michaelTthinks

Gap Statement

2011-06-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

So much time to cover! Quick synopsis.. I "crashed" with some super-accommodating friends on 17th St until Sara got home and we moved on to Whitney Place downtown in this blue fix-me-up. I wanted to fix her up so bad but we ended up moving out when there still wasn't heat by October. Now we're on York. West Side represent :)

It appears that I unwittingly ceased work on this blog as soon as I got a second job--and came back to it as soon as I quit the second job. No joke, today was my last day at the liebrary. Feels good knowing I have a year and a half of city work, with a year of it as a supervisor, on my resume. And a clean reference.

A sample of what I did there: reviewed whatever I wanted (Silas Marner, 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, SuperFreakonomics, Logology, Street Art, and Getting Up), routed in some Children's books (I recommend Adventure of Meno, for one), and pushed carts full of books and movies all around the place.

I had to get out because we were forbidden from shushing.

Live In Buffalo

2009-12-04T14:35:00.001-08:00

Apartment hunting for Sara and I. I've been narrowing it down by city section. Now I've got to start looking at what's actually available in those sections. A great resource:

http://www.buffaloplace.com/apartments

Chapter 11- Trip Home

2009-11-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

Two places the leg-touch is prone to happen--in front of the TV, and on an extended bus trip. And every time it does, I can hardly breathe. Is this guy hitting on me? Please let him press harder, or at least not move away.

The slightest touch like that, from a complete stranger, and I get so. turned. on.

It was a long bus ride. I had plenty of opportunities. I've never worn worse shorts for a bus ride--far too tight.

I still have no idea when the time is right and the leg touch is just the natural way of things in that situation. Personally, I always make that extra effort to avoid being the toucher, or even the passive-aggressive touchee. Like, if I'm already sitting there, and he sits and his leg is against mine, I'll move out of his space. Or probably further into my space, if possible, if he's crossing that invisible halfway divider line already. Because, let's face it, the leg touch happens naturally only when you've already made at least a minimal effort to have personal space. And it doesn't happen naturally for me at all.

Which is why I was intensely aware of his leg, through his jeans, pressing heat against my calf.

When we pulled in to the Southern Bus Terminal, I intended to go inside and then play it by ear. Would there be a bus to the airport? Patrick Nihimla was certain there wouldn't be, and gave me the name of the nearest subway station so I could take a taxi just to there and cut down on costs. Didn't even come into play, though. As soon as I stepped off the bus, a woman in a blue vest asked where I wanted to go, and then piled my bag into a cart and took me over to a taxi. Super unsure of myself, I haggled with er for the taxi before I even considered the fact that once I start haggling, I'm destined to buy. So no bus.

The taxi driver seemed nice, kinda tough. Young. Slick hair. He said he'd only been in Bangkok 3 weeks, though that was after I'd already said I'd been in Thailand 3 weeks. His English was rocky.

After we'd gone far enough that I was lost, but only about a two minute drive, he started asking for money for the highway and I started getting worried. Started flashing back to the two times I've gotten ripped off when a pre-negotiated and pre-paid price started going up.

"Eh," he said, "eh, she, she," and here he hit the back of his head, like, 'Come on, English.' "She got bad price, eh... Didn't ask me, highway toll thirty-five, no, twenty, no seventy-five... You just give me 100, I take care of you, OK?"

My face started getting hot. My stomach didn't drop, no lead ball, but it tightened, and started making some extra acid. Wonder what it was expecting.

"You said 500," I said, not even feeling bad yet that this was only like $17. After all, I gave him two possible destinations, the subway or the airport, and he could'a just been taking me part of the way. I only had 400baht left to get me home, which wouldn't stretch very far once converted to any other currency.

"Eh-eh-she... Just 100, for the highway. She didn't get good price!" He started, then aborted, trying to tell me how low his cut was.

"I don't have enough," I said, probably talking too quickly, a tiny bit louder. Slightly strained. "I need 150baht for the subway. If I give you 100 I might not have enough to get back home."

"Back...home?" he said, sounding for all the world like a human E.T.

"Can we just go a different way, not the highway?" I suggested.

"OK," he said, but he didn't get it. Instead, he got this real sullen, stony look on his face, and after about a minute he handed back the 40baht I'd said was all I could afford to give him for the highway.

"It's OK," he said, smiling again. Nicely. "I take care of you."

"OK. Thanks."

I was sure I was actually grateful until he pulled over and started hailing other cabs.

Maybe he just needed directions?

The first cab that stopped wasn't having any of it. The second was better, said OK to whatever Thai my guy was speaking.

He turned to me. "OK. He take you."

I was out of the car by this point, obviously, trying to keep abreast. No money had changed hands between the cabbies.

"Wait. Why don't you take me?"

"OK, OK, OK," he said, and walked back to our cab. To the backseat. Where he started picking up my bags.

"No, I already paid you. Why don't you take me?"

"OK, OK, OK," he said, carrying my bags.

I took my bags. "No. I paid you. I'll give you the 100baht. You take me."

"OK, OK, OK," he said, opening the second cab's door for me. "See? I take care of you."

I don't know how many times we went back and forth. Not many more. Eventually he gave the second cabbie 300baht, that cabbie nodded when I said the name of the airport and repeated it back to me, and I got in.

With a sigh. "How much?" I asked.

"Hmm..." He spouted some Thai. "200?"

It wasn't an offer, just an estimate. I settled back in my backseat, resigned to the deal. Mad I arranged to come to Bangkok. I never wanted to be in Bangkok. I don't think I'm up to the challenge of Bangkok. Crazy busy, people living in squalor, dirtiest nightlife possible, corruptest cops in the world.

Obviously, I've visited it in fiction.

This driver spoke zero English. Didn't stop him from starting a couple conversations, though. Asked me where I was coming from, I assumed, since he mentioned Phuket and Surat Thani, so I said I'd just spent 3 weeks in the southern island town Phuket.

Then I realized he'd named the only two places in Thailand I'm sure they have airports, other than Bangkok. Was he asking my destination? Would he take me to the old Bangkok airport that only did domestic flights? I'd read somewhere that you had to be sure to say the new one, because cabbies sometimes took unwary travelers to the wrong one.

"I'm not going to Phuket," I said, anxiously, and when he glanced back as I spoke, I made the X with my forearms, the universal (Korean) negation. "I'm flying to New York."

He smiled and said a short phrase he'd used earlier that I'm positive meant, "Oh, I don't speak that."

Watching the street signs carefully, I noticed one for an airport. I pointed and spoke but he just shook his head. The whole road in that direction was at a standstill, so I hoped, hey, maybe we're taking the back way.

Looking back on it, I realized it was the new Southern Bus Terminal you have to be careful to specify. There's only one Suvarnabhumi Airport. I just googled them so late and so hastily that I mixed them up in my mind. Real comforting in retrospect.

Because then we drove very far, for about an hour, going through different districts. We kept passing police officers, or now and then a tuk-tuk, the Thai open-sided taxi carriages, and I wanted so badly to roll my window down and ask if we were headed towards the airport. I didn't want to embarrass or piss off the cabbie, though I knew Aunt Margaret could'a finessed it. Woman's got a gift. She can probably just turn around and walk back if she realizes she's forgotten something, rather than peeking around the corner first, like that was her mission, just in case someone's watching.

I want to tighten the scene, zoom in a little bit, but on what? We got to the airport, I breathed a prayer of thanks, tipped the cabbie (just over a dollar, now that I think about it, but at the time it seemed sufficient and I was nearly broke!), struggled into my backpacks, and started reading the departure gate signs.

Thomas was waiting for someone to bum a cigarette offa. Attractive American guy, long-time world traveler, meeting up with an ex-girlfriend from whom he expected to learn Thai massage. When he heard I was headed to Buffalo, he brought up the movie Buffalo 66, which I've never seen. He mentioned over coffee that India is his favorite place, because it's so unapologetically dirty. I commented on the uniformly attractive Koreans and how the sometimes-sloppy Thais were a refreshing and prefered contrast. We got on well, and then he caught his connecting flight and I dawdled through the hours waiting to start the trip out of Thailand. I had a microphoned interview with a Thai student, asking me all about how I liked Thailand and how the culture compared to that in my home country. I had a chicken sandwich, honestly momentarily forgetting that I was vegetarian, and good thing too since it was all I could afford at that point. I did my best to stay awake, hoping to sleep on the planes. Writing kept me awake in the last hour before I could check in. And then, as a matter of fact, I was writing this account and held up the entire plane because I forgot to go through security until like 10 minutes before the departure time.

There's more to the story, like the 12-hour layover in Narita, or the guy who sat next to me on the flight to Chicago, and then there was the woman who had a first-class ticket from Chicago to Buffalo but didn't speak English and sat in my seat by mistake. My only first-class flight so far. And my bag didn't arrive on my flight, but I got it a couple hours later. And I stayed with my mom for a month, looking for jobs, eventually heading back to cashiering at the Co-op. Moved in with my friend Brandon til Sara makes her own way back from Thailand and we can live together. More to the story, but it can't be written right now and maybe never will. Suffice it to say that I'm back in Buffalo, cobbling together a life and enjoying the cold.

Heat is for passion, for the inside. Heat from the outside suppresses the heat that glows within. Stupor and languor and vacationing deserve Thailand. Real life deserves real neighborhoods, antiTourism. Buffalo is for the ghetto tourist in all of us.

Congo podcast launch

2009-10-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'll start saying "maybe" every time I start outlining a goal. Right now, I'm in Buffalo. Tomorrow will be the launch of Congo, the 1/2hr weekly podcast that Michael Torsell and I are going to put out this winter. It will be our first official meeting with a microphone. We even have two guest stars lined up: Jeremy Brady and Melissa Blank. Actually, Blank has more of a full-time position, with three factual announcements in each 0.5hr pod. Brady will be our first interviewee, to be followed, hopefully, by most of the poHiRe movement.

