This has become my schedule:
Up at 6, leave at 7:15.
School starts at 8. Lasts till 4ish.
Come home, read, write, check email.
5ish, fall asleep.
7ish wake up. Eat dinner.
8:30 go to krav.
9:45, come home.
10-11 watch Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
11-11:30 Read.
11:30 fall asleep.
Repeat ad nauseum. I gotta cut the nap out, it's killin my productive time.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Thwack
So today there's a special Krav Maga knife defense 2 hour seminar I'm doing, after which I'll be a killing machine. So if you were planning on attacking me with a knife, you'll wanna get that in before 1 pm today, otherwise you're out of luck. If you wanna attack me with a gun...that seminar's a few weeks off...so you've got some time.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Boom Boom Boom
My neighbor, I think the one above me, has been playing loud music since 6 am... It's the radio too...and I can almost hear every word the radio show host is saying. Kb 105.9, or something like that.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
Children of Men
Just got back from seeing Children of Men by myself. It was by choice though...I didn't actually try to invite anyone else. I was also the only person in the whole theater. It was very very good. The direction especially was absolutely phenomenal, and the acting was perfect I thought - where a lot of other actors would have made it much more obvious emotionally I think there was enough subtelty to make it really feel a lot more realistic. I highly recommend.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
When you ride alone...
Yesterday I did vacuum and I did finish Collapse, and today I read The Giver in one fell swoop (not hard to do). I liked it, and it reminded me of my childhood, but something else occured to me - the hardly masked trail of propaganda running through this book.
To start out, the place where the main character, Jonas, lives is called the Community. Commun (...). In this Commune everyone is the same, to the point that color has somehow been phased out of peoples vision. It seems apparent the geneticists have purposefully done this, as well as made other changes to society in order to stifle diversity. It's considered taboo to point out someones difference - like Jonas's different colored eyes. There are no books, with the exception of a book of rules for the community, and a list of the functions of each of the community's facilities - the bicycle repair shop, the fish processing plant. All of society has been orchestrated in order for each person to have only common experiences and memory.
At first this is not seen as such a bad thing, in fact people seem relatively happy, unaware of their dull and ultimately meaningless lives (called meaningless by the main character once he discovers the impending euthanasia of everyone ultimately "released" from the community, either by old age or chronic misbehavior). It's after the main character begins to inherit these memories which show him that, in his own words there is not "only us," there is not "only now." Coupled with the fact that these new discoveries drive Jonas to anger at the fact that others lives are so flat, and ultimately causing him to leave the community in order to save these people from a life of meaninglessness, this is also a clear critique of censorship.
Furthermore, family planning is mentioned, not necessarily in a negative tone, however, but proported as a solution to hunger issues. The copyright to this book is 1993, as far as I can see, and China's one child policy becan in 1978, indeed, in the face of severe hunger issues, of which my Chinese teachers can attest.
I'm not saying the messages of this book are bad necessarily or that there are not good reasons to prize individuality and diversity, certainly when the alternative is purposeful elimination of diversity. I'm more surprised by the emotionality and appeal to sentiment present in this book, which expounds little but the ideals that should be held by a good little capitalist. And almost everyone I've talked to has had to read this in their public schooling.
In the questions for discussion at the end of the book, #2 is: In Jonas's community, every person and his or her experience are precisely the same. The climate is controlled, and competition has been eliminated in favor of a community in which everyone works only for the common good. What advantages might "Sameness" yield for contemporary communities? Is the loss of diversity worthwhile?
The obvious answer is no, but I'd question whether a 5th grader reading this would be able to tell you why the obvious answer is no. The message of this book is that 1: Such sameness is somehow associated with euthanasia (a link merely incidental in this case), 2: Such sameness deprives us of something, in return for safety, and 3: Such sameness is ignorant, probably among a few others.
Another book a lot of people were required to read in school is Farenheit 451, which is also quite obviously anti-censorship. I haven't read that book in a while, but my memories of it are much the same as this book in that - they are books meant to invoke associations of capitalist, democratic, or at least American values, with good feelings. Sameness is associated with euthanasia, dullness, and scary futuristic machines (in 451). Again, I'm not saying that many American values don't have good reasons for believing in them - what I am saying is what these books are are not explanations of those reasons through fiction, what they are is narratives meant to produce a necessary emotional link of either joy or despair - joy with american values - despair with communist/totalitarian values - in short, these books are propaganda.
