First Day

School starts tomorrow and I am:

nervous
excited
unprepared
relieved
scared

I just hope that my students think I know what I am doing.

Oh look... a post!

I've been loving Pandora internet radio lately. I am bumping either Chopin Radio or Wilco Radio pretty much constantly. I find that it tends to get a bit willy nilly after a while though: it starts of great and then starts throwing in some things I don't really like. Anyone have any tips for keeping my Pandora in rein?

In other news, I'm almost done with L.A.! Yikes!

Free Laughs

German Forklift Safety Video

Flood

Simply unbelievable.

Chopin is the greatest Pole!

Most of us are all so concerned about the perception that others have of us. People love to get off on hearing about themselves.

I suppose on some level it is constructive to understand the image of ourselves that we project. But ultimately the only person that will ever truly know what it means to be you is yourself, which is kind of sad because there is no possible way to have any meaningful frame of reference.

Or maybe not!

Dear Gop...

Where were all these Republican champions of spending cuts during the past 8 years of outrageous deficit spending?

The hypocrisy meter is off the charts!

Haiku

Deep stomach rumbles
I am so very hungry
I could eat a horse

Gellin'

Things are really gellin'. Leg committee is gellin'. UCSA is gellin'. Bruin Lobby Corps is gellin'. The fundraiser is gellin'. Dr. Scholl's soles are gellin'. UCLA Basketball is gellin'.

Things are gellin' so well you'd think we were a New Jersey d-bag's hair care product.

San Jose

I am in San Jose right now, but I am leaving to go to Berkeley soon. I hope to consume delicious food.

1982 Chicago Tylenol Murders

Murder fascinates a lot of people. I usually don't buy into the circus; I like to imagine myself as being above perverting others' tragedies into my entertainment. But there is no denying that people's fascination with death is central to our humanity. Nothing is more human than fear of death.

Before today, I had never heard of the Chicago Tylenol Murders. The idea definitely struck a nerve. There is something truly twisted about using something innocuous like Tylenol--a medicine--as an instrument of indiscriminate death. The killer took the lives of seven different people in Chicago with cyanide laced Tylenol capsules, and was never caught.

The most striking part of the whole ghastly affair was how the police notified people of the danger once the link to Tylenol had been discovered:

Urgent warnings were broadcast, and police drove through Chicago neighborhoods issuing warnings over loudspeakers.

The image of police slowly trolling through neighborhoods warning the public with loudspeakers is reminiscent of something from Don Delillo's White Noise. Although it's been over a year or so since I've read the novel from 1985, I would not be surprised if the Tylenol murders were a source of inspiration for the "airborne toxic event" in the novel.

I don't really know how to describe it, but the parallel between the murders and the novel has affected me in a weird way. Both the real life and fictional events manifest death in its crudest form: anonymous, arbitrary, and inevitable. Anyway, I suggest checking out White Noise. Delillo describes ordinary folks dealing with the specter of death in a way that challenges the reader to reevaluate views on both death and life.

This reminds of that one time we went to a weird get together at Erin's house:

(Scott Meyer Basic Instructions)

One time, long ago, the crew and I went to a peculiar shindig at Alex's on again off again girlfriend Erin's house. The folks there, like Erin, were a little weird and not the brightest group I've ever met. Eddy, the consummate joker, told everyone some elaborate lie about fish eating rocks. I am pretty sure at least half of them believed him.

This webcomic reminded me of Eddy and his lying ways.

Enhancing Humanity

My generation is probably one of the last generations to be 100% human. It seems inevitable that we will reach a point where some combination of genetic and technological enhancements are available to the population. Like it or not, this is probably the next step in human evolution.

I have discussed this idea with a few people, and almost uniformly, everyone I have mentioned this to has shown aversion to the idea. This raises the question of whether there is inherent value in being "natural" or are we acculturated to reject anything that we see as too radical of a departure from perceived human normalcy.

Personally, I think human enhancement is inevitable. People will do whatever they can to get ahead. The problem then is an issue of social justice. Will we make enhancement available to everyone, or will we as a species diverge on our evolutionary path into those who have the resources for enhancement and those who get "left behind?"

