My Limbs Cost 2000 Dollars

I have to write about something bizarre that happened to me this past week. But in order to tell that, I have to rewind all the way back last Tuesday.

Last Tuesday, a friend and I were in the dining room of a supermarket. You know, those American huge supermarkets that have an eating area, somehow similar to a food court. We were having dinner, as it was mid-evening, and things aligned so that we found ourselves eating there. While eating, some unknown phone called me, and wanted to set up an appointment with me to discuss something with my insurance.

Now, I immediartely felt uncomfortable discussing my schedule to a stranger on the phone. So I told her to call my office, and she does have my office number, and then we set up an appointment to meet sometime.

That time happened to be today. I remember filling up a small yellow card designating my father as a beneficiary suppose something bad happens to me. Apparently, due to the fact that I pay union dues by being a graduate student employee, I get this sort of benefit. And since I didn't have to pay anything else aside from the fixed amount of money that they take every time I get a paycheck, I figured it would not hurt if I do this.

So they contacted me, and explained the benefits. Apparently, if I die, or if I lose my hands, or if I lose my feet, or if I lose the sight of my eyes, then my beneficiary gets 2000 US dollars. Wow. 2000 dollars. That's how much my life is worth. It hits you in the head, isn't it?

And since the lady was already in my office when she was explaining this, she also offered me a funeral plan. If I sign in this one, I would have to pay 9 dollars per week, and that would secure my funeral plans. Apparently, a funeral costs something between 5,000 to 15,000 dollars, and the 9-dollar-a-week plan will give me 12,000 dollars to spend. I would have 12,000 dollars to spend in finding a burial mound, how beautiful or ugly my coffin would be, and I suppose, I could also use that in selecting what flowers they would display when I am dead.

It sounds funny, but come to think of it, that's reality. She also explained about how to make a will, beneficiaries, and talk about what my preferences are whenever I am dead. Would I want to be cremated or buried? Would I want my ashes scattered along the Niagara River? What type of ceremony would I want? Apparently, this is in order not to give trouble to the people I would be leaving.

Wow. I am 26 years old. Healthy, with no chronic health problems. And yet reality knocks on my door by virtue of this experience. I didn't sign up for the funeral arrangements, since I don't think my legacy needs it yet. I am just a low-earning graduate student, I don't have a lot of assets yet, so I decided to postpone it.

However, I do realize that sooner or later I would be dead. Like the rest of us.

(Waterfalls, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Mongolian Barbecue

I know that everyone of us do this. Everyone of us go to the toilet and take a dump. Heck, even the Queen of England does this herself. However, it still is amazing and surprising that people we look up to seem to be unbelievable whenever you witness them do this.

Say, what if you are heading to the restroom to take a leak? And you see one of your esteemed professors go in a few seconds before you? And when you get inside, you don't see him, but then you realize that he is sitting on the porcelain god? Would you be conscious of that, and step out of the restroom until he is done and out of the room, and then you proceed on your business?

I am doing some cold turkey reading today. And tomorrow as well. I have a stack of readings about 3 inches thick, which is for a seminar, and after the first week, I decided to go ahead and just read them all and be done with it. I need time to think of my paper topic for this class, and so I don't want to waste time reading in the middle of the semester figuring out what I want to write about. I would rather read everything now, have an idea what I want to write about, and spend the rest of the semester reading more relevant things so I can write an awesome paper.

I am releasing my inner child this semester. I get to color again. One of the assignments I have for my neurolinguistics class is to complete the Human Brain Coloring Book. Obviously, there are rules to the colors, and so I just cannot select a random lobe or cortex and color it something random.

Social dynamics are bizarre. I don't get them. I suppose I would add this to the list of things I do not get, including sarcasm.

The department is in a state of controlled chaos. People who are supposed to be here are not yet here, and people who were here for quite a long time are not here anymore. To top that, people who weren't here before are here, and they are going to be here for a very long time.

I found a couple of papers online that I need to read. This I suppose is for my side projects. I hope that something good comes out of this, since my other side project seems to be not taking off, since the other people involved in it were rather reluctant to take it up again. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

I am still waiting for my two professors to read my qualifying paper. They told me that they will give it back to me within September. Hopefully that would be the case, so I could file it before the end of October, and file for a master's graduation as well. I figured I would probably have more of an advantage if I file for a master's graduation as well while working on my dissertation; having a degree higher than the bachelor's could get me more credentials suppose I need it while finishing up my doctorate. One example would be that it would allow me to teach in my undergrad university if I need to come back.

I went to the dentist this afternoon, for my semi-annual appointment. My teeth are still ok, they are nice and strong, although my gums seem to be very sensitive, gien the fact that simple flossing would induce weak bleeding.