I intend to update this with a link to some pictures from Thailand and the story of my trip home.

In Da Beginning, God Made the Hostel. And he saw that it was Good

2009-08-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

Night the First in Thailand. Sweet tours that we won't be able to afford. The hostel is very cool, good social room and def nice staff. Can't wait for Jessica and Sara to get here (don't be mad about which one comes first--every time I type those two names I think, which one goes first? and there's no clear Louis and Clark kind of ring to the names. So it's really just arbitrary and I've been trying to switch it up). We'll probably rock the neighborhood but I haven't actually been out and about yet. Only got in about 4 hours ago, 3 of them spent on sleep. Happy to find 20cent beers available in the lobby. Let's see how far this money can stretch! If we actually stick to the hostel, in 3 weeks over half of my money will be spent on rent alone. Bum bum bum... But that's just a reference point, not an intention.

Today at the Malaysian airport, there was a guy working with a shirt that said, in the fasion of I <3 NY, "I <3 DOME." Ballsy! And then as I was wandering around trying to kill 12 hrs in the airport, (beautiful airport by the by, very good spot to have to kill a few hours..maybe not 12, but you know) what did I hear but "you know I can't right now so baby KISS ME THROUGH THE PHONE"

That's right. Soulja Boy in Southeast Asia.

Much love, from both Soulja Boy and yours truly.

The View From Saturday

2009-08-08T21:20:00.001-07:00

I'm nervous! Think not even going out on a Saturday night (albeit rainy) because I'm scatterbrained. Think scatterbrained like Ben can be.

Things change quick and then you move to the beach for the summer and lose touch with the internet. I'm headed to Thailand on Monday (about 29 hrs from now). My friends Sara and Jessica will get there 4 days later.

Trip plan:

Leave Buffalo at 6am, arrive in Newark, NJ at 4pm. Leave USA at 10pm.

Get to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 6:30am. Stay 12 hrs.

Hop over to Phuket, Thailand at 6:45pm and find a bus to the hostel in Phuket City.

Stay for 3 nights and then go meet Jessica and Sara at the airport.

Now it's Thailand

2009-05-13T15:56:00.001-07:00

I'm going to go work in Thailand with Sara.

Fact 1: A night at a hostel in southern Thailand- $5 USD
Fact 2: Amount of couch surfers living in Phuket- 1,000

The only sure thing is that we're leaving the country August 10.

Google Map Kunming

2009-05-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

Check it out! I love google maps.

Kindergarten Goals

2009-03-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

I've decided, screw the customer service industry, I want to teach kindergarten or adults over 25yrs old. That's an important decision on the road to finding a job in China. Considering I couldn't find any jobs that weren't teaching jobs...

Choose Kunming

2009-03-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

Choose life, choose a dishwasher, choose spending Saturday afternoons writing blog entries about fantasy travels.

Choose Kunming, because that's where my brother says he'll probably go!

I repeat, with the important emphasis: My brother has said he'll probably be going to China!

Now I'm thinking I may want to make a stopover in Korea for a couple months to build up some operating capital. You can chill there for up to 90 days without a visa, and I could make some heavy money off of privates in that time. Gotta think more on that possibility, since I'm not managing to save up the amount I had hoped here.

Job Hunting

2009-02-25T21:57:00.000-08:00

What kind of job will I have in China?

Teaching is a natural choice. There's a demand for English teachers, I have a year's worth of experience to offer, and I'm enthusiastic about most aspects of it.

It's hard to find a job via the internet from half a world away, but TESS looks like it might be pretty great. I'm also considering contacting my old recruiter, Asia-Pacific Connections, to see if they know of any reputable recruiters for Chinese jobs.

If I don't teach, will I work as a maintenance man at an organic cooperative market?

In other news, Sara and I had our first language/culture lesson with Mike Kopalek recently. Most importantly, we learned how to say, "In my country, I am the emperor." More on that later..

Visa Considerations

2009-02-15T11:38:00.001-08:00

Good news: a 12-month, multi-entry visa application is only 2 pages long!

It costs $130 to apply for the visa.

Proposed Timeline

2009-02-14T00:51:00.000-08:00

Pre-China 2009:

Feb-save $200; pay Mom $200+ for tuition
Mar-save $200+; pay Mom $500 for tuition
Apr-save $500+; pay Mom $300 for tuition
May-save $500+
Jun-give notice at work; enjoy spring
Jul-live in Hanford Bay. Visit Adirondacks. Thoroughly enjoy summer.
Aug 12-depart for China

Reasons To Go, Vol. I

2009-02-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

I want to check out some Chinese architecture. I loved the history and general lived-in-ness radiated by the alleys of Beijing. Some of the crappiest houses looked like they were built five hundred years ago, and they were beautiful. Some of the nicest were in the same style. Check it out for yourself. That's my motto. And that's why I want to go live in China.

From China

I took this picture in the middle of the night.

Anticipation

2009-02-08T12:52:00.001-08:00

How about Kunming, China?

I'm getting pretty antsy to go. August is a long ways away, and I anticipate a fantastic spring and summer between then and now. But when Fall comes, I'll be on my way to China for a 6 or 7-month stay.

Hopefully I can get a job in a hotel or something. If necessary, hopefully teaching will be a good fallback.

I aim to start having some of my anticipations, expectations, research, and excitement posted on here regularly.

Here we go!

I Less Than Three Life

2008-07-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

Life has been good lately. I'm enjoying it. Even my worst class isn't so bad when I consider that I've got 10 working days left.

In honor of the great present, I bought some expensive cheese. Which is misleadingly said, considering all cheese is expensive in Korea, and I just got a normal kind.

Watch this video, if you need further explanation.

dragon

Much love!

Is this even Gender bias?

2008-07-11T04:20:00.000-07:00

Who's down with androgyny? Yeah, you know me

OK, so I'm not that into OPP. But androgyny is fun, breaks the status quo, and upsets idiots everywhere. And how can it get better than that?

I'd get more worked up about the idiotic comments from my coworker ("That's sad," referencing a picture of a popular guy in Japan, who we both agreed it was hard to tell his sex) but I can't care that much about someone I've already decided isn't worth it.

I have this trend of writing people off pretty quickly. Sweet! --Might make it hard in the low-number-of-friends period that's about to kick off when I move to the US..

Confirmed Renegade

2008-06-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

How do you take back a vow?

I know you're not supposed to. Vows are those things you don't renege on. They're when you give your word. And we're talking about a vow that I made when I was completely aware that I wouldn't back it up.

Let's start with the fact that I don't believe God had a human son. How am I supposed to be an active member of a Catholic church? Add to my disbelief the fact that I won't consider reneging on my homosexuality.

I just feel bad. Should I go and apologize to my priest? Or is it one of those things that teaches you how not to do it next time around?

Listlessly, SoKo

2008-06-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

I've only got 6 weeks left in Korea.

To Do in Korea:
-Insadong market
-Namdemun to find chopsticks
-Yaeju to buy more ceramics
-Mudfest on the west coast
-Suwon soccer
-Suwon nightly street carnival

Then I'll be heading to NYC, Japan en route?

To Do in NYC:
-Statue of Liberty
-Guggenheim museum
-Ellis Island
-Central Park

And finally, home to Hanford Bay.

To Do in HB:
-eat at the deli
-walk on the breakwall
-play Risk
-camp on the cliff
-go bridge jumping
-have a lot of bonfires

This is how I'm spending my time. Making lists of what I'll do soon. Feels a little wasteful, to be honest. Still can't stop. Last night I used my dictionary to look up listless, despondent, and dejected. Only listless applies to the feeling I have when I'm lying in bed reading at 1:20am and I'm not tired enough to sleep and yet I can't continue reading.

So I'm listless and making lists like it's nobody's business.

Tripping in Asia

2008-06-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm going to China!

I got my passport with visa back today. I also bought a Lonely Planet: Beijing guidebook.

Huzzah for 9 days in a communist country about which I know next to nothing.

Lost: ipod, sunglasses, self esteem, etc.

2008-05-28T04:38:00.000-07:00

So I'm in a foreign country, right? And guess what I did on Friday. Drunkenly left my passport in a taxi (I think). Brilliant move, right? I know what you're thinking. "What a dumbass," you're thinking. Maybe, if you're a better friend, you follow that up with, "Is he going to get kicked out of Korea? Oh, no!"

Well, put your fears to rest. I'll have a new passport on Monday, thanks to the speedy US embassy (and $100). Faster service abroad than in the states, strangely.

"But what about your upcoming trip to China?" you say. "Don't you need to get another visa? Getting your passport on Monday and flying out on Friday doesn't leave much time in between for that.."

You're right. Nevertheless, the travel agent (and $150) is getting me a sweet deal on an express replacement visa, and I'll have it by Wednesday or Thursday. Plenty o' time!

Hallelujah. Which is a particularly appropriate sentiment, since I was feeling so wretched Sunday night that I actually prayed to a God in whom I'm not sure I believe. The prayer ended up being "Help me not to drink," which was a surprise to both of us, I think. We'll see how that goes.

T Minus 14 Days

2008-05-22T22:38:00.000-07:00

I really want to go to the Netherlands. It's got so much going for it--renewable energy, legal gay marriage, legal whatnot (Amsterdam, need I say more?), being part of Europe...

Instead, I'm going to Beijing, China in 2 weeks! Just got the visa earlier this week. 9 days of checking out the Great Wall and China itself. I've already learned my first Chinese character--you put the character for Boy right next to the character for Girl and it's the character for Happiness. (I wanted to ask what putting two men together would be, but I didn't have the nerve, since I was talking to my boss.) And when I say I learned it, I mean I have it written down somewhere.

