Labels

Label: Aliens attacking from Space
So about a month ago I was walking around the Career Fair at my uni to get a sense of what type of jobs I can do with my potential MA degree specializing in space policy. Of course there's NASA, but was just curious what else was out there, perhaps like the Dept of Defense.

Walks up to the Defense Auditing booth and talks to lady:
Me: Hi, I'm not sure if you have any sectors in my area of study, but I'm going into Space Policy.
Woman: Well we do defense auditing contractors for the government and do auditing things. Maybe you should try Homeland Security 2 booths down, maybe they've got something on protecting the US against aliens...
Me:...My field of space policy actually deals with international cooperation between other countries under the field of international relations...

I gave the woman this look of "I cannot believe you actually think I deal with aliens". In a sense, it was hilarious. But even I don't really believe in aliens. More like I don't really care. Nor am I really keen on going to space. There's lunar dust on the moon. I've never watched Star Trek, and fell asleep watching the first few Star Wars movies. I can't believe she actually used the word aliens on me. Guess there ain't much going on in the mathematical world of defense auditing. We definitely are at a risk of mediocrity in the nation if people think there are aliens attacking Earth. I'm sure they have more important things to do, as wars are fought over who has the bigger d*** (Reference from M. Butterfly) and well, oil.

Another Label: Vegetarians
Conversation with a classmate: Julia is a vegetarian too.
Classmate: SHE IS NOT A VEGETARIAN. She can pick off the beef from the dish and eat the vegetables.
Apparently even in toxic China, Vegetarians still have a snobbish way of selecting who is in the exclusive group.
Vegetarians: People who do consume any type of animal essence with their meal for the sake of animal rights. Which can include broth, or apparently just touching it. Apparently personal health doesn't exactly factor into the equation. I'm sure they aren't part of the Darwin's Survival of the fittest, as if all they had was meat to survive, and they'd try to consume some, they would end up dead because their body doesn't produce certain enzymes to break down the meat. Oh well, one more group of ideological weirdos off the planet.

Au Contraire
Friend 3: So I ordered a futomaki that other time and this woman next to me was asking me if it was sushi. So I said yes, and she asked me how I could eat it since it was so big. She kept staring and all I wanted to do was eat my futomaki in peace.
Friend1's order of tuna sashimi arrives
Friend 2: Is that raw?
Friend 1: yeah
Friend 2: It (tuna) looks disgusting
Friend 3: Isn't it dangerous to eat fish raw?
Friend 1: no, not if you clean it certain ways.
Friend 3: but it's still unhealthy to eat raw fish.
Me: Well fish has omega 3 fatty acids so its better than not eating fish at all (Friend 2&3 don't like seafood)
Friend 3: So we should all be chomping on fish like birds now?
Me: How's the futomaki?

One thing I've noticed while dining with people are their certain dietary restrictions. Some are part of their religion, some from allergies, some from the lack of knowledge (mainly being raised in a typical American household that limits their diet to burgers and pizzas), and some out of random distaste for texture. What I cannot tolerate is when others not only refuse to try new food, but also insult it while you're eating. It's like gee, thanks. At least I only do that to friends who try to buy pineapple on a stick in China (noting all the flies around it), or hotdog on a stick at the Great Wall ("It's rather pink" and "I'm not going to bring you to a hospital if you get a heart attack from eating that"), and mayonnaise. But just don't go on insulting someone else's food when you just find it disgusting. I wonder how they'd survive a suburban Chinese village. Sometimes, General Tsao's Chicken and/or Orange Chicken may not be on every Chinese menu.

Have you heard? It's fall!

Okay, so after rewatching Anastasia the other day I've gotten the music stuck in my head again. It's amazing how I remember the lyrics to all the songs in the movie even though I haven't watched it for years. I think it was probably around 1997...cause the Winter Olympics happened in '98 in Nagano and that's when Tara Lipinski used the song, Once Upon A December, which I called dibs and swore was going to be my competition (olympic) song (not that I would've gotten that far but I still called dibs) and was completely shocked when I saw her skate to it in her long program, won gold over Michelle Kwan using my song, and have loathed her ever since. Then there were mere copy cats of skaters using that song for their program and so it just lost its luster.

But anyways, FALL!!!!! As my friends saw, I actually dressed up in my cute lil black boots, jeans, t-shirt, and this nice dark green jacket with an orange scarf and a hat to symbolize the changing of fall. Maybe not symbolize, but that was the extent to my excitement about the change in seasons. Fall was always one of my favorite seasons, even though my birthday is in the spring, so they've both been happily celebrated by me haha. I'm such a child sometimes for being so easily affected by the weather, but when its sunny and cool out, and there's this smell of burning wood in the air, there's this excitement within thinking things are not the same.