(Trees and Water, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Perverted Politics

Something I read recently reinforced to me the idea that politics is crazy.

It has something to do with Russia recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the reaction of the international community. Russia recently recognized these two entities as independent from Georgia, and that created a wave of non-recognition from the United States and the West.

If one thinks about Kosovo from a few months ago, it just seems that politics is so perverted, since really, it does not make any sense.

A few months ago, Kosovo declared independence, and Russia was one of the countries who opted not to recognize it. Russia's reason was that it would create a "terrible precedent" that "breaks up the entire system of international relations". But guess what? When the same thing happened to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia spear-headed the way of recognizing the two breakaway provinces of Georgia. So much for caring for terrible precedents I suppose.

The same thing goes for the West and the United States. Kosovo declared themselves independent, and the West immediately recognized them, with most of the EU and the United States recognizing the new country. However, the West and the United States have made themselves clear in stating that they do not recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia, even criticizing Russia for recognizing these two entities. Why the double standard?

I really am not into politics, since I find all these flaws and problems that I suppose other people have the patience to deal with it, and I do not. Personally, I opt for self-determination: if an entity wants to be independent, then let them be independent, and let them demonstrate the capacity to be independent. Yes, other entities can trade with the newly-independent entity, but no aid should be given just for the sake of preserving independence. So, once the entity realizes that it cannot be independent, then let them re-attach themselves again to form a larger entity. Basically, if one can support oneself through normal economic and bilateral means of support, then go ahead and be independent. But if one entity needs to rely on another entity unilaterally just in order to be independent, then that does not merit independence.

So, with regard to Kosovo, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia, let them be. If they still find their heads up and not sink, then that would be good. Otherwise, if they need support just to say that they are independent, then it would be wiser to attach themselves to a larger entity and stop pretending that they can do it on their own.

(Gravity at Work, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Sick Sarcasm

There are plenty of reasons why I am not blogging religiously lately is because I am down with a cold. Yeah, it is time for my regular cold infection. I cannot remember the last time I had one; the most memorable one was last year's August cold infection, when I actually went to a doctor since it wouldn't seem to go away. My sister told me over the phone that I had a cold last winter too, but I honestly do not remember that.

Anyway, I figured I am getting a cold this time since last Saturday, my throat started to ache. And sure enough, yesterday, I got the sniffles. I am in drugs, so hopefully, this goes away pretty soon.

To change the topic, one thing I realized lately is that I seldom get sarcasm. I realized this because I caught myself wondering why some people were laughing but I wasn't. As if there was a private joke. So I looked online and found some interesting sarcasm tutorials.

One example is that video. Wow. It is either a moron, nut job, or sarcasm. Anyway, one can also find examples of meta-sarcasm in that website as well.

So yeah, apparently I do not get sarcasm as much as other people do. That became apparent in the last few days. I will probably work on that for the time being.



(Trickling Water, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Visibility

Last Thursday, the department had its annual welcome potluck party. And as usual, the dish I brought was a success.

Actually, I joined forces with a friend of mine, and together we made Curried Chicken and Basmati Rice. We cooked the chicken using curry spices, and the sauce was based on yoghurt and raisins. It was a spicy yet very delectably tasty dish. And once again, the crowd finished the whole pot.

Anyway, last Thursday's party was unusual in the sense that the students were rather not diverse. There were plenty of first-year people, but there were only one fourth-year student (me), one third-year student (my good friend), and one second-year student (my other good friend). I have to admit that this years new students are more plentiful than the usual, but there are still other upperclassmen than the three of us. They just didn't bother to show up.

I was thinking of this fact lately, the question of how visible you are in the department. Because I have this observation that if you are a master's student, chances are that you won't be visible at all. Yes, you would attend classes, but that is it. Once your classes are over, then you go back home. However, if you are a Ph.D. student, then you are more visible. I suppose the fact that you are funded, the fact that you have a class of your own to teach, the fact that you have an office on campus, makes it easier for you to be visible.

But sometimes, it gives the impression that master's students just don't care. Because they don't attend graduate student meetings, and so nobody even knows that they exist.

I hope I am wrong this year.

(Facing It, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Revolutionary

Time for my book review entry. I just finished reading My Revolutions by UK writer Hari Kunzru. It was a very impressive read, I suppose.

The story is about a person, who was basically a terrorist. It is written non-linearly, with multiple storylines in multiple times written interwoven together. So one deals with his childhood, another deals with his time with the terrorist organization in London in the 1960s, and another deals with the present, where he has a family and adopted child, trying to live a normal life until his past haunts him back.

I suppose I like Kunzru's writing style, which I first encountered when I read one of his other books last year. He writes in a very engaging style, and while it does not have to do with the level of suspense there is between every chapter, I suppose it just has something to do with the smooth way it transitions from one timeline to another.

