AND IT'S YOU! AND IT'S NOW!

A while back, I was in my then-not-quite-boyfriend's room watching a few movies. Some anime, and my brand new volumes of Invader Zim, mostly. Some time later, around, oh, say, 2-ish in the morning, Matt(the boyfriend)'s roomate, Ben, makes his grand re-entrance.

Matt stopped the movie, and jumped off the bed to say hi to Ben. Ben seemed quite cheery, and even seemed completely in control. He left the room, to brush his teeth, presumably. Matt turns around, and insists that he could have gotten drunk just SMELLING Ben.

Ben returned shortly after and proceeded to just undress, removing a peice of duct tape from his heel as well. He then told us that he was planning on reading his book, because it was about betrayal. Betrayal, he insisted, was interesting because it was something only humans feel, and Ben, for one, liked reading about things that only humans feel... like betrayal.

Right then.

So, Matt and I returned to the movie, thinking nothing of Ben and his betrayal.

Until he started reading aloud. We blinked at him a few times, but let it go. He talked to himself for a while, then suddenly turned to us, and pointed, screaming "YOU MUST!"

Understandably a little shocked, Matt and I asked him what it was that we "must."

"YOU MUST go see the International at the Carnegie."

Matt attempted to sooth him.

"Yeah, I was actually thinking about going to see tha-"

"NO! Not think! Not want! MUST!"

"Oh. OK, then..."

"Because you're sitting there, and you're thinking, 'Wow, this is now. And this is me. And this is them. And this is now.' I sat in front of it for 3 hours today."

"Oh."

"Because it's YOU! And it's NOW! And it's US! And it's THEM!"

"Ok, Ben."

"YOU! US! THEM!"

*****

Several weeks later, Matt and I decided that we would go see this wonderous thing, as we had wanted to before we were informed that it was "US" and "NOW."

The art on display ran from comics to sculpture to video and even included an installation. Some peices didn't do anything at all for me, others were nice to stare at for a few moments, but really had a hard time holding me. But others, like the sculptures made of paint, glue and random household objects and toys, I spent some real time examining. I wasn't sure what made me stare at the baby doll dripped in purple paint, but I was really intrigued.


My comeplete favorite was the Tsunami Mural on the wall in the reception area. Done by a Japanese artist, the mural contains a giant fire spirit, a wall of water, and various other sprites and people. The art style was entirely to my liking and I honestly yelled that I wanted to take the piece home. I would have happily sat in front of it for a long time.

The installation peice had everything from quilts to a toilet, straw and what looked like an airplane engine. Even with little quirks, it seemed almost comfortable. I almost sat down and just enjoyed it, but was afraid of cameras or hidden security people in the walls.

All in all, it was quite an experience to say the least. Matt and I enjoyed it, but we weren't sure if it was US and NOW and THEM. But people keep asking, since the most Existential Drunk Man Ever seems to think it held a grip on his soul.


When he woke up, he asked what had happened to his duct tape.

Physics Will Make You Tired

In the weeks before leaving Campus, I attended the Freshman Lecture on "Why the Universe Is Shaped the Way It Is." A friend of mine, Austin, accompanied me. (And I just now remembered the ticket sitting in the pocket of my hoodie.)

Austin's original hope was to grab the ticket and leave, but the presenters had expected this, and told us they wouldn't be available until the end, and that we weren't permitted to leave early for any reason. I was getting the feeling that we were not in store for something at all entertaining. Austin had a mask of terror and panic from the moment he stepped inside.

Our speaker, who's name I can not find but will surely put back in here as soon as I do, was someone our introduction woman told us we should be "honored to have," and began singing his praises. Finally, it was our actual speakers turn to impress us.

He fired up a Power Point Presentation.

God, no.

He began to speak, and before he had a chance to impress me, I was counting everything he was doing wrong that was going to drown us all swiftly in a sea of lethargy, including how many times he could end a sentence with "Ok?." It was like a check list right out of the "Cognitive Style of Power Point."

