and in two weeks and two days (it's a two-day trip) I will be an official ex-pat! (Well, kind of)

One Year (plus a few weeks)

2008-05-31T12:09:00.003-04:00

Can you believe it? It's been over a year since I've started this experiment in vegetarianism. I haven't faltered at all, either. It has ceased to be something foreign and new to me, and has become so natural that the reasons for which I started this have no meaning anymore, really. People still ask why I've done it, and I respond "discipline, primarily, but there are also environmental factors", but in truth, they don't even matter anymore. I am a vegetarian because I don't eat meat. I love it, and it's become part of my identity. I may go back to eating meat eventually, but I don't see it happening in the near future. If I can live at home for a month and not be tempted (no mean feat, I tell you), then it doesn't even register as part of a normal diet for me anymore. This, coming from a girl who used to LOVE meat, and started this planning on it lasting only the summer! I'm pretty surprised it was as easy and natural as it was, and is. But, as it is so fun and easy for me, I'm pretty certain the only way I'll go back to eating meat is on a whim. I don't think anything else will make me. Go vegetarianism!

EDIT:

Zavo asked me two interesting questions I thought I'd share the answers to. First, I honestly don't remember the last meat meal I ate. I know it was a special one, because I consciously chose to become vegetarian, and decided to on a Monday. I had been thinking about making the change for a few months at this point, and thought it would be easiest to start after moving to my summer place, with classes over and most of the stressers in my life gone. I want to say it was lamb curry, but who knows!

And since I don't know when I'll want to start eating meat again, I don't know what my first meat meal will be. An educated guess might be chicken wings or a cheeseburger, because those are the things I miss most. Go figure, right?

Commencement 08

2008-05-25T19:33:00.002-04:00

Pictures courtesy of my uncle.

I finally (well, not really finally, because it came all too soon) graduated from Carnegie Mellon last Sunday. Even only a week later it feels like ages ago. The ceremony itself was incredibly well done, and the best I've witnessed yet. I was fortunate for it to be mine. Al Gore gave a great speech for our keynote address, but it was the surprise visit of Randy Pausch, finishing the Charge to the Graduates, at the end of the ceremony that made it immeasurably special:

Do I?

2008-05-19T04:36:00.004-04:00

Do I have the courage to make myself vulnerable? Can I take the risk of exposing my inner thoughts and feelings to another, or dive into uncharted territory? Today at least, I think I proved not. Let's see if I can find it tomorrow.

Procrastination

2008-05-05T19:15:00.003-04:00

No matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to find the will to do my work. These are the only two days of the week I actually have deadlines, and I can't seem to make them. What is wrong with me??!! Perhaps it's the gorgeous weather.... or the fact that I'm a senior graduating in less than two weeks (grad school notwithstanding).... or the wonder that is Hulu. Whatever the reason, instead of doing my work I'm doing everything but. Hence why I'm writing for my blog, and not my ten-page paper, the rough draft of which is due today, or studying for my last final, which is tomorrow.

I think I'm just ready to be done, though the fact that I can't seem to do work consistently has me worried that I won't transition into the working world well. I haven't worked a true full-time job in several years, and I'm worried I won't be able to focus to do it right. I feel like it's gotten worse as I've gotten older; I used to be able to dive in and spend six hours studying. I actually remember working on Fridays and Saturdays, which I've refused to do since sophomore year. My hope is that it's just a disillusionment with college and college work, and that next year I'll be revitalized to make the final push to finish it, and the transition to a job will motivate me more. Will I really be able to go to a job, though, work 40-hour weeks month after month, with no change and fewer vacations to punctuate the passage of time? I guess I'll have to find out, but I'm very afraid of failing.

Yesterday was my last Soundbytes rehearsal ever. It felt anti-climactic, to be honest. It hasn't quite sunk in yet that I won't be singing with them anymore (or singing and performing consistently, woah). It'll be the first time since I was 13 that I won't be in a singing group of some kind, and it's not likely I'll join one for at least another year. Crazy thought. The transition has begun, and I'm more ready to let go than I thought I would be at this juncture (though part of that is because it was forced on me, I think). Still, it's really hard, and it will be a change for all of us, regardless of if that registers on them yet or not.

This has been a really random post, and you can probably see why it's been so hard for me to write my paper! I'm so ready to let go of all this pent-up anxiety over a ton of things, both conscious and subconscious.

New House is to be named!

2008-05-01T10:32:00.004-04:00

I received an email last night that New House, the newest dormitory on campus, will actually have a name other than "New". While it hasn't been revealed, people are starting to wonder what it will be. The most interesting suggestion I've heard so far is Gore House, for Al Gore. He's this year's commencement speaker (très passionnant) and so it's possible for the announcement to coincide with his speech. I suppose it's fitting, given it was the first LEED-certified dormitory in the country and he is such an environmental activist. However, he really has no other affiliations to the university, so I find it odd that he would donate that much money for his name on a building at a college to which he has no connections.

Anyhoo, keep a lookout for that announcement. It will be weird to have New House under a different name. I lived there three years ago, and to all who lived there it will forever be just New House. And to think, the Orientation Leaders and Counselors will have to come up with all new cheers for the building.... ^_^

Let's Get Purple!

2008-04-20T19:39:00.003-04:00

Carnival was really fun this year. I spent a lot of time with a ton of different people, and the booths this year were pretty great. It was also a record-breaking year for buggy, as SDC and Pika both broke the speed record set by Spirit 20 years ago several times. Soundbytes alums also came back, and while I didn't get to hang out with them as much as I would have liked, it was good to see them.

Also, I attended Holi for the first time, which was incredibly fun. I was nearly unrecognizable by the end, and so was everyone else. Now to just get the color off me.... (which will probably take a while).

Winter melts into spring

2008-04-15T23:06:00.004-04:00

Winter is officially over. It has been for a while I guess, but the weather has been so gorgeous lately I just needed to punctuate it with a reminder that it is truly the height of spring here in Pittsburgh. And lest we forget, Carnival starts tomorrow; officially Thursday, but no one minds celebrating early. Unfortunately, only one of my classes is canceled for the rest of the week. Heinz doesn't observe our little holiday, but I will anyway. I'm still an undergraduate in name!

To reminisce a bit, I'd like to recall my previous three Carnivals. (I honestly can't believe I've been here four years).

Year 1: I ended up getting sick, so right after seeing The Shins concert, and feeling very under the weather, I slept through the rest of Carnival on Niquil. It was also my first Carnival concert with Soundbytes, where we had pictures taken of the group I will probably have with me forever. I <3 those amazing people.

Year 2: The first time I got drunk. I was a late-bloomer, but I eventually learned to enjoy alcohol. ^_-

Year 3: This year was a doozy. I dove whole-heartedly into the festivities unlike previous years and enjoyed myself immensely. I participated in booth for the first time (Fringe Trap won third place!!) and also got to see buggy for the first time. The best Carnival yet, and there are certainly some unforgettable memories. Even if I forget, I'll still have the pictures....

Year 4: Starts tomorrow! We'll see how it measures up. I don't expect to get nearly so drunk or participate half as much (if you've seen buggy once, there's really no need to see it again), but I think I'll still have fun.

Also, last Saturday was Soundbytes first annual No Instruments Aloud Invitational Concert (we're still trying to come up with a name for it, defaulting on calling it NIA which is a definite misnomer). We spent the majority of the semester collaborating with members of The Originals to put together a huge concert, inviting groups we've performed with or know from other colleges. In total, we had six who performed: Soundbytes, The Originals, and Counterpoint from Carnegie Mellon, Cornell's Key Elements, Penn State's Savoir Faire, and the University of Pittsburgh's Sounds of Pleasure. It was unbelievably packed; we sold out McConomy, which I hadn't expected, especially given the fact that there were at least three other large events going on that evening. We usually don't charge for concerts, which made it all the more incredible that we got the crowd we did.

One of my favorite parts about the concert was the film. We decided to theme the concert and film skits about a cappella life, in the vein of The Real World and The Office. It was called Real World Pittsburgh: True Confessions of an A Cappella Group. They ended up being absolutely hilarious, and probably made the concert. If you'd like to see it, look up Soundbytes on facebook; it's listed as "No Instruments Aloud 2008 video". I have a pretty large part in it. :)

The groups we invited turned out to be great people. I spent most of the time with members of Key Elements, who rock. Hopefully we can invite people back next year, and expand the concert to make it a yearly, well-attended event.

In other news, my plans are underway for going to Australia. I still can't believe I'm going, but I'm so incredibly excited!!! I'm going to schedule my classes next week, and this weekend during my down time I'm going to begin the visa process. I also need to nail down a place to live and a summer internship, but I'm hoping I can smooth those out pretty quickly.

Fate Intervenes

2008-04-04T13:22:00.003-04:00

I've never been a big believer in destiny. Maybe it's because I love thinking that I have some control over my life, or that I just don't believe in any higher power pulling the strings of our lives (or both). I also have thought it was an easy way to mask reality and find meaning in mere coincidence. However, some great things have been happening to me lately, that while I certainly don't ascribe them to fate or my innate destiny for greatness, they have certainly improved my life in ways I hadn't expected.

Mostly, this concerns one area: Australia. It is pretty common knowledge that I have been wanting to go on an exchange there next year. However, I recently have settled on plans that make this nearly certain (99%). Not only will I be studying in Adelaide for a semester, but I will also be working there from June-August before classes begin. The exchange is heavily supported by my school, to the point where they are actually giving me some funding! I have never thought it could work out so well or so easily, and I will be living there for longer than I anticipated, which is amazing. So from June to December, consider me an expatriate!!

It has been a dream of mine since I can remember to study abroad, and my commitments in Pittsburgh over the last four years made it impossible. This opportunity gives me an incredible end to an incredible college experience, and I think it's really lucky.

Everything works out for the best sometimes, I guess. I was sad that I didn't get the job in Portland, but this is so much better! And the rest of the semester is looking to be jam-packed with fun things to do. It's going to be a race to the finish, but I'm looking forward to [almost] every minute of it.

Also, I thought I'd share my senior yearbook photo. I'd gotten a bunch taken in February, and in looking over the proofs, this one was our favorite. There are a couple more I also liked, but we'll see if they make the final cut.

50 Days and Counting

2008-03-29T00:21:00.003-04:00

It is officially 50 days until I graduate! How crazy is that? It still doesn't feel quite real, like it's not really going to happen, even though I've already ordered my cap and gown, and started looking at diploma frames.

This year has gone by quickly and slowly, simultaneously. I was worried in September that I wouldn't be ready for this, the final stretch culminating in the closing of the (nearly) final chapter of my education. I have loved college, and at that point wasn't ready to leave, and couldn't even conceive of a me that was ready. I'm both happy, and sad, to say that it is no longer true. I am not only looking forward to the future of a life when I'm not in college, but I almost can't wait for it to arrive. I say almost, because there's still a lot of uncertainty and fear attached to it. I don't know where I'll be, what I'll be doing, or if I'll be successful at it. However, I'm still enjoying the not knowing. I suppose it helps that I'm sticking around for a graduate degree, but even that is more of an expedient to get a better and higher-paying job than a real desire to stay. While I do love Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon, it's getting to be time to leave. That's probably one of the reasons why I'm so excited for the opportunity to go to Australia. (While not set in stone, it's looking more and more certain that I'll be there for about 9 months). I think I would have very much regretted not studying abroad later in life, so it's almost fate that I am able to get everything I originally wanted from my college experience so easily.

As of right now though, I have a loose agenda for the final 50. I plan to spend as much time with the people I love from Carnegie Mellon as possible. Who knows when we'll see each other again? My four years needs a proper and happy conclusion, and I'll be damned if I let anything stand in the way. ^_^

4000

2008-03-24T22:03:00.009-04:00

The Iraq War has just claimed the life of a 4,000th soldier. This has been all over the news, just as nearly every soldier's death has been marked by overwhelming press coverage. I recently got an email from the College Democrats informing me that there will be a vigil tomorrow night to speak out against the war and honor those 4,000 dead soldiers.

Perhaps I am being callous and unfeeling, and while I do feel for those families who have lost someone due to this war, to be honest I don't particularly care. Soldiers go into the military knowing full well they could be laying down their life for the protection of the United States. Their families know this too. And while we should honor them for doing this so selflessly, I don't think it should be called a tragedy, but perhaps a mistake.