So I returned that book back to the library, and instead picked up another one, this time by James Collins, entitled Beginner's Greek, and I am liking it. It starts with a guy on a plane, and he dreams that he will fall in love while in the plane, and somehow it begins to be true. The title page says that it is about couples, adultery, and New York. We'll see what happens.

(Mesmerized, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Next-Generation Flying

With all the changes in the flying experience today, one can just think of what else airlines would do just in order to stay afloat. It used to be the case that airlines would serve meals on board, have pillows and blankets, and have other amenities like being able to check luggage in for free. However, nowadays, it is not the case anymore.

Here in the United States, it now costs money to check bags, something that used to be free before. Meals are non-existent at all, and there are times that beverages are also being served for a fee. And there is this rumor that one airline will remove trans-Atlantic meal services altogether, replacing it with a buy-on-board program, selling expensive meals while in-flight.

Yes, part of it is due to the high price of gas. But why is it that other airlines in other parts of the world are still able to deliver a better product, while those here in the United States cannot? I suppose I do not fully understand the economics of the aviation industry; after all, I am not an expert in the field.

I suppose the above video illustrates what is going on right now. Watch it for a laugh.



(Yellow Leafy Road, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Fried Everything

This past weekend, I had an extraordinary experience of traditional Americana.

A friend of mine invited me to go to the Erie County Fair, which happened to be the second largest fair here in the United States. And I realized that it is one big event which lacks a purpose.

Well, it features things that one usually doesn't see everyday: exhibits on produce, such as tomatoes, pumpkin, squash, zucchini, and all other sorts of things that one can see in the supermarket, except that the ones on the exhibit looked like they were on steroids. What is the point of exhibiting produce?

There are other things that don't have a purpose as well. They featured swine racing. This was a show where they had pigs racing to eat an Oreo cookie. And it went as advertised, the pigs racing around the tracks as fast as they can. There also was the swimming pig.

There was the demolition derby. This happens on the grandstand, where the cars race until they get destroyed by each other. Obviously the cars that race are the ones that are headed to the junkyard anyways.

There is the banana derby, where monkeys ride dogs and they race as track as well. And there is the Chinese acrobat show. That was quite amazing actually, but otherwise bizarre too. There was also the Indian Village show.

And the food, my goodness, the food was rather bizarre. Everything was fried. Not healthy at all. There is the typical crowd food, like hot dogs, sausages, pizza, milkshakes, and others. However, there were fried onion rings, fried cookies, fried chocolate bars, fried vegetables. Fried everything.

There were rides, rides that juggled you up and down, rides that spin you round and round, rides that swing you back and forth, among others.

There were exhibits on hot tubs, exhibits on funky vehicles, exhibits on model homes, exhibits on hypnotism, tarot reading, and palmistry, exhibits on the Bible, exhibits on homemade maple syrup, and many others.

So I suppose if one has a day that can be set aside for something with no purpose at all, then the fair is a good destination. I just do not see the point in going to one. I was just curious since it is a traditional American experience. I watched a horse show, and there were other shows as well, like a show on how to give chicken and pigs a bath, how to make homemade brooms, homemade paper, homemade anything.

Oh, the crowd is funny too. I saw some of the strangest looking people around. People who looked like eggs, people who looked like sticks, people who looked like they are about to explode, people who looked like they are about to pop.

Bizarre. And the smell of frying oil is everywhere.

(Waterfalls, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Losing my R and Inhaling Molecules

So I have been conducting this social experiment lately. And the reactions that I am getting are rather varied.

Upon coming back from Europe, I decided to adopt a non-rhotic accent. This meant that I don't pronounce my "r" sounds whenever it is after a vowel, and not followed by another vowel. So, this means that the word "four" would be pronounced as FAW instead of the typical American pronunciation.

The reactions I get from my friends are rather funny. Some just note it, saying that it seemed that I forgot to take my syllable-final R with me from Europe. Another told me if I am speaking in a different accent, and when I told her yes, she said, "Wow, I can do phonetics now!"

But another one complained, saying I should put my R back, because it is not me.

In my defense, I do not come from a country where English is natively spoken. Yes, there is this thing called Philippine English, and people sometimes say that Filipinos also speak English natively, albeit using the Philippine English version. However, I would argue against that by saying that the majority of the population do not use it, only a sub-group of the population, namely the middle and the elite class. You do not see jeepney drivers talking to each other in English.

Anyway, based on that, I suppose I do not come from a country where English is natively spoken. English is still just a second language for me. And given that premise, I might as well pick any accent I want whenever I would speak in English. So, it wouldn't be surprising or unnatural to speak in a non-rhotic accent since I do not have a specific brand of English that I am expected to speak with. I do not come from the United States, therefore why would people expect me to speak in American English?

