Dark Humor

I love dark humor. I don't know why. I just feel so giddy when I'm laughing at something that I really shouldn't be laughing at. Take for example this commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvBKlBhfgPc&feature=related

It's unexpected, ridiculous, and HILARIOUS! Domestic violence is a serious topic, but the tongue-in-cheek style of the commercial and the off-screen violence make the situation pretty comical. I'd normally be looked at as a freak if I was laughing at a domestic violence dispute, but I can freely laugh at this wryly humorous commercial because that's its intention. 

Anyways, just thought I'd share. 

Apology to Sarah Palin

Dear Sarah Palin,

I am in no way a fan of your politics, and I disagree with you on many issues. I was also dumbfounded by several of your interviews and your behavior in the VP debates in which you failed miserably in presenting yourself and communicating effectively. I was so into the idea of you being somewhat unintelligent that, after hearing this segment of Fox News, I readily believed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPsV6ZhL15c

Recently, I read this recent article from MSNBC and have realized that, in actuality, I'm the one who was unintelligent:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/12/entertainment/e203346S31.DTL

During the elections, I would rarely listen to Fox News due to it's incredible right-wing bias. It is usually regarded the most dishonest news station currently airing. Thus, I was a fool to think that their above newscast possessed any sort of truth. Many of my friends also fell for the same trap in which we listen only to news that we want to believe while at the same time ignoring everything else we disagree with or don't care about. This bias caused me to believe that you did not know that Africa was a continent instead of a country, which, in retrospect, is a ridiculous assertion. This newscast was just another example of Fox lying, this time to cater to the public's perception of you as somewhat "less-than-intelligent," and sadly, many people bought it. If I were smarter, I would've taken the news with a grain of salt instead of automatically buying into the propaganda spread by partisan news programs. 

I hope that you lead a happy life with your new child, and I deeply, truely apologize for believing Fox News' ridiculous story about you. 

Sincerely,

dougquaid12345

RIP Michael Crichton

I found out recently that my favorite author, Michael Crichton, passed away on November 4th 2008 from cancer. It came as a huge shock to me because, not only was I unaware that Crichton was even sick, but there was very little publicity about it at the time I heard the news. Obviously, news of Obama's victory and the passing of Proposition 8 overshadowed everything in both the media's and public's eyes, but for me, Michael Crichton's demise was a huge emotional blow. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Crichton, he authored numerous science fiction books, his most famous being Jurassic Park. My favorite of the bunch is definitely Timeline, but I have also enjoyed many of his other novels as well. He generated much controversy in his novel State of Fear, in which he combated the idea of global warming and criticized the sensational emphasis the scientific community has put on it. He has also made and written several movies, and he is the creator of the popular show ER. 

For me Crichton has never failed to put out an interesting, thought provoking, engaging novel that I spend the wee hours of the night reading. His novels always stimulate my interest in a variety of topics ranging from science to history to technology to business, providing me with insights about topics I never knew anything about, be it airplanes, dinosaurs, the Middle Ages, Japanese culture, genetics, bioengineering, quantum mechanics, nanotechnolgy, or time travel. He is one of the few authors that has consistently kept me engaged in whatever he writes and is probably the single most important influence on my scientific curiosity. 

RIP Michael Crichton. Your novels have had a profound impact on me, and I wish your family the best. 

A to Z?

I was told to do this A to Z thing, so here it goes...

A- Available

I'm available to talk to when I'm not busy. 

B- Best Friend

I don't know. There are a bunch to choose from. 

C- Crush

There was this real hottie at my high school who I had a crush on for like a couple months until I asked her to be my GIRLFRIEND!!!! <3>

Since then I haven't found anyone nearly as cute or as awesome as her. 

D- Dad's name

I'm not at liberty to say.

E- Easiest person to talk to

Whoever listens. 

F- Favorite Band

I don't have one. As long as they make good music I'm fine with them. 

G- Gummy Bears or Worms

Worms? As in those slimy things on the ground? Or do you mean the tapeworms that grow inside of you, giving you massive aches and infections. I'd rather eat gummy bears than either those. Gummy worms are better though, especially the sour ones. 

H- Hometown

Earth

I- Instrument

I don't play any...

J- Job

My job? To work hard and try to succeed in life. 

K- Kids

What about them? 

L- Longest Car Ride

I don't know...probably like 8 hours. I'd probably fly if the driving time was any longer than that. 

M- Milk Flavor

Chocolate milk is awesome. 

N- Number of Siblings

2.

O- One Wish

I wish to succeed. 

P- Phobias

Dogs and heights. Although I'm not nearly as scared of dogs as I used to be.

Q- Favorite Quote

"When you do stuff, stuff happens"

-Abhi (I forget his last name)

R- Reason to Smile

Seeing my girlfriendddd. 

S- Song you last heard

Either Walkin' on the Sun by Smash Mouth or The Beginning is the End is the Beginning by Smashing Pumpkins. I forget which. 

T- Time you woke up

Like 9 or 10. 

U- Unknown fact about me

I would tell you except it's so unknown that not even I know it. 

V- Vegetable

They help me poop. Therefore they are awesome. 

W- Worst Habits

Shaking my leg, putting heaps of butter on bread (according to Shizuka), being stubborn. 

X- X-rays taken

I've had some on my mouth. I've also had some taken on my back because I might have scoliosis. 

Y- Your favorite food

I have 2: Prime Rib and Butter. Having them together is awesome. 

Z- Zodiac sign

Scorpio I think. 

History of Film, Warren Writing, Physics, Math

Could somebody tell me why we have over 100 pages of reading due on Wednesday? It's kind of ridiculous. I'm strongly considering switching to Pass/No Pass for it...although I'll probably end up just dealing with whatever letter grade I get...

