When I went to India for the first time, I had to keep a journal. My first entry was all about how goddamn smelly the city was—Bombay at night, even in late 1996, was a hot, muggy place and the airport in particular was disgusting and poorly ventilated. The unexpected animals outside and the perpetually congested traffic—I think my exact words were “this city smells like manure.” I don’t know, though, because as soon as my mother read it, she ripped that page out and threw it away. So much for honesty.
Well, it’s really not so bad here; the only stray animals are cats and dogs, although the former are in incredibly large numbers (the latter don’t surprise me as much); the latter, though, are pretty tame. In fact, we were followed all the way up Likavettos Hill (which is 944m above sea level, don’t know why I remember that) by a random stray dog who, above all else, was uncollared. (The belief is that the city neuters/spays and vaccinates stray dogs, and then puts a collar on them.) But yeah—all the way up, all the way down; and today’s expedition to the Acropolis began with a rather chubby dog following us, who was then replaced by a thinner dog after some mutual conversation between the two. Personally, I think that they realized that the thinner dog was more likely to get food out of us. It wouldn’t surprise me if the dogs have learned to expect food and love from large groups (obvious tourists, that is).
Yeah, the title’s a lie, as far as I know; out on 33 Stilponous (the apartment’s address), there’s a whiff in the air that quickly dissipates once you’re outside, and there really aren’t as many animals in the center, closer to the Acropolis. There’s this one pedestrian walkway that we’ve dubbed Dogshit Lane or boulevard or whatever, though, for the “presents” in the middle. Anyway, it’s a city and I think some would say that a little smell is worth not killing or uncomfortably housing animals en masse. Hell, the Metro stop under Syntagma Square does NOT smell like urine, which is a vast improvement over the CTA Red Line, so, relatively speaking, Athens is winning. At least until you add in the cigarette fumes, which…well, they have rules, but they’re more like guidelines more often than not, and I’ve learned to expect a need for shampoo if I go to any cafés or tavernas. Someone told me that the Hellenics are a nation of chain-smokers; I can believe it.
But anyway. It’s definitely far easier to learn a language when it’s everywhere—knowing how to read it from the start (with a little added help on the first day here explaining diphthongs—you should be so proud I know this word—and the freakin’ vowels) has been surprisingly useful, thanks to all the words derived from Greek in English and French.
It’s quite an adventure. I think I could easily get used to living here, although of course I’m talking without being here in the winter, or for that matter having to find a job or living here without being continually occupied. Then again, the latter applies to a whole lot of things. There are certain habits one can easily fall into if one lives alone…but that’s a topic for another time, another place.
At the moment, I will continue to enjoy Athens and our day trip (tomorrow) to Euboia…actually, the story in Thucydides on how they were conquered by the Athenians is one of my favorites, simply because of the way the Spartans failed to do anything decisive. I even drew a cartoon about it.
On today’s exploration: the Areopagus is god. damn. slippery, stupid Acropolis limestone (so named because of the pink veins running through it), and the tourists crowding the Acropolis itself arrive in absurd quantities, so unfortunately I think I’ll appreciate going there early. My favorite part of the museum (former stoa of Attalos) was, naturally, the mass-produced ostrakos (or whatever…) for the expulsion of Themistocles.
3.31.2009
Journaling II
Considering that a major source of information about the city of Athens and, indeed, cities in general is the notes of a traveler, I can’t help but wonder if, a thousand years from now when everyone’s mind-linked to the Almighty Interweb, this will be a source on the city of Athens in, I don’t know, the Era of Early Internet/Late Space Age. If that’s the case…oh dear, there are going to be some major gaps to fill. Like, you know, the one that explains how the day of an ordinary Athenian is…. At least, I can say that nothing opens for dinner until 8 p.m., and that there’s siesta—the silence during which is legally enforced—from 2-5.30 p.m., and that lunch cafés don’t open until noon, and that only a few sweetshops and the cafés are open on Sundays (so the one all-week supermarket that’s open is horribly crowded on Sundays—although that means little because it’s so tiny).
Weird thing about the weather: we get south winds from the Sahara, so there’s an unholy cloud of dust in the air—we climbed Likavettos Hill today and there was a brown haze over the city (not to mention the white one from the day being stupidly cloudy…a semi-official decision to climb the hill again on a clear day has been made (allegedly, it will then be possible to see the water and islands, in addition to the whole of Athens). Needless to say, my photographs from today suck.
So far, four days, 279 photos. With a digital, it’s necessary to take multiple shots and hope that at least one comes out alright, though, so lots of repeats (and a bunch that I want to stitch together).