In other news, I'm going to be in Beijing for 9 days starting 14 days from now!

i WILL remain senile

2008-05-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

.
....Reasons I Don't Want Diabetes:
Hana. It causes Alzheimer's.
Dul. It causes ED.
Set. To be continued.
....Steps I Will Take To Avoid Diabetes:
Hana. Go back to drinking my coffee black.
Dul. Reduce my carb intake?
Set. Research what actually causes diabetes. Maybe change my ancestry, to boot.

Happy Teacher's Day!

2008-05-16T05:39:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Teacher's Day. Presents, sweet! Chocolate, flowers, mouth freshening spray.. Hey, it's a foreign land. (And I drink coffee right before class. Don't worry, I'll take the hint.)

Today I got an additional present in my google news aggregator. California legalized gay marriage. I probably don't know enough about the legality issues to know what that really means, but I still like it.

So..have a good day. Happy weekend! Have a beer on me.

Bright Days, Stupid Nights

2008-05-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

It's a good life. (Reference Bixby's awesome short story by the same name, though actually I'm being truthful.)

Two three-day weekends in a row. Saturday, spent the night out on the town in Seoul, chatting up a gay newlywed couple from Amsterdam until 3:30 in the morning, then hitting a few more spots (including a front stoop for a Heineken) and finally crashing at a friend's apartment at around 7am. Got up like 3 hours later to head out to a Buddhist street festival, learned how to make origami(?) lotus flowers. Very fun.

This weekend, heading to the beautiful old capital of Korea, Gyeongju. Renting bicycles and tooling around, looking at all the traditional buildings while keeping our eyes peeled (gross) for monks celebrating Buddha's birthday. Anyone know how old he is these days?

What're you doing with spring?

[P.S. I have no right to use those images. I'll replace them with my own photos asap.]

One Scary Cyclone

2008-05-06T23:59:00.000-07:00

I was feeling pretty shaken by the 10,000 dead in Myanmar from one storm.

Then the total went up to 15,000. 15 thousand people dead at once.

When I went to look for an article to link, in case you know nothing about this country's problems--the country formerly known as Burma, located between India and Thailand--I find that the total's been upped to 22,000.

That's horrifying.

100 Days

2008-05-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Cambodia in August.

Let National Geographic show you Cambodia for 2 minutes.

And even if you're too lame to click on the link--here's a picture of where I'm hoping to go.

That's the Bayon Temple in Angkor. Please note the faces carved into the walls and the monks in red.

Less than 100 days.

Digest This.

2008-04-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

Today, for the first time in history, I changed my Facebook status. Now it says, "Michael Morrisey is digesting the dog he ate for dinner."

It's no joke. And it was pretty tasty.

My brother said, "So have you resolved the rumor that the dogs are beaten before they're killed in order to tenderize them?" I said, No but I eat chicken and eggs, and I've pretty much resolved the rumor that they're tortured. AKA they live in horrendously crowded cages, stacked one on top of another, with the lowest levels drowning in filth.. Here's a link to the longer video showing such horrible living conditions.

And here's the PETA video I found to convince you to become a vegetarian. (I'll work on it when I'm done being in a foreign country.)

Coworking

2008-04-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

Today in class we were reading Ramona Quimby, Age 8, by Beverly Cleary. Remember Beverly Cleary? No, not Superfudge--that was Judy Bloom. Well, today Ramona got sick all over the classroom floor and her mother had to leave work to pick her up and I'm standing there at the head of the class holding my bright yellow paperback and wondering how I'd feel if I worked with Mrs. Quimby.

People who have children hope for help from all the people around them--coworkers, bosses, etc. They need a little slack, an unscheduled day off now and then, even sometimes the legitimate chance to go pick up their sick daughter from third grade. In today's overpopulated world, with big city social isolationism contributing a little something as well, people feel less and less inclined to pick up that slack.

Also, you know that mean waitress who's ditching out of work early (again) to pick up her kids from high school (while her out-of-work husband sits at home), leaving you to refill the salt shakers at server's minimum wage ($3.15?), could have had an abortion if she wasn't in a position to juggle all the aspects of being a parent, even though you don't really think you can decide whether other people should have abortions and so you end up just grumbling to yourself while you fill your salt shakers and hers, too.

In general, I wish we were all a little more willing to let out that slack. Bring back the tight-knit community, which understands that parenting is more responsibility than anyone ever expects and that it is the most important reason that the community exists to begin with.

We'd have to scale down our population a bit before we could retain that perspective, though. Just my opinion.

Miss Muffet A Feminist?

2008-04-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

Embracing feminism doesn't mean that we must expect the same things from women and men.

It means that gender differences must not make us assume gender inferiorities.

I realized that last night. This morning, I remembered the following nursery rhyme:

Little Miss Muffet crouched on a tuffett,
Collecting her shell-shocked wits.
There dropped (from a glider) an H-bomb beside her--
Which frightened Miss Muffet to bits.

Turns out, that was written by Paul Dehn to protest nuclear war (duh). The fact that it came to mind while I was reading Freakonomics seemed appropriate, since the chapter titled "Where Have All The Criminals Gone?" makes the convincing case that they have, in fact, been aborted. I suggest you read the book for yourself. The book also added a capping quote to an issue I was thinking heavily about a bit ago: "What the link between abortion and crime does say is this: when the government gives a woman the opportunity to make her own decision about abortion, she generally does a good job of figuring out if she is in a position to raise the baby well."

But, in the words of Mark Twain, I'm getting off track. Of course we can't expect the same things from women and men. Women don't have as much testosterone. Men don't have as much bleeding from the uterus. And you know what? It's really not as simple as that.

And in the end, I think Miss Muffet would have accepted her fate calmly. She eats curds. You can't tell me that doesn't build character.

What's an Antonym for Rhetorical?

2008-04-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

I just spent too long reading and following up links on Pandagon. I specifically got sucked in to the post on being a feminist boyfriend. I didn't even manage to get through half of the 100 or so comments.

It did start me thinking about my own feminism. Inadvertantly, I swear--I wasn't specifically seeking out feminist topics, I was just bored at work and browsing through Hops' blog roll.

I don't worry about being a feminist boyfriend, because I don't have girlfriends. I do, however, worry about being a feminist person (aka a feminist) and I don't think it's a bad idea to set out what, exactly, that means.

Sexual equality is such an easy assumption for me. The fact that we should expect the same quality of work from men and women. The fact that both sexes should expect the same treatment. In my modern dance class at university (yes, I'm one of those kind of guys--actually, I thought 'modern dance' meant something that would be useful on Friday nights, which gets me laughing at my naivety now) I was in a group with two girls to choreograph a dance. Wiry, tall, weak-as-hell Mike. Short, heavy, religious Zany. Pierced, tattooed, biceped Amber. And Zany thought I would be willing to lift her, despite our class having at no time gone over lifts. Despite Amber being obviously stronger than me. I kind of laughed in her face. I consider it a branch of feminism not to have to participate in such a male gender role. (Not to mention such false heterosexual choreography.)

It's so easy for me to expect the same things from men and women, because most women are both stronger and smarter than I am, that I wonder whether I'm not actually unconsciously perpetuating certain problems...though I don't know what.

Ha--two sexes. Nice binary there. Like I said, I'm not entrenched in the heterosexual world view, and I have trouble thinking of things from a feminist perspective because I have troubles of my own. I'm not overly preoccupied with the general idea of feminism because it sounds like a foregone conclusion in todays' world.

The problem with that belief is when I go back home and hang out with the kids I grew up with, and they make some basic attempts at obvious censorship concerning racist comments, sexist comments, homophobic comments (am I missing out on a better adjective for that last one?), etc.

I support women's suffrage. (No shit.) I do not support the glass ceiling. (I don't think we need to race right out and elect a female president solely based on her sex, just as I don't think we should elect a black president solely based solely on his skin.)

I support capable women and men in the workplace. I support capable men and women in sports. Who am I kidding, I support no one in sports besides Lyndsay Wall, but you get the point.

What else is there?

I don't think people should stop talking about feminism, particularly because I know those kids from home need someone to get through to them.

As I said, I spent a long time tracking down the links on Pandagon, one of which led me to Pam's House Blend on the topic of sexual abuse in public places. The surprising thing, when I was reading the comments, was that they twisted into an argument about transvestites being allowed in women's changing rooms.

That sexual binary, coming back to bite us in the ass. Persephone, the woman arguing to keep "all non-women" out of female locker rooms, etc, really leaves me confused. Is it that she is afraid of being looked at with desire (aka she's never heard of lesbians), or that she's afraid of seeing physical differences (aka she's never seen anyone else's body)?

I'm not really sure I'm equipped to take up this topic. But it does bring to mind a Southpark episode that my brother references often, in which a character had a "species-change operation" and was offended when the football stadium didn't have seating for dolphins. What does Persephone want, a third room in all public areas for Other?

Frankly, I haven't been to a gym or any public changing room in forever, because it makes me feel horribly anxious. It's not that I'm worried that other people will check me out. It's not that I'm worried about being roughed up after checking someone else out. It's that I'm worried about making someone else feel uncomfortable, just knowing I'm there, possibly checking them out.

And that's pretty awful. I like swimming, and I haven't gone to the public pool at the Y across the street because I know there are people out there like Persephone.

I don't consider myself a champion of gay rights. Or a champion of feminism. I consider myself a regular person who tries to slap down prejudice whenever it pops up. Sometimes it's like a Whack-A-Mole, but most of the time it seems like a non-issue.

What else is there?

I Love Craig's List

2008-04-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

I'm no longer worried about where to find an apartment. I have confidence that CraigsList is going to come through for me, as long as I wait til I'm back in Buffalo. Now I just need to get to work motivating the people I want to live with me. (Hear that, Jenna, Brandon, and Tami?)

