Today was hot! I had to get a pop. I grabbed my keys and headed out.
"Where are you going, Angie?"
"To get a pop, Pop."
"Pop? Why don't you just drink beer? There's plenty here."
"...Thanks Pop, but I'll stick with the pop today."
My poor Pop. He needs a drinking buddy.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Mac Trouble:(
I downloaded firefox 3.0 and now my dock has disappeared and my F9~F11 functions don't function, and for some odd reason (not related I think), my external harddrive won't show up under the list of devices, even though it's clearly connected. So minus that last trouble, it's now basically a PC. Time for a trip to the Apple store!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The World is Their Bathroom
Today, for some reason, I felt like going on a loooooong run. Well "long" turned out to be about 3 miles because I had to go pee really really bad, so when I reached Alberton's, I stopped by to use their bathroom, and by the time I walked out, I had lost all inclination to run again. Motivation is so short-lived.
Anyway, on my way back home, two heavy raindrops fell from the sky and splattered about a foot away from my head. The raindrops were gooey and white with spots of brown. I was this close to getting shat on by some twittering fiend! I looked up into the sky-high trees, shading my eyes with one hand from the bright white summer clouds, and scanning the evergreens for the bird who did the crime. There it was! But as I spotted it, it suddenly occurred to me that the bird might not be finished relieving itself. Yikes! I dropped my gaze and dashed madly away from there.
Anyway, on my way back home, two heavy raindrops fell from the sky and splattered about a foot away from my head. The raindrops were gooey and white with spots of brown. I was this close to getting shat on by some twittering fiend! I looked up into the sky-high trees, shading my eyes with one hand from the bright white summer clouds, and scanning the evergreens for the bird who did the crime. There it was! But as I spotted it, it suddenly occurred to me that the bird might not be finished relieving itself. Yikes! I dropped my gaze and dashed madly away from there.
Irrational Love
Ooh, I'm pretty excited about the latest Pixar project, Wall-E. They compare it to a Charlie Chaplin/Buster Keaton silent film (well, Wall-E is a lipless robot, after all), and above all, it's going to be a genuine love story. Sounds different from the previous Pixar films right? The human race has been transported to some other planet, and get this: they are all obese and ride around on some sort of robotic wheelchair-loungers drinking super-sized soft drinks. Har har.
One particularly interesting thing mentioned in the article is what elements they use in the movie to help audiences connect to a movie made with CG about robots. The combination of CG and robots is very heavily fantastical. Since both the story and the visual story are so laden with fantasy, this is where the importance of sound comes into the picture. They bring in sounds from reality- like a hand-cranked WWII army generator- and sounds that are familiar to us- like E.T.'s "throat-singing"- to give us a link to unfamiliar, alien territory. Here is the premise of the story in the writer/director's own words:
"...the point of my story, which was the premise that irrational love defeats life’s programming, and that the most robotic beings I’ve met are us.”
Sounds a bit contradictory, no? Well I'm sold, and I can't wait to see it! The first part of his premise is in line with my thinking that we humans are fundamentally irrational creatures. You could tell us that this is the reasonable thing to do, but time and time again, we will do opt for the unreasonable thing to do. Well, maybe not opt- it's more driven by something other than conscious choice. Why do girls fall for the bad guys? Why do men love bitches? (No, I haven't read the book.) Why does she keep going back to him when it's clearly not to her advantage (in terms of happiness) to do so? Irrational love- it's what gives us stories- books, movies, and myths.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Pinky and Obama
I'm starting to think that there is such a thing as too much imagination. Too much Pinky and the Brain, Mr. Brooks! Better oil those creative gears a little less often!
Hm, I just thought of something. The theme song to this show goes:
Pinky and the Brain
Pinky and the Brain
One is a genius
the other's insane
It just occurred to me that Brain, the genius, is also very very insane. And who can blame him? Geniuses (genii?) don't see the world the same way we ordinary-minded folk do. Genii are aliens in their own home-planet. Of course they are insane. Of course, insanity is relative.
As for Obama, I happen to think that he has the rare combination of acute intelligence plus a good heart. Rare among politicians, I mean.
Hm, I just thought of something. The theme song to this show goes:
Pinky and the Brain
Pinky and the Brain
One is a genius
the other's insane
It just occurred to me that Brain, the genius, is also very very insane. And who can blame him? Geniuses (genii?) don't see the world the same way we ordinary-minded folk do. Genii are aliens in their own home-planet. Of course they are insane. Of course, insanity is relative.
