Mmm... Yummy

FOOD LOG for Oct. 29

1 med piece of cornbread from Jiffy Mix

Garlic and Onion bagel with muenster cheese slices melted on top

1 8oz glass of instant raspberry green tea from crystal lite

1 med size bowl of homemade chicken fried rice (ingredients: white rice, frozen peas and carrots, egg, chicken, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce)

1 16oz blue Monster energy drink

5 oreos (just for interest, edited 3 times)

1 large piece cornbread

multiple oreos

1 mug tea w/ sugar

1 small bowl of homemade chicken fried rice

1 8 oz glass apple juice

Yeah, so my friend and I cooked chicken fried rice twice in the past week and my freezer is full of it. :) The corn bread probably had GMOs, the Oreos most likely did too. Usually I do better with eating my vegetables but today was not a veggie day. As for distance traveled, I'd have to say that the apples in the apple juice probably traveled the farthest from origin to my gullet, but the soy sauce may give the apples a run for their money. I can't say with actual distance because the apple juice doesn't say what kind of apples it is made from. The chicken fried rice is definitely slow food considering that Katie and I made it in my kitchen. I cook a lot because I don't have a meal plan because I consider it a waste of money. How many people do you know who end up losing meals at the end of the week? And I can feed myself just as well on less money. As a general rule, I do not eat fast food, partly because it is rather unappetizing and partly because I am a poor college kid who can't afford it. I mean, the stuff isn't that expensive on the surface, but I can get a lot more nutrition for my money by cooking for myself.

I'll take a shack on a rock over a castle in the sand

“American Dream”

All work no play may have made Jack a dull boy
But all work no God has left Jack with a lost soul
But he's moving on full steam
He's chasing the American dream
And he's gonna give his family finer things

“Not this time son I've no time to waste
Maybe tomorrow we'll have time to play”
And then he slips into his new BMW
And drives farther and farther and farther away

Cause he works all day and tries to sleep at night
He says things will get better;
Better in time

[Chorus]
So he works and he builds with his own two hands
And he pours all he has in a castle made with sand
But the wind and the rain are comin' crashing in
Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands
His kingdom stands

Well his American Dream is beginning to seem
More and more like a nightmare
With every passing day
"Daddy, can you come to my game?"
"Oh Baby, please don't work late."
Another wasted weekend
And they are slipping away

'Cause he works all day and lies awake at night
He tells them things are getting better
Just take a little more time

[Chorus]

He used to say, "Whoever dies with the most toys wins"
But if he loses his soul, what has he gained in the end
I'll take a shack on the rock
Over a castle in the sand

Now he works all day and cries alone at night
It's not getting any better
Looks like he's running out of time

[Chorus]

All they really wanted was you
All they really wanted was you
All they really wanted was you
[Fading]was you

by Casting Crowns

I was listening to this song today and I thought I would share it with you all. The song is a reminder not to let your pursuit of material success get in the way of your relationship with God. Though the song is meant as a reminder for Christians, it contains a message for non-Christians as well. Don’t let life pass you by. Sure it would be nice to be a millionaire or whatever, but there really isn’t any point in making money if you don’t do something worthwhile with it. Now the classification of worthwhile is different for every person, it doesn’t necessarily mean feed all the people in Ethiopia for a year or something. The point I am trying to make is that, while you are working toward whatever goals you have, examine your motives. What are you working for? When you look back on your life, would you do it over again?

These are questions I have already asked myself. I swear I’m not just trying to be preachy, they have helped me a lot in deciding what to do with my life.

On another note, since I have been philosophical with my posts lately, I promise the next one will be quite silly.

Weekend plans

My best friend from back home is coming to visit me this weekend!!!! I’m so excited. She will be spending the night at my place on Saturday and I will be showing her around for the rest of the weekend. On Sunday we are going to see Mythbusters!! I <3 style=""> If you haven’t seen mythbusters, you should try an episode or two, cause it is hi-friggin-larious. Anyway, back to the weekend, I am a bit worried about Sunday because I forgot to submit my sub in time and so if no one picks up my sub for Sunday Lunch 2 I may get another demerit at work. :’( Well, we’ll just have to see what happens. I can’t wait to show Amanda my room though, she will be so jealous. She is in college but she is a commuter. We’re gonna stop by the Hilltop tailgate, go shopping, play on the internet, tour campus, and all sorts of fun stuff. And I’ll be able to introduce her to some of my crazy friends here. (because everyone is crazy to one extent or another, don’t try and deny it.) Consequently, this week is gonna be crazy. I have a test today and tomorrow, I have a paper to write before next Wed. I have a couple other assignments to take care of as well. I’ll be busy, but it’s totally worth it. It is good training for later when I actually have a ton of work to do. Yay for working on time management!! W00T! I had way too much coffee and sugar this morning!!! *runs off, bouncing off walls* :D :D :D : D