I welcome any other thoughts.
To start out, the place where the main character, Jonas, lives is called the Community. Commun (...). In this Commune everyone is the same, to the point that color has somehow been phased out of peoples vision. It seems apparent the geneticists have purposefully done this, as well as made other changes to society in order to stifle diversity. It's considered taboo to point out someones difference - like Jonas's different colored eyes. There are no books, with the exception of a book of rules for the community, and a list of the functions of each of the community's facilities - the bicycle repair shop, the fish processing plant. All of society has been orchestrated in order for each person to have only common experiences and memory.
At first this is not seen as such a bad thing, in fact people seem relatively happy, unaware of their dull and ultimately meaningless lives (called meaningless by the main character once he discovers the impending euthanasia of everyone ultimately "released" from the community, either by old age or chronic misbehavior). It's after the main character begins to inherit these memories which show him that, in his own words there is not "only us," there is not "only now." Coupled with the fact that these new discoveries drive Jonas to anger at the fact that others lives are so flat, and ultimately causing him to leave the community in order to save these people from a life of meaninglessness, this is also a clear critique of censorship.
Furthermore, family planning is mentioned, not necessarily in a negative tone, however, but proported as a solution to hunger issues. The copyright to this book is 1993, as far as I can see, and China's one child policy becan in 1978, indeed, in the face of severe hunger issues, of which my Chinese teachers can attest.
I'm not saying the messages of this book are bad necessarily or that there are not good reasons to prize individuality and diversity, certainly when the alternative is purposeful elimination of diversity. I'm more surprised by the emotionality and appeal to sentiment present in this book, which expounds little but the ideals that should be held by a good little capitalist. And almost everyone I've talked to has had to read this in their public schooling.
In the questions for discussion at the end of the book, #2 is: In Jonas's community, every person and his or her experience are precisely the same. The climate is controlled, and competition has been eliminated in favor of a community in which everyone works only for the common good. What advantages might "Sameness" yield for contemporary communities? Is the loss of diversity worthwhile?
The obvious answer is no, but I'd question whether a 5th grader reading this would be able to tell you why the obvious answer is no. The message of this book is that 1: Such sameness is somehow associated with euthanasia (a link merely incidental in this case), 2: Such sameness deprives us of something, in return for safety, and 3: Such sameness is ignorant, probably among a few others.
Another book a lot of people were required to read in school is Farenheit 451, which is also quite obviously anti-censorship. I haven't read that book in a while, but my memories of it are much the same as this book in that - they are books meant to invoke associations of capitalist, democratic, or at least American values, with good feelings. Sameness is associated with euthanasia, dullness, and scary futuristic machines (in 451). Again, I'm not saying that many American values don't have good reasons for believing in them - what I am saying is what these books are are not explanations of those reasons through fiction, what they are is narratives meant to produce a necessary emotional link of either joy or despair - joy with american values - despair with communist/totalitarian values - in short, these books are propaganda.
I welcome any other thoughts.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
To Do
I think I'm taking after my grandmama on my maternal parental unit's side. Every night, as far as I know, she makes a list of what she needs to do the next day. I haven't been doing that, but I have a list of all the things I want to accomplish ranging from apply to colleges (which I can't do for another year and a half) to vacuum (which I should have done a week ago). And then every day in the morning I'll make a list sometimes, or just hilight the things already on the list I want to get done today.
Today: Vacuum.
Finish Collapse
I've been reading that book for nigh on 2 months. It's interesting and I like it...but it puts me to sleep whenever I try to read it. I don't know...I like a lot of the specifics, and I like the overall idea of the book, it just goes too long on some bits, for me. I mean, the guy won the pullitzer prize for his last book, so far be it for me to critique his writing, but once we've talked about tree rings, pollen samples, and top soil erosion...sometimes I just can't hang in there when the next sentence is "Moving in to the next major climate zone in Australia, we encounter five new major problems:" I'm just overwhelmed with the nearly irreversible environmental damage we've caused...and I need a nap to get over it. I have 150 pages left and I need to knock those out today to get on to the rest of my book stack:
Also I want to finish the first draft of a short story I started yesterday. Short storys always pose a problem for me cause when I started doing any writing, when I was in like 3rd grade or something, it was always in imitation of Lord of the Rings or Narnia. So I'd just go on and on in whatever epic quest these mythical creatures were on and I didn't have to worry about tightening up the story or characters. But when all you have is 5000 or less words, you have to be a lot more economical and impactful with the little you write.
