Happy Thanksgiving!
All this from a girl who is incredibly happy to be having Thanksgiving at home! Much though I miss Italy and think about it every moment of every day, Thanksgiving just isn't the same anywhere but home. Check out
my last Thanksgiving on my old blog (as you can see, I was still wrestling with some major design issues); we had an abundance of Thanksgiving spirit, we tried hard, and we made a delicious feast. But today as I stood over the pot of mashed potatoes and marveled over the sheer fluffiness, I realized that Thanksgiving is quintessentially American. It's a have-at-home kind of holiday. And since I probably won't come home for Thanksgiving regularly in the future, it's especially special this year. Not to mention delicious, and filled with
real pies, an actual turkey (sans Avian flu), and lots and lots of mashed potatoes. So, a very, very wonderful Thanksgiving.
Labels: Italy
Entitled much?
I'm sure it could fit into one space. But that would defeat the entire purpose, of course. Why own a Hummer unless you intend to show it off? Or hey, restore your manhood, I believe are the exact words of the commercial. Ah, Hummer owners. I just don't understand the urge to drive something so big and self-centered and, quite frankly, hideous. But, good news! As of 2007, Hummers will be discontinued. Seems someone finally realized that Hummers are a huge fossil fuel burner, and WOW, we're running out of fossil fuel! So, the end of Hummers. Personally, I'm holding out for the introduction of Smart Cars to the US. Just picture it! Smart Cars everywhere! Sheer brilliance, the person who invented Smart Cars.
Labels: politics
Break
It's Thanksgiving break, and I have all week off from school. I'm enjoying the free time by working on college apps (I sent in my St Andrews app yesterday!), searching for a job, watching movies, going for hikes, and sleeping in late. So, some fun, some work, and a lot of laziness. I went for a hike on Monday with the Westridge hiking club, and Taffy came along. As usual, she went nuts in the water, running through the streams, and not leaving the pond at the base of the waterfall. She was sopping wet after only a few minutes of chasing sticks, and again and again came out of the water to shake all over us.
She's such a cutie!
We're back on track!
Sitting avidly in front of the news last night, I pretty much burst into tears when Tennessee went to the Republican candidate. The house had already gone to the Democrats (Nancy Pelosi! woot!!), and it all really weighed on the Senate. 49 Republicans, 48 Democrats, three states still counting: Missouri, Montana and Virginia. Democrats needed all three to get the Senate. Otherwise Cheney's vote would be the deciding vote on most matters...... a thought too terrifying to even ponder for very long.
I stayed up late, waiting for the last votes to be counted. When I started in sniffle every couple minutes at the prospect of a Republican senate (and an abysmally blind American people), I realized that I needed to go to sleep. I would have to wait till the next morning to learn the (possibly terrible) election outcome. But, there was little profit from waiting: this morning Montana and Virginia were still undecided. Down to two states, and Democrats needed both. And I still had to go to school. But - good news! Montana elected the Democratic candidate by noon, and then it was just Virginia. I couldn't help thinking, much though I wanted Allen to SUFFER DEFEAT, that this isn't a democratic system - if the Senate represents the entire country, and that voice is exactly split, then a majority by one still isn't a majority: they have no right to call it that, or to vote on things fundamental to the American people. But at the same time, the American people seem to be pretty distracted by relatively unimportant things, so maybe it is up to the Senate, no matter how closely divided, to be our guide. And since it's a Democratic senate, I'm certainly not unhappy. It may not be much of a majority at all, and from an objective POV it may be a pretty unbalanced system, but it's my majority! And I hope, hope, hope that they will concentrate on fundamental things: fundamental being the WAR IN IRAQ, and finding Alternative Energy so that we won't crash when we run out of oil in 2030. Gay marriage and abortion are fundamental, too, but people are making far too big a deal over both, which distracts from the real picture: don't get me wrong, I think those are important issues, and I think that they should be legal - I just think it's ridiculous that as a country, people would elect their leaders on only those issues.