What I find more intriguing, though, is the fact that we’re once again moving towards a system of lessened waste. The remains from the Mycenean civilizations, the “Dark Ages,” etc. tell us little because there’s so few. And the use of papyrus to replace the inscriptions and tablets of the Assyrians completely decimated the amount of information we have about them—unfortunately, the inevitable assumption is always that there was less going on during these kinds of times, even though the empire collapsed during the latter phase. But anyway. Are we really leaving less of a trail these days? I’d call what we have ‘cyberwaste.’ Yes, the servers in which this information is ultimately encoded do go bad over time, but there a trillion backups and replacements. Information seems like it has a far greater chance of having a continuous flow these days…but that’s probably what the ancients thought (when they considered it at all).
In as few as 300 years, this text may become unreadable because of its archaic speak, or maybe Skynet will finally come together and future humans’ll be forced to destroy every trace of Google (god, where else would all that data come together into a seething, evil consciousness), and then there will be nothing left.
Me, though, I’m satisfied as long as I have an account of what I’ve done. Really, a lot of this stuff only matters to me.
Weird thing about the weather: we get south winds from the Sahara, so there’s an unholy cloud of dust in the air—we climbed Likavettos Hill today and there was a brown haze over the city (not to mention the white one from the day being stupidly cloudy…a semi-official decision to climb the hill again on a clear day has been made (allegedly, it will then be possible to see the water and islands, in addition to the whole of Athens). Needless to say, my photographs from today suck.
So far, four days, 279 photos. With a digital, it’s necessary to take multiple shots and hope that at least one comes out alright, though, so lots of repeats (and a bunch that I want to stitch together).
What I find more intriguing, though, is the fact that we’re once again moving towards a system of lessened waste. The remains from the Mycenean civilizations, the “Dark Ages,” etc. tell us little because there’s so few. And the use of papyrus to replace the inscriptions and tablets of the Assyrians completely decimated the amount of information we have about them—unfortunately, the inevitable assumption is always that there was less going on during these kinds of times, even though the empire collapsed during the latter phase. But anyway. Are we really leaving less of a trail these days? I’d call what we have ‘cyberwaste.’ Yes, the servers in which this information is ultimately encoded do go bad over time, but there a trillion backups and replacements. Information seems like it has a far greater chance of having a continuous flow these days…but that’s probably what the ancients thought (when they considered it at all).
In as few as 300 years, this text may become unreadable because of its archaic speak, or maybe Skynet will finally come together and future humans’ll be forced to destroy every trace of Google (god, where else would all that data come together into a seething, evil consciousness), and then there will be nothing left.
Me, though, I’m satisfied as long as I have an account of what I’ve done. Really, a lot of this stuff only matters to me.
3.30.2009
Journaling
I sort of think it's pointless because, well, I can photoblog everything, so here's a bunch of stuff I can't write down:
-The food is fine. Of course the main dishes like souvlaki are all meaningless, but the tsatsiki is fantastic (seriously, it's waaaay better with rich Greek yogurt) and Mythos, the local lager, is pretty damn good too.
-People are very nice! And used to tourists in some areas, of course.
-Birds shit everywhere. Cats pee everywhere. Dogs shit in many places. (There are a bunch of strays, although they're way tamer and nicer-seeming than the ones in India.)
-Slopes. Oh god the slopes.
-Cars park in the most random places....
Hmm, I think that's the stuff that's new to me. A lot of stuff that's new to people who haven't been out of the States or to the East are surprised; as for me, some of the European stuff (okay, there are seriously amazing boots here...how they wear them on those hills I have no idea) is cool. New. Better, even. (Like the solar panels everywhere, and the fact that they list energy in kJ instead of Calories.)
-The food is fine. Of course the main dishes like souvlaki are all meaningless, but the tsatsiki is fantastic (seriously, it's waaaay better with rich Greek yogurt) and Mythos, the local lager, is pretty damn good too.
-People are very nice! And used to tourists in some areas, of course.
-Birds shit everywhere. Cats pee everywhere. Dogs shit in many places. (There are a bunch of strays, although they're way tamer and nicer-seeming than the ones in India.)
-Slopes. Oh god the slopes.
-Cars park in the most random places....
Hmm, I think that's the stuff that's new to me. A lot of stuff that's new to people who haven't been out of the States or to the East are surprised; as for me, some of the European stuff (okay, there are seriously amazing boots here...how they wear them on those hills I have no idea) is cool. New. Better, even. (Like the solar panels everywhere, and the fact that they list energy in kJ instead of Calories.)
