New Year

Hope everyone is having a happy and safe New Year's Eve. Today was also my mom's birthday. I really like how January 1st hits each time zone with each successive hour. I used to think that it might be fun to experience New Year's several different times by racing the clock, jetting from Sydney to Hong Kong to India to Moscow to London to New York. On that note, I have to bring up the International Dateline. I did a project in computer class in 8th grade; we pretended like we were travel agents and did all the research necessary to plan a trip somewhere. I chose Australia. In the course of my research, I found that you lose an entire day when you fly from LAX across the International Dateline to Sydney. However, on the return flight, you arrive at LAX before you even left Sydney. It's primitive time travel at the very least. As a fan of the Back to the Future movies (particularly I and II), I realize that this feat is nothing compared to actually time travel, but it's still pretty cool. You have to admit that. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well and will continue to do well into this new year. 2009, I welcome thee.

Happy Holidays

Here's to wishing everyone a wonderful and safe holiday season. It doesn't really matter what you choose to celebrate or what is chosen for you. This time of the year is just a very uplifting and joyful time. Despite the butchering of the season by economic vultures, equating material possessions to happiness, saturating the natural goodness of the season with commercialization, I still believe that the holiday season is a magical time. This may be the time in which the most people on Earth are most generous, thoughtful, and selfless. Everyone is reminded of their humanity, and love is present around each and every corner. This is what I like to believe, at least.

And if you didn't have a great year: Great news! This year is almost over. So don't dwell on the past, look forward to the future, and live in the present.

Lots of Snow

There's a pretty big snowstorm sweeping its way through the northeast right now. It started snowing here around 2 or 3 pm and has continued and is expected to continue snowing throughout the night. Right now, there's only about an inch or two, but we're supposed to expect around 6-8 inches. It's the first significant snowfall of the winter around my area, and it reminds me so much of my winters at Dartmouth. It's not nearly as cold as Dartmouth winters, but the snow is just as pure and white. It glistens when illuminated by the headlights of passing cars as well as the stationary holiday decorations. I just got back from shoveling. It's rather windy, but there are still some kids in the neighborhood enjoying the snow. I saw a snowmobile pulling a sled with kids hanging on. I'm reminded of the time a couple of my friends put on skis and got pulled down the street on top of fresh powder by a Ford Explorer before the plows could push the snow aside. Upon closer inspection out my window, I see that the snowmobile I mentioned is in fact a 4-Wheeler/ATV. I'm hoping this storm doesn't knock out the power. I feel like I wouldn't know how to entertain myself without electricity.

Celtics play tonight; they will attempt to keep their winning streak alive and improve on their franchise-best starting record. They're the best team in the NBA right now and playing incredible defense, anchored by Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett. Another basketball note: Brandon Roy of the Portland Trail Blazers scored an impressive career-high 52 points against the Phoenix Suns. I was glad I got to watch that game. Normally, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to see such a game, but Roy is a player on my fantasy basketball team, so I was more invested in the outcome. And what an outcome it was! He scored 52 points on better than 50% shooting from the field, 19 of 21 from the charity stripe, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 blocked shot, and no turnovers. Another noteworthy mention is the play of Blazers point guard, Steve Blake. Blake, matched up against the perennial All-Star, Steve Nash, arguably played his best game since being drafted into the NBA from Maryland (Hi Pauline!). Blake outscored Nash, dropping 22 points including 4 baskets from behind the arc. Blake also assisted on 10 buckets, grabbed 4 boards, had 4 thefts, and commited zero turnovers. 10 assists, 0 turnovers. I'm a sucker for a high assist to turnover ratio, so you can imagine how happy this made me. Steve Blake is also on my fanstasy basketball team, so I had a pretty good night.

It's still snowing a lot, so I'll leave you with a haiku:

Deep in the forest,
Where no footsteps have yet tred,
Snow rests on tall pines.

Favor

I just finished up a cover letter that I would like to send out tomorrow, but it's late and I'm not sure if I can actually proofread it correctly. It's a page long and just needs a quick read over for any grammar mistakes or typos. If you're bored at work tomorrow and wouldn't mind taking a look at it, please let me know.

It's a position at a company called New leaders for New Schools in New York City.

TGIF?

I played some basketball with the old men today, my second week playing with them. Today, there was a person in my age range. He was a year ahead of me in high school, so we actually played on the same team for a few years. He's a little bit taller than I am standing at 6'7", but only a little taller. The games went pretty smoothly, won more than I lost which was nice. I'm realizing that running once a week isn't going to cut it if I want to get back in shape, just not enough running. I showed up a few minutes early and got to see the end of the Boy's JV Seahawks (CAW!) game against the Harwich Rough Riders (#26 Theodore Roosevelt). Chris Motta-Wurst lives in Harwich and used to play for them before he became a Seahawk. Once a Seahawk, always a seahawk. I reminisced with Mr. Daggett (my high school basketball coach opens the gym and makes Old Man Basketball happen, he also plays pretty well for an old guy) about the old days when I was still a young lad, running around with boundless energy. It's sad those days are gone.

Before heading over the CCA, I stopped by the bank to make a tiny deposit. I deposit slip was regular sized, but the amount of the deposit was small. I ran into a lady that I worked with several summers ago. She was the branch manager then, and I think she's still holding down the branch by the airport. Yes, there is an airport on Cape Cod. Sorry, Devin! No Fernanda.

I watched the celtics game. They won their 13th straight game. They're now 21-2, which is the best start in franchise history and is good for best record in the NBA. I'm also watch the Utah Jazz host the Portland Trailblazers. I don't have too much invested in this game besides having a couple of fantasy players on these teams. I find that fantasy sports really make watching games more fun and exciting for me because I have an incentive to root for the guys on my team. I follow more games throughout the season and have an overall better sense of what's happening, etc. I have to walk a tight rope when I have guys playing against the Boston Celtics. I still cheer for my players to do well, on the that the Celtics come away with the victory. I have absolutely no problem with one of my fantasy players losing in a heoric effort. No qualms whatsoever. But the Celtics better win.

I was trying to help my brother with some math problems earlier, but it didn't work out. He's incredibly stubborn and doesn't listen. Sure, I could have babied him through it, but this kid needs some tough love. The reason he doesn't know how to do what are pretty simple percentage problems is that he was in the gym instead of class. So I gave him an earful about going to class and says, "Whatever, whatever." It seems pretty hypocritcal for me to give him crap abut going to class when I've had my share of missed classes. But I really regret missing classes. The terms where I missed the fewest classes were some probably my favorite terms. I felt focused and balanced between my academics and my personal/social time. At the time, it seemed like such a drag to go to classes, but that's all I had to do really. College life was such a simple time with so little worry and responsibilities. Now I need to look for jobs everyday, write cover letters, tweak resumes, and keep from going insane. Luckily, I'm a resourceful guy. I'm pretty lucky too. My parents are more than ok with me living at home. I just didn't want him to have the same regrets I have. If I can share wisdom from my own experiences, why is it so hard for him to just let it sink in? I don't know; he's like living in his own world, a very strange one.

Ok, I leave you with a little game:

This is one of those find the differences games. The two pictures above are almost identical. I may have changed a few things around, so you need to look very carefully to identify these differences. There are 4 things that's different about the second photo. Post comments with the things you find that are not the same. Let the games begin.

Clementines

I had my first clementine of the winter season, and it was delicious. I love that I can eat a sweet and delicious clementine or pretty much any other fruit on a cold winter day. Some people like hot chocolate, but I prefer a nice piece of fruit. It doesn't quite warm my body like something hot, but it gets me thinking about where this fruit came from and what the climate is like there. I just got a craving for a huge fruit salad with all sorts of melons, berries, kiwis, mangos, etc. I've also developed an affinity for cutting the peel off of fruit; I think it's called paring, at least that's the kind of knife you can use. My senior year of college, I had one of those knives that I loved to use. I remember cutting the rind off of my honeydew and cantaloupe with a butter knife with near-surgical precision. I also used to prepare kiwis for my roommate, Devin. We took a trip to BJ's Wholesale, and Devin purchased a box of kiwis. I just remembered that I have a bunch of frozen mango in the freezer, so I could maybe make a smoothie or something tomorrow. Making it now might wake up my family.