Now one of my friends insist that I put my R back. She tells me that it is not me, and speaking in a non-rhotic accent somehow changes my personality. But I tell her that if she met me the first time and I spoke a non-rhotic accent back then, then that would not be a problem. I argue that speaking in a different accent is arbitrary then. After all, if one is a good linguist, then one would expect that one can switch between different accents and still speak fine.

Anyway, I am having fun. So I suppose I won't go back to the rhotic version of this language yet. It is fun to play with people's heads, confusing them with regard to my origin, seeing a brown-skinned person is speaking in a different accent that does not sound too Asian, and doesn't sound American either.

On a separate note, it just fascinated me how some people's fragrances can linger in some locations. Like when I rode the elevator this morning. A lady got off, and I got in. It smelled inside like she rubbed all of her skin to all the walls of the elevator, because it really smelled that way. It was very strong. Not that I mind it, and it was a good thing that I don't have a fragrance allergy. But it felt like she did some incense ritual in the elevator before getting off.

Now maybe it is the same thing with regard to my fragrances. I usually wear a fragrance every day I get out of the house, and my everyday fragrance at the moment is Pi by Givenchy. I wonder whether it is simply the case that I am used to my scent, that I don't notice it, but then perhaps whenever I ride an elevator, the same thing happens. I should conduct an empirical study about this sometime whenever I have time in my hands.

(The Other Road, from my Letchworth Park Series)

New Page

Things have started to become new lately. A new roommate, a new semester, new people are arriving, and old people are coming back.

Yesterday, my new roommate phoned in saying that they would be leaving pretty soon, and based on the length of the drive, they would arrive early morning. So around 4:00 AM, I got a call, and twenty minutes later, they showed up at my front door. I helped my new roommate bring stuff inside the house, and after an hour, we were done. His family who drove him here then bid him goodbye and then left, with plans to have a few hours of sleep in a hotel and then drive back home. Home for them happens to be 16 hours away by car.

So I have a new roommate now. I therefore pulled off my ad from the posting site, so that no one would call me anymore asking if the apartment is still up for grabs. He seems like a decent guy, and hopefully better than the previous one I had.

Speaking of the previous one, I just saw his pictures of his new lab and new apartment, it seems swanky. Although it may be just the case because he just moved in.

A good friend just came back from her summer school. I talked to her yesterday over the phone, while she was driving back, and today we decided to spend the afternoon grocery shopping. Well, it also has something to do with the fact that we are having a dinner party tomorrow, with a few of our close friends.

I am in charge of the transportation for the new students with regard to the annual departmental party. So far, plenty of people have responded, and so that is being taken care of. I suppose this is the annual cabal of the department, where everyone meets everyone, knowing who is who in the department. It is a potluck event, so I am teaming up with my good friend so we'll make one dish together. The thing is, well, she has equipment that I don't have, like for example, a blender. I need it to liquefy golden raisins and spices together.

Anyway, yes, the new semester is about to take off. And sooner or later, I would just realize that it is almost over. I got a haircut yesterday, and I am loving it. The professor to which I am a research assistant to has just told me that he already has his travel papers ready, so he is just waiting for the visa to come so he could fly to the United States and start the semester.

It is going to be an exciting semester I presume.

(Forest Road, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Bonferroni Corrections

I have to say that this summer is rather weird. It is raining almost every other day. It is not hot at all, and so the patterns are rather bizarre.

Anyway, if this means a cooler summer, then I am all for it.

In other topics, I have been busy in my office, revising my draft. I am more than half-way through, and hopefully I can produce a fourth draft by next week, so I can give it to my second and third readers. Once they give me comments, then I can file it to the department office and be done with this requirement.

Now that I will be done with this requirement, I am thinking of getting an intermediate master's degree with it. I am in the doctoral program, which means that I was admitted with a bachelor's degree, and I will be awarded a doctoral degree once I am done with this program. This also means that I am doing the work of a master's curriculum and a doctoral curriculum at the same time, in one shot. No need to re-apply.

However, I thought that it would be more advisable to get an intermediate master's degree as I finish my coursework and work on my dissertation. The reason for this is that this is an additional credential that I can put in my CV and would possibly aid me in supporting myself during the time in which I don't have a stable job yet. And since I will have fulfilled the requirements for a master's once I finish the qualifying paper, I might as well submit the paperwork and apply for a degree.

In the meantime, I have to revise this qualifying paper. The good thing is that I don't have major revisions, unlike before. I suppose the most major one in this version is adding a Bonferroni correction, due to the fact that my hypotheses-tests were rather plentiful and dealing with the same set of data. Thus, to be on the safe side, I increased the critical value by applying the Bonferroni correction, thus making my judgments more conservative. Still, they all are significant.

