If they have no bread, then let them eat cake

Today's anecdotal evidence of Global Warming comes from outside. The state of Maryland is under attack by the great mythical essence known as Rain and his posse called flash flooding. Rain likes to make the water levels rise, make traffic bad, and in general, make people crazy.

Maryland is one of those states that shakes its collective head at those stubborn states in the Midwest that face tornados. It also shakes its head at Florida and maybe Georgia too for being so stubborn for living in an area in which hurricanes frequently invade -- and have the potential of wiping out all of your possessions. Don't get me wrong, we like people, we're a blue state. What we have in peace of mind we trade for a temperate environment that has definitely has four seasons.

We're not used to major natural disturbances here, so when our DirecTV goes out we begin to search for the next place to move our families so that we can escape the obvious coming of Hell on earth. Bombing in D.C.? No problem -- tell us when a real issue arises, like an earthquake.

You may inquire when I begin to make sounds

According to my sources, I bore easily -- and when I am bored my annoyance coefficent increases tenfold. Being annoying involves attempting to reproduce sounds in my head that unfortunately happen to bother others.

The sounds that I was trying to reproduce in the car today were the chants that one can commonly hear in Noh, a form of Japanese Theatre.

Curious? Yes I know you are.

The best example that of what I was trying to do is below: you can hear them doing it perfectly. Today, it beat listening to D.C. Politics Hour which I usually enjoy.



I am not insane.

Netflixiado

I have succumbed to the ultimate American institution -- the one called Netflix that comes into our home and entertains us at the behest of our postal service. Netflix could not occur in a lot of other countries because of the lack of efficient postal service. At the very least, they would be forced to use UPS or FedEx. That's actually another story, the book I am reading is shedding a whole new light on the magical powers of the people in the little brown shorts.

Anyway, the first two films that I ordered and recieved were Paradise Now and Philadelphia. Paradise Now is presented in Arabic and Philadelphia is in English. Both films were controversial in their own right in their respective times (2005 and 1993), with Paradise Now being a Palestinian-sympathetic movie exploring the mind of two best friend suicide-bombers to-be. There is an incredible scene that truly accentuates the difference between the economic paradise that is Israel and the living hell that is the West Bank. The pain that the Israeli-Arabs feel is made quite palpable and it is an excellent movie that presents a point of view which is difficult to find in the United States.

Philadelphia is about a man with AIDS who is fired from his law firm for having AIDS. This one did not really score points with me for being especially eye-opening. Perhaps in 1993 it was (and Tom Hanks did win the Academy Award for Best Actor), but I have seen every typical HIV/AIDS story bajo del sol. It does sadden me that I am so desensitized to this epidemic that millions of people struggle to defeat each year. But that is what becoming a doctor is for, eventually I should be able to do more than donate money. Still, it is a well made movie that does have the ability to draw some strong emotions.

These are two movies that I command you to see if you want to feel a little bit more human.

Oooh

Several days of reckoning are now lining up to present me with either beautiful plan-enabling news, or news that will be severely life-altering. Where would we be without these days? They serve as forces that can motivate someone to work harder, validate the hard work that one has gone through, or conversely, they can be the source of heartbreak and eventual catastrophe. Whatever this news may be, I have resolved that I have to get the hunger back that I possessed such a long time ago. It is hard to go anywhere if you're not hungry.

Speaking of going places:

I traveled/studied in Mexico last summer, probably the best six weeks of my short life. If I want to cheer up, an easy way for me to do so is think of traveling. Roaming the world is definitely the one passion that has remained constant in my life. While I have not always had the opportunity because of financial restrictions (restrictions imposed on myself by myself for myself), the amount of pleasure that I draw from traveling simply shouldn't be allowed. I have a working formula that the amount of fun you have is directly related to the number of travel buddies that you have with you. These travel buddies are gold treasures and I hold on to these guys like no other. No doubt, I will be throwing many a Mexico story at you when I am feeling especially reminiscient.

My next small escapade will be a return to the Midwest. Although I am going there primarily for work purposes, I hope to use its northernly location as a hub to see old friends, and to see them in new places in which I have never been. I declare that 2006 will be a year to remember.

