Got a couple books and some flashcards in order to prep myself. I seem to be acing the math/quantitative section, as well as the part dealing with logical arguments. So, I’m practicing on my vocabulary. I’m hoping to take it within the next few months… maybe I should set a goal for that.
Got a job in Portland working in the kitchen of a local restaurant after nearly two months of no work. I hate not working, so I’m glad I got this. Now I just gotta balance it out with the rest of my life.
i know you, girl. now we live together. amazing, huh?
i registered to vote, thanks to your encouragement! hooray!
I think that this goal has been completed…. I met a girl, through here (roundaboutly) and now we are together. We spoke only briefly, but from the start knew we were both dedicated to one another. A cross country trip, two trips across the world, and 2 months later, we now live together and are happy… who knows what the world will bring? What greatness will be revealed from the darkened folds of time and fate? Someone to love so much, and have her love me so much. We have been brought together, and I am so grateful for her.
This book, written by a graduate and consort of MIT, is a quick read about the tenets of simplicity and their usefulness. Mostly, Maeda uses things like anagrams and mnemonics to get his points across. Frankly, I found most of it to be pretty intuitive from the get-go, only I hadn’t bothered to come up with some snazzy little word games to remember the maxims of simplicity. He outlines 10 rules… Reduce, Organize, Time, Learn, Differences, Context, Emotion, Trust, Failure, The One. Want to know more? Well, read it, or check out www.lawsofsimplicity.com for more information.
Re-read Burroughs’ Junky in my spare time… when did I finish that again? I forget, but I did. It was more insightful the second time around. I appreciated the simplicity of it much more—its understatedness. Too bad I lack the language to discuss it.
I also just finished The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby, an interesting anthropological study concerning ayahuasca visions and their relations to DNA… the author claims that somehow, these visions may be related to photon emissions put out by DNA… the chemical DMT perhaps allows one to be able to “see” these emissions in the visible light spectrum. Also, the author postulates that perhaps that DNA is responsible/correlates to some sort of “intelligence” or “mind” amongst all things that have it…. very odd. Unfortunate most of these postulates are far from being well thought out. Despite this, it made me think more about ayahuasca, genetics, and darwinism… tangential thoughts that perhaps will evolve into something else.
I finished Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and Junky by William S. Burroughs. That was the first Cormac McCarthy book I’ve read. Although I didn’t understand how it garnered so much praise, I guess I will check out his other works….at least, No Country For Old Men, as I am keen on seeing that movie once I get out of Vietnam. Junky was very matter-of-fact. I like Burroughs, though I’m surprised at how much people like Junky based on how bare it seems. People have told me it’s their favorite by Burroughs. I should ask them why. I’ve only read Naked Lunch and queer. Both were very good. I should ask around for other recommended Burroughs books…
Well, I was out traveling for like a month, so I kind of forgot to update, but I remember now I finished God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Vonnegut. I loved the ending. I didn’t expect it, and it literally just popped up and ended the book. Not my favorite from Vonnegut, but I think he is a seminal writer.
Got three Chinese visas, various entries/exits to China, and a Vietnamese visa…which is where I am now! Hooray!
I sent out some postcards to friends and family last year while travelling in Morocco of February of last year.
I’m in China now, and I must’ve sent out like 50 postcards already, not to mention a few parcels and several letters as well. I’m going on holiday in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos maybe) in February of this year, and I expect to send out a lot more.
I think people really appreciate getting a postcard, especially from some far off place with a bunch of stamps and seals that are all over it. I’ve ended up getting several letters in return, too.
Hopefully, this will be a habit I continue into the future.
Finished re-reading A Short History of Myth – a good introductive book to some ideas of the development, and social relevance of mythology.
ignoring passing this one exam for years now (yes, I love to procrastinate) and I have a chance to go take it within about a month’s time. So, I figure I should cram for the next month or so. Hence the goal.
If I am out of town on the weekend, I will consider being lenient about studying. Otherwise, I want to study and practice at least an hour each day, and review the lessons of the previous few days.
I just got another Chinese learner’s book for Christmas – Chinese for Dummies. Although it’s not amazing (and has no Chinese characters in it, imagine that!), it has alternate phrases, more words I did not know, and it’s geared towards speaking, so I’m working more and more on my vocalizations and vocalizing myself. I also got a Chinese Character-A-Day calendar, so I can practice characters and keep them in mind each day.
As for progress, I think I have a beginner’s understanding of Chinese. I can get around the country with relative ease, make myself understood, and even recognize simple queries of others (e.g. Dao nali? – Where are you going?). I hope to leave Chinese with at least an intermediate level of Chinese writing, speaking, and comprehension.
Even something like a fish. Of course, my killing tactic was rather brutal and savage (smashing its head in with a rock), but it was all I had at the time. I think it is a valuable thing to know. Survival is important, but also respect for the animal which loses its life so that you may continue yours. You should know what is happening whenever you consume flesh, what it means.
Smoking pot and being a high schooler was awesome. That among other things – hanging with friends, being generally ridiculous and absurd – was great. Even in college it was pretty fun.
But after a while, I found it hard to concentrate and remember stuff I wanted to (like that book on phenomenology I was reading for philosophy class, or that treatise on Indian independence from Britain for anthropology). And after a while, combined with personality, it started making me anxious.
So, I quit. It took some time because I wondered why the change was happening, I thought it might pass, etc. Most of my friends still smoked, so I kind of felt like the odd man out. But in the end, it was what was best for me. I liked it when I did it, but it’s not my desire anymore.
Whichever you choose, be smart and have fun.
Boo ya, just finished Franny & Zooey by J.D. Salinger – third book for this lonely month of December. I haven’t read much of his works, because I never much cared for his style. Both Franny and Zooey are insufferable haute-couture kids with jesus complexes. I can’t much get into that – all their yapping and going on. It’s not me. I’d be the dead but not forgotten Seymour, or the un/present Buddy. Or everyone. The Fat Lady Christ. Despite their intolerable egos, I think they come to a very real realization at the end, and that made the story worthwhile.
in 1st grade, I believe, I got a book on origami and how to make it. I never had proper origami paper, and some of the directions I had trouble understanding, so I never made much. But I’ve always remembered how to make a Samurai Hat, and it has been my staple at restaurants to make my napkin into a hat and wear it.
Recently, as I’m in China and have been sending letters back home, I have been wanting to learn origami again. So, I bought some origami paper. The other day I made an origami bat that was quite cute and sent it (along with an origami heart) to my girlfriend. Hopefully, I will learn a lot more. The internet is a wonderful resource in looking for origami directions, I’ve found.
I picked this habit up over the summer in college one year, ‘cause my friends kept talking about how your brain chemistry changed so much from nicotine, you COULDN’T stop. you know, typical talk taking away personal power. I hate that talk.
So I picked up smoking. Hardcore, too. No filters, and rolling my own good tobacco after a while. Even some pipe smoking. I found some new smoking buddies and we were even going to start a Cigar Club on campus (our mascot was a gopher, our slogan, cleverly enough: Gopher a cigar!). I just couldn’t get addicted, though. I quit within a year, feeling that was enough of a test period.
I don’t want people to think things are out of their control. You always have a choice. It may be a hard choice to make, but still, the choice is yours and yours alone.
The more and more I think about it, the more and more he seems like a Nazi.
That’s really besides the point to most of his philosophy, though…
I have only done this a couple times in my life that I recall (besides extremely small books): Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Paradise Lost (after waiting ‘til teh last second to write a high school thesis paper, hah!), and just yesterday – Breakfast of Champions. Maybe I’ll try doing it again sometime.