Oh no!

I am getting sick! I think it is because I feigned sickness as an excuse to miss class this quarter. Fucking karma.

I will battle this out to the bitter end. Cough drops, zycam, and orange juice are my weapons. Until death, wicked disease!

In the future...

When robots rule the earth, they will do really funky and loose dance moves and say, "Beep beep. Boop boop. Look at me, I'm doing the 'human!'"

Websites

I probably make up half the traffic on reddit and Dohn's blog. I bet that I give both at least a thousand hits a day (and Dohn only updates like 3 or 4 times).

I have never purchased anything from an advertisement on one website or the other. I don't think my product choices have been influenced either. Oh well. Keep on trying, internet advertisers!

Dancing

Diana Ross and the Supremes remind me of my mother. When I was real little I remember her putting the Supremes on our stereo in the living room and mopping the house with those ratty old yellow mops. Sometimes she'd teach me to dance with my feet on top of hers. We'd listen to the Supremes and Rod Stewart and dance around the living room when my Dad was out of town for work.

Information Ubiquity

Someday more or less all information and thoughts that have ever been expressed or will be expressed will be accessible on the internet or whatever future version of the internet exists then. At that point, instead of writing blog posts I will just be able to post youtube links that will say for me what I was going to say.

Real Estate

From a bird's eye view, the desert can look a lot like the ocean. One major difference between the two is the effect their proximity can have on property value.

Erhu

I have fallen in love with the rich, mournful sound of the erhu. The instrument explores ranges of sound that traditional Western instruments rarely visit. The texture of its sound is stunningly beautiful. I wish I had the vocabulary to express how heartrending it is to hear the way it moves between notes.

Teach for America

Teach for America has offered me a spot teaching High School in Denver and I have accepted. I am incredibly excited. Denver seems like such an adventure and teaching will be a wonderful challenge. I hope to learn as much as I teach.

I have been placed to teach secondary English. I found this a bit surprising given that I have only taken one English class in my college career. I am pretty nervous about teaching English--but I've heard that subject placement is not set in stone. Though, I suppose you do learn how to write as History major. I've taken solace in the fact that at least by teaching English I'll be able to improve my own skills. Hopefully I'll learn to avoid the passive voice I'm so fond of in my essays. Additionally, the very though of teaching is making me so self conscious about my grammar! Argh!

Hearing from Teach for America was great, but it is also bittersweet. I appreciate that I don't have to struggle to find a job in this economy, but leaving school is a bit saddening. I've really come to love LA and the little niche I have carved out for myself. The worst part about moving every two years is that two years is the amount of time it takes for a place to feel like home. I am really going to miss folks like Jesse, Cinthia, Sonja, Navid, and everyone else.

I will miss you, California.

Bison

The plight of Bison in America is very sad.

Additionally...

This week is game time:

1. Inauguration
2. TFA results
3. New season of Lost

President Obama

I wish I could be more excited for the inauguration--it is the culmination of eight long years of suffering and hoping--but the real world is just getting me down. I am incredibly behind in classes, my internship, and all my other work and getting a job is nerve-wracking; it is stressing me out. Congratulations Obama, but I think I could use a bailout right now.

I HOPE everything works out... If it doesn't I know things will CHANGE for the better.

Wiki-surfing for band names

I'm going to surf random articles on wikipedia and let you all know what entries I think would make cool names for a band (I wont use names of songs, bands, or albums, though films and novels are okay):

Go Man Go
Gradius V
Miss Viola Swamp
Baron of Roslin
Demise of the Crown Act (I'd probably shorten it to Demise of the Crown)
Dakota Valley Electric Cooperative
Juggling Club
Dusky Dolphin
Naggaroth
Pontoon Effect
Ship Street
List of airports in Greenland
My Dearest Enemy
Jordan normal form
Television in Poland
Wort
The Higher Power of Lucky
Greater Gabbard
Samurai Reincarnation
Heartland Wrestling Association

Feel free to nab one, if your band needs a name.

Career options

Plants are wonderful. I am pretty sure that plants are to stress as dehumidifiers are to humidity.

What a beautiful job it would be, to work in a plant nursery!