As for Obama, I happen to think that he has the rare combination of acute intelligence plus a good heart. Rare among politicians, I mean.
Maybe Bill Watterson Can Stay in Retirement After All
Oh man, I just caught up on reading xkcd comics. I think they might be the next best thing after Calvin & Hobbes.
Qui dara fine al gran dolore? L'ore.
(Basically: Time heals all wounds.)
Who knew this Italian echo (compare end of question to answer) would apply to such a mundane business as a bad haircut? See, a few weeks ago, I got a bad haircut. What made it bad? I asked for a trim and a layer. 30 minutes later, I look in the mirror and...damn, I'm not a baby, I'm not going to get upset over a bad haircut because I know hair grows back, but when I got home, the first thing I did was look up "layer" in the dictionary. Just as I thought, a "layer" involves a gradation of sorts- a gradual transformation from short to long, for instance. I then checked in the mirror once more, and sure enough, there was nothing gradual about the transformation. It was more like a 30-foot freefall starting somewhere behind my ears. And spikey, like those girls in Korean dramas who try so hard to look trendy. Yuck, I thought. Who can put an end to this great sorrow? Only time. Time- and ponytails, which make me look younger, true, but this is more desirable than looking like a Korean pop star.
Anyway, so today marks the first day since the Haircut I let my hair down and it looked okay.
Qui dara fine al gran dolore? L'ore.
(Basically: Time heals all wounds.)
Who knew this Italian echo (compare end of question to answer) would apply to such a mundane business as a bad haircut? See, a few weeks ago, I got a bad haircut. What made it bad? I asked for a trim and a layer. 30 minutes later, I look in the mirror and...damn, I'm not a baby, I'm not going to get upset over a bad haircut because I know hair grows back, but when I got home, the first thing I did was look up "layer" in the dictionary. Just as I thought, a "layer" involves a gradation of sorts- a gradual transformation from short to long, for instance. I then checked in the mirror once more, and sure enough, there was nothing gradual about the transformation. It was more like a 30-foot freefall starting somewhere behind my ears. And spikey, like those girls in Korean dramas who try so hard to look trendy. Yuck, I thought. Who can put an end to this great sorrow? Only time. Time- and ponytails, which make me look younger, true, but this is more desirable than looking like a Korean pop star.
Anyway, so today marks the first day since the Haircut I let my hair down and it looked okay.
Cheers to time and ponytails!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Babies, Slugs, & the Eternal You
Babies are so funny! Take the one sitting 2 tables away from me at Starbucks right now. First of all, she's dressed adorably with a teeny tiny denim skirt and pink ruffly headband to match her pink shirt and booties. Second of all, she's gnawing and licking the shit out of her fingers, like a caveman with a big juicy hambone. Sometimes though, her hand comes out of her toothless mouth and falls into her lap (slobber and all), but rather than lifting her hand back up, she leans her whole teeny tiny head and torso over and tries to grab the lifeless hand with her mouth. Sometimes she misses. Once she leaned over aiming for her hand, but she landed on her mother's knee instead, so she just started licking her mother's knee, while her mother held onto the back of the baby's skirt to keep her from falling. Crazy babies! They make me laugh.
Also, they will eat anything. There once was a baby named Ziyanja who lived downstairs from us at our old apartment. One day, we were changing her diaper and amidst the pile of poop lay two shiny-no-more quarters. Poor Washington. It's despicable the way we desecrate our founding fathers! I wonder what disgusting things I ate as a baby? Cal, a classmate of mine in elementary school, ate a slug when he was two. That is so gross. Why do slugs turn orange when you salt them? Hm...when you salt the slug, its body secretes slime to the outside in order to dilute the salt so it can breathe. So when you salt a slug to death, you're forcing it to secrete all the liquid from its body, and basically drying or suffocating it to death. Ok, I'm feeling slightly nauseous now. I really hope no one was eating while reading this post.