3.28.2009
Two Days Later
We’ve already done a fair amount of exploring…the Pangrati area (a nice big square, Farmers’ Market on Fridays—lots of stores, taverna all around), Varnava Square—which is the close one, great bakery & all sorts of cafes and more taverna (seriously, Greece is overrun with taverna and cats, not that I mind either, considering a. how cheap the delicious, delicious fresh food is—real feta cheese is not hard and crumbly! and b. kiiiiiitty! although they usually run away before you can pet them). Plus a nighttime visit to the Acropolis involving a little bit of adventuring; the Plaka (which is the only place you can bargain, I do want to try that out…they supposedly also all know English there); the Monasteriki (near the Plaka—the name means ‘little monastery’); and my first-ever cathedral (or Western religiously affiliated building for that matter), the Mitropoli—love those Greek Orthodox icons. Also the remains of the temple of Olympian Zeus, an interesting discussion about how the experience changes depending on how intact things are. Oh, and there are these awesome limestone houses if you go past Hadrian’s library and the Roman agora and follow the pathway on the left up towards the Acropolis; they definitely get a lot of tourists there. These cool Greek ladies showed us a rather amazing café (for the record: tzatziki? Needs to be made with Greek yogurt, which is way richer than the usual stuff).
Note: at some point, I should add pictures to this. Maybe when I get back.
You can see the Parthenon from a lot of places in the center of Athens; it’s a bit like the Washington Monument that way. I have taken a hilariously large number of pictures from different angles…sort of because that’s what people expect, though. An unexpected source of amusement is the graffiti around here: there’s a Communist bear and some crazy chicks near us, and I also saw a toking bird and a pretty sweet gecko. Evidently there’s a lot of hoodlums and shit around here, but the graffiti in general appears to be acceptable in the non-ritzy areas (definitely saw places where it had been cleaned off, so it’s not not okay/tolerable everywhere).
I’m starting to get used to stuff—definitely things in the apartment, even the fact that it’s a studio, that I have to adjust to; not to mention the completely different style of housing (which, of course, tourists love to be awed by; I think of these as the indeliberate attractions—I mean, do you really expect people to gawk over suburbia?)—but I’m not entirely sure that I want to get used to things here. I mean, yes, I’m living here for 10 whole weeks, but it’d be a lot more memorable if every day were an experience (which, mostly, they will be…soooo many trips and excursions!), although of course there is the idea of understanding the lifestyle. But maybe you can do that without losing a sense of wonder. And, of course, there are benefits to not jizzing one’s pants every time one catches a glimpse of the Parthenon.
There are a confusing number of similarities between here and, actually, India; something about the little stores and kiosks, and of course everything is marble and concrete and, in some cases, brightly-colored; the open markets especially are something hugely lacking in America. It’s really funny how obsessive they are with labeling things as “green” or “organic” or “local” or whatever there; here, it’s like, well no shit these oranges came from nearby—and, for the record, are both incredibly juicy and awesomely cheap. So yeah…there’s that, and then the red rooftops and the mountains and hills everywhere (thank god…) rather remind me of San Diego. I guess that does something about the culture shock? But really, it’s not much of a problem. The one issue is when they have no idea what you’re saying and vice versa….
(Granted, a lot of the things I’ve noticed are probably simply city or mountain things, but I haven’t been around the world that much, so I don’t think it safe to generalize that far.)
So far I have learned numbers, ‘thank you,’ ‘sorry,’ and picked up a little speed in reading Greek words just from every day stuff.
Note: at some point, I should add pictures to this. Maybe when I get back.
You can see the Parthenon from a lot of places in the center of Athens; it’s a bit like the Washington Monument that way. I have taken a hilariously large number of pictures from different angles…sort of because that’s what people expect, though. An unexpected source of amusement is the graffiti around here: there’s a Communist bear and some crazy chicks near us, and I also saw a toking bird and a pretty sweet gecko. Evidently there’s a lot of hoodlums and shit around here, but the graffiti in general appears to be acceptable in the non-ritzy areas (definitely saw places where it had been cleaned off, so it’s not not okay/tolerable everywhere).
I’m starting to get used to stuff—definitely things in the apartment, even the fact that it’s a studio, that I have to adjust to; not to mention the completely different style of housing (which, of course, tourists love to be awed by; I think of these as the indeliberate attractions—I mean, do you really expect people to gawk over suburbia?)—but I’m not entirely sure that I want to get used to things here. I mean, yes, I’m living here for 10 whole weeks, but it’d be a lot more memorable if every day were an experience (which, mostly, they will be…soooo many trips and excursions!), although of course there is the idea of understanding the lifestyle. But maybe you can do that without losing a sense of wonder. And, of course, there are benefits to not jizzing one’s pants every time one catches a glimpse of the Parthenon.
There are a confusing number of similarities between here and, actually, India; something about the little stores and kiosks, and of course everything is marble and concrete and, in some cases, brightly-colored; the open markets especially are something hugely lacking in America. It’s really funny how obsessive they are with labeling things as “green” or “organic” or “local” or whatever there; here, it’s like, well no shit these oranges came from nearby—and, for the record, are both incredibly juicy and awesomely cheap. So yeah…there’s that, and then the red rooftops and the mountains and hills everywhere (thank god…) rather remind me of San Diego. I guess that does something about the culture shock? But really, it’s not much of a problem. The one issue is when they have no idea what you’re saying and vice versa….
