Oh Massachuestts...

What is worse, Republicans or Democrats?

Okay, remember your answer to that.

Now, what is worse, staunchly conservative Republicans who stand by their every belief blindly or staunchly liberal Democrats who stand against every Republican belief blindly?

Pg 13, "Shall we go get a lawyer?", Thomas Keown

The story is simple, when Mitt Romney wanted the power to appoint a senator if Sen. John Kerry had been elected President, the state Legislature voted against it. Now that Deval Patrick wants to appoint a senator in place of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, the state Legislature is all for it.

Uh-oh. What happened? No wonder the Republicans are ticked off.

If there is one thing I cannot stand more than a staunch Republican, it is a hypocritical Democrat.

Crash

Today on the way home, we passed by a car crash. One of the cars had the passenger side door smashed in, and it was lying sideways on the driver's side. There was a fire truck, an ambulance and several police cars.

It made me realize how fleeting life can be even in the most routine of things.

And this is very scary.

Sacre Bleu! x2

That's two posts that I've missed in the last three days!

Also, I still cannot locate a copy of Friday's Metro :(

Sacre Bleu!

(What does that mean anyway? I just know that the French chef in "The Little Mermaid" says it during his song "Les Poissons")

I went a WHOLE DAY without posting here AND I did not read the Metro! YIKES!

And now I have nothing substantial to write in this post except for a few random thoughts.

1. It is a crappy feeling to go from being at the top of the world to the bottom of the food chain. But if you can take something positive away from it you're well on your way to being somewhere even more important than the top.

2. Spending time with friends is important. Even though you feel tired and not up to going out to meet them, most of the time, getting over that tiredness was worth it.

3. The safer I feel, the better I sleep. (This is especially obvious when I was at home by myself that one week. I slept about 2 hours per night...)

4. Being a good conversationalist is an essential part of being a good friend.

5. Worrying is natural. Worrying excessively is unhealty. Worrying constantly is detrimental.

6. Peach ice tea is delicious.

7. If you can get away with wearing youth-sized apparel, then why not?

8. It's hard to think when I'm sleepy...

... and with that! I will take a short Zzz.

Racism

Thank you Professor Hill for never failing to disappoint.

Your column in today's Metro urges Democrats to be as bold as President Jimmy Carter in acknowledging the racial undertone of peoples' attitude towards Obama and his presidency. While I agree that racism is not exactly my idea of a party, I must respectfully disagree that Democrats have to stay on constant vigilance about racist remarks.

This may come as a surprise to you (it even comes as a surprise to me), but I think the Republicans are somewhat justified in their concerns about hypersensitivity to racism in the current administration. Undeniably, Obama will receive comments based on his race (and not his presidential abilities), more so than any other previous US president. Some people will behave unreasonably to him, and some of that behavior will be because he is not white, but not all of it will be about the color of his skin. There will be people who disagree with Obama purely because of his political opinions, not because of his genetics.

Did people think the shoe-throwing incident at Bush was because Bush was white? Then why should Wilson's comment about Obama being a "liar" be because Obama isn't white? Outbursts during House sessions at the President may be uncommon, but I think shoe-throwing at the President is probably even more uncommon. So the shoe-thrower wasn't a politician, neither was the woman who called Obama a Nazi during the Dartmouth town hall meeting. How come anyone mistake calling Obama a Nazi for racism...? Sorry, but that one is just a little too far reaching.

When there are instances of racism, by all means, squash it, please. As someone who's been ridiculed due to racial discrimination (yes, believe it or not...) since a very young age, I am wholeheartedly for cultural and ethnic education. But at the same time, we can't take every single piece of criticism so personally and assume it is due to race. I disagree with Obama on some of his current policies and priorities, but it's not because of what he looks like, it's simply because of the policies.

Let's not all become hypersensitive Democrats and be grown-ups now, please?

Kthxbai,

WhyWhy

It's the small things...

Despite almost crashing the car this morning on the way to work (whoops), I noticed several small things that never fail to cheer me up during my commute.

