NYTimes: Facebook Exodus

From The New York Times:

THE MEDIUM: Facebook Exodus

Why some Facebook members are moving on.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30FOB-medium-t.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

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Cynthia Wang's iPhone
cynthiawang@nyu.edu

Sony doesn't like me

In line with the discussions of copyright I've been having with my friends (who are still, thankfully, my friends), I just found that my cover of Brandi Carlile's song, "Josephine", had been taken down from YouTube by Sony. If these copyright laws applied to Shakespeare, no Shakespeare play would be allowed to be performed anywhere without express permission from whoever owns the rights...meaning, whoever had money to track down whoever owns the rights. So, it's too bad for all of you (private companies, schools, etc) who don't have money and resources to track down copyright owners - you just will have to make-do with a Shakespeare-less culture.

There's a lot more to the issue than this, but it's all I have time for right now. More information in Lawrence Lessig's book, "Free Culture", and why copyright law as it exists now is ridiculous. My view? Sure, there should be copyright, but it shouldn't be as restrictive as it is now - I mean, restricting covers of songs even AFTER attributing credit to the original artist? Come on! Pressing project for the near future: Put all my songs on a Creative Commons license.

Good intentions

Watching Imagine Me and You again. What's so brilliantly beautiful
about about this story is that every single character in it has the
best of intentions. The three main characters find themselves
completely helpless in a love triangle. And for us, the audience, we
feel helpless too. It's so hard to take sides.

Matthew goode is heartbreakingly adorable in this film.

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Cynthia Wang's iPhone
cynthiawang@nyu.edu

Quality? What quality?

I just finished my last show for a while (at least, my last one in LA till Christmas). After playing two shows in LA with very little rehearsal after two months without so much as two strings to differentiate tunes on (that was a bad homage on "without two dimes to rub together"), I'm realizing that good shows don't necessarily need to be flawless. Maybe like all things in life, good things don't always have to be flawless.

Show #1 was the Cat Club on the Sunset Strip. Granted, I did prepare more for this show than I did the one tonight, simply because it was a *show* - so I had a set list and all. The set list went completely out the window upon arriving at the Cat Club because the group after me canceled. I had to fill nearly an hour. Thankfully, Sue Jin had her keyboard with her, and played two songs during my set (yay! it took a bit of convincing - she's so darn modest, that girl, but she eventually gave in and shared her music with us) but I forgot half the lyrics to Jewel's "Meant for Me", forcing me to give it up in the middle - surprising because I've played it SO many times before, and left out half a verse for my new song, "Can I?" As I told my mom, though, it's ok, because everyone there was a friend or a friend of a friend, so they'd still have to like me, even if I suck.

Show #2 was at Mai's Cafe tonight, where more people than I expected showed up. Helen and her mom, unexpectedly! My mom apparently had called their house, and Helen's dad told her that they had gone to see my show, and my mom was left wondering, "What show?!" And many of the people there were folks I didn't know. Tonight, though, was definitely the night of forgotten lyrics. I must have prefaced every single number I did with, "Uhh...ok, I hope I remember the lyrics to this one." So much that for every cover song I did, Jerry was there with his Blackberry following along and mouthing words to me from where he was sitting, and people I didn't even know were helping out. Season's friend was shouting out lyrics to "Meant for Me" (which I just HAD to do to prove I didn't completely forget it) while the random guys at the bar yelled out encouragement, and later Season herself requested my signature Deathcab cover, to which I did not remember the lyrics at all. I got to give a shout out to Lauren and Beccah and COPE before doing "Atheist's Prayer," which is conveniently named "The Little Church" for purposes of performing for St. John's events. We closed the night out with an incomplete, and totally karaoked version of "American Pie" with everyone singing the chorus.