So many anime, so little time

There is a dilemma that I have being here at school with the wonderful fast internet and also all the homework. I love to watch anime, but I don't have access to it except at school, so I want to watch it, but I generally don't really have the extra time to spend on it. There are several anime that I want to see, and several that I want to rewatch because so much more could be discovered in them for me. Some of these include:

To watch: Naruto, Bleach, Code Geass, Blood Plus, Claymore, Nodame Cantabile, and Hayate no Gotoku (or Hayate the combat butler)
To rewatch: Rurouni Kenshin, Darker than Black, Tokyo Mew Mew, and Cowboy Bebop

I guess this post is just a sort of public complaint, because it makes me feel better about it to complain. The anime will always be there, but (enter whiny voice) I want to watch it now! (/whiny voice). Oh well, I'll survive. After all, I'm here to work.

Wasteful, Polluting Humans....

	CATEGORY ACRES FOOD 4.4 MOBILITY 0.5 SHELTER 3.2 GOODS/SERVICES 3.5 TOTAL FOOTPRINT 12
	IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON. WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
	IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.6 PLANETS.

(begin prompt)
On average, people in the United States require more than five times their "share" of world resources in order to maintain the "American Way of Life." In addition, this lifestyle is taking a heavy toll on our environment (e.g., global warming, oil spills, garbage dumps, pesticide/herbicide contamination of waterways, air pollution, destruction of natural environments and ecosystems, etc.). Is it "fair" that Americans (and citizens of other "developed nations") consume more than their "share" of the earth's resources? Does this consumption bring a greater responsibility to redress the environmental consequences of this lifestyle?
(end prompt)

Whether or not it is “fair” or not that Americans, etc. consume more of their “share” of resources is a more academic question than I am prepared to answer. But….

Of course we (the more developed nations) have a greater responsibility for healing the environment after we muck it up! Think back to when you were a little kid, do you ever remember your mother saying, “don’t worry about that mess, it will clean itself up,” I don’t think so. She would say, “you made that mess, now you clean it up.” This applied to your messy room and to the spilled kool-aid on the floor.

This principal (clean up what you mess up) should extend to whatever we do in life. People really have never wrapped their heads around the fact that if we don’t take care of our planet, it will die and take us with it. But, other “more immediate” problems tend to throw conservation to the back burner. Some people would rather research how to move to other planets rather than take care of this one.

Another reason the more developed countries need to take responsibility for fixing the damage our lives have done to the environment is that we can afford it. People throw fits about how much more sustainable ways of life cost, but it doesn’t really cost that much more now, and it would cost less if we researched ways to make things like solar energy more efficient. Plus, if the richest countries in the world aren’t going to do something, then who exactly is supposed to? The lesser developed countries have a lot more they need to spend their money on than we do and they have a lot less money overall.

Putting off planet conservation is stupidly shortsighted. I would be doing things like composting organic wastes and growing a garden like the Earth Day site said, but I live in an apartment at Hilltop and I don’t think they would take kindly to me farming on their well taken care of grass. It would be even harder in a regular dorm. We could probably work to put programs for conservation in place on campus, but it would take a lot of time and effort that is difficult to find in these homework filled days. But we can still try and do what we can, like recycling.

Wonder

Despite having only gotten about 5 and a half hours of sleep last night, I find I can’t harbor resentment toward my 7:30 am class. I got up this morning as usual, grumbling about having to get out of bed, eating breakfast, and then I got outside. The stars were so bright is was breathtaking. The air was clear and cool and I could even pick out constellations. Orion jumped out at me immediately and I think I may have seen Cygnus. Most remarkable though, was that I could barely make out the Milky Way. Usually there is far too much light pollution to see most of the stars let alone the Milky Way. I saw Venus and couldn’t believe my eyes, it was as bright as the moon.

When I finally got to campus, I was surprised by how beautiful it was in dark. The bell tower especially took my breath away with its soft, upper story lighting. The dark changes how everything looks and gives everything soft lines that contrast the clear lines of the day.

The onset of fall and winter has turned a previously arduous trudge to class into a beautiful and invigorating walk. The cold really helps wake me up too.

Rearranging

I had an epiphany in class today, while waiting for lecture to start. I am acting far too childish for my age.

