There are many aspects to being a good bus driver, but perhaps one of the more important of those is the bus-driver wave. You've all seen it; when two bus drivers pass each other on the road they almost invariably wave at each other. Back in my pre-bus-driver days I always wondered about all the intricacies of this mysterious part of bus-driver sub-culture. How many times a day do they wave at each other? Do they wave every time they pass each other or just the first one or two times? Do they all wave at all the others, or is the wave reserved only for specific co-drivers? How much effort should go into waving at another driver and how much is too much? I had a suspicion that there was more than met the eye with these bus-driver waves, and now after being a bus driver myself for about a month and a half I have gained some insight on them.
Before I started this bus driving gig I wasn't sure if I was going to become a waver or if I would instead become one of those stoic non-wavers. It turns out that I'm a waver. Yup, I wave at every other bus driver I pass. Not only do I wave at all the other bus drivers that I work with, but I even wave at some of the guys that drive other buses and shuttles that I see around the valley a lot. In fact, I've found that the "bus-driver wave" is not limited to just bus drivers but can be extended to lots of other people including all other people driving Town of Vail vehicles, cops, trash truck drivers, snowplow drivers, shuttle drivers, etc. There are also some people who are not privy to the wave though. These include taxi drivers, CME drivers, and certain shuttle drivers. These people don't get the wave because they are discourteous drivers and we don't like them.
As for some of the other questions I had, I wave at the other drivers no matter how many times I see them. Sometimes I will see and wave at the same person probably 20 times in a day, but I wave every time. It's kind of like Pringles, once you start you can't stop. What kind of mixed messages would I send people if I was waving in the morning and then not waving in the afternoon? So I always wave.
Not all waves are created equal though. Some guys try to act all nonchalant about waving, like they are too cool to really be waving but they know that they have to anyway. Some give a nice firm, confident sort of "hey, what's up?" two finger salute. A few give a simple forward-facing up and down palm. Some are a little more creative though. There's one guy who sort of flashes gang signs, often with both hands. One guy seems to have a new crazy motion every time I drive past him. Today his repertoire included a "whipping" motion, a "mummy" gesture, a "chopper bike rider" one, and a "woman with nice curves" signal. Some give peace signs, and some salute military style. Then there are a few guys who are so focused on the task at hand that they just can't be bothered with waving. Sometimes they just give a blank stare. Almost every driver has their own distinct wave, but I personally prefer to just copy the wave of whoever it is I am waving to. When I'm passing the creative guy, I try to think of something creative myself. To the gang sign flasher, I try to respond similarly. To the stoic starer, I just stare back.
If I had to describe my own wave though, I would call it a flick of a peace sign plus the thumb, usually with the right hand. I think one of my favorites, though, is when it's dark out and the drivers can't see each other most of us either flick on one of the interior lights, or click the left-hand turn signal one time. Some drivers go a little overboard with the light flicking though...
Today's video is another 1997 video, "How Bizarre" by OMC. My fondest memory of this video was one day in the summer when I was at the Berthoud pool and I ran into my former best friend's former "girlfriend" and she was wondering where I had disappeared to (because that was after I started homeschooling). Then this song came on and she said, "Oh, like, this is so, like, my song!" I bet this guy would have a pretty good wave if he were a bus driver.
1.31.2007
1.10.2007
Bus Chronicles
I've really been slacking on this blog thing. I know that at least one person has been particularly anxious to hear about my life as a bus driver, and I have been anxious to write about it too, but I just haven't had the time/energy. Then after I was already a few weeks into it I felt like I had so much to summarize that I felt overwhelmed and just haven't written about it.
Basically bus driving has been going well. Driving a bus is as fun as I had always imagined it would be. The first few days were the hardest because before that point I had always driven with a trainer, but now I was out on my own. If I made a mistake there was no one else to blame. I was constantly and nervously checking my schedule sheets making sure I was on time and in the right place. No matter how many times I checked the schedule and my watch I still had this uneasy feeling that somehow I was still doing something wrong.
As far as I know, however, I didn't really mess anything up. Actually, my first day was the roughest. After picking a bus out of the barn in the morning to take out on my route, I realized that the radio wasn't working and so I had to go get a new bus which caused be to be 15 minutes late on my very first loop of my very first route of my very first day. Luckily it wasn't really my fault but rather a simple mechanical mishap. Then on that same day, on my very last loop before clocking out, the bus I was driving broke down. I was able to get it started back up and get it back to the transportation center, and again, it wasn't my fault.