1. Whenever I take the shuttle from Central Sq., I always try to get a copy of the Metro from the man passing them out (instead of the dispenser). I think he has to pass out a certain number before he can get off work (because they won't all fit in the dispenser), so it's much better for him to get copies from his pile rather than the dispenser. Sometimes people, to be antisocial, will just get it from the dispenser even though he will hand it to you to make your life just a little bit easier. I think whenever I go to get the paper from him he's just a little bit happier, and he always smiles at me and says, "Thank you mama!"

I'm not really sure what to make of the "mama" title but I don't think it's derogatory! In fact, I rather like it :)

2. On my way to the building I work in (behind the HMS Quad), as I climb up the steps, the scent of bacon wafts under my nose. SMELLS SO GOOD. That definitely cheers me up. Even if I'm not eating it, smelling bacon will make me happy too!

3. Holding the door for strangers, especially those that are pushing big carts (food, mail, packages, water, etc) makes me feel good about myself. And I feel extra happy when they give me a big smile and I smile back at them!

4. Unexpected IMs from fun people. And just as good, if not better, ridiculously long online conversations with those I talk to every day for hours but never run out of things to talk about. (AC & BN!)

It's the little things in life that cheer me up :)

Today...

...is a test of will.

I will persevere!

Skeptical

Pg 06, "Obama: Health reform won't raise your taxes", Reuters

Really? REALLY?

60% of Americans don't believe the government can expand health care coverage without raising taxes on the middle class or affecting the quality of care.

What exactly defines the middle class anyway? How do you decide the cutoff where you pay less taxes than the person who earns two dollars more than you.

I hope beyond hope that Obama means what he is promising. The middle to middle-upper class are always placed in that ambiguous but disadvantaged limbo. The best example of this is college tuition: rich enough to not receive financial aid but not so rich that forking over 50 grand a year is a small matter.

"...he said his goals to expand health care and rein in costs would not lead to middle-class tax increases"

"Republicans...call the Democrats' approach an... intrusion in the private sector that would raise taxes for individuals and small businesses and cut benefits to the elderly"

I'm interested in how this will play out. And you should be too.

Sad but true...

I talk too much. And by talk too much I mean babble. My stream of consciousness when sparked goes on forever and ever without a light at the end of the tunnel. I babble extra when I'm nervous. Also, I am naturally a fast talker, which makes the babbling even worse because I can fit more words per minute and thus overtalk myself in the same amount of time it'd take someone else to get their point across succinctly.

So for those of you who I talk to on a regular basis, help me practice self-control. Carry around some duct tape and use when necessary.

Kthxbai,

WhyWhy

Dear Insomnia,

Please go away and come back later (perhaps in about a year). Kthxbai.

Sincerely yours,

WhyWhy

I'm not emo

...I just reflect a lot on things because I have too much time on my hands.

Which brings me to my next thought:

What's worse, being sad/hurt/depressed/angry or being apathetic?

Insomnia

If I'm having trouble sleeping, is it because I might be afraid of what I find in my dreams?

House vs. Wilson

When I first saw a NYT article titled something along those lines, my first thought was some sort of preview for the new season of "House" (ha!).

No, apparently people in the House are bickering over Wilson's comment. BICKERING. Over one comment. Jeez people, how long have you been in politics? Not everything is about race and racism. Stop taking comments so personally! If someone had called Bush a liar, there might've been a mini-brawl, and then after the issue was settled, there would be no more mention of that. No one would ever say that ignoring a barb at Bush was racist Then again, it might've been because Bush actually WAS a liar.

In any case, apparently there was voting happening on whether or not to reprimand Wilson or whatever and blah blah blah. Why are you wasting your time voting on something like this when there are bigger issues on hand? Did we forget about the war in Afghanistan? Did we forget about the recession (Ben Bernanke, I do not believe you at all)? Did we forget about health care and unemployment and this tiff with China about imports/exports (NYT reports that China is threatening to stop importing American poultry, specifically chicken feet)?

House, please suck it up and deal with the kindergarten insults and refrain from throwing kindergarten tantrums. Let's act like politicians now, and save all of our insults for the passive aggressive exchanges instead of being straight-forward! And lastly, at least put on a front that you are doing things to help the country!

Thanks,

~ Why Why

Casual Sex

Today, the Metro had a short article detailing tips on how to have a good one-night stand. Basically, keep the identifying information to a minimum, don't get attached, don't meet again, and make it exciting.

