October 2011
1 post
In case you were left hangin'
A goodbye’s as important as anything. Basically, life’s too uncertain/awesome for me to keep fretting about schedules and Berkeley’s oddities and sophomore year and boring crap like careers and stuff, and writing about that stuff in here. I’m just kinda waking up and living. Hopefully this blog will be helpful to incoming freshmen, at least. Otherwise if you’d like to know what’s up with me and...
August 2011
1 post
2 tags
Back to School Back to School
I’m rusty, bear with me.
Summer came and went like one of those giant waves at the beach that looks huge from far away, but diminishes and breaks before it even reaches you. That’s not to say summer wasn’t great, because it was. It all (AIDS/LifeCycle, Bulgaria) just looked so scary in the distance and now it feels like it never happened at all.
On to the good stuff. This...
July 2011
2 posts
How's your Brain Feeling?
“But it is precisely the loss of connection with the past, our uprootedness, which has given rise to the “discontents” of civilization and to such a flurry and haste that we live more in the future and its chimerical promises of a golden age than in the present, with which our whole evolutionary background has not yet caught up. We rush impetuously into novelty, driven by a...
Bulgarifornication
On Monday I’ll be heading off to Bulgaria on a solo trip straight to my roots. I’ll be staying with my grandmother on my mom’s side and other family members, so it’s not like I’m backpacking or hostel-hopping, but it’ll be pretty wild all the same. I have a few friends who visit the country of their birth or where their family is from every few summers, but this...
June 2011
16 posts
Of Love and Other Demons
The story takes place in a South American port town, on the day that 12-year old Sierva María de Todos los Ángeles is bitten by a rabid dog. Sierva María is already a remarkable, if not strange child:
“She could dance with more grace and fire than the Africans, sing in voices different from her own in the various languages of Africa, agitate the birds and animals when she imitated their...
Diary by Chuck Palahniuk
So, I’ve never seen Fight Club. It’s the film adaptation of Chuck’s (Palahniuk’s too difficult) work of the same name. Going into Diary, I guess I was expecting a witty, modern diary-related deal. It was those things, but it was also a rather bizarre story. It was almost R.L. Stine-y, actually.
The frame: a diary, naturally. It’s a “coma diary” kept by...
Under the Dome by Stephen King
A book The King started writing in 1976 and picked up again over 30 years later. It asks the question: what if a small town is physically cut off from the rest of the world? Related questions are also, who the hell is doing this? What if the town leader is a nutbag who’s considering killing his own son? Where’s our propane? Is that a meth lab over there?
I really enjoyed this book....
I Love Stephen King (pseudo-review)
When I was in 6th grade, my teacher did something that probably could’ve gotten her fired if enough parents freaked out. She, after finding the book in our book alcove, challenged those willing to read Stephen King’s The Stand within the final three weeks of the school year. In case you didn’t notice, I’m a competitive kiss-ass/book nerd, so naturally my hand shot up. Due...
1 tag
AIDS/LifeCycle Wrap Up - I'll Shut Up Now
There is so much I’ve failed to describe about this experience, and there’s even more I’ve failed to capture in a picture. Looking through my pictures, the AIDS/LifeCycle ride pretty much looks like pretty views and pretty queens, but that’s only the surface. There were the roadies - directing traffic, in charge of bike parking, serving food, working gear trucks and keeping...
1 tag
ALC Day 7: LA Baby, 61.5 miles
I don’t mean for this post to sound so negative, but I’m afraid it does. This was a stressful day. Since we took team pictures at 7 am and the route had been open since 6 am, I hit major traffic along the way. Lines for everything from food to porta-potties at rest stops were huge. I wasn’t worried I wouldn’t make it to the finish line on time, but I was worried about LA...
1 tag
ALC Day 6: Ventura, 85.5 miles
There’s my beach again! For some reason this day made me pretty emotional. Everything started hitting home. Every local who cheered on the side of the street, every Santa Barbara bum who revealed a toothless smile, every “thank you for riding!” and especially Paradise Pit, which I thought was the nicest thing ever to do just for us, made me realize how much of an impact...
