UW Recital
My brother takes private music lessons up at the UW, as part of his class schedule for this quarter. To be enrolled in private lessons, you must also be assigned to an ensemble group. The lessons my brother is taking are jazz piano lessons, and hence, he was assigned to a jazz group. They hold recitals once a quarter, which we haven't had a chance to go see until now. Last quarter, the night of the recital was the night of a huge freeze in Western Washington, during which icy conditions were expected. Tonight, we had hail and snow of the drive there, but it wasn't that bad at all. It was really worth the trip up there, and I certainly had fun.
There were four different groups playing tonight, each with their own set of tunes. A lot of different styles were represented in the songs played, ranging from traditional standards to Avant-garde jazz and Jazz fusion. The tunes were incredibly varied, with some from Harold Arlen, others from Herbie Hancock, and yet others by Pat Metheny. Yet all these very different sounds came from the same set of instruments, with a set of drums, a piano, a bassist, and at least one saxophone. One of the groups had a trumpet and a flute, too. But basically the same core group of instruments was used by every ensemble.
There were some very good musicians tonight, and there were also some that weren't so great. However, the hall that the recital was held in was so small that anything played in there seemed overly amplified. While the two best drummers out of the four were definitely outstanding, their forceful playing almost made me want to cover my ears. I could hear ringing every time there was a slight pause in the music, which isn't exactly a good thing. I'm very paranoid about protecting myself from loud noises, which explains why I don't like going to concerts where the speakers are taller than I am. However, the good musicians balanced out the poor ones, and there wasn't really anything that I can complain about. It was a very fine performance by all of the musicians.
My brother has to audition at the beginning of every quarter, and then he is placed into an ensemble. Last quarter, he was playing Latin Jazz, and this quarter, he's playing mostly standards. Winter Quarter is fast approaching its end, and Spring Quarter will begin soon. We'll find out what he's playing then. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll sound great. As always.
thinkandrew
Are you "In"?
I've written about the
Order of the Arrow before, specifically when I attended various OA events. There are many members in our Lodge, which spans over much of Southwest Washington. However, there are new members inducted every year. To be considered for induction into the OA, you must be elected by your peers. There's no "running of the gauntlet", nor is there any form of hazing. It's fairly straight forward. If you meet certain eligibility requirements, then you can be elected for consideration. Once you're elected, you take part in an OA Ordeal, which will officially induct you as a life member. But to get all the way there, you must first be elected by your peers.
The elections are held annually, near the beginning of the year. The elections for our Troop were just held tonight. For an election to happen at all, you must have at least half of your registered Scouts present. Being a large Troop, we required at least 56 Scouts to be present for the election to go forward. We just made that total, and were able to proceed. The rules of the election are simple. The vote is made via secret ballot, and you can vote for as many or as few people as you want. For someone to be elected, they must simply receive at least half of the votes cast. There were twelve people that were eligible, and six made it. That's fairly disappointing for me, as the Senior Patrol Leader, as I know all of the kids that were eligible were eligible for good reasons. Even a parent got fairly upset that his son wasn't elected. But that's how the ball rolls.
The process set in place is meant to be a very fair election, where everybody gets a fair chance to be inducted into the OA. The goal behind having the election in such a way is to guarantee that the Scouts elected are looked up to by their peers. However, admiration sometimes gives way to cliques and the "cool" factor. It's not entirely fair that the elections have become a popularity vote on some level. There are many people that truly vote, making decisions based on how well that Scout represents the spirit of Scouting. But others decide on whether or not they were man enough to chug that bottle of hot-sauce at summer camp, even though they spent an hour in the bathroom for it.
As Senior Patrol Leader, I get to see things a very different way than a regular member of the Troop does. I get to know a lot more people, and see how people really interact. Because of this, it's fairly easy for me to explain why certain people didn't get elected into the OA. They range from "he's not popular enough", to "everybody thinks he's annoying". There's even the simple explanation that nobody knows who they are. I know every one of the Scouts that were standing up there, and with the exception of one or two, everybody was deserving. Yet why weren't they elected? Scouts are great people. But Scouts are still kids, and kids are fickle. They aren't always fair. They never will be.
But we're always working on it. It's an improvement from previous years, where we've only had two or three people get elected, out of twenty that were eligible. I truly believe that the Scouts are beginning to realize that their vote should be on a much more serious level. And even if someone doesn't get elected in the first time, there's always next year. Life goes on. You can't dwell on the fact that you didn't get in, or be commanded by the opinions and expectations of your peers. Stand tall for what you believe, and you'll never go wrong.
thinkandrew
Pet Sitting
My little brother spent the last half of his week last week doing some pretty interesting things, and I promised him that I would blog about it. I was going to last night, but I forgot to. He had some pictures to post, too, but they came out kind of blurry so I won't use them. Try to imagine it, though.
I think that every little kid, at one point or another, as wanted to have a dog. "Man's best friend" may be a stereotype, but stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. The idea of a constant companion is very real, one that many people enjoy. Dogs love no matter what, and are quick to forget any wrong. They're really wonderful animals, but they also deserve and require a lot of attention and responsibility. Getting a dog is a drastic change of lifestyle, as there needs to be someone constantly being responsible for the dog. When you go on a vacation, you either bring the pets with you, or you hire someone to take care of them for you. Which is what our neighbors did.
My little brother getting hired to take care of dogs is almost as good as having his own. It's not an easy job, he had to wake up at 6 in the morning everyday to let them out for their morning bathroom break. He'd be back at 4 to feed them, and take care of the cats they have, too. And at 8 in the evening, the dogs would get their bathroom break again, and both sets of pets would get their evening meals. However, the dogs are so remarkably well trained that everything was routine to them. The moment the back door was opened, they'd just zip right out. After my little brother was finished taking care of the cats, they'd be back at the glass door, waiting to be let back in.
Our neighbors own a mutt, as well as a Welsh Corgi. They're the cutest dogs, that are incredibly well behaved. My little brother took them out for walks a few times, and really had fun doing it. It was like having his own dogs, without having to deal with the smell inside the house. He did a really good job taking care of them, it's not easy to ask a 12 year-old to wake up at 6 o'clock every day. He was awake, out of the house, and back before even my parents or I even had our alarm clocks going off. He was very quiet about it, too, I didn't know that he had actually left and come back the first day. Now, our neighbors say that he's the first choice when it comes to pet-sitting. You can imagine how excited my brother was about that!
thinkandrew
My Thoughts on this Weekend
Laundry-List
The weekend really began for me on Friday afternoon. My last class ends at 1:05, after which I have no obligations. Any more, that is. I used to work at the Math Center during that hour, but now it's "peer tutoring hour". So instead, I packed my stuff over to the Arts Center, where I practiced piano for over two hours. There's an event coming up in a week, and I really need to get prepared for it. We have an upright piano at home, and there's a big difference between playing an upright and a grand. Not to mention the difference between a large hall and a living room. Fortunately for me, my brother introduced me to the Music Director at our school last year, and she lets me practice on one of the two grand pianos that my school owns. I really owe her, she doesn't have to let me do that. It's really great, though, as there's a huge amount of difference. I made a lot of progress in the two hours, I'll probably practice there again some time this week.
Saturday was pretty much a stay home and relax day, after getting only five hours of sleep from my midnight job on Friday. Friday itself was pretty hectic, so I pushed the rest over into Saturday. I did manage to get some housework done, I cleaned and dusted my room as well as washed the bathroom. I also cut my finger while washing the toilet bowl, though I never before thought that was possible. On our vinyl-covered toilet seat, there is a bead where the two pieces of vinyl were heat-sealed together. Apparently, it's sharp enough to cut skin. And yes, I did think it was gross yet funny that I cut my finger on the toilet. I seem to have a lot of accidents
with our toilet. And no, not those kinds of accidents.