I had high hopes coming in, but when only one of his (completely recited!) slides had anything to do with how the universe is shaped, let alone WHY, I lost all faith in the presentation. There was evidence that his speaking style was supposed to NOT make us feel like stupid freshmen, but he bored us all. We all left sort of confused and with throbbing brains.

I thought, certainly, if they were offering it to Freshmen, that they would attempt to make even Physics interesting. My bad.

What Happened to Kindergarten? ~ My Major

"I really want to take Japanese in college."

"Oh, are you going into business?"

"No..."

"A translator then, you want to be a translator!"

"No, actually, I want to be a comic book artist."

"Then, why the Japanese?"

"I just want to know it."

I can't count how many times I've had this conversation. It seems to be programmed into anyone asking about college to assume that everything a student takes is directly related to what they want to do with life. What happened to learning just to learn? When did learning become something that I was no longer allowed to enjoy? I was pretty sure they told me that was alright in Kindergarten, and everything I learned there, you know, all that sharing and "Please, Thank you" stuff, seems to still be applicable. I'm paying to be here, so shouldn't I be getting what I want?

I want to major in Japanese. But, no, I have no interest in business, or working for the UN. I just want to learn the language, and a desire to do something, regardless of its affect or relevance to your future plans, should always be important. I'm not one to live according to what is expected of me, or what is deemed "normal." If I want to learn Japanese and German, but draw pictures later on in life, then that should be perfectly fine. It is rare to find a person who will pay for something they don't want in any other circumstance, but college seems to be an exception.

Too often, I hear conversations like:
"What are you here for?"

"Oh, medicine."

"Ah, you want to be a doctor?"

"No, my mom wants me to."

I hope that, soon, the rest of the college world sees why they're here. If you want to be a doctor, wonderful, do it. If you want to just draw pictures and know some languages on the side, then that should be completely ok, too. You're paying for it. If you want a Japanese and German sandwich, you shouldn't be paying for Business Burrito. However, if you honestly do have a desire for that burrito...

I feel strongly about language, and I feel strongly about drawing. I want to have someone teach me the languages and I'm willing to pay for it, so here I am. Japanese fascinates me, and I find it enjoyable. I like to learn it. Hopefully, somewhere, other people are starting to remember learning for fun too, and then we can all go back to Kindergarten.

Have fun in life, do what you love, and say "Please" and "Thank you."

Completely Useless Post ~ Technology Greatly Dislikes Me

Just for the record, I'd like to note that I hate technology.

No, really.

I love all the things technolgy can do for me, and I would probably have far less to do (and far less fat) without it.

So, I guess I don't hate it all the time. Just when it makes my life miserable, that's all. Yeah, pretty much. I'm fairly sure Yahoo Mail is out to kill me, or has purchased my soul on some horrible black market slave-soul trading thing. It takes some sort of great sadistic pleasure in keeping my e-mails for a few days, or weeks, and then spewing them out later and seeing what my reaction is.

"Oh, it seems there's been a change in her homework assignment, let's make sure this one isn't seen for 2 weeks."

"Hey, check that one out! It asks about when she's going to meet up with some people for a math session! She doesn't need this one for another 6 days!"

Other technology-type things like to hate me too. CD players often enjoy chewing on my CD's, Gameboys and Cell Phones lose battery power at horribly inconvienent times... it's just fantastic, let me tell you.

So that's it. Just wanted to rant about that for a while, as technolgy is the reason that certain grades of mine in certain classes are sucking.

I rather greatly dislike you, technology. Really.

Hobitses are REAL! ~ Also known as the Return of the Robyn

(I am, in fact, not dead. Just so you all knew. Wow, I say you all as though someone reads these!)

Today, we've discovered the skeletons of Hobbits from the BBC news people, and from the good old folks at Yahoo.com. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3948165.stm and http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=716&e=6&u=/ap/20041027/ap_on_sc/dwarf_cavewoman, respectively.)

Scientists have found a skeleton of a woman only a meter tall, and has been placed into a new species category, seemingly nicknamed "Hobbits." (The National Geographic picture doesn't look anything like our Lord of the Rings friends, of course...)