New Party Trick

No, it's not a magic trick; I haven't learned a new one of those in quite some time. I'm talking about learning all the US Presidents in order of their presidency. So it's not exactly as cool as a magic trick, but it might turn a few nerdy heads. I was going through my job hunt today by looking over potential jobs I would be interested in applying for on MonsterTRAK.com, Idealist.org, and even Craigslist.com. I was doing that and looking over my resume and cover letters most of the day. It started getting kind of boring, so I decided to check my fantasy basketball team and the internet in general. Somehow, I found myself ok wikipedia and was reminded of a friend that knows all the presidents by their number. Sometimes, he would shout, "Give me a number!" If you said 20, he would say, "James A. Garfield, next." So I decided to stop working on the job search. I figured with Jeopardy coming up shortly anyway, why the heck not?

So I decided to take a look at a wikipedia article with a list of the presidents. I started by memorizing some of the more memorable presidents like #26 Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Rider, himself. Of course you have #1 George Washington who started it all. At #35, the beloved Catholic, John F. Kennedy. #8 Martin Van Buren, popularized by Seinfeld. In the show, there is a gang called the Van Buren Boys. I'm still not quite there in terms of recalling the president's name when prompted with a number, but I'm still working on it. At this point, I can write down all the presidents in order. In order to get to the point where I can associate the name with the number, I need to be tested. So please feel free to test me randomly by giving me a number. I think I'm going to try to learn something new every couple of weeks, small projects on the scale of this one. If you have any suggestions on what I should learn, please share. If you feel weird about posting a comment, DON'T feel weird. I live for the comments. They fuel my desire to continue blogging; it lets me know I'm not just wasting my time with this blog. For example, I really appreciated the folks who posted a haiku as a comment in response to the Haiku post.


#8 Marty Van Buren

Digital Television

This whole digital transition thing is pretty stupid in my opinion. I was watching some Good Eats last night; Alton Brown was showing me how to make delicious frosting. Unfortunately, there were glitches every couple of minutes. This was incredibly annoying because I have no idea how to make great butter cream frosting and I also missed one of the steps to frosting such a cake. It doesn't happen during the day, just at night when I'm watching. What did I ever do them? I like to fall asleep with the tv on. Don't worry, I don't leave it on all night. I program it to turn off shortly after I doze off. As you can imagine, the frequent glitches threw off my sleep so I had trouble falling asleep.

Minor complaint.

Haikus

A haiku is a very short form of Japanese poetry, consisting of only 17 syllables. Said syllables are arranged into three phrases that are divided into 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively. Generally, Japanese haiku are printed on a single line while its American cousin is broken up into three lines, signifying the break down of the syllables. Also, Japanese haiku usually have a seasonal/nature reference called a kigo. American haiku tend to have more free range of expression.

Here's a haiku from Kijo Murakami:

First autumn morning:
the mirror I stare into
shows my father's face.

I always enjoyed the haiku for its simplicity from a young age. As I've grown older, I still enjoy it for its simplicity, but also revel in its complexities. You can tell an entire story in 17 syllables as well as the accompanying emotions. Anyway, here's one I wrote today:

Did not get the job.
MATCH School is looking elsewhere
To fill open spots.

It's so clear and concise. You have to respect and appreciate the haiku for that. I was reading a friend's blog the other day and found that he wanted to share a haiku I wrote with his readers. He's teaching English for a year in South Korea, so it's possible my haiku is getting some international readership thanks to his post. I wanted to give credit where credit is due though. I need to thank Mr. Cooper Marshall for inspiring me to have fun with the haiku. You see, Cooper wrote hilarious and insightful haiku to share with our AP English class in high school. That is where I learned to appreciate the haiku, so thank you, Cooper. I hope you're having a blast overseas; it sounds like you are from your blog.

Let's continue with the haiku, they just pop into my head. Try writing a few, it's fun and fairly easy. Try to include a kigo if you want to write a more traditional Japanese haiku.

Autumn leaves signal
Start of frigid Winter chill,
But the hearth warms us.

I lose count sometimes,
Distant bright lights stretch the sky:
Many lonely stars.

My brother wears pants,
But often without a belt.
He sure is silly.

Nature called to her,
But I guess the seat was up;
She ends up all wet.

Holiday season,
Reminded of family,
We miss those we lost.

I thought I've known it,
But wrong was I all this time.
Love eludes this heart.

Arthur pulled the sword,
Releasing Excalibur
From its stone prison.

Angels and Demons,
Based on Dan Brown book, coming
To theaters near you.

With every strike,
I'm closer to perfection.
Only nine more frames.

I made Christmas shirts.
One said "friendship warms the heart;"
They were iron-on.

If you're bored at work or have a couple of minutes to spare, post a haiku as a comment. I'd love to read them.

They can be about:
Anything and everything.
I am very bored.

Deep Thoughts

If you've seen SNL, you've probably seen a segment called Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy. It's a great segment where a very calm voice reads one of these deep "thoughts" while very peaceful music plays and the screen shows a very serene landscape. Here are some choice Deep Thoughts I found on the Internet. If it helps, play some soft, tranquil music in the background while staring at a nice nature picture.

One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.

Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.

If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger, screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave man, I guess I'm a coward.

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I remember we'd all pile into the car - I forget what kind it was - and drive and drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there. The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff, or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.

If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."

If you saw two guys named Hambone and Flippy, which one would you think liked dolphins the most? I'd say Flippy, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong, though. It's Hambone.

Just because swans mate for life, I don't think its that big a deal. First of all, if you're a swan, you're probably not going to find a swan that looks much better than the one you've got, so why not mate for life?

I can't stand cheap people. It makes me real mad when someone says something like, "Hey, when are you going to pay me that $100 you owe me?" or "Do you have that $50 you borrowed?" Man, quit being so cheap!

Sometimes, when I lie in bed at night and look up at the stars, I think to myself, "Man! I really need to fix that roof."

Somebody told me how frightening it was how much topsoil we are losing each year, but I told that story around the campfire and nobody got scared.

"To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kinda scary. I've wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus and a clown killed my dad."

Enjoy.

A riddle

Why couldn't the trigonometry problem get the apartment it wanted?

Miscellaneous

Rock of Love Charm School: I just saw the end of this week's episode and Kristy Joe and Jessica both got sent home. To my surprise, and apparently all the other Charm School contestants, Lacey is still there. What's up with that? She's such an instigator. How can Sharon Osbourne put up with that?

Celtics won again tonight. That's 11 straight wins, and Rondo turned in another impressive performance. He's really developing into a Class-A caliber player and point guard.

Kevin just told me he's thinking about getting fish as pets again. I've seen so many deaths. The horror. The horror.

I saw a movie about a week ago called Mumford? I definitely saw it, but I'm not 100% positive about the title. It's about an IRS agent who leaves his job with the government and moves to a small town, posing as a psychologist. I really enjoyed it. It's a cute story set in a very quaint town with many odd, yet lovable characters. Jason Lee is one of those quirky characters who becomes best friends with Doc Mumford. That's right, the fake psychologist's fake name is the same as the town's. It's really a lovely story about second chances and new beginnings.

Top Chef New York: I've been watching the new season and it seems to be moving somewhat slow to me. I'm sure it'll start picking up once I become more familiar with each character.

Jeopardy: The current champion has won four days including today. He's a senior at Amherst College and appears to be a rather bright young man. I missed final jeopardy today because I was trying to catch the end of Seinfeld. It was the episode where George reveals his secret code to J. Peterman's dying mother. Comment with the code if you know it. You'll get props from me and maybe more.

Exercise: I'm getting up early tomorrow to play basketball. I'm practicing with the varsity team at my old high school. It's a little bittersweet though because my old basketball coach is no longer coaching the team. He's too busy running the school as the headmaster to put everything he has into coaching. I hear really great things about the new coach though, so I'm excited to see how he runs the team tomorrow.

Plaxico Burress is an idiot.

A commercial just told me that LL Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James) got his first turntable set from his grandfather. It also mentioned that his grandfather didn't only give LL Cool J a turntable set but also, and more importantly, a voice.

I'm finding that Friday night is not a great night for watching tv. Perhaps that is why people often go out on this night.

That's about all I have for now. I should try to sleep so I can run tomorrow morning.

Convicted!