I have a few remaining stuff that I need to do in the house today. And I am thinking of finishing them all by tonight since I was informed that my new roommate is already on his way. He called me saying that he would be around early tomorrow morning, driving all the way from the middle of the continent to the Northeast.

(Full Palette, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Controlled Chaos

So, I finished the book that I was reading for the past month. I suppose I slowed down in my book reading rate, due to the fact that I was busy traveling, taking pictures, and so on. But now, I am back here in Buffalo, and so my brain needs some fodder again.

I picked up my previous book in a bookstore in Copenhagen, and started reading it there. I had the intent of leaving it whenever I would finish it, but it happened that I wasn't able to finish it until yesterday. So, upon finishing it, I replaced it in my bookshelf. My bookshelf is occupied by academic books for the most part, but it has some fiction as well, mostly those which I bought during exceptional cases, like this one, since most of the time, I just go to the library and borrow a tome.

So, this book was about the son of a dice-player. Apparently, there was a cult of dice-people, living randomly, based on the decisions of the dice. Now this book was designed to be humorous, but sometimes I find it drab, especially the beginning part. Perhaps that was the reason why I took a month to finish it. Anyway, the main character is a Wall Street trader whose father is the bizarre founder of the dice cult. He goes on searching for his father, and loses his sense of order. In the end, he finds his father.

Very bizarre.

Anyway, so that was over. And now I started reading on a novel by Hari Kunzru, entitled My Revolutions. I suppose I picked this one up because I had a great time reading another of his novels about a year ago, when I picked up Transmission, of which I reviewed here. I am sure that this book doesn't have the comic feel that the other one had, but from the few pages that I read yesterday, I had a feeling that I would enjoy this one, even though it had a more serious tone to it than the first one.

So there. I better get back to working on my paper revisions.

(Pensive, from my Letchworth Park Series)

News

This is a rather short post, regarding the unexplicable nature of news reporting.

It used to be fascinating for me what journalists do. They go to the frontiers and report happenings in different locales, bringing back events to faraway lands. They take pictures of human suffering, they take pictures of disaster and chaos, and they send these photos back, together with the stories that accompany it, to people who are fortunate enough not to witness them in person.

However, when news reporting takes a rather weird turn, like this report about a former Olympic swimmer having an ego trip, and whining that he wasn't invited to the Olympics, then I sometimes wonder. Why is this newsworthy?

I have no problem with the Olympian. That is his opinion, and everybody is entitled to one. If he feels that he was snubbed, fine. Let him feel that way. However, what I do not comprehend is the fact that his whining made the news. It even made front page in Yahoo! I wonder how parallel is that to the South Ossetian War that is currently happening.

This world really is a strange place. Sometimes it is easier to forget about it than try to comprehend it.

(Forest Path, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Why I Am Not a Physician

I have to admit, I got hooked to House M.D. just recently. While in Budapest, I copied my parents' AVI files of the show into my computer, from the very start of Season 1, and have been watching it episode by episode. And one thing I am sure of, is that I like the show.

I don't know, maybe it is the empirical way the main character deals with people. Maybe the fact that Gregory House is so detached from his patients, and is so pessimistic, thinking that patients lie all the time, is the reason why I like the show. Gregory House can be a very good scientist. I admire his objective character. I suppose if that character would get a personality test, he would be an INTJ as well.

Obviously human interpersonal relationships are his Achilles' heel. He has a bad working relationship with his fellows, and his boss doesn't like him either. He is lonely and miserable.

Is that the price to pay for objectivity? That makes me realize that physicians have a tough job of balancing the human touch and empiricism. If you have a patient that is dying, would you sweeten your words and give him the news in a more "humane" way? I wonder what type of sensitivity training physicians go in order to be a "good" doctor.

It makes me realize why I did not pursue that career path. Obviously, I didn't like biology back in high school (if I were to choose a "hard science" as a major, I would pick physics or geology), so going into pre-med was out of the question, but even if I did, I suppose I would realize it sooner or later that I would not fit the bill. I'd probably hit a lot of complaints about sensitivity issues as well, or I would just be frustrated for other reasons.

I suppose another reason why I picked my current career path is because nobody dies in Linguistics. If one studies Political Science, well, national decrees and international relations has caused the deaths of multitudes, just look at what is happening in South Ossetia at the moment. If one studies Medicine, then sooner or later, someone might die because one did not administer the correct treatment, or even give a correct diagnosis. At least a person's life or death is not at stake whenever I run experiments on reading time.

(Middle Falls from a Distance, from my Letchworth Park Series)

I Don't Have the Biggest Breast in Yemen

I am just baffled by the different ways people find my blog. Looking at my tracker script gives me the laughs whenever I see some weird search queries that people used to find me.