I have let the excitement of being in college, making new friends, and having wireless ethernet distract me from my purpose for being in college in the first place. I am here to work. I am here to learn so that I can get a career that I actually like after I graduate. All of this procrastination that I have been doing is childish behavior that I should have grown out of a long while ago. So, I will rearrange my room, and use that as a physical representation of rearranging my priorities. Making a physical change is the best way for me to get out of a mental rut.

Having rearranged my room, I feel much more productive, even just sitting in my chair. I have changed the feel of the room completely, even thought I basically switched two pieces of furniture, the bed and my desk. The space I work in is more concentrated now, so I will be able to concentrate better.

There is some tweaking I have to do. I need get another power cord so that I can move my lamp, and I need to move my little bookshelf because I don’t like where it is now. And I need to maybe reposition my clock. Other than that I like the room much better this way. ^_^

Fuddy Duddy

So yeah, I was one of the few, the proud, the boring during October Break. I stayed at school. It was a nice, relaxing weekend. I made friends with a sophomore in the building next to me and we went to Walmart together. She taught me how to make Rice a Roni on the stovetop. As for the rest of the weekend, I watched an anime called Darker than Black, I read some short stories, and I worked on the Profile paper for class.

Darker than Black is an AMAZING anime. It is a spy themed show about people with superpowers. Sounds a bit dorky but they pulled it off well. It has 25 episodes and the Japanese voice actors were really good. The ending really blew my mind and it is one of the few shows that I loved the ending of. They could make a sequel series, but they wrapped things up such that they don’t really have to. It was wonderful. So here are some characters:

Li Shengshun

Hei (aka BK201)

Yin (aka, the Mysterious and cute sidekick person)

Talking Cat

But anyway, I would really recommend this anime to just about anyone. It has a bit of violence to it, but the plot is pretty complex with many twists and turns. You can rewatch this a few times and catch new things each time. I like stuff like that. ^_^

Random

I vomited today. For no apparent reason. How annoying.

Eros, Philia, Agape, Storge, Thelema

If you ask 50 people what they think about love, you will get 50, possibly more, highly different answers. The ancient Greeks had 5 different words for love. In my opinion, that is too few.

Today, most people use only two definitions of love. They love a food/movie/activity, or they are “in love” with someone. I have a friend who has been “in love” numerous times, but I haven’t really believed her yet. Not because she fought with her boyfriend, because everybody has disagreements sometimes, but because either she or her boyfriend changed their behavior when they were around each other. I mean to say, that they acted differently when their significant other wasn’t around. If you want to change a person, then you are not in love with them. You are in love with something that you think they could be. If someone loves you, then you shouldn’t feel like you have to change for them.

Obviously, there is going to be some compromise if you are working together with anyone. But if you love someone you have to accept their core being. It is an incredibly difficult thing to do, but if you settle for something less, there will be a strain in your relationship.

On one last note, do not stop hanging out with your friends just because you have a boyfriend/girlfriend. You need to keep up the other relationships in your life because they can help you to work through things if you have a fight, and everyone needs to hang out with more than one person. Being with only one person all of the time or most of the time will push you away from them, at least in my experience.

Why can't I be an Electron?

Electrons can theoretically be in two places at once, it just takes a lot of energy. The amount of energy it would take to have a human be in two places at once would be unthinkable. Too bad.

I have so many things going on in the next two weekends I really wish I could be two places at once. On Fridays I play D&D, only next Friday I might be going to an Ultimate Frisbee tournament instead. This Sunday is the Feast of the Hunter's Moon, which I may be going to after I go to an honors banquet with my parents. Which means I have to get all my homework done on Saturday. (which is part of the reason I'm writing my blogs earlier than the day/hour before they are due) Then there are random events for my dorm or plans with my friends that I want to work in too. I wonder how much sleep I can get away with and still be cognizant?

All in all, I suppose it is better to be busy than bored, right? I suppose this is what you really learn in college, how to prioritize the activities in your life to get the most fun and work done.

Ultimate Frisbee, Ultimate Fun

I finally went to Ultimate Frisbee at Purdue last night. I have known when they meet for a few weeks but I kept telling myself that I was too busy to go. I was really sort of apprehensive. I am not really one to memorize and execute plays, I'd much rather just run where I think I'm needed. But, my friend Carmen told me that they play pick-up after their regular game, so I wanted to go.

I had forgotten how much I love to play Disc.

I had a ball! The people were really nice and I even got thrown to a few times. I made some catches and throws and it was a good game. I was surprised that I was able to run as well as I did, it is probably the hill I have to climb every day that has kept me in shape. We played for 2 hours and it was just really fun. People were throwing forehand, backhand, "chickenwing" (that's only Ted), hammers, and probably some thumbers as well. I need to work on my throws because I'm rather out of practice but it was still amazingly fun. By the time I got home I was pleasantly exhausted and I slept really well.

