Friday, February 27, 2009

DRUGS!


Well, the drug war in America is just fine and dandy. The government is doing a terrible job with this. Rolling meth labs, high school addicts, and whatnot. I understand trying to get rid of hard drugs such as cocaine, meth, heroin, crack, and such. But what about marijuana, green, ganja, or whatever people like to call it?

How many people have died from marijuana? Seriously, I'm not sure it's as bad as television advertisements make it out to be. Pot is used in some states to treat cancer patients, depression, glaucoma, etc. So it can't be THAT harmful. And I don't think people always turn into the stereotypical potheads either. There's always something called MODERATION. 

Marijuana is the number one most used illegal drug in the United States--it's a billion dollar industry. Well, even though it is illegal some states have passed laws making it legal to smoke for medical purposes. I think some government person in California has actually drawn up a bill for the total legalization of weed in the state and is hoping to get it passed within the next two years. Also, there's a state somewhere northeast that recently passed a bill to decriminalize it.

So, I guess we're making strides to legalize pot in the States.

Believe it or not there's a marijuana advocacy group at Purdue called NORML. Apparently, they've sent out a petition which currently has about 1300 out of a required 1500 signatures to try to pass a policy where if students get caught with pot, the punishment would be the same if they got caught with alcohol. Currently, Purdue has a zero tolerance policy for pot since it's illegal. But with alcohol, a student gets three strikes.

I know people who have gotten caught and kicked out of the dorms because of smoking and I think it's really stupid. I mean, yeah, they shouldn't have been doing it in the first place, but they weren't bad people who really deserved that. I think it was a little unfair. 

But hey, we'll see what happens in the next few years. The movement is growing stronger.


Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Hookah!




So. One of my favorite things to do is smoke hookah! What it is is just flavored tabbacco that is filtered through water. Particulates and chemicals are filtered from the smoke resulting in a relatively cleaner and cool smoke. It feels like breathing in thick air. Well, that depends on how well the shisha (what the type of tabbacco is called.) 

Shisha comes in a lot of different flavors and brands. I think my favorite flavor so far has to be Passionfruit, but my favorite brand are Tangiers. Tangiers are very strong and a couple of puffs will give anyone a slight head buzz. 

I was introduced to hookah during first couple of weeks of school. My friend had a really nice hookah so we would get a group of people together and smoke on the benches between Hillenbrand and Harrison. But now that the weather is colder, I go to the Egyptian for my hookah fix. I haven't been to the other hookah bar (Hookah!) but I'm planning on trying it out. 

I think the reason why I like hookah so much is that it calls for a social gathering of some of my friends and it provides a pretty chill activity to do. There's nothing like sitting on picnic tables on a clear night chatting with people and enjoying our surroundings. Or, for a change of pace, my friends and I would take our hookah to the top of a parking garage and smoke there or just go into an elevator and smoke. 

Awesomeness. Anyways, I hope to invest in my own hookah so I can smoke more of it--just as soon as I get the money to buy a pipe.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Pretenses



Walking down the hallway, she hunches her shoulders over a huge pile of of textbooks cradled in her sleeved arms. As the clock tower blasts it's bells to campus, she makes her way to her destination with her eyes pointed downwards, silently counting the concrete squares. The entryway of the building looms five steps before her and a couple more steps in, she enters the crowded classroom. With a small burst of speed, she slips quickly and quietly into the room, gliding past the groups of people talking animatedly, huddled together in their little cliques. Into her cold and lonely seat she slides, her eyes fixed curiously on her happier peers. After half a minute of quiet observation, she disappears behind her textbook and huddles, trying to make herself as small as possible, trying to find a comfortable position to weather out the next hour. When class ends, she inserts earphones into her ears and turns on music that gives her company in her solitude, and then she vanishes from the premises. Who is this ghost?
Me. I suppose. nicer people always tell me that I'm too quiet and too reserved. Other times, I hear through my friends that some people think that I'm sullen, stuck up, too stupid to speak and everything in between. People encourage me to be more outgoing and friendlier. Apparently, gregariousness is always appreciated. The unspoken rules that predominate the social scenes are not unbeknownst to me. Contraily, I am quite aware of these invisible guidelines. Many say that my quiet nature that characterizes me is unfit to exist in this Darwanian society. But, I am not quiet by nature, but my general attitude is a actually a matter of how I perceive social etiquette.
My parents always taught me to be quiet and polite around other people and talk only when needed. And most importantly, I was taught to respect my elders and address them politely. For example, I absolutely cringe when people start calling older adults by their first name. I'm always used to addressing people as Ma'am, Sir, Mr. and Mrs..
Around unfamiliar faces or those who I do not know very well, my silence is a respectful gesture, not scrutinizing or critical. I speak when I am spoken to. I am not prideful of my reclusive propensity by all means, but am too afraid of criticism to change my social personality. Though I look antisocial and solitary to the casual passing eye, I am not. Look deeper!
"The skin of my [true] emotions lie beneath my own."
-Fiona Apple, "Never is a Promise"