OJ Simpson was sentenced today to 15 years of prison for his involvement in an altercation in Las Vegas. Apparently, Simpson heard through the grape vines that some men were holed up in a hotel room with a bunch of stolen memorabilia and other personal possessions belonging to Mr. Simpson. He then went to confront those men with some back-up and a gun. He was arrested when those men in the hotel room called the police. He was seen in court today making a teary-eyed apology and statement to the court. The judged upheld the conviction handed down by a jury his peers and she sentenced him to 15 years is a Nevada county prison. She also tagged on a supplement of one to six years to be served after his sentence of 15 years. The additional punishment was due to the fact that these crimes were perpetrated with the use of a deadly weapon, a gun. In reality, the 60-something year old Simpson is going to serve somewhere between 8-10 years. He's eligible for parole after serving a third of his 15 year sentence, but is then obligated to take on the additional sentence.

Haikus for OJ:

Double Jeopardy
Allowed him to write his book,
But now he's in jail.

He only wanted
To get his things back from them,
But he used a gun.

All-Star running back,
Juking the Law all these years;
Tackled for a loss.

Vindicated!

Tonight was my first night playing in the old man basketball league. I was the youngest person there by about 20 years over the next youngest guy. I had a lot of fun though. Maybe it had something to do with the age of my opponents, but I actually played decently well - no airballs at least. I felt like my conditioning and stamina were way up from the last time I played, which ,if you read the post about it, was pretty awful. I wasn't dying after half a game and had enough legs left to make a jump shot late in games. I also noticed that I was easily the smallest person there. These are some pretty large old guys. I didn't have a white or dark shirt, so I had to borrow them from two of the smaller guys and the shirts were still huge on me. Anyway, the fitness plan is getting underway and I'm feeling not so old anymore.

I also saw a German film called The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) yesterday. It's about a Stasi officer, trained in the art of interrogation, who is put on a case to monitor the actions of a prominent writer through surveillance. The story takes place in the mid 1980s in East Berlin, and I really enjoyed it. For some reason, I have a strange affinity for foreign films. I don't mind reading subtitles and actually prefer that to dubbing. There's just something about a foreign film that is exactly that, foreign. It's different from what I'm used to seeing. I saw Cinema Paradiso last spring and would like to reccomend it for your viewing pleasure.

Here's a haiku to wet your whistle:

Usually, haikus often deal with nature themes, but I'm going to steer away from that briefly for this one. It's called "Kobe Bryant: Unworthy".

Great waste of talent.
Rather shoot than pass the ball.
Kobe, MVP?

And here is a picture of old men playing basketball. They're certainly not the guys I played with, but you can google image search just about anything.

Sonnets

The modern day definition of a sonnet is usually considered to be the structured poems written by William Shakespeare. They started out as lyrical poems, to which Shakespeare adapted his 14 line structure. There are 3 stanzas and an ending couplet. The rhyme scheme is a b a b c d c d e f e f g g. Also, each line has exactly 10 syllables and each line should follow iambic pentameter. It's pretty amazing that Shakespeare wrote 154 of these. I really like trying to write these because I find the structure to be pleasant upon reading. I also enjoy the challenge of fumbling for the right words to fit the Shakespearean sonnet blueprint.

I wrote this one about getting old and dying yesterday. Not just dying, but also losing life's vigor. A lot of sonnets start with the introduction of a problem, followed by an expansion on that problem, followed by a "turn" in which the author starts to solve the problem or offers advice on the problem, and ends with a couplet that is usually uplifting. I'm sure you might have heard Sonnet #18, one of his most famous sonnets. It's the one that starts "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" So here's mine.

Growing Old

Gray days cast their shadows on our good sun.
Rain falls, washing away my youthful dreams.
Gone too, withered with age, my sense of fun.
Despair soaks my old bones or so it seems.

Forget Fountain of Youth, age has no cure.
The hour-glass flips, commence the fall of sand.
Trapped in aging bodies, forced to live here.
Father Time holds earthly vessels in hand.

But youth lives not in our self but our minds.
Act how you want to feel, rather than aged.
Engage, explore, live life, treasure your finds.
Loosen age's grip, Death waits, so what? It's staged.

Fear not my friends, brighter days make their way.
Hold on to hope and friends, and come what may.

Yeah, so that's it. I appreciate any criticisms and feedback. I leave you with a picture of William Shakespeare. There are people who think he never wrote anything, and it's all some crazy conspiracy to lend his name to all these works written by others. I think that's pretty silly. Just look at this face. Is that the face of a fraud? I don't think so.


Next time: Haikus!

Hump Day

I learned a couple of years ago that Wednesdays are called Hump Days. Imagine my shock and the accompanying chuckles when I first heard someone refer to Wednesday as Hump Day. So I just wanted to clear up that common misconception; get your minds out of the gutter. Hump Day is great though for you working folks, unless you have to work weekends, the work week is halfway over. Wednesdays don't really do it for me though except it does mark the coming of Thursday. I'm starting to play in an old man basketball league at my old high school. It should be a good time and some good regular exercise every week.

I also had my phone interview with the recruiter from the MATCH School today. I think it went pretty well, but I can't be sure since I'm not very good on the phone. I'm supposed to hear back from them next week about whether I get an on-site interview.

I saw another random movie again today. I think it was called Sketches? It starred C. Thomas Howell and Jason Bateman. It's about a road trip that three friends take from Ohio to California as a last adventure since one of them has a terminal illness. It wasn't bad. I just tried to look it up quickly on IMDB, but I'm having trouble locating it. I trying to find it to get a picture for this post. In light of my failure, I'm just going to find a random picture to post.

I chose the winning couples of the first 3 seasons of Beauty and the Geek. I never saw all of season 4 and none (maybe one or two episodes) of season 5.














1. Chuck and Caitilin


















2. Cher and Josh

















3. Scooter and Megan




Megan of season 3 went on to reality show superstardom. Her next appearance was in Bret Michael's Rock of Love. Then she appeared in VH1's I Love Money before attending Rock of Love Charm School, ran by none other than Sharon Osbourne. Interesting facts: Her partner, Scooter, is a Harvard grad and Megan is also a Playboy model. Cher of Season 2 ended up falling for one of the geeks. She didn't fall for her partner; she fell for Wes, a scientist that shot monkeys with lasers. It was a pretty good show, and Ashton Kutcher, who's disappeared from media spotlights, produced it.

First Snow, Sort of

What an exciting day! I got up early this morning and went snowboarding for the first time this winter season. I went to Mt. Waschusett in Princeton, MA. It hasn't actually snowed there, but they have been keeping themselves busy on the snow makers. There were about 10 trails open on 3 lifts. The snow was pretty slushy today because it was incredibly warm and there wasn't a lot of snow to begin with. There was a lot of green and brown showing, but I was impressed by the amount of snow they managed to make. Like I mentioned, it was a very warm day which is different from what I'm used to. In Hanover, I fully expect single digit temperatures accompanied by face burning winds. I did have to drive almost 2 hours each way though. It's hard to complain though because I got to go for free since one of my friends had two free lift tickets.

I felt really good curving down the mountain too. My legs were in better shape than I expected, although I'm sure I'll feel sore in the morning. But I felt as though I did pretty well today and didn't even take any spills; thank goodness for muscle memory. I think I need to get new boots or bindings, but I don't exactly have any disposable income to buy new snowboarding gear with. Yet, I want to complain about how I noticed that my right pinky toe was getting crushed whenever I maintained a toe-side turn for a few seconds too long. Maybe I just need to wrap it up or something the next time I go. I don't know when I would even go again unless I can get my hands on another free pass, which I might be able to. Contact me if you'd like an email about a free pass to Waschusetts.

Speaking of First Snow, I was watching tv the other day and came across a movie called First Snow. It's about a charismatic salesman who tries to change his fate after a roadside psychic tells him he has until the first snow to live. It stars Guy Pierce and Piper Perabo. I only saw the first half hour or so. I thought it was somewhat interesting, so I might try to catch the rest of the film. I enjoy the fact that I watch so much stuff on tv, but I don't enjoy that I'm able to do this because I'm unemployed. If there was a job that required someone to watch a lot of tv, not just one or two shows, but a wide range of shows, then I think I'm the man for the job.

I blew away a couple of my friends tonight because I watch a lot of useless television. My friend changed the channel to the CW after we watched House, and it happened to be a show I've seen called Privilege. His little brother asked what the show was and then declared that I probably knew. I told them it's a show about a Yale (English Major) graduate who becomes the tutor to two privilege girls, who live with their rich grandmother, and all the antics that ensue. Anyway, I think they were pretty impressed that I have that much free time and willingly choose to use it the way I do. Perhaps, impressed is not the right word. Anyway, talking about impressing people, I have a phone interview with the MATCH School tomorrow at 11 AM so send good vibes my way if you're bored.