The real tragedy here is that there is one figure that is NEVER reported, and that is far more shocking: the Iraqi civilian body count. It is estimated to be between 82,394 and 89,914. Look at this news from the IBC, just yesterday:

Sunday 23 March: 74 dead

Baghdad: rocket/mortar attacks kill 19 (4 children among them); gunmen shoot 7 dead, Zafaraniya; suicide car bomber kills 5, Shula; roadside bomb kills 1, Mansour; 6 bodies.

Diyala
Abu Saida: gunmen kill policeman and his driver.
Baquba: gunmen kill policeman; mortars kill 2; 2 children (8 and 10 years old) are blown up by bomb in playground.
Nahar Sabah: 15 (most from the same family) die in US air strike.
Muqdadiya: 2 bodies.

Kirkuk
Kirkuk: roadside bomb kills policeman.

Wassit
Kut: 3 killed by mortars; 2 bodies.

Ninewa
Mosul: car bombs kill 2; 4 bodies.

These aren't soldiers, these are children, civilians, workers just trying to go to their jobs. The IBC records the numbers of actual violent deaths, non-combatant only. And I am expected to feel bad for the 4,000th soldier who died doing his job, a job he or she accepted willingly? We don't have a draft in this country, our military is completely voluntary.

Am I sad to hear that 4,000 soldiers have died since 2003? Yes. Especially because I think this war has needed to be over for a while. But my reasons for wanting it to end are not just those, to put it bluntly, selfish reasons that have been bandied around for a couple of years now: the exorbitant cost, the cost of US lives, the lack of justification (now that the WMD thing has been proven false), etc. We invaded a country that was ruled by an historically vicious dictator, but their government was not much worse than any other in their region, and in many ways better than others (Sudan, North Korea anyone?). At least before the country had some semblance of stability. Now it is being torn apart by violent factions that our army doesn't seem to have any control over. Regardless of what we do, whether we leave in a year or remain for 50, the power structure of the Middle East is changed, and I don't think it will be in our favor. The only thing this war has increased are graves.

Bush should not be "express[ing] sorrow" over the US deaths, but for the over 82,000 Iraqis that have been slain and murdered as a result of the chaos we have created in their country, for the 74 killed yesterday, for the however many die tomorrow. As a reference point, the Iraqi count is more than 20 times the US loss in the last 5 years. More than 20 times. It's time our leaders get some perspective....

The Obama Bargain

2008-03-20T10:38:00.004-04:00

In a follow-up to my recent post on Barack Obama's speech on race, I'd like to share an article my parents sent me. It is widely known, I think, that I am a liberal daughter of extremely conservative parents. This has, for the most part, deterred me from discussing politics with them, and I'm very careful in what I do say and share; the last thing I want is to create animosity and anger between us, which comes with the territory when people with decided and opposing political views try to discuss them.

However, I sent them the video of Obama's speech anyway, in the hope that they would be affected by it and his candidacy in a greater way. I suppose I had hoped that it would begin a conversation about the election, and reveal their opinion of him more decidedly. (I am already aware of the distaste they both share for Hillary Clinton, and to some lesser extent John McCain). In response, they sent me this article, posted below. Written by Shelby Steele, a research fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford (i.e. a conservative policy think tank), and published in the Wall Street Journal, it takes a very pessimistic and negative view of Obama's campaign.

I was disgusted by it, to the point where I could barely finish it (so beware to the reader). The arguments made about racial iniquities in America have been around for decades, dare I say over a hundred years. These are not false, or misinformed. They have existed, and it is a stain on the country's history that African Americans and other minorities have been treated so shamefully by our system of government, and by its people. However, to use this argument against a black presidential candidate is, in my opinion, despicable. I am certain that his views, if the situation was reversed and Obama did not have the support and momentum he does, would be the same. Steele states that the only reason he is "in his position" in the race is due to his own race. That his heritage is the only reason he has gained so much popular support. He references Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton's campaigns in the 1980s and '90s to establish connection, that like them, "Mr. Obama's run at the presidency is based more on the manipulation of white guilt than on substance". And yet, the arguments made for why they never made it were racial as well: they didn't make it because they are black, their "position" was solely due to their race. Essentially, he is arguing that black candidates for political positions like president are damned if they have support, and damned if they don't. Regardless, it is only because they are black that it is so.

Steele does not believe that Obama will win the presidency. Obama, he says, as used his race well in "bargaining" for the competitive position he has right now, with his promise of appeasing the "hunger for white innocence" and ending black inferiority. He "hopes to ascend [to power] on the back of [white] gratitude", but ultimately will not prevail. To thus simplify what has so far been an excellent and competitive political campaign in those "black and white" terms belittles Obama in the most offensive way possible. To Steele, he is not talented, appealing, intelligent, or wise, but simply a sly black man vying for the favor of a racist white America.

The historic nature of his candidacy is what is most attractive about him, Steele states. However, he overlooks a crucial point, one that I also find offensive and disparaging. Hillary Clinton is also an historic candidate, and yet the fact that she is a woman running in a country where gender discrimination is very real is never given a thought. She is dumped unceremoniously with the rest of the 2008 candidates because she is white. Apparently to Steele, the nuances of race are the only ones that matter.

In one aspect I do concede to Steele: Obama is on occasion lacking in what he calls a "galvanizing political idea". He can be rather vague about his tangible plans for acting upon the changes he seeks to make, and is sometimes even ambiguous about what those changes should be. However, I would like to believe that the reason he is supported despite these failings is because of his incredible ability to inspire us as Americans, not as white Americans or as black Americans or as Asian or Hispanic or Native Americans. There is a choice we make, to remain rooted to the past as Steele seems to be, with his negativity and pessimism towards the motivations of our nation's citizens (not just in this article, but in his many published works), or to embrace the potential of a future where our differences unite us, not divide us. We cannot hope to solve the problems of racial injustice in this country when we still allow ourselves to blame each other for it. We need to reconcile those problems, not chain ourselves to them.

Barack Obama has never been appealing to me because he is black, in just the same way as Hillary Clinton is not because she is a woman. I base my support as purely as I can on the merit of each candidacy. That is how I feel Obama has run his campaign thus far, addressing race only when it was completely necessary. Maybe I'm too much of an idealist, but I feel Steele is sorely mistaken in his assessment of Obama's campaign, and hope to see him proven wrong.

The Obama Bargain

By SHELBY STEELE
March 18, 2008; Page A23

Geraldine Ferraro may have had sinister motives when she said that Barack Obama would not be "in his position" as a frontrunner but for his race. Possibly she was acting as Hillary Clinton's surrogate. Or maybe she was simply befuddled by this new reality -- in which blackness could constitute a political advantage.
But whatever her motives, she was right: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position." Barack Obama is, of course, a very talented politician with a first-rate political organization at his back. But it does not detract from his merit to say that his race is also a large part of his prominence. And it is undeniable that something extremely powerful in the body politic, a force quite apart from the man himself, has pulled Obama forward. This force is about race and nothing else.

The novelty of Barack Obama is more his cross-racial appeal than his talent. Jesse Jackson displayed considerable political talent in his presidential runs back in the 1980s. But there was a distinct limit to his white support. Mr. Obama's broad appeal to whites makes him the first plausible black presidential candidate in American history. And it was Mr. Obama's genius to understand this. Though he likes to claim that his race was a liability to be overcome, he also surely knew that his race could give him just the edge he needed -- an edge that would never be available to a white, not even a white woman.

How to turn one's blackness to advantage?

The answer is that one "bargains." Bargaining is a mask that blacks can wear in the American mainstream, one that enables them to put whites at their ease. This mask diffuses the anxiety that goes along with being white in a multiracial society. Bargainers make the subliminal promise to whites not to shame them with America's history of racism, on the condition that they will not hold the bargainer's race against him. And whites love this bargain -- and feel affection for the bargainer -- because it gives them racial innocence in a society where whites live under constant threat of being stigmatized as racist. So the bargainer presents himself as an opportunity for whites to experience racial innocence.

This is how Mr. Obama has turned his blackness into his great political advantage, and also into a kind of personal charisma. Bargainers are conduits of white innocence, and they are as popular as the need for white innocence is strong. Mr. Obama's extraordinary dash to the forefront of American politics is less a measure of the man than of the hunger in white America for racial innocence.

His actual policy positions are little more than Democratic Party boilerplate and hardly a tick different from Hillary's positions. He espouses no galvanizing political idea. He is unable to say what he means by "change" or "hope" or "the future." And he has failed to say how he would actually be a "unifier." By the evidence of his slight political record (130 "present" votes in the Illinois state legislature, little achievement in the U.S. Senate) Barack Obama stacks up as something of a mediocrity. None of this matters much.

Race helps Mr. Obama in another way -- it lifts his political campaign to the level of allegory, making it the stuff of a far higher drama than budget deficits and education reform. His dark skin, with its powerful evocations of America's tortured racial past, frames the political contest as a morality play. Will his victory mean America's redemption from its racist past? Will his defeat show an America morally unevolved? Is his campaign a story of black overcoming, an echo of the civil rights movement? Or is it a passing-of-the-torch story, of one generation displacing another?

Because he is black, there is a sense that profound questions stand to be resolved in the unfolding of his political destiny. And, as the Clintons have discovered, it is hard in the real world to run against a candidate of destiny. For many Americans -- black and white -- Barack Obama is simply too good (and too rare) an opportunity to pass up. For whites, here is the opportunity to document their deliverance from the shames of their forbearers. And for blacks, here is the chance to document the end of inferiority. So the Clintons have found themselves running more against America's very highest possibilities than against a man. And the press, normally happy to dispel every political pretension, has all but quivered before Mr. Obama. They, too, have feared being on the wrong side of destiny.

And yet, in the end, Barack Obama's candidacy is not qualitatively different from Al Sharpton's or Jesse Jackson's. Like these more irascible of his forbearers, Mr. Obama's run at the presidency is based more on the manipulation of white guilt than on substance. Messrs. Sharpton and Jackson were "challengers," not bargainers. They intimidated whites and demanded, in the name of historical justice, that they be brought forward. Mr. Obama flatters whites, grants them racial innocence, and hopes to ascend on the back of their gratitude. Two sides of the same coin.

But bargainers have an Achilles heel. They succeed as conduits of white innocence only as long as they are largely invisible as complex human beings. They hope to become icons that can be identified with rather than seen, and their individual complexity gets in the way of this. So bargainers are always laboring to stay invisible. (We don't know the real politics or convictions of Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan or Oprah Winfrey, bargainers all.) Mr. Obama has said of himself, "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views . . ." And so, human visibility is Mr. Obama's Achilles heel. If we see the real man, his contradictions and bents of character, he will be ruined as an icon, as a "blank screen."

Thus, nothing could be more dangerous to Mr. Obama's political aspirations than the revelation that he, the son of a white woman, sat Sunday after Sunday -- for 20 years -- in an Afrocentric, black nationalist church in which his own mother, not to mention other whites, could never feel comfortable. His pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is a challenger who goes far past Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson in his anti-American outrage ("God damn America").

How does one "transcend" race in this church? The fact is that Barack Obama has fellow-traveled with a hate-filled, anti-American black nationalism all his adult life, failing to stand and challenge an ideology that would have no place for his own mother. And what portent of presidential judgment is it to have exposed his two daughters for their entire lives to what is, at the very least, a subtext of anti-white vitriol?

What could he have been thinking? Of course he wasn't thinking. He was driven by insecurity, by a need to "be black" despite his biracial background. And so fellow-traveling with a little race hatred seemed a small price to pay for a more secure racial identity. And anyway, wasn't this hatred more rhetorical than real?

But now the floodlight of a presidential campaign has trained on this usually hidden corner of contemporary black life: a mindless indulgence in a rhetorical anti-Americanism as a way of bonding and of asserting one's blackness. Yet Jeremiah Wright, splashed across America's television screens, has shown us that there is no real difference between rhetorical hatred and real hatred.

No matter his ultimate political fate, there is already enough pathos in Barack Obama to make him a cautionary tale. His public persona thrives on a manipulation of whites (bargaining), and his private sense of racial identity demands both self-betrayal and duplicity. His is the story of a man who flew so high, yet neglected to become himself.