I still need to figure out the job situation. I really can't afford to go jobless for any stretch of time once I'm back in the states, and since that's coming up in less than four months, I feel that I really need to narrow it down. I'll keep you posted on how that goes--keep me posted on any further ideas.

I'm almost finished with For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. I'm thrilled with it, it was way better than A Farewell To Arms, and I suggest you run right out and get it from your local dosagwan because it's fantastic.

And that's all there is for today.

119 Days To Go

2008-04-10T01:52:00.001-07:00

My desire to live in Buffalo (because of many reasons including family ties) brings certain issues to the forefront.

1. I must have a place to live.
2. I must have a place to work.

How will I find an apartment when I'm 12,000 miles away?

Ditto for a job?

Hit the comments section with any tips. Vague is OK; specific is spectacular.

[Update: I've checked out BuffaloJobFinder.com and Monster.com. Looks promising, if I keep checking as August approaches. As for apartments, just found BuffaloApartments.com. I've looked for both on www.craigslist.org. Any other resources, offline as well as on?]

The Ever-Evolving Diet

2008-04-09T23:55:00.000-07:00

My aunt asked me what has been my biggest growth experience while being in Korea.

I read the news every weekday. That's pretty huge. I suggest you do the same. The google news aggregator is my new favorite software.

Now, I read that diabetes will lead to Alzheimer's. That's a big deal, because I eat bread and sugar all the time and have assumed for a few years now that I'd be ending up with diabetes. (I mean, I'm genetically predisposed, and excessive sugar intake leads to diabetes, right?) I was unhappy with that prospect but unwilling to change my diet.

I'm completely unwilling to commit myself to dementia.

The article depressed me so much that I had to run to the vending machine for a grape soda.

Help!

Cherry Bombs

2008-04-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

"In a Station of the Metro"

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

--Ezra Pound

The cherry blossoms are amazing. All the streets on the way to work are lined with them. My favorites are the white ones--it's a little like snow bursting out of the wood.

Then I hear from a friend that Koreans are starting to question their cherry blossom festivals, because the cherry tree was introduced during the Japanese occupation.

Interesting how something so beautiful can have such a history.

Hypocrite with a Cushy Job

2008-04-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress was hilarious. I seriously recommend picking it up at your local library. (Here I'm being hypocritical--I haven't even set foot in the Suji dosagwan, and it's right across the street from my apartment building.)

I've been putting some thought into the kind of work I might hope to start when I'm through with my contract in August. So far, I see three clear options:

1. Food service. I loved catering, so that might be a good option. Though I doubt any job will ever be as cake as that one was. I've also been thinking about how important it is to me to learn how to cook more varied dishes... I might look for a job in the kitchen of some vegetarian restaurant.

2. Customer service. I'm incredibly patient, I have a wide vocabulary of subservience, and I love being behind-the-scenes.

3. Tutoring. Frankly, I'm kind of hoping to pick up some tutoring work no matter what other work I do.

The big issue is balancing my wish to live in Buffalo with my wish to support myself. Are there jobs in Buffalo? For what am I qualified? What can I get that I won't just quit after a few days?

The second biggest issue is my desire not to own a car. It would be a serious conflict of my general life philosophy if I started guzzling gas. Particularly since I think the best way to cut a lot of the impetus for war in the Middle East would be to severely reduce our dependency on gasoline.

Abalone Alimone

2008-04-01T06:04:00.000-07:00

If you're against alimony entirely, that's one thing. (And keep in mind, alimony is completely different from child support.) But if you're not against it for the woman...can you be against it for the man?

Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal.

She gets a little snide there at the end, with her suggestion that men only use alimony to support a lavish lifestyle, aka owning lots of muscle cars. Nonetheless, it does make you think.

Is this an issue I care a lot about? No. It does, however, seem to tie into the previous conversation about abortion in some way.

I love the quote from the one woman-- "I don't understand why someone becomes your financial responsibility just because you married them..."

Grand Central Station Fun

2008-03-25T02:23:00.000-07:00

If anything like that ever happened to me, I'd think I had finally stepped into the pages of some super-sweet novel.

Originally found at http://www.kiwipulse.com/ after hanging around at Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird.

Hilarity

2008-03-24T04:42:00.000-07:00

Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress is hilarious so far. Susan Gilman reminds me of David Sedaris, in that when I finish rolling around laughing, look back at the page, and reread the section, it sets me off laughing again. (And yes, both Gilman and Sedaris literally have made me roll around laughing.)

Muffin Surprise

2008-03-20T02:39:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Madelein's Bakery to get something for lunch. I couldn't find the rumored turkey sandwiches, they didn't have their famous pizza squares, so I settled for a muffin with choco chips on top and went to get some chicken on a stick from the vendor.

The muffin top was delicious. The bottom had something that looked suspiciously like chitlins. Yes, stewed entrails. In a muffin.

There are some things you just can't prepare for.

Even the Subtitles have Subtitles: A list of my to-be-read pile

2008-03-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

I've been out of the USA for 7 months now. If the situation were a lot different and instead of a plane, I had taken a pregnancy test all those days ago, right now I would be a lot heavier, a lot scareder, and probably a lot more excited for the 9-month mark.

As it is, the only one that counts is the 12 month mark, when I'll be returning to the US. But in what state will the States be?

In related news, still trying to figure out who I'll vote for come November. Damn, now it looks like I'm going to have to focus on more than one issue. I haven't finished Fiasco: The American military adventure in Iraq, by Thomas E. Ricks (reference the fact that the book's dimensions are something like 1ft X 6in X 450pg), but that's not the problem. It's this economy issue. I mean, I don't really believe in the economy, but if I did, I hear I'd have to be worried. So I guess I'll go along with it, same as I went along with kneeling and eating the wafer back when my family was "Catholic."

Fiasco has intrigued me enough that I recently bought another nonfiction about war, America's Splendid Little Wars: A short histoy of U.S. engagements from the fall of Saigon to Baghdad, by Peter Huchthausen. Looks interesting--and more importantly, short.

I also bought Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress: Tales of growing up groovy and clueless, by Susan Jane Gilman. This one came highly recommended by Laurie Notaro, author of The Idiot Girl's Action Adventure Club (which I've never read). Obviously, a few interim reading projects are going to be put on hold while I digest these.

Above all, I finally got my shipment of used, cheap books from www.powells.com. I suggest you check them out--free shipping! (Not to Asia, but oh well.) Among the riches: You Are The Message by Roger Ailes, Relativity: The Special and General Theory, by Albert Einstein, and The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time, by Douglas Adams. Sadly, no explanation book for the Einstein, so I'm going to have to try to struggle through it alone first.

So I'm pretty much drowning in unread books, and I therefore can't be spending any more time listing them.

Gym Class Heroes Really Are My Heroes

2008-03-14T05:09:00.000-07:00

Taking the cue from my friend Hops over at Be A Good Human, I present my number one favorite song of 2006.

"There's a lot of you don't realize, there's a whole subculture of boys driving around in vans looking for your daughters and your lottery tickets."

I lost my Gym Class Heroes CD this past summer when I secretly sublet an apartment with some shady peeps. I wouldn't give back the summer in exchange for the CD, but I'd trade July's trip to Disney World for it.

Dear Bias

2008-03-12T00:01:00.001-07:00

Right now I'm reading a biography of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il. It's horribly biased, but interesting nonetheless. For instance, did you know that North Korea ("the People's Democratic Republic of Korea," despite being communist) once kidnapped a South Korean actress and her director husband in the hopes of improving the NoKo film industry? And that Kim Jong Il is a nice, smart guy, according to Vladimir Putin?

I'm also back to doing some calculus work. Pretty pumped about that.

In related news, I've decided to attend UB when (/if) I go back to school, for mathematics. I'm currently researching the idea of going for a master's, rather than a second bachelor's.

In unrelated news, I customized my Google News Aggregator, and I'm in love with it. Do it yourself!

Wishing to be the Friction in your Jeans

2008-03-07T04:16:00.000-08:00

It's a new semester. All week it's been, "No running in the halls!"

New books to figure out. New names to learn. One of my classes, there's a girl named Cherry and a girl named Strawberry. Blueberry dropped out. (I'm not even lying.)

That's not to say there haven't been a few good things to read this week as well. The article telling us about how one out of every 100 Americans is behind bars, found through Objectify This. The presidential hopefuls on msnbc.com, of course.

And the Best Buddhist Writing 2007. Two excerpts from the essay entitled There's No "I" in Happy by Matthieu Ricard:

"...A person whom we consider today to be an enemy is most certainly somebody else's object of affection, and we may one day forge bonds of friendship with that selfsame enemy. We react as if characteristics were inseparable from the object we assign them to. Thus we distance ourselves from reality and are dragged into the machinery of attraction and repulsion that is kept relentlessly in motion by our mental projections. Our concepts freeze things into artificial entities and we lose our inner freedom, just as water loses its fluidity when it turns to ice."

...

"You are napping peacefully in a boat in the middle of a lake. Another craft bumps into yours and wakes you with a start. Thinking that a clumsy or prankish boater has crashed into you, you leap up furious, ready to curse him out, only to find that the boad in question is empty. You laugh at your own mistake and return peacefully to your nap. The only difference between the two reactions is that in the first case, you'd thought yourself the target of someone's malice, while in the second you realized that your 'I' was not a target."

Take that, negativity! You're only a mirage created by my mind's egotistical habits.

On Tuesday as I walked to work, I found myself trying to convince myself of the following:

I am everything. I am the world. I am the rocks beneath my feet. I am the sidewalk. I am the snowflake as it tries to follow the car. I am the wind current. I am the air passing through that woman's lungs. I am that woman. I am the force of gravity, I am the electromagnetic force combating gravity. I am not the center of the world...these things are me. I am a small part. I am insignificant--I am everything. I create the world around me. The man walking in front of me creates the world around him. He is me. I am him.

