Spoiled Yalies

ivy suds

qayamat se..

whoa ridley's 18?!?!?!?!
like omg.
ridley!!! You are just so mature and sophisticated and grown up and genteel that I feel like you've been 18 since you were 16.

O wow, I can't even begin to contemplate how retarded that sentence sounds.

Anyhoos. Congratulations Rids!!

And congratulations Isaacs! You are simply the most amazing globetrotter I know.

I have had a long weekend, and I just don't know what to do with myself. Everytime I am presented with lots of free time, I go nuts, and when I have no time, I go nuts. It's not exactly a win-win situation.
O foo.

I just finished The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, and I am impressed. I feel like he's the sort of a writer who's good because of all his contacts, rather than his writing style. But it's really informative guys, check it out. It's about outsourcing, supply-chaining, offshoring and stuff. Good read.

Can you guys recommend books for me? I had started Catch-22 a year ago, but clearly, that's not getting anywhere. I read a few pages a week. It's all good. I bought Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison recently, but I don't know if I'm going to read it. Seriously, I waste so much money, I'm ashamed of myself. Anyways, so can you guys suggest good reading? And please, keep me in mind when you're doing this, because I will have to cry if you talk to me abt, you know, Crime and Punishment or The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.
;]

K bye.
Sam-yu

On Insanity

Happy Birthday Ridley!!! I had the most awe-inspiring granola yesterday and thought of you, mostly of how you weren't there to steal any.....mwahahahaha. Best of luck in the coming year, I know that this will be the one of Ridley domination. Listen to Sam, Prom is worthless. My school's prom is going to take place while I'm in New York for the International Youth Poetry Slam Festival, and over this I am not crying.

Speaking of poetry slam, in three days I will be in Charlotte, NC competing at the Individual World Poetry Slam against 71 other poets from all across the United States and parts abroad. I found out that I would be in the event less than three weeks ago so needless to say my life has been ridiculously hectic since then. There's two nights of prelims, after which 12 poets make it into the finals night. I'm both excited and frightened by this whole deal as the poets competing are some of the baddest in the business. Whatever the outcome, it will be fun and there will be some phenomenal poetry.

Super good luck to Sam and Jason in the math competition, I am sure that both of you will stand triumphant when the dust falls.

Hope everyone is doing fantastic. Miss you folks immensely, and hope to see you again sometime soon.

Best,
Isaac

Math, Musicking, High School in the late 1970s, and British Visas

Musicking Moment: My school's music department arranges for a group of private music teachers to use the school's equipment and space to teach lessons after school. So I take bass lessons from this one Argentinian guy named Ezequiel, and on Tuesday afternoon we were upstairs in a classroom on the third floor. We were playing Girl from Ipanema, me on bass, Ezequiel on piano, and we were taking turns playing accompaniment and solos, when all of a sudden this saxophone teacher who was giving lessons down the hall walks right into our classroom and starts belting out his own solo. Ezequiel didn't see him come in and just about freaked out when he heard a saxophone right behind him, but we all kept on playing. This guy just kept on going for a few minutes, and then we went back to the melody and finished. The sax player chatted with us for a couple of minutes, then went back to his own classroom, and that was it. Total spontaneity! It was pretty sweet.

One week from now I will be in London at the math competition! With Jason! Yay! This is TASP reunion no. 4 for me too, Dylan, so we'll be tied. Our math team is having a rather unique problem right now - one member has had to give up her spot in the competition because she can't get a visa to go to Britain and compete. The four members of our team who aren't EU or American citizens (plus our Romanian coach) all had to go the British Consulate to get visas, but this girl didn't have one of the documents they wanted to see, and now she can't get a visa appointment in time before our flight out on Thursday. So our coach is frantically trying to recruit an American or EU citizen to fill out our team. Interesting manifestation of the importance of nationality, perhaps a type of cultural elitism? The non-Western kids have to get visas if they can go at all, while the rest of us just walk in free. It's a sobering issue, especially at an international school.