I suppose the biggest theme of inappropriate search queries people use to find me have something to do with breasts. They like to search about breasts! And people from all over the world do it! Even in supposedly traditional countries, like Saudi Arabia. I suppose people from there have libido as well.

Some recent examples, I have a search from Egypt wanting "big breasts for me" and found my blog. I don't offer big breasts, lady. If you want an augmentation, look elsewhere. On the other hand, someone from Djibouti searched for the biggest breast in Yemen and found my blog. Why would you want to know the biggest breast in Yemen?

There's more. Someone in Asheville, North Carolina wanted to find out about mermaids with big breasts, so he went to my site. What's with the breasts? They're just fat storage.

Some serious-minded people think I know everything there is about EVAT, which is some tax in the Philippines. So they find me using queries on disadvantages of evat philippines as a keyword. Unfortunately, I cannot offer help.

Some just blow my mind. Someone in Australia wants to know how to say I am stupid in Tagalog. What for? Another weird one is someone from the Netherlands wanting to know about ratatatata dance 2008, and thus found my blog.

What can I say? People search the weirdest things.

(Middle Falls, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Two More Weeks

So there's two more weeks until the full blast of the Fall semester begins again. I have finished running my experiments, for the time being, since the summer session classes just ended today, and there won't be any students to act as participants until the classes this Fall begin.

I also have a third draft to revise, and I will be working on that this weekend and the next week. I also have to finish cleaning the apartment; I need to do some big-time cleaning on the bathroom. I already bought a new shower liner since the former one was toast, and I need to wash the rugs and so they smell clean again. This would be just in time for the arrival of my new roommate; I think I have found one, so that at least solves one of my problems.

I also have some activity that concerns the International Student Orientation that will be held the week before the classes. They needed volunteers for some presentation about student teaching, and it seemed that they needed more, so I signed up. Might as well.

What else? I am arranging the rides for the new students with regard to the Welcome Party that the department has on Thursday two weeks from now. I suppose another reason I look forward to this semester is because I can now pass on to someone else this role of being the GLA head.

I am getting a new officemate this Fall. Well, not exactly new, but he has been to this office the first year I was here. And now he is back. Unfortunately, he will only be back for the Fall, since come Spring, two new people will occupy this office. I suppose I will be the longest occupant of this office for the time being. It makes me feel old, and somehow excited to be finally coming closer to the end. The fact that there will be plenty of traffic in this office this coming year is somehow indicative of that.

Oh well, I better go. I have a paper to revise, and I have mentioned it to one of my readers already that I will have a manuscript ready for him by the end of the week.

(Multi-Colored Trees, from my Letchworth Park Series)

I Survived the Trinity

I have been busy the past few days. I suppose I just had so many things to do, like looking for a new roommate, cleaning the apartment, running experiments in the lab, and so on.

Anyway, I suppose it is time for a rather boring geeky post. Yesterday, I met with my adviser, after not seeing him for the past month. He gave me back my QP, with very small revisions.

Now there's good news. He told me to revise it, and then pass it on to the second and third readers. He doesn't need to see it after revising it. That means that I survived the Trinity of revisions. I suppose it is usual for students to have three drafts approved by their advisers before it goes to the next person. So yeah, my third draft came back, and now, after revising it, it will go to two other professors at the same time. Then I will collect their feedback, revise it one more time, and hopefully that would be it. I would then file it to the department office, and my QP requirement would be fulfilled. I would then be officially a Ph.D. candidate. And when I finish the remaining coursework that I have this year, I would be an ABD.

On other topics, it's been a week that I have been working here in the lab. I have seen people participate in our experiments, and sometimes I cannot help but think that these people do not think. Or at least use their brain. For crying out loud, why do people just assume that they know what they're supposed to do, instead of reading the instructions carefully and thoroughly? That's why the computer doesn't function, because they are doing something wrong! If the computer tells you to hit the Spacebar, then hitting anything else aside from the Spacebar will do nothing!

Anyway, I guess I won't be running experiments until classes start again, since the subject pool would be away. The summer classes end tomorrow, so tomorrow would be the last day people can sign up for experiments. After that, then we would have to wait until Fall 2008 begins, which is in about three weeks.

My adviser is on sabbatical for the fall. That would give me six months of thinking time, because I have to think about my dissertation as well. And there is this requirement that students have to do their dissertation proposal defense by the end of their fourth year, so that means I have to defend my dissertation proposal by May 2009. I already have ideas, and even my adviser thinks that my current research program involving my qualifying paper has the potential to be extended into a dissertation research, so that is good. Some people know that another institute seems to be interested in me; however, as of now, I am not hearing from them, so I am going on my everyday activities as if that is not in the equation. After all, it is better to expect the worst, but hope for the best.

