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Sorry, but this will be my last long update for awhile. I've got more serious work to do, and more important people to write to (namely term papers for my profs, and personal statements for my applications). Well at least for the next few weeks... Hope you enjoy this entry.
*Groan* We watched "Godzilla" (the 1956 b/w version) in our Japanese history class today. The prof wants us to write a one page commentary about the anti-war/nuke sentiment in the movie. What is this? Film critiques? Isn't this the kinda stuff we used do in 8th grade?!?! This is a upper division university history course for crying out loud! And only one page? WTF? Pul-leez!
Have you ever watched "Godzilla"? And no...I'm not talking about the dumb summer of 1998 remake, toting the equally asinine tagline: "Size Matters". I'm talking about the 1954 or 1956 black and white version. Well, if you haven't, don't worry. You're not missing much. But just in case you are, I've decided to give you a look at the notes I took while watching the movie today. Written in the The Editing Room style...
And if you don't find this entry funny...you should probably go read a few scripts at The Editing Room. Either that, or blame it on the hemp bread I had for lunch today.
| FADE IN: | |
| EXT. TOKYO, JAPAN, IN RUINS. CIRCA 1950's - DAY | |
| RAYMOND BURR
(trying his best to give an OSCAR (Meyer) performance) | |
| |
| The rest of the movie is one BIG FLASHBACK SEQUENCE
EXT. TOKYO, JAPAN, NOT IN RUINS (YET). CIRCA 1950's - DAY | |
| GODZILLA | |
| |
| Godzilla proceeds to BLOW STUFF UP in the typical SUPER SCARY MONSTER fashion. Tokyo now looks WORSE than MY ROOM. | |
| SOME JAPANESE ARMY GUY | |
| |
| GODZILLA (stomping all over Tokyo) | |
| |
| The army and navy try to KILL Godzilla with a 300,000 megavolt electrical fence, motor shells, bazookas, tanks and machine guns. It DOESN'T work.
| |
| GODZILLA (laughing) | |
| |
| SOME JAPANESE ARMY GUY | |
| |
| TOKEN WOMAN IN 1950s FILM | |
| |
| HER WUSSY BOYFRIEND | |
| |
| AUDIENCE | |
| |
| GODZILLA (continuing the rampage on Tokyo) | |
| |
| WUSSY BOYFRIEND | |
| |
| GODZILLA | |
| |
| ALL OF JAPAN (in unison) | |
| |
| YOURS TRULY | |
| |
| 1950's AUDIENCE (crying) | |
| |
| 21st CENTURY AUDIENCE (laughing) | |
| |
| Super oxygen bomb is USED. Godzilla is KILLED. Wussy boyfriend KILLS himself and DIES. Our class STANDS UP and CHEERS. | |
| AUDIENCE (cheering) | |
| |
| ALL OF JAPAN (cheering) | |
| |
| MOVIE PRODUCER/CEO | |
| |
| 1998 GODZILLA ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK | |
| |
| The class collectively VOMITS and LEAVES room. | |
| THE END. |
Today, Nicole was wearing a jacket that was some kind of a cross between velour and leather. Hmmm...I wonder what you call it. Velleather? Well whatever it is, it was irresistibly touchable!!! Oooooooh!
Anyway, I was bugging Nicole for most of the day, by constantly rubbing her arm to feel the jacket. It felt so nice! But, give me some credit here--I wasn't the only one harassing her. Several of us (male and female) were all rubbing against her jacket like kittens. In disgust, Nicole claimed that she would never wear the jacket again. All I could think was: "Man they GOTTA make car seats out of this stuff!" Hahaha.
*Rub rub*
"Will you guys cut it out?!?!!"
Hehe. Sorry!
Anyway, when I came back home, I flicked on the idiot box. David Suzuki's "The Nature of Things" was on CBC (a weekly science documentary). Quite aptly, it was a special about the sensation of touch. One comment that I found particularly interesting was made by some professor, who argued that in the modern world, we (humans) have minimalized and reduced the amount of human contact/touch.