For your viewing pleasure, here's the star of Privileged: Joanna Garcia

That's right! She's was also on the show Reba, and had a minor role in the second(?) American Pie movie . Good Eye! Also, the question to tonight's Final Jeopardy answer in the Breakfast Cereal category was: Who is Cap'n Crunch?

December

I can't believe it's already December. Thanksgiving was later this year than usual and that's kind of throwing me off. I guess that means the Christmas shopping season is a little shorter than usual. I'm really not a huge fan of the shopping season. The malls are crowded and shoppers become crazed and impatient, as if they become possessed by demons. It's pretty insane. I recently heard that a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death during the Black Friday shopping spree.

I'm not a socialist or communist or anything, but I do find the degree of our consumerism to be somewhat disturbing. A person died because crazed consumers couldn't take a few seconds to walk around a person. Instead, they walked over and through that person on their way to grab a Nintendo Wii or whatever the hottest item is this season. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy gifts and toys as much as the next person, but I would like to think that I can draw the line at trampling someone to death. I absolutely hate the thought of Black Friday. I don't enjoy shopping, so the thought of waiting in crazy lines in crowded malls makes me feel claustrophobic.

I was talking to a friend who went to pick up a flash drive at Best Buy on Friday. He didn't get up at 4am to wait in line; he went in the afternoon. Despite going much later, he found the lines were still crazy and people were still in a barbaric and primal state. I hate situations where people act in an uncivilized way. I'm talking about normal people, who are very pleasant to be around in any other setting. There's something strange and powerful about consumerism. Like a Dr. Jekyll potion, it changes people.

What happened to good old fashioned values? What happened to getting into the holiday spirit? I'm almost positive that the holiday spirit does not include trampling someone to death. I feel like our society is spiraling downwards. People dying during crazed shopping sprees is a pretty rare thing, but there are daily occurrences that remind me of an earlier age of innocence. I was at the mall on Saturday to kill some time before seeing Quantum of Solace. I saw so many unaccompanied pre-teens sporting cell phones, smoking, and just looking like they were up to no good. And I don't think it only appeared that way to me because I'm getting older. I remember being that age and I was not doing what these kids are doing. I saw some kids that couldn't have been older than 14 messing with soda machine and climbing all over it. Where are the parents? Kids are starting to smoke and drink before even starting high school. Teenage girls are getting pregnant younger and younger. It's great that in 50 years or so, we're going to have the youngest and greatest number of great-grandparents around. But at what cost? The disentangling of the fabric of society? Lower and lower high school graduation rates? Higher frop out rates. I'm not sure how I got from consumerism to today's youth to the steady decline of out society, but there is obviously some connections. We don't teach and display the same values anymore. The values we treasure these days are consumerism and its ugly cousins impatience, vulgarity, and inhumanity.

I was also talking to my friend about a book called The $12 Million Stuffed Shark. It's a book that takes a behind the scene look at the economics of the contemporary art business. Anyway, he was telling me about some really bogus pieces of "art" that sell for ridiculous sums of money. I'd be curious to read that when he's done with it. I think it will make me even more cynical about our world, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. On the bright side, it's much easier to make an impact in a world is that is plagued by problems.

Air Balls

I played basketball yesterday for the first time in a while. I learned from that experience that I'm terribly out of shape. I used to be able to play for 3 hours straight, but that's no longer true, not even close. I get so winded during a single game that I don't have enough left in my legs to make a jump shot. I airballed 3 shots. I think that I really need to start working out again and running because I'm so out of shape right now. It's a little bit ridiculous. There were some high school kids there that play on the varsity team now, and watching them run around with endless stamina was a little depressing. That used to be me! Sadly, I'm more aware that 23 can feel much older if you don't take care of yourself. New Year's resolution?

In other news, I got to hang out with some friends last night that I hadn't seen in a while. A lot of folks were home for Thanksgiving, so I got to see some of them. Andy, Joey, and Jeff were back for a few days. It was nice to see them and catch up. I was over Andy's house and got to see some of his slide show he was showing his family from his trip to Europe. There were some pretty amazing pictures. I watched the Celtics game at Conor's. Scalabrine had himself a pretty eventful game; he drained a trey and then someone was ejected for flagrantly fouling him. I got to meet Joey's girlfriend, Jen. She's really nice, not great at pool, but nice. She's from Tennessee so she's got an accent which is fun to poke fun at.

Overall, it was a fun day. However, I'm still very disappointed in my poor endurance and stamina. I need to do some running. My next chance to play is on Thursday evening in an old man league. Maybe I will be in better shape than some of those guys, but I doubt it. They play every week while I play once every couple of months. I need to get into shape, better shape anyway.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays for several reasons:

1. There is usually a very large and bountiful feast for me to devour, which challenges me mentally and physically as I love to eat.
2. Thanksgiving is one of the only times I think people actually sit down and think about how lucky and fortunate they are. In elementary school, we used to go around the classroom and say one thing we were looking forward to eating and one thing we were thankful for. Being young and somewhat oblivious to almost everything around us, sometimes those two things were the same. I encourage you, though, to take a minute or two today and just think about a couple of things you are thankful for.
3. Football! I haven't been following the NFL as closely this year as I usually do. I think not playing in a fantasy football league this year is affecting the regularity of my viewing. Football is so classic though, some turkey and pigskin.
4. Time with friends and family.

This list is not in any order of importance, just random.

Sometimes when I think about all the things I'm thankful for, I also think about people who might not be fortunate enough to have what I have. Although I think that everyone must have something to be thankful for, there are some who have far less than others. I think one of the great things about Thanksgiving is that it gives me some perspective on things, and I'm thankful for that. Also, like I've said, I love to eat that food coma-inducing turkey with mounds of mashed potatoes flowing with gravy. One of the things I never did in college is bring a friend home for Thanksgiving. My closest friends all went home, so I never really had a chance but I'm sure I could've looked a little harder. It just seems like a fun thing to do and a good way to get to know someone better over a short holiday break.

Anyway, this year, I'm extremely thankful for and grateful to my friends and family for their ever-present support and love for me. I don't deserve it, but I will gladly take it. You guys have shown me such kindness, compassion, and trust. You've done so much for me and I can't tell you how much it means. Well, I could but I wouldn't be able to convey the magnitude of what you've all meant to me. Whether it was having me stay with you during a visit, extending your hand out to support me, helping me with the job search, helping me write resumes and cover letters, just watching tv with me, buying me dinner because I'm unemployed, taking a minute out of your work day to chat with me, or simply staying in touch by reading my blog. I really appreciate all the help and support you've given me. I just want to wish each one of you a happy Thanksgiving. So whether you're in South Korea, Kazakhstan, Puerto Rico, the West Coast, New York/New Jersey, Maryland, or even closer, know that I'm thankful for your friendship and love above all else.

Good News

I heard some good news today along the job front. I applied to a public charter school called the Match School in Boston (near Boston University) for a tutoring position. The position requires that tutor 5 students one-on-one throughout their 8am-5pm day. I think the idea behind the school 's long hours and tutoring philosophy is that students will rise to meet and/or exceed challenges. By making them stay in school for much longer than most public schools, more learning and enrichment can be absorbed by the students as well as keeping them off the streets and out of trouble. I think this philosophy is great, and it has had some impressive results. The school is ranked among the top 100 schools out of over 18,000 across the country. In terms of math proficiency, it is the top in the state of Massachusetts. Right now it serves 220 students from grades 9-12 and 90 students in grade 6. Over the next two years, the school is planning on expanding into grades 7 and 8. The results have been phenomenal so far for this star on the rise school. There's a lottery just to get into this school. Anyway, I heard back from the Director of Recruiting, and he informed me that they are interested in having a phone interview with me shortly after Thanksgiving.

I heard about this school and the tutoring positions a while ago, actually. I had a friend that applied to it last spring. I've always thought that it would be work that I would enjoy. I mean I get to work with kids in an educational setting and probably coach sports while I'm there. That's exactly what I want. There is only one minor detail about the job that might be a negative: the pay or lack there of. The pay is really an AmeriCorps stipend of $600 a month, but it does come with free housing on the top floor of the school. That was the only thing that was really keeping me from applying to this school earlier. I'm just worried that with student loans rearing its ugly head that I needed something that would pay more than $600 a month. I don't want my parents, who have already done so much for me, to worry about my loans and my living expenses after college. Although, I guess they still feed, clothe, and house me. I feel like moving to Boston and working this job will fulfill me, but will also require me to spend more money than I make if that makes sense. It's like that time I stayed at Dartmouth during an off term the spring of my Junior year. I had to pay $3,000 in room and board while making a little more than $1000 working as the Intramural Sports Coordinator. I had a great time that term, ,but that left my parents to pay the bill. I'm worried the same thing is going to happen with this job and I don't want to be a burden for them. I wanted to go to college so that I could get a job to support them.