Mr. Steele, a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the author of "A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win" (Free Press, 2007).

Young Talent Spotlight

2008-03-19T15:32:00.003-04:00

This is a rather strange topic for me to write about, because it's about a person. A little-known person too, and one I've never met. I know if she googles her name and finds my post, it would be probably weird but gratifying. Don't worry, I'm not a stalker, I just really like your music!

To those who are unfamiliar, you should check out Julia Easterlin, an 18-year-old student at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Her music is fantastic, from what I've heard so far: jazz with a very unique sound, subtly rock-influenced, and her voice is phenomenal (and I seldom praise female voices). My brother introduced me to her, and I'm really glad he did. It's rare for me to find an up-and-coming artist before they hit it big, and I think she will soon. Her early and great proficiency makes me feel old and unaccomplished, but I still appreciate it, and look forward to hearing more from this talented young musician.

Speechless

2008-03-18T22:36:00.002-04:00

Obama's speech will go down in history as one of the best modern speeches about America's ongoing racial divide and the failure to address the roots of it.
- Dallas Morning News

For a 40 minute speech, my mind didn't wander. I watched it mesmerized by his power to capture the essence of a complex and controversial subject. He stated in more eloquent terms everything I had previously thought about the racial divide in America. He just gets it. And what's more, he gets how to convey it. He managed to take a divisive issue and talk about it rationally, calmly, and thoroughly. Notice how the crowd is silent for nearly the duration of the speech. His speeches make you speechless, and that is why he needs to be president. If he can connect with Americans as he does so well, unite them in the way he has his entire campaign, maybe we have a chance at solving the problems that plague us. Maybe we have a chance at moving the country forward. Maybe we finally have a chance.

Waiting for Godot

2008-03-16T21:31:00.003-04:00

This was my last spring break. Well, undergraduate anyway, I think. Things get confuddled when one is planning on studying abroad. I spent a few days in Toronto, during which time I saw Waiting for Godot, a very famous play by Samuel Beckett. (Incidentally, I loved Toronto, and could very easily see myself living there, the cold and snow notwithstanding).

I loved the play. It really fit my current mood, because I've been in a real funk the past few weeks, and don't know why. To be honest, I've kind of been in a funk for a while, but it seemed to be more severe recently. If you haven't seen it or read it, you must. It is absurdist, so don't worry, it's supposed to be that way. And by that way, I mean confusing, untraditional, and lacking in the common features you usually see in a plot. In watching it performed you really get the full weight of its meaning: the repetition and futility of life. While seated, you are intrigued and yet bored by the character's interplay, which I think is how it's meant to be. The conversation is dull and goes over the same things again and again (e.g. "Go-Go: I'm going to leave. Di-Di: You can't. Go-Go: Why not? Di-Di: Because we're waiting for Godot!" repeats many many times throughout both acts.) The time moves slowly, and the scene doesn't change. There are few characters. You feel the full weight of their own boredom and the struggle to find things to pass the time. In the end, there is no resolution. It is readily apparent that both acts (essentially the same in structure and content) form a representative sample of the whole of their lives. Nothing changes, Godot never comes. They continue waiting.

Most interpretations of the play say that the two main characters, Estragon and Vladimir (Go-Go and Di-Di) represent all of humanity. The constant struggle for them to wait for Godot, someone who will never arrive, can mirror the futility of life itself, the fact that we wait for nothing, because it never comes, whatever that nothing may be. Godot is often considered to represent God, which makes sense given much of the dialogue in the play, but Beckett has said this is an incorrect interpretation, and that he never meant it to be so.

I found the play to be tragic, depressing, but wonderfully done and exactly fitting a very pessimistic mood, most likely brought on by other factors I won't mention here. The theater we saw it at was great, the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, deep in the Distillery District. The audience for this play was less than 30 people, and we were front and center, about 10 feet from the actors. It made for an enveloping experience.

Don't fret for me and my mood, however, if you would do so. I think that a lot of the factors that were contributing to it will (hopefully) go away soon. Then I can go back to being my chipper self.

100 Films

2008-03-16T20:57:00.004-04:00

I've been searching for a good list of the the best films ever made. There are many, but I think I'm going to reference the American Film Institute's. It was created from a poll of 1500 artists and other members of the film industry, so I'll take it as a pretty good averaging of what people think of as the best movies ever made. I've looked at Time's list, imdb's, and others, but I feel like the AFI's is the most representative of qualified opinion, and I just decided to go with it (sometimes my choices are made arbitrarily, ah well). There is a reason behind all of this, of course. I'm going to try to watch all of the ones I have never seen on it. I feel that it's important to not just see movies, but see the best ones. If I'm going to spend 2 hours sitting in front of my tv, I might as well infuse that time with as much culture, history, emotion, and great acting as possible. And when I see myself watching tv as much as I do (more than I would like, but it IS hard to get away from), I want to do something productive with it, to stop myself from watching the trash so many people are addicted to (Family Guy, while funny, is by no means something I wish to spend more time watching). So I'm going to start renting movies from the library, if they have them, or getting them from The Dreaming Ant, a great dvd rental place on Craig Street that I love.

Rather than taking the list of best picture winners and watching them, I decided to go with these lists primarily because there's a lot of overlap, and many critics believe that many of the best films never won, or in some cases were even nominated, for the award. Citizen Kane wasn't, and it is considered to be one of the most influential films ever made. Unfortunately, the list is made of American films only. One day I might delve into foreign film more deeply, and I truly love many a foreign movie (Water or Spirited Away, anyone?) but then I think I would spend all my time on my couch. They've also updated this list since 1998, when it was first made, but I think I'll just stick to this one. Otherwise it gets far too complicated. We'll see how far I get.

As it is, I think I've already seen about half of the films on this list (go me!). Now to seek out the rest. The one's I have yet to see are in bold. One of the worst things, though, is that I've seen bits of far more than what's shown. But because I haven't seen them the whole way through, I haven't counted them. Ah well. I can even make this more fun, and see if I can get any friends to join me.

1	Citizen Kane	1941
2	Casablanca	1942
3	The Godfather	1972
4	Gone with the Wind	1939
5	Lawrence of Arabia	1962
6	The Wizard of Oz	1939
7	The Graduate	1967
8	On the Waterfront	1954
9	Schindler's List	1993
10	Singin' in the Rain	1952
11	It's a Wonderful Life	1946
12	Sunset Boulevard	1950
13	The Bridge on the River Kwai	1957
14	Some Like It Hot	1959
15	Star Wars	1977
16	All About Eve	1950
17	The African Queen	1951
18	Psycho	1960
19	Chinatown	1974
20	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	1975
21	The Grapes of Wrath	1940
22	2001: A Space Odyssey	1968
23	The Maltese Falcon	1941
24	Raging Bull	1980
25	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	1982
26	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb	1964
27	Bonnie and Clyde	1967
28	Apocalypse Now	1979
29	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	1939
30	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre	1948
31	Annie Hall	1977
32	The Godfather Part II	1974
33	High Noon	1952
34	To Kill a Mockingbird	1962
35	It Happened One Night	1934
36	Midnight Cowboy	1969
37	The Best Years of Our Lives	1946
38	Double Indemnity	1944
39	Doctor Zhivago	1965
40	North by Northwest	1959
41	West Side Story	1961
42	Rear Window	1954
43	King Kong	1933
44	The Birth of a Nation	1915
45	A Streetcar Named Desire	1951
46	A Clockwork Orange	1971
47	Taxi Driver	1976
48	Jaws	1975
49	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	1937
50	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	1969
51	The Philadelphia Story	1940
52	From Here to Eternity	1953
53	Amadeus	1984
54	All Quiet on the Western Front	1930
55	The Sound of Music	1965
56	MASH*	1970
57	The Third Man	1949
58	Fantasia	1940
59	Rebel Without a Cause	1955
60	Raiders of the Lost Ark	1981
61	Vertigo	1958
62	Tootsie	1982
63	Stagecoach	1939
64	Close Encounters of the Third Kind	1977
65	The Silence of the Lambs	1991
66	Network	1976
67	The Manchurian Candidate	1962
68	An American in Paris	1951
69	Shane	1953
70	The French Connection	1971
71	Forrest Gump	1994
72	Ben-Hur	1959
73	Wuthering Heights	1939
74	The Gold Rush	1925
75	Dances with Wolves	1990
76	City Lights	1931
77	American Graffiti	1973
78	Rocky	1976
79	The Deer Hunter	1978
80	The Wild Bunch	1969
81	Modern Times	1936
82	Giant	1956
83	Platoon	1986
84	Fargo	1996
85	Duck Soup	1933
86	Mutiny on the Bounty	1935
87	Frankenstein	1931
88	Easy Rider	1969
89	Patton	1970
90	The Jazz Singer	1927
91	My Fair Lady	1964
92	A Place in the Sun	1951
93	The Apartment	1960
94	Goodfellas	1990
95	Pulp Fiction	1994
96	The Searchers	1956
97	Bringing Up Baby	1938
98	Unforgiven	1992
99	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner	1967
100	Yankee Doodle Dandy	1942

Why don't people blog anymore?

2008-03-06T01:37:00.003-05:00

Seriously. I'm usually fairly regular about it, once a week or so, partly because I like using my blog as a means of connecting with people I see rarely, and partly to keep a history of what I've been up to, to reference in the future (at least, that would be an option). However, much of what I love about blogs has nothing to do with mine, but with those I try to read. I enjoy hearing other people's thoughts on a variety of subjects, and usually it's a treat to read something well-written and thought out. But recently most of the blogs I peruse regularly have gone off the radar, and nothing has been published in months. It's sad, but true, that I miss these regular updates, even from people I see several times a week. If they don't update now, what's going to happen when I don't see them everyday? This has already started happening, and will be even more significant in a few months.... Graduation is just 73 days away, people! Let's stay connected. Indulge my voyeuristic tendencies! Update! Update more often!!

That is all. :)

No Snow Can Stop Us!

2008-03-03T17:20:00.002-05:00

Enjoy my pictures from the most recent Soundbytes weekend tour. We went back to my hometown (for the 4th time) to sing at my high school, and the next day we performed at Cornell University. Despite the awful driving weather (it took 8 hours to drive what is normally 5 1/2), good times were had by all.

Another Tasty Recipe

2008-02-27T00:03:00.002-05:00

As promised, here's the recipe a couple residents and I made for an Iron Chef competition. Bear in mind that I have no idea of the proportions, so you're free to interpret it as you will, and substitute accordingly. It's a pretty basic dish that can clearly be changed based on your tastes and ingredients on hand.

Portuguese-Inspired Rice Patties

Patty Mixture

1-1 1/2 cups of rice, sticky or sushi preferred
1-2 onions, diced
1 lb. mushrooms, chopped finely
salt, pepper, garlic and thyme to taste
grated cheese (we used cheddar, but any kind would work)

Blackberry Sauce

1 carton blackberries
garlic to taste
water

Boil the rice until cooked. While the rice is cooking, sautee the onions and mushrooms together with oil and spices. Mix rice and mushroom mixture together in a large bowl with cheese. The resulting mixture should stick together well. Form mixture into small balls and fry in a pan with oil until brown. Tip: use plastic wrap to form balls, as it makes the step much cleaner and easier.

Create the blackberry reduction by cooking down the blackberries, garlic, and water in a pot until smooth.

When finished, drizzle blackberry sauce onto patties and serve.

---------------------------

This can be done in many ways, using any kind of ingredients you want. We used onions and mushrooms, but any other vegetable (or meat) would do nicely as well. The foundational ingredients are the rice and cheese (and the cheese can be varied as well), so after that, it's up to you!

Nutcases

2008-02-26T23:49:00.002-05:00

There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.
- Kurt Vonnegut

I don't know if you watched the last Democratic debate tonight, but while it rehashed many of the same sticking points each candidate has with one another, and went over the nuances of the health care packages of both ad nauseam, it was good to see them talk yet again. And once more, in my opinion, Obama comes off as the reasoned and gracious debater, if a bit rough around the edges, while Clinton's scathing sarcasm and pointed remarks about Obama did more to damage her image than his.