OK, I have to re-comment on the prom vs. academic thingy debate. I must say I was shocked to see so many TASPers boosting prom - I guess I'm a little out of touch over here, but I thought that prom was a heck of a lot more like a drunken frat party than Dylan's message seems to suggest. Puzzled, I consulted my parents (both raised in the fatherland) about the attraction of prom. For what it counts, they both said it matters a lot while you're in high school, but that it really doesn't have much meaning after you leave. My dad didn't go to prom - he appears to have no regrets. My mom did - it doesn't figure largely in her memories of her high school days. On the other hand, they both did state academic/model-government programs, which they talk about without being prompted. I would venture to suggest that in their cases at least, state academic thingies were much more fulfilling and memorable than prom. OK, my parents graduated from high school more than twenty years ago, and maybe things have changed, but you've got to understand my cultural isolation from such all-American rituals as prom. I use what sources I have. And I'm still firmly in favor of the academic thingy. *high-fives Isaac*

Don't forget to bring your camera, Jason!

Groetjes,

Sam

three posts in one day!

marathon day for me, but i'm finally home after fourteen hours at school. And what's more, my dad's home too! He got home from Tibet yesterday sometime after I was in bed, and I finally got to see him today. He came bearing gifts: a wooly hat, yak jerky, a nice chop (i'll be sealing some letter pretty soon!), a sweet rug, killer tea, prayer flags, fun trinkets...AND a violin! cheapy chinese mass produced, not one of the country's best, but a violin nonetheless. Woo! And now I fall in to bed.

Really I should have titled this post three cheers for Ridders, because this is my third HAPPY BIRTHDAY RID!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RIDLEY!

Wooooo! Don't go commit any felonies, now, because you're no longer a minor. I know your criminal tendencies ;) Check-in revolutions, protest against footnoting yourself...

OK, so after much contemplation, I finally decided on this cake:


The search for that cake, however, also pulled up the best cake I've ever seen in my life:


It's an old lady holding a breast cake! I thought the picture was rather amazing, and therefore worth posting. I tried to think of a connection, like Ridley's 18, can buy porn, boob cake...but it seemed like a stretch, so I think we should just bask in the fact that that picture is almost as awesome as the fact that you're 18 today.

Happy Birthday!

Ridley! May your year of smoking, voting, and pornography be merry, and may your granola always be fresh!

yoshimi!

i'm stuck in my school basement laying out the school newspaper (quite a few hours ahead of us), but I'm listening to Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot! Ah! I miss you all!

Speaking of which, Camp Snoopy is closed, what does this mean for camp beagle i wonder?

Those evil natured robots won't kill me! I'm going to make it home before midnight...Happy birthday again rid.

Gelukkige Verjaardag!

Today I feel especially justified in the use of Dutch, because January 25th is birthday not only to our most esteemed Ridley Jones but to the Dutch Republic! An auspicious date indeed. Other notable natalities of the same date: Robert Boyle (of Boyle's Law), Robert Burns, George Pickett (of Pickett's Charge), Somerset Maugham, Virginia Woolf, Terry Chimes (of The Clash).

Enjoy your newfound rights and status as a real sure-enough adult citizen of the USA!

Groetjes,

Sam

happy happy happy

to the most zany girl in all of TASP history: have the most frabjous birthday ever!

HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

RIDLEY!!!

Woo... what's life like as an adult?

Jason

a quick time waster

I honor of all those many taspers (myself included) who will be travelling in the great country of France this year, you should all check this out

336.4 meters? not bad

Various things

While we're all awaiting the judgements of unknown admissions officers, I'll be being one. Yes, being an admissions officer. As a senior admissions reader," I will help choose my school's the class of 2010. I'm afraid I won't be able to talk to you or anyone else about it (as always, strict confidentiality is a must) but I'm really excited. It should be a lot of fun.

Rid, go to the prom. No question. You're going to college in a year. It will be a year-long "state academic camp" only with a higher caliber of students. When you have your Ph.D. in whatsoeveryouchoose with an M.A. in somethingelseinteresting, you'll go to conferences, present papers, and meet academics. But the Prom is the most famous of all famous high school social occaisions. There will not be anything like in college. Prom > beer drenched frat parties. Go.

I'm meeting Meredith in Boston at 12:30! TASP reunion no. 4 for me!

WOOT!

I got my first college acceptance! BYU! Yay!