Judging first impressions is a tedious act atht I fear and avoid doing. Those judgements seal my reputation and dooms further conversations. It is fear of being spoken badly of that keeps me modest. It is fear that drives my words to tedious cautiousness as I pass through the herds of people virtually unseen. But, around those with whom I feeel comfortable and around my friends, I am a completely different person. When I feel sure that I am safe from the scrutiny, judgments, and first-impressions from unfamiliar people, my ghost mask peels away.
I am quite cheerful, creative, and a talkative person. I love to make my friends laugh, especially when they are feeling sad. I may make a fool out of myself purposely, but at least I replace a frown with a genuine smile. It feels so good to do that. If the situation permits, especially at social outing, I turn the "social switch" on in my head and allow my inner perkiness to bubble up revealing my true personality and an honest smile. Actually, I may border on the slightly insane category, but that's another story.


So, I just wanted to say, please, abstain from immediately juding other people because there are subtle colors that lie underneath dull outer shells. It's sort of like those rocks that are gray and dull on the outside (I forget the name), but when somebody slices them open, there is an amazing array of beautiful crystals and colors inside.


Human eyes are guileless windows capable of being deceived, but the brain, simple logic, can separate truth from fiction, so use it. The quiet may not be sy, and the brash may not be so bold, so don't call me sullen or shy without looking through the pretenses that surround me. Talk to me. Get to know me--the real me, and then make the final judgement.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Jason Mraz!


Monday, February 16, 2009, was epic. Why? Because it was the day of the Jason Mraz concert.

Jason Mraz has to be one of my favorite artists. His lives are just so amazing! I especially love his acoustic ones with just him playing the guitar and his partner-in-crime Toker on taking care of the percussion. He tends to improvise during concerts and changing around the arrangements of songs so everything sounds fresh and not recycled. That just makes things more interesting becuase I don't know what sort of stuff he'll throw into his concerts.

I went to the concert with my friends Dessi, Ivy, Alexis, Amanda, Avery, and Chris. I tried to get Cameron to go too, but he didn't have the money for tickets, which was a shame. We headed to Elliot around seven o'clock where we found this enormous line, but it didn't take long to get inside and find our seats.

The band opening the concert was named Vedera. Vedera is just an indie band right now that consists of a female lead singer who plays guitar and piano, another guitarist, a bass player, and a drummer. I thought their music was wonderful. Kristen May, the lead singer, her voice reminded me a little bit of Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, well at least her singing style. Kristen's voice is a little sweeter and higher but very well controlled.

After Vedera, it was time for Jason Mraz to come out! I was so excited until everybody started standing up. I could not see the stage at all! I couldn't take it anymore so I just headed up to the first balcony, made my way to the first row and to my luck found two empty seats. So, I just plopped myself right there and it turned out to be a pretty good view of the stage since I ended up right in the middle part of the balcony. Then apparently Cameron found a way to get free tickets to the concert so he ended up going as well! Except he couldn't go up to where I was, since it would be rude to ditch the people who gave him the tickets in the first place.

I think the coolest thing about the concert was seeing how Jason changed up his songs a little. This time he put more a jazz/latin feel to some of the more popular songs. I especially loved the arrangements of "Life is Wonderful" and "I'm Yours". The latter song was fleshed out from bare acoustics to having a rich spectrum of harmonies filled by the awesome horn group placed towards the back of the stage. Also for one of his songs, his horn group went up to the balcony, right next to where I was sitting and starting playing from there. It was so amazing.