Fall is the time of change, rather than sense that it is something dying and old, I always felt it was a start of something new. School always started in the fall, and so that's always a fresh way to start.

I was in China last fall, where by this time, I made some great friends, especially one that meant as much to me as two of my best friends that I met in Japan.

2002 Japan...By this time of the month, I celebrated the o-mochitsuki, watching the moon festival and won 2 bottles of wine at a lottery/bingo game dinner with my host family. I met the Rotary group out in Marina City in Wakayama...where 2 of the exchangers soon became my best friends.

I recall this time me, my soon to be 2 best friends, and this other soon to be good Danish friend of ours were asked to join this group of kids going out camping in the traditional Japanese camps out in Sennan city, where they had a soft-opening. We had korean pancake, and sat in one of the empty huts drinking out of a small mixture of gin and oj, ate oreos, and saw some shooting stars. The mountains were beautiful and serene, and later on we went inside to only drink some more beer hanging out with this American guy talking about his life in Japan, and my friend kept on having to pee like crazy. Luckily the bathrooms were quite clean unlike China :)

Later on the next day, we went to watch the movie Signs (omg I can't believe I paid twice to watch that movie), hung out in Sakai after getting some drinks at the convenience store, and I went home late with my friend since she was sleeping over while my host mom worried like crazy and asked me to not watch movies at night anymore.

Next fall, where will I be?? Here I am, in the nation's capital, in my final months of undergraduate schooling. It's been a few weeks since I've felt so worry free the more I have to do. But you know what? It's fall :)

My Next Trip

So lately a friend of mine brought up this idea to do a trip after we all graduate. Of course I'd definitely be in...somehow lol. It would probably be a eurotrip, only this time I want to try and explore the other cities I haven't gotten to yet. Ideally, I'd love it to be this:

Spain

Portugal

Morrocco

Southern France

Paris

London

Wales

and Perhaps Ireland.

Thing is, I'd be happy just doing the first 3, but probably would have to compromise if I am going in a group...especially when my Arab friend though that people in Portugal and Morrocco hate Arabs...lol. Ironically his cousin claimed we'd be spending some time living it up at the guest palace with his connections. I just want to see Morrocco and it would be amazing either way. Southern France...well Nice is always nice (haha that always makes me laugh a bit no matter how stupid it is), Avignon seemed cool via the window, and perhaps even Monaco. It seems like a cool way to finish off another chapter of my life, and begin a new one. Especially when there will be so many changes out there...

I've always said to myself when I do go visit London and Paris, I'd definitely give it the proper amount of time to actually see it. Ideally, if I ever get the chance, I'd love to do the Balkans again and Turkey.

Now...to find the funds to do the trip haha :x Who knew I'd be back in Europe so fast? My only goal was to do another trip there before 26!

haha silly me

So, my good friend asked over dinner tonight whether or not I was happy. Well, I haven't really considered that since I have been stressing out about graduating, writing papers, etc...and in a way life is going in the path that I wish to take it, plus its ups and downs. So it got narrowed down to whether I was content or if I was actually happy, and I have to say I am quite content. Though, according to an Australian friend I met in Lithuania - who ran the youth hostel and was once head of one of the most prestigious hotelier schools in the world- he said to be very careful when he said he was satisfied with life- 6 months, his entire life went crumbling down.

And here is my friend, who asked me this question because he questioned it himself. Someone who was in an econ major, and I thought enjoyed what he did, suddenly question whether or not he wanted to be in that area. Someone who had a life back home waiting for him, and probably some sort of job worth six figures, but procrastinating on what's to come. I guess we are at the point where we start having our doubts.

I glanced back at some of the photos taken in China. There was one around friends that I looked especially happy in...and it was deeply ingrained into my memory. That night wasn't exactly unique, but somehow when I look at that photo, the smile on it doesn't seem to fade. Since then, I've had many happy memories where I have had the chance to go to Venezuela and meet up with one of my best friends, and go travel around and meet new people. However, I always go back to that photo, that night when those pictures were taken, and I distinctly remember it. There was just something that night, perhaps it was just me, where I remember it all.

If I compared my life to that single picture, then at this very moment typing this, I wouldn't be able to compare my amount of happiness to that very picture. However, life has been taking me on the road I want to head towards...my studies...my future...my career. So I cannot say that life is lacking, as I do have friends still around me...though a good portion of them are halfway around the world. But like I learned more than 4 years ago was that if you knock, the door of opportunities await, you just need to ask. And in this area, I have been a bit shy of knocking. But each time I have, I have never been awaited with a bad surprise...only happy ones that have helped me in life.

I would show this picture to you, but there is something so simple and happy about it that I just want to save that smile for myself. And maybe for a few others who have been there to enjoy it with me, I wonder if they saw that smile of mine that shined?