(Granted, a lot of the things I’ve noticed are probably simply city or mountain things, but I haven’t been around the world that much, so I don’t think it safe to generalize that far.)
So far I have learned numbers, ‘thank you,’ ‘sorry,’ and picked up a little speed in reading Greek words just from every day stuff.
3.27.2009
Lessons
I had all this bitchy stuff to write about being on the airplane, stuff like god it must suck to be a stewardess, pretending to be pleased/amazed at the revelations of a first-time flyer, especially a high schooler who thinks his opinion is actually worth something…
But then we landed. In Athens.
It’s really damn smoky indoors, but outside—well, it was wonderful. The weather, colors, even the graffiti (I saw a Bart Simpson one! Unfortunately I’d put away my camera for the bus ride)—skipping ahead several weeks of crappy seasonal weather is awesome and I recommend it to everyone. Going from late winter in Chicago to the first blooming of spring here…fabulous.
And of course I (and a couple others) got totally giggly and touristy when we just saw the Parthenon—right there! On the top of a (seemingly) nearby hill! Looking the way it does in all those pictures of it! Greece isn’t exactly one of those countries where the ancient is right alongside the new and actually ends up being used (at least as far as I can tell), but the two do come pretty damn close.
So anyway. The old apartment and lack of Internet will take some getting used to, but once that’s done….
THERE ARE HILLS and MOUNTAINS. I CAN SEE THEM. I also have a view of the Mediterranean…and a giant cemetery, I think I heard it was the largest in Athens, lots of politicians & stuff are buried there.
(For the record: it is a dumb idea to pretend to be Indian, all of the obnoxious crying babies on the plane were from there. Seriously, guys....)
But then we landed. In Athens.
It’s really damn smoky indoors, but outside—well, it was wonderful. The weather, colors, even the graffiti (I saw a Bart Simpson one! Unfortunately I’d put away my camera for the bus ride)—skipping ahead several weeks of crappy seasonal weather is awesome and I recommend it to everyone. Going from late winter in Chicago to the first blooming of spring here…fabulous.
And of course I (and a couple others) got totally giggly and touristy when we just saw the Parthenon—right there! On the top of a (seemingly) nearby hill! Looking the way it does in all those pictures of it! Greece isn’t exactly one of those countries where the ancient is right alongside the new and actually ends up being used (at least as far as I can tell), but the two do come pretty damn close.
So anyway. The old apartment and lack of Internet will take some getting used to, but once that’s done….
THERE ARE HILLS and MOUNTAINS. I CAN SEE THEM. I also have a view of the Mediterranean…and a giant cemetery, I think I heard it was the largest in Athens, lots of politicians & stuff are buried there.
(For the record: it is a dumb idea to pretend to be Indian, all of the obnoxious crying babies on the plane were from there. Seriously, guys....)
3.25.2009
waiting for nothing
Airports are always described as privileged places in books, movies, whatever. I don’t really get it, though. An airport is the in-between point for going from one place to another, but what isn’t? Your house is the stopping point between destinations like work, school, the mall; and vice versa. I think that airports are only considered special because they bridge broader distances.
In this case, the Internet should be considered the ultimate terminal. And computers are even described that way, sometimes.
… I’m pretty bored, I think I might have brought the wrong books for right now (at some point, I was going to make at least a small effort to study Greek…and humorously enough, the dudes sitting in front of me are bound to the same destination for the same purpose and, as far as I can tell, actually working on the assignment, whose existence I only just vaguely remembered…but I’m on spring break, screw that).
Also, again, I am spending two and a half months in a foreign country. Tee-hee! My one regret, though; baby, if you have some way of reading this, I just want you to know that I love you and already miss you. Even when I say I want to replace you—I don’t really mean it. You know nothing could ever take your place. After all, the PS3 can’t play PS1 games like you.
…What? I brought my camera, tablet, and laptop. It’s the only one that’s missing….
Reading Murakami is always a prompt to look at the ordinary in strange ways; I’ve read the book enough times that I couldn’t help but consider the idea of an airport and, really, how perfectly ordinary it is to have a place like this. We should really consider the existence of the house weird; its only real function, the one that can’t be duplicated by something else, is that of offering a place to sleep. They’re so much bigger than they have to be, aren’t they?
Oh, even weirder. Airplanes. Big hollow metal birds that ease their way through giant puffs of water (I find clouds interesting, yes, :P)—and they’re sort of a race against or with time, it’s weird to think that so much time can be lost just through sheer movement.
In this case, the Internet should be considered the ultimate terminal. And computers are even described that way, sometimes.