So be on the lookout next Tuesday, because if Hillary doesn't win Ohio and Texas, it could be over for her....

Creamy Vegan Rice Pudding

2008-02-21T01:25:00.002-05:00

Sounds like it would be really weird/bad, but it's incredibly fast and good! The soymilk still makes it creamy, but it feels a lot lighter than rice pudding normally is. All in all, tasty as a dessert, snack, or dare I say, breakfast?

Next I'll post my resident's winning recipe for these awesome rice patty blackberry things. I need to come up with a better name, but they were darn tasty and won us the house's Iron Chef competition. :)

Vegan Rice Pudding

2 cups water
1 cup Arborio rice (or any rice really)
3 cups vanilla soy milk
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
(I also added raisins)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Bring the water to a boil in a medium sized, heavy, ovenproof saucepan. Add the rice, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, until rice is nearly cooked. In a large bowl, whisk the soymilk, sugar, and salt. When the rice is cooked and still hot, add the soymilk mixture and cinnamon stick. Cover, place in the oven and cook for 45 minutes. Rehydrate the raisins (optional ingredient) by pouring boiling water over them, and let sit for 5 minutes. Drain.

Remove from the oven, uncover, and remove the cinnamon stick. Stir in the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and raisins. Pudding will be slightly liquidy; the liquid will continue to absorb into the rice and thicken as the pudding cools. Dust with cinnamon and nutmeg, if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.

2008-02-11T01:40:00.000-05:00

I <3 PostSecret

99

2008-02-09T18:26:00.000-05:00

It is officially 99 days until I graduate! It's a mixed bag, because I'm realizing more and more how much I want to graduate, but I'm still not totally ready for the change. I guess the Heinz School will be my buffer period. :)

In other news, I fell in love with a new art form: hot glass. Today was the first day of my glass-blowing class, and it was incredibly fun. I'm looking forward to my next classes, and actually getting to make something (which won't happen for several weeks).

I also saw Across the Universe last night, a.k.a. one of the best movies I've seen in a while. They really GOT The Beatles, and the cast performed the songs so well. The arrangements of the songs were also great. Plus, Jim Sturgess is just hot.

All in all, rather random. But yay!

Improv Everywhere

2008-02-02T17:54:00.000-05:00

I recently stumbled upon this awesome organization (thank you Angela!) and find it one of the most refreshing things I've seen in a while. A group of people getting together to do something outrageous and random, to make strangers laugh (or get angry, or puzzle them, depending). I particularly like the No Pants mission.

After seeing what they've done, I really want to participate. I think it would be a ton of fun, and it totally fits me, because I love doing random things that connect people. However, I also tend to be one with some inhibitions to overcome in order to do things like this, and subsequently don't do it enough. So being involved in a mission with a lot of other people doing the same thing would help break them.

Delicious Ambiguity

2008-01-27T01:21:00.000-05:00

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.

- Gilda Radner

That is truly what life is all about. Sometimes it's better not to know where it will lead you next.

Cold

2008-01-20T20:26:00.000-05:00

It's finally chilled down in Pittsburgh. While there is still no snow, 11 degrees definitely makes you bundle up and get inside as soon as possible. Well, except for me. I love this weather; I know it's not the greatest when you're waiting for a bus for 20 minutes, but brisk air is so invigorating, and it also makes you appreciate the warmth of comfy sweaters, soft blankets, and hot stew.

I've forgotten how much fun cooking can be. Last semester I didn't take the time to do much cooking outside of simple pasta or quick stir fries, but I'm branching out this semester. This might also have to do with the fact that I got two great new cookbooks for Christmas: The Complete Vegetarian, and a book of Indian cooking. There are some great recipes in them, and I'm dying to try many of them. I recently made a Lentil Soup that was divine (lentils are the best, incidentally). It's super easy and requires few ingredients, and yet still is so tasty and filling.

Lentil Soup

1/2 cup lentils
2 1/2 cups water
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 green onions with green tops, chopped
1/2 cup chopped, tightly packed, washed fresh spinach
1 medium unpeeled red or white potato, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 small celery stalk, finely sliced
1/2 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt

Bring lentils and water to a boil in a medium-sized pot. Reduce the heat to simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the vegetables

Add the vegetables, garlic, and oil. Cover and continue simmering the soup for 20 minutes. Add the cumin and salt and cook for a few more minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Serve.

The great thing about this recipe is that it's pretty forgiving. You don't have to add all the vegetables if you don't have them, and it will still be good, and you can add different spices if you wish for a different flavor. It's also really healthy, high in protein (go lentils!) and low in fat. In future experiments, I might add different vegetables, and change the spices, but it's pretty darn good on it's own, and is hearty enough to satisfy you without anything else (though fresh bread goes really well with it too).

Debate

2008-01-16T00:12:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the Las Vegas Democratic debate between the three remaining candidates of the Democratic Party, Clinton, Edwards, and Obama. It was a great way to understand more of their opinions on the big issues like the economy, the environment, the military, welfare, health care, etc. Shrewd viewers can even sift through the rhetoric to uncover the candidates' true opinions, and the weaknesses in their views. I recommend looking at it if you didn't watch it tonight; I'm sure it can be found on youtube or some such.

That being said, my first impressions seemed to gravitate again to Barack Obama, as it has been more and more since he first announced his candidacy. He seems to have viewpoints and plans I really agree with, and truly understand the reality of many complex situations. Edwards, by contrast, is more extreme than the other two, and his goals seem too infeasible when grouped together. Too much money going out to programs (which are good ideas on paper) but no real way to finance them realistically. Hillary Clinton has always rubbed me the wrong way, and has never seemed genuine. Her overconfidence is something that I find a negative trait rather than positive.

Unfortunately, the pundits analyzing the debate after the fact seem to think that Hillary came off really strong and seems the most viable candidate at the moment, which I didn't really see at the time. I understand how they came to that position now, but it all seems like they were judging her rhetoric and confidence rather than the actual content of her answers, which honestly weren't all that compelling (though now I might be unintentionally biased). She seems to be trying to undermine the Obama campaign by aligning her views with him, and not the other way around, and playing up her experience, which is nothing to sniff at. However, I think there is something to be said for new blood, and all the experience in the world doesn't necessarily mean that you are a better fit for the presidency if your ideas and presence in politics are stale and unexciting.

First Pictures

2008-01-02T22:48:00.000-05:00

These are some of the best of the first pictures I took with my new baby. (^_^) They're of my dog and the backyard, mostly, though I did take sample shots to practice using the features I'm unfamiliar with, like Color Accenting and Color Swapping (which is so much fun). The top one was taken with the wind blowing. They are all far clearer than most taken with my other camera. It's a welcome change. (Click on the picture to blow it up to full size).

Camera

2007-12-31T00:50:00.001-05:00

I just bought a new camera! Well, I got it for Christmas.... kinda. I had been gently informing my parents for about a year now that my current camera, a Nikon Coolpix 5600, was completely inadequate for anyone who actually wants decent photographs. This year they decided to buy me one (how nice of them!), but didn't know what to get, and figured I knew what I wanted enough that they probably couldn't pick it out without consulting me first. So after Christmas I began to look for cameras, and found this one, with some help (-_^):

Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS 8.0MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

It is, in a nutshell, amazing. It's about a half-step down from a full-blown digital SLR, and thus much more powerful than a regular point-and-shoot. 12x zoom, image stabilization, dozens of scene settings, the option for manual calibration as well, and lots of other great things about it I'm sure I'm forgetting. It's several orders of magnitude better than my old Coolpix, and probably one of the best cameras on the market for its class. The only real drawback is that it is quite large (about 15 oz) and bulky, so it will be more difficult to take places easily. I waffled on my decision a lot because of this, and almost bought the Canon SX100, a similar camera, cheaper and a bit weaker in features, though about twice as light and more streamlined. However, many of the reviews I read said that it had a long flash recovery time, and that is probably the feature I despise the most about my current camera. It also doesn't have a viewfinder, and while I use it seldom, not having the option was somewhat disconcerting. So bye-bye the SX100 went, and all the arguments I had in favor of the S5 got that much stronger. I think I'll be really glad I got it. I guess I'll just have to get used to lugging around a big camera, and deal with the extra weight while backpacking (a valid concern, but it's not like a backpack that often anyway).

When I receive it, I'll probably post some pictures from it. (^_^)

Lasse Gjertsen

2007-12-29T16:08:00.001-05:00

I recently discovered this guy on youtube and he's so amazing! He films everything in time series, so the videos are just clips of video strung together expertly to create the illusion that he's playing the instrument, or walking down the street, or actually beatboxing. Check it out!

This is really awesome!

Probably my favorite. Norwegian is so cool!

And for all the beatboxers I know and love....

Happy Christmas!

2007-12-25T03:41:00.000-05:00

Yes, I say it the British way. Deal with it! Hope your's is a good one! And, in good Christmas tradition, I almost fainted at Midnight Mass... again. Yay me. Darn those heavy choir robes!

This year's Christmas tree.

Look at my little reindeer-wannabe!

Long Awaited Updates

2007-12-19T00:30:00.001-05:00

As I'm sure you've been waiting with breath that is bated.... It's been a while since I've posted, but that's to be expected at the end of the semester I suppose.

At least I finished my classes. It ended up being the most difficult end to the semester I think I've ever had. All of my classes had significant portions of the final grade due in the last few weeks. Combine that with RA-ing, RA interviews with next year, CoSO applications that still needed to be finalized, Soundbytes rehearsals and performances, and a few more things I've blocked out, and you get a crazed, sleepless few weeks. However, it's over now, and I guess I did the best I could under the circumstances, but of course I wish I'd done better.

A few pretty cool products came out of the classes I took this semester though. I learned all about how technological change affects economic growth (began to understand national growth models, why Asian countries are doing so well, etc.); designed two websites (pretty awful, but still cool for a newbie); delved into the complex system that is US regulation; made contributions to a class project in philosophy that finished with a website cataloging our efforts to map the philosophical arguments made by Hobbes, Hume, Kant, and others, as well as a book that will be soon published with very limited distribution (and details about the project itself will potentially be published in a high profile philosophical journal); and last but not least, worked on a semester-long project attempting to solve a current policy issue that culminated in a presentation to high-level civil servants in the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, among others (that same project might also be presented to FEMA in January). Not bad for a 21-year-old college student, I'd say. ^_^

Soundbytes' annual Winter Concert also went incredibly well. Each year it has been growing. All the a cappella groups on campus are invited to perform, and last year Soundbytes had hosted it in UC Connan to a packed crowd; people were literally sitting on floor and out the door. This year was The Originals turn to host it, and as the concert neared, it became apparent that Connan just wasn't going to be large enough to hold the number of people we were expecting to attend. Incredibly, we were able to get McConomy at the last minute! While certainly not filled to capacity (as it holds 500), it was definitely over half full by the end of the night, with people milling in and out during the 2-hour concert. When Soundbytes went on, there was a cheer from the crowd like we'd never heard from a CMU crowd before. They LOVED us, and the energy was great, better than anything we've had yet. I got extremely positive comments from a lot of people I knew after the concert, about how much they liked our set, how tight we sounded, how great we looked, and how we not only sang well, but performed too and were fun to watch! It was one of the best CMU concerts we've ever had, I think, and it's about time we moved a cappella to McConomy! Next semester we're looking to have a huge a cappella event, inviting a bunch of groups we've connected with from in and out of state to come and perform. It's been the product of years of discussion and plotting, and I think we have a good chance of it finally happening this Spring. So watch out for that!

I'm really looking forward to a month of chill time at home. I haven't been back for more than a few short weekends since last winter break, and I've really missed it. I'm going to spend most of it with my family (and in the house I expect), but I'm going to Wisconsin for a long weekend in January which I'm very much looking forward to. Another state off my list to visit! However, I can't believe when I get back that I'll be a second-semester senior! It hasn't actually penetrated yet that I am done with my major, and will never take another class in SDS again. All but one of my classes is at the graduate level next semester (one philosophy class to finish my second major), and in about 5 months time I'll be walking to get my degree in my cap and gown. While I'll still be coming back next year for my master's, nothing will be the same.