I also registered for the SAT on Saturday night, for May 5th. It always seems that the standardized tests fall within a week of my birthday. It's about time to take it, as I'll need it while registering for four-year schools in the fall. I've always taken my grades pretty seriously, and this test will be no exception. People who haven't yet realized that what they do today will affect them for the rest of their lives really need to buck up. You only get one chance, which is why it's important to take your education very seriously. But I'm not going to stress out over the SAT. It's not that bad. After all, how on earth do you study for a test like the SAT?
The Japanese Video Project that my classmates and I are making is going along pretty well, though we haven't yet started filming. The due date is March 12th, so we've got a ways to go. However, the script has been finalized, and just needs to be translated. There are three acts, and I was assigned to translate act two. I finished tonight, and we'll see how the other ones come out. We've got just about two weeks, which should be enough to film and edit it. It looks like it'll come out well, and maybe even become the next YouTube sensation! Unfortunately, there is no dubbed-version, and I don't know how to insert subtitles.
thinkandrew
Movies!
In my opinion, many movies rated G for children (especially many Disney movies) are really directed towards adults. They have way too much violence and innuendo that are not child-appropriate. The worst film I've seen recently that was rated for children was "The Chronicles of Narnia". I was appalled by the small child who was given a deadly knife for self-defense. Only a few minutes of the film were terrible, but it ruined the entire experience for me. Even if parents do a good job of screening movies for their children, they can still be subjected to intense previews that are not at the same age group as the intended audience.
As stated by a letter to the editor in my local newspaper. Don't worry, it wasn't I that penned such a joke for an opinion. To go to the extreme is one thing, but it's totally different to keep on walking backwards, until you fall off the edge of a still-flat-for-you Earth. I really believe that the person who wrote that letter needs to pull their head out of a hole. If the movie was really that inappropriate, that person shouldn't have taken her kids to see it. With that type of reasoning, it's questionable if that person should be going within 100 yards of a movie theater at all. Any closer and she might be able to make out the titles on the posters outside.
There certainly is a lot of crazy junk that is shown on both the small and big screen, but it's paramount to point out that the industry is not forcing someone to watch TV. Never have they strapped someone into a chair, taped their eye-lids open, and turned on an endless stream of car chases, exploding buildings, and "deadly knives". If you don't like what's on TV, just turn it off. If you don't like what your children are watching, put a channel lock on. And if you don't agree with what the movie theaters are showing, why did you pay to go in in the first place?
I wouldn't say that I'm adverse to what is shown in the theaters now. There's definitely stuff that I would cringe to watch, as my parents taught me to, at the risk of sounding incredibly cliched, make good choices. I'm wary when the movie rating states "PG-13 for some language, violence, sexual themes, and drug use". I don't like it when the F-bomb is dropped in the middle of a good film, but I'm willing to stand it for the sake of an excellent story. If your kids watch such a film, just remember to tell them that such words are bad, are never to be used, and they should try to forget it. As for "deadly knives", the "Chronicles of Narnia" is a fantastical film that requires a display of weapons for the plot to function. And frankly, I find the idea of centaurs and talking animals more disturbing that a pen-knife.
Movies are just another form of story telling, one that has evolved from other forms of media such as the spoken voice, books, and radio. They tell good stories, just as all other forms of media were used for. Even Shakespeare was full of innuendos. Yet people now worship it for its literary significance. People should just deal with the bad, accept that it's used, and enjoy a great story that's entertaining. Most everybody does that. But apparently, one lady somewhere in Washington doesn't.
thinkandrew
Midnight Jobs
The post that was up here for about ten hours has been removed for unknown reasons. More correctly, I know the reasons, but I'm not going to divulge them. It was a perfectly good post, but it's no longer here. Grr.
So now, the subject has to change. I need to post something else to replace that which as been lost. Something comes to mind.
You may have seen the comment that people left on my previous post, in response to my apparent righteousness when it comes to the Recycling Movement. It's funny how it works. People complain when others don't recycle, saying that they're wasting resources and "killing off the planet". Yet when people are clinically obsessed with recycling every bit of raw materials that come through their lives, others state that recycling is actually inefficient, requiring more energy than the production of a new product does. It's actually cost effective to recycle aluminum cans, but the work done while sorting paper and plastic garbage is a waste of time.
People say that we're constantly cutting down trees, and depleting old-growth forests. While old growth forests may have been cut down in the past, the current majority of the trees that are harvested are farmed from planted forests. Companies such as Weyerhaeuser and Georgia-Pacific own massive tree farms, which are treated as crop farms. Trees aren't cut down willy-nilly to support the industry anymore. There is a set design in place.
The point of all this explanation is that I have a friend that is fanatical about recycling. She was chiding another friend of mine in the Math Center, about not recycling a plastic drink bottle. So I walked over to the recycling bin, grabbed a sheet of paper out of it, crumpled it up, and threw it into the garbage can. The conversation stopped immediately. Hilarity ensued.
thinkandrew
Gone for tonight...
Out workin' a job with my Dad. Started at 10:20. Got back at 2:45. Get my drift?
thinkandrew
Current State of Affairs
I think I'm entitled to rant every once in a while.
A depressing state of mind lingered with most of the Math Center tutors today. Our budget has actually been cut now, and the paid hours of all the staff has been at least halfed. Some of us are suffering even bigger hour cuts, losing two thirds of their paid time. It's a big blow for me, too, as I'll only be able to make half the money that I used to be. The whole situation is rather ridiculous. The fact that we can't get a larger budget approved is ludicrous, as even some Student Clubs have funding that rivals ours. There is no lack of money, yet somehow, our own source seems to be running dry. The Dean wants us to operate on an unreasonably small amount of money for the entire year, yet she approved a schedule that would very obviously put us over budget by the Quarter's end. It's questionable whether or not she's seeing out of both eyes.
The fact of the matter is, if I'm not getting paid, I won't go into the Center. I'd be more than willing to help anyone who asks me, or to even sit down for a few hours with a friend that is struggling in a certain class. But I've got better things to do than to sit down and help strangers for hours on end. Yet that's exactly what we're being asked to do. In an effort to decrease paid hours, we now have certain time slots that are considered "Peer Tutoring Hours". Basically, during those hours, no one is getting paid. However, it is the Dean's policy that a tutor be present in the Center at the time, to be the one responsible and keep the Center open. But if we're not going to be paid, why on earth would we want to stick around? It's unrealistic to expect us to work for free.
I also believe that the Dean cannot judge our effectiveness and act without the aid of the students. We get many appreciative students every day, but they're not going to run to the Dean to fawn all over us. This lack of praise seems enough to condemn us. We don't get a very large collection of students that come in, but those that do stay for several hours at a time. They're constantly working on math, and really utilize the Center fully. There are days when we're so full, that people are spilling out into the hallway. I recall a day a few weeks ago where every seat in the room was taken, and there were three people out in the hallway sitting on the floor. The Dean doesn't see those days.