Yesterday, I met up with some friends I had not seen in 6 years. !!! We haven't changed a bit. I kid or course, but only slightly. I think, judging from last night's experience, there is a part of us that remains eternally the same no matter how much we change in other respects. Like the exuberance of one, or the genuineness of another. Our database of things we've seen and done and learned has grown exponentially, but the template on which these things were laid remains unchanged, ever since we were the size of that Ferocious Licker babe...who is now gone. Boo. I guess I'll entertain myself with a book now. I'm currently reading Oh Jerusalem, by Lapierre and Collins. It was donated to me by Tom, who urged me to read it before I head to the mideast. So many things to do, so little time!
Eternally Yours,
Archimedes
Also, they will eat anything. There once was a baby named Ziyanja who lived downstairs from us at our old apartment. One day, we were changing her diaper and amidst the pile of poop lay two shiny-no-more quarters. Poor Washington. It's despicable the way we desecrate our founding fathers! I wonder what disgusting things I ate as a baby? Cal, a classmate of mine in elementary school, ate a slug when he was two. That is so gross. Why do slugs turn orange when you salt them? Hm...when you salt the slug, its body secretes slime to the outside in order to dilute the salt so it can breathe. So when you salt a slug to death, you're forcing it to secrete all the liquid from its body, and basically drying or suffocating it to death. Ok, I'm feeling slightly nauseous now. I really hope no one was eating while reading this post.
Yesterday, I met up with some friends I had not seen in 6 years. !!! We haven't changed a bit. I kid or course, but only slightly. I think, judging from last night's experience, there is a part of us that remains eternally the same no matter how much we change in other respects. Like the exuberance of one, or the genuineness of another. Our database of things we've seen and done and learned has grown exponentially, but the template on which these things were laid remains unchanged, ever since we were the size of that Ferocious Licker babe...who is now gone. Boo. I guess I'll entertain myself with a book now. I'm currently reading Oh Jerusalem, by Lapierre and Collins. It was donated to me by Tom, who urged me to read it before I head to the mideast. So many things to do, so little time!
Eternally Yours,
Archimedes
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
The Most Surreal Tutoring Experience Yet
Today, I was supposed to be tutoring, but instead, found myself sitting on the couch while my student's ailing grandpa regaled us with Slavic drinking songs and the Baloney Song (all 6 verses of it!).
"He doesn't usually act like this," said my student, "He must still be drugged up from his hospital visit."
Yeeeeah, that would explain it. I almost expected him to bring out a hat and cane and start criss-crossing the room with his merry tunes.
Tomorrow is the deadline for sending the contract for the teaching gig in Irbil. It's times like these when I don't want to leave my comfy tutoring business here in WA.
"He doesn't usually act like this," said my student, "He must still be drugged up from his hospital visit."
Yeeeeah, that would explain it. I almost expected him to bring out a hat and cane and start criss-crossing the room with his merry tunes.
Tomorrow is the deadline for sending the contract for the teaching gig in Irbil. It's times like these when I don't want to leave my comfy tutoring business here in WA.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Pacific Northwest, Down Under
I just read an Op-Ed piece in the Times, written by one of my favorite writers, Brian Greene. Not surprisingly, in his article called "Put a Little Science in Your Life", he says a lot of things that draw an amen from me, but one really great point he makes is that when teaching, there's a lot of drilling and rigor involved and technicalities to learn, but it's okay- crucial even- to take a break from these micro-learning activities to tell the students about current research, theories, and applications. Storytelling is not just for kindergarteners or English class. In science and math classes, the students may not be old enough or knowledgeable enough yet to understand everything you're telling them, but that doesn't mean they aren't picking anything up. It's really about planting seeds in their minds that they will pick up on later, when it becomes more relevant or comprehensible. In fact, that aura of mystery that surrounds abstract, unfathomable ideas may be just the kick they need to want to keep going with the drilling and technicalities.
The train ride from Tacoma to Portland was lovely. Water paralleled the tracks almost the entire way down, and lush, green vegetation surrounded either side in all forms, from wild sky-high leafy trees to tame farmlands with their freshly mown grass. The girl I sat next to was returning from visiting her boyfriend in Seattle, and when she told me that, I was instantly taken- whimsied away, you could say- by the utterly romantic idea of having to take a train ride every week to visit my boyfriend. I have funny ideas about romance, I know.