Um, is this part of the "revitalizing the Metro" program? To be honest, I haven't really seen anything in the new Metro that is different from the old Metro. Until this article. Once again, a company uses images of sex, sex, and more sex, to revitalize themselves. Wall Street people, remember this the next time your company faces bankruptcy.

So I started wondering, are successful one-night stands really possible? I feel like I've never heard of a "successful" (by the Metro's standards) one-night stand ever, whether in real life or on TV. As far as I can remember, the only experiences I've heard about (including the TV ones) all tended towards wanting a relationship, and ended either in a relationship or in anger at the other party.

If you've ever had a successful one-night stand, let me know. I'm super curious as to exactly what kind of emotions (or lack thereof) occurs during the process.

Until someone enlightens me, I will remain steadfast in assuming that there is no such thing as a "successful" one-night stand.

~ Why Why

PS Professor Hill, please come back soon... This blog is atrophying without your inspiration!

Be Prepared

In order to be prepared for the future, I must start asking myself a series of provocative and meaningful questions that will force me to search for answers by looking deep within myself. Starting with...

Who am I?

No News is Good News

For some people, this saying is never true. For others, it is always true. I guess it really just depends on what kind of personality you have - whether you are the type to always want to know and is too anxious to wait, or never want to know because knowing means being stressed.

For pessimists, no news is good news. For optimists, no news is not good news.

Well what is news to people who want to hope but do not dare to hope?

Just wondering...

It's been a long time...

...and I've really missed you.

Falling

"And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up." ~ Thomas Wayne, Batman Begins

I guess it's time to start picking myself up.

***

If I had the luxury of dancing in a studio with my own music and my bestest dance friends dancing whatever I wanted to without any passing judgment, I would do it until I dropped.

And that would be a good fall.

Plea to the Metro

Inspire me!

Lemons

I've been given a couple lemons and I'm really not in the mood for lemonade.

What to do...

That's Entertainment

Now that "So You Think You Can Dance" has started its 6th season, there are some things we should think about regarding entertainment...

The Metro had an article about this recently: the cruelty of reality T.V. shows. And as much as I love SYTYCD, I feel like this show exemplifies this extremely well, albeit subtlely (depending on who you are).

INTERRUPTION: Just saw a commercial for "House". HAHA. Oh man...

Anyhoo. While SYTYCD displays an awesome amount of dance talent (the most diverse of any show that is on the air. Feel free to try and prove me wrong), it also counts on the embarrassment of other dancers in order to boost viewer ratings.

Whenever a dancer that does not meet the judges' expectations audition, not only are they rejected, but they are ridiculed and laughed at on national television for the entertainment of others. Although the judges' claim that these dancers do not deserve any respect because they are there wasting the time and being disrespectful to dancers who take the auditions seriously, this is completely hypocritical. The dancers are prescreened before they are brought in front of a panel of judges, so the fact that they are in front of the three judges is because they weren't prescreened out. That said, perhaps the fact that they even turned up at the auditions in the first place is disrespectful, but allowing them to go on not only knowing, but counting on, the fact that they will be embarrassed is also disrespectful and cruel. When viewers cringe because of someone else's disappointment or failure, that turns into sponsorship for the show. Money earned from generating pain.

But hey, that's showbiz, no?

A Tribute to the Telly

Today the Metro had several pages dedicated to the new TV series being broadcasted this fall. However, they failed to highlight my some of my favorite shows.

House

Okay, so it's a little cliched. A premed likes a medical drama (that is so unrealistic that even non-medical people realize it). But who cares. He is FUNNEH. I hardly watch the drama because I think I will learn a plethora of medical knowledge from watching it (although I have learned some about some stuff. Like lupus. It's never lupus). It's kind of cruel, the way his plays with other people's minds for fun, but it's entertaining, and isn't that the whole point of a TV show anyway?

In any case, this new season should be exciting, because House is going where House has never been before: the loony bin (no offense intended).

It should be noted that twice prior to this past season's finale, House has "tried" to change his drug-addicting ways. He entered rehab/therapy the first time to irk his ex-girlfriend's husband. The second time, he did it to try and escape serving jail time and having his medical license suspended. But he never really committed himself to rehab/therapy. This time he really goes above and beyond and enters directly into a psychiatric hospital.