I won't even be living in the same environment next year either, which is another major switch. I found out today, after several rounds of interviews, that I am being offered an RA position in West Wing/Resnik (exact house to be determined). I wanted to return next year as an RA, knowing that I'll only be here for a semester as I'm going abroad in the spring, so in order to ensure that I got the best chance for placement, I interviewed for a variety of housing types. I was asked back for three interviews, which I think is rather a lot (people love me, I know), and ended up having a stellar interview with the Housefellow for West Wing/Resnik. It'll be a major change though, as I haven't lived on campus for three years, and even New House was farther off campus than West Wing. I've loved living in Oakland, and not having an apartment will be a significant adjustment. Luckily, it's only for a few months, and I think it will be for the best, since I can leave a lot of my apartment stuff at home. It would be a pain to store it in boxes here, or to take it back in December. And I'll also have a single, though I'd be sharing the suite with four other girls.... I'm just so glad I don't have to think about housing next year, either finding it or paying for it, which would be an incredible hassle.

All in all, I guess it was a pretty productive semester. Now I get to relax for a while, be with family, eat too much, get fat, catch up on sleep, and try to find an internship for this summer....

Fun in Florida

2007-11-30T22:13:00.000-05:00

Over Thanksgiving, my family went to Florida, primarily because my cousin was getting married on that Saturday. We decided to just spend the entire holiday there, and it ended up being really fun, and changing my opinion about traveling during Thanksgiving, which I had previously been against.

Thanksgiving night we saw the Blue Man Group; my dad had gotten tickets in the middle of the second row. It was awesome! However, I really thought the band behind the three blue men was better than them overall. My mom got pulled on stage and they used her in one of their performances. It was great.

The weather was amazing , about 85 and sunny the whole time, so we spent almost every day in the pool. Friday night was my cousin's rehearsal dinner, at this great Italian restaurant. It was also open bar, so everyone drank a lot. Actually, that was the story of the weekend: there was so much food, and so much free alcohol. I've never had so much to drink in a five-day period before. But I didn't overindulge, that would have been extremely awkward in front of my parents and family.

Saturday was the wedding, held in an outdoor garden similar to what Phipps would be outside. It was only fifteen minutes long though, which seemed kind of a waste, seeing at it took so long to get ready. We waited for the wedding for longer than it actually was. My cousin is visibly happy though, and her husband is really great.

The hotel we stayed at was directly on the beach, and it was the weirdest experience to lie on the beach in the middle of November. I'm not complaining though. I also made a friend that weekend; my cousin Noah is three, and fell in love with the red satin dress I wore to the wedding, and followed my around after and the next day. He liked to try to "drain" me in the pool (that was how he pronounced "drown").

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T11:53:00.001-05:00

The ultimate day of thanks. I figured, in the spirit of the holiday, I would write a long-needed Thankful Thursday, albeit a day late (a girl is busy, doncha know?). There are several things I've been meaning to post about, like the Soundbytes Boston trip (which was spectacular) but I have been so swamped recently that blogging took a back burner. That story will just have to wait until a later date.

- my family. I seem to put this down every time I do a Thankful Thursday, but I never cease to be thankful for them. They're always there for me and I never see enough of them. My brother in particular is the best, and I'm forever trying to be a better sister to him.
- having meaning in my life. I'm glad I have a lot going on in my life that I love to do, and that I do well.
- Soundbytes. They're all like family, and I don't know what I'm going to do when I graduate and leave them all...
- muffins. ^_^
- being able to touch people's lives. It is my continual goal to not only add meaning to my own life, but to help others add meaning to theirs as well. It's such a fulfilling experience, and getting to know many other people and help them when they need it, to recognize people's difference and revel in their uniqueness, is a constant joy.
- great friends. They're there for me, and I love them all.
- having people in my life who care about me. This could be covered with friends and family, but it needed a separate bullet because I am so thankful for this aspect of them in particular. For a long time I felt like I didn't have many people in my life who cared about me, that I wasn't really needed or wanted in people's lives, and that made me feel like my life was meaningless. I know now that I needn't have worried, because there are many people that care about me a great deal, and I feel so loved. And now I know the secret: if you love people, and they will love you back. You can never expect people to love you if you aren't returning it.

I know, mushy mushy. But isn't that what Thanksgiving is about, giving back and being thankful for everything you have in your life? Well, I am.

THANK YOU. I hope you had a wonderful, food-filled and joyous Thanksgiving.

The Million Dollar Question

2007-11-08T02:59:00.000-05:00

What came first, the chicken or the egg??

xkcd

2007-10-28T11:56:00.000-04:00

I've loved the xkcd comics for a long time, and just started reading a lot of them again recently. Randall Monroe (the creator) is coming to speak at CMU in a few weeks, which I find appropriate and hilarious. Most of the comic speaks to students of science, especially computer scientists, and it has developed quite a following here, to the point where someone had actually made a large-scale copy of one of the comics and installed it onto the entrance window of Wean Hall. How funny we are.

Here are some of my favorites at the moment:

I live a teenage boy's fantasy

2007-10-26T00:41:00.001-04:00

Well, sometimes, maybe. I suppose I do for one reason only: I see many naked women on a regular basis.

Before you get all shocked and surprised, read on, it's not really that unusual. I have recently, as in the last few months or so, really gotten into swimming as a medium of exercise. I really enjoy it; it's low impact, works my whole body, helps me increase my lung capacity, and is also pretty relaxing as far as work outs go. Because of this, I spend far more time at the gym than I used to, and by extension, the locker room. Initially, I was surprised to find so many women both shower and just walk around naked. It's something I'd never experienced in my small-town childhood and adolescence. I felt uncomfortable, and averted my gaze whenever possible because I felt strange seeing so many naked women "put it all out there".

However, I've gotten used to it, and have actually begun to respect women for being confident enough about their bodies to walk around a semi-public place without clothes on. Not that I didn't before, but I realize now that it is not something as shocking as I had thought. We shouldn't be so concerned to show a little skin, and feel or be made uncomfortable by nudity. It's only natural. Being "exposed" to female nudity through something other than a porn film or health class also gives women a healthier perspective on appearance. Most women don't have perfect bodies, and few will ever be able to attain the form they desire, but women are still beautiful anyway. That's what I've come to understand anyway. After years of an unhealthy self-image and an unrealistically high standard of beauty, I'm finally starting to accept and appreciate the way I look for what it is, and I like it.

The only caveat to this openness in the locker room is when you come across someone you actually know bearing it all. That has happened to me several times, and it has been rather uncomfortable each time. No matter what, sometimes you just don't want to see a professor, or a university staff member you've worked with, naked....

Check it

2007-10-22T01:40:00.000-04:00

A friend sent me a link to this awesome map. It becomes readily apparent which countries give their citizens more freedoms than others, and one can also easily see how wealth correlates with them. Sad, but true.

From the website:

The World Freedom Atlas is a geovisualization tool for world statistics. It was designed for social scientists, journalists, NGO/IGO workers, and others who wish to have a better understanding of issues of freedom, democracy, human rights, and good governance. It covers the years 1990-2006.

Pretty cool, huh?

Dr. Seuss

2007-10-19T20:20:00.000-04:00

To remember:

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

Kitty!!

2007-10-14T17:24:00.000-04:00

This weekend I took care of a friend's cat while he was away, and I just needed to share pictures of this adorable girl! She's four months old, and has an usually strong attraction to water. If you can't find her, the first place you should look is either the bath tub or kitchen sink, because that's usually where she'll be. I don't know why, she's just strangely drawn to it.

I call her Wheezy, though that's not really her name, because she, well, wheezes. A lot. It's like a mixture of asthma and a cold, and every time she breaths it rattles like Darth Vader. Adorable!!

I can't sleep

2007-10-11T02:59:00.001-04:00

From frustration, mostly. This week has been really stressful, primarily because of group project work that sucks my soul. However, right now I'm bothered by something else, and that's the more pressing reason behind my insomnia.

I'm getting frustrated and disillusioned by Soundbytes. My membership in this a cappella group for the last three years has probably been more life-shaping than anything else in my college life. I've dedicated myself to it more than almost anyone, and I've been musical director for over two years. There have been ups and downs throughout my tenure, miscommunication and tensions between myself and the group that haven't been altogether pleasant, but I feel like I'm hitting a roadblock sooner than I have before, and I'm worried that I won't be able to overcome it.

It's always been a mostly thankless job. Everything I do, and therefore every mistake I make, is visible to the whole group, and I'm held accountable. I always have to be on my A-game, and when I slip, I'm criticized, verbally or otherwise. I knew this going in, to an extent, and while I've always wanted more recognition for the things I do and the dedication I've had to the group for so long, I've accepted that I usually won't get it. Who will say, "Lauren, thanks for running rehearsals and constantly trying to improving our sound", or who will recognize and acknowledge that the only rehearsal I have ever missed was to break up with my boyfriend of over two years? I've scheduled my life around Soundbytes, ensure that every meeting I have is rescheduled around it if necessary, leave other meetings that are still going on to be at rehearsal on time, and never schedule any personal trip or event on the weekend that would make me miss it.

I've always thought that this kind of dedication should be shown by the director, and that it was necessary and "part of the job". I still think it is. But I'm getting really tired of the near constant feelings of disrespect I get when I come to rehearsal twice a week. Currently, these feelings are heightened by the fact that I every arrangement I have ever done has been criticized and ridiculed by at least one member of the group. I think this is completely unacceptable, and incredibly demoralizing and hurtful, because I spend a lot of time putting those arrangements together for the group, just as any other arranger, and I'd hope that my efforts would at least be appreciated, and most certainly not dismissed like they have been. But this is more of a personal issue than a director one. I know that sometimes I am late more than I'd like, and that's probably something that undermines my authority. But I don't think that's the main cause of it. Regardless of if I'm 15 minutes early or 2 minutes late, if I bring food and an upbeat attitude or if I'm stressed, I feel like I hit a brick wall. All of the things I do right in rehearsal and out of rehearsal for Soundbytes are negated by one misstep, one mistake, one minute of lateness.

Sometimes I wish I could have everyone run rehearsal at least once, to see what it's like to be me, to see how different you must become to be director. It often feels like I'm fighting an uphill battle to get people to concentrate, learn their music, and improve. And I've done it for two years. I often fail at it, and every so often the group talks about strategies to get us to focus better, or be more productive, and they resolve to be more personally accountable for their actions. So far, that hasn't really happened. And every rehearsal I have to balance my participation in rehearsal from being the enforcer and the "teacher", keeping people focused and in line, and enjoying myself as well. More and more I'm feeling that I have to be the enforcer completely, and that I'm not supposed to relax and enjoy rehearsal occasionally as well. I feel like I have to be the perfect version of myself for the group, which is something I haven't even mastered in the other aspects of my life. I can't do it, and I don't think I should be required to.

Yes, I make mistakes. I'm human. I'm late sometimes, I'm forgetful, I have a temper and can lose my cool when stressed, and I get sidetracked occasionally. While I'm working on improving myself, it's not going to happen overnight. I should still be able to dictate the ideal behavior of the group without necessarily having to live it myself. No one else does. I should be able to critique and "lay down the law" and falter sometimes without feeling like the worst hypocrite. It's what I feel like now, and I'm frustrated with it. I have sacrificed so much already, missed opportunities in other aspects of my life to be at rehearsal, to devote myself to a group whose members, for the most part, don't recognize it.

I'm not saying that because of this I'm the "best Soundbyte", or that no one else spends as much time working for the group than I do, because that's not the case at all. I love this group, and the members in it. I wouldn't trade them for anyone, and most of the time I wouldn't want to trade my directorship for anything else. But I do feel like my feelings are the least noticed when criticism needs to be meted out, and generally discounted because of my role as director. When faulted for the bad, I'm not thanked or respected for the good. And that's the most demoralizing thing of all.

To Contemplate

2007-10-06T16:31:00.000-04:00

“Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more."

- Erica Jong

One of the Shouts

2007-10-02T23:36:00.000-04:00

As you might have noticed, I changed the title of this blog. I've been thinking about doing so for a while now, but hadn't been able to think of anything good enough to replace what I currently had. The old title came from one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems:

I SING to use the waiting,
My bonnet but to tie,
And shut the door unto my house;
No more to do have I,

Till, his best step approaching,
We journey to the day,
And tell each other how we sang
To keep the dark away.