My mom tells me not to worry about it too much. I'm not the boss, and it's not up to me to come up with a better budget, increase hours, or even keep the Center open at all. But I work there, and I feel an attachment to the Lab that I can't just shake off. It's my job, and I enjoy working there. But the way things are looking, people may begin disappearing. Hopefully not me.
thinkandrew
Elaboration
There is really quite a bit to talk about this past weekend. It was only the second time that I had been on one of our Troop's winter camps, though it felt as if I had been doing it for years. Everything went so smoothly, almost as if I actually knew what I was doing. It was definitely a very fun trip, and I really look forward to next year's visit to White Pass.
What was surprising about the car-ride there was that it really wasn't as long as I thought it would be. The mountains seem to have this mystic feel about them, that they're far off and unattainable. The mountains are the domain of experienced back-country-men (though I would somewhat consider myself as one), where few others dare to venture. Snow capped peaks are supposed to be distant and formidable to all who even look at them. The truth is, it only took us about two hours to get to White Pass. Maybe a little bit more. All I know is that before I knew it, we were there. Time really flies when you're asleep.
Many different shelters were used at this camp; my shelter of choice was a snow-cave. My Dad and my little brother were in the same cave with me, and we spent the whole afternoon constructing it. Excavating a snow-cave is no easy feat, it can be very tiring to dig while on your stomach all day. It needed to be substantially large enough to comfortably hold all three of us, with enough room for movement inside. It probably took us a total of four to five hours to dig it out. It really didn't help that we hit a snow-buried shrub, which was very difficult to cut down.
Other people built igloos, tarp-shelters (large pits in the snow, covered with a tarp and insulated against the wind), or pitched tents. Most of the people who pitched tents were adults who have had their fair share of building snow-shelters, and did not wish to bother doing it again. A very big shelter that everybody helped build, though, was the kitchen. A large area was carved out of the ground, with benches lining all sides of an icy table. Stoves and food were prepared off to one side, and served on that island block in the middle. It was also a very nice place to simply sit and talk, as the tarps that we hung up around it provided very adequate shelter from the wind and snow.
The first day that we arrived was just absolutely gorgeous. Temperatures hovered around the mid-thirties, which is just perfect for excavating a snow-cave. The sun shone through the branches of tall stands of trees, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Sun and snow really do go well together, and they lent a cheery mood to everybody who ventured out into the cold. By evening time, though, clouds had crept across the sky, and threatened to start raining. Which it did.
The rain quickly changed to snow by morning, snow which continuously fell throughout the next two days that we were there. Huge gusts of wind blew constantly, erasing the snowshoe tracks that had been left just hours earlier. Dunes even began to form on the lake that was adjacent to our campsite. But even with the huge winds and large amounts of snow, the temperature never went below twenty degrees. Quite a difference from last year, where we hit single-digits.
By the end of the trip, I was definitely ready to go home. I wouldn't have minded staying another night, and I definitely had the capability of doing so. There was more than enough food, and our snow-cave was still very strong. But enough is enough, and we headed home to warm showers and hot baths. That's the only thing you can't bring with you on a snow camp.
thinkandrew
President's Day Weekend
It's President's Day Weekend. Yet another one of those
three day weekends that seem to creep up and hand you a free holiday. What better way to celebrate President's Day Weekend than to spend it in the snow? A full three days was spent up at White Pass, where we camped for two nights.
There was really quite a lot that happened over those days. We built snow-caves, which kept us very warm. We went sledding, and went on a short snowshoe hike. A few people dropped out from coming, so there was extra food. As can be expected, most of us ate too much for dinner. A whole barrel of Animal-Crackers disappeared over the weekend. I took a lot of pictures, more of which I will post on days to come.
Snow-Camps are really awesome fun, an annual tradition for our Troop that always promises a great time. This year was no exception. Even continual snow and high winds couldn't dampen our spirits. We just hunkered down in our shelters, and had fun doing that. I don't think you're allowed to not have fun while in the snow. It takes a lot out of you, though. More tomorrow.
thinkandrew
Chinese New Year
Ooh, I wish I could be on a trip to visit relatives this Chinese New Year. Think about all that glorious food on the table. Think about all those
ang-pows spreading cheer. It’s always interesting checking up on relatives; let’s see who has grown bigger, older, rounder, grayer; catching up on gossip: new girlfriends, boyfriends, job promotions, pay raise, new cars, new houses, new babies. Dressed in stiff new clothes, inching through traffic jams, playing with illegal fire crackers and fireworks, trying to block out the same old annoying New Year songs, roasting in the seasonal heat, unending eating from arise till asleep. Yup, that’s how Chinese New Year is supposed to be.
It’s always obligatory to meet up with relatives during the New Year. Some relatives are perpetual favorites, there’s never a dull moment with them. Time spent with them just flies by so quickly. You never run out of things to talk about with them. They are interested in what you do, they ask lots of questions, they want to know your opinion. They have the most interesting life experiences, even their suffering and hardship is inspiring to listen to for they are forever optimistic and encouraging. You wish you could be in their company forever.
Some relatives, I admit, are a terrible bore. They are not interested in you as a person, but more interested in what you own. They ask pointed personal questions to size you up financially. They have limitless ailments from the tip of their hair to the bottom of their soles, which they love to share about in gory details. They whine about their bones, their skin, their kidney, their relatives (imagine that), their weight, their blood pressure, and the list goes on. You never want to make the same mistake of going near them after this. You bow and greet them politely from a distance but stay in the opposite corner of the room for the rest of the day. This is why you can be genuinely thankful at Chinese New Year, because you only have to see them once a year.
Receiving
ang-pow is always the highlight for the kids. This is normally the season when they earn enough pocket money to carry them through the rest of the year, sort of like the peak Christmas shopping season for retailers. Depending on the generosity of the relatives, some kids easily pocket a few hundred dollars each New Year. It also helps if your parents or grandparents are in a high social position, people coming to curry favor would bring exorbitant gifts and distribute fat, thick ang-pow to the children of the family to build good will.
We won’t be doing any of these this year. We don’t have any of the usual comfort food for Chinese New Year. No
kuih kapit, no
kuih bangkit, no New Year cookies, no F&N Orange nor Sarsi. It’s a quiet day here. It’s only a special day because it’s marked on the calendar. We have an old packet of sunflower seeds from last year. We’ll make some cookies, drink some Chinese tea and watch a Chinese movie. We are happy to be together, in good health, all our needs met. God is good. Yes, this will suffice.
*
Ang-pow is the little red envelope given to kids, it’s filled with crisp dollar bills.
Winter Snow Camp
I've talked about the upcoming Winter Snow Camp many times in the past few days, but it's finally here! The biggest Troop event of the year begins tomorrow, bright and early at 7:30. I really should be getting some sleep right now, but it's so exciting that I don't even want to crawl into bed. I spent the whole evening tonight preparing for the trip, and everything seems good and ready. The required pack check was held at our regular Troop meeting place tonight, and all forty plus people that are going showed up. It's a pretty large group that's heading up to White Pass, and it looks like we're going to have a weekend full of fun.
A snowcamping trip is just like any other backpacking trip, except that you've got to bring a lot more stuff. The necessary equipment for travel over a frozen landscape includes snowshoes, poles, and lots of warm layers, as well as ways to keep things unfrozen. However, your ability to carry a lot of stuff is greatly increased by the use of sleds, which we'll be towing behind us as we hike. The campsite that we're heading for is only about a quarter-mile in, so it won't be difficult to make extra trips to bring in more gear. We'll definitely not be roughing it.