After that first day things went pretty smoothly. I work Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in the morning/day, and then on Wednesday I have a night shift that goes to 3:00 AM, so I get lots of drunks on that shift. I drive several different routes. I drive the "Intown" route that goes between Golden Peak and Lionshead for about half of each of my shifts, and then the other half is either West Vail, or the Golf Course/Lionsridge Loop/Ford Park. The only route that I never drive is East Vail. I'm guessing that East Vail must be the best one to drive because it seems like all of the more seasoned drivers who get first pick of their shifts drive East Vail while a lot of the drivers that I tend to see driving Intown and West Vail are the newer drivers like me who got the dregs shifts. I don't mind though. I like my shifts and I get a lot of diversity with my routes. There are some drivers who drive the same route all day every day, but I can't imagine how boring that would be. I would much prefer the mixture of my shifts.
Just physically driving the bus is pretty fun, and really that's the whole reason I wanted to be a bus driver. While it took a little bit of getting used to driving something that big, I'm already pretty used to it. I love using that big steering wheel to steer the thing around curves and stuff. I love all the sounds like the air brakes and the diesel engine and stuff. I even enjoy opening and closing the doors.
There's more to being a bus driver than simply being able to operate the thing. You have to know the routes and the stop names and be able to answer the myriad of dumb questions that people ask you about how to get here there or the other place. You have to pay close attention to the time to make sure you are on schedule. This is the hardest part, I think. Even almost a month in I still have to be careful not to get ahead of schedule. When I do get ahead of schedule I just have to stop and wait at a stop for a few minutes to get back on schedule, but I think that's probably just as annoying for all the people on the bus as it is for me. I wish they would just adjust the schedule so that I had to speed around everywhere really fast to stay on schedule, but as it is I have to poke along below the speed limit sometimes just to eat up some time. Now I realize that busses don't always drive slow just because the are big and cumbersome, but rather because they are just trying to stay on schedule!
I don't really have any good stories yet, but I do have lots of thoughts and impressions about bus driving that I hope to write about in the coming months, but for now I need to go to bed. It's almost 8:00 and I had to get up at 4:00 this morning, and I need to get up almost that early again tomorrow morning. Maybe on Wednesday I'll sleep in really late, 'til like 6 or something, haha.
The next Circa 1997 video is Macarena. Maybe this was more like 1996, I don't remember, but it was probably still kicking around in 1997 too. When this song was popular I didn't know that those two guys were speaking Spanish. I thought it was just some strange made up jibberish or something.
Basically bus driving has been going well. Driving a bus is as fun as I had always imagined it would be. The first few days were the hardest because before that point I had always driven with a trainer, but now I was out on my own. If I made a mistake there was no one else to blame. I was constantly and nervously checking my schedule sheets making sure I was on time and in the right place. No matter how many times I checked the schedule and my watch I still had this uneasy feeling that somehow I was still doing something wrong.
As far as I know, however, I didn't really mess anything up. Actually, my first day was the roughest. After picking a bus out of the barn in the morning to take out on my route, I realized that the radio wasn't working and so I had to go get a new bus which caused be to be 15 minutes late on my very first loop of my very first route of my very first day. Luckily it wasn't really my fault but rather a simple mechanical mishap. Then on that same day, on my very last loop before clocking out, the bus I was driving broke down. I was able to get it started back up and get it back to the transportation center, and again, it wasn't my fault.
After that first day things went pretty smoothly. I work Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in the morning/day, and then on Wednesday I have a night shift that goes to 3:00 AM, so I get lots of drunks on that shift. I drive several different routes. I drive the "Intown" route that goes between Golden Peak and Lionshead for about half of each of my shifts, and then the other half is either West Vail, or the Golf Course/Lionsridge Loop/Ford Park. The only route that I never drive is East Vail. I'm guessing that East Vail must be the best one to drive because it seems like all of the more seasoned drivers who get first pick of their shifts drive East Vail while a lot of the drivers that I tend to see driving Intown and West Vail are the newer drivers like me who got the dregs shifts. I don't mind though. I like my shifts and I get a lot of diversity with my routes. There are some drivers who drive the same route all day every day, but I can't imagine how boring that would be. I would much prefer the mixture of my shifts.
Just physically driving the bus is pretty fun, and really that's the whole reason I wanted to be a bus driver. While it took a little bit of getting used to driving something that big, I'm already pretty used to it. I love using that big steering wheel to steer the thing around curves and stuff. I love all the sounds like the air brakes and the diesel engine and stuff. I even enjoy opening and closing the doors.
