____________ - This would be the title if I had one

I'm not very good at naming things, and I'm feeling kinda lazy tonight. I'll leave the title to you.

An update on what's been happening. Well, exams ended a good week and a half ago, and I got the grades that I thought I would get. (Boring I know, but I had to say it.) My trip home was a little more exciting.

I left on a Thursday which was different from what I had originally planned. One of my exams was moved from Friday to Wednesday, so I got to come home early. YAY!!! The interesting thing was that I forgot to tell my parents that I was coming home two days early. My dad was shocked when I called and said that I was already heading home. We both agreed not to tell mom because we wanted to see her surprised look when I walked through the door. She didn't disappoint, since she almost tripped over herself while jumping up from the table to hug my neck. The actual trip was kinda uneventful, since I was following a storm front that was ravaging the landscape. I luckily left late and never saw a drop of rain. Home life has been kinda boring though.

There's not much to do at home. I can walk outside and pet the dog, feed the cat, scare the chickens, or stare at the goats, but that's about all I can do. I could drive somewhere, but I have no one to take with me or meet there. It's kinda nice to take it easy though. After this hellish semester, I'm glad to just do nothing. That doesn't mean there's nothing to be excited about though.

Chirstmas is just around the corner, and my family and I have a lot planned. The most exciting thing that's happening is that I'll be an uncle in a couple of days. YAY!!!! My sister is, as of now, two days over her due date, but I think my niece just understands the importance of making a grand entrance. I think that she's going to wait until Christmas day to be born. Which will be good because I can't really think of a better Christmas present. :) Until she's born, I'm stuck practising the piano, reading my textbooks for next semseter (not very exciting but oh well), or staring at inanimate objects.

I've been thinking about how to help other people embrace and take pride in their true selves lately. I guess it's because I'm an actual safe zone now that I'm giving it greater thought than what I normally would, but I think it's a good thing. My problem is knowing when to give someone space. I try to help someone so much that I make their problem my problem, and that doesn't help either of us. I know it's something that I have to work on, but I think I can learn to manage. I shared my story with someone yesterday because they asked for help. I'm not saying that my story is better than someone else's, but at least that person will know that they're not alone. I guess that's all I can do.

Well, I don't like to ramble, so I'll end here.

Hoping that You Can Make Sense of My Jumbled Thoughts,

Orpheon

A Depressing First Day Back and Piano

Ugh. Yesterday was atrocious. Despite that it was the Monday after Thanksgiving break, I woke up with an optimistic mindset. I thought that it was going to be a good day. Too bad life bitch slapped me back into reality. I went to my first class and discovered that I made a 64% on my exam for the sole reason that I'm a dumb ass, but it didn't end there. My next two classes also handed out exams which I made a 68% and a 77% on in that order and for the same reason. I'm a dumb ass. It wasn't that I didn't understand the material, I just didn't have enough time to practice before I took them. Thank you very much evening English class and bitchy math professor. Because of this, I have to work really hard on finals to salvage my GPA. Oh well, that's enough ranting about academics. XP

Oh wow, I just realized that I haven't really asked anyone how their Thanksgiving break was. That's very rude of me. I might of already asked Lan Chi, but I was too out of it yesterday to remember. Mei's undoubtedly was horrible, since she got stuck with her family. I should really put more time into my friends, but this semester seems to have just stolen all of my friendship time away from me. Too much work.

Anyway, I practiced the piano last night for relaxation. It worked as always. I think I stayed there for an hour and a half perfecting the only song I know so far. Maybe one day I'll be great, but I don't really care. I just enjoy playing. Speaking of playing, my parents bought a piano over break. It's a 5'3" baby grand, and I think it looks great. My dad wanted to learn how to play, and my mom has always secretly loved the piano; she never said anything because a piano is a lot of money. My dad has been practicing almost nonstop since we got it. He's starting from scratch too, so he still has a way to go before he can play anything other than introductory technical pieces. I'm just glad that he's found something that really interests him again. I know that staying at home all day doing the same routine over and over again must make you slightly crazy after a while, so I'm glad he has something creative to do.

Turkey and Lights

Yay!! Turkey day is over. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm glad that everyone can relax for a few days until the Christmas rush. We had my mom's entire family over for Thanksgiving. My grandma and granddaddy, great aunts and uncles, aunts and uncles, and cousins were there for the feast; including ourselves, we had 16 people total. The food was fantastic.

We had fried and smoked turkey with the usual Thanksgiving dishes, but we had a few specialties. My grandma made her special macaroni which I love, but she won't tell anyone the recipe. My Great Aunt Anne made her corn pudding which everyone except me raves over. We also had several pies and cakes. In any case, I ate too much, and I anticipate gaining a few pounds before January 1st.

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Day after Thanksgiving was fun too. It was Black Friday, so my mom joined the thousands of other middle aged women in fighting for deals. My dad and I stayed at the house where it was safe and decided to put up Christmas decorations instead. I like the finished product, but the actual putting up of the decorations is rather nerve racking since half of our lights are almost as old as I am and are iffy at best. We got everything put up though. My dad wants a second Christmas tree to put in the top window on the second story. I think it'll complete the house because the second story is dark, so we've decided to pick one up tomorrow. Yay!! Christmas is almost here!!!