So there. I am showing the apartment to a few people these coming days. Hopefully I find a roommate that isn't like my previous one. Speaking of the apartment, I only have to clean the bathroom; the other parts are already spic-and-span. I already bought a new shower liner, since the old one seems like something Doctor House would disapprove of.

(Middle Falls, from my Letchworth Park Series)

Count Your Children

So I saw this bit of news recently, about an Israeli family who forgot their toddler in the airport on the way to Paris.

Sounds like Home Alone, right?

Yes, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish couple with their five children were late for their flight. The funny thing is that they remembered to bring their duty-free purchases and their eighteen bags, but they forgot their three-year-old daughter.

Although I do know that traveling can be stressful, it still is not a good reason to rearrange our priorities in life. Especially if you have five children, count them before boarding the plane. Don't you have their passports in your hand? And yes, it is the responsibility of the ground staff to match each boarding pass he tears off to each passenger, but it is the ultimate responsibility of the parents to watch over their children. And the surprising thing is, the parents only had five children, while field trip supervisors usually handle groups larger than this and they do not lose a passenger.

That's why I wasn't surprised to know that Israeli authorities would look into the matter and see whether there was parental negligence involved.

I suppose this is another reason not to have a large family: they would be easier to manage if the numbers remain small. Oh, I better stop here, I don't want to get started on population theory.

(Canopy, from my Letchworth Park Series)

True Love, Unrequited Love, and The Relativity of Truth and Reality

This post was inspired by a recent conversation I had with my sister. It had something to do with her resembling Reese Witherspoon's character in Sweet Home Alabama. That however, doesn't mean that she was married before that is being engaged at the moment, no.

So, I suppose I could posit this philosophical question: is unrequited love an instance of true love? Is true love limited to instances of mutual affection, where there is an exchange of emotions between two people? Or, is the truth or falsity of love measured solely within any given person?

Some people believe that unilateral "true" love is not true love at all, but is a totally different thing, that is, obsession. The person interprets what he wants to interpret from the signs that he sees from the object of desire. The fact that he sees the person every morning may be enough to fuel lust and the desire of the person. The person may think of this as an instance of him having true love for the object person, but otherwise, from the other person's point of view, this is not love at all.

Now psychologists would say that this is an abnormality. Psychologists say that the stalker would interpret everything they see in the object the way they want. But isn't that the same in reciprocal love as well? A husband sees his wife smiling or doing some gesture, won't he interpret it the way he wants to, and not how the wife intended it to be? The only difference between this case and the case of the stalker is that there is no harm to oneself or to others if it is reciprocal. Therefore psychologists label the stalker as abnormal.

But then, what is the gauge for normality? Isn't what is normal just based on what the society thinks is acceptable and what is not? Is there such a thing as universality of normalcy? I would lean towards saying that there isn't. Of course, there are things that are universally wrong, such as murder. But there are things that are normal for some, but abnormal for others. So saying that unrequited love is abnormal may not hold after all.

If one believes that truth is in the eye of the beholder, then as far as the stalker is concerned, he experienced true love. It may not be true for the other person, but it is true for him. Just because there are social norms doesn't mean that one can discount the realities of others. One may make a survey of 100 people and ask whether the stalker has true love or is merely experiencing an extreme form of infatuation, and yes, the majority may say that it is just an extreme form of infatuation. However, again, that is because of the social majority. But from the outlier's point of view, it is by and large real. If the stalker thinks that his feelings are true, then in his reality, it is true.

Some may say that unrequited love may lead to murder, and therefore, is not really true love, because true love should not lead to murder. Murder is universally wrong, but just because unrequited love may lead to murder doesn't mean that unrequited love is also universally wrong. If someone kills another person because the killer thinks he loved the person so much, the person will be charged with murder, not with unrequited love.

I suppose this is an example where the collective reality of society clashes with the individual reality of a given person. For a given person, it may be real that he is experiencing real love with regard to another being. However, for the society as a whole, this behavior exhibited by a certain member of the society is detrimental to the whole society, and therefore branded as abnormal. After all, societies do things to preserve themselves. What is detrimental is branded as abnormal. Therefore, outliers are shunned, and their behaviors deemed abnormal.

(Wood Path, from my Letchworth Park Series)

The Irony of Living with a Pig

I have to warn my readers that this post is a rant post. If you are comfortable with it, then continue on, otherwise, there’s always Google as a website where you can glean further information that would potentially interest you.

So, the reason why I was silent these past few days was because I was working my butt off cleaning my apartment. As you all know, I was living with a roommate, who happened to be a pig. No, scratch that, or else I might be sued for libel. My roommate, or rather, former roommate, had pig-like habits. Well, let me explain.