Growing up playing classical music, where one wrong note can lead to week-long agonizing, doing the whole singer/songwriter thing was very liberating. What do you mean, I don't have to be perfect? If I mess up, or change the lyrics, no one is the wiser. And sometimes, it's even more fun when you admit it and then crack jokes about it. You can't help feeling, though, that you're a bit self-centered on stage, and that the jokes you make are funniest only to you. And people who don't know you are like, "Who's that fool on stage who can't remember her own lyrics?" But hey, you're the one with the mic, right?

So, tonight's gig. Flawed? Absolutely. Worthwhile? I hope so. Fun? Hell yea.

Love from HK

Mama and me on Skype with Daddy last night - Daddy had given Mama a "wishlist" of stuff he wanted her to bring to HK:

Me: Anything else you want us to pack?
Daddy: Yourselves.

Aww. :) For the record, Mama's going to HK for 3 weeks, and I'm stuck at home with Sabi (who just pooped in the upstairs bedroom - I dunno, maybe something about the scent of Ray made her want to poop in there).

...and we're surprised about gender roles?

Two posts about gender roles in a row! WTF? But I thought this thought was worth sharing.

I was at Toys R Us with my mom today, looking for a gift for a 4 year old girl. Naturally, we wanted to pick something that would noodle the brain a little, and opted for Legos or K-nex or something like that. When we got to the Legos section, I wanted to look for something a little bit more girly - or at least something that didn't look so blatantly...tractor-ish. You know, the "let's build a tractor!" type of toy. They also had sci-fi stuff like Star Wars, medieval castle/war-type themes going on too. Of course, look at what I'm saying - I'm totally playing into the gender roles too by assuming that girls and tractors don't mix.

Herein lies the problem though - the general public (for whom "pink" and "makeup" = girls and "construction" and "cars/vehicles/science fiction" = boys) is going to go straight for the pink toys if they are looking to buy something for a girl. And what's in what I term the "pink" section? Dress-up dolls, housewife, cooking-type toys, putting makeup and accessories on dolls and figurines... in short, nothing that really involves building, creating, putting things together, etc. What message is that sending to young kids?

Female Politician's last names

Just an exchange between Melissa A and myself that had been bouncing today on Twitter:

dandybanditI've thought about this a lot & I'm glad someone's writing about it - what's wrong with female politicians' last names? http://bit.ly/T1qtO

cyndaminthia@dandybandit media ploy to reinforce the image of women as warm and fuzzy and, hence, powerless.

dandybandit@cyndaminthia and their campaign managers'?

I figure I have a short response, but probably longer than a tweet would take. Keep in mind, most of this is coming out of my rather mushy brain... My response:

Of COURSE campaign managers. It's all about manufactured consent, right? (ding ding, my favorite phrase) So, the use of first names provides a familiarity, a femininity (or an anti-masculinity - AKA more warm and fuzzy - calling people by their last names is a manly thing to do) to the image and feel of these women politicians. That's what the public is familiar with - these gender roles being maintained in the media. And of course campaign managers would then want to play into those stereotypes to keep the public happy and content with that aspect of their portrayals of their candidates - because the public is more comfortable with this portrayal - it's not new, it 's something they know. It's harder swallowing the idea that women are equal to men on the political playing field, and hence need to be referred to by their last names in a very manly, non-feminine sporty-type way.

I realize this view is pretty reductionist and simplistic with a huge dollop of overgeneralization and gender stereotyping within it with the usage of words like "masculine" and "feminine", but hopefully you get my drift.

Around the world and lying

I saw this in Reader's Digest today that just made me crack up:

"I am faithful to a woman when I love her. But when love slowly vanishes, lies make their comeback." ~Eric Majourel, 31, Boulogne-Billancourt, France

Oh, French men.

Looking for a Lost Friend

I might be insane. As a matter of fact, I'm convinced I am. But I'm doing it anyway.

There are people who come in and out of your life. Some you forget quickly, but there are some who make an impression, who you'll remember forever, even though you only really knew them for a short while. I have one such *impressive* friend from over a decade ago. I've completely lost touch with her since we parted ways over 11 years ago. Her name is Wesley Bender. At least, it was back then.