The actual weekend in Portland was just as wonderful. I went with Tom and his friend Steve, who was visiting from Australia, and Steve's friend Liz gave us a great weekend tour of Hawthorne, the hippie neighborhood she lives in. In her neighborhood, the houses and shops are unique-looking, not mass-produced cookie-cutter types, and there is even a house that looks like it is made of construction paper (because of the way it is painted, not how flimsy it is). The day we got there, we went to Bagdad cafe, and had good, hearty happy-hour food, including delicious cajunized tater tots, mmmm. Steve, who taught English in Japan for a year, would call them oishi ("delicious"), which he remembered by the classy mnemonic:
"She's delicious!"
"Oh-is-she desu?"
There was a talented street musician strumming away at his guitar just a few feet away from our outdoor seating, skateboarders rolling by on a regular basis, and pedestrians dressed as buckaneers and other strange fixings, though Halloween is long past (or long to come). The cafe was also a movie theater that showed second-round movies for $3 a pop, and they have a few of those, Liz told us, in the area. Basically, all we did all weekend was eat out, drink out, and nap in. It was quite refreshing and relaxing. We also took the piss out of* each other and got the piss taken out of because apparently that's what Aussies do for fun, and if you can't take a joke, then you can't survive Down Under.
Some things to know about Portland are: Bikes are ubiquitous. If you want to fit in, you better get a bike and use it! And also, they are known for their bridges, microbrewery beers, (Tillamook) cheese, and dormant volcanoes. The weather is very much like Tacoma-Seattle weather: mild, temperate, cloudy, and if it rains, it's really a misty rain, and it smells just as good.
*roughly translates as "made fun of"
The train ride from Tacoma to Portland was lovely. Water paralleled the tracks almost the entire way down, and lush, green vegetation surrounded either side in all forms, from wild sky-high leafy trees to tame farmlands with their freshly mown grass. The girl I sat next to was returning from visiting her boyfriend in Seattle, and when she told me that, I was instantly taken- whimsied away, you could say- by the utterly romantic idea of having to take a train ride every week to visit my boyfriend. I have funny ideas about romance, I know.
The actual weekend in Portland was just as wonderful. I went with Tom and his friend Steve, who was visiting from Australia, and Steve's friend Liz gave us a great weekend tour of Hawthorne, the hippie neighborhood she lives in. In her neighborhood, the houses and shops are unique-looking, not mass-produced cookie-cutter types, and there is even a house that looks like it is made of construction paper (because of the way it is painted, not how flimsy it is). The day we got there, we went to Bagdad cafe, and had good, hearty happy-hour food, including delicious cajunized tater tots, mmmm. Steve, who taught English in Japan for a year, would call them oishi ("delicious"), which he remembered by the classy mnemonic:
"She's delicious!"
"Oh-is-she desu?"
There was a talented street musician strumming away at his guitar just a few feet away from our outdoor seating, skateboarders rolling by on a regular basis, and pedestrians dressed as buckaneers and other strange fixings, though Halloween is long past (or long to come). The cafe was also a movie theater that showed second-round movies for $3 a pop, and they have a few of those, Liz told us, in the area. Basically, all we did all weekend was eat out, drink out, and nap in. It was quite refreshing and relaxing. We also took the piss out of* each other and got the piss taken out of because apparently that's what Aussies do for fun, and if you can't take a joke, then you can't survive Down Under.
Some things to know about Portland are: Bikes are ubiquitous. If you want to fit in, you better get a bike and use it! And also, they are known for their bridges, microbrewery beers, (Tillamook) cheese, and dormant volcanoes. The weather is very much like Tacoma-Seattle weather: mild, temperate, cloudy, and if it rains, it's really a misty rain, and it smells just as good.
*roughly translates as "made fun of"
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Here Lies Nana
Guess what I was doing just now?
Driving with a banana on my rooftop.
:-D
I put it there because my hands were full and I had to open the car door, and then of course, just like I did with my wallet during the road trip 2 years ago, I promptly obliviated it from my memory and drove away. Moral of the story: Never put things down for "just a second" on the car roof. Luckily, a very kind person found the wallet and returned it, plus its entire content, to the police station.
"It got run over by a few semi's," I would explain when I had to show my bent-up ID at bars and stuff. And now, somewhere on the road in Spanaway/Parkland lies a smooshed banana, like a cartoon sketch waiting to happen.
Driving with a banana on my rooftop.
:-D
I put it there because my hands were full and I had to open the car door, and then of course, just like I did with my wallet during the road trip 2 years ago, I promptly obliviated it from my memory and drove away. Moral of the story: Never put things down for "just a second" on the car roof. Luckily, a very kind person found the wallet and returned it, plus its entire content, to the police station.