The menu for the three days we'll be out there includes spaghetti, hot-dogs, mini-sausages, tapioca, canned peaches, brownies, and a variety of other foods that I didn't assist in preparing. All of this is packed into vacuum-sealed bags, which we'll just toss into a pot of hot water to heat up. We'll have three or four stoves running, as we need enough food to feed forty plus people. Only dinners and breakfasts are provided, we need to bring our own lunches. But even then, there's a huge amount of food that we'll be packing up there. The nice thing about camping in the winter is that you don't have to worry about storing it at all. It's always cold, so nothing goes bad. The bears are all hibernating, so all you need to do is place it in a sturdy box to keep out the rodents.
The second day promises a long day-hike down show-shoe trails, where we'll all be able to enjoy the winter beauty. I got the chance to cross country ski while at
a previous snow-filled weekend, but didn't get to snow-shoe at all. However, snow-shoeing will be one of the main highlights of this weekend, as we'll even be packing in our gear on snow-shoes. I don't own my own pair, though I would like to. Snow-shoes don't come cheap, and it's difficult to justify buying something that you can only use one season out of the year. Unless you plan on using it a lot, which I don't in the near future. Winter is already nearing a close, for that matter.
Temperatures inside snow-caves are supposed to be ten to fifteen degrees higher than the ambient temperature outside, though I don't think that will even matter on this trip. The weather forecast predicts conditions only slightly below freezing, which will be relatively balmy compared to last year's single-digit temperatures. But tomorrow promises to be a gorgeous day, with the sun in the sky. It's gonna be a great weekend!
thinkandrew
Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!
Chinese New Year is fast approaching, and people around the world are reveling in their Chinese heritage, whether or not they are practicing Chinese at all. When I say "practicing Chinese", I mean that they a) prefer the use of chopsticks over a fork and a spoon, b) wash and reuse Zip-Lock bags, c) starve themselves before an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet, and d) speak any dialect of Chinese. But it doesn't matter if someone doesn't fulfill the playfully presented criteria. Chinese New Year is Chinese New Year, and anybody can celebrate it if they want to. It's one big happy holiday!
To be politically correct, I guess I should say "Happy Lunar Calendar New Year", as it is technically the traditional New Year celebration for many other Asian countries. In Vietnam, it is known as Tet, and in Korea, it is known as Seollal (please excuse the Romanized script). Whatever its name, it's a large festivity celebrating the coming of the Lunar New Year. It promises a lot of music, friends, firecrackers, and of course, a lot of food. And the color red, too. It's mandatory that you wear red on Chinese New Year, due to tradition.
Chinese New Year has always been a really big celebration for us. While we were living in Malaysia, CNY was the time of year that we'd head off on a road trip to visit relatives. Familial get-togethers are a must, and the sound level must never dip below a healthy 85 decibels. This level elevates once the firecrackers are broken out. Large strings of explosives are placed into gleeful children's hands by their parents, who proceed to watch as their kids blow up half the neighborhood. Never ending piles of food grow from center tables, while kin that you've never met before sit across from you and stuff their faces. I love Chinese New Year.
However, this year's CNY celebrations are going to be very modest, compared to past years when we lived in Malaysia. There will be a CNY celebration organized by the local Chinese Association, but we won't be attending. There are also huge ones in Seattle and Vancouver B.C., but we'll be passing on those, too. Instead, I'll be spending the weekend up at White Pass with the Boy Scouts, where we'll build snow caves and sleep in them. It just so happens that CNY falls on the same weekend that President's Day does, and President's Day is a national holiday, CNY isn't. Oh well.
But that doesn't mean that we won't have any CNY celebrations at all. The International Student Association put on a celebration at my school, where there was food, booths, and even a lion-dance. The loud drone of the lion-dance drums were strangely comforting, as it brought back a lot of good memories. People even passed out the traditional "red packets", though they contained chocolate coins instead of real money. Even though the food was terrible, the lion-dance was unimpressive, and the kung-fu demonstrations were funnily awkward, I must say that I enjoyed it. Everybody seemed to be having a good time, and that's what Chinese New Year is all about.
And so, I wish a very Happy Chinese New Year to you all. It's going to be the year of the Boar, which signifies a happiness, honesty, and patience. May your following year be prosperous, and may you grow old to celebrate many more years.
恭喜发财!!!
thinkandrew
Valentine's Day
It's Valentine's Day today. I guess that means that I'm obligated to write something that's thoughtful and romantic, which will send you off to swoon about your forbidden loves. A post that will bring your heart into your throat, and make you realize that there is so much in life to live for. Something, that when you show to your love interest, will cause them to fall into your arms and be yours forever.
Nope, nothing is coming to mind.
Valentine's Day isn't very big on my list of priorities. I didn't wake up this morning and feel the urge to throw myself into a land of red fluffies. I didn't imagine
Canon in D playing as the soundtrack of the day, or that some beautiful stranger would offer to give me a ride home from school. Nope, it was pretty much a typical Wednesday for me.
Not that I didn't celebrate it, albeit half-heartedly. My parents sent me a card, which was nice. Cards are always nice, and cherished. A friend at school passed out candy, and my Japanese teacher gave me chocolate. I think the only Valentine's Day presents I ever get are either from my parents or my teachers. There weren't any big celebrations at school, and I didn't spy any couples acting overly amorous in the stairwells of the College Center. Valentine's Day just sort of passed on by, and everybody treated it as a made-up holiday endorsed by greeting card companies to make a fast buck.
The truth is, Valentine's Day is a perfectly suitable holiday that has been celebrated throughout the ages. It's a traditional festivity that started in the Fifth Century, when the Pope declared that the feast of St. Valentine would be celebrated on February 14th. I guess the girls of the world cried out in joy when they realized they would have yet another excuse to cajole flowers and candy out of their male lovers.
Valentine's Day is over. I guess I didn't really care that much when it came. It made for some good laughs (I bought my friend a stud-finder, in lieu of the fact that she needs to find a "stud"), and brought about some tasty chocolates. I feel good warm and fuzzy feelings for my friends that got cards and balloons, and wish the best to them. I didn't get any, though. However, I'm such a hopeless romantic that I expect flowers and balloons every day. So I'm perpetually disappointed. I guess I'll just look forward to next year.
So I suppose that I did enjoy Valentine's Day somewhat. If only for the Charlie Brown-esque hope that something might become of it. Now, I'll just look forward to the next holiday.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
thinkandrew
Too Tired
I'm really too tired to write a substantial post today. However, my ranting will probably turn out to be a post that is substantial in quantity, not necessarily in quality. I'm sure there is a lot to talk about, and I could easily compose it into an excellent and cohesive essay, but I feel no urge to do so. The only urge I feel is to go to bed, and wake up early enough for class tomorrow morning.
Today was Advising Day at my college, which is held once a quarter. It's a day when people go speak to their assigned advisers, at sessions in which they "plan for their future". For those who already know what classes they want to take next quarter, and since no classes are held on Advising Day, it's also known as Impromptu Holiday Day. Not really, but it might as well be called that. The campus is ominously empty on Advising Day, especially in the morning hours. I think I woke up at 10:30 this morning. Not a luxury that I normally get to experience. But it was nice. The fact that I didn't have any classes today didn't mean that my day would be going to waste. I did a lot today. Too much, all most. That explains why I'm so tired right now.
I spent what was left of this morning practicing piano at home. Shortly after, my friend came over to my house and took me to Evergreen State College. There, I checked on the current reservation of my snowshoes. I don't doubt that they'll have snowshoes on the weekend that I want to check them out. I'm just worried that they won't
remember what snowshoes are long enough to pass them over the counter. Anyway, I got a reassuring statement that I would indeed get my snowshoes this weekend.