I think I'm insane because 1) this is so out of the blue, 2) this is a rather uncharacteristic thing to do (I feel like I tend to keep my feelings about and relationships with my friends and its specifics rather private - at the very least, I certainly don't broadcast them out to the world as I feel like I'm doing here...though I'm sure Clay Shirky would argue otherwise), and 3) who the hell would want to read what I write here - a personal search - anyway?

With the normalization of Internet use and social networking sites, we rely more and more on these new technologies and systems to keep us in touch with our friends. With Facebook, I never feel like I would ever be out of touch with any of my friends - that I could reach them with a quick search of my "friends" list and send them a message or write on their wall if I need to get a hold of them. Wesley is not on Facebook. At least, if she is, she's hidden from my searches (which I do as well). We have virtually no mutual friends that I still keep in touch with (except for Chia-Shing, but at last check, she didn't have Wesley's contact info), and a search on Google for "Wesley Bender" yields more irrelevant searches than for me to have much faith in that.

It's a bit like a scavenger hunt. To find my friend. And I'm going to document it (at the same time, wondering how many people will actually read this) - for fun, for the hell of it, for academic research purposes (I'm quite serious about this one actually - seeing how the Internet has changed and eased (?) how we get certain types of information), because it's summer and I have some time on my hands...or maybe with the possibility that this may connect me back with her somehow in some convoluted, indirect way. The latter one is probably a pipe dream, but what the hell.

I'm doing this because exploring how digital media and the Internet puts us in a field of greater connectivity and knowledge is really interesting to me, and I myself wonder what the avenues and resources I can use to achieve my goal. I think blogging all of this would be interesting. It'd be worthwhile. Also, I think it'll be amusing how stalkerish a lot of this is going to come out sounding...

On one hand, I'm doing this for academic interests - almost like a case study, but I'm also (mostly) doing this because I miss my friend. If it takes me the time of one post to find Wesley, I'd be more elated than if I come up with a great story to document here, and all the mishaps, miscommunications, and misunderstandings that will no doubt come with it.

Here's a bit of history and some more information:

Wesley and I met at a Piano Performance Workshop the summer of 1998 at UT Austin. We were both accepted into this intensive music summer program - a program with students from all over the country (and some from overseas too, I think). The two people to whom I was closest were Chia-Shing, my roommate (who made me Ramen for breakfast at least twice a week), and Wesley. Wesley and I bonded over marching band. Other than piano, she also plays cello and, I believe, the French horn. She was also a drum major. I still keep in touch with Chia-Shing (she's on Facebook, but we had kept in touch over email, IM, and other means for the last decade), but Wesley had completely disappeared from my scope of consciousness.

We spoke on the phone a few times after the Workshop, sent each other snail mail letters occasionally, exchanged senior pictures. I know she went on to study music at Texas Christian University (TCU). She's from Texas - San Angelo. That really was the last time I heard from her. I somewhat recall trying to get her on the phone sometime during college, and her having a hard time remembering who I was, which, you know, made me kinda sad, but that memory is REALLY hazy, and sometimes I wonder if that really happened at all.

Tonight, I found her piano professor, a Professor Harold Martina, who still teaches at the School of Music at TCU. Found that Professor Martina was her professor through a notification of her senior recital in 2004. And that came up as a result of googling "Wesley Bender TCU".

One more note - I also signed up for Classmates.com, and I think I signed up accidentally for the TCU network...because her Classmates.com site was one of the results on Google. Sent a private message, but I think there's a subscription cost involved if I actually want the message to get sent.

Will try emailing Professor Martina this week.

So here I go. Wish me luck. Suggestions and advice are welcome.

YouTube profile parody?

I ran across this YouTube profile tonight, and I'm fairly certain it's a parody. A hilarious parody:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Wanda4DecentValues

What makes me think that is because there's another one that's either made by the same people, or is a copycat:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Debbie4Morels

And then there are people on this site who seem to be unsure if the first one is a parody or not... I wanted to register and post the second link to them and expound my thoughts about all this being this great parody, but hotmail seems to be down (and I don't like registering for random forums with my gmail account).