This morning, I spent my whole waking hours scrubbing the tile floors of the house. The house had carpeted parts, hardwood parts, and tiled parts. The carpeted and hardwood floors were not a problem, but the tiled floors were rather dirty. It needed scrubbing. So, I filled a pail of water and mixed disinfectant with it, and took some clothes, ripped them apart, and made rags out of them. I then used my hands, my fingers, my knees, and my feet in order to scrub the tiled floors of the house. And guess what I found? Mud. The water turned into mud.

Now, why would this be of extreme concern? Well, if not for my roommate spilling things like sauce, cooking oil, and other liquid items, then the dirt would not be too heavy. If only he would have the effort to mop them up as soon as they occurred. But no, he let it dry. And if I would not open my mouth and complain about it, he wouldn’t do it I am sure. Why do I know that? Well because one day, he spilled his rice, and I still saw the spilled rice two days after. He only cleaned it when I told him that he spilled his rice. If that was his attitude towards spilled rice, I am pretty sure it would be the same for other things that are spillable.

What else did I find? Upon examing the nooks and crannies of the floors, I found dried-up cheery seeds. Now this has a story behind it. My former roommate loved eating cherries. We also had a garbage can in the kitchen. What he usually would do is eat cherries, and spit the seeds into the garbage can. Now, guess what? Sometimes, it wouldn’t go inside, due to bad aim. Obviously, it would just fall along the sides of the can, but he wouldn’t bother putting the seeds into the can by picking them up! So now they are all dried up in the kitchen, and I had to take care of it.

He said he cleaned his room before he left, and yes, he did clean it, but it still isn’t clean. Notice the different use of the same word here, one is a verb, another is an adjective. You can clean something without achieving the end result of the thing being clean. He also left some more clothes. So what I did was I cut up his clothes and used them as rags to clean the house.

That was today. I still have to vacuum his room, since I highly doubt the effectiveness of this work. I also have to clean the refrigerator, since after turning over the things in his side of the fridge, I found some dried up liquid underneath the planks. He left some food as well, and I never hesitated to throw them away, due to the fact that some of these have exceeded their expiration dates, and some are just plain unhealthy.

I have to recount his episode with the vacuum cleaner. It was still early in the semester last year, when I told him that we should take turns vacuuming the apartment. I told him that the vacuum cleaner was hidden in the closet, and it was intuitive in how to use it; just plug it, and turn the switch on. Now, I have this upright vacuum cleaner, where there is this button that one should depress and so the upright portion will bend over, so one can vacuum the floor comfortably. However, when you store it, the upright portion will bend 90 degrees with the mouth, and so you can store it in the closet. Obviously, that position isn’t the position one vacuums in, but my roommate wasn’t aware of that. He told me later, upon using the vacuum, that the vacuum is very hard to use, because of the bad posture in which users must assume when using it. I then told him of the lever, and he was so surprised in seeing it. I asked him whether he had an inquisitive brain, and if so, if he is using it. I then told him that I suppose that maxim is true, the one about not being able to teach old dog new tricks. He replied by saying that it is indeed true, in fact, he was still a puppy and yet he couldn’t learn new tricks anymore.

I suppose I never had good luck with regard to roommates. I thought that I had the worst roommate when I got the Japanese guy three years ago in my first flat. I was wrong. This was worse.

The sad thing is, I as a roommate am uncomfortable reminding him constantly of his duties. I don’t want to hear myself over and over again saying, “Hey, vacuum the apartment. Hey, throw out the garbage.” I am not his parents. I don’t have the authority to nag. He should know these things by now. But apparently, that is not the case.

The same thing with personal items. We shared some things together, things like the ones we both use in the kitchen, such as cooking oil and sugar. If I see it being depleted, I would buy one, and the next time it would be him. However, there are things that I do not see as communal, but he does. Things such as my toothpaste, my shaver, my comb. We both have different toothpastes, but whenever his is depleted, he uses mine. I suppose it would be ok if it were just a single incident, and the next day I see a new tube, but that is not the case. He acts like a sloth when it comes to grocery shopping. He thinks it is a tedious endeavor. So, I notice that the cap of my toothpaste is open, when in the morning I left it closed. I noticed that there are strands of hair that is longer than mine in my comb. In the end, I moved all my things to my room, and only bring them to the toilet when I would be using it.

So there, this is my roommate rant. I suppose I am now glad that he moved out, and I will be finding a new one. Hopefully the new one is better than the previous one. In either case, I suppose I only have a year left in Buffalo, and hopefully, I will be moving somewhere else after this year, and by then I would seriously think of living solo.

(Colorful Trees, from my Letchworth Park Series)