"It got run over by a few semi's," I would explain when I had to show my bent-up ID at bars and stuff. And now, somewhere on the road in Spanaway/Parkland lies a smooshed banana, like a cartoon sketch waiting to happen.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Tions All Around
Happy sigh...I'm in a wonderfully sappy mood tonight.
Congratulations, Jess and Eric!
Felicitations!
Salutations!
Just...Tions.
Congratulations, Jess and Eric!
Felicitations!
Salutations!
Just...Tions.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
The Muslim Question
Why is it such a big deal whether or not Obama is a Muslim? I think it is shameful that it is even an issue in this campaign.
"Mr. Obama, are you, or are you not a Muslim?"
They ask him that-over and over again- as if being a Muslim is like being a drug addict, or a Hannah Montana fan, or the father of Anna-Nicole Smith's baby, as if it's something to be ashamed of. Is politics nothing but a Jerry Springer show?
Is you, or is you ain't, the father?
Of course, I'm not that naive. I know exactly why it is a big deal in politics. But I still think it is utterly stupid. America has come a long way in putting a woman and a black man on the presidential nominee stand, but when will come the day when a candidate can respond to the above question with a candid "Yes, I believe in Allah", and not a single eyebrow is raised?
(Answer: when people start shaving off their eyebrows.).
"Mr. Obama, are you, or are you not a Muslim?"
They ask him that-over and over again- as if being a Muslim is like being a drug addict, or a Hannah Montana fan, or the father of Anna-Nicole Smith's baby, as if it's something to be ashamed of. Is politics nothing but a Jerry Springer show?
Is you, or is you ain't, the father?
Of course, I'm not that naive. I know exactly why it is a big deal in politics. But I still think it is utterly stupid. America has come a long way in putting a woman and a black man on the presidential nominee stand, but when will come the day when a candidate can respond to the above question with a candid "Yes, I believe in Allah", and not a single eyebrow is raised?
(Answer: when people start shaving off their eyebrows.).
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Felix Felicis
Wow, I'm so lucky.
Nothing like a flood of support and advice to make you feel like you must have kissed the blarney stone at some point in your life. Or found a four-leaf clover. Or taken a swig of felix felicis. The best part was when today, I went to my usual tutoring session in North Tacoma. Usually, when I open the door and walk in yelling "hello!", I see my student sitting on the living room couch watching his after-school show, "Just Shoot Me". I throw myself on the couch and finish the episode with him, and then we go to the kitchen to do geometry for a couple of hours.
Today, however, when I walked in yelling "hello!" and peeked into the living room, there was no one there. Hm...so I wandered back into the kitchen and peered into the family room downstairs, and there he was, strumming on a guitar, but one that I hadn't seen before.
"Hey, new guitar?"
"Yup," said he. "Uncle Dave found it in a pawn shop. It only cost 70 bucks, but it plays real nice. He had to get the strings replaced because they were falling apart. But even with the bad strings, it sounded good!" He continued playing it, while I listened, wishing I was experienced enough with guitars to be able to appreciate the good-sounding ones from "cheesy-sounding" ones. I picked up his old black guitar and started strumming on that, but then suddenly, he stopped playing and handed the new guitar to me. "I'm just kidding, he got it for you. It's all yours."
Mine! I was so surprised, and man, I admit, I was like really touched at that moment. For the past couple months, after math, we'd go downstairs and play guitar together as sort of a way to unwind after a long grueling (grueling to him) math session, and I'd mentioned that I was interested in getting one, a really really cheap one, some time in the future. So his uncle had been searching all over craigslist, and tested out a bunch of guitars at a pawn shop to find one for me that was affordable but played decently. And so here I was, holding my very own guitar, new strings and everything, and chosen with care. I was so pleased that I tutored him for free today, and for 3.5 hours at that. Hey, he had a test coming, and I had to get him prepared! Ain't no messing around at Angie's Academy.
And guess what I'm naming the guitar? (See post title.)
Nothing like a flood of support and advice to make you feel like you must have kissed the blarney stone at some point in your life. Or found a four-leaf clover. Or taken a swig of felix felicis. The best part was when today, I went to my usual tutoring session in North Tacoma. Usually, when I open the door and walk in yelling "hello!", I see my student sitting on the living room couch watching his after-school show, "Just Shoot Me". I throw myself on the couch and finish the episode with him, and then we go to the kitchen to do geometry for a couple of hours.