That makes total sense to me.
After all, with the Internet and all the computerization these days, I don't even pay my bills in person anymore. Heck, friends e-mail me virtual "hugs"! So what has this world come to? Asides from the conveniences of computerization, I still miss the "real thing". There is something very reassuring about touching people, whether it is patting a friend on the back, giving someone a hug, or even just shaking hands with a stanger. I guess it's so reassuring because it's real.
The documentary went on about how some "inappropriate" touching can be misinterpreted. Well duh! But where is the cut off line? How can we tell in this increasingly PC world? After all, I tap people on the arm all the time. That doesn't necessarily mean I want to "get down" with them...it's just my way of saying: "Hey there, friend!" Nothing more. Nothing less.
Yet, even though we mean nothing more, the other person may percieve it as something more. With the minimal contact we do get these days, I think that has made us EVEN MORE sensitive when people DO touch us. Certainly any human contact/touching evokes feelings of sincerity and intimacy.
For one, the documentary mentioned that customers often gave higher tips when the waiter/waitress touched the customer on the shoulder or arm. Hmm. Interesting...
A while ago, I was having dinner with friends at La Terrazza (a local upscale, yuppy, but fairly decent, Italian restaurant). It was a bit pricey, but we were splurging (I believe my friends were celebrating because I was leaving town for a couple months). Hehe. Anyway, we were a little late on arrival, so our reserved table got snubbed. After settling out the confusion, the maitre d' and a waitress helped us move to a better table by the window. After we ordered, the maitre d' came out to apologize and see how we were doing. I remember this because she was standing behind me and she had placed both hands on my shoulders and half-bent/crouched in to talk to us.
I remember being slightly surprised because she had placed both hands on my shoulders. For a stranger, I would usually place only one hand on the person's shoulder. I dunno. Two hands, seemed a little too redundant. After she left, I shoved the thought out of my mind...until the waitress came by to check up on us. Again more touching. I remember thinking to myself: "Good grief! This is one touchy-feely restaurant!"
I mentioned this to my friends, over dinner. They pointed out that I was one of the only persons at our table without a date, and perhaps that was the reason I was getting all this "special" attention. Steve (the only other bachelor at our table) was sitting with his back to the window, which rendered him out of reach/range. We laughed and finished our dinners.
Hmm. I tipped well, I think.
Ok, according to my dad, this is not what happened. But this is how I saw it...
My dad was getting his car serviced at the dealership today. Being the filial *cough cough* son that I am, I agreed to drive him back to the dealer so he could pick up the car. We were walking back towards our cars when my dad asked me, "You know the way back home, right?"
I nodded my head. "Yeah dad...I HAVE only lived here for all my life. Besides, I just drove you here."
My dad climbed into his car and called out, "Ok...you go your way, and I'll go my way, we'll see who gets home first."
I climbed into my car and started my engine. "Uh-huh," I answered. I shifted into "D" and drove off. I could see a glint in his eye.
The race was on.
I blipped the throttle as I reached the exit out of the dealership. I could feel the suspension soak up the bumps as my car launched onto the street. I glanced at my rear view mirror and could see that my dad was following closely. A part of my mind started to chide, "How immature!!! Racing with your OWN FATHER of all people! You better let him win."
Shut up brain! This is a race.
Wary of police, I didn't try to speed, and kept my speed constant with the flow of traffic. In fact, there was so much traffic, I couldn't do much. My father was following me one car length behind. The lights at the intersection ahead must have changed red--the traffic was beginning to creep to a stop. I could see there was a service truck and a bus three cars ahead in our lane. Ugh...slow accelerating beasts. I knew I had to get out of that lane.
Suddenly, I saw an opening in the right lane. I flicked on the blinkers for a second (careful not to give enough time for my dad to steal my position) and slid into the gap in traffic. Buh-bye now! I tossed my hand out the sunroof and waved at my dad as I drove past the slow truck and bus in his lane. As soon as I past the intersection, traffic began to loosen up. Carefully weaving my way through the traffic for the next few minutes, I managed to put a considerable gap (15 cars) between myself and my dad. I grinned.
