Newness of Spring
It seemed to take a long time to reach Friday with roommates moving out, Monica moving stuff out, and being on the final stretch of homework for my Winter Session Sociology class. I did quite well getting through it all, as partially evidenced by my 9.9 out of 10 score on my second to last Sociology project.
I managed to pull out another impromptu get together on Friday, just like last Saturday. Michelle came up with the idea of playing mini golf, so I took her up on it, as did Mike and Brandy. I drove them to Golfland from Michelle's place. Damn, I hadn't been there in so long, I kinda didn't know what to expect. If me getting hit with a golf ball in the leg while it still lands on the green, saving a few balls from running downstream, making a hole in one depite being heckled, and balls bouncing out of the "hole in one" bins don't constitute fun, I don't know what does.
Expectations weren't so much shattered on the courses as they were inside the arcade. It made me feel like my head has been in a hole in the ground. It put the R in DDR. There were 2 other DDR like games there, one that was less candy-ass pop and the other one being more like kick-your-ass break dancing. Imagine 4 diagonal foot pads and one in the middle. Now imagine arrows that stay on the screen for no more than a fourth of a second to the tune of 160BPM+ electronic tracks. Umm...I think I'll stick to light mode DDR thank you very much. There were also two games that sensed your hand movements. One of them had two disc sensors in which you'd wave your hand over or under them, and the other one has you stand in it so it could sense any hand movements 360 degrees around you. Then there was this DJ type game in which you'd hit buttons or spin a turntable to create the song you were supposed to play. Think button mashing like the video game Amplitude or Frequency, but with 5 buttons, a turntable, and an effects pedal. Think of it as the break dancing DDR equivalent for your fingers. The guy who was playing made 100 note/sample combos seem simple and with whatever difficulty he selected, I swear you'd likely fail the level/song if you blinked twice.
Today, I had dinner with my mom, then went to a homeless shelter to help serve food and give out essentials (toilitries, clothes, sunglasses, etc). It felt great to do something for other people in need, in addition to having a reality check. I saw someone I recognized from Kachina High School there, Brandon Wright, brother of a David I once knew. It was awesome and amusing to see someone there that I knew.
When we got back to my mom's house, the NBC tsunami telethon was ending. Things like that always stir up feelings in my mom and I about how little focus the media or sometimes other people place on problems that are either closer to home or just as life threatening. Having just covered foreign aid as a topic in my sociology class, I've done a bit of thinking on the subject:
Just because there is little or no focus on other issues does not necessarily mean the major issues are less deserving of aid. I think it is more a reflection of the media culture, that I consider South Park's elementary school public television (i.e. "Dogs Wearing Hats" and "Sexy Action News Team") to be disturbingly accurate in reflecting.
"The US spends only one tenth of 1 percent [0.1%] of its national income on foreign economic assistance."
I kind of find this hard to believe, however, that might be because I think this figure doesn't include any non-economic assistance or other indirect/latent foreign assistance.
"When viewed in terms of the percentage of their total economy that nations give in foreign aid, the US is far down on the list. Norway gives about nine times more...Canada almost four times more. Moreover, most American aid is not targeted to help the world's poorest people...[the US is] not alone in this politicized approach to foreign aid."
This was a very interesting read.
After taking this Modern Social Problems class online, I kinda wish sociologists would rule the world instead of politicians. In a democracy like this, the power is a division of the two distinctions and would make crossing over near impossible. The thought of a sociologist making it in a political world is very entertaining to me though.
Phew...lots of writing. I'm tired, but it is a small price to pay for the past two days, and this is just half way through my weekend. There's more to come including a review of Kill Bill Volume 1, a review of House of Flying Daggars, fixing up the condo, and other stuff as it happens.
I managed to pull out another impromptu get together on Friday, just like last Saturday. Michelle came up with the idea of playing mini golf, so I took her up on it, as did Mike and Brandy. I drove them to Golfland from Michelle's place. Damn, I hadn't been there in so long, I kinda didn't know what to expect. If me getting hit with a golf ball in the leg while it still lands on the green, saving a few balls from running downstream, making a hole in one depite being heckled, and balls bouncing out of the "hole in one" bins don't constitute fun, I don't know what does.
Expectations weren't so much shattered on the courses as they were inside the arcade. It made me feel like my head has been in a hole in the ground. It put the R in DDR. There were 2 other DDR like games there, one that was less candy-ass pop and the other one being more like kick-your-ass break dancing. Imagine 4 diagonal foot pads and one in the middle. Now imagine arrows that stay on the screen for no more than a fourth of a second to the tune of 160BPM+ electronic tracks. Umm...I think I'll stick to light mode DDR thank you very much. There were also two games that sensed your hand movements. One of them had two disc sensors in which you'd wave your hand over or under them, and the other one has you stand in it so it could sense any hand movements 360 degrees around you. Then there was this DJ type game in which you'd hit buttons or spin a turntable to create the song you were supposed to play. Think button mashing like the video game Amplitude or Frequency, but with 5 buttons, a turntable, and an effects pedal. Think of it as the break dancing DDR equivalent for your fingers. The guy who was playing made 100 note/sample combos seem simple and with whatever difficulty he selected, I swear you'd likely fail the level/song if you blinked twice.
Today, I had dinner with my mom, then went to a homeless shelter to help serve food and give out essentials (toilitries, clothes, sunglasses, etc). It felt great to do something for other people in need, in addition to having a reality check. I saw someone I recognized from Kachina High School there, Brandon Wright, brother of a David I once knew. It was awesome and amusing to see someone there that I knew.
When we got back to my mom's house, the NBC tsunami telethon was ending. Things like that always stir up feelings in my mom and I about how little focus the media or sometimes other people place on problems that are either closer to home or just as life threatening. Having just covered foreign aid as a topic in my sociology class, I've done a bit of thinking on the subject:
Just because there is little or no focus on other issues does not necessarily mean the major issues are less deserving of aid. I think it is more a reflection of the media culture, that I consider South Park's elementary school public television (i.e. "Dogs Wearing Hats" and "Sexy Action News Team") to be disturbingly accurate in reflecting.
"The US spends only one tenth of 1 percent [0.1%] of its national income on foreign economic assistance."
I kind of find this hard to believe, however, that might be because I think this figure doesn't include any non-economic assistance or other indirect/latent foreign assistance.
"When viewed in terms of the percentage of their total economy that nations give in foreign aid, the US is far down on the list. Norway gives about nine times more...Canada almost four times more. Moreover, most American aid is not targeted to help the world's poorest people...[the US is] not alone in this politicized approach to foreign aid."
This was a very interesting read.
After taking this Modern Social Problems class online, I kinda wish sociologists would rule the world instead of politicians. In a democracy like this, the power is a division of the two distinctions and would make crossing over near impossible. The thought of a sociologist making it in a political world is very entertaining to me though.
Phew...lots of writing. I'm tired, but it is a small price to pay for the past two days, and this is just half way through my weekend. There's more to come including a review of Kill Bill Volume 1, a review of House of Flying Daggars, fixing up the condo, and other stuff as it happens.