Today, however, when I walked in yelling "hello!" and peeked into the living room, there was no one there. Hm...so I wandered back into the kitchen and peered into the family room downstairs, and there he was, strumming on a guitar, but one that I hadn't seen before.
"Hey, new guitar?"
"Yup," said he. "Uncle Dave found it in a pawn shop. It only cost 70 bucks, but it plays real nice. He had to get the strings replaced because they were falling apart. But even with the bad strings, it sounded good!" He continued playing it, while I listened, wishing I was experienced enough with guitars to be able to appreciate the good-sounding ones from "cheesy-sounding" ones. I picked up his old black guitar and started strumming on that, but then suddenly, he stopped playing and handed the new guitar to me. "I'm just kidding, he got it for you. It's all yours."
Mine! I was so surprised, and man, I admit, I was like really touched at that moment. For the past couple months, after math, we'd go downstairs and play guitar together as sort of a way to unwind after a long grueling (grueling to him) math session, and I'd mentioned that I was interested in getting one, a really really cheap one, some time in the future. So his uncle had been searching all over craigslist, and tested out a bunch of guitars at a pawn shop to find one for me that was affordable but played decently. And so here I was, holding my very own guitar, new strings and everything, and chosen with care. I was so pleased that I tutored him for free today, and for 3.5 hours at that. Hey, he had a test coming, and I had to get him prepared! Ain't no messing around at Angie's Academy.
And guess what I'm naming the guitar? (See post title.)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Let's Talk About...Kurdistan
Here is Kurdistan:
Kurdistan is not a country. It is identified (by Wikipedia) as a "federal autonomous region", a region belonging to four nations (Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria), and inhabited by the Kurdish people who ultimately want peace and total autonomy. Of course, none of the four countries it belongs to is willing to grant such independence because it would mean a huge loss of money for them, given the bounty of oil reserves in the land.
Erbil, the capital city, is in the Iraqi portion of the Kurdish region, and the people there do everything they can to distance themselves ideologically from the rest of war-torn Iraq. They love the West, and they love Americans because of the general peace that the US government helped to ensure in this northern region of Iraq. Right now, Erbil is ugly, brown, and dusty, but it's undergoing major development in the way of shopping malls, entertainment centers, hotels, and restaurants. It's even said that Erbil resembles the United Arab Emirates some years ago.
Well, I never thought I'd be saying this, but I may be going to Iraq. !!! ...
See, I just got this teaching gig there. I haven't said yes yet because I want to take a couple days at least to make a well-thought out decision. Originally, I applied to math teaching positions at international schools abroad as a back-up plan, in case I didn't get into grad school, but now that I've almost clinched this job, I can't imagine turning down an opportunity to travel to the Middle East. Plane ticket, housing, furnishing- even towels!- and transportation will be payed for and provided, and during Christmas, they will pay for a trip to one of four destinations: Amman, Istanbul, Lebanon, or the UAE. It's just too good to pass up, possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Plus I'll be working with people from all over the world. Well, maybe mostly US and UK and local Kurdistan, but anyway.
So I'm waiting to hear back from one Master's program, the deadline for the other not even having arrived yet, and all the while being handed this amazing opportunity to see a part of the world that is totally different from anything I've experienced before. I can't help thinking, school can wait for one more year. It truly is hard to go back to school after leaving and taking a break, but I firmly believe that mid-twenties still leaves plenty of time to go back to grad school, and besides, I might have to listen to good old Einstein in this situation. It was he who said that "education is what remains after one forgets everything he learned in school". Of course, I'm traveling to the Middle East in order to teach at a school, but anyway. Isn't "but anyway" a great way to leave one's illogical statements unresolved?
!!!
Kurdistan is not a country. It is identified (by Wikipedia) as a "federal autonomous region", a region belonging to four nations (Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria), and inhabited by the Kurdish people who ultimately want peace and total autonomy. Of course, none of the four countries it belongs to is willing to grant such independence because it would mean a huge loss of money for them, given the bounty of oil reserves in the land.