The teacher is pretty funny. He goes into all these abstract features of film though and talks about the evolution of how film became a primarily musical form of art, evolving from literature and then painting. I still kind of have no idea what that means, but whatever. I thought the class would cover more about the actual history of film, like if it were an AP Film History course. Oh wellz...

So I get assigned a midterm paper topic this Thursday. I'll determine from the topic if I want to make it Pass/No Pass then. 

Warren Writing is definitely my toughest class. I'm so bad at essay writing now, it's ridiculous. I really need to shape up to compete with the kids in my class, especially my suitemate Justin...I'll be pretty happy if I pull through with higher than a B. 

Physics is probably going to be the dark horse of my classes. There should be no reason for me to not get an A, but anything can happen. The quizzes are multiple choice, which is a little disconcerting. However, I don't have to show work, so that's a plus. I learned this stuff before too, but I don't know if I'll be able to maintain my 95% in that class...we'll see though.

Math shouldn't be too difficult. It's definitely easier than physics, but if I keep making careless mistakes like I've been doing I'll probably get a B or something in the class. It sucks. I just hope I did well on my midterm...

College

College is interesting. I attended lectures for three out of my four classes. My writing class looks intense; everyone is extremely smart and makes some excellent comments while we discuss our reading. We have tons of reading for that class. It's crazy. I sure hope I can end up with a solid B in that class, but we'll see. 

The math teacher is weird. He jumps around and acts kind of like a little kid. He's like Mr. Chen, except a bit more grown up. 

The physics teacher didn't show up because he's working on the LARGE HADRON COLLIDER!!!!! It's currently broken (thus postponing the end of the world by a couple of months). Apparently he's a really cool professor who actually tries to have his 400+ students learn the material. I'm hoping Dr. Nelson prepared me well. 

I haven't gone to History of Film yet. We'll see on Wednesday. The lectures are 3 hours long and the discussions are 2 hours 0_0. I know one person in it from Wilderness Orientation though, so it'll be fun I guess. Oh and I heard the teacher is kind of insane. We'll see. 

I went to 2 sports events, Men's water polo and Women's volleyball. I painted myself for the water polo game, which was fun. I lost my voice cheering for volleyball. I also saw the last 30 minutes of Men's soccer, but I won't count that. I'm going to make it a goal to see at least one of every sports event at college during my 4 year tenure. 

That's about it. I really need to shoot somebody with my air bazooka though...

Wilderness Orientation

So the past weekend, I went to this thing at UCSD called Wilderness Orientation, which is part of this organization on campus called Outback Adventures. There, I went on a canoeing trip on the Colorado River. It lasted 4 days, and I didn't get to shower at all during it. Well, I'm pretty much going to summarize the 4 days. 

Day 1:

I left my house to the airport at 5:45 am. My family and girlfriend and her mom saw me off, which was pretty cool. Then the plane landed and I took a shuttle to the UCSD campus. There, I was greeted by some people with Outback Adventures shirts. As more people arrived, we were taking to this climbing wall on campus, which was hella sick. I tried climbing this one without using my legs, and I got about halfway before my hands started to hurt and I fell off. After everyone arrived, we sat down and the head woman, Lindsay, introduced herself and seperated us into groups. I was in the Canoeing B group, so I met the people in it. They were interesting. The guy to girl ratio was about 1:2, which was a little bizarre but I got used to it. We then packed our stuff and headed down to the Colorado River in vans. The trip took about 5 hours, during which I slept and evesdropped on this fat woman next to me talking to these people behind her. It was actually pretty interesting. The woman was extremely smart, as were the people in the back. These next 4 years will be very competitive...=[.

We got off the van 5 hours later, where our group settled down. We learned about leaving no trace behind (meaning don't throw garbage on the ground), and then we ate, set up our sleeping bags, and went to sleep.

Day 2: 

I got lots of bug bites, but whatever. I changed out of my shorts and put on trunks. I wore this same tshirt/trunks outfit for the rest of the trip. Disgusting. We then ate breakfast, and then we packed up all our gear and set off canoeing. 

It was ok. I was partnered with this asian girl named Audra, and she was ok. I was a bit stronger than her, so I tended to control the boat more. We paddled for like 6 hours until we hit this little camping spot. There were several families there with a big boat and several trailers, and they were bbqing and drinking beer. One drunk woman almost drowned. It was quite amusing. 

We ate lunch, swam around, did some teambuilding stuff, and then ate dinner and went to bed. 

Day 3: 

I got more bug bites. I got out of my sleeping bag and packed up. We went canoeing again, but this time for only an hour. Then we got off and ate lunch. Then we did this thing called a solo where we basically find a tree and sit in its shade for 6 hours reflecting on life. It was pretty boring. There were insects everywhere, and I spent most of the time fighting them off. I also threw rocks at nearby trees, which discouraged me because my aim sucked. So after 6 hours of that we ate dinner and went to sleep. 

Day 4:

So we woke up and packed up our gear and went canoeing. It was like 4:30 in the morning, so we got to see the sunrise. It was very...bright? We got off about 6 hours later and took a van back. We spent most of the time listening to disney songs. Then we got off and we cleaned our gear for like 2 hours and then we finally showered. I got to put on new clothes and be clean, which was awesome. We then went to the beach and ate food. I played some Ultimate Frisbee, and I found out I was extremely out of shape because I gassed easily during the running. I'll be working on that. I ate a lot of ice cream there. Then we got back and slept. 

Day 5: 

Out group leaders toured us around campus and we filled out surveys to tell the Outback Adventures how awesome/crappy our leaders were. When we got back, everything was officially over, so I packed up and went to the hotel. 

Well that's about it. I was hoping I'd get something useful out of writing this, but I guess I didn't...