After an hour or so at home, It was off to my orthodontic appointment. These are monthly check-ups, where my orthodontist does any adjustments to my braces that he deems necessary. This mechanical contraption glued to the inside of my mouth is supposed to some how reveal a glorious smile, one that has been hidden for the past year and a half. However, the metal is about to be removed, and I'll no longer set off metal detectors at airports. March 7th is the big day, when I'll come into their office with metal in my mouth, and leave with nothing but a large naked smile. Naked teeth, not body. The appointment is scheduled for 7:40 in the morning, a time that doesn't exist in the space-time continuum for most teenagers. It will take them about an hour and a half to extract the braces from my teeth, so I hope they won't mind if I take a little nap.
The rest of the day followed a typical Tuesday schedule. I spent some more time sweeping off my piano teacher's roof, but once again was stopped due to rain. Heavy rain, too. I taught two piano lessons, and had a Scout meeting in the evening. We visited with friends for about an hour and a half afterwards, only to get home around 11:00. It's been a long day.
thinkandrew
And the Babies Came
"Mommy, where do babies come from?" That's a question dreaded by mothers everywhere, once their children realize that they didn't just magically appear. And pretty soon, their kids start to realize inconsistencies in the answer. Apparently, they came from a stork that dropped a package down the chimney of the local K-Mart, where a Blue-Light Special was called for them, but they were not put together until Christmas when their grandparents gave a kit to their parents for a present. No, eventually the kids realize that the baby comes from inside the mommy. Mommy grows big around the middle, and before a year has past, they've got a little brother/sister. That's what one of my classmates did this past weekend.
My classmate Emma (name changed) has been very obviously pregnant for a long time. However, she's apparently been completely un-fazed by the hindrances that pregnancy normally entails. She came to class every day, never missed a homework assignment, and even studied enough to score very well on the last test. It was the beginning of this quarter that it became known that her due date was approaching. The date crept closer and closer, and we were all waiting for her to have her new baby.
That due date came and went. And Emma kept on coming to class. Before long, it was a week past her due date, and some of the class was beginning to take bets on how many of the high schoolers in the class would pass out when the baby got delivered in class. It would really be quite an event if she had her baby delivered in class. The scenario would probably entail frantic calls to 9-1-1, as well as two or three people running across campus to the Pre-Med building, where various classes are being held. "Phlebotomy Essentials" is being taught now, though I'm not sure that's what kind of students we need. My own First-Aid training through the Boy Scouts would most likely be insufficient, though my library copy of "The Worst-Case Survival Handbook" does teach how to deliver a baby in a taxi cab. That involves tying off the umbilical cord with a shoe-lace, though, and I wear slip-ons.
Emma came in this morning to class, and I did a double-take before I realized what was different about here. The large bulge around her center had disappeared, signifying the apparent loss of a bodily mass, most likely through the cervical area. In other words, she had her baby. But she had come into class on Thursday last week, and there's no class on Friday. This very next Monday morning, she was yet again in school, without having missed a single lecture. Talk about timing. My mom was already very impressed with her old college classmate, who made it back to her classes after a week of rest and recuperation. I don't know when Emma delivered her baby, but it couldn't have been any more than three days ago. "These modern women...", was what my mom said.
That she was able to make it back to school so soon really impressed me. I hope the best to Emma and her new child, and that they might both have a wonderful life. "These modern women", my mom said. Frankly, I wouldn't know. I'll never have to deliver a baby. After all, why would I? The stork brings them to K-Mart.
thinkandrew
Sunday Evening
It's a late Sunday evening, and my first class is going to start in approximately ten hours. It would probably be a good idea to go to bed right now, considering the fact that Monday morning is fast approaching. Yet I still find myself here, in front of the computer, writing for this blog. And listening to music. And reading the news. The mind tends to wander late at night. Anyway, it's been a long day. A lot is going to happen tomorrow, and I need to be rested up for it. A lot happened today, too, and I need to get rested from that.
I spent the morning sitting behind a table at a church, soliciting sign-ups for an upcoming Blood Drive. March 3rd is the date, and the goal is to have fifty people attend and give a pint of blood. It goes to the Puget Sound Blood Bank, where it will help to save lives through transfusions. I spent about an hour and a half behind that table, and was able to get about four or five people to sign up. That's a lot more than last week, where the other person there was only able to get two. Out of the people that signed up, however, I heard at least twenty more excuses. I can understand their nervousness very well. I'd like to give blood, as it's for a good cause, and I'm old enough and healthy enough to do so. However, the only other experience I've had with a blood drive was a bad experience.
When I was about twelve years old, the church that we were currently attending had a blood drive. Being a curious kid, I peeked inside the room where I saw people lying on cots with needles sticking out of their arms. Not quite the image of blood spurting into buckets that my young imagination had visualized. It looked like a perfectly safe activity, and there were even cookies for the taking after you were done! All looked great, until a man that had just finished stood up to leave. He got up, walked past me, and promptly fell down to the ground. He lost is balance, and his knees just crumpled out from underneath him. That left a mark on my impressions of blood drives.
I spent my Sunday afternoon at my piano teacher's house, sweeping off his roof. My piano teacher is fairly elderly, and isn't able to climb on top of a slippery roof to clear the leaves and branches that collect there over the winter. The longer they stay there, the more mildew and moss grows onto the roof. I asked him if he would like me to help him clear it off, and he gratefully accepted. I spent about an hour up there, until it started to rain. I cleared about a third of the roof, though that was the area with the thickest layer of leaves. I'll go back some time this week, and finish up the job. Maybe even power-wash it in the summer. But it really looks a lot better now.
Homework that had accumulated over the week was finished tonight, as well as studying for a Japanese quiz that I have tomorrow morning. It's been a good weekend, but I'm looking forward to getting back into the grind of school, work, and whatever else. Call me a geek. I don't care.
thinkandrew
Snow Food, Camping, and Living
I cooked and packed a lot of food this morning. A LOT of food. Every year, our Troop has an annual Snow-Camp up at White Pass. It's a lot of fun, and is probably the biggest Troop camping event of the year. We normally have over forty people sign up, and this year is no exception. On regular camping trips, everybody would bring their own food. But on a Snow-Camp, there's the liability of inexperienced campers being ill-prepared. So a week before the event, the Scoutmaster in charge of it cooks enough food for the forty-odd people that will be attending. Extra help is always needed, and that's how I ended up stirring spaghetti, cooking tapioca, and bagging mini-sausages this morning. It all looks like quite a feast, and I can't wait to dig into it come next weekend. I'm going to be a very well fed Scout.
There are probably many different ways to package food for forty odd people, but when it comes to snow-camping, you have to start to get creative. There are a lot of considerations to take into account, from having to deal with extreme cold to clean-up management. All the food has to be pre-portioned, in a way that it can be easily heated for warmth-inducing meals. Over the ten plus years that a Snow-Camp has been an annual Troop tradition, we've come up with a very efficient method. All the food is portioned and sealed in thin vacuum-pack bags. There is a triple boon to this. Everybody gets exactly the same amount, thin bags means that they'll heat up faster, and small bags means that garbage disposal becomes very easy. It takes a lot of work to get it all prepared, though. We spent over four hours with eight people this morning.
At the Snow-Camp, we'll be prepared for just about anything that might get thrown at us. If there's no snow at all, we'll be sleeping in tents. If there is plenty of snow, we'll dig out caves and hunker in them. That's actually the highlight of the camp, for most of the Scouts. Everybody spends several hours building fairly elaborate caves, where we spend the night. It's actually quite warm inside, relatively speaking. The temperature inside a cave normally hovers right around 35 degrees (2 degrees for you Centigrade people), which is fine when you've got the right equipment. The air temperature outside is a more frigid 15 degrees, which is uncomfortable to sleep in.