...Actually, at that point it got kind of personal, but it was interesting while it lasted.

Reducing My Footprint

2008-02-29T00:50:00.000-08:00

Because I hate plastic, I bought a Dunkin Donuts travel mug. (I include a link because I love their Korean advertisement, which you can watch on their site.)

I also took tupperware to the kimbop lunch place for the first time.

I have yet to figure out how to tell Paris Baguette not to wrap my pre-made, pre-wrapped sandwich. I can't really imagine cutting them out of my life. Paris Baguette is the best thing about South Korea.

Finally, I've been considering unplugging my fridge, because that's the number one electricity consumer in the average household. The only thing that wouldn't like it is the eggs. Besides which my fridge is built in and possibly impossible to unplug.

Hmm. If you have any ideas, they're welcome.

No Doz (ing Through College)

2008-02-25T05:28:00.000-08:00

I want to go back to school. I'm torn between two different colleges. I've tried listing the pros and cons of each, and there's a clear "obvious" choice, but there are a lot of emotions tied up that don't translate well to a pros/cons list...

[This entire post is basically a response to Liz's College...again post, and her question about what makes college great. One of the things that makes it great is the opportunity to meet people other than those who simply happened to be born in your county. People like Liz. Check out her blog.]

College is pretty great. Not only do you restart your friend base, you restart yourself. Not that it's easy to change from who you were into who you want to be, but here's your first real chance to try (that is, if you never transferred grade schools, which I didn't.)

And it's remarkably social. I'm grateful for the education I received in the classroom, which is one of the main reasons I'm drawn back to Oswego--but I valued even more the education I received at parties, social outings, shared apartments... Growing up never really ends, as far as I can tell (though I'm only 22, so I'm not sure I'm qualified yet to make that decision, but I do know that when I was 12, 22 was adult) but a lot of growing up happened in college. Realizing what matters in your life, sorting out what was important to you in the past only because it was important to your parents, teachers, peer group... A lot of the stupid stuff falls away.

That's not to say that college is a fantasy world. I gritted my teeth and got through high school--which is strange, because for the most part I actively enjoyed high school--with the thought that when I got to college, I would basically be walking on to the set of Friends. I assumed my friends would all read the same books as me and we'd sit around talking about philosophy over steaming cups of organic tea.

Reality was pretty far from my dreams. Oh, don't worry--I found a group of friends who I related to on a very deep level. I just wasn't the person I had always believed. My friends and I took part in such educational activities as hitting the bars every weekend, playing darts and sharing pitcher after pitcher of the cheapest beer in town. We took turns crushing No Doz pills for bumping off of each others' rippling abs, a body image achieved through ritualistic group purging. Kidding! But we did have the occassional crazy party, with the too-occassional alcohol poisoning. I can't say that we really passed around any books. Wait, yes, we passed around the textbook for Kestas' chem class...we shared the textbook for Intro to Astronomy...

And when I eventually realized that we weren't conforming to the image of "literary university students" to which I had jacked off long ago (not literally!), I heaved a sigh of relief. Because we meshed well together the way we were. Because we helped each other get through the issues associated with living on our own for the first time. Because, as crazy as it seems, we didn't need help from a TV show to figure out who we really were.

A lot of my favorite times were at the end of the day when Jenna and I would talk about what all the crazy people said when they spoke up during class. Or at the catering job I had with Jessica and Dana. A few more were when we went to watch Rachel, Catherine, and Mackenzie play hockey. Or our coed hockey team with Kevin. Or getting 3 hour rides home with Ben and making him teach me about chemistry.

Part of what makes me want to go back to Oswego is the thought that if that awesome group came together once, something like it could happen again... Another part tells me not to force the issue, and to look for new friends in a new place. Then again, Jenna's headed to that part of the state. WHAT WILL I DO?

Good thing there're still a few more months to ruminate on this choice. The one thing I do know--this time, I'm looking forward to a bit more scholarly learning, having gotten enough (maybe) out of my first social education. Though, come to think of it, every day is a new lesson in social education. This year, I'm stuck in a class that's bound to help me in my future interaction with kids (hopefully my own, someday) but that isn't really advancing my other goals.

However: here's to being debt-free by the time I start picking up college classes again!

Tetris is REAL!

2008-02-22T04:50:00.000-08:00

I'm currently in recovery, but there was a time when I could honestly say that I was addicted to TETRIS.

Now I just make my students play Human Tetris. I think it's pretty great but I get mad when they don't blink and disappear when I make lines.

In the midst of all the hours we spent playing the Super Nintendo version in college, I remember convincing Jenna to cut class so we could keep playing Tetris and Dr. Mario. Good times.

If you want to see a youtube video that represents the most common game show on South Korean television, check out this next video.

...Actually, that's a little less silly than most of the ones we see. Also, is that a pool of honey they're falling into?

This marks weekend #2 sans alcohol. Have a great one!

The earth not the Earth. To be not to Be.

2008-02-21T05:34:00.000-08:00

I'll find a new topic soon, but just a couple more things about our one and only home, the earth:

1. You don't have to capitalize "earth" if you use "the" before it. Also, you don't generally have to capitalize it unless you also mention another, capitalized, celestial body in the same sentence, such as "Earth and Jupiter." Don't worry about it too much, though--most of us are clueless.

2. Plastic does suck. Recycle. An albatross' stomach was cut open to reveal about a pound of plastic, including a cigarette lighter. Buy refillable ones!

3. You can always find something new to implement in your life, even when you feel like you're just hearing the same thing again and again. I mean, how many times have we all heard that batteries simply aren't landfillable, and how many of us take the trouble to find out how to recycle them? (I've heard Staples will recycle them.)

4. How do you pass the time here on earth? Any ideas that don't include drugs will be welcome--I believe compiling a list of such activities is going to be one of the new big crusades in my life. (I'm not knocking drugs, I just don't require any suggestions in that arena.)

Calvin and Hobbes are Jenious.

2008-02-20T04:42:00.000-08:00

I love Calvin and Hobbes an extremely huge amount. If you're not capable of stumbleupon'ing it for yourself, here's a link to some great snow art from the strip.

It's more than a comic. Consider the names of the main characters--two great philosophers.

At least, I think that's who they are. I've never really bothered to read anything by either one.

By the way-that's how I saw one of my students spell 'genius.' What she actually wrote was "I am jenious."

I love this job.
You should see some of the doodles I've collected.

Red, Reading, Will Reed

2008-02-19T05:25:00.000-08:00

I was recently disturbed by Zeitgeist, the movie about the three interrelated topics of religion, 9/11, and the US Federal Reserve Bank. I'd like to be blase on this one and act like I knew everything that movie had to tell me, but I really didn't. Straight through, I was pretty wide-eyed.

I recommend watching it. (Just don't take it as gospel. Obviously.)

This is totally different from how I also recommend She's The Man.

I just finished reading Rubbish by Richard Girling. I don't recommend it. I'll let you know where it takes me, though. It was about on the same level as The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen. The Green Book at least had the benefits of being very short and packed full of easily applicable tips.

Now I'm back to the hilariously titled Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq, by Thomas E. Ricks. I've got to struggle through this mammoth tome in time for the election. At some point, I'll have a few pages of quotes, a distillate of the book so you don't have to read it--let me know if you're interested in receiving them.

And now I'm reading my students' essays. They continue to be the bane of my existence.

Peace.

Rubbish is Rubbish

2008-02-18T01:18:00.000-08:00

Now two-thirds of the way through Richard Girling's book Rubbish: Dirt on our hands and crisis ahead. I'm thinking there's a lot in this book I could have gone without--the entire 20-page section on how great apples and cheese used to be, for example. Then again, it begs the question of how often we need to hear something repeated before we actually do something about it.

I've gotten three implementable ideas out of this book so far.

1. Go to farmer's markets. Buy local. Avoid supermarkets. Not only does this support local economy and (probably) better humanitarian/environmental business practices, it also reduces the transport of the goods you're buying, which helps the environment out a lot.

2. Reduce your personal waste stream. Everything you use goes somewhere. Be more conscious of what you use in a day. For example: how was your lunch packaged? I should be bringing a tupperware container to the restaurant I get kimbop at, but I haven't yet, which means every time I get lunch there, I throw out a plastic bag, a square of tinfoil, and two wooden chopsticks.

3. Do more research about energy production. I don't actually know how feasible wind power is--but I do know that Denmark gets about 20% of its electricity from wind turbines. This book's reminding me of what a false savior nuclear energy is, considering we don't know what to do with it besides bury it (the book is about the UK), and it's going to be around for way longer than we can reasonably guarantee safe storage.

So...my goal of learning about waste disposal and energy production has not been met by reading this book, but it did help me to refine what it is that I want to learn more about. Sweet!

Trash Vortex Update

2008-02-13T09:32:00.000-08:00

Not really that surprising that Greenpeace has something to say about this.

Not really surprising that I don't know what more to say.

Recycle!

On to a new topic. I've finished The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, both in book form and in the Nova made-for-TV movie form that's available on the internet.

My conclusion: while it did serve to get me interested in physics (reference my anticipated shipment of Einstein's paper on his theory of relativity--and another book to explain the Einstein) it's kinda lame and really cursory. Though maybe that's as it must be. The book was about 400 pages and the movie, three hours. Who could even start if either were longer?

Reminding me of resolution #7. Be less verbose.

Guess I recently notched it up to 8--no alcohol this year.

Reminds me of a great friend from college who'd always give up Bud Light for Lent.

we're all Deer in the Headlights of this one

2008-02-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

When I stumbleupon'd the plastic soup twice the size of the continental united states that is afloat in the pacific seas, I was reminded of why we need to chuck our disposable culture.