There's more to being a bus driver than simply being able to operate the thing. You have to know the routes and the stop names and be able to answer the myriad of dumb questions that people ask you about how to get here there or the other place. You have to pay close attention to the time to make sure you are on schedule. This is the hardest part, I think. Even almost a month in I still have to be careful not to get ahead of schedule. When I do get ahead of schedule I just have to stop and wait at a stop for a few minutes to get back on schedule, but I think that's probably just as annoying for all the people on the bus as it is for me. I wish they would just adjust the schedule so that I had to speed around everywhere really fast to stay on schedule, but as it is I have to poke along below the speed limit sometimes just to eat up some time. Now I realize that busses don't always drive slow just because the are big and cumbersome, but rather because they are just trying to stay on schedule!
I don't really have any good stories yet, but I do have lots of thoughts and impressions about bus driving that I hope to write about in the coming months, but for now I need to go to bed. It's almost 8:00 and I had to get up at 4:00 this morning, and I need to get up almost that early again tomorrow morning. Maybe on Wednesday I'll sleep in really late, 'til like 6 or something, haha.
The next Circa 1997 video is Macarena. Maybe this was more like 1996, I don't remember, but it was probably still kicking around in 1997 too. When this song was popular I didn't know that those two guys were speaking Spanish. I thought it was just some strange made up jibberish or something.
1.01.2007
Obligatory New Years Post
Ok, I know, I haven't posted in awhile. I've been wanting to, and trying to, but for some reason I just haven't been able to. I know that an Obligatory New Years Post has nearly passed its expiration date at this point, but here it is anyway. Thanks to those of you who sent emails prodding me to write a new entry. I mean it.
I think the reason it has taken me so long to write this post is because I've been having a really hard time thinking of anything good to say about 2006. That's not to say that 2006 was a bad year, because it wasn't. It just means that it wasn't a particularly fabulous year. I didn't really do anything very cool/exciting/interesting. I was mostly just busy with working or going to school all year. To sum-up 2006, I was busy with school into May, then I was busy at Chinese Summer Camp in Minnesota until July, then I was busy with my linguistics transcription job at Infoture for the rest of the summer, then my last semester of college started and I was busy with that AND the Infoture job for awhile until I quit the job and was still just busy with school, and then I graduated and moved to Vail to drive a bus. In May (I think, or was it June?) I went to Phoenix (Tempe) to visit a friend of mine from study abroad in Nanjing. It was a lot of fun. Then in the fall I went to Baltimore for my uncle's wedding. So I didn't even go very many places in 2006.
As for last years resolutions, I think I did a pretty good job:
Okay, that's all I can write for now. Updates on bus-driving soon to follow, hopefully. Happy New Years Y'all!
In honor of 2007, for the next couple of blog posts I am going to put up Youtube videos of songs that I remember from 10 years ago, 1997. That was the year when Mom finally got fed up with my supposed failing grades in 7th grade and decided to take me out of school and homeschool me (I still don't ever remember getting anything worse than a D, but she says I was failing...). Of course it's hard for me to remember with much clarity 1997 versus, say, 1996, so some of these songs might not actually technically be from 1997, but to me they will always be 1997.
Today's song is one that I remember being popular while I was in middle school. At the time it seemed like a cool song, but listening to it now it just sounds stupid. It is "Peaches" by The Presidents of the United States of America. This song reminds me particularly of one day at Turner Middle school in the locker room after gym class and one of my classmates, Joey Schuetz, was singing this song in a stupid voice. At the time I didn't realize that it was a song and I was pretty confused why he was singing a song about peaches. It wasn't until a few weeks later that I heard the song and it all made sense to me.
I think the reason it has taken me so long to write this post is because I've been having a really hard time thinking of anything good to say about 2006. That's not to say that 2006 was a bad year, because it wasn't. It just means that it wasn't a particularly fabulous year. I didn't really do anything very cool/exciting/interesting. I was mostly just busy with working or going to school all year. To sum-up 2006, I was busy with school into May, then I was busy at Chinese Summer Camp in Minnesota until July, then I was busy with my linguistics transcription job at Infoture for the rest of the summer, then my last semester of college started and I was busy with that AND the Infoture job for awhile until I quit the job and was still just busy with school, and then I graduated and moved to Vail to drive a bus. In May (I think, or was it June?) I went to Phoenix (Tempe) to visit a friend of mine from study abroad in Nanjing. It was a lot of fun. Then in the fall I went to Baltimore for my uncle's wedding. So I didn't even go very many places in 2006.
As for last years resolutions, I think I did a pretty good job:
- Learn some Arabic - Well, I didn't learn any Arabic, but I did learn some Russian and Portuguese, so I think I succeeded.
- Graduate with at least a 3.5 GPA - I'm pretty frustrated with this one. It appears that I have missed this goal by the slimmest possible margin. Had only one single grade over the course of my entire college career been one single notch higher, I would have made it, but as it is I am graduating with a 3.495. Oooooh man, sooo frustrating.