However, in looking at it again, I realized that it no longer reflected what I feel or think (most of the time) and that I really needed to find a new title.

I've changed it to One of the Shouts for a reason. It comes from the short story "G.B.S. - Mark V" by Ray Bradbury, one of my favorite writers. The surrounding paragraph is thus:

"What are we?" he asked. "Why, we are the miracle of force and matter making itself over into imagination and will. Incredible. The Life Force experimenting with forms. You for one. Me for another. The Universe has shouted itself alive. We are one of the shouts. Creation turns in its abyss. We have bothered it, dreaming ourselves into shapes. The void is filled with slumbers; ten billion on a billion bombardments of light and material that know not themselves, that sleep moving and move but finally to make an eye and waken on themselves. Among so much that is flight and ignorance, we are the blind force that gropes like Lazarus from a billion-light-year tomb. We summon ourselves. We say, O Lazarus Life Force, come ye forth. So the Universe, a motion of deaths, fumbles to reach across Time to feel its own flesh and know it to be ours. We touch both ways and find each other miraculous because we are One."

I will let it just speak for itself, and maybe the passage will speak to you in the way it spoke to me. It may be a tad esoteric ^_^, and I'm not sure I'll keep it (I'm notoriously indecisive), but for the moment it does a good job in reflecting my current mantra in just a few words and also in explaining the purpose and goal of this blog in general.

To the Fullest

2007-09-30T21:10:00.000-04:00

My grandfather passed away this Friday. My dad called me while I was at dinner to tell me the news, and the people I was with were somewhat shocked when I told them. I felt bad because I didn't want to make them uncomfortable, as the news of a death in the family is sometimes hard for people to respond to.

The emotions surrounding a death are often complex, and this is no exception. With my uncle's death last year, it was a whole lot simpler because it was so sad and fast (he was 60 and died of pancreatic cancer). My grandfather was 88, and had developed dementia in the last few years of his life, so caring for him was becoming more difficult and he hadn't really been himself, so his death is bittersweet. He lived a very full life:

He was born in 1919 in Youngwood, PA and lived his whole life in that town. He grew up very poor; one of the most memorable pictures of his childhood was of him and his siblings standing in their mud-filled yard, with two of them sitting on a horse. I've always loved that picture, it evokes so much emotion.

During the Great Depression he worked for the CCC, planting trees in eastern Pennsylvania and sending the money back home. When World War II broke out, he joined the army and was stationed in India as a mechanic. I honestly don't remember when he married my grandmother, I think it might have been right after the war ended, but they had their first child in 1946 (my Uncle Michael, the one who passed away last September). He was the first of eight. In order to make ends meet, my grandfather worked three jobs at one point.

He was very Italian; he loved to work in his garden, and every summer had a small field planted with corn and another field planted with a variety of vegetables. He loved onion sandwiches. He was also very reserved, and talked but rarely.

I wish I had learned more about his life, because there was so much he experienced. I love that I came from someone who worked so hard throughout his life, and cared so much for his family. I really value all that he did for my mom and her brothers and sisters, and thereby for me.

After I heard the news, my friends and I finished dinner and left to attend opening night for the Pittsburgh Symphony. They played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. It was spectacular, and during that time I had a lot of time to think. My life is so rich, filled with great friends and so much opportunity, and I am so lucky to be alive and have all the things I do. My grandfather's death made me realize that I'm already a quarter of the way through it, God-willing. There's so much I want to do, and so little time to waste. I don't intend to watch the years pass without spending every day doing something I love, and maximizing on the opportunities that surround me.

With that in mind, here's a list of things I want to accomplish before I'm 25. I'd composed it a few months ago, and it's still being added to, but I wanted to put it down here to remind myself about everything I have left to do. I've already begun on the list and have done some of the things on it, but I'll leave it up to you to figure out what those are. ^_^

THINGS BEFORE 25

- graduate college
- be financially independent
- find a job I love
- go sky-diving
- learn to love my body
- fall in love again
- travel all 50 states (only 20 left!)
- live in another country
- travel to a new continent
- move to an unfamiliar place
- read a biography of every US president
- give up something I love (probably because it's bad for me)
- volunteer for a cause I truly believe in
- learn to live without regrets
- realize my own self-worth
- dye my hair an unnatural color
- paint another oil painting
- learn to drive standard
- become somewhat proficient in another language
- share a favorite pastime with a friend (i.e. make the friend fall in love with it)
- send inspiring thoughts to a random address via postcard
- travel to see a favorite musical group in concert
- learn to be on time
- try marijuana while I can still get away with it
- try a food I would never normally eat (something outrageously exotic)
- backpack through Europe
- get up obscenely early on a weekend to explore the city I’m in
- start a tradition with friends and stick to it
- learn to forgive
- live with as little hypocrisy in my life as possible
- get a pet
- do something completely spontaneous that ends up being one of the best events in my life
- visit a friend who lives far away
- work on a political campaign
- stop procrastinating
- go on an extended backpacking trip with a friend
- run in a marathon
- audition for American Idol
- accept and revel in the unknown

If you have any suggestions of things to add, let me know. Some of the goals are really ambitious, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish them in four years, but where's the fun in making something easy?

This whole experience has made me really value life even more than I already did, because of the acute understanding of one's own mortality that a death brings . There's no use in fearing death, which is something that I'm still coming to grips with, because it's an end everyone comes to. The only true power we have to overcome it is to live life to the fullest and value each day we have. I intend to do so.

My, How You've Grown!

2007-09-25T09:50:00.000-04:00

I started caring for plants a few years ago, and my collection has grown since then, both in terms of the number of plants I have, and also their physical size. I recently decided that repotting was long past due, which I was completely right about; one plant's roots had started growing out of the bottom of the pot, and the other had sucked so many nutrients out of the soil that it had turned white. Now their happily living in their new, bigger pots with fresh soil, and I'm hoping they'll grow even faster now.

Before

After

Arrangement Love!

2007-09-23T19:46:00.000-04:00

I feel so accomplished! Today Soundbytes started learning "Wannabe" by Spice Girls, which I'd finished last night. They're excited about it, and so am I. I think it will be upbeat and absolutely hilarious, and hopefully a suitable replacement for the Funky Music medley crowd-pleaser. I also pitched a new song to the group that had people more excited about an arrangement in a long time, "Headlock" by Imogen Heap. It'll be really hard, but so worth it when finished, because it's amazing. I have a crush on the song at the moment, and have been listening to it nonstop, which sometimes happens with certain songs or artists for me. I've had a music infatuation with Modest Mouse for a couple months, and it hasn't really abated yet. I'd love to do one of their songs a cappella, but we don't have an Isaac Brock voice in the group, sadly. :(

In other news, I've been sick this past month, and just had a relapse for the worse. Literally most of the school is sick with same thing, and I'm really hoping I kick it soon. I hate coughing up a lung and being unable to sing.

Language

2007-09-15T01:51:00.000-04:00

I've recently been rediscovering my love of language, and have decided that I'd like to try to learn a bit of some Asian language. Nan and Diana have been teaching me phrases in Mandarin and Cantonese, and I'm apparently much better at Cantonese pronunciation than Mandarin (it's hard!!). I think it'll be useful to know a little bit so I can start recognizing some words that people use, and just generally understand more of the world.

I learned a few funny phrases from them, and worked really hard to get them right. ^_^ I challenge you to figure this one out (my jyutping might be a tad off though): dim gāai ne m̀h júng ji ngoh?

Picture Overload!

2007-09-11T01:27:00.000-04:00

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures from the last month onto my computer, some of them I had intended on posting here long ago. The first set are from the flooding in Pittsburgh in early August, and the second set are from Jen's wedding this past Sunday.

The wedding, by the by, was wonderful. It was so fun to road trip to Philadelphia with Rohan, Ashleigh, Lara, and Maria (Rohan had a lot to put up with, four girls being in the car and all). We spent Saturday night in downtown Philadelphia, ate dinner with Ashleigh's family at a great Thai restaurant, and met with Dwight (who I know will be reading this, and needs to visit more often :P) at a bar/restaurant in a really awesome part of town. Philadelphia night life is just... cool. Bigger than Pittsburgh, more low-key than New York, with a really been-there vibe because of the colonial-era buildings, it was great fun.

At the wedding and reception on Sunday we saw a bunch of old 'Bytes we hadn't seen in years. It's strange to think that three of the people in Soundbytes when I entered freshman year are married! I feel both old and young at the same time. It was a great ceremony, and a wonderful reception. Very Jen, of course. ^_^ She looked really, genuinely, contagiously happy, as she should. Part of the reception incorporated some Chinese traditions, like a lion dance, and Jen changed into a more traditional Chinese dress halfway through. Unfortunately, we had to leave early to get back to Pittsburgh at a relatively reasonable hour (2am), so we missed the majority of the dancing. Ah well. She and Jon are probably in Hawai'i by now, enjoying their honeymoon. Congrats again to them!

Floored

2007-09-04T00:51:00.000-04:00

Tonight I received an email of congratulation. I was selected to be an Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar, one of only 36. It was a complete surprise, not least because it came at 10 o'clock at night.

It is a recognition for high academic achievement and commitment to outside activities like volunteering, involvement in student organizations, participation in the arts, and the like. This alone was highly gratifying, because I don't presume to be the greatest scholar, and I certainly don't have the highest grades (although I do well), and while involved, I have always thought I could do more. Another part of the recognition is a scholarship, which again, was completely unexpected. It's of fairly significant value, too, which will be helpful, to say the least.

This is yet another reminder of the fact that I am a Senior, that the final year is upon me, and that we're "the best in the school", in the words of a senior friend. I never expected to be recognized in any material way, since my class is so much larger than my high school class and the bar is so much higher. I feel like I am much less outstanding here, both academically and otherwise, when compared to the hundreds of intelligent, passionate, and involved students at CMU. It's an honor to be recognized for the work I've done here by being counted as one of them, to know that it has been appreciated, and that is something rather special.

It takes all kinds to make a world...

2007-08-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

But there are some the world might be better left without. I know that after a certain number of years, one develops a lot of friendships, loses some, and just overall gains a lot of experience in communication and person-to-person interaction. Sometimes relationships can get a little hairy (fights break out, you fall out of touch, the relationship becomes strained), but most of the time they are fairly routine, in the sense that those cataclysmic events between two people that occur in movies or stories would rarely if ever happen to them. I'm referring to battle royales, or "fights to the death", actions taken by people that are so very much larger-than-life that they couldn't possibly happen to you. Most people could be what is considered "normal"; that is, not conduct themselves in such a way as to create those often comical situations between a friend, or an enemy, or some other character in film that brings people to the theater nightly. Unfortunately, I think I fall in to the rare category of having just such a movie-esque experience. I got to see firsthand what completely irrational, rude, uncalled-for, destructive, blown-out-of-proportion behavior is - from the receiving end - and believe me, one that was certainly the opposite of comical (at the time), stressful, frustrating, and one I would rather have lived never experiencing.

Do I invite this kind of craziness into my life? I certainly hope not. Do I deserve to be treated in the certifiably insane way I was these last few days, especially so unexpectedly and with little-to-no provocation? I don't think so. My question is, who in their right mind DOES THIS? I didn't think things like what just happened to me actually happen in real life, but clearly I was mistaken. It really was straight out of science fiction, or maybe a soap opera. While I do love a good drama, I would rather it stay on the big screen where it belongs, and not creep uninvited into my life. And the people who do decide to take a trip on the crazy canal, maybe you should look into counseling, or some other form of psychotherapy before you decide to include other people and expose yourself so utterly to derision. Please people, just think before you act; you'll save yourself from a lot of ridicule.

Something about Values

2007-08-14T22:17:00.001-04:00

I've started RA training, and while working grueling hours, it can be fun at times. We have the weekend off, of sorts, and then the dear freshies come to campus to start Orientation. In a way my building lucked out/got jipped, because we have no freshman this year. While this means we have more flexibility during Orientation week (a plus because now I can attend more Heinz Orientation events) we don't get to have first years to hang out with and get to know. Ah well.

Today we discussed "values" and while it's a topic that is often overdone, and can be fun to discover what values matter most to you. Surprisingly, a lot of mine correspond to my name, so here they are:

Love
Acceptance
Uniqueness
Respect
Empathy
INtelligence

There are more that correspond to my last name too, but I decided I didn't want to put my last name on here, for various reasons. Message me if you want to see it too.