I've always had the hope that our huge ocean rafts would be more intentionally created. (Reference one of my favorite sci-fi novels, Snow Crash.)

What do we do about this? It's one of those "Oh, man.." kind of problems.

Drowning In Waste

2008-02-11T01:20:00.000-08:00

I'm about a third of the way through Rubbish by Richard Girling, and my favorite parts so far have been the tours he's taken me on in management facilities for our three primary wastes: bathroom waste, recycled waste, and unrecycled waste. I was actually most surprised by the recycling section, because I had slightly higher hopes for what's being done in that sector.

Worry number one: Why aren't more things recyclable? This doesn't even come from the book, it just comes from looking around. Can we recycle CD jewel cases? Can we recycle plastic bread bags? Can we recycle the screw-on tops of our water bottles? In most cases, the answers I've found have been NO. WHY?? And why don't we listen to people who tell us not to buy things that aren't recyclable?

Worry number two: Why aren't things recycled more efficiently? If I have a first-edition PET bottle, never before recycled, why does it have to become a gutter in its next life? Why can't it be washed out and reused the way it is? Or at least cleaned, melted, and reused as another PET water bottle? What is the deal with making our recyclables into disposables after only a few cycles?

Worry number three: Why aren't more people worried about this? I mean...how much more room do we really have for landfills? And isn't anyone worried about this modern-day version of 'sweep it under the rug'? I've heard the argument that we can just store our garbage on the moon, or shoot it into the sun, so why get up in arms...but I've also heard the argument that it costs between $5,000-$10,000 per pound just to get something into orbit, so that doesn't really seem all that feasible of a solution. Besides which, siphoning off resources out of our closed planetary system just because we don't want to go without our chuckable water bottles seems like an awfully shortsighted idea.

There's a Limit to my Universe

2008-02-10T08:47:00.000-08:00

Being on vacation for six days sounded like just what we all needed. And it didn't seem too ludicrous to whip up a fresh to-do list out of all those things I've been putting off. Some things ended up getting accomplished, and some didn't.

Still To Do:
-Planning of a trip to Thailand (I did buy Fodor's Guide, though).
-Planning of another two years at SUNY Oswego.

DONE:
-Planning of a trip to the Adirondacks (Top 4 High Peaks, here I(we?) come).
-Major weeding of my "Currently Reading" list. Now I'm actually reading one.
-Quitting drinking alcohol.

It's not that I feel the need to purge myself of all my vices this year (reference resolutions), it's just that some things are important and some people matter enough to forget about your own Charlie-Browning.

The book I'm currently reading: The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. Pretty wild.

pro-choice, pro-life, ...pro-abortion?

2008-01-29T21:19:00.001-08:00

I've come to the conclusion that, in fact, I am not pro-choice.

I am pro-abortion.

I just don't seem to care as much about the guilt over aborting a fetus one parent would've liked to raise, as I do about neither parent being hampered in what they want to do with their life--and their money.
Finding out which is more harmful to the individual is probably the part of this issue I need to focus any future research on.
I also want to know about the most oft-used justifications for the legality of abortion, because maybe I've got those wrong in my head.
Yesterday I was scaring myself with thoughts of child-bearing licenses.

principle

2008-01-27T23:44:00.001-08:00

an evolving list of principles that matter:

1. honesty
. to oneself
. to others
. while under duress as well as in peace

2. benevolence
. and foresight
. and sincerity
. with hopes for the social contract

3. fairness
. to each other
. to the environment
. aimed at conservation and sustainability

the king of oration

2008-01-27T23:35:00.000-08:00

did you know i love short videos?

i particularly love short videos of martin luther king jr quotes.

(note: i first viewed this video on feministe. i first viewed feministe because of hops.)

in university, i had to write a paper outlining my principles of nonviolence. expect an updated version to be available on here shortly.

Outside Looking In

2008-01-25T06:27:00.000-08:00

.

Your shoes are in my spot when I walk in. There's nothing bubbling on the stove, but that's not really your style, sober.

You're stretched out in bed, asleep already, though you can't have been home an hour yet. You only sprawl in the beginning or the end of sleep, never for the main haul. No, for that you withdraw into yourself in the same way as when someone introduces a topic for conversation about which you know nothing.

The kitchen could use a scrub-down. The bathroom too. But I don't know the first thing about frosted glass, so I brush the crumbs into the sink.

Hard to resist getting in bed, even as awake as I am, when I know if I wait too much longer I'll have to actually wake you up to get your arms around me.

.

Half The Battle

2008-01-21T03:07:00.000-08:00

Today, I celebrate a unique milestone: I officially have less than 200 days remaining in South Korea.

It's sad that I'm celebrating the passing of time like this, considering I'm enjoying my time here. I'm getting reaquainted with my brothers, which was one of my major goals in making this trip, and I'm steadily paying off my college debt, which was my other major goal. I sincerely enjoy my job, which is an unexpected bonus, and I'm doing a ton of reading, which is my number one favorite activity.

So why do I have this countdown going in my head?

Because my life is on pause.

While google imaging for a sweet picture of an old-school VHS tape on pause, with those fuzzy lines across a portion of the TV screen, you know what I mean, I came across this comic justifying the consumption of coffee at any time of day. It has nothing to do with life being on pause, but I decided that it was time to move on from that idea anyway.

As I said, I've been reading some really great books. (Some future post will specify which.) There's a pretty good bookstore, Bandi and Luni's, at the Coex Mall. It has a huge English section to browse through, but I'm getting kinda itchy to put in some specific requests, for which Powell's Used Books is going to be seriously helpful. As a sweet enticement, any order of $50 or more has free shipping in the USA. Nice, huh?

Aside: I did, in fact, seek permission to quote my friend, quoted in my previous blog entry concerning men's abortion rights. He gave permission. He didn't even check what quote I used first. I neglected to ask him whether I should quote him by name. I think I'll just leave it anonymous unless our conversation digs up another interesting quotable, in which case perhaps I'll give him a little more space on here.

And, to wrap it up, I'll let you in on a little secret. I started writing this post without really believing there was a milestone to celebrate. I got halfway through my first sentence, which seemed like a good one, so I decided to at least look at my calendar before deleting the sentence and starting over. That's when I saw '199' handwritten in the upper corner of today's square.

Now you know--and knowing is...

Misandristing

2008-01-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

Today I came across the word misandrist for the first time. I dictionary.com'd it, of course, as is my wont.

(Actually, I http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/misandrist 'd it, because that's my real wont...I type in the whole web address. I don't know, I think it makes me feel like a hacker or something to go directly to the page I'm looking for.)

I came across the word for a person who hates men in the comments for Glenn Sack's "The Sexist Pencil Sharpener vs. The Sexist Knife Block." I agree with Mr. Sack on this one--both the pencil sharpener and the knife block are in pretty poor taste.

Not so sure I agree that the pencil sharpener is a representation of a consensual sexual act that women enjoy. I mean...splinters, to begin with, right?

I disagree completely with the idea of the female pen holder. Cara is right--it promotes rape, especially with what it's programmed to say when you use it as you're supposed to, by inserting your pen into the vagina.

Disgusting.

It's issues like this that reassure me that I'm a feminist, and apparently I need reassurance because I'm still struggling with the abortion issue. It's not that I want to ban abortion--far from it. From where I am in my life at this moment, I believe that if I were ever faced with having impregnated a woman, I would be strongly against getting an abortion, but that would be my choice. I believe there are many situations (probably a majority of situations, these days) in which abortion is the best option.

One of my friends recently put it to me in a new way, which helped to undermine the beliefs I've been espousing so far on the subject on men's rights in the abortion arena.

I partially quote him here, permission to be sought later:

"[...] Once your child is born, no amount of prenatal posturing absolves a mother or father of their responsibility to the child. [...]"

I guess I agree. (When I say I guess, I don't just mean I'm agreeing reluctantly--I mean I'm agreeing tentatively, because I'm not sure that I do agree.)

So where does that leave the guy, then? Nobody I know is arguing that abstinence is a reasonable demand, and yet when a guy and a gal shack up for the night, use a condom, and it results in a pregnancy anyway, the woman can either say it's too much pressure and go for an abortion, or she can decide to keep and raise the child. In the end, the woman makes the choice, forcing the man to play along.

Makes having sex seem like an extremely weighty decision, doesn't it? I wish I could support the idea that you shouldn't be having sex until you're in a committed relationship and wouldn't be too put out by a pregnancy. I don't support that idea because I try not to forestall the inevitable.

Youtube is so fetch

2008-01-15T23:21:00.000-08:00

Considering I haven't been following the presidential election campaigns, and am not currently planning to vote (despite thinking everyone else should do both), I have heard that Hillary Clinton started crying.

So I youtubed it.

And you know what? I love her. Even though I don't know any of her policies. And I hate all the people who say she's a crybaby.

That doesn't mean I'd vote for her, though. Get the facts. (Because obviously MSNBC is the source of all wisdom.)

Also--you can't just ask somebody why they're white.

Down The Drain

2008-01-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

When I think hard about money (which happens about twice a month, first when I wire money home and then again when I'm dolling that money out to pay my debts), I sometimes wonder how all this work I'm doing is going to look, down the line. Will I be able to buy a house with greater ease, all because I paid off my college debt quickly? Or am I going to be SOL because of that one time I made a late payment on my credit card?

It's times like those that I really appreciate Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN's money blogger.