The skeleton, found in Indonesia, may yet give some more significance to the stories of leprechans and other sorts of little people, the BBC's article says. The article is all enthusiasm for this new and exciting find. Homo floresiensis, as the skeleton, along with 6 others, has been named, is a new chapter in the evolutionary progression of humans, the article announces.

Meanwhile, the Yahoo article presents the enthusiastic veiw, plue the veiw of others who aren't quite so convinced that this new skeleton is a new addition to the "Homo" line at all. They speculate that the new species is simply a squashed version of Homo erectus and not a new link at all.

Information reported about the species as a new one is the same. Scientists specualate that this new species (if that is indeed what it is) may have spent a considerable amount of it's time in trees, staying away from creatures like the Komodo dragon.

By far the most interesting was that the people of Indonesia have old stories about a race of little people, about a meter tall, who often murmured to each other, or mimiced the locals. The subject is interesting not only to those studying the evolutionary chain, but to anyone searching for origins of poplular folk tales. New species or not, these skeletons are a great find.

Why Yahoo chose to present skeptics and BBC chose to leave them out is hard to say. It may only have differences in that Yahoo's article is slightly newer (at least as far as my rather lame time zone conversion abilities can tell). As a bonus, BBC also includes links to other stories covering the event and a video.

Such good bloggers, those BBCers.

Link-age

So this plagiarism issues is certainly interesting. It's fun to look at what constitutes credit on the world of the internet, as certain things , links, to be precise, just won't work in your standard term paper.

It seems most bloggers like the "this" method. The "This Method" is the term I've decided upon for a paragraph of text, with the link as the word "this," as in "so-n-so says in this post...."

Pretend that "this" is a link, ok? Bear with me here.

In the context of a blog, simply linking to something doesn't equal plagiarism. The blogger hasn't reproduced any of the material on their own blog/server/etc, and most will generally say something along the lines of "check out this link to AwesomeSite.com at www.awesomesite.com" which puts credit on someone else.


Some people, of course, like to be a little more descriptive than Mr. Awesome Site Linker, and like to include a chunk of the text in the blog post, somewhere around the accompanying link. Usually, it's a paragraph, with "read more of this at so-n-so's blog" which once again places credit where credit is due. Posts that simply copy text, and never credit, are plagiarism, but difficulty in calling it plagiarism comes in giving credit to "insert name here" and never linking. In traditional citation, the writer gives all the information the reader needs to access the sources from which the information was drawn. The author, the publisher, etc. The internet equivalent of giving someone all the information they need to read for themselves is a link.

Copying a paragraph of the text linked to, and posting it (along with appropriate credit, of course) is even beneficial to the original writer. When a possible reader reads that little snippet, they are getting a preview of it, and may be more inclined to click on the link, thus, the original writer gets a bit of advertising.

In a standard college essay, it seems the only good way to achieve the convenience of linking would be to include copies of all the sources with the essay, and reference them with something like headers or Post-It-Notes. Linking is the same as the citation pages on an essay, just instant.

All in all, as long as you go out of your way to credit, and credit again, avoid copying entire passages, and link/cite correctly, plagiarism shouldn't be an issue.

Although, it may be fun to watch someone walk the line and argue it...

Flooding Is Fun and Educational - Weekend

Rain is CRAZY.

You know in movies, when they have a torrential downpour and see people come out of that rain, and you think "There's no way that person got that wet, that quick."? It happens. By the end of the night, I had bubbles in my shoes. BUBBLES.

Lu-Lu's ended up being a TON of fun. We amassed me, Trin, Molly, Bryan from Japanese, Greg from Molly's general floor (the third one I know. I'm thinking they need exponents), Joiner/Adrian and Matt. I think that's everyone. Yeah.

Tried to seek shelter from the torrentiallness of it all under Bryan's umbrella and hit a parking meter. Yes. Third parking meter I've neglected to notice while walking. Points for me in the fact that it was dark and raining.