Interesting, How Age Creeps up on Us

2007-08-05T21:24:00.000-04:00

Last week I turned 21. It's interesting how people look forward to that birthday more than almost any other. A few days before I went to party at the fraternity of a friend of mine, a kind of pre-pre-birthday celebration, and the end of my days as a "lawbreaker" (from underage drinking of course). I felt old. Even though I wasn't yet 21, I still knew that I was one of the oldest people there, and in a few days time, one of the few legally allowed to be participating in the activities of said party. I felt my age creeping up on me, and it had been coming on for a while.

While excited for my birthday, the feeling was intermingled with one of slight dread. I know it probably sounds silly, but I wasn't all that sure I'd enjoy this birthday as much as I've done on my past birthdays. It marked the last birthday of major significance, the last one that meant something; 13, you're finally a teenager, 16, you can drive, 18, you can vote and are legally an adult, and finally, the big 21. After this, what birthdays are there of any importance? 25? Yes, now you're in your mid-twenties. 30? You're starting to get old, and the black balloons of 40 seem startlingly close. At 21, the gates have opened for you, you've been allowed entrance into the adult world, and while you've waited for this day for, well, probably years, it also marks one of the last times you can still be a kid.

I felt my age rushing upon me faster than I would have liked. My parents have made their reservations at a local hotel for my graduation weekend; I've been accepted into a graduate program and will be starting my master's classes in a few weeks; I was turning 21, and would finally be able to go to places I'd been denied for the last three years. Maybe I was overreacting, but I was a bit scared. It's a big change, going from being the youngest person at the party to being the oldest, feeling almost out of place at a place I'd been completely comfortable in for years. Many of my friends have left and found jobs, are getting married, have bought houses. While I'm looking forward to all of that, I'm not sure I'm ready for it just yet.

So it was with these sobering thoughts that I entered my 21st year of being. Don't misunderstand, I was excited about it more than anything else; the darker thoughts didn't weigh that heavily on my mind. But they were still somewhat present, and they all came rushing back when I went for my first legal drink. I entered the bar somewhat nervously because the bouncer almost didn't let me in (something about not being sure of the bar's policy on dates, "the day you open is the day you close", etc.), and ordered a Smithwick's Irish Ale, which I had never had before. The bar was pretty empty, it was late, and the bartender called me "Old Lady" every time he passed me by. ^_^

Instead of feeling old like I had been dreading for about a month, sure that that was what was going to happen, I felt young! I had been a good girl, I don't have a fake i.d. and the bars in Pittsburgh card fairly rigorously, so I had never been to a bar before that day. It came like an epiphany: all those years of drinking were illegal. While legally the age of adulthood is reached at 18, it is not until 21, the age when that last constraint on your behavior is lifted, that you fully attain it. It's like the adulthood I'd experienced was a pale shadow of the real thing, which has absolutely nothing to do with being allowed to drink and everything to do with a cultural acceptance that you are finally old enough to make unrestricted decisions about your behavior.

I laughed at myself for being so naive to think that I was old by being 21. It just shows how young I really am, I suppose. There's a whole world of experience out there that I haven't tapped into yet, and even though I've finally left childhood and adolescence behind (though most people, including myself, would hate to admit that it has lasted this long), I've only just entered adulthood. I still have all of my twenties left!

So find me silly, find me naive, and laugh with me for thinking these things, which is what I did. I thought myself old, and found myself young. I'm only 21!

Goodbye, Harry Potter

2007-07-23T03:56:00.000-04:00

I finished the seventh Harry Potter book. In two days. While I won't reveal plot details (you can find those out yourself by reading it) I just wanted to say that it was probably one of the best books I have ever read. And I've been reading prolifically since I was three. I laughed, I cried, and I was deeply moved. While some might think it's laughable that I was moved by a children's fantasy book, by the last installment of a series that many might feel is undeserving of the praise heaped upon it, I think that they are cynics, and will probably never fully understand the greatness of these books.

I grew up with this series, with Harry Potter. I began reading them, in protest, finally wheedled into it by a younger, very persistent brother. Instantly I couldn't put it down, and reached for the next book immediately after finishing the first. I waited impatiently for every release, wondered at what the next book would reveal, and fell into every book more thoroughly than I have ever done with any book in my entire life. I was engrossed by these stories, by the world of magic and Muggles. Harry often became as real to me as any other person.

The stories were great not because of the amazing world J.K. Rowling had crafted. She stole a great deal from previous lore, from myths and fables and even the Bible, and a lot of the magic had "serious flaws", no comprehensible boundaries. They became so wildly popular, each release bigger than a movie premiere, and much more secretive and heavily coordinated, which I know irritated some. Despite this, the books are, in a word, amazing. It is her wonderful prose that makes the books instant classics, which draws you into their world so wholly. It is the message she was sending, and the heavy subjects she dwelt upon, like the nature of death, importance of love, family, and valor, and the power of destiny, each of which might mean something different for every reader, and meant a lot to me. And ultimately, it is Harry, the character she created that embodies so many virtues, who is lovable and selfless and so incredibly complex and rich, that makes each of the seven books rank among the highest in my literary lexicon.

I felt that with the book's final chapters I would see my childhood end; there would be no more Harry Potter and Hogwarts to take me back to the realm of childhood wonderment that I have felt for ten years. I have grown up, and so has Harry, and it is time for both our childhood's to end, to move forward into the next phase of our respective lives. And in seeing the ending, I have no feelings of regret or sadness that I thought I might. It was time, and I couldn't have conceived of a better finale.

J.K. Rowling, mischief managed.

Nickel Creek and Glen Phillips!!!

2007-07-19T14:51:00.000-04:00

Last night I went to Cleveland, OH to see one of my favorite bands of all time, Nickel Creek. It was unbelievable. They were joined by a member of the Mutual Admiration Society, the former lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket (and another one of my favorite artists), and now a phenomenal solo artist in his own right, Glen Phillips.

I don't think I can do justice to how much fun I had, or how great the concert was, so I'll show you. My pictures turned out horribly since we weren't allowed to use flash and I was sitting fairly far away, but by the powers of technology, I took some video! It's really low resolution, but the sound quality is pretty good, especially for a tiny Nikon digital camera. ^_^

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

This Side - Nickel Creek

Reasons Why - Nickel Creek

Set Me Up With One of Your Friends - Chris Thile, played by Nickel Creek

All This Time - Sara Watkins, played by Nickel Creek (new!!)

Let it Fall - Sean Watkins, played by Nickel Creek and Glen Phillips

Exit Music (for a film) - Radiohead, played by Nickel Creek and Glen Phillips

P.S. Today I am thankful for music, and technology that allows me to record amazing live concerts clandestinely.

The Laurel Highlands

2007-07-08T11:52:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went hiking in the Laurel Highlands, bum arm and all. (You don't need arms to hike). It was a beautiful day, and while Pennsylvania doesn't have any sweeping vistas other than steadily rolling hills covered in trees (which are obscured by even more trees), it was still lovely.

Just Call Me "Gimp"

2007-07-06T13:22:00.001-04:00

Even though it's a bum arm, not a bum leg. I've been meaning to update with posts about my brother's graduation and cousin's wedding, along with a lot of other stuff, but a badly sprained wrist has prevented me from doing much typing. As it is, I'll have to wait until my arm feels good enough to type without much pain (this post itself is rather difficult). I thought I'd share a picture of the bruise I procured at the same time I sprained said wrist. I definitely did a number on my whole right side. Quite the klutz.

Thankful Thursday

2007-06-21T10:35:00.000-04:00

I must relate a hilarious story I heard last night, summed up in a quote:

"How many times do we have to tell you, when you've run out of toilet paper, do NOT use the cardboard!"

I think it speaks for itself. I love boys. ^_^

And now for Thankful Thursday:

- exercise buddies. They make it so much easier for me to work out, and it's much more fun. Plus we gossip (although that's hard when you're underwater).

- finally being semi-good at a team sport. I have never been athletic, and have started to get more so, but it's still hard for me to play team sports. I have horrible hand-eye coordination. So finding a sport I can play without standing on the sidelines the whole time is a first for me. Go Ultimate!

- making new friends. Enough said, friends are awesome.

- new underwear. This might be TMI for some of you, but seriously, getting new underwear is really nice.

- Jack Bauer. Without him, the US (or at least LA) would have gone to shit. ^_^

- being respected by my advisors/bosses. Every time I go in to talk to my academic advisor, she persuades me to do something I didn't think I could, and she always tells me how great I've been doing. It's so motivational.

- having a cool job that looks like it will be able to catapult me farther than I had anticipated, and be beneficial on several levels.

A Talent for Similes

2007-06-18T20:08:00.000-04:00

I've become enamored with P.G. Wodehouse, an early 20th century humorist. He seems to match acerbic wit with superb imagery, often directed towards those ever-so-evil relations, Aunts, which can be summed up as: "It is no use telling me there are bad aunts and good aunts. At the core, they are all alike. Sooner or later, out pops the cloven hoof".

I thought I'd share some of my favorite quotes from his plethora of work. I hope they give you a chuckle, or maybe even a chortle. ^_^

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Right Hon. was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say "When!"
- Very Good, Jeeves (1930)

Chumps always make the best husbands. When you marry, Sally, grab a chump. Tap his head first, and if it rings solid, don't hesitate. All the unhappy marriages come from husbands having brains. What good are brains to a man? They only unsettle him.
- Sally (1920)

What a curse these social distinctions are. They ought to be abolished. I remember saying that to Karl Marx once, and he thought there might be an idea for a book in it.
- Quick Service (1940)

Her voice trailed away in a sigh that was like the wind blowing through the cracks in a broken heart.

...fell into the washing machine and did as many revolutions per minute as a small African republic....

If not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.
- The Code of the Woosters (1938)

"I remember years ago, Bertie," said Aunt Dahlia, "when you nearly swallowed your rubber comforter and started turning purple. And I, ass that I was, took it out and saved your life. Let me tell you, it will go very hard with you if you ever swallow a rubber comforter again when only I am by to aid."
- Right Ho, Jeeves (1934)

There is only one cure for grey hair. It was invented by a Frenchman. It is called the guillotine.
- The Old Reliable (1951)

"And deer?''
"Several deer.''
"I love deer.''
"Me, too. I've met some very decent deer.''

Whatever may be said in favour of the Victorians, it is pretty generally admitted that few of them were to be trusted within reach of a trowel and a pile of bricks.
- Summer Moonshine (1938)

The face was drawn, the eyes haggard, the general appearance that of one who has searched for the leak in life's gaspipe with a lighted candle.

Freddie experienced the sort of abysmal soul-sadness which afflicts one of Tolstoi's Russian peasants when, after putting in a heavy day's work strangling his father, beating his wife, and dropping the baby into the city's reservoir, he turns to the cupboards, only to find the vodka bottle empty.
- Jill the Reckless (1921)

"What was that about glue?''
"Igloo, it's a sort of gloo they have up in the Arctic circle.''
"I see.''
"Stickier than the usual kind.''

I can detach myself from the world. If there is a better world to detach oneself from than the one functioning at the moment I have yet to hear of it.

And closing the door with the delicate caution of one brushing flies off a sleeping Venus, he passed out of my life.
- Very Good, Jeeves (1930) "Jeeves and the Old School Chum''

The rule by which he had always lived was that the best would have to do until something better came along.

His first emotion was one of surprise that so much human tonnage could have been assembled at one spot. A cannibal king, beholding them, would have whooped with joy and reached for his knife and fork with the feeling that for once, the catering department had not failed him.

"What ho!'' I said.
"What ho!'' said Monty.
"What ho! What ho!''
"What ho! What ho! What ho!''
After that it seemed rather difficult to go on with the conversation.
- Carry On, Jeeves (1925) "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest"

It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.
- The Main Upstairs (1914)

How to Grow an [Amazing] Concert

2007-06-08T00:13:00.000-04:00

Today was an amaaaaazing day. The highlight of it was in the evening, though not by much. Tonight I went to see Chris Thile perform with the How to Grow a Band. I've been wanting to see him in concert for several years now, and he finally came back to Pittsburgh on tour. It was at this fairly small, cool venue on the Southside, the Rex Theatre.