The worst decade in American history award

Only one decade provokes disdain in my mind. History has always been a soft spot for me, I recently gobbled up David McCullough's John Adams and fantasized about living in the late 18th century, meeting John Adams, witnessing the quintessiential installation of political idealogy, all of that. I always have to do this with an extra bit of dissociation from reality, because the color of my skin would have most likely put Mr. Adams and the rest of the United States off if I were not especially sycophantish and feeble.

I have closely looked at each decade in America's beautifully racist, sexist, isolationist, homophobic, xenophobic, unsympathetic, strange, ugly, determined, hard-working, magnificent and creative past, and I have discovered that I would never like to be transported back to the time period between 1980 and 1989, the 1980's. Why? It's a combination of a lot of things -- which I'l rattle off, but America's cynicism was at an all time high, Reaganomics became a known malady, Michael Jackson changed both his race and gender, cocaine was everywhere, HIV/AIDS became an epidemic, Challenger exploded, affirmative action was beginning to severely disrupt the mindset of the African-American community, and continue to stir simmering racial tensions.

On a superficial level, the fashion in the United States in the 1980's has to rank among the worst in human history. I'll look for it, but I am sure that that can be attributed to the influence of cocaine. Everyone just looked bad, and I am glad that I do not remember it.

Sure there were good things, like the emergence of personal computing which makes this rant possible, and of course in 1985 a light shone upon the earth when I was born

Shamelssly stealing a term from Stephen Colbert's comedic genius, the 1980's are now on notice.

On Making a Mess

So if I've learned anything by being an undergraduate in a lab, it's that I have to tread lightly. In hard sciences, the professors are generally insane. Their graduate students are going insane, and undergraduates in the same lab are typically beginning to show symptoms of something being wrong. Everyone has varying degrees of anality that you must learn, or risk becoming unpopular or even worse, a victim of a scolding. One example of a degree of anality is what constitutes making and leaving a mess. This is just like a quarrel with a roommate but with space related to your and other people's academic future, just because a lab looks like complete shit does not mean that all of shit has its own space and you had better not disturb or add to that.

One of the graduate students that I have been working with has been generous about giving tips out about how not to piss of professors. There are other qualities that he has that I try to emulate. He's a bibliophile -- especially regarding his research. I know he's a PhD candidate and has to work his ass off just to finish in five yearsbut it just really smacks of hard work and dedication. I try to be as meticuluous as he is, because how else does one get places?

It's getting to the point where hard work can only come in short bursts because my brain is so exhausted from trying to keep up with these crazies running around the lab.

Certainty is a rare thing

Home is so good. Daily arguments with the brother who has come home from his freshman year of college with fresh ultra-liberal ideas for me to stomp on, there's also time to read and read some more, time for Counter-Strike, the World Cup, The Sopranos, and The Colbert Report. Still, this is all mixed with my research and applying to medical school. Summer is wonderful because it serves as the recharge to the severe drain that is the year, and I do not look forward to a time when this summer recess will not occur.

The roommate and I always have unpredictable but interesting conversations. Earlier today I was discussing with my roommate my desire to have children as soon as possible because of my advanced age of 20. If I were to have a child now, it'd be 18 when I would be 38, which sounds pretty good to me. Now I just have to find lucky Mrs. Othan.

I have had a growing concern with my choice of becoming a doctor being incompatible to being able to raise a child in the loving way that I've had myself. Combine that with the idea of raising a child while simultaneously being a doctor does not work with my strong desire to travel. I do not even know if I want my child to grow up in the United States, there is far too much chance that he or she would grow up to become ignorant of the world outside of the United States. I want them to learn a language prettier than English. I want them to eat different foods that are actually from the place that he or she is from. At the same time, I want him or her to enjoy the opportunities that America provides. I've decided that if dreams come true, I am going to raise my child in a different country, and suggest to him or her that they look toward America for post-secondary education. I am proud of America, but I want my children to have something a bit different.