Interesting. Very interesting. Let's see what House does in a completely new environment and his iconically stubborn attitude.

Chuck

I LOVE "CHUCK".

It is hard to describe exactly what about "Chuck" that I love. Maybe it's the predictability of the plot. Maybe it's the ridiculousness of Morgan, Lester and Jeff. Maybe it's the awesomeness of Captain Awesome. Maybe it's the dorkiness of Chuck and Sarah. Maybe it's the strange but oddly satisfying humor of Casey.

Whatever it is, it's carried me over two seasons. Despite the fact that the first season ended on a flat note due to the writer's strike, the second season came back with a vengeance. The last episode was a simultaneous closer and a cliffhanger because of the uncertainty of a renewal. After Subway's campaign to rescue "Chuck", the show will come back for a third season, but starting in March, and not this fall. Even though March is months away, and the resuming of "Chuck" will have to wait, I am super excited about a third season! Hopefully it will be even better than the last one.

So You Think You Can Dance

This is supposed to be a summer show... but there is a new season starting now?? So confused...

But who cares? I LOVE DANCE! :D 'Nuff said.

And that concludes our Tribute to the Telly. Hopefully the Metro will have something about Obama's speech in the papers tomorrow for me to ponder over...

TDs

No, I do not mean "touch downs".

Even though they are unrealistic, shallow, superficial, ridiculous, slow, etc etc., for some reason, Taiwanese Idol Dramas never fail to cheer me up despite how down I feel.

My comfort entertainment...

Don't judge.

Food, Dance, Friends

What do they have in common?

They are all things that make me super super super happy :)

Thanks for a great day ^_^

Superheroes!

While watching Saturday morning cartoons today (SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS ARE AWESOME ZOMG), a commercial for the Make A Wish Foundation appeared.

I really liked it.

The commercial starts off saying "this is the true story of a teacher..."

Basically, there was a little kid who's wish was to become a superhero. The teacher decided to dress up as a villain and pretend to bomb City Hall with a cardboard box that said "TNT" on it. A newsreporter at the scene reported the scene and said "if (insert kid's name) is watching: the city needs you!"

And so, the little kid gets to dress up as a superhero and go pretend to fight the bad guy and save the day. Pretty cute.

This makes me wonder: what is my greatest wish?

You know what? I really don't know...

Take that, HIV

Pg 04, "Research may make AIDS vaccine reality", Reuters

I think the title is pretty self explanatory. Dennis Burton of the Scripps Research Institute found a new part of the HIV/AIDS virus that antibodies attack. This offers a new way to design a vaccine that will neutralize the virus.

Will this be an overnight success? Who knows. Does this disprove the theory that pharma companies have been withholding the cure to AIDS in order to make profits? Who knows. Although technically, a vaccine is not a cure, it is just a preventative measure. A cure, by my definition, is something that will resolve the disease even after infection.

Still, the social and scientific implications and advancements are immense.

That's it for today. It's been a long week...

Double-dip

Rare for me to post twice in a day (I will make sure of this, since my posts tend to be long), but I couldn't resist.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/health/03chen.html?_r=1&hpw

Professor Hill, Op-Ed guru

Marc Lamont Hill is my favorite Metro Op-Ed columnist by far. The columns from the last few days have pretty much been terrible and random and completely unenlightening. But every time Marc Lamont Hill writes a column, it makes me laugh, or angry, or reflect. Basically, it makes me think.

Mr. Hill is a professor at Columbia University and a Fox News commentator. His opinions are strong, his language may be harsh, but he always backs up his arguments with concrete explanations. Take, for instance, today's article.

Pg 09, "Brown is not quite there yet", Marc Lamont Hill

On the surface, the article is basically talking about the recent controversy over Chris Brown's abuse record, his trial, and his conviction. Hill points out that althouh Chris Brown expresses his remorse in terms of a momentary "lapse in judgment", the latter fails to reflect upon his life circumstances that has brought him to his present situation. If Chris Brown does not understand the deeper meaning and reasons behind his actions (apparently there is a history of abuse between him and Rihanna), he will continue to unconsciously tolerate a society that normalizes and often promotes the abuse of black female bodies. As Hill puts it, "he must come to honest terms with who and what he is right now... only then, will he be on the road to becoming the person that we all know he can be."