It's funny how we're actually going out to look for snow to camp in, while in New York, the snow came to find them. Areas in Upstate New York got 100 inches of snow in under a week, where it's become too deep even for snowmobiles to make it through. Bitter cold snaps have made it difficult for people to even leave their houses. When they do, it's to shovel either a) their driveway, b) their car, or c) their roof. It would be fun to be able to do that for a few days, I'm sure. But at the same time, I'm glad we can actually venture out to the snow to enjoy it, and not learn to hate it.
thinkandrew
Budget Cuts
The Math Center is not just for math. It's really a place for all sciences. Students often come in for help with Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and sometimes even Philosophy (one of the Philosophy courses on campus has a logic-based mathematics section). Yes, a lot of helping goes on in the Math Center. We tutor students, students help each other, and on occasion, students even help us. There's a very "open" feel about the Math Center that is very inviting, and one that most of the people that come in enjoy. It makes studying the sciences fun. Homework is no longer a drag, but a chance to socialize and get work done at the same time. That's why I love the Math Center.
I have one of the best jobs on campus. I get to teach what I love, and hone my own skills while doing it. Doing math is like solving intricate puzzles to me. It's exciting, and I get a rush from completing a particularly difficult problem. Helping other people with it lets me look at different problems from all different angles, and leads to faster and sharper skills.
There are days when the Center is so full, that us tutors are just dealing with problem after problem after problem. The room we have is fairly small, so it tends to get crowded. One day two weeks ago, we actually had people sitting outside in the hallway, on the floor. I don't think that we have any more than two hundred people that come in regularly, but those that do frequent the Center are often there for more hours than most of the paid tutors are. Nearly all of their studying is done at the Center, where a fun but on-task work ethic is promoted. But enough camaraderie floats around to instill a laid-back feeling, where everything is very approachable. I love the way the Math Center is run, and so do all the students.
However, the administrators of the school don't seem to see it that way. As it often is when it comes to administration, the majority of their concern is about money matters. The people on the other side of the wall don't see how much use students get out of the Center, or how much the Center has really influenced their study habits. They don't know that we're full to the brim in too small a room, or that people are so appreciative about our helping them that offers of tips, coffee, and candy are regularly made. All they know is that spend a lot of money paying wages, and they want it cut back.
There was a discrepancy over the amount of money the Center spent for the month of December. December was the month of finals week for Fall Quarter, so the Center was only open for one week out of the entire month. Hours were reduced for all, as things were really slowing down for the holidays. However, records show that the tutors were paid what we normally get paid for an entire month, rather than a short week of work. This isn't possible, as was confirmed by a quick check of how much each tutor actually got paid. Where this discrepancy comes from, we don't know. But it has the administrators nervous, and they want a full budget proposal from our boss next week.
I hope this issue will be resolved soon. Being a Math Center Tutor is my job, and I take it very seriously. But it's also a job that I'm allowed to have an immense amount of fun with, and one that the students come in really appreciate. No one is getting laid off. But hours are getting cut. That's a pity.
thinkandrew
Laundry List
Here's another laundry list for today.
Apparently, I love my piano lesson so much that I can't tear myself away from it. Apparently, I greatly anticipate going to my lesson, and can't bear the thought of leaving it. Apparently, when I'm finally able to force myself to leave, I still have to leave part of myself there so that I'll be constantly (in my mind) at my piano lesson. I left my jacket at my piano teacher's house today. Along with my watch (which I took off when I started playing), my phone (which was set to silent mode), and my wallet (which has my student ID). Those items are normally good to have on your person, and I would have used them tomorrow. My piano teacher lives way out in the boonies, too, so I wasn't too happy with the idea of driving back to their house to pick it up. Neither was my mom, because I wouldn't be the one driving. Fortunately for me, my class is on a Thursday. And Thursdays are days when my piano teacher normally is in town, so I was able to arrange to pick it up from her, rather than go to her house. Maybe next time I'll be able to leave class without trying to linger (in spirit).
It's hard to believe that Winter Quarter is already half over. It seemed like only yesterday that I was getting ready for the first day of school after a long break. But now, I just finished my midterm exam for Japanese, and will be taking the second of three tests for Physics. The third of six in Math is fast approaching, too. I've done pretty well grade-wise over the past six weeks or so that school has been in session, and I'm hoping to pull off A's in all of my classes. I scraped by with one in Physics last quarter, though it really should have been a little less. Our professor said "he reserves the right to adjust the curve", which really means he's feeling friendly and doesn't want us to be depressed for the rest of his lectures. Or stop caring completely, as some of my classmates have begun to do. Anyway, registration for Spring Quarter has already begun, and I'm signed up for all my classes. My mother convinced me to contemplate Ballroom Dance next quarter, which I have yet to decide on. It's only twice a week, for an hour each. Any comments?
The idea of taking a dance class sprouted from an event at the Student Union Building this afternoon. The Dance It! Club was hosting a concert, at which Latin and Salsa music was being played. I didn't actually know about it until my Jazz Piano Teacher told me that he was playing that gig. I went mainly to watch him play piano, but became intrigued by the dancing. It may be a little embarrassing for certain self-conscious individuals, but being free with the movements of your body can be a lot of fun! Believe it or not, I took ballet classes for three years when I was around ten years old (remember the good old days,
Ethan? It was fun, though I didn't continue. Leotards and tights aren't very comfortable. But feeling the rhythm of the music naturally translates into dance. Maybe a class in it would be exciting.
thinkandrew
Cameras and Videos
I have bad experiences with corrosion-damaged electronics. I'm sure everyone has had some sort of experience with old and leaking batteries, rendering cherished gizmos and gadgets unusable. I'm sure everybody has dropped their spirits in the mud and stomped on them before, when they find out that their old favorite electronic toy is no longer functional. It really sucks, to find out that it's all because of this stupid little battery that leaked after being in too long. There's no one else to blame, either. The Nikon FM that I talked about a few days ago was a victim of such carelessness.
There is a slot for a button battery that powers a built in light-meter. The light meter is not required for the camera to function, but it is really very helpful. Having functioned without it for while, I finally went to the store and bought batteries for it. Of course, as everyone does with button batteries, I popped them out too far from the packaging, so they flew across the room. Then, as everyone does, I searched for them on my hands and knees. It took a while, but I finally got them into the slot. I press the on-button, and guess what? It doesn't work! The corrosion from the previously left-in battery had damaged the contact, and the light-meter now no longer works.
As can be expected, I spent the better part of a day moping about it. If there's one thing I'm good at, I'm good at moping about things. I guess it is old, and things do wear out, but that's nary a comfort. I kept on inserting and removing the batteries, thinking that such magical motions would somehow rearrange the atomic structure of the circuitry, enabling electrons to course through the tiny wires, leading to a functional light-meter. It took me a while to realize that if I simply scratched off the oxidized material, the battery would be able to make the connection. I've done that a thousand times before, with good results the majority of the times. It worked today, too!
So now, I have a fully functioning Nikon FM at my disposal. I guess I should say
we, as it's still my parents camera. But if they're not using it right now....
My Japanese teacher has assigned a video project as part of our final grade for Winter Quarter. The horrors of getting equipment, planning camera work, video editing, and final compilation are about to materialize in front of my group and I. Three people working together will somehow have to come up with a decent video displaying our currently lacking skills in Japanese, while overcoming serious technological barriers forced upon us by a technology-savvy-lacking teacher. I don't think she knows how hard it really is to get a video edited and put on disc.