Today: Vacuum.
Finish Collapse
I've been reading that book for nigh on 2 months. It's interesting and I like it...but it puts me to sleep whenever I try to read it. I don't know...I like a lot of the specifics, and I like the overall idea of the book, it just goes too long on some bits, for me. I mean, the guy won the pullitzer prize for his last book, so far be it for me to critique his writing, but once we've talked about tree rings, pollen samples, and top soil erosion...sometimes I just can't hang in there when the next sentence is "Moving in to the next major climate zone in Australia, we encounter five new major problems:" I'm just overwhelmed with the nearly irreversible environmental damage we've caused...and I need a nap to get over it. I have 150 pages left and I need to knock those out today to get on to the rest of my book stack:
Also I want to finish the first draft of a short story I started yesterday. Short storys always pose a problem for me cause when I started doing any writing, when I was in like 3rd grade or something, it was always in imitation of Lord of the Rings or Narnia. So I'd just go on and on in whatever epic quest these mythical creatures were on and I didn't have to worry about tightening up the story or characters. But when all you have is 5000 or less words, you have to be a lot more economical and impactful with the little you write.
Friday, February 16, 2007
The Magic of Valentine's Day
So it turns out I did have a valentine. My parents, awwwwww. I didn't know it until today though cause the package they sent didn't arrive till yesterday or today, and I didn't check my mail till today. They sent me nerds and beef jerky, and then I asked the professor to be my valentine, and gave him a piece of beef jerky.
He said he already had a girlfriend.
He said he already had a girlfriend.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Burr
I have to be somewhere at 7:30 am. It's 0 degrees as I'm leaving. With wind chill it feels like -22, says the news. That's pretty freakin cold.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
The V-Day
Happy Valentine's Day. I think some guys are gonna come over and we're maybe gonna play poker...in our underwear of course, in homage to valentines day.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Winter Weather
We're talking 4 inches of snow tonight, which doesn't seem like that much to me, but supposedly there might be a snow day tomorrow. If they shut down the schools it sounds like they shut down the base, and krav. The professor's still oozing from his eye, and I have a vet appointment tomorrow, but if there's a snow day, yes you might initially think Yay! No school! But wait. What if the professor's eye falls out? Then nobody's having a good day.
If it does end up being a snow day I'll be sure to get some pictures of the winter wonderland.
If it does end up being a snow day I'll be sure to get some pictures of the winter wonderland.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
The Quest
Pictures of my quest to CA.
The setting sun in western NE. There are like 2 phases where I remembered to take pictures: western NE and Utah, with a couple exceptions.
More western NE.
Hay bales in western NE. I must say I don't think these pictures are half bad for being taken from the cockpit of a moving truck as it sped down the freeway.
And western NE is apparently where they're dumping all the nuclear waste. This was the back of 1 of 2 trucks, both with this stuff. The driver had 3 1/3 eyes.
This is the interlude, a rare look at the reflection of my dashboard while in the Colorado Rockies. You can see the tail lights of another car on the in the middle leftish. For those who haven't heard, it wasn't as snowy as windy. And the wind would blow the snow onto the road and reduce your vision to like 10 feet all of the sudden, then be gone in 5 seconds. So I was going down a hill, going probably half the speed limit, and I could see the cars in front of me putting on the brakes, so I slowed down a little bit. I don't remember if it was while slowing down or when starting to go again, that the back part of the truck started going swinging forward and right, while the front started to swing left. I said "Oh expletive," and turned the wheel right while slamming on the brakes. The truck caught and swung right, too far, I spun the wheel back. It swung, swung back, and I think on the 3rd time going left it finally slowed down and caught again. I was panting, probably sweating, "Oh my god, oh expletive." The whole way through the mountains you'd see the snow plows in the dark and snow with their flashing lights, usually pulled up next to someone who had gone off onto a ditch in the side of the road. I thought I was going into the side for sure. I don't remember if there was a drop off or what next to me. I was going quite a bit slower for the remainder of the trip. There was one point where, through my dirty headlights and the whipping snow I saw the speed limit sign: 50. And I looked down at my spedometer: 25. And I still felt like I was being pretty dangerous. I didn't speed up again till there were leaves on the trees.