I'm glad that I applied though and I'm seriously considering taking this job if it leads to an offer. After this weekend at the SEAD reunion, my desire to work with kids from under-unprivileged communities is renewed. I know I want to make a difference there even if it's just a small and maybe even unseen difference. I guess I'll just have to learn to live off very little, not that I live a very extravagant lifestyle anyway. I feel like this weekend with the kids was very well timed for me and then I hear about this phone interview. I don't exactly believe in predetermination or that everything happens for a reason or anything, but I'm just glad things happened as they have. For a while, I was really struggling to find myself. I didn't really know where I was and, more importantly, where it was I wanted to go. I had this sickening feeling that I was just stuck in place, and no one else seemed to be afflicted in the same manner. I think that I was also feeling pretty sorry for myself, which is incredibly silly. I was talking to a friend I worked with over the summer and talking about how we noticed that there are two personalities to us: our SEAD personalities and our normal personalities. I would like to think that I these two personalities are not completely different, but I do notice that there are differences. The thing I think I like most about how SEAD affects me is that it puts everything into perspective for me. I start to feel silly about feeling sorry for myself, which is a very good thing. How can I complain about my life when I know some of the atrocities that plague these kids? I start to think more about how lucky I am and how many wonderful people and opportunities I have in my life. I love that sobering effect it has on me as well as the awareness it imparts on me about the lives of inner city kids. I saw a poster for Teach for America this weekend at Dartmouth that said: 50% of low-income, inner city kids don't graduate high school and that only one of ten graduates from college. Those numbers are insane and depressing. I wonder if I would've noticed that poster if I had not known these kids. I also wonder what would've happened to me if I had still been living in Dorchester, MA instead of Cape Cod. Would I be where I am today or just another statistic?

Ideally, I want my SEAD personality to be my normal or default personality. That's pretty hard though since I'm not going to be with those kids every single day or maybe ever again. The only physical remnants I have of them is a scrapbook that each one of them signed for me this past summer and the messages that lie inside. I find that I look at that scrapbook a lot when I'm feeling down. I remember falling asleep with the scrapbook on the students' last night and my first night home each of the two summers I worked with the program. Mostly, the scrapbook has really nice things to say so it usually makes me feel better. I also like that the comments describe a person that I want to be everyday, not just for a month every summer. The good news is that I have been that person before, so I know I'm capable. The hard part is getting that done without the SEAD atmosphere and the kids around to help me. But like I've said, I have some wonderful friends and family in my life. I'll need to apply my SEAD philosophy to my interactions with all of them. As a result, I think I can better keep these kids close to my heart and my life because I'll be living my life the same way I did when I was with them. I still miss them very much.

Contract Killer

Yesterday I played approximately three hours of video games, watched almost three full movies, and ate chinese food for lunch and dinner while my girlfriend was out volunteering with some kids from Harlem. It was glorious, especially because of the final movie in my day. While I started off with some sci-fi vampire action with 30 Days of Night and continued by unintentionally watching most of SWAT on FX, the true highlight a 10 year old Jet Li movie called Sat sau ji wayng, known as the Contract Killer in the US. Wikipedia tells me this is the last Hong Kong-produced movie Jet was in before he crossed over to US fame with roles in Lethal Weapon 4 and Romeo Must Die. Anyway, this movie is awesome partly because of the sick martial arts action, but also because it has the unfortunate English dubbing that martial arts films of the 70s and 80s often have. We're talking translations that lose all depth in meaning of the original dialog and delivery that makes everyone sound like they have jumper cables attached to their nipples. There's also those weird comedic moments that just don't quite resound with Western audiences. Anyway, in this movie Jet Li plays a struggling contract killer. He's struggling because he's too nice and doofy to actually assassinate anyone, but he ends up getting involved with a con artist looking to cash in on a contract, and hilarity ensues. There's also this tall white guy who must be from Eastern Europe who fights using LEDs to blind his opponents. Seriously. You should definitely check it out, Khiet. Now if only I could discover a true cinematic gem like this everyday. I really need to see Hard Boiled.

SEAD III Reunion

As I mentioned in a previous post, I headed up to Dartmouth this weekend. It was freezing! It was cold and windy. I went up on Thursday morning and left Sunday afternoon. All the students I worked with over the summer were there and even some of the people I worked with on the staff. I was overjoyed to see everyone again. The program is called SEAD, Summer Enrichment at Dartmouth.

Thursday: Failed blood giving attempt. That night, I went to the opening dinner. I got there a few minutes early. The bus from Boston was a bit late in getting to Hanover with the students. Once everyone got there, it was great. I was pretty anxious while waiting there for them. I was wondering if we would still have the same dynamics or how much they had grown and changed. I got a chance to catch up with a lot of the students. One of them in particular, one of the ones I am closest with, showed me her engagement ring. Yeah, she's engaged. I was the first person from her extended SEAD family to hear the news a while back, but that still didn't prepare me for the shock of actually seeing a ring on her finger. She's so young. While I wish the best of luck to her and fiance, I obviously have my concerns. We've talked about said concerns, and I am confident in her decision making. After all, there are many people who marry young and have great relationships. One example is one of my English teachers in high school; he married his high school sweetheart and is still happily married. I know she has a good head on her shoulders. This weekend, I've heard stories of students from previous SEAD groups that got pregnant and skipped out on college. This thought is incredibly discouraging, but I'd like to think that the program has gotten more comprehensive since its start in 2001. Hopefully, this means the program has instilled the necessary mindset and skill set for them to think about college more than before. Each of the 27 students is applying to college, which is a great start for them and their futures. Seeing those kids was the highlight of an otherwise not worth mentioning last couple of months.

Friday: The students went to Hanover High School in the morning for some classes. I was very tired from not sleeping much Wednesday night in combination with driving, so I met up with them after lunch. They had workshops with Jay Davis, the program director. He also runs the secondary school training for Dartmouth's Education department and is the father of Katie and Andrew. That last part is a SEAD joke, so don't worry about it if you don't understand. The workshops were about Obama and professionalism. During Study Hall, I basically went around chatting up the kids which I wasn't really supposed to do. They had homework to do and other tasks they needed to have done before the weekend was over. I don't think I was too distracting; I even helped a few with their homework. The ones that had less work and I would just talk amongst ourselves just like I did in my study halls back in the day. I actually managed to get a lot done. I finished a Thursday and a Friday Sudoku and, with the help of a few staff members, also completed the Thursday and Friday crossword puzzle. After dinner, a few of the kids went to see the Women's Hockey team play Cornell. The rest of us went to hang out at C and G, an off-campus senior society house. Some of them watched a movie while the rest of us just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. I tried teaching a couple of people how to solve a Rubik's cube. I didn't force them to learn either, they were genuinely interested and asked me to. I think it's difficult to explain every little step. You just have to learn the method and find your own way of getting there. Several people made fun of my cube because it has been fairly worn in. After hanging out, the students had to leave and go back to their host family's houses. I stayed in East Wheelock with a '10 friend. She was nice enough to let me crash on her futon. She had an Organic Chemistry midterm that night and a paper to write for Saturday by noon. When I got back to her room, she had already had a lot of the paper done. We ended up hacking with a hacky sack for quite a while. I haven't done that in so long. My buddies and I used to play all the time in high school. We once got yelled at by a mall security guard for playing outside the movie theater, waiting for our rides. He said "no Koosh ball playing!" I'm pretty sure we snickered and giggled as he walked away. I really miss hacking and found that my flexibility is nowhere near where it used to be and I wasn't even a flexible adolescent.