Actually, I'll be honest--I never think about her at those times. I never think about the future either, unless it's to bask in the idea of being debt-free in a few months. (Only with hopes to go back to school and get that debt right back... I mean, it's been my constant companion for almost five years now, who wouldn't miss it?) When I do think about Liz Pulliam Weston is when I'm considering my credit score, which is usually just after I've logged out of hotmail and one of her articles catches my eye. I keep meaning to check my own credit score for free, because I really would like to know how much that late payment set me back. I've had credit cards for five years, so have I been developing good credit? One of my friends told me that you have to mess up your credit before they start keeping score--sounds stupid, but who am I to say?

The point is, if you've somehow missed out on Liz Pulliam Weston before this, I think she's pretty helpful. Not that I know whether she's full of it or not--she's just a handy resource to do that first bit of learning you need to get you moving.

See...oh, two?

2008-01-13T20:45:00.000-08:00

For some reason or another, the planet has always seemed kinda important to me. Maybe it's just the way I was raised, though I like to believe that even if I hadn't had a new-age mother, I would still have arrived at the conclusion that we need to take care of our only home.

Maybe it's the science fiction I read constantly growing up, a consistent reminder that there is a future to look to. Kids who will need a place to grow up. Of course, in those stories, the kids were often growing up on new worlds, but it's become clear to me (and hopefully everyone) that we're not starting off-planet manifest destiny any time soon.

That's why I like people like Leah Ingram and her new Green Boot Camp, giving a new idea every week of ways to improve our treatment of our planet.

I made a New Year's resolution to buy things for friends. Would carbon offset credits be a lame gift? I can't decide. It might be what my brother calls a Homer Simpson Bowling Ball--a gift I buy for someone else so that I can get the benefit.

Then again, we're all on this planet, right? So preserving it ought to benefit all of us.

Hmm..

Boil blog for 20 days in skull of witch (Roald Dahl, anyone?)

2008-01-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

Resolution #7: Be less verbose. (Aka post shorter blogs.)

Sorry about this recent trend of mine not to do so..

My last blog entry boils down to thinking men should be able to bow out of a fetus's life, and then not have to pay child support, as long as they make it clear that they would prefer an abortion while there's still time.

The entry before that boils down to Resolution #6: No sex this year.

It turns out, the past few "relationships" (and there I'm being kind to myself) I've been in weren't all that useful. I'm hereby renewing my effort to become friends with a potential sig-o before hooking up with said potential sig-o, because all too often I gradually realize they're actually sickoes. Not all that bad--just not all that good.

Also--here's to making positive decisions while drunk. For example, one such positive decision would be to NOT have another beer.

argument or axe fight

2008-01-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Reproductive rights: I've talked about them before and I'm about to get going again. Should men have some kind of abortion rights?

I think so. I think it's an important part of a couple's life together, and since they both had input on forming that embryo, they should both have input on ending that embryo.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a feminist. I think women are equal to men, and any laws or customs that create inequality are completely wrongheaded and need to be changed.

I'm also pro-choice. Very much so. I think abortion is an excellent idea for tons of people. I don't think having the baby and putting it up for adoption is a good idea. I think abortion is better. I don't think having the baby and raising it even when you don't want to is a good idea. I think abortion is better.

But I do think that men and women both have something to do with forming that fetus, and they should both have something to say about ending it. Before I go too far down this road, I think there are about four situations that are pretty likely to occur.

1. The man and the woman both want the baby. (Why would abortion even be brought up?)
2. The man wants the baby and the woman doesn't.
3. The man doesn't want the baby and the woman does.
4. Neither the man nor the woman want the baby. (Abort! Abort!)

So let's focus on situations two and three. Obviously there is some kind of scale here, not just a black-and-white, but right now I'm concerned about these drastic extremes.

Situation 2. The man wants the baby and the woman doesn't. [Please, don't get offended by my use of 'baby'--I mean, the woman eventually wants the baby that may develop out of the cells they're considering cancelling. The man wants nothing to do with that possible baby.]

I believe that the woman has the final choice in whether or not to develop and birth that baby. Should there be an option for the man to say, "Give me that, I'm keeping it, I'm raising it, get out of here"? Maybe...is that even possible, though? Forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term is a huge violation of her rights, as far as I'm concerned. Evolution hasn't given us much choice on this issue, either. Has science provided a test-tube (or petri dish) to transfer that collection of cells into, so the woman can wash her hands and the man can feed it or whatever needs to be done, and then later raise the resulting child? I have no idea, but I doubt it. So all I'm asking in this situation is that the woman seriously consider the man's wishes. And the man seriously consider whether he's ready to raise that child alone.

Situation 3. The man doesn't want the baby, but the woman does. We're talking, before the sonogram shows something that a layperson would recognize. Or at least before whatever sign there is for us nowadays that says, "Sorry, abortion isn't an option any more." Does the man get to decide whether or not to have the baby? The woman wants it, and the man doesn't. So she keeps it, since she's in control of that decision. And then she says, this is your baby, so you better cough up the dough. Obviously, having a child is such a huge pain in the ass (and I don't mean just the birthing process, I mean everything after that for years and years) that women are pretty unlikely to give birth just to get some money. Sure, it may happen, but I'm not going to get into that because as I say, it's gotta be pretty uncommon.

The man doesn't want the baby. He said so, right from the beginning. She said, too bad buster, you're along for this ride. He said, but shouldn't I get a choice? She said, you bought the ticket when you got in my bed. He said, but then doesn't that mean women shouldn't be allowed to choose to have abortions either? She said, no, you misogynist asshole, just cough up the dough.

That's where this conversation seems to head. A willful ignoring of the man's position in the argument. I don't know where to go from here. I'm just glad I'm not pregnant, because I'd probably think like a woman. And I'm glad I don't have a pregnant girlfriend, because I'd probably think like me, and she'd probably attack me with an axe. And I'd probably forgive her without feeling like she even listened to me.

Consider checking out the LATimes article that got the ball rolling here. It seems to suggest that because I'm pro-men's-voice, I'm anti-abortion. I'm not. I just think men have a legal out from supporting a child they don't want. I'd add "and they shouldn't be denied a child they do want," but as I've mentioned, I don't think it's anything along the lines of right to force a woman to give birth, so until I learn more about test tube births, I'll have to scrap that.

The article also gives me this creeping feeling that I've got to hate on "men's rights" even if I'm pro-choice because anti-abortionists will twist my support to mean that I am against abortion.

I have a problem with the slippery slope. Reference the war on drugs. (That doesn't entirely support my point but it's my favorite thing I found while searching.)

Anyway...I'm not asking anyone not to get an abortion. I'm just trying to figure out some reason why men shouldn't have more of a say in laws that can bind them to children they asked not to have.

No sleep 'til Brooklyn; no sex 'til New Year's.

2008-01-06T23:19:00.000-08:00

An I'm Feeling Lucky of "New Year's Resolution: Abstinence" didn't bring me to anything unsavory, which is pretty lucky indeed considering I'm at work. It did, however, bring me to a mildly encouraging site, full of you-already-know-this's and you-could've-figured-that-out's. Nearly as good as a blog--I mean, someone must have written it, right?

So guess what. I'm adding a new resolution to my list. Up to six, and going strong--because when I turn over a new leaf, I like to rearrange the furniture, as my goofriend Tami once put it. (That was going to be good friend, and then I typoed, and then I decided a goofriend is pretty much what she is. I like serendipitous typos, don't you?)

I'm just about as callous as ever, so that's not been a good resolution. It's hard to change something about myself when I actually don't think I'm callous--I only think I'm SEEN as callous. And then only to people who are too stupid to see the difference between calm/reserved/ponderous/logical and callous. I don't want to be seen as callous, so I guess I should edit the resolution to "Don't be seen as callous." Not sure how to effect that change, though. (Did I use the right word there? ...Yes!)

Checked out one more site--yet again, not a blog. "Dear Dr. Love, is it childish or unreasonable to wait to have sex until I'm in a committed relationship and we've both been tested for STIs? Sincerely, Hesitant in Heat." Such a stupid site I refuse to even provide the link, despite my love affair with write-in personal questions, because it's too vague and obvious. The answer was an unequivocal yes, of course. Yes, in Heat, you are being unreasonable. As a college-aged youngster, you are expected to be loose and endlessly available, and not meeting those expectations is just like failing a class. When are you going to learn the proper sexual techniques, if not now?

My second resolution is slumbering right now, with a desire to push on after January. I'm reading a couple good books right now, two of them non-fiction(!!!1) and I'm teaching about 10 hours a day. Once I get through this overtime stretch, I'll begin my self-education about power plants, waste disposal, and calculus. At least, that's a good thing to tell myself, when I see that I'm doing nothing to further that resolution. Maybe this week I'll order some books on the topics online. That way I can say I'll get started as soon as they arrive, and I would have started already if they'd have arrived already.

My third resolution...what was it? Ahh. Become more outgoing. Well, in fact, I ate lunch alone today, as I do most days, but I don't think that's a sign that I'm failing. Despite the jazz outing fizzling and dying last weekend, I persevered and made it happen this time around! On Saturday we headed out to Jungja and heard some jazz. The bar was ridiculously expensive ($8 for the average beer, $300 for the average bottle of liquor) so we headed out after only two beers to play some pool. A fine outing, all in all, despite the fact that I had to strip and shower immediately upon returning home. NY, cherish your smokefreeism.

Fourth. Out of debt. I haven't even sent any money home this month(/year) yet, which means I haven't paid any bills yet, which means I'm not getting out of debt very fast. Also, I did just buy some sweet raised wooden (plastic) flooring for my bathroom, which was relatively necessary because it was ridiculously cheap and now I can walk in there with socks after taking a shower. In case you didn't realize, showers in Korea drain into the center of the bathroom. This is because we just have one open shoot running down the center of our apartment building, and all of our used water goes down this shoot. You can look down the shoot and see the pool where it gathers beneath the building, though we've found that's not a great idea because the people above you may be about to flush. It's highly beneficial to be on the top floor, like me, but even then we have flat roofs and if it has rained recently it might still be draining down the shoot. (Cough cough BS cough)

Fifth...Buy friends things. Well, I did just buy my brother a few things (hangers, a notebook with a Little Prince quote on the cover) but I meant more non-family than family when I said friends. It's hard when I don't have many friends here I think are worth a present, and I'm so far away from my friends from home. Then again, that's probably what makes it an even better idea.