- Bike more - Being in Minnesota for the summer put a damper on this goal, but I did do a good job of riding my bike to school almost every day this past fall semester. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have ridden as much if I hadn't got that awesome fixed-gear bike.
- Waste less time on the internet - This is the only goal on this list that I completely failed to reach. In fact, I'm wasting time on the internet this very minute! Except for my stint in Minnesota with limited internet access, I spent just as much time on the internet as ever (perhaps even MORE?).
- Work harder to be more financially independent - I definitely worked harder, and I haven't had to ask Dad for extra money in awhile... so I guess I achieved this one too. I still feel as poor as ever though.
- Save Money - I'm working full-time and making relatively decent money (compared to 'almost nothing'). Also, because I'm living at home my expenses are pretty low, so I should be able to save up a good chunk of change... and then spend it on booze, (haha, just kidding).
- Keep Up with the Languages - I'm worried that being out of school it will be too easy to lapse into a lazy rut and not only stop learning new languages, but also let the ones I already know go soft and rusty. So my goal for 2007 is to not allow this to happen, and make sure that my net language ability continues to increase rather than plateau.
- Be Healthier - At first I was just going to put "Eat Healthier," but really eating healthy is just one aspect of overall health. So I want to BE healthy, including eating healthier (more fresh fruits and veggies, more fish, less sugars and highly processed foods), exercising more(skiing, biking, swimming, hiking, and lifting mostly), getting enough sleep (this has never really been a problem for me though).
- Go somewhere outside of the USA - I haven't been abroad for awhile now and I'm starting to feel the itch again. I don't have any plans in place yet, but there are lots of places I would probably like to go.
- Take the GRE - I don't think that this is a very lofty goal, but I do think it's important that I take the GRE sooner rather than later when I have forgotten everything. Also, I think having taken the GRE will help to keep me motivated about going to grad school... eventually...
- Get a Girlfriend - I still don't really know how people generally go about getting themselves girlfriends, so this one will really be a challenge for me. Even if I only have one for a few months, that will be sufficient I think.
- Do Something Interesting/Don't Get Stuck in any Ruts - This one is pretty self-explanatory. Basically I just don't want to sit down to my computer a year from now and think, "Well, 2007 was a dud!"
Okay, that's all I can write for now. Updates on bus-driving soon to follow, hopefully. Happy New Years Y'all!
In honor of 2007, for the next couple of blog posts I am going to put up Youtube videos of songs that I remember from 10 years ago, 1997. That was the year when Mom finally got fed up with my supposed failing grades in 7th grade and decided to take me out of school and homeschool me (I still don't ever remember getting anything worse than a D, but she says I was failing...). Of course it's hard for me to remember with much clarity 1997 versus, say, 1996, so some of these songs might not actually technically be from 1997, but to me they will always be 1997.
Today's song is one that I remember being popular while I was in middle school. At the time it seemed like a cool song, but listening to it now it just sounds stupid. It is "Peaches" by The Presidents of the United States of America. This song reminds me particularly of one day at Turner Middle school in the locker room after gym class and one of my classmates, Joey Schuetz, was singing this song in a stupid voice. At the time I didn't realize that it was a song and I was pretty confused why he was singing a song about peaches. It wasn't until a few weeks later that I heard the song and it all made sense to me.
12.18.2006
Obligatory End-of-semester/college post
Today is the last day of the semester and of my undergraduate career and I guess I can't just let it pass quietly without writing anything about it. First, a re-cap of this past semester, and then some reflections on the eight semesters before this one.
I'm not sure, but I think that this past semester was probably my hardest semester yet. Sure, I could have taken 12 credit hours and had a great slack-off last semester, but the masochist in me won that argument and so I ended up taking 7 extra completely un-needed hours (Portuguese and Russian). I also tried (and failed) to have a part-time job during this semester, but I had to quit a few weeks ago because I just wasn't hackin' it. I'm glad I did because these last two weeks or so I have been going full-bore just to keep up with school. I didn't keep track, but I don't think there was a single weekend this semester when I didn't have to come to school during the weekend to work on something.
In the end it was a pretty good semester though. It is still too early to officially call it a success because I have yet to receive any final grades, but I am anticpating mostly A's, and I am hoping that I have done just well enough to edge my final GPA up over the crucial 3.5 mark to graduate with distinction. I won't be able to give the official report on that for a few weeks though. Anyhow, my classes were interesting, I learned a lot, and despite the hectic schedule I think I actually enjoyed this semester. How could I NOT enjoy a semester full of linguistics and foreign language classes though?! If only I didn't have that one international affairs class then this would have been a pretty fantastic semester.