Lu-Lu's was awesome again, no one is surprised. I skipped with Matt a good block of the way there. We were given "chopwsticks" when we arrived and it seems that Greg to the third hadn't had anything Asian before. So, not only did we have to secure his "chopwsticks" with Molly's hair tie, he hadn't even had something as common as General Tso's. Shock and Dismay, even my craptastic hometown had a Chinese place. We managed, and even had a few chopstick wars involing throwing stuff in each others drinks. We were all randomly loud, and they probably wanted us out as fast as humanly possible.

We HAD to get some mango ice cream of course, as I refused to go to Lu Lu's without having had that. Molly fed me a smidge of redbean ice cream, which was just as fabulous. We took to reciting jingles from television ( I still know Stick Stickly's address) and singing "Cat, I' a Kitty Cat, and I dance, dance, dance, and I dance, dance, dance..." Molly fed me some gum to shut me up. This resulted in pouting, which resulted in pats on the head. ("I love you too, dear, I just want you to shut up.")

Matt sang a song about an exploding toilet on the way home. I need to ask him to sing it for me again, it was a trip. I hope Bryan wasn't too completely "what the heck have I subjected myself to?".

Several minutes later, Molly took off across the cathedral lawn with Matt and I in tow. We came to river which was formally a sidewalk. Matt was carried across as he was in sandals, or just because, I don't really know. I was just merrily watching, and then was asked if I wanted to be carried. I protested that she couldn't pick me up.

"How much?"

"*insert weight here*"

Note to self. She evidently CAN pick me up.

"Ones"

One person.

A world of 5.5 billion.

If that one person can read this, they can speak to 443 million of those people. If that same person read Mandarin Chinese instead, the number of possible people he can converse with rises to a level of anywhere from 864 million to a billion. Billion has nine zeros. Million has 6. If this person speaks Mandarin, he can speak to the largest percentage of the world population. If this person spoke English (as the language with second most speakers) as well, this percentage is even higher. One in 5.5 billion is a lonely number. A person in your family is a “one”, just like a 10 year old boy in Russia is. That 5.5 billion is a considerable amount of “ones”.

Imagine if every “one” spoke only to himself, with a language only he could understand. Each “one” would have no way of communicating with the others, no way of sharing ideas, asking questions, or understanding his fellow “ones.” Eventually a single “one” attempts to engage in conversation with another one, speaking only his language and demanding that the other understand. The other “one” is annoyed and rather insulted, especially since the first “one” barged into the second “ones” home with this behavior.

English speakers (or perhaps just Americans) have a tendency to do this to other countries. ‘Since English is taught in all these other places’, they rationalize, ‘surely I don’t need to make an effort to speak the local tongue before I take my 6 month business trip/vacation/flee from the government before I get work done/visit/hide. ‘ So, tourists spend weeks in places like Japan speaking loudly, rudely, and in a painfully enunciated voice to all the shopkeepers and natives as though a slow, annoying foreign tongue is easier to understand than a standard speed one. As an English speaker, for example, you aren’t going to understand ‘kaimasen ka?’ no matter how slow it is uttered.

A language is an important part of culture, and thus, a part of the people. Attempts to understand a language, if even just little phrases to make conversing that much easier, are attempts to appreciate the speakers themselves. Even failed attempts are appreciated. It’s the thought that counts, right? Learning another language is opening oneself up to a group of millions of people, or even as few as a hundred or so, with whom, previously, conversations simply could not happen. Connecting with the world is connecting with people. Connecting with people is conversation.




Language learning should not just be a possible option, but something one desires to do. The world is far bigger than the lone person’s “one”, and forcing 5.5 billion others to accommodate “one” is not only selfish and rude, but rather inconsiderate. Americans often say “Learn the language before you come here!” Other countries say the same things. Isolation from the world hurts the “one” as much as it irritates the 5.5 billion.

There should be no one so arrogant so as to think that the world must cater to him. He should be attempting to be a citizen of the world. He is the “one” and the world is the 5.5 billion. Yes, 443 million others may be with him, but million only has six zeros, billion has nine. And he may find that he would enjoy what the other three zeros have to say.