Sixth. No sex this year.

On the plus side, there are many fine used book stores around online. You can pay 50 cent for a book and he'll ship it to you for only around 5 dolla, bringing your total to about $6.47. Don't ask me where those extra fees come in.

Peace, love, and chicken grease.

Poet Busted with a Giant Coffee

2008-01-03T23:28:00.000-08:00

Feeling down? Need a quick pick me up? Try the fabulous, world-famous taste sensation, COFFEE. Wonderful feelings will course through your veins soon after imbibing of this sweet energy nectar. Just one sip will have you licking your lips. Just one cup will have you...heading for the bathroom?

Sorry, I was searching for a rhyme there and I failed miserably.

I'm back on the coffee, though. That's right, "on" "the" coffee. It's a drug, and I'm making no bones about it.

I didn't drink it for a while, but then I decided that I love it and there's no good reason to stop drinking it. I'm great at rationalizing things like that. It's how I always finish abstaining.

Feeling down emotionally? Need a quick eye-opener? Maybe a better perspective? Check out Brian Andreas' website, or better yet, one of his books. He reminds me of Damian Webber, that famous Buffalo poet who wrote such classics as:

The Microwave

How does that thing not give you cancer?

and:

Look Down

You're not going
to talk to
any of them,
anyway.

I do like short poems like that. Easier than a long poem to understand, easier than a long poem to subject your friends to.

One more thing I wanted to mention in this random collection of thoughs for the day: I'm a huge fan of facebook's new bookshelf application. Normally I think facebook is mostly stupid, but I love books and I love knowing what my friends are reading.

I also love the sticker application, which I suppose ties in with loving short, easy-to-understand poems. Check out bustedtees.com to a bunch of funny t-shirts, akin to the funny stickers.

Revolving Resolve

2007-12-28T00:50:00.000-08:00

I've already shot ahead on resolution #3 (though I'm seriously lacking in resolution #1). Today I asked a few coworkers if they'd like to go to a jazz bar tonight after work. Fun! Social! Instigated by yours truly!

Actually, I'm pretty pumped about it. I like jazz (it was pretty much the only good music you could go out to hear in Oswego, and though I'd like to debate myself on that, [reference Thursdays? at Old City], I'm not going to--reference the guy who was good at Old City playing jazz on Wednesdays at King Arthurs) , and I like bars--it seems a perfect combination.

So I'm doing well on resolution 3, but not so well on 1. As a matter of fact, I'm failing dismally. Today I'm being callous about a sick coworker, and I've only let that abate because I don't have to cover her class after all. I was about to start teaching it when Matt walked into the room and said, Why are you teaching this, I'm her sub... So we rock-paper-scissored and he got stuck with it. Sweet!

And I'm being additionally callous about some friends that I'm trying to drop here because I just don't like them that much and no matter how often I say something isn't appropriate, they don't adjust or even filter themselves when around me, so forget that. I think I'm doing the right thing but that's pretty much the definition of callous.

I do have one more New Year's Resolution to make. Resolution #5: Buy friends things. I have plenty of money, I have generous impulses, but I end up spending a lot of money at the bar and I don't even know where it goes. So I'm going to make some headway on that as soon as possible. Maybe you'll be the next to feel the benefit!

Right now, I'm going to get another cup of coffee (which tends to assist me in all of my resolutions), then either prep for my classes--yeah right-- or go to the paper store--probably not-- or look up a couple books that my friends might like receiving.

Peace!

Teacher? Student?

2007-12-27T05:15:00.001-08:00

One of the good things about teaching that they don't really tell you about beforehand is that you actually learn a lot. I'm here to teach English but I'm learning about:
-the history of soccer (there didn't used to be rules and whole towns would play, throughout the whole town--sometimes, people died, so it was banned by 3 different monarchs. Unsuccessfully. And we think we have sports that surpass it).
-continental drift through reading units with the kids.
-incentives and how to manipulate the will of others through communing with the authoritarian within myself.

Mostly, I've learned more than I want to about that last one, and I have pretty good classes this semester so I'm getting back to focusing on things like the first two. This semester is making me feel like, yeah, I might want to have kids some day, after all.

That's this semester so far, anyway. Here's to sweet kids who turn into devils when they realize I'm a pretty nice guy.

what the hell...spring for the greater of two evils.

2007-12-23T22:36:00.000-08:00

In a sincere effort to be a good human, I've recently realized it'll be necessary to avoid talking to certain people as much as possible. I think there's something to be said for repairing unneccessary heartache, especially if I'm the root cause, and I've made an attempt to do so. Sometimes, though, the best thing I can do is distance myself so as not to do any further damage.

In this spirit of bettering myself, it has suddenly occurred to me that New Year's resolutions might be a good idea. I've never had any serious ones, but I'm going to make around four.

1. Don't be callous.
2. Learn more about power plants, waste disposal, and calculus.
3. Become more outgoing.
4. Get out of debt.

Alright, #4 is kind of lame, since four months ago I already committed a year of my life to paying off my college debt. (I understand that a year sounds like a short time to pay off college debt, but I had to invest a lot into this--reference being on the other side of the world. Interesting fact: the sidewalks are made out of metal and we all have to wear magnetic shoes. When we go indoors, we just do a little flip and the building holds us up. Don't even ask me how they anchor the buildings, because I haven't learned much about their magic yet.)

And #3 is just something I've been meaning to do anyway, especially after my main social connection, my best day-to-day friend, told me I was the biggest mistake of his life. I'm going to work on knowing current events so that they can be conversation topics. I'm going to work on number two so that I can talk about the topics that actually interest me.

#2 mainly stems from my desire to quit fucking up our planet, because among the buffet of pick-and-choose bible quotes that I was raised on, one of my favorites has always been "First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck of chaff that is in your brother's eye." I want to learn to be perfect in my own habits so that I can start proselytizing. And of course, by that I mean converting people to my faith. My faith being in the fact that the earth is important.

And #1...how am I going to manage that one? Sounds hard. I'll try to be more emotional, though. Big reaction when actually I think it's no big deal. I'm going to test-drive the belief that being fake is better than being dull!

That exclamation point shows how exciting the new me is.

in today's episode of Hogwan...

2007-12-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

Tom works upstairs with my brothers Brandon and Patrick. I often go up there to see if my brothers want to walk home together.

--Brandon: We're taking a cab. There's no room for you. What're you making me for dinner?
--Me: Uh..tofu?
--Brandon: It better be crispy.
--Me: I just had fried food yesterday, so I'm not going to batter it or anything...
--Brandon: Of course not.
--Tom: You're going super-healthy today!
--Me (walking out of office): I don't know. I just don't want to eat fried food two days in a row.
--Tom (following me to the elevator): It's not like batter's that unhealthy.
--Me: I completely disagree.
--Tom: Bread's not that bad for you.
--Me: Batter's not bread.
--Tom: What's the difference? Just some yeast.
--Me: And trans-fatty acids.
--Tom: ...
--Me: I mean, not acids. Fat.
--Tom: I've been cooking my whole life. You trying to tell me I don't know what healthy is?
--Me: You cooking your whole life is not going to convince me that batter is healthy.
--Tom (elevator doors closing, him out, me in) : I'm not trying to say it's healthy. I'm just saying... (stop the elevator door with my foot) Carbohydrates are good for your brain.
--Me: They may be good for your brain, but batter is not healthy.
--Tom: No. They're good for your brain.
--Me (letting go of elevator door): OK.
--Tom: Batter's not so bad.
--Me: OK, Tom.
(elevator door closes)
(end scene)

Blazing a Trail (where Many have Gone Before)

2007-12-20T05:32:00.000-08:00

Don't be mad...I've been blogging on myspace. We'll call it practice.

Here I go. My official blog. Home of my thoughts on the net. Aka, Michael T thinks.

That link was the second result in a google image search of "michael t thinks." Obviously, I think I'm going to convince people to vote for Mitt Romney by pretending to blog as a A Common Gal in Little 'Ole Idaho, Rooting for Romney. In fact, I don't think anything of the kind, because I've only been really non-committally following the presidential business, rather than blog-committally following it.

It's not that I don't want to be one of those people who blogs about a specific subject. I even tried to determine something about which I feel extremely passionate, in order to narrow down what I could blog about (among other motivations). Didn't work out that way.

Instead, I realized that I liked that introspective feeling a lot. Too much, maybe, but I'm going to get away with it, because this is my blog, and that's how I do. So I'm taking the larger blog, rather than just a single entry, and trying to determine what it is I think about.

These days, it's often about commas. --Actually, I started this post with the express purpose of linking to The Laughorist, so don't be surprised if I wrap it up kinda quickly after this. I knew I couldn't link to it on myspace. Not upscale enough.

I'm not going to take a lot of time getting down to my deepest thoughts today. First of all, I never do that, and second, it's 10:41. That means that I'll be locking up the office in about 15 minutes and heading home with my brothers. I've got to have more protein in my life, so I'm going to hit up the grocery store for some tofu. (I was actually reduced to buying my dinner at OK Mart last night--for those of you who don't live in South Korea, OK Mart's a gas station. Alright, so I bought some delicious frozen dumplings and a bag of roasted almonds...doesn't mean I don't need tofu back in my life.) Turns out, peanut butter and jelly isn't good enough to be a staple in your diet, nor are eggs. Good--but not good enough.

Besides, I'm out of butter.