Saturday: I got up at 10:30 to get lunch before meeting them at another Study Hall. They were in two different rooms: one room had computers for them to work on a survey to reflect on their experience with SEAD and the other room was for finishing up any homework and writing letters to the SEAD group that will be in their second year of the program this coming summer. Some students even worked on college application stuff such as their essay, common application, and short answer sections. It was nice since there were staff members there to help those in need. I walked around a lot between the two rooms, helping with whatever I could. Towards the end, I got to sit down with a few of the people I worked with last summer and even the summer before that. It was nice to catch up with them and talk about what everyone was up to and fond memories we had of each other. I'm not doing anything so that part was quick for me, but I have too many fond memories to write out. One fond memory I think about often is line dancing in the Lodge on Mt. Moosilauke. I'm say it right now, I DO NOT like to dance. It takes someone or a group of people I really care about for me to dance. I've just never liked it, but I have enjoyed it in the past in certain situations when I'm surrounded by those I feel comfortable with. I feel safe making a fool of myself in front of them. I actually even volunteer to make a fool of myself for their entertainment because I know that my insecurities and doubts about myself are safe with them. That is such a rare and wonderful feeling to experience. There are things I don't tell anyone, not my family, not my classmates, not even some of my closest friends that I have offered to these kids. And it's not that I don't trust my friends and family. I trust and love them entirely. There's just something about the unique circumstances of this program that allowed me to be exactly the person I wanted to be, someone that could share fears, doubts, and insecurities. A lot of people have at least one person they could go to for anything, but I always looked inward rather than seek someone out. In the past couple of years, I think that I've made great strides towards opening up. I usually joke and laugh away any feelings that weren't happy. Just writing about it is liberating. I know I still have a long way to go, but I'm seeing progress which fuels the process. I want to thank SEAD, but especially this group of students for allowing me to be myself and making me feel comfortable. Their incredible ability to open up and talk about themselves and how they feel inside made me ashamed of myself for being so scared. How are they supposed to look up to someone that can't be himself or tell how he feels? I feel selfish and guilty sometimes when I think about how much they taught me and how little I actually taught them in return. Sorry, back to the rest of Saturday. We had a scavenger hunt outside in the cold. They split up into their 5 schools and each group got a camera to take pictures of the destinations. The clues all hinted at various locations on campus. I went with the Claremont group and was delighted and surprised by how well they knew the campus after only about 8 weeks on campus, stretched over 3 years. I missed the next activity (I think it was an arts and craft activity having to do with their SEAD memories) because I went to help cook dinner. I applied a very uniform half peel (alternating strips) to the cucumbers, chopped and steamed broccoli, and helped with the cookies and the baked pasta. Then we all hung out. I played some Rock Band, Cranium, Twister, Connect Four, and Boggle. I also had peach cobbler for the first time; it was as delicious as expected. Then the kids got picked up by the host families. I went to Lone Pine Tavern with two people I worked with and listened to some live music and asked each other Trivial Pursuit questions. Then I went to bed because I had to get up at 6am the next day.

Sunday: I was so scared that I wouldn't wake up to my alarm this morning. But I guess that I've always gotten up to an alarm whenever I really needed to. I went to good old EBA's. There was a breakfast buffet set up and we had the whole back room of the restaurant to ourselves. Everything was pretty tasty, but I didn't have much of an appetite. I realized that I was much quieter than usual after two students sitting across from me called me out on it. Before breakfast even started, the California kids had to leave to catch a flight home. They have the longest to travel and are always the first to leave and are the hardest for me to visit, being the furthest away. Dorchester and Spartanburg left together. Claremont took a van back, only 30 minutes away. I got to spend an extra couple of hours with the Bronx kids, which was nice. The first time I cried in a long time was two summers ago at their graduation dinner from SEAD II (their second of three summers in the program) and also hugging them goodbye when they got on their buses and vans. I still have trouble recalling exactly what it was that set off my long dormant tear ducts. For as long as I could remember, I've always thought of crying as a sign of weakness. I didn't think of myself as a hard dude or anything (well, maybe a little bit), but I would certainly say I was stoic in these types of situations. I would maybe sometimes feel sad that I was moving to a new school and never seeing old friends again or sad to graduate high school, but I never let my feelings show through me. I'm good at lying, very good. I can usually hide how I'm feeling. It's not a very good skill or character trait to have, but I have it and I can't help it. As I was saying these goodbyes, I almost didn't know what to say. Of course, I found some words of advice about working hard or continuing to work hard. I told them to stay in touch and keep me updated on college stuff. And when I say these things, I do mean it. However, I say it with the experience and expectation of only hearing from some of them. It's not their fault. They're high school seniors (teenagers) and have better and more important things to do than to update me every time they get a college letter in the mail or a report card. But for the few that I've gotten to know the best and have developed close relationships with, I do love to hear from them and do on a semi regular basis. Not having a job, I welcome any sort of communication from anyone. You could even copy and paste something interesting to read onto an email and send it to me. I would be thrilled to have gotten an email and then also happy to have something interesting to read. Anyway, the goodbyes this time didn't make me tear up; I wasn't even that sad. I wondered to myself: Am I just reverted to the same exact emotion-hiding person I was a few years ago? I think part of it is that the kids left in waves so the totality and impact of their departure escaped me for the time being. I got to hang out with the Bronx kids until almost 10:30, and it still failed to hit me then, although I did notice my stomach was in knots. I packed my stuff up, thanked my host and took off. I can't stand to stay on the Dartmouth campus after anything SEAD related, I associate SEAD too much with Dartmouth. SEAD was the best thing I did at Dartmouth. It was in the car, 20 minutes outside Hanover, that it finally hit me. On Thursday, Jay mentioned that this was the last time the kids would all be together at Dartmouth and that came rushing back to me suddenly. Not to be a pessimist, but I realized that I would never again see many if not the majority of these kids that have become such a big part of my life in such a short time. I might never hear Brandon tell me to stay black again or learn Cambodian words from Savy. I might never share a fruit by the foot with Ashley (we shared two over the weekend) anymore or be called Kitten by Ishaya. I really wish I could say that I will see them all again, but I think that would be setting myself up for some serious heartbreak. I don't really know what else to say, I've said a lot. I just want to wish these amazingly wonderful kids the best of luck in their future pursuits. At breakfast, Jay read from their surveys where they put down where they thought they might be in 10 years. Some answers were funny, some exactly as I expected, but mostly, they were incredibly selfless and socially responsible. They don't want to simply better their own lives but also the lives of others in their communities and the world around them. I'm really sad that they're gone, but I think they're going to do wonderful things and I'm very proud to have known them and been their friend.

Drugs

This post is not actually about drugs. It's about how the guy trying to take my blood failed to find my vein and bruised my arm, making it appear to the average on-looker that I am heavy into intravenous drug use. I'm not going to lie and say it didn't hurt when he did his little needle search of my arm. Right then was when I was almost 100% sure that this guy had very little training, no idea what he was doing, very tired and couldn't see straight, or all of the above. I was fooled because I usually associate a blood technician's age with experience. Don't do that!

So this guy sticks the needle into my arm, and I watch it go in because I love to watch. Unfortunately, no blood is coming out. My first thought was actually that maybe there was something wrong with my blood today. I watched a German movie recently called "Anatomy" and it's about a med school student that uncovers a secret Anti-Hippocratic society. They believe in the advancement of research above the care of patients. Anyway, in the movie, there is a drug that is used to make the blood rubbery in preparation for turning the cadaver into a plasticized display piece. I thought maybe that had happened to my blood for the slightest instant. Then I came back to reality and realized this guy just missed my vein entirely.

He realized he missed the vein too, so he took the needle halfway out and went in again at a different angle. He did this several times. When he didn't get his desired results, he plunged deeper into my arm, and that was the part that was most painful besides watching this man embarrass himself. Basically, all that extracurricular stabbing of my arm caused a little bulge in my arm that looked like it was going to burst. At this point, I had filled the very small bag before they really start collecting. However, he was still not in my vein or perhaps the bulge was blood that couldn't get by the bruise he created. Either way, the whole thing was brought to an end and the needle had to be taken out to prevent further damage.

The bruise is not that bad; I put ice on it for a few hours after the butchering of my arm. And the thing is there is always a blood shortage and I was going to give double red cells, which might have been very useful to someone in need.

I also noticed the Red Cross flag is the inverse of the Swiss Flag. There are German-speaking areas of Switzerland. I'm thinking there might be a conspiracy to live out the horrors of this movie I saw maybe. Perhaps the Red Cross is nothing more than a secret Anti-Hippocratic society that cares not for the people giving blood, but only for the blood they get. There are a few holes in my theory:

1. IMDB.com says this movie is actually an Italian movie.
2. There probably aren't too many people who've seen this movie.
3. If they don't care about the blood givers, why serve juice, water, sandwiches, and cookies to them.
4. Isn't this theory just a little crazy?

