October 2011
1 post
4 tags
July 2011
2 posts
“Everybody was persecuting him. Colonel Cathcart lived by his wits in an...”
– Joseph Heller, Catch-22
Happy Aphelion Day! →
This one’s for the space nerds.
June 2011
1 post
Hey self,
Your life is pretty good right now. Take a breath and enjoy it.
March 2011
0 posts
February 2011
1 post
New song: Racer and the Run
theokaycars:
Men and machines with candy lights and rooms with fluorescent lights facing empty office buildings.
Racer by The Okay Cars
Sweet new song.
November 2010
5 posts
Antimatter atoms produced and trapped at CERN →
The ALPHA experiment at CERN1 has taken an important step forward in developing techniques to understand one of the Universe’s open questions: is there a difference between matter and antimatter? In a paper published in Nature today, the collaboration shows that it has successfully produced and trapped atoms of antihydrogen. This development opens the path to new ways of making detailed...
Don't forget to vote for the Carruba Collision of... →
Haha.
“Listen. There are 200 countries in the world now. Do these people honestly think...”
– George Carlin (via hawaiiansdonotblog)
YES. Man, he was so right about everything.
Why are your eyes blue?
Student: Teacher, why are your eyes blue?
Me: My eyes are not blue.
Student: Yes, they are.
Me: No, they are not.
Student: Yes, they are.
Me: Look at my eyes. What color do you see?
Student: Black, white, and... blue!
Me: No.
Student: Yes!
Me: (holding a blue marker) What color is this marker?
Student: Blue.
Me: (holding a green marker) What color is this marker?
Student: Green.
Me: Good! Which marker looks more like my eyes?
Student: Ohhh! The green one! You have green eyes!
Me: Yes, I do.
Student: Teacher, why are your eyes green? Did you color them with a marker?
Me: Yes.
July 2010
1 post
June 2010
4 posts
BP is burning sea turtles alive →
WHAT THE FUCK.
April 2010
1 post
Tentatively speaking
Taiwan has been good to me. I made some good friends. I was able to take my student loans out of forbearance (but still owe more than the original amount- ouch!). I can get by even with my abysmal Chinese abilities.
But!
I’m feeling restless. I’ve got 4 months til the end of my teaching contract, 5 months til my lease is up, and 7 months til my gym membership expires.
All of these...
March 2010
2 posts
Cardio Mix: Music That Never Fails
I get sick of my workout mix about every month. This is because I listen to it more than I do anything else, so I have to keep changing it up. Some songs stay in the rotation because every time they come on, I find myself running harder. Here’s part 1 of the list: Typical songs that you’d expect to find people working out to. Parts 2 (Songs I also like to dance to) and 3 (Music that...
I'm Famous in Asia →
February 2010
2 posts
I want to go everywhere
I knew this would happen. I knew it was lying dormant somewhere in those labyrinthine folds inside my head. After I went to Africa when I was 15, I knew I wouldn’t have that kind of opportunity again for a while, and so it waited 9 long years before it sprung on me.
I want to go everywhere in the whole world.
Now I’m in Asia, walking the precarious tightrope of new experiences vs....
Things I've Noticed
Typical reactions from people upon hearing I’m American:
Disdain = European
Ambivalence = Canadian
Delight = Rest of the world
January 2010
1 post
December 2009
2 posts
November 2009
5 posts
He's the leader of an entire country and he's only... →
And a strange, model-tricking, Muslim colonel at that.
The pie is for me, see
Mom: what are you doing for thanksgiving
do you have to work
me: i do have to work
it's not a holiday here
i'm making my students write about something they're thankful for
then i'm having a pizza party
Mom: that sounds like more fun then what will be going on here
me: turkey?
football?
bickering?
uneaten blueberry pie?
Mom: yes
yes
yes
yes
Now the masks make more sense →
Nice to find out (almost 3 months later) that I live within spitting distance of the world’s dirtiest power plant. Bah!
Oh, where have I gone wrong?
Alex: i don't know what you mean!
me: ok what i mean is this:
in order to get what you want, you have to work for it
sometimes that work might not be nice or fun
but you have to do it anyway if you want to achieve anything
does that part make sense?
Alex: yeah
me: and do you agree with that?
Alex: yeah
me: ok
good!
and do you understand that it's a good thing to do something that's difficult instead of giving up and having someone else do it for you?
Alex: no
me: ok
tell me why you feel that way
help me understand what you mean
Alex: im used of people doing things for me
me: so?
babies are used to shitting in daipers
but they grow out of that
alex, there's something you must understand
Alex: like?
me: you cannot have everything done for you for your whole life and not end up an awful person.
it's as simple as that
do you understand?
Alex: yeah
me: ok good.
so you want to become a good person, an interesting person, a person with hopes and dreams and who achieves those hopes and dreams?
yes?
Alex: yeaah..
me: i knew it
: )
well in order to get there, you have to try stuff
you have to work hard at jobs you won't like
you have to make yourself go into situations where you feel uncomfortable
because if you keep taking the easy way out, you won't earn anything
Alex: ik
me: you do?
Alex: no
me: *headdesk*
Earthquake!
I was dreaming about death and destruction reigning down in the form of a massive earthquake when I was awoken by an alarm that I’d never heard before. In my grogginess, I swear I felt my apartment building sway and start to crumble, heard the screams of my neighbors as they were crushed to death in their own beds. Yesterday’s little tremor was just a warm-up for the catastrophe that I had the...
October 2009
13 posts
Halloween in Taiwan
They don’t really do Halloween in Taiwan. Of course, it’s a pretty American holiday, so it’s understandable. But, as the Official American Representative to my students, I got drafted into taking them trick-or-treating. Unfortunately I have no pictures of this super-awkward and not at all fun night of begging for candy.
In Taiwan, trick-or-treating isn’t supposed to be fun...
One nation under god →
Wow. Just… wow.
They are whooping it up in Carolina →
So what if I can only get the highlight videos a day late?
Votes for Women →
past to present.
knapsackheart:
i’ve been thinking a great deal about past relationships recently, and it makes me sad to realize there are many apologies i will never have the opportunity or courage to give.
Sometimes Sara says things that I’ve never thought of before, but wish I did.
Guess I should watch Lifeguard now →
Spinsters
me: i just learned that during the renaissance, menstruation was called a woman's "time of flowers"
Sara: thats interesting. and surprising
me: which came to me after reading your stunning post on the subject
stunning being a synonym for fantastic
Sara: oh why thank you
i really appreciate that ms.
me: i love "ms."
the term and the magazine
i was teaching salutations to my students
Sara: thats what i thought of when i used it! so in tune
me: and i told them to use ms. because it doesn't matter if a woman is married when you address her
Sara: did they get it
me: after a little discussion
i asked why they felt it necessary to know women's marital status, but not men's
Sara: did they have a reason?
me: not any good ones
apparently there are 2 ways to refer to women in chinese and they are either married or unmarried
Sara: ahaa
me: and to refer to an older woman as unmarried is a huge insult
so i asked what if an older woman is in fact unmarried
Sara: ah the spinster!
me: and they basically said that any older woman that's not a buddhist nun or some kind of homeless person will be married
Sara: hahaha!
me: cat lady!
Sara: nun or homeless
thats kind of priceless
me: yeah! there are no other options