… I’m pretty bored, I think I might have brought the wrong books for right now (at some point, I was going to make at least a small effort to study Greek…and humorously enough, the dudes sitting in front of me are bound to the same destination for the same purpose and, as far as I can tell, actually working on the assignment, whose existence I only just vaguely remembered…but I’m on spring break, screw that).
Also, again, I am spending two and a half months in a foreign country. Tee-hee! My one regret, though; baby, if you have some way of reading this, I just want you to know that I love you and already miss you. Even when I say I want to replace you—I don’t really mean it. You know nothing could ever take your place. After all, the PS3 can’t play PS1 games like you.
…What? I brought my camera, tablet, and laptop. It’s the only one that’s missing….
Reading Murakami is always a prompt to look at the ordinary in strange ways; I’ve read the book enough times that I couldn’t help but consider the idea of an airport and, really, how perfectly ordinary it is to have a place like this. We should really consider the existence of the house weird; its only real function, the one that can’t be duplicated by something else, is that of offering a place to sleep. They’re so much bigger than they have to be, aren’t they?
Oh, even weirder. Airplanes. Big hollow metal birds that ease their way through giant puffs of water (I find clouds interesting, yes, :P)—and they’re sort of a race against or with time, it’s weird to think that so much time can be lost just through sheer movement.
3.24.2009
Rounded Corners
For some reason, all the cool websites now have rounded corners. I am trying to understand this phenomenon. It seems to be somehow significant, as far as the history of design is concerned.
I'm also trying to figure out if this is a side effect of Twitter.
The movement I'm hoping for: black...fucking...screens. EVERYWHERE. Some of us don't like having our eyes bleed after more than two hours looking at a screen.
This goes out to you, surprisingly awesome Microsoft Word 2007. Especially you.
I'm also trying to figure out if this is a side effect of Twitter.
The movement I'm hoping for: black...fucking...screens. EVERYWHERE. Some of us don't like having our eyes bleed after more than two hours looking at a screen.
This goes out to you, surprisingly awesome Microsoft Word 2007. Especially you.
Tourism
So I'm kind of wondering if, in Greece, it'd be better for me to pretend to be from India or to admit being an American. I mean, the former has the whole risk of me meeting someone who's actual a fluent Hindi speaker and them realizing that my accent is completely atrocious--the latter, on the other hand, is a setup for all sorts of stereotypes. Out of shape, indolent, spendthrift, unable to speak the language (I totally bought a beginning Greek book last summer; and somehow I never got around to it, but of course there's no surprises there). Granted, the fact that I fit most of these stereotypes (spendthrift? hello, raised by Indians) is sort of an indicator that it isn't completely inappropriate for people to assume these things about Americans...and have you seen how big portions are in the U.S.?
But anyway, the other thing I can't help but wonder is, in a relatively homogenous country like Greece, how much they expect a non-Caucasian to be an American. I mean, they have some pretty strange ideas about how America works in India--and there's definitely a dominant culture that is white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant--but what about in Europe, which has had many dealings with the United States over the past several centures? Yeah, Greece is on the Mediterranean, and the U.S. hasn't tried to "smooth things out" in that exact place, although admittedly they've come pretty close, geographically speaking....
What are the preconceptions about America? And how much is it possible to use those for my own benefit (okay, mostly this works when I secretly know the language, but then again I love taking photos and I can pretend to be a starry-eyed tourist, although of course not in the places I'll have to keep returning to...)?
I guess I'll find out.
For the next two and a half months, this will be GREECE BLOG. Now is a good time to stop reading. If you have no intention of doing so, look forward to the funny shit. And the 'holy wow this place is the awesome' shit. I've realized how stupid it is to keep a journal intended for personal perusal on the Internet, so this is definitely going to be public consumption material. My friends should demand a first-hand account, obviously.
And about tonight's Heroes ("Cold Snap"/"Chapter Seven"), is it just me or did they tap Zack Snyder ("Watchmen"--which I still haven't seen--and "300") for half those scenes? Even if they cancel it, I'm sort of hoping Hiro and Ando get their own show...still incredibly hilarious.
But anyway, the other thing I can't help but wonder is, in a relatively homogenous country like Greece, how much they expect a non-Caucasian to be an American. I mean, they have some pretty strange ideas about how America works in India--and there's definitely a dominant culture that is white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant--but what about in Europe, which has had many dealings with the United States over the past several centures? Yeah, Greece is on the Mediterranean, and the U.S. hasn't tried to "smooth things out" in that exact place, although admittedly they've come pretty close, geographically speaking....
What are the preconceptions about America? And how much is it possible to use those for my own benefit (okay, mostly this works when I secretly know the language, but then again I love taking photos and I can pretend to be a starry-eyed tourist, although of course not in the places I'll have to keep returning to...)?
I guess I'll find out.