OK, on Ridley's post - Carmen rocks. I saw the first segment (act? movement? what is it anyway?) when I lived in New Orleans but I was just a wee lad and I had to go home and get to bed, so I didn't get to see the rest of it. Don't worry about not understanding the French - most French people probably don't understand operatic French, even when the accents are right. At least that's my sense: opera is for the music, the words just kind of hang on wherever they can get a grip. And what are the two verb tenses? Although I don't exactly fancy learning them, I would like to know they're out there so they don't sneak up on me someday when I least expect it.

Don't sweat it with Cornell House. They'll probably accept you (it looks like a pretty ex-TASPer-heavy group there, and I bet they look pretty favorably at you app), and if they don't, it shouldn't make that much of a difference in your reception at the House. No matter what happens in terms of admission, you're going to feel rather awkward there - it's just kind of an eccentric, quirky place, at least as far as my October visit demonstrated. Not in a bad sort of way, just a bit disconcerting. Anyway . . . when you get to Ann Arbor, go check out the gum wall for us to see if TASP '05 is still there! And tell us all about it when you get back!

I vote for the academic thingy. Maybe it's because I live in Western Europe and not northern Florida, but prom sounds decidedly missable compared to this sweet program that promises such jocund amusements and stimulating, even (dare I say it? yes!) TASPly company.

Groetjes,
Sam

final exams have left me bobble-headed

Wooo! for the end of final exams! Forever! Second semester senior year, if I have a class grade above my gpa, i won't have to take exams, so i definitely will not be succumbing to senioritis just yet. So... my dad's in Tibet right now visiting people and things, and he sent us a picture at Everest base camp. And then i remembered that I wanted him to take my tasp t-shirt to take a picture of it in front of everst, but i forgot. So instead, i photoshoped the picture and we can all use our vastly under-utilized imaginations and pretend that it's the real deal. Try to ignore his wacky expression and admire the tasptastic scenery. ^_^ Speaking of which, weren't we going to pass that St. Louis bobble-head around and take pictures of it all over the world? As I recall, Rid's got it still...




p.s. caltech and stanford look sweet, Sam.

How very cool

Another one of those bbc articles that makes you go:

Heh... :)

I especially like where "the parrot also made smooching sounds whenever the name Gary was said on TV". How cute.

Jason

Frenchified American slang . . . wooo!

- What would happen if you were to "turn off" one of the four fundamental interactions? If you turned off gravity, everything would just drift apart, I bet. If you turned off electromagnetic force, the earth and everything on it would compress into a tiny ball of compact matter and become a mega-black-hole. If you turned off strong nuclear force, all protons would burst out of their nuclei at breakneck speed followed by their electrons, effectively causing the disintegration of all matter. If you turned off weak nuclear force, um . . . what? Beta radiation would stop, I guess but that doesn't affect my life that much. Hmmm . . .

- What about redefining physical constants? e.g. the gas constant R. If you suddenly made it 100 times as large, gas pressure 100 times greater for a given quantity and volume of gas at a given temperature, and various types of gas containers across the world would suddenly explode. Changing G, the gravitation constant, would be followed by proportional changes in our gravitational attraction to the Earth.

Seeeaaauuu . . . I spent most of Saturday studying physics. : ) Mock exams are about halfway done, I've still got History, Physics, and a couple of English papers. Wish me luck.

I just found out yesterday that my great-grandfather was an employee of the Telluride Power Corporation - that venerable institution (now known as Utah Power & Light) started by the one, the only L. L. Nunn. Fort ri-hale. I guess this means TASP was in my blood? Pretty cool, anyway.

Not much else to report from this side of the pond.

1. John the Revelator - Dirty Dozen Brass Band
2. Live Wire - the Meters
3. Primavera - Antonio Vivaldi (from The Four Seasons)
4. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
5. Cissy Strut - Dirty Dozen Brass Band version

Groetjes,

Sam

P.S. Does anybody know when Cornell House decisions come out? I seem to remember reading something about early February.

Classical Musicking Happenings

Well, this week was quite the adventure in musicking; it started with a concert and ended with me close enough to a Stradivarius to steal it. Woohoo!