My response to non-believers:

1. It may be an Italian movie, but it takes place in Germany and they spoke German. I should know. I can say "It is hot" and "I am a nurse, feel better" so I think I know German when I hear it. Also, I'm sure there are Italian speakers in Switzerland being a "neutral" country and all.
2. It only takes a few to see the movie to sell it to the masses. It's called propaganda and peer pressure, powerful stuff.
3. Obviously, they're only serving you these foodstuffs and beverages to enrich your blood, so they can take more from you. They could care less about your well-being. It's like the old witch in the candy house fattening Hansel and Gretel so she could cook them later, oldest trick in the book.
4. Yes, it's just a little crazy. I've seen stranger things come to pass. Ex. JFK's magic bullet, Stretch Armstrong, knee-high socks, nano pets/tamagotchis, Floam, two dollar bills, green ketchup. etc., etc. Just think about it. That's all I'm asking.

All jokes aside though, do give blood if you can. I've done it a bunch now and this was only the second time it was botched. It's gone perfectly well every other time. It's a good cause and very worth an hour or two of your free time.

Going North

I'm heading up to Dartmouth tomorrow for the SEAD reunion. SEAD is a summer program that I worked for the past two summers. I'm very excited to see the staff members I worked with and the students that we worked with. I bet it's going to be insanely cold. I heard there's already been a pretty big snow storm. Weather.com predicts it's going to be no warmer than 33 degrees the entire time I'm there. Still, I'm very pumped for this weekend.

I made an appointment today to give blood, double red blood cells. If you haven't tried it, it's definitely worth a shot. You have to be a certain size and weight I think, so if you qualify you should try it. The needle is smaller, which is nice if you're not into needles. It takes a little longer than giving blood normally because they take twice as much. They take a pint, centrifuge it, keep the platelets, give you back the plasma, take another pint, and repeat the process. One great thing about it is you don't really have to wait in the long lines. One drawback is you are not allowed to give as often because they take more. Do people really go to those shady places that pay for your blood? I don't think I could go to those kinds of places.

Anyway, my question of the day is why the Red Cross is so blood hungry? I understand there is often a blood shortage, but they have records of the people who donate, so they know not to call those people who recently gave because they can't give again for a certain amount of time. Yet, they call you anyway asking you to give blood. Luckily, they check the previous donation date when you go to give blood. Otherwise, someone might die from giving too much. I guess it's pretty tough for the Red Cross to compete with blood banks that pay people for blood, so they have to adopt this cut-throat recruiting agenda: call people all the time even if they aren't allowed to give blood at the time. I don't know, I see why they do it. They're just trying to get blood to save lives. However, I think they can be much more efficient in the way they call and could probably get more blood if they call people at a date when they can give.

And what's the deal with bow ties? What percentage of the population can even tie those things? Also, raisins are gross. Yeah, I said it.

Stand-Up Comedy

Since I've been watching a lot of Seinfeld, I've been thinking a lot about how much I admire the art of stand-up, comedy that is. Jerry Seinfeld's brand of comedy can be summed up as the "Do you notice when..." "What's the deal with..." type of stand-up, or more technically referred to as observational humor. It must be so difficult to make seemingly mundane observations funny. That is why I believe stand-up to be such a creative art form. It takes a pretty creative and intelligent mind to make those observations and word them in a way that makes people laugh.

Of course, comedians that perform in comedy clubs have a distinct advantage over street comedians or casual atmosphere comedians (see work place comedian, dining comedian, etc.). Being in a comedy club, people are expected to laugh and expect to be made to laugh. So already, the comedian has that going for him/her. Also, I believe in the goodness of the human spirit. I feel like there aren't too many people that go out to comedy clubs simply to heckle. Nor do I think that many people enter a comedy club having made a clear choice to resist laughter. Imagine a rogue audience member who comes to see a show with a "I dare you to make me laugh, there's no way you can make me" attitude.

That was my pretty lame attempt at some observational humor. I think the beginning had some promise. I'm just not any good with the wording, at least not yet. I'm working on it. In my defense, I'm not standing up at the moment, I'm sitting in bed. Hit me with some feedback if you feel like it. I feel like my brand of comedy is more about knowing my audience and being comfortable enough around them to say some pretty silly/weird stuff.

For example: "Mel Gibson stole my sandwich" was written on a T-shirt I wore for a few hours. Only about 3 or 4 people would think that was funny.
I also tried my hand at writing comics once and came up with one about David Hasselhoff. I thought it was pretty funny but, to my knowledge, only one other person has read it and thought it was genuinely funny.
I once nicknamed my left and right arms Law and Order, respectively, as a joke. I don't think anyone, including myself, thinks that is funny.

Moral of the story is comedy is tough stuff, and comedians have my respect and admiration for their tireless efforts to fill our lives with laughter. I'm sure I'll pay tribute to doctors and other professions, still haven't seen all the House and ER episodes.

Why?

I decided that since I have no fun stories to share because I live a boring life, I'm going to ask really pertinent and thought-provoking questions.

Please refer to my picture from the previous post: the one where the soccer player is getting OWNED by a soccer ball (futbol or football if you're an international reader, of which I have none).
As you can see from the picture, the ball and the man's face are in a fight. That's a pretty rare event actually. You usually use your head on purpose. That said, I did hit a kid wearing glasses in the face during a high school soccer game. I made him bleed, cracked his frames in half. The jagged, cracked frames cut him right between the eyes. It only bled a little though; he lived.

My question though, is: Why do soccer players not wear cups? Baseball players, lacrosse players, and football players wear cups. Why not soccer players? If your face can get smashed like that, what's to keep your package from enduring the same treatment? I find it odd, that's all. I have seen some close calls/direct hits in person. I just think safety precautions should be taken. Think of the children. Some kids start playing in recreational soccer leagues as soon as they can run around. Think of the children! Children are our future.

Blog Fail

Sorry it's been so long since I updated this thing. My life just isn't very glamorous.

I have been watching a lot of Seinfeld, one of the best shows ever created. Until now, I hadn't realized how many of the episodes were written by Larry David. Check out the wikipedia page for Seinfeld, there's a lot of information and good stuff. I've watched all episodes through six seasons. I thought I also had season 7-9, but I only have about half the episodes in each of those seasons. As you can imagine, I was completely distraught when I found out.

I noticed something I thought was kind of weird when I was watching though. I noticed that both Jerry and George are left handed, like myself. However, they were both throwing righty in another episode. Isn't that weird? Or am I making too much of it? Usually, you throw with the hand you write with. They must both be ambidextrous. I would like to offer a possible explanation. When they were young, everyone was taught to throw righty and there weren't many lefty gloves around, so they eventually learned to throw righty.

My dad told me that when he was younger, his teachers would force everyone to learn to write righty, of which most people were anyway. I wonder if it's random chance whether you become a lefty or righty. It really can't be random though can it since lefties make up much less than 50% of the population. Weird.

I leave you with this picture. Think about it.

Job Front

I finally heard back from the East Harlem School today. I sent them a follow up email after not hearing back from them for a few weeks. I guess the follow up got their attention, so they wrote back. Apparently, the position has already been filled for a while. I guess they just didn't have time to getting around to notifying all the people that applied that it was useless waiting around to hear back from them. Maybe they should take down that job posting as well so more people don't go applying thinking (reasonably so) that the job is still available. Back to the drawing board...

WASSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP

Some of you may remember the reasonably humorous Budweiser ads from 2000, featuring a couple of dudes calling each other on the phone and emphatically trading "WASSSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPP"s. The ad became immensely popular and was parodied by a whole bunch of folks until it stopped airing and eventually became a relic of the past destined for VH1's "I Love the New Millennium". Despite actually airing on that very VH1 program, the Wassup guys are back with a new agenda. I didn't understand the political significance until after I watched it, but it's a pretty timely and funny way to bring the "campaign" back. I don't know how to imbed videos in this piece, so just check this out. It comes in "original" and "new for 2008!" flavors. Enjoy.
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/brandnewday/archives/2008/10/the_budweiser_w.html

Late Birthday

My birthday was two months and sixteen days ago. Let's celebrate now! Somebody buy me a present. I will accept iPods (of the touch variety), Xboxes (of the 360 variety) and jobs (several varieties accepted- HEYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO).

Nobody gets me.

Early Birthday

I came home from New York today. My mom was acting all weird on the phone making sure I was going to get in at a certain time and everything, giving me the third degree. She said she was having company over for dinner at 5pm. I didn't think there was anything wrong with that so I continued to ride the bus home. I napped for most of the ride since I left for the bus station at 7:40 this morning. I also got a little reading done on the bus and before bed last night.