Today my legs hurt, but I'm gonna be back on the field on Monday!

Peace

I love the rain. The sound, the feel, the smell, the taste, the look of it is the most relaxing thing in this world to me. The water falls, connecting earth with sky, nourishing all it falls upon. The wind brings it, and chases the punishing heat. Cleansing the earth of impurities in the air, and cleansing one's soul and mind of worry, fear, regret, anger, leaving peace behind in it's wake. When we were children, some would say that rain was God or the angels crying in Heaven, but now I think it is a gift to the weary. Soul weary, heat weary, just weary. Giving an excuse to just sit out of the rain and listen to it clean the world.

Called away in the middle of writing this to bring an umbrella to a friend, I find that as soon as I get there, the rain vanishes as suddenly as it came. It somehow gives me the impression that in my own little, egotistical world, it had come specifically to lend me peace of mind from my worries about the semester, assignments, and friends with troubles. Or perhaps to remind me once again of the perfect wonder of God’s creation and the natural cycling systems that it is made of.

Firefly

I know what you're thinking, the entomologist is going off on one of her bug tangents again.... WRONG! Muah ha haaa!!! I am here to introduce you to one of the best and most ill-fated shows on DVD, Firefly. It is a Sci-Fi, Action, Western that takes place sometime in the future. Humans have used up Earth so they went out and terraformed themselves a bunch of new ones to live on. Some are technologically advanced, and some are agrarian. The show follows the exploits of the crew of the Firefly class ship named Serenity.
Now for a brief history of the show. Joss Wheton, the director, came up with the concept after reading Killer Angels. He wanted to write something that followed the losers in a civil war. He wanted to show the tactile nature of life and make a more gritty, less sterile Sci-Fi show. (Wikipedia) Fox, the network that aired the show, was constantly getting in the way of Joss's creative genius. (no, I'm not biased at all, why would you think that?) For instance, they made him rewrite his pilot episode, which became the second episode on the DVD, and they refused to show it in widescreen format. When Fox actually aired the episodes, it did so in a way almost guaranteeing failure. A rather stupid move on their part. Fox aired the episodes out of the originally intended order, and didn't even air all of them. The show was canceled after half a season. Despite it's bad luck with Fox, Firefly enjoys an immense popularity. In 2005 New Scientist magazine did an online Poll for "The World's Best Space Sci-Fi Ever," Firefly came in first with it's feature film, Serenity, coming in second.
Some of the interesting aspects of the show are revelations to the Sci-Fi field. For instance, there are no sound effects in the space shots, lending a realistic feel to the show. The ship's set is in 2 parts, with the upper and lower decks continuous. You can walk out of one room and into another. The scenes on the ship were shot with a documentary style, using hand held cameras to add to the rustic feel of the show. The scenes in Alliance cities were shot with regular movie cameras to add to the sterile feel of those places.
I know that my narrative does not come close to giving this show justice, but I hope that I have peaked some interest. Some of you may even look it up on the internet. I have never met anyone who disliked this show, so it is a fair bet that if you try it, you'll love it too.

Something to strive for

By idolizing those whom we honor, we do a disservice both to them and to ourselves....We fail to recognize that we could go and do likewise.
--Charles V. Willie

I both agree and disagree with this statement. Yes, the sterilization of our “heros” turns them into superhumans. It can seem like there is no way to live up to their ‘example’ and so people look for more realistic people to look up to. However, if we have an ideal example to look up to, we can keep striving toward it, and it is the striving that matters. To quote my favorite webcomic,

“You’re trying to be Lawful Good. People forget how crucial it is to keep trying, even if they screw it up now and then. They figure that if they can’t manage it perfectly every waking second, then they should just pick some other alignment [or hero] because it’ll be easier. But it’s the struggle that matters. It’s easy for a being of pure Law and Good to live up to these ideals, but you’re a mortal. What matters is that when you blow it, you get back up on the horse and try again.” (Order of the Stick, episode 490)

I know there is a bunch of D&D lingo in there, but you get the idea.

It is important to remember that everyone makes mistakes and that even the people who have made done the greatest things in history had their faults. Human nature is like a yin-yang. Good people have a little blackness in them, and the blackest heart can do some good. It is all a matter of mitigating the impulses you don’t want to follow.

So, people create heros for themselves, not to show the actual person. I don’t believe that our historical heros should be taught as such though. Maybe to little kids, because you like to keep things simple with them, but as a child progresses through the k-12 history classes, they should constantly be taught a little more of the whole picture, not the same stuff over and over again.