So I mentioned earlier that I was going to see the St. Louis Symphony and the world-famous violinist Gil Shaham as soloist. Well, all I can say is that the concert rocked my white cotton socks off! If you ever get the chance to see a great violin concerto, do take the opportunity.

On Saturday, Shaham stopped by one of the local music schools to teach a master class open to the public. For those uninitiated, a master class is set up with a small group of students playing one at a time for a master and receiving critiques/pointers/tangential jokes afterwards.

But that's all trivia, because Shaham plays on a Stradivarius, and he brought it along. Strads are basically mythical to violinists; they are, I would argue, the greatest instruments in the world. If nothing else, they are the most valuable by far. Shaham's 1699 Stradivarius is worth about 2 million dollars at least. So, of course, I expected it to be encased in a massive metal sarcophagus with armed guards surrounding. Instead, Shaham walks in with a beat up old case and sits down across the aisle from me. It was so unassuming that I thought he just picked up a spare for the particular lesson. But he opened the case, and there it was. All I can say is, all the myths are true. The instrument itself is mesmerizingly beautiful, and the sound...mmmmm... Gil picked up his instrument to play a fast example passage, and all hell broke loose. I sat not ten feet away, and the sound just blew me away. I don't really know how to describe it; it's so pure. It's not really earsplittingly loud, but it's incredibly focused, maybe? The sound just rings and rings and rings forever after a lift. My girlfriend, who is a violinst herself, said the sound was so big as to almost be painful to listen to. In the quiet words of our favorite Top Gear presenters, it was epic. I can't even really think of a witty analogy at the moment, it was just that good. I left satisfied, for sure. Whew.

-Charles

PS: I had a WashU interview afterwards. I have no comment; it was pretty boring. Not particularily bad, but not memorable. My interviewer was a sorority-dwelling art major during her formative college years. You can imagine that we didn't have too much in common to chat about. Meh, I just hope that pro-St. Louis bias works towards me in admissions. Harvard interview on Thursday!

garlic pants

I had my Carleton interview today, and for once, it went really really well. Even if I don't end up going there, even if I don't get in, it will be nice to know that I made it through one college interview without making a complete ass of myself. The only slightly bad thing was the smell my pants let off. So, my mum gave our ironing board away to my brother, and needing to iron my khakis, I ended up using the pull out cutting boards in the kitchen covered with dishtowels as an ironing board. It worked all right until I smelled garlic. Apparently the last thing that cutting board was used for was garlic, the smell of which my pants absorbed. So I smelled like I was trying to fend off a vampire or something. I wonder how my interviewer felt about that...

shakin up the blog

So it looks like nobody has posted for a while.
I think I will change that.

not much happening here in oregon. wish it would get colder--its currently shorts and barefoot weather. In January. Bummer.
Finally finished all my scholarship apps. One thing worries me though; I applied to Cornell two weeks ago, and they haven't contacted me yet. Any of you who applied know what their normal turnaround time is? I think it might be just because I am a Y, but one never knows. I would be pretty ticked if it didn't get through somehow (I submitted online) Any insight you guys have would be greatly appreciated.
In other college news, I just realized that I never updated you on deep springs.
rejected. Bummer.
It was a long shot anyway.

In happier news, I saw P&P again last night. The ending is growing on me. still a little cheezy, but I can accept it better because the second time I realized that Darcy looked like he was intending to go look for Lizzy, rather than just a chance meeting in the meadow at 5 in the morning. Much more believable. I will reiterate how amazing the Jane in this version is.

I'm going through a sort of a weird phase right now. I am trying to memorize Dr. Suess poems. Seriously. I want to have them committed to memory so I can someday perform them. Do you realize how cool of a show that would be. Oh, and if you haven't read any Seuss lately, I highly suggest you do so. It's interesting how we just remember them as funny poems with names like "Zanzibar Buck Buck McFate", but if you reread them there is a lot of social commentary.