A Fortune

Walking around an enormous campus provides for many exciting moments. If you're not plugged into your iPod or absorbed into your cell phone, it's easy to find something to do while ambulating to your destination. The first thing that I like to do is peoplewatch, specifically people's faces. Students at a university are less stoic than the general population due to their relatively few experiences with adversity. Universities makes sure that their students go through plenty of that.

For me the most fun with peoplewatching is had when someone is walking slowly with the brightest smile on his or her face. Whatever it was that made him or her feel that way, you yourself are glad that it happened to them. Speculation is part of the fun too, perhaps her boyfriend just told her she was beautiful, or she just got that internship that she had been dying for. For that moment, you know that life has been good for her. Inevitably, there will be those trying to hold back tears while conversing with a friend, or while on a cell phone. Life has it's ups and downs and being aware that other human beings experience them too makes life bearable.

Besides people watching, I like to marvel at sheer size of the buildings on campus. Construction makes my eyes light up and my heart beat faster. Each one of the buildings on my campus could easily stand alone as a place of education for about 1,000 people. The idea of attempting to organize air and turn into productive area is quite interesting to me. Even though my training is in biochemistry, I have nothing but the utmost respect for the planners and engineers that make everything around us possible. I almost bow at their feet.

I like the little things too: like the recycling cans in all of their glory right next to trash cans (haha). I like the incredible abundance of mutant squirrels that have evolved a superiority complex, and the mystery animals at night time that are little too large and too fast to be something that would be pretty. By simply walking around, I have fallen in love with my school. I am not complaining about loving my school, but I believe it's just something that I have realized only recently. Everyone should make an effort to love their surroundings, because it makes everything else easier to love too.

The Duke Lacrosse Team Hubbub

Unless you have been living under a rock of preternatural size, then you know that in March three members of the Duke Lacrosse team allegedly raped an exotic dance at a party hosted by the team. I cannot think a current issue that irritates me more than this one. I can think of issues that flabbergast and baffle me more, but this one is simply aggravating because of the because of the extreme lengths that the media reaches to make people care.

Richard Brodhead, the president of Duke University, held a press conference yesterday to let the earth know that Duke Lacrosse will return for at least the 2006-2007 season. I am well aware of the racial circumstances and the fact that these players may have done something wrong, but canceling the season in the first place was one of the greatest overreactions in the history of sports administration. Have they been proven guilty yet?

There are 46 members on the lacrosse team, and three of them have been charged. Would it have made sense to cancel the Los Angeles Lakers season because Kobe Bryant was allegedly an evil person? These Duke players are a team, they are not the same person.

Why is the administration backed by the media surprised that athletes in college have parties with *gasp* minors taking in the alcohol? The false incredulity that floods the network and cable news shows with facts of life like these is disturbing. When they speculate on how evil Duke Lacrosse actually is, my eyes literally cannot stop from rolling while I look for something to knock me unconcsious until the segment is over. Thank God for the remote.

Housewarming

The family is cleaning up the house, because it deserves to be beautiful. Traversing the enormous mess is a therapeutic treasure hunt. I'm finding little wonders from my past that have been hidden away in the corners of my mind. Little wonders from a few years ago that bring up strong memories. Some of the finds are silly, like A's on past exams that don't really do anything but boost my confidence in my intelligence when I took the exam a year ago.

Some of them mean a bit more, like the board game that I received for my birthday that reminds me how you can love someone one day and a year later not give a hoot, or your old favorite shirt that reminds you of a spontaneous night of midnight basketball with your best friends.

I hope that a clean house will give us a fresh strat. This brand new blog is a fresh start, and since there is nothing here about myself yet, I'll let you know who I am. I'm a young student who attends a decent public university on the east coast of the United States. I define myself as a citizen of the planet earth who tries to know a little about a lot of things. Specialization is somewhat my enemy, which makes some subjects annoying. At this point in my life, my top 3 interests are getting into medical school, films, and international politics. Of course, I have 1000 other fleeting interests which I barely have the time to dabble into, but I'll try to vary what I'm talking about.

I love you, and with this blog, I won't be afraid to post more than once per day. So read often.