This is when I got into utah the next morning, after sleeping with the car on on some random onramp. No carbon monoxide detector. I already got yelled at, but I just felt so at ease when I passed that "Now entering Utah" sign. This was god's land.
At a turnoff viewing area in Utah. If I wasn't in a rush I would have loved to stop at more of these. Like Vasquez Rocks but more vast. If you don't know what vasquez rocks is, check out Little Miss Sunshine, the background when the grandpa is saying, "I'm telling you, expletive a lot of women, I got no reason to lie to you," is vasquez rocks, just outside santa clarita.
This is on the 15 I think. It hooks into northern arizona for just a bit before going into nevada. I think the river there is called Virgin river. This picture doesn't capture it, but you're in a canyon with huge rock walls, I don't know how to estimate, but it was 1000+ feet up above the road, just ginormous.
Finally, my digital zoom of Las Vegas. I was trying to capture the pollution, it was a haze sitting on the city that was really obvious after coming through the mountains. And that's it. The remaining 5 or 6 hours was mostly desert, and stuff I've driven before, so it didn't seem that remarkable to me. I hope you enjoyed The Quest.
The setting sun in western NE. There are like 2 phases where I remembered to take pictures: western NE and Utah, with a couple exceptions.
More western NE.
Hay bales in western NE. I must say I don't think these pictures are half bad for being taken from the cockpit of a moving truck as it sped down the freeway.
And western NE is apparently where they're dumping all the nuclear waste. This was the back of 1 of 2 trucks, both with this stuff. The driver had 3 1/3 eyes.
This is the interlude, a rare look at the reflection of my dashboard while in the Colorado Rockies. You can see the tail lights of another car on the in the middle leftish. For those who haven't heard, it wasn't as snowy as windy. And the wind would blow the snow onto the road and reduce your vision to like 10 feet all of the sudden, then be gone in 5 seconds. So I was going down a hill, going probably half the speed limit, and I could see the cars in front of me putting on the brakes, so I slowed down a little bit. I don't remember if it was while slowing down or when starting to go again, that the back part of the truck started going swinging forward and right, while the front started to swing left. I said "Oh expletive," and turned the wheel right while slamming on the brakes. The truck caught and swung right, too far, I spun the wheel back. It swung, swung back, and I think on the 3rd time going left it finally slowed down and caught again. I was panting, probably sweating, "Oh my god, oh expletive." The whole way through the mountains you'd see the snow plows in the dark and snow with their flashing lights, usually pulled up next to someone who had gone off onto a ditch in the side of the road. I thought I was going into the side for sure. I don't remember if there was a drop off or what next to me. I was going quite a bit slower for the remainder of the trip. There was one point where, through my dirty headlights and the whipping snow I saw the speed limit sign: 50. And I looked down at my spedometer: 25. And I still felt like I was being pretty dangerous. I didn't speed up again till there were leaves on the trees.
This is when I got into utah the next morning, after sleeping with the car on on some random onramp. No carbon monoxide detector. I already got yelled at, but I just felt so at ease when I passed that "Now entering Utah" sign. This was god's land.
At a turnoff viewing area in Utah. If I wasn't in a rush I would have loved to stop at more of these. Like Vasquez Rocks but more vast. If you don't know what vasquez rocks is, check out Little Miss Sunshine, the background when the grandpa is saying, "I'm telling you, expletive a lot of women, I got no reason to lie to you," is vasquez rocks, just outside santa clarita.
This is on the 15 I think. It hooks into northern arizona for just a bit before going into nevada. I think the river there is called Virgin river. This picture doesn't capture it, but you're in a canyon with huge rock walls, I don't know how to estimate, but it was 1000+ feet up above the road, just ginormous.