Top five Dr. Seuss stories.
5)The King's Stilts
4)Happy Birthday to You
3)The Zax
2)Did I Ever tell you how Lucky you Are?
1) The Lorax

Miss you all

bern

Check it out

I know that this is supposed to go on the recs. page, but I couldn't resist:

My music player was on random, and it played two of my favorite new artists that I'd forgotten about. Both artists are mellow without being soporific, which is a welcome change. I think two of the best albums of 2004 were "Solace" by Xavier Rudd, and "Trouble" by Ray Lamontagne. If you haven't heard these albums, you seriously need to check them out. Xavier Rudd is the only person who's ever made a convincing case for the use of the didgeridoo, and his slide guitar work is reminiscent of Ry Cooder. He channels a little bit of Ben Harper, I think.
Ray Lamontagne has these really beautiful, simple songs that are sort of blues folk. It's the soundtrack of Sunday afternoon. He has a very distinctive voice. It's like, "Sing it, Ray Lamontagne! But wait, you're white? Really?

Specific songs to check out:
"Shelter" - Ray Lamontagne
"Trouble" - Ray Lamontagne
"Let Me Be" - Xavier Rudd
"Solace Amongst Sin" - Xavier Rudd

Also, I've seen two movies about ballroom dancing in the past three days, and I've decided that it's pretty much the best sport ever invented, aside from curling.

Time and time we see these acts against humanity...

Gorillaz in the cave

I saw this article and thought of hanging out in the cave (I'm calling the computer room in the basement the "cave" because "computer room in the basement" just isn't working for me).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4598322.stm

talk about an in-ter-dis-ci-pli-nar-y competition. And if you don't read the whole article, just check out the last four paragraphs. Quick Charles Wu: how would you program a virtual band to react (how're you doing Dylan?) to a live audience?

Visiting Caltech

OK, so it's been a while since I posted last. Um . . . on New Year's Eve (old news, I know, but bear with me) I jammed with a couple of my cousins, one of whom has a degree in woodwind performance and is currently doing graduate work in music. He plays a mean saxophone solo . . . brought back many happy memories of our TASP jam session *sniff.*

A couple days after New Years my dad and I drove down to Pasadena to visit Caltech. It's kind of like MIT, only much more math-and-science concentrated - they have only about 900 undergrads (ALL of whom have some kind of math- or science-related major), but there's a 3 to 1 student:faculty ratio and 32 Nobel prizes won by professors. They have NASA's jet propulsion laboratory, a giant tank of liquid nitrogen (which is "pretty freely available" according to the information session), and a swimming pool behind the admissions office. Also, there is great weather (as that last would suggest). Plus a better hack record than MIT. Definitely a pretty ill school, if you like math and science and can get in. I'm still waiting on that last . . .

I finally got my apps all sent in, plus the Cornell House app (woot!). I have a BYU scholarship I need to get around to applying for in the next month, plus an extra essay McGill wants me to hand in (but they don't list a deadline for it . . . those silly Canadians!).

This morning I was trying to associate particular musicians or music genres with particular dishes - e.g. Simon and Garfunkel is a glass of 2 percent milk, bebop is crab, Vivaldi's Four Seasons are pasta with artichoke hearts in white sauce. It strikes me as the kind of exercise somebody else taught me, but I can't come up with a specific memory. Hmmm . . .

1. Hazy Shade of Winter - Simon and Garfunkel
2. Mardi Gras in New Orleans - Dirty Dozen Brass Band
3. Opus Pocus - Jaco Pastorius with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock
4. Call Me the Breeze - Lynyrd Skynyrd
5. Understand Your Man - Johnny Cash

Groetjes,
Sam

i can never think up a good title...

So I just had my Rochester interview this weekend. Apparently I'm a contender for one of their merit scholarships, and this interview was required. So I was really tense, and dressed up like a college post-graduate, and went over it in my mind, rehearsing questions like what I'm currently reading, why I like writing, blah blah.. you know what I mean.
We were supposed to meet up at the local B & N, and I reached there a few min before ten, and seated myself next to the window at an intimate two chair table, figuring that the lady wasn't there yet. Supposedly she was right next to me, and her table was strewn with Rochester brochures, but I was too nervous to even notice. So we just hung about until 10:20 Am, until she called my cell, and saw that it rang at my table. It was simply hilarious. According to her, I looked too old and mature and sophisticated (25yr old Samyu!!) and so she assumed that I wasn't the one. haha
But the interview went well. It also was more like an info session, except she did comment at the end that she had talked more than I had, which made me nervous... The thing is, her fiancee joined us, and they spent a good part reminiscing about their times together at Rochester. Verry annoying..