It was a pretty good way to end my time here at CU. People keep asking me if I am really excited to be graduating and if it feels weird, but really it just feels like the end of another semester to me. It probably won't start to resonate until about a month from now when the next semester starts up and instead of heading back to school I'll be busy putting my shiny new degree to good use driving a bus.
As for being excited, sure, I'm excited, but at the same time I'm not. I'm excited about making some money and not being so poor all the time. I'm excited about having a job with no homework and where I can come in, work my 10 hours, and not have to think about it again until the next shift. I'm excited about the prospect of maybe having some stability in my living situation (well, eventually...) and not having to live in my grandma's basement. I'm excited about being a ski bum for awhile and doing who knows what after that; the world is my oyster! I'm excited about closing this chapter in my life and starting a new one.
At the same time, however, I have been a student for pretty much as long as I can remember, and I feel like I'm starting to get pretty good at it. I'm not excited about the potential monotony of having a job. I'm not excited about not constantly learning interesting new things. I'm not excited about leaving the college-student social demographic and quickly becoming too old to do fun college-kid things that I never did as a college kid. I'm not excited about no longer being around lots of other attractive young (single?) people all the time.
So graduation is kind of a mixed-bag for me, but I bet it is for lots of graduates, and I bet I'll get over it. College also had plenty of highs and lows. Some classes were great, others were not. Some professors were interesting, some were dull. In some classes I learned a lot, and in others I learned very little. Average it all together and the experience as a whole was good. Here are some of the highs and lows:
Highs
Well, I guess I should study a little bit for my last test, Portuguese, and then I'll be heading up to Vail to rest up for tomorrow's early start to the next chapter. I'll be back in Boulder next weekend to move out of Grandma's basement. I love Grandma, but I'm glad I'm moving out of there.
On that note, while in the USA rappers and hip-hop artists rap about bling-bling, women, and fast cars, Taiwanese hip-hop star Jay Chou raps about his Grandma in this song called "Grandma" (wai po). This is a sweet video about his grandma's birthday and how he planned this big party for her at an old restaurant and stuff but how all she really wants is her good memories of the past. So cute.
I'm not sure, but I think that this past semester was probably my hardest semester yet. Sure, I could have taken 12 credit hours and had a great slack-off last semester, but the masochist in me won that argument and so I ended up taking 7 extra completely un-needed hours (Portuguese and Russian). I also tried (and failed) to have a part-time job during this semester, but I had to quit a few weeks ago because I just wasn't hackin' it. I'm glad I did because these last two weeks or so I have been going full-bore just to keep up with school. I didn't keep track, but I don't think there was a single weekend this semester when I didn't have to come to school during the weekend to work on something.
In the end it was a pretty good semester though. It is still too early to officially call it a success because I have yet to receive any final grades, but I am anticpating mostly A's, and I am hoping that I have done just well enough to edge my final GPA up over the crucial 3.5 mark to graduate with distinction. I won't be able to give the official report on that for a few weeks though. Anyhow, my classes were interesting, I learned a lot, and despite the hectic schedule I think I actually enjoyed this semester. How could I NOT enjoy a semester full of linguistics and foreign language classes though?! If only I didn't have that one international affairs class then this would have been a pretty fantastic semester.
It was a pretty good way to end my time here at CU. People keep asking me if I am really excited to be graduating and if it feels weird, but really it just feels like the end of another semester to me. It probably won't start to resonate until about a month from now when the next semester starts up and instead of heading back to school I'll be busy putting my shiny new degree to good use driving a bus.
As for being excited, sure, I'm excited, but at the same time I'm not. I'm excited about making some money and not being so poor all the time. I'm excited about having a job with no homework and where I can come in, work my 10 hours, and not have to think about it again until the next shift. I'm excited about the prospect of maybe having some stability in my living situation (well, eventually...) and not having to live in my grandma's basement. I'm excited about being a ski bum for awhile and doing who knows what after that; the world is my oyster! I'm excited about closing this chapter in my life and starting a new one.
At the same time, however, I have been a student for pretty much as long as I can remember, and I feel like I'm starting to get pretty good at it. I'm not excited about the potential monotony of having a job. I'm not excited about not constantly learning interesting new things. I'm not excited about leaving the college-student social demographic and quickly becoming too old to do fun college-kid things that I never did as a college kid. I'm not excited about no longer being around lots of other attractive young (single?) people all the time.