1 tag
ALC Day 5: Lompoc, 40.2 miles
Red Dress Day, baby. This was the shortest mileage day and with good reason: a great RDD outfit is high maintenance! I don’t think I’ve seen so many fake boobs in my life. Between the red boas sailing behind speeding ten-speeds, sequined riding shoes and helmets and the lipstick-ed queens, this day was definitely the most fun. It was also the turning point in the ride - we were getting...
1 tag
ALC Day 4: Santa Maria, 97.7 Miles
The mileage intimidated me, as did the hills. The Evil Twins, they call ‘em, pave the way to the infamous “Halfway to LA” midpoint. After a rather gorgeous/spooky morning ride through misty vineyards, I reached the first rest stop, after which I’d be introduced to the Twins. I found myself looking for reasons to skip out on riding, from heading over to the Medical Tent for...
1 tag
ALC Day 3: Paso Robles, 66.7 Miles
For such a short day, it sure felt like a long day. This was the day of Quadbuster, a steep one-mile climb that happened early on in the day. Seasoned riders said this hill is no big deal, and maybe on a bike that doesn’t weigh as much as the Titanic, it is. Not complaining, could’ve trained more. I even saw some riders going back to the bottom of the hill to do it again. Anyway.
...
1 tag
ALC Day 2: King City, 106.1 Miles
Yeah, I rode a Century the day after an 80-mile ride. No big deal, really. Actually it wasn’t that big of a deal. This day was tricky and got the best of a lot of riders, but the terrain was relatively flat (…and boring. My god, the farmland). We were told that traffic out of Santa Cruz is insane, so we’d better get on the route as early as possible. My lovely tentmate and I...
ALC Day 1: SF to Santa Cruz, 82.5 Miles
First I’m going to talk about the night before. I was a wreck. I know they say, “Do something that scares you every day,” but I may have of curled into a ball in the corner of my aunt and uncle’s house and hyperventilated. Doing that on a daily basis would be very draining.
But I did manage to get a good two hours of shuteye in and was at Cow Palace (which is actually in...
Too Much Love
Lesbian partner 1: If I see another earwig I'm going to scream like a little girl.
Lesbian partner 2: I'm going to punch you in the mouth.
8 am Adrenaline Kick
AIDS was first reported on June 5, 1981. 30 years later to the day, I’ll be riding my bicycle from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. And that’s only the beginning - I’ll have 462.5 more miles to go in six more days of riding (greater than the distance between my house and Berkeley, whatta commute). I think I share something in common with everyone participating in this event, and...
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Man, I love the name Aldous. A note on the book posts: I hate book reviews. I never read them, and definitely never let them tell me what books to read. Assuming that others feel similarly, my posts on books are really more for me to remember what I’ve read and what it was like than for others to get much out of them. You’d be surprised at how much you forget about books you’ve...
The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
This book is a relief. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that’s just a story, that wants to be read. I had a great time.
Recently widowed food journalist named Maggie is called to China to settle a paternity claim on her husband made by some random Chinese chick. Oops. While collecting a DNA sample from the child, Maggie is also interviewing a Chinese-American chef...
May 2011
8 posts
Insult Talent
Child: Do you have any kids?
Me: No, I don't have kids!
Child: ...
Child: That's okay.
Travels with Charley in Search of America
A travelogue written by John Steinbeck during his end-of-life road trip across America, taken with his fancypants poodle named Charley. It’s reminded me that don’t receive books as gifts nearly often enough.
Things I liked (order of least to most relevant): Charley and my beach cruiser coincidentally share a same-spelled name. Steinbeck also seems to be a very hospitable man. He...
And this is how it feels.
I thought that when I got home I’d have some deep insight into my first year of college. But I don’t. I had an average year, in that my year was awesome and I’m not sure how the world decided letting young adults have all this fun for four years amounted to an education, but I’m not complaining.* I don’t feel I’ve gone some major transformation so much as...
