Seasons and motion: Random

Homeless man allegedly attacks man with Moon Pies - Boston.com

Wed, 28 May 2008 07:23:52 GMT

Fellow graduate school student, Jen, e-mailed me this. What's the world coming to when the South's favorite confection becomes a weapon of miniscule destruction?

Link to Homeless man allegedly attacks man with Moon Pies - Boston.com

And I'm back . . . though occupied.

Wed, 07 May 2008 02:24:51 GMT

I realize I've been pretty away for at least ten days now, so I probably should post something. I was out of town from April 30 to May 4, and have been really busy this week wrapping up an assignment for graduate school I'll turn in Saturday. On top of that, I have to make up a class Thursday morning at 7:30. All that to say, there's been much going on, but little time to share. However, I wanted to post some pictures from my trip to a students home town from last week. After this week, life will hopefully be more relaxed, and I'll be able to feel more "a part" of ordinary life experiences.

Running out of gas

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:29:55 GMT

And no, that doesn't mean I'm finally getting over some Mexican food. I've just felt a little ragged lately, being fairly tired and even a little out-of-sorts. I have an utterly-full week of class next week, and then almost a week without classes the following week (there's rarely been any vacations mid-semester here) . . . but that is a way away's. So, I'm feeling a need . . . for nothing. Yes, sounds nice, but not yet.

Until then, I'm hearing some guy from what the people here call "a concert" at the athletic field, doing something which in some places might resemble singing, but, to me, sounds like he's dry-heaving and/or struggling with constipation. I think I've established in my heart that any concerts without an accompanying band, or even the least little bit of musicians, is merely glorified karaoke.

A brief respite

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:39:19 GMT

Now that my first week of graduate school classes and there's a brief bit of respite, there's been some times to reflect on things since I've been in Chiang Mai. Probably the most full-fledged of an experience is readjusting to open-ended, understood communication without much control of what of the the direction the conversation takes. The first couple of days back were literally me fumbling through a few conversations points, like I actually needed to warm up some unseen conversational muscles. I still had conversations with others in Viet Nam, but it seemed predominantly in a controlled environment. Some of that was due to language proficiency, others just the state I was in. Here, being readily around people where the conversation could go wherever, I revisit what I've forgotten of hearing something new.

I think sometimes the environment I'm in gets a little predictable when I treat people on en par with how much I can communicate with them, not how people are unpredictable. We live and interact according to patterns then. At least, I'd found that to be something that has gotten in the way of how I could see interact. Does life get a little formulaic? Yeah, it can. Do some relationships take on a particular expression? Yeah, not all relationships are the same. I guess the challenge arises to continue to uphold the dignity of "the other," and remaining open to those unpredictable people in my life that can be used to challenge a life into fullness.

It's curious the kind of things you can fall out of custom with doing.

What happened to my up-beat entries???

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:04:56 GMT

I just barely skimmed through my recent entries and realize that, definitely before then, my up-beat, jovial, good-natured anecdotal writing thingamajiggies have been a bit scarce. I've been a little too much in my own head lately. Sorry about that! Such is something I finally realized, and don't want life here to always feel so heady.

Rock concert nostalgia

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 02:12:20 GMT

I've been getting strangely nostalgic recently. Not for anything major, but I've actually been remembering the rock concert I'd gone to on July 18th in Charlotte to see the band Rush. It was in a context of my friends in the Charlotte area being very patient with me, knowing that was an event that also brought me to the area (as well as visiting them), and was an event I never got to look back. Since I've been back in Ha Noi and have listened to a website by the band with a radio feature, I've gotten to look back on that concert and think, "Wow, that was actually a really good concert. They played a lot of really good songs." And it was.

Okay, thanks for letting a guy get nostalgic!

The Art of Thumb Twiddlry

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:45:06 GMT

When facing your time in the land of Limbo, a veritable Purgatory for those waiting for something constructive and fulfilling to do while awaiting employment, your evening in Viet Nam might revolve around these events:

Sit in a room and sweat
Get up and turn on the A/C or fan or continue to sweat
Read a book under the lamp light
Set down your book as the power goes out and you have no light
Stare into the night waiting for the power to come back on
Get a song like "She's Like the Wind" stuck in your head and bemoan Dirty Dancing
Rejoice once the power comes back on
Pout when it goes back off
Get up to grab a candle, but then the light comes back on
Consider doing graduate school work
Sit down and write a blog entry called "The Art of Thumb Twiddlry" instead

Now, to be true, those events haven't happened yet, but, hey, this is Viet Nam: the night's still young.

And there are pictures

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:03:06 GMT

After long promises of pictures, I finally deliver. Here are the pictures of the young ones I know, and from the past two weeks at Azusa Pacific University (though I didn't take those pictures all throughout my time there).

Now, my computer's battery is acting a little odd, as the charging and full-battery lights are flickering at once (amber, green, amber, green . . .), and I'm doing the one "Battery Calibration" thing in my Utilities section of my Start menu. Hope everything's alright . . .