For the next two and a half months, this will be GREECE BLOG. Now is a good time to stop reading. If you have no intention of doing so, look forward to the funny shit. And the 'holy wow this place is the awesome' shit. I've realized how stupid it is to keep a journal intended for personal perusal on the Internet, so this is definitely going to be public consumption material. My friends should demand a first-hand account, obviously.
And about tonight's Heroes ("Cold Snap"/"Chapter Seven"), is it just me or did they tap Zack Snyder ("Watchmen"--which I still haven't seen--and "300") for half those scenes? Even if they cancel it, I'm sort of hoping Hiro and Ando get their own show...still incredibly hilarious.
3.18.2009
I Don't Get Why Machiavelli Is So Bad
No, seriously. I've read a bunch of stuff by him, and it's like, well, he's kind of pointing out the obvious truth. And everyone follows this anyway.
In the 1500s, Italians used to quote "Tacitus" because quoting Machiavelli automatically had a bad reputation. But he was saying things that needed to be said, so they pretended they were just reading some Roman history. (Actually, he does this in the Discourses near the end, so he started the trend.)
There seems to be this general denial of certain, rather necessary truths in our society. I see this as one of the major shortcomings of democracy: it is necessary to fool some of the people all of the time--as long as those people are the majority, and every so often the truth pokes out and people are always surprised, as if politicians didn't have to engage in politics. (Granted, though, Illinois takes the cake. What the hell, Blagojevich.)
But anyway. Why is it unacceptable to do anything and everything for the sake of a profit if what you are doing ultimately is good? It seems like America, a country built on capitalism, only believes in altruism as an acceptable motive for doing something. It's like wanting to be a doctor--you have to either say you're doing it to help people or because your parents made you (which is, of course, the best Asian excuse for everything). Even House MD, a show that is half about one man's ego (off-topic: was anyone else disappointed by the latest episode?), justifies House's being a doctor as "he really likes to solve puzzles. Really." I mean, why can't someone profit from something they're good at?
It's odd that countries choose to deny their own foundations so strongly. Maybe it's like growing up and being too embarrassed to admit that yes, that is really how you were in the past, and somehow the fundamentals are completely avoided.
Also p.s. name changes happen...dear people opposed to the Willis Tower (instead of the Sears Tower), you won't remember it in, like, two months after it's happened. I say this from experience with the Qualcomm Stadium (whose original name I don't even remember).
Ok. So...this was a lot of fun to write. Because the entire Discourses on Livy is exactly this frustrating! Have fun reading between the lines and dealing with the fact that the title has only a vague acquaintance with the body. :D
In the 1500s, Italians used to quote "Tacitus" because quoting Machiavelli automatically had a bad reputation. But he was saying things that needed to be said, so they pretended they were just reading some Roman history. (Actually, he does this in the Discourses near the end, so he started the trend.)
There seems to be this general denial of certain, rather necessary truths in our society. I see this as one of the major shortcomings of democracy: it is necessary to fool some of the people all of the time--as long as those people are the majority, and every so often the truth pokes out and people are always surprised, as if politicians didn't have to engage in politics. (Granted, though, Illinois takes the cake. What the hell, Blagojevich.)
But anyway. Why is it unacceptable to do anything and everything for the sake of a profit if what you are doing ultimately is good? It seems like America, a country built on capitalism, only believes in altruism as an acceptable motive for doing something. It's like wanting to be a doctor--you have to either say you're doing it to help people or because your parents made you (which is, of course, the best Asian excuse for everything). Even House MD, a show that is half about one man's ego (off-topic: was anyone else disappointed by the latest episode?), justifies House's being a doctor as "he really likes to solve puzzles. Really." I mean, why can't someone profit from something they're good at?
It's odd that countries choose to deny their own foundations so strongly. Maybe it's like growing up and being too embarrassed to admit that yes, that is really how you were in the past, and somehow the fundamentals are completely avoided.
Also p.s. name changes happen...dear people opposed to the Willis Tower (instead of the Sears Tower), you won't remember it in, like, two months after it's happened. I say this from experience with the Qualcomm Stadium (whose original name I don't even remember).
Ok. So...this was a lot of fun to write. Because the entire Discourses on Livy is exactly this frustrating! Have fun reading between the lines and dealing with the fact that the title has only a vague acquaintance with the body. :D
3.13.2009
la bouteille vide
God, I hope that means "the empty bottle" in French...lately, I've had this whole drive to translate things. Don't know what it means. I do know how to say it in Hindi, too, though....
But anyway.
Over the past four years, I've found myself missing high school quite a few times: I had some pretty awesome classes, awesome teachers, and there was this atmosphere that was generally a'ight. Not to mention the clubs, especially Amnesty, where we mostly just hung out and had goodtimes.