So graduation is kind of a mixed-bag for me, but I bet it is for lots of graduates, and I bet I'll get over it. College also had plenty of highs and lows. Some classes were great, others were not. Some professors were interesting, some were dull. In some classes I learned a lot, and in others I learned very little. Average it all together and the experience as a whole was good. Here are some of the highs and lows:
Highs
- First-Year Chinese - Everything was new and exciting and interesting and Chinese was fun and the teachers were good and my classmates were cool. It was a great start to college.
- Freshmen Dorms - Some of my best friends from college are people I met in the dorms. Sure, they weren't perfect, but I'm glad we had to live in them.
- Having an apartment and roommate - Dorms were fun, but so was having an apartment.
- Physics for Non-Science Majors - My teacher was a Nobel Prize winner and who knew that physics could be so interesting! What a great class.
- Global Change - Another great science class that I would not have taken if it weren't for core requirements. The teacher looked like the Unabomber (who happens to be jailed here in Colorado), but he was a great teacher and we learned all about global warming and climate change. By the way, GO SEE AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH!
- Study Abroad - I am so glad that I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a year studying in China. It was really an amazing experience that I am sure will continue to affect me for many years to come. Also, the research program I did in China before finally coming back to the USA was great too.
- Political Geography - I've never worked so hard and still been so afraid of failing a class before. This class was challenging, but so interesting. Dare I say this is the best class in the whole International Affairs major?
- People - I have met lots of great, fun, interesting, smart people in college. They have all helped to influence who I have become over the past 4+ years, and I thank them for that.
- Linguistics - This was definitely my favorite major and I pretty much loved every single linguistics class that I took. I almost didn't even take any linguistics classes, but then I decided to major in it and I am so glad that I did.
- Languages - Learning Chinese is probably the most important thing that I am taking away from college, but I also got to take a little bit more Spanish, I started Russian, and I have a pretty good start on Portuguese now too.
- Second and Fourth-Year Chinese - It is unfortunate that so much of my Chinese major was so miserable. The teachers for these classes were miserable and they made the class miserable. We had special not-so-nice Chinese names for them. Sometimes we joked about how their evil gazes could melt our souls (and not in the cute, romantic way). Their passive-aggressive silent treatments made our hearts freeze. They were awful.
- International Affairs Seminar - This class was taught by a lady from the Economics department who didn't seem to know or care about international affairs where we have learned to look at the whole picture. She told us on several occasions to ignore the politics and social aspects and instead just focus on the economics. She wasn't very nice either.
- Hmm, there are a few other lows, but they weren't actually all that bad, so let's not dwell on them.
Well, I guess I should study a little bit for my last test, Portuguese, and then I'll be heading up to Vail to rest up for tomorrow's early start to the next chapter. I'll be back in Boulder next weekend to move out of Grandma's basement. I love Grandma, but I'm glad I'm moving out of there.
On that note, while in the USA rappers and hip-hop artists rap about bling-bling, women, and fast cars, Taiwanese hip-hop star Jay Chou raps about his Grandma in this song called "Grandma" (wai po). This is a sweet video about his grandma's birthday and how he planned this big party for her at an old restaurant and stuff but how all she really wants is her good memories of the past. So cute.
12.15.2006
Sudden Realization
The strangest thing happened to me the other night as I was falling asleep in bed. For some reason, like a bolt of lightning from out of the clear blue sky, I was suddenly overcome with this profound feeling that capital punishment is wrong. I have always been pretty neutral/apathetic about capital punishment. I mean, I never thought it was a good thing, but I thought, "well, they have done horrible things, so it's probably not too bad to do away with them." But then all of the sudden it just seemed like a horrible thing to me. I mean, sure, most of them have done horrible things, but does that make it right to kill them? Maybe this article about the botched 34-minute execution in Florida this past week that I had read earlier that day had something to do with this change of heart.
I don't remember how I came across this video by Psapp a few weeks ago, but it seems appropriate here. *WARNING* this video contains some cartoon violence.
I don't remember how I came across this video by Psapp a few weeks ago, but it seems appropriate here. *WARNING* this video contains some cartoon violence.
12.13.2006
Rockin' the Português!
I gave a presentation in português today, and basically I rocked its socks. I talked about the different dialects of Portuguese. I had to limit it to just 5 minutes though, which was hard because there is a lot to say about that subject. I would have preferred to have this presentation be 25 minutes and have my International Affairs presentation only be five minutes. I'm not sure yet, but I think that Portuguese might be just as much fun to give presentations in as Spanish or Chinese... (dare I say more fun?). With a little bit more practice I might even be able to trick people into thinking that I actually speak it!
Anyhow, with that presentation behind me my to-do list continues to shrink. I still have plenty of work to finish over the next 5 days, but compared to what I had on my plate a few days ago everything is looking pretty good.