I'll probably do another reflective post sometime later in light of my lessons from Greyhound.

RC Cola and MoonPies

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 21:00:21 GMT

I might as well call this "An Ode to the South." I was both reminded and introduced to the southern combination of RC Cola and MoonPies by my friend Allen, who I visited this weekend, after he brought it up as he quoted a professor of ours from college, Dr. Pierce, who specializes in southern history. Now, I drank and ate those separately before, but I've never had a combination of them. I didn't consume them simultaneously to the destruction of my teeth, but simply ate a little MoonPie, drank a little RC, and the percentage of sugar in my body began to sky-rocket. Not bad, but shouldn't be repeated.

Yes, I just wrote a little bit about that, but it's a weird thing, the things you need to do to get re-acclimated. Seeing as RC Cola was originally from Georgia and MoonPies from Tennessee, it was a nice . . . complement, maybe? Cola with a slightly-gritty and thick consistency (at least, to me), and a snack with a science-experiment-gone-wrong ingredients.

Unfortunately, I can't say me and my friend Allen went 100% hillbilly: we did not have them outside, in some rocking chairs facing the road, with our shirts off, and rifles or shotguns in our hands.

We tried.

Airborne!

Fri, 25 May 2007 13:46:01 GMT

Just thought I'd let you all know that in a little bit I'll be making my way to the airport in Ha Noi to return back to the US. It'll be a week earlier (for reasons I can share about when back) than what I initially slotted to do at June 2nd. I sort of wanted to keep it hush-hush until I get back, so that the people who do find out are the few who check this here website. So, this is also a quiet way of seeing who visits here!

What was weird is that I'd progressively moved the stuff in my room each day this week to the home of a giving and hospitable ELI couple here (actually, the one with a new daughter), until finally everything was emptied out. I sort of wanted to see when they'd say something. When I dropped by the house at 5:15 PM to return the keys to the landlord, he hadn't the faintest clue that I was moving out. He'd even walked through my room Thursday evening, thinking he'd pick up on it. Alas, he was all surprised, asking about when I was leaving, when I'd be back, if there was anything else I needed to do.

"Seek and you will find, ask and it will be given to you . . ." Oh well. I guess I shouldn't be surprised my stay there ends in the manner it's been maintained.

Hello the U.S. of A., and a lot of sitting down . . .

Expensive movies

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:41:29 GMT

I don't really intend to go anywhere with this, but when did it happen that most "successful" Hollywood movies could only cost between $100-200 million, if not over that? I realize a willing population to go see those type of films is definitely a factor, but . . . it doesn't make much sense to me. Largely the reason why I removed the Pirates 4 thing (unless it mysteriously reappears against my will). I know it's CGI and sets and all, but . . . the stories? I'm not really looking for a list, but am just surprised by how things progress with Hollywood.

Special men

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:07:18 GMT

First, something for you to read right quick, but I'll embolden my chief point of concern. This is from a Vietnamese news source, obviously:

24 cannons belonging to kings in the Nguyen dynasty were found in Gia Huynh stream, Duc Linh district, in the southern province of Binh Thuan, by crap-iron men, said Nguyen Thanh Hung, chairman of People’s Committee of Duc Linh district.

Now, the mystery to me is translation-wise. I'm willing to submit five plausible explanations to this because my attempts at finding clarification are fuzzy at best from available Vietnamese sources. The first is most plausible, while the rest are simply hypotheses:

The men are actually scavengers of unwanted, refuse, unused, "crap" iron.
The journalist is sympathizing with the men because the men are anemic, so their iron is, well, crap.
The men themselves are composed of crap-iron ore, on their way to becoming like the following possibility.
It is a translation issue because it was actually the superhero Iron Man, Colossus when he used his steel-armor superpower, the Silver Surfer in promotion of the new Fantastic Four movie, or the journalist couldn't remember Superman's name, so tried getting away with his other title of "The Man of Steel." Either way, one of them was returning it to the Vietnamese people out of an interest in preserving Vietnamese heritage.
The men have an unfortunate--not to mention uncomfortable--digestive condition in which everything they eat comes out as, well, you know.

When traveling in Ha Noi traffic . . .

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 08:25:11 GMT

"Red" means "go."
"Yellow means "go."
"Green" means "yield."
Straight has right-of-way.
Right-turn has right-of-way.
Left-turn has right-of-way.
Buses always have right-of-way.
Pedestrians have right-of-way when they show you their palm.
Signs are optional.
Traffic lines are optional.
Driver's licenses are optional.
Wearing safety helmets are optional (except on the highway . . . *cough*).
Turning signals are optional.
Breaks are optional.
Turning your head is optional.
Using your horn is required.
The sidewalk is an extension of the road.
The parking lot is also known as "the sidewalk."
Fruit sellers are not supposed to work on the sidewalk.
Fruit sellers sell their fruit along the curb.
The curb is not known as "the sidewalk."
Cars are actually big motorbikes.
Trucks are actually big motorbikes.
Buses are actually big motorbikes.
Wearing a cloth mask around your mouth protects you.