“ I frequently look at those and think, ‘That’s not Jesus,...”
– (http://bit.ly/iIftob) Professor B, on reports about incarnations of deities on everyday items, and the fact that Jesus doesn’t look like that. I guess I forgot to post this during the year! By gum, I miss that lady already.
Brain Juice and Leftover Thoughts
Freshman year is officially over! For me, anyway. My finals were yesterday, but I was too sleep-deprived and scatterbrained to do anything other than drool and wonder if I should get Fat Slice or not. (I didn’t. Shame.) You’d think that since I’m not in Berkeley this summer, I won’t be posting here. Wrong! Well, I can’t make any promises, but there are some pretty...
2 tags
“What’s it like to feel focused? I don’t get that.
We’re just...”
– S. We don’t deserve a dead week.
Taking "don't sass me" to the next level
I know I’ve been writing a lot about FemSex and ~womynhood~ lately and it can get redundant, but this particular topic is pretty darn important to me. Lately I’ve been seeing the same thing over and over, and it’s making my blood boil.
Background information: One day in high school, I was walking home when a friendly-looking male stranger approached me. He engaged me in...
“ A woman drew her long black hair out tight
And fiddled whisper music on those...”
– (378-385) of “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot. It’s a pretty fantastic poem if you a) read it 50 times or until it stops sounding like gibberish and b) don’t have to write an essay on it. But still.
April 2011
7 posts
The Necessity of Sisterhood
Sorry boys, this one’s not for you. Upon entering college, hearing the word “sisterhood” put me to sleep at the least, and triggered a slight gag reflex at most. Sisterhood, if it’s not with a blood relation (shout out to my beautiful, awesome actual sister) or a best-friend-forever, sounds a bit superficial and cheesy.
But looking back over the past few months, I wonder...
Rock bottom? No problem.
S: I just wanna party.
Me: LOLZ It's Sunday night.
S: I can't wait 'til Tuesday!
On Ambition and High Blood Pressure
I went into college saying I wouldn’t just major in English. I mean, that’s silly, right? I’ve got this big ol’ brain and I’ve got to be good at other things too, and it’s not like English is going to save the world. So this year I got started on my doubling-up journey. Majors/minors I’ve considered: (and it’s only my first year…)
Rhetoric
...
“You know what we’d find if we looked behind my bed? Rats!”
– S. Can’t believe I won’t be around these guys 24/7 next year.
Love Yo Neighbor (hippie style)
“I’m 44 years old and I’ve never been in a monogamous relationship.” - Wendy M.
In order to pass the Female Sexuality DeCal, you have to go to three different events or speaker panels. Since my schedule is awkwardly packed, I’ve been going to whatever I can regardless of the topic, and this has included a speaker on polyamory and open relationships. Disclaimer: I...
Training Ride #3: Falling gracefully
Yesterday I participated in Semi-annual Taco Day II (also known as STD II - ALC people have an interesting sense of humor) which took place in Newark and was a lot easier than the last one, hopefully in part because of the hellish spin classes I’ve been taking. The ride was also different because it was my first time riding with clip-less pedals and cycling shoes. You have to insert the shoe...
Training Ride #2 and How I don't know how to ride...
Just realized I forgot to discuss training ride #2 (that I went on like two weeks ago…), which was quite eventful. The ride started at Orinda and went up to Pinole, but I’m pretty sure we really rode to Canada because that shit was difficult.* When I signed up for AIDS/LifeCycle, the image in my mind was (so embarrassingly) of Julia Roberts cruising through Bali, only in California. I...
Ch-ch-ch-changes
I haven’t really been in blogging mode lately. Every once in a while I’ll think up a post, but never really feel the urge to type it out (no labor pains, for you like-minded literary folk). This blog’s also getting a bit too topic-heavy/serious for my taste. I’d like to write more posts that are about mostly nothing.*
This semester has been interesting. My goal going in...