The problem with plucking your eyebrows...

...is that when you're carrying a very heavy glass tank home in 95 degree, 99% humidity weather and you're dripping sweat, and you can't spare your hands to wipe the sweat away, your plucked eyebrows become the last line of defense against the dripping sweat and your eyes. And you'd just killed half of your own soldiers.

Oh my god, are you 5?

Soupe is in need of a new home. The little aquarium tank I bought for him is way to small, and he has no room to swim, not to mention that his only perch is a Campbell soup can. So, I found a pet store in the Ma On Shan Plaza, near my dad's place. No idea where in the plaza it is though. Whatever, it can't be that big, right? I head off, and upon entering the store, probably looked disoriented, and stood for a while trying to determine the best plan of action to find this pet store. All of a sudden, I felt a puff of air on my arm and looked to my side, where a woman was RIGHT there next to me (I either stepped into her path, or she stepped into mine), who had huffed air onto my arm in a fit of annoyance or something. She must have been at least 30 or 40, so I don't know what vehemence or venom I incurred, because then she KICKED ME IN THE SHIN! Rather hard too, I might add.

If it wasn't so ridiculously absurd and unexpected, I probably would have taken it up with her, loudly and with articulated emphasis that what she did was just not cool. Instead, I had Sunset Boulevard pumping through my headset and was bent on making sure Soupe didn't die before the week was out, and really, the entire situation, and her absolute immaturity and impropriety made the entire situation laughable. It became a "WTF, mate?" situation.

WTF, mate? Do you walk your kids to school with that foot?

Touristy Hong Kong

I know, I know. I've been awful at blogging since starting to travel this summer.

I've been in Hong Kong the last three days with Tanya. She has pictures and a list of stuff we did on her blog...just looking at that list makes me exhausted. No wonder I passed out early last night.

We can't believe we're actually here together in Hong Kong though. A mere month ago, we realized we would be in Asia around the same time and were like, "Wouldn't it be cool if we met up for a few days?" And Tanya (mostly Tanya) made it happen, with only a couple emails and two skype calls. Tanya's on her way to Cambodia today.

Such a change from Paris. In Paris, other than the Montparnasse tower, nothing is built over 6 floors. Hong Kong just builds up. Definitely has that modern big city feel. Not quite New York - I'm not sure I can describe it yet. Maybe it's been the places we've gone to, but I feel like I'm in the middle of Times Square all the time. Especially Nathan Rd. Which I'm starting to loathe...possibly because we walked up and down it like, 5 times yesterday.

We went to Lantau to see the giant Buddha and the monastery yesterday. Right as the tram pulled up to the little Village up there, it started POURING. It was like God was turning on and off the faucet up there. It would pour for a few seconds, then STOP. Then POUR again, then STOP. Much like how we shower here at my dad's. The shower has a tendency to flood, so in order to minimize that, we turn on and off the shower as needed. But anyway. We got DRENCHED. Sort of like how one would get drenched if one were to shower with one's clothes on.

Just got back from a dip in the ocean. My dad lives 5 minutes from the ocean, and the water's really nice, especially when it's crazy hot out, like it's been recently.

I've also, thanks to Teresa, found out that there are many old friends here in HK. I think there might be some reunions and lots of catching up to do. :)

NYTimes: Michael, a Foreign Affair

From The New York Times:

OP-ED COLUMNIST: Michael, a Foreign Affair

By GAIL COLLINS

While America mourned and the media circled, the House Foreign Affairs Committee was weighing in on a 1,500-word resolution in Michael Jackson's honor....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/opinion/09collins.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://nytimes.com/iphoneinstaller

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Cynthia Wang's iPhone

cynthiawang@nyu.edu

Happy Birthday, Lady

July 4th isn't just Independence Day for me - it's also Lady's birthday. Lady was my first dog - she grew up with me, and better-tempered dog you won't find. She would have been 20 today.