At the end of the concert, he came out for an encore and played through a couple more songs. He did this awesome thing where he mimicks an instrument with his voice. He's really good at it, especially imitating a trumpet. This time he imitated a saxophone, which was alright, but I was hoping he'd break out the trumpet.

Then, the concert was over, and I was sad. I really was hoping for a longer concert. Oh well, I could always track down another concert and attend that. That's something I'm definitely planning to do anyways. Kudos to whoever decided to bring Jason over to Purdue. It was definitely an great choice!

After the concert I went out to hang out with Cameron and his friends at an apartment till about two o'clock in the morning and then the both of us came back to the dorms and watched Pulp Fiction till about five in the morning. It was ridiculously late when I finally went to bed. I guess the next day I really regretted staying up late because I was falling asleep in my classes all day and was stumbling around and talking like some drunk person.

But, Monday was definitely a fun night and probably one of the best nights I've had for one reason or another.

Verdera info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedera
Jason Mraz info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_mraz

Jason Mraz lives:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l74d1fmZbw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-myHLPTvaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivjS-OJuCpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e-J-EtJfXY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X_AgLfpndM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lqsZTcGjR4

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Music Perception.

For the greater part of my life my entire world revolved around music. I started playing the violin when I was seven years old and I progressed quite quickly and in about three years, I was performing with the advanced violin group. Everyone there were about six or seven years older than I. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be a music major and eventually a soloist. However, the fun went out of playing the violin after my parents started pushing me hard and making me practice for about three to four hours a day every day of the week. Then, they pushed me to play in different competitions and try out for stuff like the Fort Wayne Youth Symphony and All State Orchestra. I got sick of playing because it now seemed more like a chore than a fun activity. So that's when I decided to say, "Screw this," and decided to major in a completely different field--engineering.

Although I quit taking violin lessons during the last stretch of senior year in high school, my love for music has never diminished. Listening to music is such a treat. I'm constantly discovering underlying harmonies and melodies to songs that I've listened to over and over. Sometimes, when I'm really in the mood to listen to music, I get so absorbed into the intricateness of it.

I don't know if I can fully explain this concept well, but when i listen to music, each note is almost three-dimensional. If I listen closely enough and I start to realize each note has sort of a shape and texture. For example, when I listen to a single hard jab of a key on the piano,it produces a strong tremor that rushes towards me like a bullet and just bursts in my ear cavity. It feels like what a waves would feel like after a stone had been dropped in still water. The note trembles until it fades completely. Every type of sound has it's own feel, and a bunch of them mixed together create a work of art. I just love sitting down and listening to a varied playlist. From rock to trance and to classical, each genre provides a different landscape of sounds which are all entrancing to the ear.

Music is something that I will never leave alone.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/music

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Rain Falls Down on My Windows

It's raining today, and it's so depressing for some reason. I usually love the rain and hearing the pitter-patter of raindrops on the windows and roofs. But after such a nice day yesterday, today is such a let-down.

I've decided today that I officially hate walking in the rain or after it rains because I always end up with wet socks and get the bottom of the legs of my jeans all wet. I don't pay attention where I'm walking sometimes because my mind goes to a completely different place or I am trying to send text messages to my friends. Lesson learned: Take the bus.

But I must say, yesterday was such a nice day! If I was going outside then I would need just a light jacket. On top of that I met a bunch of new people, which just made my day so much better. I'm starting like socializing a lot (I was pretty much anti-social in high school and earlier). I went and smoked hookah with some people before my MA162 exam--which was horrid--and then afterwards, since I was locked out of my room anyways, my friend and I decided to smoke more hookah with some of his friends. I think we all stayed up till three o'clock this morning hanging out. I was in such a giddy mood all day yesterday. But at least the weather is warming up! I can't stand the cold!

What is a hookah? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookah

Thursday, February 5, 2009

One! Two! Three! Ready....... RANDOMNESS! I have no idea...