He's such a great musician, and the band he played with (a bass, guitar, banjo, and fiddle) were all extremely good as well, as performers, players, and singers too. His music breaks from the bluegrass tradition to incorporate a lot of modern rock, jazz, and pop influences, but it's still really "down home". I was literally beaming during the whole concert. :D I wish I'd brought my camera (which I'd forgotten at home stupidly) and didn't have any money to buy a cd either. :'( However, this hopefully won't be the last time I'll see him live. He's too good to pass up. He played songs from all three of his albums, some covers of rock songs (like those from The White Stripes and The Strokes), and played some new stuff too.

I'm really hoping to go see Nickel Creek too. They're coming to Cleveland in July and playing with Glen Phillips, and I just found out that they're coming to Columbus in August and playing with Fiona Apple!! I've been in love with them for longer than Chris Thile (although he is a member) and they're parting ways after this summer tour. So if I don't see them now, I might never get the chance. And now that I (just) found out the awesome guest musicians, I'll die if I don't go to one or both.

Today was also great even without the concert and welcome intel. This afternoon I went to lobby with my boss at Sierra Club. There's a new energy bill coming to the floor of the Senate soon and there are several amendments we'd like to see both Bob Casey and Arlen Specter support, and one, effectively subsidizing the creation of plants that produce liquid coal, we'd like them to reject. We met with two aides from both Arlen Specter's and Bob Casey's office. It was great to sit in and observe how the political and legislative sides of our government work. It was also astounding to see the differences between the two offices; Bob Casey's was far more open and informal than Specter's. Now that may be that Casey is a new Senator, but I'm not sure. . . . A few weeks ago I also got to meet with Jason Altmire, a Representative for the House from Pennsylvania. I could speak more on this subject and go into detail about what we discussed, but I'll refrain. You can ask me personally if you'd like to hear more though, this post will be long enough.

It is also Thursday! So you know what that means. . . (it's a long one tonight)

- Amazing (and uplifting) concerts, like the aforementioned Chris Thile one I just went to.
- Having good jobs. I’ve been learning a lot from the two internships I have this summer, and getting a lot of good and useful experiences, all of which is telling me that the field I am in is really for me.
- Being in the Carnegie Mellon bubble. As much as people complain about the nerdiness of CMU, I love it here; in few other places will you find such a high concentration of intelligent, diverse people. It will be hard to leave.
- Cheese, of all varieties. Without it I think my diet would be rather lackluster (and definitely missing crucial amounts of protein and calcium).
- Staying in touch with friends. It’s so hard, especially after you graduate from high school or college. I’m glad I still talk to so many of my friends from here, and am at least kept fairly up-to-date on their lives. If not, MESSAGE ME! Or start a blog so I can stalk you on it. ^_^
- Swimming. God I’ve missed it.
- Opportunities. Most of the time it’s really hard for me to see the kinds of opportunities available to me, especially when I’m surrounded by engineers getting high-paying, amazing jobs at Lockheed or NASA or Microsoft right out of college. But I’m realizing that just because I’m not an engineer doesn’t mean I’m not desirable to companies; in fact, I think I have too many opportunities because my career path is so open, and will probably have to narrow my job search to particular places so as not to get overwhelmed.

A Mess of Contradictions

2007-05-29T20:21:00.000-04:00

I like to experiment with opposition. It seems like a lot of what I do, and what I like, and what I believe, contradicts itself. I love clothing and bags and superfluous luxury items, but I hate how they are idolized, and I dislike materialism and overindulgence. I recently discovered that I like to shoot guns, but I dislike the lax gun control laws that are in place, and believe that most people who own them shouldn’t. I recycle, but sometimes it’s just easier to throw things in the trash. I think people should be more carbon-conscious, but I am sometimes the first one to suggest turning the air conditioning on when it gets too hot. I want more people to use public transportation, but I want my own car as well. I love meat, but I've become a vegetarian. Some of these inconsistencies are brought on by major lifestyle changes that I'm not ready or capable of doing yet, and will probably work themselves out once I can commit to them, but some of them are just personality ticks, or me just being contrary.

While it can get confusing, most of the time the opposition doesn't really hamper my day-to-day life. I think it's a part of maturing, truthfully. People constantly reevaluate and "find" themselves, and can go through a dozen transformations in their lifetimes. Sometimes they're fast, sometimes more gradual, imperceptible even. And in response to these changes, people are constantly trying to reconcile their old lifestyle with their new and forming beliefs (with or without success). But life goes on, and I think that it's almost more natural to contradict oneself than to be consistent.

So I'm a vegetarian who likes meat, so what? ^_^ Contradictory behavior isn't proof of a hypocritical nature or a mercurial, flaky personality, it's just a sign of one's humanity (in all its richness and complexity). Enjoy people's inconsistencies, because without them they would be really boring.

It's summer, I can do whatever I want!

2007-05-24T12:04:00.000-04:00

Like go bowling, play laser tag, go to half price randomly, party on a Wednesday.... I think I'm going to tire myself out by June. But it'll be awesome anyway.

I just realized that it's also Thursday, and I haven't done a Thankful Thursday in a while, so here goes:

- roommates. I've missed having them so much, and I love living with crazy boys who insist on dry firing their assault rifles while working on the computer (no joke).
- the weather. It's been really lovely here recently, and I love that it brings people outside. Which brings me to my next point:
- people being active. I was walking down the street to meet friends for gelato, and I passed by people walking their dogs, watering the lawn, and doing other kinds of summer activities that gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling (you know the kind).
- having free time again. I get to do those things I never do during the year, not only because I have the time, but all my friends do too.
- meeting new people. Always fun. ^_^
- finding the courage to try new things. I was never really afraid of it, but now I'm taking it to the next level. It's going to be a summer of new experiences and experiments, some already in full swing, and I'm really loving it. I feel like I'm shaking off the stale bits of my life and recreating myself.

Done and DONE!

2007-05-15T13:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I completed the last final of my Junior year, a set of papers on the ethical and political philosophy of Jürgen Habermas. A few weeks ago I made my schedule for the fall, and suddenly saw how few classes I have left to take. It feels so strange to be a Senior; wasn't it just yesterday that I came to Carnegie Mellon for orientation? When I look back on all that these past 3 years, I'm amazed at how much I've done, and how much I've changed. So many of my friends are graduating this year, and starting in December, some of the people I've known from my own year will be leaving. How are we already becoming adults, and moving in to the real world?? Lucky for me that I decided to defer that eventuality and stay on for a master's degree. So far it's been a great time, and I'm looking forward not only for the summer, but to next year as well!

Onward to the next step!

Sad Story

2007-05-12T16:52:00.000-04:00

This made me really sad. To be so wholly alone in the world that you wouldn't be missed by anyone if you died, and had so little contact with others that no one would notice your death for seven years is a miserable thought. I wish that things like this wouldn't happen to people, and that everyone has at least one person who'd notice their absence.

I wonder how many people live and die like this? Too many, I fear. Too many people are so wrapped up in their own lives that they forget about those who are alone, like this poor man. I think we need to stop walking around with blinders on to the rest of the world and start noticing the people around us, as well as remembering those who've passed on. Being remembered by others is the only way we can achieve immortality; it is only when you are forgotten that you are truly dead.

The Hypocrisy of California

2007-05-01T23:11:00.000-04:00

California is almost idyllic for many people. It's beautiful beaches, sun-drenched mountains, amazing cities, and great opportunities. However, how many people know of the precarious foundations this state is built on?

In the course of my studies we have analyzed California every which way, from urban policy and economic innovation, investigating the reasons behind businesses' success, and also the many environmental advancements that are initiated there. The rest of the country often follows in their legislative and regulatory footsteps. While the state could now be considered a spearhead of the environmental movement, its history and many of its current policies are far from preservationist.

The state is one of the highest food-producing states in the country. Most of our fruits, vegetables, meats, or milk products come from California. Yet, if you've ever driven through any part of the state, you have to wonder, WHAT? The entire landscape is a mixture of arid desert, semidesert, or dry plain. One of the many attractions of California is the gorgeous weather, marked by blue sunny skies that are omnipresent. They have two seasons, the rainy and the other, and from March to November the entire state gets little to no rain at all. So, how do they do it, you wonder? Well, I'll tell you (summarizing of course).

During the Great Depression, Roosevelt began many public works projects to employ out of work men. The state of California was a very different place at that point in time, the cities much smaller, the land much drier, and devastating floods countering long droughts made farming difficult, to say the least. But with modern technologies emerging, farmers began to harness the land's natural resources, including a huge aquifer under the plains left from the last Ice Age, untouched until that point. They also decided to harness some of the water from rivers and divert it, building large dams and aqueducts to channel the water to "where it was needed". The government began setting aside money for these irrigation building projects, and water was dispersed to the farms, cheaply and efficiently. In a way, it was better than relying on natural methods of getting water to plants like rainfall, because it could be regulated on the time schedule best suited for the crop to prosper.

This changed the landscape of California from dry plain to blooming field. When you drive through the Central Valley of California now, you can see miles of lush growth, oranges, apples, garlic, even lettuce. But this change is inherently unsustainable. The water from the underground aquifers is being depleted but not replenished, and the water that is diverted from other areas is not enough to sustain the area for an indefinite period of time. So much of the water from these rivers has been diverted to other areas that their routes have been fundamentally changed. The Colorado River no longer runs into Mexico, and is now just a dry riverbed, disconcerting to a country that is in desperate need of drinkable water.

Californians are farming a desert, and many people don't even realize it. Unless you knew about the grand schemes for getting water to the area, it would just look like an idyllic farmland, sunny and lush for mile upon mile. But someday, maybe even in my lifetime, we could see a fundamental shift, if there isn't enough water to go around. Policy-makers will have to come up with new ideas of sustaining the current land-use policies, but none of them will be permanent, and eventually the land will revert back to desert. Bad news for the farmers and the millions of people who rely on the region's agricultural productivity.

This revelation made me wonder how California could be an advocate for so much environmental change and yet allow this to keep happening. It's part of the hypocrisy of the state, which is mimicked throughout the rest of the country: focus on certain issues while ignoring others. It's a matter of convenience; air pollution is a problem for humans, directly detrimental to one's health, and should therefore be dealt with. However, farming makes a huge positive impact on the population, both in terms of the revenue it brings in and the product it sells. It is not economically "responsible" to create restrictions that would reduce the productivity of this breadbasket. However, sooner or later something catastrophic will occur that will lead to a lot of destruction, both economic and environmental. Something needs to be done, but I don't see any meaningful change likely for just the reasons I have listed. It will take a more drastic wake-up call than environmental theories of the future and threats of potential major destruction to incite people to change. And by then it will probably be too late.

As a caveat: this is not to say that California is alone in its hypocrisy. Most states in the US have similar stories they could share, harrowing tales of environmental disasters covered up quietly. In California, however, these problems are seen clearly, and with their almost unparalleled focus on environmental issues, I believe the state has more of a burden to explain itself.

Thankful Thursday

2007-04-26T23:01:00.000-04:00

This week has been busy, but next week is so much busier. I'm both excited and sad for the end of the year, because I love the summer, but it also means that a bunch of my friends are graduating and I'll be a senior. It will be weird to come back next year and have all those people I've relied on the past three years not around.

This week, I'm thankful for:

- having something to look forward to. Be it a class, or a meeting, a concert or summertime, anticipation is almost as enjoyable as the actual thing.

- humor. Not only do I love to laugh, I love making people laugh, even if it's at my own expense.

- "being involved". I'm so glad I have the opportunity to do a lot of things, from Soundbytes to Senate. I feel like I'm making a difference, even at the smallest level and I can't wait until I take that to the next step after college.

- being accepted into the Heinz School. Next year I'll be starting my Master's in the accelerated program, which is amazing. I'm one of only five who got in, and it's a pretty prestigious school of public affairs (ranked 8th overall in the country). Not only do I get the opportunity to learn more about my chosen craft, I get to do it at a great school in only one extra year. How cool is that?

- good advice. I tend to ask for advice from friends a lot, and I'm thankful that they give it to me freely, and don't get sick of me asking for it. :)