Monday, December 24, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Bottom Feeders and Barrack
-Online contribution to Barack Obama, $5.
-Dinner for five with Senator Obama and the opportunity to ask him anything under the sun, priceless.
No I didn't win this latest fundraising gimmick run by the Obama '08 campaign, but the mere thought of winning threw me for a loop. What would I say if the senator sat across from me and wanted to hear what was on my mind, what pressing issues do we need to tackle in the here and now? The truth is that I don't know, and that scares me. Not because I can't formulate positions and prioritize needs (because for the most part I'd like to think I have), but because aside from the mainstream political agenda, I don't have My Own agenda. That is to say, aside from the media-driven socially-reinforced jaugernaught agendas of Iraq, immigration, and (finally) climate change, among select others, I don't know what's good for ME. There are a plethora of issues that impact my life much more so than these vote-getting hot button issues, but what are they? In a string theory driven parallel universe where poltics really is micro and really is untainted by carefully scripted messages, what would I ask for? The fact of the matter is that most of us are bottom feeders who rake in news long after it has floated down through the many layers of social and poltical filters. In many ways this isn't such a bad thing for our globalized world - a well informed fishy that knows the tides is probably gonna get along better with other schools of fishy in the long run. But what this fundraising gimmick reminded me of is that in this unprecedented era of pre-campaigning for the actual pre-election year campaign (whew) we need to be careful not to be so quickly herded into the nicely pre-packaged campaign corners that the polticos want us in, rather, take a step back, breathe, and think about what really matters to You. I'm happy to discuss what matters to Me offline, but not here in China:).
FYI-"Americans in China for Obama" gathering tonight at the Bookworm, 7pm.
-Dinner for five with Senator Obama and the opportunity to ask him anything under the sun, priceless.
No I didn't win this latest fundraising gimmick run by the Obama '08 campaign, but the mere thought of winning threw me for a loop. What would I say if the senator sat across from me and wanted to hear what was on my mind, what pressing issues do we need to tackle in the here and now? The truth is that I don't know, and that scares me. Not because I can't formulate positions and prioritize needs (because for the most part I'd like to think I have), but because aside from the mainstream political agenda, I don't have My Own agenda. That is to say, aside from the media-driven socially-reinforced jaugernaught agendas of Iraq, immigration, and (finally) climate change, among select others, I don't know what's good for ME. There are a plethora of issues that impact my life much more so than these vote-getting hot button issues, but what are they? In a string theory driven parallel universe where poltics really is micro and really is untainted by carefully scripted messages, what would I ask for? The fact of the matter is that most of us are bottom feeders who rake in news long after it has floated down through the many layers of social and poltical filters. In many ways this isn't such a bad thing for our globalized world - a well informed fishy that knows the tides is probably gonna get along better with other schools of fishy in the long run. But what this fundraising gimmick reminded me of is that in this unprecedented era of pre-campaigning for the actual pre-election year campaign (whew) we need to be careful not to be so quickly herded into the nicely pre-packaged campaign corners that the polticos want us in, rather, take a step back, breathe, and think about what really matters to You. I'm happy to discuss what matters to Me offline, but not here in China:).
FYI-"Americans in China for Obama" gathering tonight at the Bookworm, 7pm.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
March 2007 Trip to Hanoi, Vietnam
Sorry it's taken me so long to get these pics out, classes ended last week and I'm just now starting to find the time to work on my travel pics. I had such an amazing time with everyone in this video and I wish I could still be there now.
*Video was made with Studio 10 Mediasuite, first time using it.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Coffee
It seems to happen once a trip when I'm overseas, an ill-fated destiny with stomach-grinding head-nauseating bacteria that puts me out for a few days. This last bout of food poisoning found me under the sheets in the fetal position praying to God that if he could just let me go this one time I'd promise not to make another selfish prayer for months to come. There must of been a long cue when I submitted the request to the man upstairs because he didn't get back to me until the next day, after having given me sufficient time to get back down onto my knees and make prayers and offerings to the others that I hold dear to my heart, including shiny white porcelein god - Mr. Toilet. That's right, 24 hours and multiple pukes later I was free of the poison. This freedom didn't come without it's costs, however, namely my disdain for everything that traveled against gravity, up my esophogus and back into the natural world. After puking I couldn't stand the sight or thought of anything that came out. This included the day old stir-fried mushroom dish that got my sick in the first place (warning: when at a Chinese university cafeteria, never pick up a dish when there's only one of it available, it's not b/c it's so popular that there's only one dish left, rather it's because it's from the previous day and no one dares to eat it!), and the 3 cups instant 3-in-1 maxwell coffee that I religiously drank these past few months while in Beijing. It's been nearly a month since my being taken out by bacteria laden mushrooms and my withdrawel from caffeine. For some reason I'm back. Back to drinking 3 cups of coffee, back to wanting to eat a plate full of fungus. It's a good feeling (or is that the caffeine talking?).
Friday, March 30, 2007
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