"Like stealing candy from a baby," I mumbled under my breath.
Two klicks later, traffic again slowed to a crawl as all three lanes merged onto the right-most lane. Up ahead, I could see inexperienced and undecided mergers slowing everyone down. Seeing a space for myself, I chose to merge in early. Big mistake. As I turned on my CD player, I saw a silver streak pass me on the left. It was my dad. I saw my dad barrelling down the road and merging at the last possible moment--WAY ahead of me. My jaw dropped. Cheatin' bugger! Ack!
"You want to play dirty, eh? Well two can play at that game!" I muttered.
Not to be undone, I toggled off 'overdrive' and switched back onto the left-most lane. I punched the throttle. The engine growled as the needle quickly climbed back up to 70. I was nearing the concrete barrier ending the lane. 75. I flicked on my blinkers. 80. A white Mustang was leaving an abnormally wide gap between herself and a pickup truck. PERFECT! I hit the brakes and slowed my car to match their speed and slid into the gap.
However it was too late...my father was at least eight car lengths ahead. I could see him turning left onto the bypass. Given mid-afternoon traffic, the bypass is a much quicker route. However, the route also winds through a series of two-lane back roads. I knew it would be impossible to safely overtake my father on that stretch. Being eight cars behind, it was a lost cause. I decided to take my chances with the highway and continued straight.
Traffic was particularly heavy and slow, so I decided I had enough fun for the day. I decided not to overtake the slow-as-molasses, family of four riding in the green Volvo ahead of me. I sighed. I knew I had lost. I imagined pulling into the garage to see my dad grinning from ear to ear. He would probably slap me on my back and ask me what took so long.
Fifteen minutes later, I pulled into my house. To my surprise, the garage was empty. HA!!!! My dad had not made it back yet! I was first! I guess the bypass route is actually slower...either that or my dad had hit some unexpected traffic. I parked and walked into the house with the biggest grin on my face. I tried to stop smiling, but I couldn't. I felt evil.
I ran into the bathroom and started brushing my teeth in a desperate attempt to stop grinning. I could hear my dad drive up. He walked into the bathroom and looked at me. I must have looked pretty stupid--a toothbrush in my mouth and a stupid grin on my face. Hehehe. I like to gloat!
"You! Not fair! Cheater!" my dad exclaimed. I laughed and nearly swallowed my toothbrush. I spat out the toothpaste and rinsed.
I shot back, "Hey I wasn't the first person to merge at the LAST possible moment. That was a pretty cheap move!"
My dad waved me off and walked to my mom, our household adjudicator. He started to explain his version of the story, "David...he was driving so fast! 140! 160! Totally not fair!"
Yeah whatever! There was no way I was going that fast.
I won fair and square. You guys all believe me, right?
Hehehe.
Finally decided on the topics for all my term papers. Yay! These papers might be the very last research papers that I will write in my entire life. *Sniffle* (They tend not to assign big research papers in clown/law school). Anyway, my topics are:
1. Assimilation and marginalization: the Korean minority living in Japan, during the Asia Pacific War.
2. Resolving differences betweeen Marxism and Islam: the writings and teachings of Ali Shari`ati.
3. Explaining and applying Gramscian concepts of hegemony and consensus on the relationship between international organizations/regimes and lesser developed countries (LDC).
Now I just have to finish up on the research and start the writing...
Asides from actually walking/stepping on this yellow puddle, there was no way you could use either urinals. Alternative options? Well, I checked for feet and could see that both stalls were being used (surprise, surprise). Now, normally if this happened I would probably just go to a different washroom on another floor and that would be the end of it. But this time, I feel like I need to make a personal rant.
