Adventures in Winter

Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay over break... forgot what day but it was near Steamers by the Lighthouse.  The weather's been great the few times I wandered outside so far- I've heard it's snowing quite a bit everywhere else, so I hope you all enjoy it for me, or I hope you all survive, I'm not sure which is more appropriate.  In the corner you can see some goofballs riding some mellow surf.

I also made it up to Fremont for a day long adventure, wherein Mark and I ascended a soaked Mission Peak, lost ourselves in the fog and ended up walking the Mill Creek Road Death March home in the rain. 

Happy New Year folks, exciting action posts soon to return, as soon as I get stressed out and need to procrastinate.

My Visit to Punjab

I made this image using Photoshop and wrote this short poem thereafter. It is about my visit to my mother's village in Punjab.

Last time I walked down the muddy dirt dearth that traversed my village and my mind, I found solace in the shapes in the sky. They ranged from rugged and rigid but soft, to sordid orange peels scattered like dusty leaves in the morning frost. They fell softly on soft hands caked in dust, as I walked down the dirty dirt path dividing green fields like rust. It was the land of creation, in a land of wealth. It was forgone like the twill of a discarded nest from trust. My state of mind, in this state of me, was read in peace between pages of Siddhartha’s journey. It was the sun, it was the sand, it was the soft dirt that I could taste in my hands. It was in the water and the sky, this calm in me was neither here nor mine. It was transient— a sort of enigma. It came as I came to this place, and left me subtly and suddenly from my curious embrace. Because then I was back, and it was home sweet home. America was the same, it was the same reality shows. But I know now what kind of place it had been, Punjab had the character of peace among my kin. It was the song of creation played day in day out, it was just a place just a few days away, it was home away from home, it was merely and more than mundane. In such and such a way, it had a divine character that measured beyond any other place I've braved. It was a peace of mind within my peace of heart, it was the love of a land and its fresh scents. It was living among brush strokes of crimson skies between green fields among bird songs; it was beautiful, it was sublime, it was art.

TIME Has the Last Word Again

So I don't want this to be my cathartic/enlightening/mind-blowing post, considering it is a link to a list not comprised by myself, but I found it fascinating none the less and wanted to share with the kind readers. That's you. And the friend you will potentially/hopefully share this blog with.

Go on, share. It's the season.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1945379_1944256,00.html

I didn't read any of the other lists, but the new species one was qualified enough to merit a post, so if I were to make a top 10 list of TIME's top 10 lists, it'd be up there. TIME can be pretty shakey, but they came through on this one. Federal Reserve honcho Ben Bernanke was just named Person of the Year, beating out Usain Bolt and "The Chinese Worker". Obama won it last year -- and rightfully so -- but so has almost every president we've had since the award came about (exceptions include Coolidge, Ford, and Hoover; talk about people in the wrong place at the wrong time). Nixon brought home the prize back in '71 and '72. One and a half times. He split it with Kissinger the second time around, so count that as you will.

I didn't even know this one, but evil of all evils that he was, Adolf fucking Hitler won it in 1938, followed by none other than Joseph Stalin in 1939, with a repeat in 1942. Good god.

On a lighter note, Planet Earth won in '88 - Good thing they don't give out medals for this.

As for the color thing, I watched Bleu yesterday. I will probably watch Blanc soon.

Some Medical Attention

Word of the Day & Winter Update

Ok so today's Word of the Day is...  dearth!

I find the Oxford English Dictionary's fourth listing most industrious!

4. fig. and transf. Scarcity of anything, material or immaterial; scanty supply; practical deficiency, want or lack of a quality, etc.

It's a fairly useful word.  Didn't know scanty was a word either.  Not too shabby.

Anyways, sorry about the dearth of posts lately, but I've been wracking my brains over how to add something new, something with pop and pizazz. Something to make use of more formatting buttons, some color, perhaps a few rather bold ideas, something to juxtapose against those awesome bear photos, but that wouldn't necessarily have to compete with them.  Thus, Word of the Day was born.  Updated every few weeks, or more often if our prestigious Talent Brigade so chooses, it will lay down wild and unschooled observations of color and diction with enough charm, force and violence to kick your English and Studio Art professors in the face!  YEAH!

Word of the Day rules:
1.  Feel free to suggest potential WD's by leaving comments.
2.  If it's not in the Oxford English Dictionary, it's not Word of the Day material.
3.  Every Word of the Day post must include a new color as well.
4.  Pictures are totally welcome, make them as explicit as possible.
5.  Professionalism, ladies and gentlemen, professionalism.

On with the Update:
I'm going to post my Introduction to Me soon, which will finally give this blog the direction and guidance it so badly needs.  (Constructive) Suggestions for how I should continue to conduct myself are welcome.  Coming up before break ends we've got a new series put together by the Talent Brigade called Adventures in Winter, which wouldn't surprise me if it didn't post until Spring, but we can hope.  Then when 2010 kicks in I'll get back to profiling, possibly moving onto portraiture or life stories after that, depending on the availability of my roommates. Now, a brief parting gift.  Posts will resume when crises occur, or after Christmas:

Winter Reading for You and Me (as far as I can tell):
The Road (that's Me)
The tabloids' very own "Tiger Woods' sext messages"
Shit tons of Twilight
Superfreakanomics, was at Borders today- anybody read it?
The Trial of Henry Kissinger (my Dad)

See you soon my friends!