I was going to put up a song in Portuguese, but I couldn't find that I liked (here's what I found, but it didn't meet even my low standards). So instead I'm going to post this song that I've been addicted to for the past week or so called, "Falling by the Wayside" by People in Planes. The last song that I was addicted to was "Move Along" by All-American Rejects. Like that video, this video also features a long-haired lead singer. I think I am just jealous that I can't have hair like that. Contrary to what the song says, I am not losing control, nor am I falling by the wayside, I just like the song.
Anyhow, with that presentation behind me my to-do list continues to shrink. I still have plenty of work to finish over the next 5 days, but compared to what I had on my plate a few days ago everything is looking pretty good.
I was going to put up a song in Portuguese, but I couldn't find that I liked (here's what I found, but it didn't meet even my low standards). So instead I'm going to post this song that I've been addicted to for the past week or so called, "Falling by the Wayside" by People in Planes. The last song that I was addicted to was "Move Along" by All-American Rejects. Like that video, this video also features a long-haired lead singer. I think I am just jealous that I can't have hair like that. Contrary to what the song says, I am not losing control, nor am I falling by the wayside, I just like the song.
12.10.2006
Random
This post is titled "Random" because I am going to talk about a few random things.
And I think that's about it for today's randomness. On that note I will leave you with a song called "Random" by the beloved Lady Sovereign. It may not be a "good" song, but I think it's pretty "entertaining."
*WARNING: This song does have some bad words, so if you are offended by that kind of thing then don't listen to or watch this video. ALSO, if you didn't like the last Lady Sovereign song that I put up, "Hoodie", then proceed with caution and at your own risk and don't say I didn't warn you. But I personally think that this song is less annoying than that last one was.
- Music Taste
Kristi O called me the other day to tell me that they played a clip of "Gasolina" on NPR and that she thought of me (because I put that video on my blog a few months ago). You should listen to the story on NPR (it's about 5 minutes long), but basically it's about this 64-year-old guy talking about how after recently being fired from his job, he began listening to the CD Crunk Hits: Volume 2 . He said that while he would never recommend an entire CD by any of the artists featured on this compilation, as a compilation he can't get enough of it. I think that he makes a good point that just because music isn't necessarily "good" in the sense that a music critic might use it, it can still be "entertaining."
- Finals Masochism
Everyone (including myself) likes to moan and groan and whine and complain about how busy they are at the end of the semester. Everyone has umpteen final projects to do, long papers to write, tests to study for, and homeworks to turn in. As much as we complain, I personally actually enjoy this part of the semester. This is the point where you have to have your shit together. This is where all the things you've been learning about over the course of the semester start to come together and make sense. This is where you get to put all of that expensive shiny new knowledge to use. Also, how great is that feeling you get when you turn in the very last thing and you are free?! It's a great feeling, but you can only achieve this feeling after a few weeks of stress.
- Girls, Girls, Girls
The end of the semester also brings some bad news though. The end of the semester is also when you realize that you have, once again, missed out on all of those great dating opportunities. It seems like I had a particularly high-quality crop of women in my classes this semester. Out of all of my classes, I can probably think of at least 6 girls who I should've/could've/would've liked/tried to date. All six of them had various combinations of being pretty, smart, in-shape, fun, funny, interesting, bi-lingual. Sure, a few of them were more appealing than the others, but really any one of them would have made for some real first-class dating material. If only I had the cojones to ask one of them out for even just a cup of coffee or something... But then I got to thinking that even if I had the cojones, I still would have had to overcome at least three other significant barriers to dating: - Time - dating takes time, and time is one commodity that I did not have this semester.
- Money - dating also costs more money than not dating. Even when I did have a little bit of money this past semester, I was having to work for it, which took time, and that takes us back to the first barrier.
- Bachelor Pad - think about how many women want to date a guy who lives with his mom. I think the answer is zero. Now try to imagine how many women want to date a guy who lives in his grandmother's basement. Yeah... not many. And that brings me to my next topic.
- Moving Out
Sure, I love my grandma, and free rent is nice, but there are a few reasons why I am really looking forward to moving out of my grandma's basement: - Sexyback - Living in my grandmother's basement is not helping my sex-appeal, and I need all the help I can get.
- Furnace - Maybe I was spoiled growing up in houses that had virtually-silent hot-water baseboard heat as opposed to noisy forced-air heat. As if just the sound of the air coming through the duct isn't enough, my room is also right next to the furnace, so I also get the added auditory pleasure of listening to the furnace itself humming away as it blasts warm air into the house. As I am laying in bed trying to sleep, some nights it seems like the furnace spends more time on than off. I lay there as the anger and annoyance inside of me boil faster than the temperature in the room, waiting for the thing to finally shut off. When it finally does, I feel like I need to hurry up and fall asleep so that maybe I won't hear it the next time it comes on (which will be all too soon). The duct into my room can be opened or closed, and I have tried both ways but it is equally loud in both positions. I would rather the house be freezing cold than have to listen to that furnace click on and off all night long.