Finally, my digital zoom of Las Vegas. I was trying to capture the pollution, it was a haze sitting on the city that was really obvious after coming through the mountains. And that's it. The remaining 5 or 6 hours was mostly desert, and stuff I've driven before, so it didn't seem that remarkable to me. I hope you enjoyed The Quest.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
on a jet Plane
So tomorrow I leave AZ for the second time in a month. Around 11 am look to the skies, if you see a southwest plane heading northeastish, I'll be waving at you from the window. So if you have a telescope and I remember to wave, there's a very slim chance you'll see me. I leave behind a lot of fond memories. Like the time I was in the garage eating cheddar, and the time I was eating swiss. Phoenix, I know it's the winter, but I'm all hot blooded for you. Back to Omaha I go, so if you see the forcast for the midwest is a lot cooler, you know why. Cause I'm there. And I'm pretty cool.
Also I got a job in Yeovil. Wherever that is. Tickle me? (scroll down halfwayish)
Also I got a job in Yeovil. Wherever that is. Tickle me? (scroll down halfwayish)
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Monday, February 5, 2007
Posts
I've got some pictures from the drive, so I'll post those soon. Dealing with all this divorce stuff is tiring... I hope it's done sooon.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
There's a Hole in my Bucket
Dear Liza Dear Liza
I realize I've been tagged to talk about my weird things...and I may still...I've gotta think of some.
Otherwise, I'm leaving tomorrow to drive Erin's stuff to Cali, then drive to Phoenix. The only part I'm worried about with driving that big truck is just the snow here and maybe some snow I'll hit in Coloradoish, cause I don't think rental places give you chains or even allow you to put on your own.
It's 22 hours. I'm leaving friday afternoon and want to get to Santa Clarita by Monday. I don't think it'll be a problem. I drove 15 hours straigh after being awake all night the night before. So hopefully I can get to Phoenix on Tuesday if not late on Monday, then I'm leaving Friday again.
Sort of anticlimactic after the going away party, but I'm planning on just eating cheese in my parents garage the whole time I'm there, so no worries about awkwardness with seeing anyone.
Also the Professor's finally getting better. The snot sort of transfered to his eye, which is gross. At first it was just clear goo coming out, of his eye, but then it changed to the green and yellow stuff and it made his eyes swell - i'm thinking it's like when your nose drains at night and you wake up with a sore throat...except it's his eye. Blegh.
Also I went into an airforce clinic to get my shot records and I was due for a flu shot so they gave me that. The first year we got them I was real excited that I wouldn't get a cold then. But every time I've gotten them they've CAUSED me to get a cold. So I'm drinking plenty of fluids and I went ahead and slept late, just to stay healthy, you know.
I realize I've been tagged to talk about my weird things...and I may still...I've gotta think of some.
Otherwise, I'm leaving tomorrow to drive Erin's stuff to Cali, then drive to Phoenix. The only part I'm worried about with driving that big truck is just the snow here and maybe some snow I'll hit in Coloradoish, cause I don't think rental places give you chains or even allow you to put on your own.
It's 22 hours. I'm leaving friday afternoon and want to get to Santa Clarita by Monday. I don't think it'll be a problem. I drove 15 hours straigh after being awake all night the night before. So hopefully I can get to Phoenix on Tuesday if not late on Monday, then I'm leaving Friday again.
Sort of anticlimactic after the going away party, but I'm planning on just eating cheese in my parents garage the whole time I'm there, so no worries about awkwardness with seeing anyone.
Also the Professor's finally getting better. The snot sort of transfered to his eye, which is gross. At first it was just clear goo coming out, of his eye, but then it changed to the green and yellow stuff and it made his eyes swell - i'm thinking it's like when your nose drains at night and you wake up with a sore throat...except it's his eye. Blegh.
Also I went into an airforce clinic to get my shot records and I was due for a flu shot so they gave me that. The first year we got them I was real excited that I wouldn't get a cold then. But every time I've gotten them they've CAUSED me to get a cold. So I'm drinking plenty of fluids and I went ahead and slept late, just to stay healthy, you know.
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