Oooh guess what??! I just got published in this magazine called Authors of Tomorrow! It's awesome, except I think that this mag's readership is just the 20-30 people who buy it to look at their names in print. But w/e... =] It asked me to choose between five topics - I did the career essay and just used my Telluride essay. They do come in handy for these kinda things!

I just got a letter from the Columbia Science Honors Program thing that I attend. I have to choose a course for spring semester (actually I have to name my top three choices). Last year I took Neurobiology, Development and Disease. It was great because of the people in there, not because of the class. Seriously, it all went over my head.
So here's the course listing for this time. You guys need to help me choose.
1. Experiments in Genetics and Molecular Bacteriology
2. Pathogenesis and Immunity
3. Microbial Genetics and Genomics
4. Human Physiology
5. Neurobiology of Development and Disease
6. Introduction to Psychology
7. Compartitve Psychology
8. Organic Chemistry
9. Computer modeling and Visualization in Chemistry
10. Computer Programming in Java
11. Calculus in the Complex Plane
12. Concepts in Biological Physics
13. Experiments in Atomic and Nuclear Physics
14. Cosmology, Fundamental Particles and Relativity
15. Astronomy - The Solar System and Beyond.

I kinda want to do something with physics or calculus this time - so I'm looking at the latter half of this list more closely.
Any advice? Have any of you ever taken these subjects before? Preppies?

See ya,
Samyukta

speaking of college...

After my terrible Georgetown interview, I have another chance at making myself collegely acceptable with Carleton. My question is (since everyone's become an inteview fashion expert), what do I wear? My TASP interview was with two old-ish professorial people in a wasp-infested broom closet in the corner of a building on a university campus, my Georgetown interview was a ten-minute afterthought with an old lawyer guy at his office (that smelled like meatballs, not especially tasty ones, especially since I don't eat meatballs.), but this one is at a coffee shop with a guy who just graduated last year, and he's already told me that he'll be the one in the Carleton sweatshirt. So...what to wear? Unfortunately I don't have hot pink sling-backs, but I have black ones! Or else there's berkenstocks, my running spikes (gotta keep my options open), or semi-dressy brown Earth shoes. Could nice jeans possibley be acceptable? Oh these post-modern youngersters! what do they expect from us?!

Fine. Hurrah for superfluousness in the English alphabet

In light of our previous discussion, and especially in agreement with one of Sam's comments:

Having chosen English as the preferred language in the EEC, the European Parliament has commissioned a feasibility study in ways of improving efficiency in communications between Government departments.

European officials have often pointed out the English spelling is unnecessarily difficult; for example: cough, plough, rough, through and thorough. What is clearly needed is a phased programme of changes to iron out these anomalies. The programme would, of course, be administered by a committee staff at top level by participating nations.

In the first year, for example, the committee would suggest using "s" instead of the soft "c." Sertainly, sivil servants in all sities would resieve this news with joy. Then the hard "c" could be replaced by "k" sinse both letters are pronounsed alike. Not only would this klear up konfusion in the minds of klerikal workers, but typewriters kould be made with one less letter.

There would be growing enthusiasm when in the sekond year, it would be announsed that the troublesome "ph" would henseforth be written "f." This would make words like "fotograf" twenty persent shorter in print.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reash the stage where more komplikated shanges are possible.Governments would enkourage the removal of double leters whish have always been a deterent to akurate speling.

We would al agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful. Therefor we kould drop them and kontinu to read and writ as though nothing had hapend. By this tim it would be four years sins the skem began and peopl would be reseptive to steps sutsh as replasing "th" by "z." Perhaps zen ze funktion of "w" kould be taken on by "v," vitsh is, after al, half a "w." Shortly after zis, ze unesesary "o" kould be dropd from vords kontaining "ou." Similar arguments vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. Kontinuing zis proses yer after yer, ve vud eventuli hav a reli sensibl riten styl. After tventi yers zer vud be no mor trubls, difikultis and evrivun vud find it ezi tu understand ech ozer. Ze drems of ze Guvermnt vud finali have kum tru.