When I got home, I tried to go into the room where I drop off all my stuff after a trip, but found it to be locked. I asked my mom why it was locked and she said she didn't want me to go in there. That's when I figured out she was throwing me a little birthday dinner. Sure enough, when I got the door opened there were some balloons and the table was set for a dinner party. All my stuff that I left around the table and on the floor had been moved. My sister even came home for a couple of hours from Newport, RI which was nice of her. I forgot to call her on her birthday a month ago which I still feel bad about. Well, I did, but it was several hours late. It's the thought that counts?

My birthday isn't even until Thursday which is why I didn't catch onto my parent's scheme earlier. 23. Is there anything good about turning 23? I don't think so. Is there anything good about getting any older? It's highly debatable, but I'd prefer to hang onto my youth.

Over the weekend, I missed a fantasy basketball draft, but my team turned out ok I think. Of course, there are some picks I would not have made if I were present at the draft, but I think I have something I could work with. I've had decent luck and results the past 3 seasons, so I hope the trend continues.

I was putting some SEAD pictures on a CD for two friends earlier tonight which made me miss SEAD a lot and I got a text message from a SEAD student over the weekend too. Because I came home for the dinner, I missed (without even realizing it until it was much too late) a SEAD even in Boston. I wished that I had remember, but I guess it would've been futile because of the "surprise" birthday dinner. If I had stayed in Boston after getting off the New York bus, I would've probably disappointed my parents and neglected all the work and cooking they did to surprise me. Still, I miss SEAD a lot and it would've been a great opportunity to see the students from the Boston area and other staff members that I've worked with and past SEAD staff and supporters. I'm glad, though, that the SEAD III reunion in Hanover is only a couple of weeks away. I'm very excited to see everyone, catch up, and work on those college applications. I've heard rumors of staff traveling as far as Denver and Nashville to be at the reunion.

Tutoring Rant

I recently got my weekly tutoring assessment. I have a mentor tutor that goes through all my sessions to make sure I'm doing my job and not teaching the kids bad things like taking their parents' cars out for a spin. In my assessment, my mentor tutor told me I was doing a very good job, but there was one thing I really needed to work on for the next assessment. She told me some my sessions were taking too long. There are two types of students that I tutor online: ones whose parents buy them minutes to use on the website and there are students who access free tutoring through libraries and schools. For the students who buy minutes, I'm told to take as long as I need to help them with the questions and with as many questions as they have. For students using library and school subscriptions, I'm instructed to spend around 20 minutes and no more than an hour. I really don't understand this because they also instruct me to bring all sessions to an "educationally sound" close. It's such BS that they have this official statement that they want to properly tutor all its customers and then turn around and tell me I'm spending too much time tutoring students that access the website for free. Isn't that ridiculous? Am I taking crazy pills?

Anyway, I did some tutoring today for my family friend. It's such a relief to tutor in person. I enjoy tutoring online, but it's so much more stressful and there are apparently time limits for some students. I was thinking of sending out some emails or something to get the word out there that I want some more tutoring business, live tutoring. If I get enough business that way, I can go ahead and stop tutoring online. The whole time limit for certain students policy really bothers me.

Pokemon

I wanna be the very best
Like no one ever was
To catch them is my real test
To train them is my cause
I will travel across the land
Searching far and wide
Each Pokemon to understand
The power that's inside

Chorus
Pokemon!
It's you and me
I know it's my destiny
Pokemon!
Ooh, you're my best friend
In a world we must defend
Pokemon!
Our hearts so true
Our courage will pull us through
You teach me and I'll teach you
Pokemon
Gotta catch 'em all!

Every challenge along the way
With courage I will face
I will battle every day
To claim my rightful place
Come with me, the time is right
There's no better team
Arm in arm we'll win the fight
It's always been our dream
Pokemon!

Today's Travel Spot

Salem, MA

That's right! Salem, MA: Home of the Witches

Nothing like a good witch hunt. Talk about adventure and fun!
I've actually made this trip before so I can tell you about it first-hand, not need to research and dream about such a trip. I even have pictures to document the event.

The only thing worth doing in Salem is witch hunting, therefore, go straight to the Salem Witch Museum. The admission price is not too bad. You get to see some "spooky" historical story-telling of the events of the Salem Witch Trials in a dark room with animatronic figures. "Moooore Weight!" Then you get split up into two groups, taking turns viewing some of the displays of witches throughout history and the gift shop. Then head down to Essex St. to see two wonderful attractions: The Witch Wax Museum and the Witch History Museum. When Devin and I went, our tour was led by an actual witch, a Wiccan. She led a good tour, so Devin and I spared her life. There's also a Museum of Monsters from Horror Films if you feel like wasting some money.

As for food, you should get out of Salem before nightfall. You could be stuck there forever if you don't heed my advice. It's up to you, but don't take your chances. During the day, Salem is a quaint port town but it transforms into an evil and wicked place when the sun sets. Seriously, Devin and I barely made it out of Salem in time. The witches placed a spell on the roads, crossing them up and mislabeling the street signs to confuse us. Also, avoid the Maritime Museum. There was a lady there that I suspected of being a witch. Devin and I arrived at the historical museum, not knowing where to go. We asked for directions to the Salem Witch Museum. She got very angry and told us that the Salem Witch Museum wasn't really historically accurate and told us to check out some ship or something by the pier. She reluctantly gave us directions after her little speech. I figured out later that she was a witch. That's why she didn't want us to know about the Witch Museum and its contents. She figured a couple of smart lads like us would expose her for the witch that she was.

All the witch hunting aside, Salem is a lovely town. It was well known in its history as a sea port. The town is very navigable and family friendly (except after sundown). There's a very nice Commons area in the center of town with a gazebo, great site for a picnic of some kind or some baseball tossing or even bocce. Just make sure you get out of there by 6pm to be safe. If you're there in the winter, I would say 3pm at the latest.

Look what happened to Devin in broad daylight!

I'm Working!

Sorry for the lack of posts in recent days. I hold myself responsible for any boredom. Although, you should find a hobby or something if you depend on me for entertainment. With that said, I do love to provide an outlet for work-related boredom and boredom in general. I added Devin as an author for a couple of reasons:

1. I want to hear what he has to say. I get bored myself and reading his thoughts alleviates that.
2. More posts for you to read. Not just more quantity, but more quality too. I like to think that the diversity that Devin brings to the blog will give it new life. I enjoy the pictures and accurate graphs in his posts.

Anyway, back to the subject of this post. I just finished with 3 hours of online tutoring with tutor.com. I received an email this afternoon informing me that I passed the final exam and the background check. I decided to get started as soon as possible so I signed up for 3 hours from 7-10 pm. It went really well. I helped several students with their algebra homework. We did some proportions, linear equations, a little graphing, and an absolute value inequality. I haven't done much algebra since 8th and 9th grade, so I was pretty worried I wouldn't be able to help. It worked out though. The questions I got weren't too hard, and everything felt like it was coming back to me pretty quickly. You should see my workspace. I have my textbooks from high school spread out on my desk as references. I still have a bunch (90% at least) of my homeworks still wedged in my 8th grade Algebra textbook. I used to have really neat handwriting and I used a ruler a lot. I'm tutoring online again tomorrow for an hour and then tutoring the family friend that night right after online work. I definitely prefer to tutor in person, though. It can be difficult to convey things online that would be very simple in person. I really like to show things visually, so I like making little diagrams to show how things work, etc. The tutor.com interface sort of allows me to do that, but it's not as simple as leaning over with a pencil. Tutoring seems less efficient. I worked with a student on comparing graphs for almost an hour, a question that would've taken 10 minutes tops in person. There was a little bit of a set back though because the student didn't really know functions and what the graph would look like. f[x] = x is the most simple graph and function there is, but the student was not familiar with it. I probably could've explained that function much faster in person. That particular problem was a little frustrating. I could've told the student that h[x] = 6 + x move 6 units up compared to f[x] = x, but I wanted to make sure the student knew what the simple f[x] = x is. Sometimes I come to a point in the work where I know that giving an answer would wrap things up very quickly, but I always choose to trudge through it. Sometimes when I do this, I can sense the frustration of the student escalating. I had a student that left the session with me because I wasn't moving fast enough, I guess. I just didn't want to give answers; that's not how tutoring works. Am I right? Holla.