Erbil, the capital city, is in the Iraqi portion of the Kurdish region, and the people there do everything they can to distance themselves ideologically from the rest of war-torn Iraq. They love the West, and they love Americans because of the general peace that the US government helped to ensure in this northern region of Iraq. Right now, Erbil is ugly, brown, and dusty, but it's undergoing major development in the way of shopping malls, entertainment centers, hotels, and restaurants. It's even said that Erbil resembles the United Arab Emirates some years ago.
Well, I never thought I'd be saying this, but I may be going to Iraq. !!! ...
See, I just got this teaching gig there. I haven't said yes yet because I want to take a couple days at least to make a well-thought out decision. Originally, I applied to math teaching positions at international schools abroad as a back-up plan, in case I didn't get into grad school, but now that I've almost clinched this job, I can't imagine turning down an opportunity to travel to the Middle East. Plane ticket, housing, furnishing- even towels!- and transportation will be payed for and provided, and during Christmas, they will pay for a trip to one of four destinations: Amman, Istanbul, Lebanon, or the UAE. It's just too good to pass up, possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Plus I'll be working with people from all over the world. Well, maybe mostly US and UK and local Kurdistan, but anyway.
So I'm waiting to hear back from one Master's program, the deadline for the other not even having arrived yet, and all the while being handed this amazing opportunity to see a part of the world that is totally different from anything I've experienced before. I can't help thinking, school can wait for one more year. It truly is hard to go back to school after leaving and taking a break, but I firmly believe that mid-twenties still leaves plenty of time to go back to grad school, and besides, I might have to listen to good old Einstein in this situation. It was he who said that "education is what remains after one forgets everything he learned in school". Of course, I'm traveling to the Middle East in order to teach at a school, but anyway. Isn't "but anyway" a great way to leave one's illogical statements unresolved?
!!!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Having to Explain Doogie
I was tutoring a 6th or 7th grader today, and made a reference to Doogie Howser. She stared blankly back at me. Man I'm getting old. But why is she taller than me?
Another thing that makes me feel old is when I drive down my street and see kids who were not even born when my family and I moved into this cul-de-sac neighborhood 15 years ago.
Another thing that makes me feel old is when I drive down my street and see kids who were not even born when my family and I moved into this cul-de-sac neighborhood 15 years ago.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Playground Bully
Also for the record, I got kicked off the playground today!
Sometimes, when I go running, I like to stop by the local school's playground. I'm usually good about going when there are no kids around, but today, I mistook the second-recess bell for the end-of-recess bell, and headed into the school grounds too early. Dah! So a teacher or administrative chick came out and was all "EXCUSE ME, CAN I HELP YOU WITH SOMETHING?"
I dunno, can you? Would have been the appropriate elementary school reply. I don't recall what I really said, but she then responded with
"WE DON'T ALLOW PARENTS ON THE PLAYGROUND."
She thought I was a parent? How doubly insulting.
Sometimes, when I go running, I like to stop by the local school's playground. I'm usually good about going when there are no kids around, but today, I mistook the second-recess bell for the end-of-recess bell, and headed into the school grounds too early. Dah! So a teacher or administrative chick came out and was all "EXCUSE ME, CAN I HELP YOU WITH SOMETHING?"
I dunno, can you? Would have been the appropriate elementary school reply. I don't recall what I really said, but she then responded with
"WE DON'T ALLOW PARENTS ON THE PLAYGROUND."
She thought I was a parent? How doubly insulting.
The Sound of Boston
I spent this beeeeeeautiful summery evening figuring out the piano part for Augustana's Boston. I've always liked this song because its sound is so clear and the piano part makes me think of bells- at least in the version that I have (apparently there is an original version out there with a different-sounding intro). So this evening, after an impromptu viewing of La vita e bella (*tear!*), I decided to decode the piano part by ear, and that is how I discovered that this song is chock-full of perfect 4ths and 5ths!...
Okay, so to explain, perfect 4ths and 5ths are types of intervals in music. Intervals in general can be described as having a certain sound quality- sad, happy, gloomy, threathening, jarring, to use normal language. To the human ear, though, perfect 4ths and 5ths (and octaves) have the purest, most consonant sound, and the purity of these particular intervals was recognized even way back when, by Pythagoras. In fact, Pythagoras was so taken by the connection between math and musical intervals that he became convinced that the structure of the universe had to reflect these divine, harmonious ratios in the distances between its planets, sun, and moon. His "Music of the Spheres" model of the universe is simultaneously outrageous and full of incredible forethought, in my opinion, given the whole string theory thing. I'm going to refrain from attributing any sort of divinity to these musical intervals, but it is cool to think that the beauty of Augustana's song can be explained by its containing a bunch of these especially pure-sounding intervals.