The article is about Chris Brown, but it is also about so much more, and this particular article hit extremely close to home.

Solitude only feels like confinement when you are afraid of facing yourself.

Sometimes we cannot change who we've become because we don't know how. It is beyond our understanding what events have precipitated the solid stones that make up our distinct personalities. There are cases where after reflection, we may come to understand why we are the way we are, and only through that understanding can we whole-heartedly change. However, sometimes it is not that we do not know how to self-reflect, but that we are afraid of what we might find.

Of course, if we find ourselves afraid of what we might face, it means we have some inkling of exactly what is there to find. And usually it's not good.

Unfortunately, sometimes that is the only way to fix the unhappiness in our lives and move forward. Sometimes it's the only way we can truly repent, forgive, and then live life to the fullest potential.

Addendum:

Moral of the story is - Ne-yo > Chris Brown. The end.

School

I miss school.

I miss waking up in the morning through the 15 frantic minutes of trying to put myself together into a presentable image and get to class not more than 10 minutes past the hour or half hour. I miss the dread of having to unpack boxes of stuff I never use during the school year just so I can fill up some of the space in my ginormous single. I miss gchatting every Leverett person I know at 4:50pm telling them to come join me in the dining hall for dinner so I can sit for an hour and a half and laugh at some ridiculous thing someone said/did. I miss trying to understand what the heck that question on the pset even means, let alone what the answer is, at 2am in the morning the night before it's due. Along those same lines, I miss sitting in the dining hall drinking my 5th cup of coffee and feeling guilty that the maintenance man has put up all the chairs at all the tables except for the one I'm sitting at because I still can't figure out what that problem is asking. I miss all of my dance rehearsals and all of my dancers and all of my dances. I miss being able to walk down the hall and see if EL or YX/SC are there so I don't have to do my homework and be entertained by their stories. I also miss hearing the sound of paddling as it goes by my door down the hallway. I miss talking to people about the most random of topics and hearing them laugh about the most mundane things.

I miss school.

Metro Potpourri

Once again, the Metro does not fail to inspire, albeit in spurts... (scented with essences of Afghan War, health care - yet again, Disney, Tedy, and some OMGWTFLOL?!)

Pg 6, "Needed: New war plan", Reuters

A very brief statement from U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal regarding the current situation of the war in Afghanistan states, "The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort."

No duh. The same could be said about a trying to turn around a losing sports game.

1. Revised implementation strategy. Key word: REVISED. If whatever you are doing ain't working now, you'd better believe it probably won't work after EIGHT YEARS of the same stuff. Hello, we need a makeover, kthxbai.

2. Commitment and resolve. We've definitely got commitment and resolve. That's why we're still hammering at it EIGHT YEARS later of the same stuff.

3. Increased unity of effort. This is actually a good point, considering that many Americans who were for the war to begin with are now gradually losing interest after EIGHT YEARS. Maybe if we could get everyone to believe in the cause again, this war would go somewhere.

Refresh my memory, we ARE talking about the War on Terrorism... right? Does anyone know when it started being referred to as "the war in Afghanistan"? Just wondering...

Pg 4, "Health care lifeboat for legal immigrants", METRO/TL

I would like to preface this with saying that the picture above this article happened to be a man in a row boat and I was very confused. Turns out the picture has nothing to do with the article.

Deval Patrick, despite undergoing hip surgery today (and staying in the hospital for four days following the procedure and three weeks recovering at home), announced yesterday his plan to provide health care coverage for 31,000 legal immigrants (starting in Oct. 1 and enrolling through Dec.1) who were set to lose those benefits today.

Wow.

31,000 may seem like a small number compard to 50 million, but it's a sizable start. Although his request for $70 million in funding was only granted up to 57.14% (that's $40 million, for those of you who needed a calculator like I did), and probably deepens the current debt situation for the state of Red Sox, I mean, Massachusetts, it's nice to know that someone somewhere is trying to provide other people with health care. Maybe it's because he realizes how important it is now that he has to undergo hip surgery, who knows.