A few more quotes regarding heros/legends…

After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things. Terrible! Yes. But great.

-Mr. Ollivander in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

It's my estimation that… every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sumbitch or another. Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need.

-Mal (Firefly episode 7, Jaynestown)

Best 2D game ever

In my opinion, Castlevania Symphony of the Night is the best 2D game you could ever play.
The storyline is pretty interesting for a game. You play Alucard, the half-vampire son of Dracula (don't ask me how a vampire could procreate, it is plot magic) who has entered the ancestral home of Dracula, Castlevania, in order to find out why Dracula's castle has reappeared. In the course of the game you meet Maria Renard who is trying to figure out what has happened to Richter Belmont, a vampire hunter. Depending on how fully you explore your environment and what kind of actions you take, you can unlock more areas of the castle to explore or get alternate endings to the game.
Castlevania Symphony of the Night is divergent from its predecessors because the main character can use many different weapons, and they are mostly edged weapons instead of whips. Also, the game advances non-linearly and you often have to go back over an area multiple times as you gain new abilities to explore with. Abilities you can gain include double-jump, transformations, and the use of familiars to help you explore. The sheer amount of items you can collect can keep you playing the game long after you have beaten it multiple times.
The main attractant of Castlevania SOTN for me, however, is the sheer beauty of the game. The artwork and soundtrack are neverending pleasures to experience. The backgrounds for the game are dynamic. Though they do not affect your character, there is action in the background of the rooms you explore. For example, in one room the weather outside changes, in another room there is a large eye that looks in on you from a window and follows your movements. The soundtrack is a diverse mix of jazz, techno, many genres of metal, and classical music, all gothic themed.
Though this game is sort of hard to find and relatively expensive (I bought my copy used at around $40), it is worth every penny. The replay value is immense as some features are only unlocked after you have beaten the game once, and you can always find a new item or easter egg in the game.

Procrastination

Seeing as I've had such a problem with it lately, I thought I would look up the insightful or funny quotes that people have said about it.

Dedicated to my friend Marissa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Often, greater risk is involved in postponement than in making a wrong decision.
-Harry A. Hopf

"One of these days" is none of these days.

Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today.

Procrastination is the thief of time.
-Edward Young

Putting off an easy thing makes it hard, and putting off a hard one makes it impossible.
-George H. Lorimer

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.

-William James

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.

-Don Marquis

Every duty which is bidden to wait returns with seven fresh duties at its back.

-Charles Kingsley

If it weren’t for the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done.

-Unknown

Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.

-Robert Benchley

There are a million ways to lose a workday, but not even a single way to get one back.

-Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister

One of the greatest labor saving inventions of today is tomorrow.

-Vincent T. Foss

You may delay, but time will not.

-Benjamin Franklin

It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in.

-Earl of Chesterfield

To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.

-Eva Young

Don’t fool yourself that important things can be put off till tomorrow; they can be put off forever, or not at all.

-Mignon McLaughlin

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

-C. Northcote Parkinson, 1958

Procrastination is opportunity’s assassin.

-Victor Kiam

If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.

-Olin Miller

More quotes available at http://www.quotegarden.com/procrastination.html

I’d write them, but I have a couple other things that I should have done yesterday. ^_^

Shaping Perceptions

The intentions of both Curtis and Neidich are surprisingly similar when you pare them down to the basic idea. Both photographers wanted to change what they thought of as a negative public opinion about Native Americans.

Curtis was being paid to document the vanishing culture of the Indians. This allowed him to try to change the public view of Indians from violent and lawless people to a noble people with their own distinct culture. Unfortunately, in order to change public opinion, he went to the other extreme of the opinion spectrum and created the ideal Indian culture. He removed all traces of western culture from his photos and paid the Indians to pose in costumes. Even though it is now known that a lot of what he ‘documented’ was false, Curtis transformed the Indians’ image from the violent savage to the ‘noble’ savage.

Ironically, Neidich had pretty much set out to partially undo that change. He views the ideal Native American culture as something that detracted from the actual culture of the Native Americans, and as a contributor to the sanitation of history. He wanted to educate people about what actually happened in interactions between the Native Americans and the English settlers. He mostly did this from the Indians point of view. He used staged pictures depicting Native Americans being shot or similarly injured by the settlers. Neidich doesn’t want to deny that the Native Americans had a proud heritage, but he wants to acknowledge that they were as flawed as we were, just less powerful in the end.

I prefer the works of Neidich because they are trying to bring a more historical prespective to the fore. He doesn’t claim that his photos were actually taken back then, but he does try to make them more true to the facts.