A Farewell to Cece and a Philosophical Conversation wih Lan Chi

Well, it's been a while since I've been here, but classes have been keeping me rather busy. Here goes, I'm sitting in Moe Joe's, and it's Cece's last day. Over the past semester, the cool currently yellow shirted barista, has become a rather important part of the group, Craig, Melisa, and Khoa making almost daily trips to see her. I can't say much about Cece, unfortunately, since I haven't been as coffee dependent this semester. Adrenaline from stress has replaced that this semester. I guess it's more my loss than anything; she seems like a really interesting person to get to know. Well in thirty-three minutes, she will no longer be an employee of Moe Joe's, and our favorite little coffee shop will become a lot more dull. So for Cece, the barista that has become such an important part of our lives, a moment of silence......................................................................................................
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Cece, you will be sorely missed!


Now for the second part of my post, holding back a small sob while doing so. Two nights ago, Lan Chi and I talked like we normally do at night while the rest are gaming away, night chi chatting with Lan Chi is fun. This time our topic of conversation drifted from the normal how was your day to a deeper topic. We somehow got on the topic of the soul where we discussed everything from God to split personality disorder. We came up with a theory of the soul and it is as follows.

We reject the mind is the soul idea. We think that the mind and the body is nothing more than a sensing and processing center for the soul. In other words, the body collects and processes information from the physical world and then passes it on to the soul in the form of electrical disturbances. We also believe that the soul stores memories, but it can't interpret them because the memories are the recordings of an experience. The soul must pass this information on to the mind which recreates the experience and feeds it back the the soul. This explains the reliving of a memory that some people experience and how memory disorders occur when the brain is damaged.

We also believe that there is a form of God; however, it's not a man who sits on a thrown with blinding light emanating from him. We think that God might be an infinite soul which we termed the oversoul from the transcendentalists. We think that individual souls split off from this oversoul and somehow connect to a new human body. When the body dies, the soul returns to the oversoul. If it is at ease with himself, the soul will accept the oversoul and will sense all of the souls around it, but if the soul is not at ease with itself, then it will reject the oversoul and spend eternity in isolation.

We also came up with other ideas, but this post is getting kind of long. I need to collect my thoughts too, so until next time.

Group "Therapy"

No, I'm not psychotic yet. I'm just not pleased with just how dysfunctional most groups are. You get excited about something that a group is promoting, and from the outside, it looks like the group is actually getting things accomplished. Then you join said group, and instead of finding a nice, clean, streamlined organization, you find a jumbled up catastrophe that is bloated with bureaucratic nonsense and drama.

Now, is it your responsibility to reform said organization? I say yes if you believe in what that organization supposedly stands for. Now how you go about bringing a reformation is completely up to the individual. Some will take the approach of saying its my way or the highway and completely take over as a conqueror would to a small nation. (tears for poor little Poland) I however do not believe that such a forceful approach is the best way. I guess some would call me sneaky and underhanded, but I think that you should change an organization from the inside by winning over the individual members one by one. Some people would have a problem with this since most of the strategic moves take place outside of the organization, but who cares. If it gets the job done and it's not immoral I say go for it.

Well enough ranting. I think it's time to do a little Spring cleaning. I'm getting my broom ready and I'm sweeping the drama and the nonsense right out the door. Bye bye.

Election Day Response

Yes, this post is a day past due, but here goes.

Obama is now the president elect. (a pause for all of the cheers and boos) Now that all of the hype with the election has passed, it seems as if most people are either showing great support for the new president elect or great hatred. The people who are supporting him see him as a fresh new face that will bring about change in America as well as a great triumph for the ongoing civil rights movement. Those that hate him, I believe, see only the color of his skin. I think it's time for a black president, and the ones who do not believe so are simply living in an age long passed.

Regardless of your personal feelings, I think we all can agree that the president elect has quite a few issues to deal with when he is inaugurated. The economy is in horrible shape; the war in Iraq is still ongoing; the international scene is becoming unsteady with the resurgence of soviet ideals in Russia. I wonder how the president elect will fare during the first year of office. In any case, I think he deserves the full support of the American public. After all, America spoke with a clear and powerful voice on election night.

Election Day

Well, it all comes down to tomorrow. Tomorrow, America decides between McCain, who has an idiot for a running mate, and Obama, whose lack of experience on the international scene is appallingly apparent. The outcome of this election is not the concern of my post however.
What concerns me is how adamant some people are about knowing for whom someone is voting. That choice is a personal matter, and in my opinion, should not be sought after by someone else. Doing so is an intrusion of privacy. Also, the people who seek that knowledge generally want to make sure that everyone is voting for their candidate and influence them if they are not. Apparently, everyone has forgotten that before the 1880s America didn't have the secret ballot voting method that we are so accustomed to today.
This method of voting is just as important as the vote itself. Without it, many people would be influenced at the polls, however, isn't it just as important to hinder external influences prior to going to the polls? Everyone should relax, and stop trying to influence other people to vote for their candidates.

In the Begining

MUCH madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
'T is the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,- you're straightway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.

-Emily Dickinson

How true are these words? Man has progressed farther than any other species on this planet, yet it is the only species in which members actively seek out and eliminate other members because of a difference between them. Man has come far, but there is much progress yet to be made.
I will use this blog to document my daily interactions and observations of society's march toward progress. Perhaps my madness does makes sense after all.