The Part Where I Pawn Stuff From Friends (Gagan)

1. Bear Has Accepted Your Friend Request!

2. Man Friends Bear

3. The Creation of Adam?

Great pictures (courtesy of Gagan):

http://acidcow.com/pics/5923-feeding-polar-bears-12-pics.html

Here Comes the Talent

Okay so I invited a group of prestigious literary who's who's to post some short submissions for the blog. They will be judged severely by myself and a handpicked cadre of dedicated readers.

The requirements for your posts:

1. A picture of Winter leisure, or Winter at its leisure, or something like that, wherever you are.

2. A short, PROOFREAD post about wherever you are, with a one joke maximum. Not too serious, not too funny, not too grammatically incorrect.

3. AT NO POINT are you to engage in spelling words in all caps. In fact adhere to standard punctuation.

4. Don't forget to tell us where you are.

Matt was not invited.

Introduction to Monty Hall with Ice Water

If you haven't heard the noise by now, I've started a weblog. Introduction with clear mission statement coming soon, folks. I guarantee credibility, integrity and opining of the utmost caliber. Sure.

If you haven't heard of the Monty Hall problem, and you like math or puzzles, you should probably look into it. Wikipedia's article seems pretty comprehensive. When I explained it to Aitor, the logic wasn't quite clear to us so he had me test it out on two pennies and a quarter.

I was going to switch every single time to prove that switching would result in getting the quarter way more often. However, on my first try I guessed the quarter initially and so switched to a penny. Then we realized that there was only a 1/3 chance of that happening.

Check and mate.

A final note:

Eric Pressburg brought me some ice water in the library tonight.

Holy crap.

My Apologies

Really sorry about the belligerent content of last night's post. I was caught up in the ruckus along with the rest of the house. So sorry to Matt, and sorry to my readers who had to put up with this nonsense.

For the sake of posterity, that tomorrow we not forget the lessons of today, I have chosen to leave the post in question unchanged. If you have letters or suggestions for me, I'm all ears- send them to the comments section but be warned. They are fiercely moderated and any and all content deemed offensive will be labeled either "offensive," or "stupid," in a personally derisive sort of way. Yeah thats right, I'm looking at you, readers.

Enough for today, finals have stressed me out and I think it shows.

battle tanks DOMINATION

only have a few secons of power lft, but I just FDR's the battle tanks rotation, held onto the controllers for like 3 and a half passes! Fuck you Matt I know you read this.

short titles are the best titles

Just got off work, the cheese extravaganza has begun my friends. Come over and enjoy.

In other news, there's a tight game on Wii called/about battle tanks, and it has captivated me.

Jurassic Park's on in the Garage

For real this time, we even got Jack in the Box.

emergency changes

Decided to change my profile picture when Pat said it made me look like a pedophile. Now I know a lot of readers are probably going to be disappointed to see me cave to pressure to be politically correct here, so I'll be straight with you. That picture was not politically correct, and I need to own up to my responsibilities to provide free and enriching content in an atmosphere of inclusive excellence. In other news, I'm optimistic about the future of my profiling project- I anticipate a lot of positive reactions to this project when you all see where it's going. Don't get too excited though!

Profiles in Engineering

Casey is a cool guy- I see him sometimes walking around the house, or on the way to class. He is definitely an anomalous figure; made of metal, he shreds with a quiet dignity oddly fitting the Nordic god we all see in him. He's a bit of a homebody and usually spends his nights either buried in mechanical engineering work with Aitor, or asleep in a lethargic coma of poor quality television. He also definitely gets his stuff done and is unmistakably the best and most dedicated student amongst us. Though a self described "badass," he is soft spoken and rarely speaks out of turn, unlike some other assholes that we live with. Stay tuned for more exciting profiles!

Profiles in Engineering

A tall, lanky and deceptively skinny figure, Matt looks athletic but soft. Not much can really be said about him. He doesn't do anything if he can avoid it, and he falls asleep easily. In this he is similar to Casey, who we'll get to later. Matt's greatest talent probably lies in his knack for silence, but also in his ability to teach himself things to entertain himself. He has long since past the point of feeling guilty about only reading the first half of books, and that characteristic describes much of his interaction with the world. The most one could say about him is that there isn't much to say about him.

Cry, the beloved country

So I recently finished 2666, which if you haven't heard by now is heavy enough to beat people to death with in more ways than one. For this it has become quite successful. I encourage curious parties to investigate further, however: a warning. The night I finished the book prompted one of the most gut wrenching, vomit and shit laden dreams I've ever had the misfortune of recalling. Though it's not there, assume the book as a preface of warning for readers. Approach with absolute determination, or not at all, because reading it is like falling through nine hundred pages of hell, or like climbing up the glassiest sharpest and bloodiest cliffs out of hell.


In other news, has anyone seen PJ? I hope he's not getting mugged.

I've got to go fail my ethics final now.

Jurassic Park's on in the Garage

So we may watch Jurassic Park, FYI. Little Ceasar's would apparently be bomb right now. And cheesy fiesta potatoes rock.


"I've taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me."
-Winston Churchill

A tight website about colors and diversity:
http://www.colorhunter.com/