Grace hasn't been feeling well, so I went and got her some noodles from our local Asian market (where they speak French and Chinese, so I'm good there). On the way back, I came across a cocker spaniel being led by a little girl who can't be much younger than I was when we first got Lady. The cocker spaniel was the spitting image of Lady, right down to the shagginess (we gave her a haircut only when absolutely necessary...and in the summer).

As I rounded the corner, following them (not intentionally and not in a creepy way - they were just headed in the same directly), the dog suddenly turned her head and, upon seeing me, and barked, as if she recognized me, and strained on her leash. The little girl tugged her in another direction, and away they went. But sentimentally, and probably a little foolishly, I can't help but wonder if that's Lady's way of telling me, nearly a decade after she died, that she's ok.

Happy Birthday.

More thoughts on cell phones

Have you noticed, even though we have cell phones so we can be reached wherever we are, the chances of someone ACTUALLY picking up a call they're not expecting is incredibly slim? We're communicating via voice messages now.

Wildcard competitor for the iPhone

Palm is coming out with a new phone called the Palm Pre, which CNN says may be the wildcard competitor to Apple's new iPhone 3GS. Looks pretty cool.

I think no matter how much more technologically superior the Palm Pre is, or any other smartphone for that matter, people may prefer the Apple brand to other brands of phones.

Thoughts on pain

****Disclaimer - this might be too much information that you don't need to know about me, but I have no shame, apparently (probably comes from working in some capacity in the health care field, and interning with an OBGYN). If you're ok with that, read on.

I've always been pretty good at suppressing expressions of pain or discomfort (I have a thing against going to doctors for some reason - probably because I've been to too many when I was younger, and also know how annoying and complicated and expensive the health care system can be anywhere), be it a collapsed lung, sunburned feet, cankersores (often multiple at a time), girly cramps (I used to get really bad ones, and have relatives who pass out occassionally from the pain - I think it's partly genetic?), or attacks by my mace.

My lung didn't just collapse that one time - it collapsed several times. It's just I never bothered to do anything about it. Sure, it hurt, but it wasn't as bad as the first time (except for maybe 2 or 3 times - especially that time at the Larry King Cardiac Foundation event when Jenn took over my duties and made me take a nap before the Gala that evening). I don't tell my parents because it worries them. I just take it easy for a day or so and it gets better.

The only scar I have on my body is a scar I got from my mace - when I was first learning how to spin, and some high winds crashed my mace tip into the middle finger of my right hand - I think bone was exposed...I'm not sure. But we had a football game that night (where we play in-stand music and perform the field show), so I simply wrapped it up and went to the game. This is only one among many many injuries during my tenure as Drum Major at TO (I've lost countless brain cells, no doubt, though the many times I hit myself in the head. Bruises and blood were an every day occurrence - come to think of it, this may have been the time in my life when I simply stopped complaining about pain because I've learned how to deal with it - I once spent forever practicing a move that involved body-wrapping the mace around me, and kept dropping my mace on the same spot on my hip, which bruised so much it ended up oozing blood by the end of the weekend).

I've had Scout or Sabi or other dogs get so excited they've accidentally bitten me or scrapped me with their teeth or claws. They tend to go unnoticed (only my mom would make some horrified comment about how there are huge red scratches on my arms that look on the verge of bleeding).

So, what prompted this post in the first place? Well, there's been this sort of muscular pain in my, erm, groin area for a month now. It feels like I just pulled a muscle there, and it started out rather painlessly - more or less just a subtle uncomfortableness - more accented when I stayed on my feet for extended periods of time. Unfortunately, in New York City, I'm on my feet all the time walking places.