There are no moments that I really want to relive from this place. I don't know if it comes from having lived on this campus--so putting up with the ambience of high pretentiosity 24/7--or just not being as able to coast through stuff (yes, this place is high fucking pressure oh god I should be doing finals right now)...but really, I'm so happy to be leaving. It's not just the fact that, as a fourth-year, there's very little to care about on campus anymore, but also just god I am sick of this place. I now fully understand why people take quarters off.
Don't get me wrong, though: I'm totally going to miss some of the individuals (staff, students, professors, and kids included), but I somehow suspect that we would have had more goodtimes on another campus.
Also, I'm not very good at maintaining this feeling of "missing," maybe it comes from having moved so much. I just know that I spent two years in touch with my sixth-grade friend and then, one day, never got around to replying to a message she'd sent me. I didn't really have anything to say to her, I guess. (Really: everyone has their own lives to live, who the fuck cares what you're doing even five years down the road?)
But yeah. Good-bye University, wish there was some way to make this sound less sentimental because I sure as hell don't care. (And I'll be back for the summer anyway.)
(I guess I should also point out: a) that I never visited high school, despite occasional bursts of guilt, and b) I ditched my very last class here.)
But anyway.
Over the past four years, I've found myself missing high school quite a few times: I had some pretty awesome classes, awesome teachers, and there was this atmosphere that was generally a'ight. Not to mention the clubs, especially Amnesty, where we mostly just hung out and had goodtimes.
There are no moments that I really want to relive from this place. I don't know if it comes from having lived on this campus--so putting up with the ambience of high pretentiosity 24/7--or just not being as able to coast through stuff (yes, this place is high fucking pressure oh god I should be doing finals right now)...but really, I'm so happy to be leaving. It's not just the fact that, as a fourth-year, there's very little to care about on campus anymore, but also just god I am sick of this place. I now fully understand why people take quarters off.
Don't get me wrong, though: I'm totally going to miss some of the individuals (staff, students, professors, and kids included), but I somehow suspect that we would have had more goodtimes on another campus.
Also, I'm not very good at maintaining this feeling of "missing," maybe it comes from having moved so much. I just know that I spent two years in touch with my sixth-grade friend and then, one day, never got around to replying to a message she'd sent me. I didn't really have anything to say to her, I guess. (Really: everyone has their own lives to live, who the fuck cares what you're doing even five years down the road?)
But yeah. Good-bye University, wish there was some way to make this sound less sentimental because I sure as hell don't care. (And I'll be back for the summer anyway.)
(I guess I should also point out: a) that I never visited high school, despite occasional bursts of guilt, and b) I ditched my very last class here.)
3.10.2009
Did the President Insult Britain?
More specifically and truthfully, Gordon Brown, the British Premier. (I have no idea what that is; but then, I don't need to know about modern foreign governments, generally speaking.)
Some may find this link to be helpfully informative.
But really, the question I'm interested in is: does it matter? In the recent past, Britain was far more favorable to the policies of the Bush administration. And the truth is that Britain, despite its strong currency, really isn't that important anymore on the world scale. Yeah, Americans looooove bragging about how they overcame the greatest power in the world, but Britannia hasn't been the terror of the seas in more than 60 years now; and I'm not entirely convinced that WWII was completely to the credit of the British, either.
So--maybe the snub was deliberate. Maybe this administration wants to make it absolutely clear that the only ties between Britain and the U.S. will be those newly forged and relevant to modern policymaking; or maybe he really was just exhausted and there was no one on the team to find Mr. Brown (correct address...?) a decent gift (which was definitely bad, even relative to the other stuff).
Of course, I find it particularly telling that I found this out from a conservative source rather than the generally vocal emails from MoveOn.org and the Obama team itself.
Some may find this link to be helpfully informative.
But really, the question I'm interested in is: does it matter? In the recent past, Britain was far more favorable to the policies of the Bush administration. And the truth is that Britain, despite its strong currency, really isn't that important anymore on the world scale. Yeah, Americans looooove bragging about how they overcame the greatest power in the world, but Britannia hasn't been the terror of the seas in more than 60 years now; and I'm not entirely convinced that WWII was completely to the credit of the British, either.
So--maybe the snub was deliberate. Maybe this administration wants to make it absolutely clear that the only ties between Britain and the U.S. will be those newly forged and relevant to modern policymaking; or maybe he really was just exhausted and there was no one on the team to find Mr. Brown (correct address...?) a decent gift (which was definitely bad, even relative to the other stuff).
Of course, I find it particularly telling that I found this out from a conservative source rather than the generally vocal emails from MoveOn.org and the Obama team itself.
3.09.2009
Identity
It's funny to me to see that a lot of so-called 'feminists' and 'activists' still have this ideal that they hold up as the best that one can possibly be.
(This thought comes after I commented on the types of female leads Joss Whedon tends to have, and my friend mentioning that he was a feminist. To which I say...well, they're still sexual ideals, aren't they? And yeah, women do like feeling pretty and empowered simultaneously, but....)