When making a cup of coffee . . .

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 08:56:33 GMT

When making a cup of coffee, it is generally important to consider whether it isn't something you yourself want to be drinking. Regardless whatever "the norms" may be to coffee drinking, it is of the utmost-importance that you want to drink what you make. That is not including occasions where you do something special for others, or are "eating what's put in front of you," as I do in different ways everyday. Instead, when making stuff for yourself (which doing so shouldn't have a fear of selfishness), make what you like.

I write that after making a cup of my American-sized Vietnamese cup of coffee, and realizing, while it is strong as Vietnamese coffee, maybe I could make it a little . . . weaker? Can I write that and not feel "unmanly," as though manliness alone dealt with what's inside a coffee cup? Such rings especially true from the time when I was around 7 or 8, in my Dad's beat-up blue Dodge work car, and I threw up in my Dad's coffee cup because I didn't want to throw up in his car (seemed a better choice at that split-second). While my symptoms of later-learned walking pneumonia were in his coffee cup, I'm quite sure his manliness was not included in the "brew," let's say.

I would say "food for thought," but I did conclude on the note of vomit.

Sacrilegious chocolate?

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 06:17:36 GMT

I returned home this afternoon after studies and lunch, walked through the kitchen to put some soy milk in the fridge (yes, I drink soy milk at times), and I found a very special chocolate in the kitchen: Beatitude chocolate. Now, I've been aware of Marxism coffee, but I've never heard of Beatitude chocolate. At any event, those two items will likely not be in competing markets (the former might very well deny the latter even exists), but I'm still left a little puzzled about the chocolates. While it seems like an obvious case of "let's look in the dictionary for a product title," and they probably did with the first definition being "perfect blessedness and peace" according to Webster, but I still feel a little . . . wronged?

So, in light of that, I thought I'd try to bring about some semi-redeeming advertising/disclaimer possibilities. Hope this ain't taken the wrong way, but that some companies maybe could be a little more sensitive:

"Caution: Known to result in a poor spirit."
"When you feel sad, let our chocolate comfort you."
"One of our chocolates will make you perfectly content."
"You'll be so satisfied with our chocolates you won't hunger or thirst for anything else--guaranteed!"
"If you do hunger or thirst for something else, you shall receive mercy, and your money back." [I wonder if this promise won't result in corporate bankruptcy.]
"So good for the heart that you'll see heaven." [With the primary ingredients being sugar and fat, I wouldn't be surprised by this.]
"At odds with your boss? Difficult relationship with your spouse? Kids not listening to a word you say? Be a peacemaker--buy them Beatitude chocolate."
"We're so convinced we're right that you'll like our chocolates that, if you don't, we'll send you to heaven for free."
"Even if no one speaks well of you, there's still Beatitude chocolates."

What I find interesting is what's on the back: "Best before end" and "Keep cool and dry." Good things to keep in mind before the Armageddon, I'm sure.

I have some Tet pictures up in the file area. If possible, let me know your thoughts. Also, at the top, if you want to receive e-mail updates, you can do that. All you need is a Hotmail account, and I believe you should be able to work it out to have it sent to that or a different e-mail address.

Pitied and sleep-deprived

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 07:55:04 GMT

I tell you what, the Vietnamese know how to shut down a place. For the third straight day, Ha Noi has been a ghost town, quite an accomplishment for a city of a couple million people busily zipping by on the their motorbikes on any given day. Alas, they've done it, but to some personal pitfalls for me, the foreigner. With all the places being closed, there have been no places to at least store food. No worries, as the family I live with has taken pity on me and included me in their meals, and I think they're doing the some sort of human-mitosis in giving me a lot of food, trying to cause me to be two people until I divide into them. What's funny is it feels like that only for a little while, until my body metabolizes the predominantly rice-based food, and I'm hungry sometime later.

In other news, I'm wickedly (not evilly . . . I don't think) sleep-deprived and off-schedule, as I slept in pretty late yesterday, and, incidentally, got only about three hours last night/early this morning. I'm functional, but I'm hesitant about napping because I could truly go out. To further randomness, I can't help but remember how in my senior year in high school for the very final thing I'd written for my high school newspaper. In it, I intended to communicate about "sleep deprivation," but, looking for a word shorter than "deprivation," thought "depravity" was the same thing, so used it. It wasn't until I was corrected later by an English teacher that "depravity" means "morally corrupt." Even still, I entertain the thought if one can become sleep depraved, as though I can become morally corrupt by sleep.

Just a thought!

I like mint tea with a sugar cube

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 12:15:36 GMT

I like mint tea with a sugar cube. I hadn't always thought I would--I hadn't thought about it at all, honestly--but it's nice. Granted, sometimes it tastes like I'm sipping on liquified toothpaste, but it's still nice. The sugar brings out the mint flavor rather nicely.

I know, "Thanks for sharing, Jess. By the way, do you have any friends?"