That being said, completing the video project should be a lot of fun. Before we encounter all the hard work, we get to get our creative juices flowing and type out a ten-minute script that should ensue in hilarity. Acting goofy in font of the camera is a given, and numerous takes are going to be required to get any sort of useful footage at all. Currently, the working story-line is about a professional ping-pong player who's paddle is stolen, and a budding detective uncovers a ping-pong paddle racketeering effort that leads to the arrest and subsequent life-sentence of a hard-core criminal. Sounds like an Oscar to me. Or at least the next YouTube sensation. Pity it's all in Japanese.
thinkandrew
Cycling Commuter
The series of photographs that I have shown you over the past six days is part of a collection. There is one more that I will post tomorrow, bringing the overall number to seven, a week's worth of photos. These photos were taken in August of '05, on a three day backpacking trip down the coast of Washington. We covered a total of about 25 miles, starting from Cape Alava and ending up at Rialto Beach. It was really quite a trip, one that I would love to do again. Anybody interested? I'm available this summer.
The rain has really started to come down again. Typical Washington weather has hit an atypical Washington winter, where we experienced several days of snow, ice, and freezing temperatures. Last week, it was even sunny. The rain is almost a welcome change from what we've gotten so far, as well as a distraction that allows us to shake off the winter blahs. I think I've had more fun this winter than I've had in any winter past. The rain is really wonderful.
Of course, the rain isn't too good news for a cycling commuter. I don't know if you can really call me a commuter, I'm not sure going downhill all the way really constitutes as commuting. But I ride my bike to school. Normally, the rain wouldn't be a problem. I can work myself around it. I actually enjoy the rain. It's refreshing. It's not helpful, however, that there's a big construction project going on on the road near my house right now. Pot-holes line the tarmac, where dirt collects over their day's work. Mix that in with the rain, and you get an accident just waiting to happen.
I was riding out this evening, on my way to go teach a piano lesson. When I left, it was still fairly light out, though the rain coming down made it difficult to look up. When the lesson was over, the sun had set, and the sky was dark. Being a conscientious cyclist, I had remembered to bring along my headlights and rear-lights. These are actually required by State Law. Anyway, riding on a dark road filled with pot-holes and puddles is not a good idea. I managed to miss all of the pot-holes, but I couldn't avoid the mud puddles. A waterproof rain-jacket is very useful in a situation like this.
I had mud-splatters all over the back of my jacket when I got home. They wiped off easily enough, but it was pretty obvious that I had hit the puddle. The rain is predicted to continue all week. I'm not complaining. I love the rain. I don't want it to finish. It would be nice, though, if they would hurry up and finish the construction. I don't love the construction.
thinkandrew
Integrity
A
Wisconsin Police Chief received a ticket for $235, after he failed to yield for a school bus that was stopped with its emergency lights flashing. Police Chief Richard Knoebel was driving down the street when he changed lanes to get out from behind a dump truck. It was then that he realized that he had passed the school bus, which was in the far lane. He was immediately stopped, where he received a ticket. He paid the ticket the next day, and was docked four points on his driving record. Does this sound like any other driving incident? Perhaps it does. Except for this: the officer that ticketed Police Chief Richard Knoebel was... Police Chief Richard Knoebel.
Knoebel wrote himself a ticket for violating traffic laws, and proceeded to pay it the very next day. He was driving a marked patrol car, and was cruising down a four lane highway. It would have been so easy to get away with it. He could have simply flipped on his siren, and gone blazing down the road. He could have simply pretended that it didn't happen, and no one would bat an eye. Who would ever suspect a marked patrol car of violating traffic laws? $235 is a hefty sum of money, and that four point dock on his driving record will remain there permanently. There were so many factors that would have made it easy for him to escape an unfavorable punishment. But he didn't. He wrote himself the ticket, and paid it the next day.
Police Chief Richard Knoebel is a fine example of integrity, and my hat is off to him. Sometimes, amidst all the turmoil and corruption that our world is troubled with, there is someone that is willing to stand up for what he believes in. There are people ribbing him as a dimwit, someone who should have been smarter, or that he set this thing up as a publicity stunt. But I think all these arguments boil down to this one point. If you were him, would you pay the ticket? Unfortunately, I think the answer for many of us is no.
It can be so hard to do the right thing. You fall into a situation where the path is so clearly marked. I think the clearer it's marked, the harder the decision becomes. We make many decisions every day, but it's rare that we get the opportunity to really make a decision that shows what kind of character you have. A Scout is Trustworthy. That's the first point of the Scout Law, one that we swear to live by. I don't know of I would have paid that ticket, if I were in his shoes. But I really hope that I would have.
thinkandrew
SuperBowl Sunday!
The SuperBowl represents the core of the American sports fanaticism. SuperBowl XLI aired on CBS this afternoon, and was, as it is every year, the most watched television event of the year in the United States. Played at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, 74,916 people attended the event with ticket prices reaching upwards of $500. SuperBowl Sunday is the day with the second largest food-consumption records in the United States, after Thanksgiving. A hectic game was played in the pouring rain. The Indianapolis Colts eventually rose from the mud and dirt, victorious over the Chicago Bears with a 29-17 score.
I never really watched football until this season. The game is a fairly complicated one, with many subtle nuances and a rule-book that must be inches thick. The Seattle Seahawks made it all the way to the SuperBowl last year, and it's hard not to get caught up in the excitement with all the home-town fans. The Seahawks didn't win, but the adrenalin that comes from watching your favorite team on the tube got me hooked. I must have watched seven of their games this season, out of the sixteen games that they played. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's certainly a lot for someone that has never followed sports before. I actually began reading the sports section of the newspaper, rather than just throwing it away.
The Seahawks didn't make it to the SuperBowl this year, but that didn't mean that I wasn't going to watch it. The SuperBowl is the most American of all sporting events, and it's almost a crime amongst your peers not to watch it. It was even broad-casted live to US Military personnel stationed in the Middle East, where they cheered for their favorite team. The Chicago Bears played against the Indianapolis Colts. I'm not partial towards either of those teams, but I chose to root for the Colts. If only for the fact that the Bears were the ones that destroyed the Seahawks' chances of making it to the championship game.
At the end of the four hour telecast, the Colts rose to the top and took home the trophy. Thus ends ten weeks of exciting edge-of-your-seat action, which will all start again in the fall. Millions of Americans will be watching, and you can be sure I will too.
thinkandrew
Photography
Photography is a very interesting subject, and is fascinating to most people that really encounter the subtle nuances of taking photographs. The ability to capture a single moment and immortalize it in time is incredible. Imagery lasts throughout the ages, providing windows to the past. Scratches on the walls of caves led to paint on a canvas, which has now transformed itself into photographs on a computer. Now, it's become so easy for just about anybody to display images of beauty for all to see. I myself post photos very often. Ironically enough,
Flickr.com is down, preventing me to post a photo on the day that I write a blog post about photography.
Most people have one either hanging from their hip on sitting in their bags, all ready to come out and snap away. Newer cellphones are beginning to have better and better cameras, that are finally able to provide respectable results. Most people have more than one camera lying around the house. Some people have more cameras than they know what to do with. That's kind of like how it is at our house, where film and digital cameras are to be found everywhere. It's not that we've bought a lot of cameras. They just sort of accumulated.