I always thought that causes like feminism were all about rejecting an ideal. Aren't things like the Vagina Monologues (which I refuse to see because Eve Ensler seems like a pretentious douche) all about accepting your body, no matter what it's like? Even if science tells you that, yeah, if you don't lose 30 pounds soon you are so very, very fucked....
But maybe it's not possible to have a cause without an ideal. Maybe you can't have an identity that is entirely self-defined or defined by friends rather than people that you see as a tier above.
And maybe this is why we should ban celebrities and models, so that people stop bitching already about this kind of stuff. Seriously, dudes. It's not that hard to just do whatever you're good at...I guess I'm a little unusual in not giving a shit about being the only female in the room. But I got there by rejecting the concept of identity, not even realizing that being Indian does change my experience, as compared to a Caucasian with an awesome careless family and cool parents, until high school. And I still don't really care about pushing it in anyone's face; I think this is the most open admission I've made of who I am in reality on the Internet (why yes, it is a tiny bit inevitable in person).
Also, on the Westborough Baptist Church (which, god, I apologize for giving more Google hits to)--until they stop acting like spoiled little brats, we shouldn't treat them as anything else. Go to the time-out corner, you ungrateful little bastards! (Seriously, the reason they have the right to demonstrate? Is because of Thomas Jefferson, the first Democrat--and yeah, I don't like him otherwise, and I know perfectly well that the Dems have changed a lot since then...but this is a debate about symbols.)
(This thought comes after I commented on the types of female leads Joss Whedon tends to have, and my friend mentioning that he was a feminist. To which I say...well, they're still sexual ideals, aren't they? And yeah, women do like feeling pretty and empowered simultaneously, but....)
I always thought that causes like feminism were all about rejecting an ideal. Aren't things like the Vagina Monologues (which I refuse to see because Eve Ensler seems like a pretentious douche) all about accepting your body, no matter what it's like? Even if science tells you that, yeah, if you don't lose 30 pounds soon you are so very, very fucked....
But maybe it's not possible to have a cause without an ideal. Maybe you can't have an identity that is entirely self-defined or defined by friends rather than people that you see as a tier above.
And maybe this is why we should ban celebrities and models, so that people stop bitching already about this kind of stuff. Seriously, dudes. It's not that hard to just do whatever you're good at...I guess I'm a little unusual in not giving a shit about being the only female in the room. But I got there by rejecting the concept of identity, not even realizing that being Indian does change my experience, as compared to a Caucasian with an awesome careless family and cool parents, until high school. And I still don't really care about pushing it in anyone's face; I think this is the most open admission I've made of who I am in reality on the Internet (why yes, it is a tiny bit inevitable in person).
Also, on the Westborough Baptist Church (which, god, I apologize for giving more Google hits to)--until they stop acting like spoiled little brats, we shouldn't treat them as anything else. Go to the time-out corner, you ungrateful little bastards! (Seriously, the reason they have the right to demonstrate? Is because of Thomas Jefferson, the first Democrat--and yeah, I don't like him otherwise, and I know perfectly well that the Dems have changed a lot since then...but this is a debate about symbols.)
3.06.2009
Discrimination in the Old Days
Right, so I was going to put this in like a week ago when I was fresh from the evolution panel. But I didn't.
Anyway, someone brought up the point that, in The Descent of Man, Darwin was horribly sexist, saying that even though women had the potential to become as smart as men, they shouldn't, because it would disrupt the domestic sphere. And then there are people who think that Shakespeare shouldn't be read because of anti-Semitic sentiments in works like Othello.
To all of these people: what. the. fuck.
Darwin was definitely progressive for his time; Shakespeare, not quite as obviously, but considering the number of character parodies, he was definitely more rabble-friendly than not.
Seriously, people can't be judged relative to our own time. They have to be judged alongside contemporaries. One of the benefits of living today is that we are more enlightened (and I totally imagine, 500 years from now, the future Übermensch all laughing at our ridiculously old-fashioned ideals). It's rather easy to be a douchebag when you have hindsight on your side.
Anyway, someone brought up the point that, in The Descent of Man, Darwin was horribly sexist, saying that even though women had the potential to become as smart as men, they shouldn't, because it would disrupt the domestic sphere. And then there are people who think that Shakespeare shouldn't be read because of anti-Semitic sentiments in works like Othello.
To all of these people: what. the. fuck.
Darwin was definitely progressive for his time; Shakespeare, not quite as obviously, but considering the number of character parodies, he was definitely more rabble-friendly than not.
Seriously, people can't be judged relative to our own time. They have to be judged alongside contemporaries. One of the benefits of living today is that we are more enlightened (and I totally imagine, 500 years from now, the future Übermensch all laughing at our ridiculously old-fashioned ideals). It's rather easy to be a douchebag when you have hindsight on your side.
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