So to the individual who did this, I'd like to point out the fact that we are at a university library! This is not some back alley or your own bedroom! Don't you have a sense of decency? *Sigh*
We claim to be one of the leading institutions in Canada...which only leads me to question: what kind of people are we admitting to our schools? Although I don't have much respect for my school, that doesn't mean I would pee all over the floors of our library!
I mean, seriously, there is absolutely no excuse for peeing on the floor! For crying out loud, it's not like a skill you just learned yesterday! Most people at our library must have had AT LEAST eighteen years of practice. And we've done it at least once a day, for every day of our lives! Besides, a urinal is pretty wide, so it's not like you exactly need laser guided precision. But still...for the love of God and all things holy on this blessed earth, learn how to aim!
And don't tell me you couldn't "hold" it. First of all, it shouldn't come to this. Don't "hold" it until you're about to burst! If you're really having bladder control problems, use adult diapers or go to the washroom more often. Second of all, you made it to the washroom. Heck, you were two feet away from the urinals! Don't give up now! That's like stopping right before the finish line! You're were so close...yet so far away.
Argh! Is there hope for humanity?
Hmm. Another delicious autumn day. Was driving with the sunroof open and Massive Attack's "Protection" blasting on the stereo. I couldn't stop going over what a friend had just said.
Rewind twenty minutes earlier...
My friend was telling me that she recently had a very weird/disturbing dream. Then she told me that I was in it.
My mind blanked for a second. Uh oh.
Apparently in this dream, she felt she had been either raped or threatened by a strange man. I instinctively cringed. I asked hestiantly, "Uh...that wasn't me, was it?"
Apparently not. Nevertheless, she was feeling very terrified and scared. In the dream, I was the only person around, so she had asked me to walk her back home. And what did I do?
I refused! I actually refused to walk her home! Jeesh. What a jerk!
When she told me what I had "done", I had to laugh. Obviously, my reputation seems to proceed me...even in peoples' dreams. But on second thought, it is a bit eerie. Don't you think? Ok, so it was someone else's dream and I had no say over anything. But still. Very disturbing...
Thanksgiving holiday today up here in the Canada. Happy Thanksgiving to all fellow Canucks! I'm feeling a little sick with the remenants of a nasty cold. Spent the day relaxing...
I had the TV window minimized on my desktop as I was writing some e-mail this afternoon. On channel 13, they were showing the movie "Big" (starring Tom Hanks). Have you ever seen it? (Recap: Basically, it's a story about a kid who wishes he was an adult. He wakes up one morning to find out that his wish has come true.) Anyway, seeing parts of the movie (especially the scene where he brings his date to his apartment and they jump on the trampoline) reminded me how fun it was to be a kid.
I'm not much of a dancer--one of the many reasons why I avoid going to clubs (unless I'm dragged out by friends). Let's just say the "funky chicken" and the "android" dance don't impress at the clubs. But, I do remember that when I was a kid, I used to listen to music and dance. Dancing around, and around, until I was too dizzy to dance anymore. And for no real reason other than the fact that the music was on, I was happy, and there was no reason not to.
Just because.
When's the last time you danced to music by yourself? Just for yourself? Without any care for how silly you look, and without trying to impress anyone? Just because?
Since when did all our concerns over our jobs, relationships, grades, and bills replace all that fun?
Everybody else was out of the house today. I cranked on the stereo and danced.
I felt like a kid again.
I'm, writing the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) this Saturday.
I am SO boned...
As you can see I'm starting to really panic here. I can't help but remember that several law schools consider the score (on this one exam) as being equal to my GPA from four years of university.
So for the past two weeks, I've been frantically doing practice tests (and getting subpar results). *Sigh* What can I say? I guess I'll just have to see how the test goes.
Amazingly, in between the breaks of writing these practice tests, I have managed to accomplish two things. First, I have managed to finally break my stubborn 100 mark on sit-ups (something that I've recently started doing when I'm nervous). Second, I managed to get a new high score of 17565 (Level 31) playing Hardball, on my Handspring Visor. Ha!
So all is not lost, I suppose...
Wish me luck.