Okay, so to explain, perfect 4ths and 5ths are types of intervals in music. Intervals in general can be described as having a certain sound quality- sad, happy, gloomy, threathening, jarring, to use normal language. To the human ear, though, perfect 4ths and 5ths (and octaves) have the purest, most consonant sound, and the purity of these particular intervals was recognized even way back when, by Pythagoras. In fact, Pythagoras was so taken by the connection between math and musical intervals that he became convinced that the structure of the universe had to reflect these divine, harmonious ratios in the distances between its planets, sun, and moon. His "Music of the Spheres" model of the universe is simultaneously outrageous and full of incredible forethought, in my opinion, given the whole string theory thing. I'm going to refrain from attributing any sort of divinity to these musical intervals, but it is cool to think that the beauty of Augustana's song can be explained by its containing a bunch of these especially pure-sounding intervals.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Raging Earth and Scenes from the Homeless
Damn, cyclone, earthquake, tornado...I think our dear planet Earth has finally hit puberty.
Today, I was staring out the window of the passenger side while munching on an apple, when I made eye contact with a homeless man peddling for change. He gave me a smile, as if he could see that I had a heart underneath my cold, bitter exterior. Of course, after that, I could not for a second imagine myself riding away without giving him anything, so I smiled back, reached into my backpack, rolled down the window and handed him a banana.
His thank you came an instant before I handed him the banana, so I couldn't tell if he was mad that it wasn't money. I know it doesn't make sense for homeless people to be ungrateful for whatever free things they can get their hands on, but I also know that human beings in general don't act rationally, and feelings of indignance or ungratefulness arise even when they are least warranted. So as we drove off, I sat there wondering what the worth of a slightly overripe banana was to a homeless man.
Another time I was passing another homeless hotspot, I witnessed a homeless man and woman sharing a kiss on the lips, their ragged bodies separated only by the piece of cardboard they used to solicit money. Love and happiness can be found in the most destitute corners of the world, I thought to myself then.
Today, I was staring out the window of the passenger side while munching on an apple, when I made eye contact with a homeless man peddling for change. He gave me a smile, as if he could see that I had a heart underneath my cold, bitter exterior. Of course, after that, I could not for a second imagine myself riding away without giving him anything, so I smiled back, reached into my backpack, rolled down the window and handed him a banana.
His thank you came an instant before I handed him the banana, so I couldn't tell if he was mad that it wasn't money. I know it doesn't make sense for homeless people to be ungrateful for whatever free things they can get their hands on, but I also know that human beings in general don't act rationally, and feelings of indignance or ungratefulness arise even when they are least warranted. So as we drove off, I sat there wondering what the worth of a slightly overripe banana was to a homeless man.
Another time I was passing another homeless hotspot, I witnessed a homeless man and woman sharing a kiss on the lips, their ragged bodies separated only by the piece of cardboard they used to solicit money. Love and happiness can be found in the most destitute corners of the world, I thought to myself then.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
One More Reason to Believe in Evolution
The duckbill platypus:
This sort of creature could only have come into existence by accident. With the bill and webbed feet of a duck, eyes of a mole, the tail of a beaver, mammalian fur and milk, and reptilian eggs, the duckbill platypus is the closest thing to a chimera that we can get, a veritable patchwork quilt of animal parts. What an odd, odd-looking creature! No wonder researchers chose it for their next genome sequencing project. The sequencing revealed that its genome reflects the patchwork quality of its physical appearance, containing avian, reptilian, and mammalian genomic features.
This sort of creature could only have come into existence by accident. With the bill and webbed feet of a duck, eyes of a mole, the tail of a beaver, mammalian fur and milk, and reptilian eggs, the duckbill platypus is the closest thing to a chimera that we can get, a veritable patchwork quilt of animal parts. What an odd, odd-looking creature! No wonder researchers chose it for their next genome sequencing project. The sequencing revealed that its genome reflects the patchwork quality of its physical appearance, containing avian, reptilian, and mammalian genomic features.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)