(Here's the source)

Urgh.

So yay for wonky, wasteful, inefficient, but wonderfully nuanced spelling!

That is all.

Jason

AHAHAHA! Simply Awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=4-dUII2vJOA


It's the fishbowl! And the UGLi!


waka waka waka waka...

Gah! Eyes Exploding with Envy...

Some of you probably know deviantart.com but for those who don't... go there now.

It can be tedious sifting through the accumulated crap that people dump on the site, but some of the artists there are simply amazing. For example, see this gallery... or this; filled with amazing digital paintings. I didn't know photoshop could do all that!

And at the moment my grade is abuzz with Oxbridge admissions news (because, well, a whole bunch of people from my school apply each year... I got an offer from Cambridge, by the way, which is of course irrelevant now but it's comforting to know that my trip there -- attendant stressing out, frantic cramming and all -- was in some way appreciated and rewarded). Amidst this accumulated angst, euphoria, and disappointment, a friend thought that this gem of a gallery would be appropriate. It's a bunch of exceedingly pretty, dreamy shots of Cambridge. Enjoy.

Yes, Meredith, semi-straightened hair looks amazing on you, but the whole curly mane was also fantastically cool. I mean remember the time at the Kerrytown Concert Hall (is that the name? Can't remember) when I blurted out "what's it like to squeeze your hair?"

"c" is definitely a superfluous letter. Let's go to the serkus and harrass the klowns! Hey, is anybody else mildly unnerved by clowns? It's that giant grin... *shudder*

Jason

Whoa!!

Meredith, your hair is amazing. sad to hear that it didn't stay (well, not really that sad--your hair is amazing anyway)

Not much point to this post. Just wanted to announce that Bern has officially joined the elite club of those who NEVER HAVE TO OPEN COMMONAPP AGAIN *rejoicing*
now I just have to fill out all these scholarship apps. *not rejoicing*

oh, and Emma, I hear what you are saying, but I am personally of the opinion that L is a far more superfluous letter than C
Levitations
Laconically
Legato
Linger

Nabokov would not approve

:-)

-bern

Killer Coke! Also, a surprise

University of Michigan
Suspends Coca-Cola Sales
Associated Press
January 2, 2006 1:17 a.m.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Michigan suspended sales of Coca-Cola products on its three campuses over allegations that the company permits human-rights and environmental abuses abroad.

The suspension, which begins Jan. 1, will affect vending machines, residence halls, cafeterias and campus restaurants. Coke's contracts with the university are worth about $1.4 million.

The university and the company said they will continue to negotiate.

"The University of Michigan is an important school, and I respect the way they worked with us on this issue," said Kari Bjorhus, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Co., told the Detroit News. "We are continuing to try hard to work with the university to address concerns and assure them about our business practices."

Michigan's decision was prompted by a complaint last year from Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality. The student group accused Coke of draining local groundwater in India and conspiring with paramilitary groups in Colombia to harass and harm union members.

The company has repeatedly denied the allegations, which have prompted other schools to suspend sales.

The university, which has more than 50,000 students, decided not to renew its contracts when Coke said it was unable to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to cooperate in an investigation of circumstances in Colombia. The university and several other colleges had offered to fund the investigation.

Ms. Bjorhus said Thursday that a pending civil lawsuit prevented the company from participating.

In a statement on the company Web site, Coca-Cola said allegations involving its operations in Colombia are false and the company has been "an exemplary member of the business community" there.

And here's the surprise:



That's right, it's me with straight(ish) hair. They have to straighten it before they cut it, and I got a haircut, so that was that.

Mark Twain visits Ann Arbor

This piece of gum was stuck above the TASP '05 on the gum wall. I think it bears a close resemblance to Mark Twain. But wait, perhaps it's Einstein? No, he had a stronger chin. Or maybe...hmmm. Any thoughts?

Merry New Year.... and an update

Well, the nondenominational holiday season is now over, which is suppose means taking down the Christmas tree inside and the lights outside. Brrrrr...... Then again, destroying is much more fun than putting it up, not to mention ten times easier. Of course, the end of holidays (except Hannukah) is also a return to school and daily life.