Complaint of the Day:
Yay? Here I am in the midst of... joyful throes of finishing up PHYS172 homework on Webassign. I'm stuck on a problem right now, so why not procrastinate and take some wonderful time to complain about it to death. This physics isn't fun. You see, when I am forced to learn physics and do homework and take tests and quizzes about it I just hate it. Usually I like learning physics on my own. I'm especially interested in the theoretical stuff (screw mechanics!) such as space travel and whether or not it is possible to alter the space-time continuum.
I'm a slow learner too. So the pace I'm attempting to learn right now for class is a little too fast so I'm struggling. God darn it. I wish I took AP Physics in high school. That would have made things a little more easy for me this semester. Then again, you might say I have no right to be complaining because I only am taking thirteen credit hours while a lot of other engineers are taking seventeen to eighteen while taking CHM116 and PHYS172. THEN again, people should have been smart and tested out of CHM115 and 116 like I did. I have a total of twenty-six credit hours for the year, but overall I have a crap load of credits tucked away (yay for AP tests!) so I'm technically considered a sophomore right now. I can be lazy for the First Year Engineering program, my friends.

Oh My, How You've Changed!
I've been reminiscing about the past. I've really started to noticed that college has affected my personality a lot. I think that my personality just flipped around these past months spent at Purdue. I used to be very quiet, antisocial, and very easily irritated in middle school and high school and had only a handful of people that I talked to. Here, I became more gregarious, friendly, and laid back. It was fun visiting my old high school during break and taking pleasure at how suprised my old teachers and friends were to see this radically different person walk through the hallways. It was very satisfying.

A Song Says Many Things

I listen to music practically twenty-four hours a day. But a couple songs that I have on repeat are (in order of preference):

1. Come Back to Me by Utada
2. Crash and Burn by Nadia Ali
3. I'm Yours by Jason Mraz.

Come Back to Me is a meloncholic mid-tempo R&B flavored song by an upcoming artist named Utada who is releasing her second English album titled "This is the One" in the States sometime in March. Her first album "Exodus" was an absolutely fantastic experimental album, but it was unfortunate that her record label Island Def Jam didn't promote the album. I'm hoping that Utada, who is one of the most popular vocal artists in Japan, can make a decent push into the American music market along with BoA who is another Asian music artist.

Crash and Burn is an awesome dance tune by Nadia Ali who was a fomer singer of Iio. I just love the chorus.

I'm Yours is by Jason Mraz who is coming to sing at Elliot Hall on February 16! I'm so excited! I bought tickets, so hopefully it will be a good concert.

I think these three songs are reflecting an important part of my life right now. I don't think I'm going to go into the details yet since they're very personal, but all I can say is that they're dedicated to a certain person who hurt me very deeply but is someone I still care a lot about and would do anything to make things right with again. But, there's probably no possibility of that happening.
END
For more about Utada (yeah, I wanna promote one of my favorite artists) go to:

Sunday, February 1, 2009


Viva Pinata! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viva_Pi%C3%B1ata
My friend Mitch's room is the hubub for people to hang out mainly because he has all the gaming systems known to man and a nice television. It's a pretty neat place to hang out. There's always a nice crowd of people that hang out there, the room is always packed with them. I waste away my life there from the moment I get out of class around two thirty till around ten at night.

Recently my friends have gotten addicted to this ridiculous game called Viva Pinata. The point of this game is to build the ultimate garden to attract pinata creatures. In order to get a pinata to stay in the garden, requirements must be fufilled. Also, the pinatas can multiply after a mini-game-like thing called the "romance dance". Anyways, at first I thought this game was adorable, but after days on end of watching people play that game for four to six hours straight, I think I got really sick of it. I actually started a game but I got bored half an hour into it.

When there isn't a game of Viva Pinata going on, there's Mike and his rather unhealthy addiction to Fallout 3. He just lurks in Mitch's room whenever he can to get all the Fallout he can throughout the day. All he does is go around to different areas killing mutants, scavenging for items and selling them while accomplishing absolutely nothing in the game. I like to occasionally turn off the 360 without warning when he's playing Fallout just to piss him off.

In order to combat the hours of annoying cuteness or the endless screens of mutants I discovered Halo 3. I've never liked playing FPS, rather I'm more of an RPG fan because they're so much easier to beat. I'm not much of a gamer but I think I'm getting rather addicted to Halo. The only thing I don't like is that I really suck at playing it, I get freaked out a lot, and I die all the time. It doesn't help when all the guys reiterate my lack of basic gaming skills. I feel pathetic in that respect, but hopefully I'll get better.