But what I sat down to write was this: WE HAVE CONTROL OF THE SENATE!!! Webb in Virginia won, and defeated Allen, the slimy horrible toad-candidate, and the Democrats have the Senate, we have a voice again, we can finally have a say in rejecting and modifying the plans of the Grand Old Party. Not to mention, writing our own laws.
I definitely started crying when the news came on. Honestly, it seems too good to be true. I'm so proud of America!
Labels: california, politics
Why Caltech students take people-classes.
I heard a joke, which may or may not be true: the pubs office at Caltech was trying to get students to buy the school newspapers, because they had extremely low sales. The problem was that no one was reading them. Solution? They taped the newspapers to the ground, so that the students would be forced to read the title page as they walked from class to class with their hands shoved in their pockets, their earphones in, and their eyes focused on the ground in front of their feet.
My friend said that that was probably a joke, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it were true.
Caltech isn't that bad, don't get me wrong. I love the campus, I love that you glance up and there are the San Gabriel mountains on a clear, beautiful day. Palm trees everywhere, balmy temperatures, jacaranda blossoms galore.... and of course the academics are superb, since it's a school for geniuses nation and world-wide. My dad taught there, in fact, for over 20 years (he has a wikipedia entry, actually, to my astonishment and pride), so I grew up on the campus. I remember learning to ride my bike on the quad between my dad's building and its twin, in the shadow of the odd but awesome Baxter Auditorium. And once when we built a model sailboat, we sailed it in the pond (not the crayfish ponds, but the one with a fountain and bridge), even though technically that wasn't allowed.
I definitely wonder what it would be like if I still had an excuse to spend a lot of time on the Caltech campus.... my dad died a few years ago, so my growing-up-on-Caltech pretty much ended then. Chilling on the campus the other day for the first time in four years, I suddenly teared up, thinking that I'd know the campus so much better than I do if my dad were still alive. But that's not terribly feasible, so I thought that maybe I could take an initiative. Get to know Caltech a little better, meet the people, get a glimpse into Caltech and who knows, maybe gain some insight into my dad's life and work there.
So, since I've been terribly out of shape lately, and my mom and I still get discounted gym memberships through the Caltech pension plan, I've joined the gym. Not the intellectual haven that is the rest of the campus, but still. At least a little bit of Caltech vibes floatin around. Today: my first attempt to break into the antisocial bubble that is Caltech. Moderate success. I ran for 15 minutes, fast-ish, and debated whether the guy standing in the same spot for 10 minutes was watching me in the mirror (verdict: yes). Then I wandered from machine to machine, marveling at my weakness and at the strength of some of these apparently very buff (but still antisocial) Caltechies.
It definitely took me the first half hour to figure out that to change the weight, there's a small, invisible button that you have to press to change the peg. Yeah. Picture me wandering from machine to machine rattling the pegs with an expression of confusion, seeming to wonder "why is everyone required to lift the same amount?" Fortunately, most of the machines were at manageable weights, so I didn't have to make that much of a fool of myself. Finally, on a machine facing the corner, I gave myself the luxury of rattling the peg till finally - finally! - I accidentally hit that magic, hidden button, and voila, out it popped. So. Now I know for next time! In the event that I am ever working out next to anyone I do not want to embarrass myself in front of (namely, someone extremely, extremely attractive), I can smoothly change the weights, whip out that peg and change it to 30, 45, 60...... someday I'll be strong!
But I must say, not a word was spoken the entire time I was in that gym. In fact, I had virtually no interaction between any other person. Not that I particularly expected to, but still, there was just something about this silence that rang of GENIUS. You know how geniuses are brilliant at math or science or whatever their thing is, but don't know how to meet the eyes of the person they're talking to. Consider the following: I and a young curly-haired man were approaching the same machine, but he wasn't walking very purposefully, so I wasn't sure whether he actually wanted to use it. I stopped, asked "Oh, were you going to use this?" He stopped, seemed to freeze for a second while giving me a deer-in-the-headlights glance, looked at his feet and muttered, "No, no, go ahead." And he walked quickly off in the exact opposite direction. Well, I got the machine..... But honestly! Those Caltech geniuses. I knew before I signed up that they're not that talkative, though. Honestly, it's just about being on the campus again. It's pretty cool.