Break was quite good to me, but it seemed really durn short. I got the special edition of BBC Pride and Prejudice for Christmas from my super-cool girlfriend (woohoo!), and the "Making Of" short was quite disconcerting. It's really weird to hear the actors talk in normal voices after being locked into their characters for so long. Mrs. Bennet talks in a soft voice, for goodness sake! I also got this little talking dictionary thingy, and I can't stop telling it to say "callipygian." Soooooo funny. Apparently, callipygious is also a correct form of the adjective. Go figure.

I've been volunteering at the St. Louis Science Center, which is this museum/playplace to promote scientific curiosity in children. What it means for me is that I get to sit in a glass booth cleaning fossils while little kids press their noses against the glass. Suprisingly, the unwashed masses aren't really noticeable when you've got your head down working. Even wonder what people in behind glass say to one another when you're looking at them? It has nothing to do with the work, and it's usually not very nice, either :-P

But perhaps most importantly of all, college apps are all in and filed. Now, I just don't know what I'm going to do with my time. I have no essays to fiddle with, and no homework yet. Oh well, what a pity. I think I'll go read a book.

-A thumb-twiddling Charles

New Year Rant

Happy New Year to all!!

actually, I can't really say that yet. It's only 9:30 here right now. I'm havin doubts that I will make it till midnight though, so I'm writing you now. (I too am of the "sitting home society")

I saw Pride and Prejudice. actually, "saw" doesn't quite do it justice. since our theatre is a insult to the entertainment industry and doesn't bring a movie unless it is guaranteed to please the masses (I live in eastern oregon remember--hick central) I had convince my parents to drive me two hours up into Washington to find a theater that was showing it. (try and comprend that all you males out there; persuade your dad to drive two hours on snowy roads to see a chick flick) Anyway it was very good. particularly agree with whoever it was earlier who was discussing how much better Jane was in this one (Charles?) Took me a little while to get used to Kiera Knightley, but I thought she did a good job. Only two gripes; first, when lizzy told darcy of lydia's running away, he said something like "I'll see what I can do" Ahhhhgh!! Bad!! completely gave away the ending.
second gripe; WHAT WAS WITH THE SECOND PROPOSAL SCENE?
let me try to grasp this--lizzy cant sleep, so she goes wandering out in the pasture in the mist to a bridge over a little stream. pretty soon, surprise surprise, darcy--who can't sleep either--shows up. They are both soaking wet (what the hell? did they have to swim a river to get to this cow pasture) and darcy's shirt is undone (wooo, flash that chest). after professing his undying love for lizzy, darcy allows her to kiss his hand. as she does so, the camera switches positions so that the rising sun is glowing behind the lovers as they move in for a kiss.

On a more positive note I loved the scene with darcy and bingley outside the house where bingley was trying to work up the courage to propose to Jane and was rehearsing what he would say with darcy. It wasn't in the book, but it was so plausible and I could so easily sympathize with the man. It's great when inserted material actually makes sense.

well that's about all. I think I will go to bed.

top 5 right now

1. Blues in the night--Chicago
2. Backwoods Sideman--Buddy Rich band
3. Fly me to the moon--Frank Sinatra
4. Watermelon Island--Eldar Djangirov
5. Manteca--Maynard Ferguson

those of you who recognize any of these names will instantly decipher that I am going through a bit of a jazz phase right now.

miss you all

-bern

Happy New Year

Here I sit at home, 12:04 (that's 2006), in the room above my garage with just my mum after a movie marathon celebrating a new year. And I'm comfortable enough with myself that I can admit that to you. There is a wonderful reason for my hermitness (though I really think that it can be great fun to sit home on any night, including New Year's Eve, so anyone else at home, be proud, have fun), but you don't need to hear any excuses. Happy New Year everyone! Happy graduation year! Happy!

(Just a side note: that's a fun word. Happy. Yappy. Bappy. Okay I just thought of another one that starts with a C, but that is not the order of the day, and besides, C is a superfluous letter.)

Kontent at home,
-Emma (I'm liking the witty adjectives Rid).