Or maybe it's because of the recent elimination of Commonwealth Care coverage. That could be it too.

In any case, Eva Millona, the executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition says, "We commend the efforts and leadership of the governor and his administration in making the best of this difficult situation, but we remain concerned about the disruption in access to and continuity of coverage."

Sigh... there are some people you just can't please.

Pg 07, "Media heroes unite", Reuters

I love superheroes. Not because of their bulging muscles or scandalous costumes (I consider wearing your panties outside of your spandex for the world to see scandalous, yes), but because they are just too cool!

I think when we get to be older, between the constant stress of responsibility and the overwhelming knowledge that we (or most of us) acquire, we tend to enjoy very very deep or very very shallow modes of entertainment. Something that speaks to us of the meaning of death and the depth of life, or the meaning of that hairstyle with that outfit (ew). Sometimes we are lucky that both exist in the world (i.e. "The Dark Knight", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", etc. Don't judge).

In any case, regardless of what it is, Disney seems to dominate every corner of our media escape. Next they will buy Random House Publishing and Penguin Publishing and Harvard, and a man in a Spiderman costume will be teaching FC92: Popular Culture in Modern American a.k.a. The History of Disney.

First they bought Pixar and now they've bought Marvel! Is nothing sacred?! I hope they do a deal like Star Market did with Shaws and let Marvel movies keep the Marvel name. I do believe I'll have the utmost trouble trying to associate The Watchmen with those Mickey Mouse ears and silver glittery castle.

Pg 13, "His goals achieved, Bruschi walks away", Jeff Howe

I like Tedy Bruschi, mostly because he is a Patriot, but more so because he is a Patriots veteran. I probably did not know most of the things I knew about him before reading this article, but who cares. I'm a girl. Anything goes when it comes to a girl and her interest (or disinterest) in sports. Not being sexist, just stating the norm.

Disclaimer: I guess I am what you would call a bandwagon fan. Or whatever the term is. I didn't start following the Red Sox until their first World Series win since the Curse, and I didn't start following the Celtics until their Championship series against the Lakers (well, maybe a little bit before that), and I definitely didn't start following the Patriots until their rampage for a perfect season (I still cry over that at night sometimes. JUST KIDDING). But at least I don't change my allegiances with whatever team is winning at the moment! At least I shamelessly pick whatever team associated with my residency when they're winning and stick with them even when they become losers!

:D

Anyhoo. Bruschi!

Thank you for not being a Favre (i.e. for retiring). Thank you for coming back and playing beyond expectations and hopes after suffering from a stroke. Thank you for wearing #54 (it is a nice number, 3x3x3x2). Thank you for being a Patriot. And I would just like to say that I did know (vaguely) who you were before you decided to retire! That should mean a lot since all I really know is 12 + 81! w00t! At least a lightbulb in my head goes off when I hear/see "Bruschi" and I think, ah! I recognize that name!

So Tedy, have fun retiring 29 years earlier than the expected age with your three championship rings (three is a better number than four in Greek mythology anyway, and four is a bad number in Chinese numerology).

Pg 08, "(Un)happy birthday to you", Mike Malone

Okay... what? This article really confuses me. He basically just talks about how birthdays suck and we should stop singing the song because it makes the birthday kid feel like he's being excluded from some big surprise that he didn't know about. And how this will cause the birthday kid to start crying in a very upset manner and then no one can eat cake.

Apparently, to Mike, a birthday consists of "a pack of solves around a wounded deer, sneaking conspiratorial glances at one another, then joining forces for a raucous version of 'Happy Birthday'", and the ritual is "cruel and even barbaric" to children. Huh?? Am I missing something?

I don't think I've ever seen the birthday kid cry from being upset at his own birthday party when people are singing to him and presenting his cake. I don't think I've even seen it on television. The closest thing is probably seeing Jack (30 Rock) throw up at his birthday party after opening some present that made him so HAPPY (notice: happy is the emotion, not sad) that he vomited. But that's basically it.

Mike, you've got to invite me to these birthday parties you go to, so I can observe this fascinating ritual you are writing about. It all seems so alien to me.

And that concludes the Metro Potpourri for today!

~ Why Why