It wasn't that long ago that photography wasn't as simple as the point-and-shoot compact digital camera that we have all become so used to. Deep in our basement, we have a few Single Lens Reflex cameras, or SLR for short. For those of you who don't know what an SLR camera is, just think of the word "photographer" and you'll see an SLR. With large bodies and interchangeable lenses, these high-quality cameras are used by both hobbyists and professional photographers. They provide a lot of control over different settings, which allows the user to come up with very interesting combinations of white-balances, color settings, and depth. Even SLRs are starting to reach the easy-use consumers, with newer and simpler cameras coming out every month.
The SLR cameras that we have are all film cameras, we do not own any digital ones. They're old and bulky, but all have an air of romance about them. These old film cameras look like relics of an age past, even though they were manufactured only around 25-30 years ago. One of the cameras we have is a Nikon FM, which was widely regarded as one of the most reliable mechanical cameras ever made. Yes, you read that right. The Nikon FM is entirely mechanical, with no electronics whatsoever. The film is manually advanced via a thumb-lever, and when you're finished with the roll, you have to manually wind it back up. The lenses that are attached to it are controlled fully manually, with no automatic focusing or any other fancy gizmos. It's so old that it's cool.
I've wanted to play around with the old SLRs in the basement for a while, but didn't actually pull them out until tonight. The Nikon FM touted itself as a
real camera, one where the photographer cannot be lazy. How the image comes out totally depends on the photographer's controls, and what he does with them. It would probably be good to point out that I have no idea whatsoever how to use a SLR camera. My mom has had some experience with them, and explained what the different levers and buttons did. I have a friend in Pennsylvania that's taking a photography course, and he gave me some pointers on how to use a SLR verses a point-and-shoot compact camera.
I found some film lying around the house, and popped it into the Nikon FM. I figured it would be fun to try taking a few photos with that old camera, and see how they turn out. I'll never turn away from my Canon S2-IS, of course. Digital cameras lend themselves a convenience that will never be matched by any film camera. But film cameras have a nostalgia about them that is very exciting. I'll post the results of my SLR experiments in a few weeks, once I finish this roll of film.
*edit* Flickr.com is up again. Here is my photo.thinkandrew
Math Test
Math tests are supposed to be difficult. That's the nature of tests themselves, regardless whether or not they are mathematics tests. The very definition of the word "test" is to examine and verify someone's knowledge of a certain subject. Thus, tests are inherently difficult. But when the test is on a particularly enjoyable subject, it doesn't matter whether or not it's difficult.
The last quarter of Calculus was fairly easy for me, as I had studied most of the provided concepts in previous courses. The topic was mainly just differentiation, which was nothing new to me at all. This quarter, we're focusing on integration which is a more difficult subject. It's only about week five, and the test that we had today was the second out of six tests that we will receive. Even though it was only the second test, this test was by far the most difficult test that our professor has ever thrown at us. I spent the full allotted time to complete the test, waiting until our professor called out "pencils down".
Most of the last half hour was spent on only two problems. This test was so difficult, that it actually became incredibly awesome. Sometimes, the problems presented are so hair-raising that they become so cool! Math is like puzzles to me, and the pure challenge of tackling them, whether or not I get the right answer, is exciting for me. One more reason to call me a geek, I guess. I was able to answer all of the questions, though, and I'm pretty sure that I got most of them right. It would be very nice to get a perfect score, if possible, and I guess I'll find out on Monday.
Please forgive me for this rant. I went to workout with my friend
Liz at the Evergreen State College again. This is the second time I've gone, and I had a lot of fun once again. This time though, I went to the Equipment Rental counter with a goal in mind. My Boy Scout troop has an annual Winter Snow Camping program, which involves three days, two nights, snow caves, snow-shoes, and a lot of fun. Normally, snow-shoes can be pretty difficult to come by. Purchasing is not an option for me, as they can be pretty pricey items that you rarely use more than a few times a year. Normally, members of our troop rent them from different local stores. However, I recently found out that the Evergreen State College rents them at a dramatically lower price.
The conversation at the counter went sort of like this.
"Hi, I need to rent some snowshoes on President's Day Weekend, can I put them on hold?"
"Um...duuude,...like, we normally don't rent out equipment a lot...lemme call my administrator."
The person behind the counter takes her own sweet time, walking slowly, and punching in the phone number lethargically. She even hung up once, to help out other people who came to check out towels and equipment for the gym. I think it took her three tries to actually pick up the phone long enough to talk to someone.
At this point, a young hotshot male behind the counter comes up to the desk and continues to stare at Liz. I ask him questions several times, but he fails to answer. So instead, I ask Liz to ask him the question, as she is momentarily the only subject of interest to the guy that works there.
"My friend here needs snowshoes. Can you answer his questions?"
"Sure thing!"
Of course, he proceeded to answer nothing. I had to ask Liz to ask him questions several times, though nothing ever happened, as he continued to stare at her. The staring match continued for about two minutes. The other person behind the counter finally got off the phone, and agreed to put the snowshoes on hold for me. I got them for a cheaper price, to be sure. But dealing with such incompetence was fairly frustrating at the time. In hindsight, it is hilarious beyond belief. It makes for an interesting blog post, too.
thinkandrew
Groundhog Day
Once a year, on February 2nd,
Punxsutawney Phil sticks his head out of the frozen ground to take a look around. He's an amicable little groundhog, and isn't opposed to the large amounts of reporters and media personnel staring down at him. He's also a regular ham, having done this on national television for the past 120 years. Yes, 120 years far exceeds the regular lifespan of most groundhogs. Most groundhogs don't have the magical elixir that give Punxsutawney Phil an extra seven years of life every time he takes a swig.
So this year, like he has done so many times in the past, he's gonna take a look around him. And if he sees nothing that interests him, we're going to have an early spring. But wait! It's his
shadow!!! The one thing that scares him lurks right underneath his furry paws. His beady little eyes suddenly widen with terror, and his whole body shakes. Before he succumbs to fear and loses all bodily functions (including bowel control), he makes a last ditch effort and dives head-first back into his warm little tunnel. He makes it! And there he'll stay for quite a while, as we'll be having an extra six weeks of winter.
Punxsutawney Phil and many of his groundhog brethren follow this tradition religiously every year. It's the most accurate form of weather prediction that man has ever devised, and we're not about to give it up. Doppler Radars may be wrong, satellite imagery is inaccurate, barometric measuring instruments are prone to experimental error. It's very important for us to know what the weather is going to be like. Weather predictions help us make important decisions, such as when to plant the crops, whether or not to buy more supplies for the rest of the winter, and if we should put on an extra pair of socks for the chilly weather. Punxsutawney Phil and his friends are important to all mankind.
Sure, it's just a silly tradition that seems to have lasted throughout the ages. In reality, groundhogs are fat furry creatures that don't seem to do much, as they're underground (hence the name) most of the time. In fact, the first Groundhog Day celebration included a feast of, you guessed it, roasted groundhog. This tradition has almost no meaning whatsoever, yet it has spawned yearly traditions in both the United States and Canada, and even parts of Australia. Groundhog Day even inspired a movie, which was met with wide acclaim.
Like I said, Groundhog Day doesn't really signify anything. It's purely for fun, and it's something that people really look forward to. Tradition for the sake of tradition isn't always a very good reason, but it does have its places. People love Groundhog Day, and will always continue to celebrate it. You're getting out in the cold to look at a bunch of men in black cloaks and top-hats, who all stare expectantly at a fat little rodent that's afraid of its own shadow. What more reason do you need to celebrate?
thinkandrew