- Spaciousness - The room I live in is not large. I am quite accustomed to having my clothes and stuff strewn about all over my floor, but at least I like to have a place to put them when I finally do clean my room. In this room though, about the only place I have to hang clothes is on the ski pole that is sitting with one end on the bookshelf and the other end on the back of a chair that's sitting in the middle of my room.
And I think that's about it for today's randomness. On that note I will leave you with a song called "Random" by the beloved Lady Sovereign. It may not be a "good" song, but I think it's pretty "entertaining."
*WARNING: This song does have some bad words, so if you are offended by that kind of thing then don't listen to or watch this video. ALSO, if you didn't like the last Lady Sovereign song that I put up, "Hoodie", then proceed with caution and at your own risk and don't say I didn't warn you. But I personally think that this song is less annoying than that last one was.
12.09.2006
Insomnia: Part IV
You guys are probably sick of reading about my sporadic insomnia, but I'm not sick of writing about it yet, so here comes the latest episode.
I don't know if tonight's insomnia is due more to the mocha coffee that I had this evening, or to the bar of delicious organic dark chocolate that I had after that, but whatever it is my mind is racing and I can't shut it off. Granted, I do have a lot on my mind these days...
I've already planned out, put a lot of thought into, and even jotted down two pages of notes for my next 6 blog entries or so (not including this one, number 7 I guess), and I still can't sleep. I've also already put a lot of thought into the 5 or 6 projects/tests/homeworks that I have due over the next couple days, but still my mind won't rest. I haven't had any MINI-mania tonight though... nor have I spent much time thinking about fixed gear bikes. I've probably rolled over in bed from one side to the other at least 30 times so far, but still no sleeping.
Anyway, I have lots to do tomorrow, so I should really try hard to get some sleep. We'll see how many of those planned blog entries I actually end up writing too, since last time I did this I didn't end up writing about any of them...
After I posted my last entry about insomnia, the next day I remembered a good song called "Insomnia" by a guy/band that I really like named Faithless and I was kind of mad that I hadn't posted this song instead. But then I thought that there will almost surely be another chance to post a song about insomnia, so tonight I'm posting that video. There are a few other songs by this group that I also really like and maybe I'll post them too in the future.
I don't know if tonight's insomnia is due more to the mocha coffee that I had this evening, or to the bar of delicious organic dark chocolate that I had after that, but whatever it is my mind is racing and I can't shut it off. Granted, I do have a lot on my mind these days...
I've already planned out, put a lot of thought into, and even jotted down two pages of notes for my next 6 blog entries or so (not including this one, number 7 I guess), and I still can't sleep. I've also already put a lot of thought into the 5 or 6 projects/tests/homeworks that I have due over the next couple days, but still my mind won't rest. I haven't had any MINI-mania tonight though... nor have I spent much time thinking about fixed gear bikes. I've probably rolled over in bed from one side to the other at least 30 times so far, but still no sleeping.
Anyway, I have lots to do tomorrow, so I should really try hard to get some sleep. We'll see how many of those planned blog entries I actually end up writing too, since last time I did this I didn't end up writing about any of them...
After I posted my last entry about insomnia, the next day I remembered a good song called "Insomnia" by a guy/band that I really like named Faithless and I was kind of mad that I hadn't posted this song instead. But then I thought that there will almost surely be another chance to post a song about insomnia, so tonight I'm posting that video. There are a few other songs by this group that I also really like and maybe I'll post them too in the future.
12.05.2006
The Wall...
...is fast approaching. I hope I don't hit it. I feel like I might, and the really hard stuff hasn't even started yet...
What was I thinking?
I have oatmeal for breakfast pretty much every day. Not the microwave kind, but the kind you have to cook on the stove. I love it and I don't know if I could ever get sick of it. A lot of times I also have yogurt. For the past few weeks though I've been thinking, "what would happen if I were to mix a cup of yogurt into the oatmeal?" I mean, I like oatmeal, and I like yogurt, so it's possible that mixed together "yogurmeal" might be tasty too. Afterall, oatmeal tastes good with milk in it, and it tastes good with fruit in it, and it tastes good with soymilk in it, so yogurt seems like a good candidate too.
Well, I was wrong. It tastes bad. Don't ever mix yogurt into your oatmeal.
Well, I was wrong. It tastes bad. Don't ever mix yogurt into your oatmeal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)