March 2011
5 posts
All for keeping calm but...
Me: This might be a weird question but do you guys have any potassium iodide?
Shop worker: That was a weird question until about two days ago when everyone ran out.
*Note: potassium iodide is available in any good multivitamin containing iodine. If you live on the west coast and don't know why I'm talking about this, maybe you should take a peek at a newspaper or the Surgeon General's statement on precautionary measures against radioactive fallout. Nothin' wrong with a little precaution.
“Hi, y’all.
Wheeler appears to be in at least partial lockdown right now,...”
– - email from Professor B. UC Day of Action: Berkeley’s still-exciting, protest-y usual.
Update: She just sent another email adding various points and then ended it with, “doggone it, the helicopters are loud.” What a great day.
shaktiandshanti asked: I think I'd like to try the Alameda Point collective. Can you send me deets?
Alameda Point Collaborative
Warning: please excuse my increasing bleeding hearted..ness. But I’ve been meaning to write a post talking about a very special project going on in the Alameda/Oakland area called the Alameda Point Collaborative, and how math will follow me forever.
I thought it was cool that the WVA in Irvine organized a community garden (holla - if you’re as into my grandma as I am, you can check...
February 2011
11 posts
“That looks kinda like the Olympics sign, what is that?”
– S, looking at the Chanel logo.
““Food, work, fairness”
Eyes burning in the streets.
The streets,...”
– Had a little current event assignment in poetry class, so I figured now’d be the best time to post it! Written by mahself.
“At the same time Telegraph Avenue was decaying, it was also springing to...”
– Description of Telegraph in the 80s or 90s by Dalton Conley in his book, Honky (2000). Looks like nothing’s changed!
Training Ride #1: Best Fail To Date
I swear this is not becoming a cycling blog. Anyway, today was my first training ride for AIDS/LifeCycle. The plan was if it was raining, the ride was automatically canceled. 7:15 am: an email is sent out stating the ride will go on as there is no rain. At around 7:30 am I walked out of the building to a noticeable drizzle. I ignored the original rule, fixed my death stare to my face and attempted...
With A Little Help From My Friends
Today was an excellent example of just how lucky I can get. I was sitting in my English discussion, staring wistfully at my GSI as usual, when I got a text from my old coworker Kim. I’ve worked with Kim back home in Da Vine for a while and was so excited to hear she and her man Victor were in Berkeley for the day! We made plans to meet up and grab coffee after class and possibly to do a...
Most Important Post I've Written Thus Far
Yesterday we had a speaker in FemSex. He spoke for nearly two hours, keeping us in our seats an hour past class was over. I don’t think anyone had a problem with this. His name is John, and he is an adult gay man with AIDS. He began his story by describing his first sexual experience with his best friend from childhood, her subsequent pregnancy and abortion right after Roe v. Wade was...
Bases Part 2 (Happy Valentine's Day)
Kelsey: Okay, tell me your version of the bases.
Sarah: First base, kissing. Second base, groping. Third base, anal sex. Fourth base, sex!
We Are Not Responsible
We are not responsible for your lost or stolen relatives. We cannot guarantee your safety if you disobey our instructions. We do not endorse the causes or claims of people begging for handouts. We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Your ticket does not guarantee that we will honor your reservations. In order to facilitate our procedures, please limit your carrying on. Before taking...
Ode to Addison
If you’re someone who’s decided that walking downtown past Shattuck is a good use of your time, welcome. You’re a cultured smartypants. But only if you’ve taken a stroll down Addison Street. After weeks spent staring at my phone or sleepwalking down the street before taking a peek around,
I finally became acquainted with Addison, and it’s been a growing...
Comin' Up
You never realize how easy it is to fall behind until you actually try not to. Anyway, here are posts that you will eventually see one day: Ode to Addison (second time I’m listing this one…lolz), one on the Alameda Point Collaborative project, FemSex and race/everything else and one for Chi O. Stay tuned. Or you know, rightfully ignore this blog until I step my game up.