I thought it would get better on it's own, but Paris is, of course, a walking city. Between the walking tourism I've been doing (museums, gardens, Paris in general), walking places I need to be (classes, dinner, afternoon excursions with our professors), being tired, being on my feet all day, the pain in my groin got worse. It came to a head yesterday when we had a welcome dinner for the people in the new class. We sat in a sort of set-up where we had to move rather heavy tables for people to get to and from their seats during dinner. During one of these exertions (as I was moving a table out to let someone out), I felt that weak muscle give, and it HURT. I limped all the way home, and it's the worse it's been. I was worried enough to ask Grace to ask her sister what I should do. Her sister said it might be a hernia, but a second opinion from Dr. Emily seems to state that it's probably just a pulled muscle.

Still, I've made a point to stay off it as much as I can (Grace and Sarah went out and got me lunch today as I sat around and waited for our next class to start), but I can't avoid going to class or going on excursions and the other basic necessities of using my legs. So I went and found myself a cane today - it's not that I need it all the time, but it'll help with some extra support when I've been on my feet for a long time, which will no doubt happen during one of our museum trips later this week and next and the next one after that.

I hate having a cane though - I feel ridiculous and I feel like people will think I'm making too big a deal of something (yes, I realize people really don't think much about me, but I don't want people thinking I'm trying to garner sympathy). Back in college, Adam, Cris, Kevin, and I went to Catalina one summer to kayak, and my feet (and only my feet) got incredibly sunburned. It was REALLY bad. And hurt really bad. So much that I had trouble walking (we went to watch Fiddler on the Roof once shortly after - our seats were Mezzanine, and Xia had to literally carry me up the stairs) - Cris, among some other friends, apparently were talking smack behind my back (things like "What a faker, it can't be THAT bad."). A couple days later, we were at my place watching a movie or something, and my socks were off. This is how the conversation (in my very very muddled, perhaps somewhat re-constructed memory) went:

Cris: Uhh...Cynthia, why are you feet black?
Cynthia: It's sunburned.
Cris: Ohh it really IS that bad...

Later, I realized it was a second-degree burn and probably needed to go see a doctor, but it eventually got better on it's own, with the help of lots of aloe, and friends. Actually, when I sprained my ankle the week after I came back to school after taking a week off to heal up my collapsed lung, Adam, Cris, Xia, and whoever else was around were regularly giving me piggyback rides to my car since I couldn't walk.

In any case, two points. Point 1: This muscle in my groin hurts - not bad enough for me to go to the doctor, (I've only been to the doctor once for pain - and that was the collapsed lung), but bad enough for me to speak up and do something about it - which is getting this visible evidence (argh) of my gimpy-ness to prevent potentially more serious damage. Point 2: I have awesome friends that may make fun of me for being a baby, but are there for me when things like this do get bad. (Muahahah - they're being taken advantage of and don't even know it. Shhh.)

The only fun thing about a cane is that I can spin it when I'm bored. Perhaps I'm destined to always carry a long, blunt object that I can spin close to my head.

(Juliana, I know you're going to make some pointed comment about the paper cut at the LA zoo, but that's an anomaly, right?)

Chasing Pigeons

There is really no greater joy that running through a huge flock of birds and watching them all scatter and fly away. I love it so much that I put it into a film of mine in college. Granted, it was completely unplanned and spontaneous, and they were seagulls, but it was one of the most beautiful shots in the film (that, and the shot that made it look like we were floating on water). And it's not just with things that fly either. Chasing squirrels is perfectly fine too. As is fishing for them. But I digress. I meant this entry to be an update of my time in Paris.

I'd have to say, Paris is just like any other big global city, except everyone speaks French. So it's harder to know when someone's speaking badly about you. "Stupid Americans, they don't even know how to ask for water correctly." With my hoodie and my backpack, I have never more felt like a stupid American. Our apartment is AWESOME - it's huge, and HAS NATURAL LIGHT (for those of you who don't know, I love my apartment in NYC, but one thing that really bothers me is that it doesn't get any natural light), and is big enough that I have to really motivate myself to go to the kitchen to get something to eat. There's a boulangerie/patisserie downstairs that sadly doesn't have Chausson aux pommes, but I'm sure I can find that at one of the other dozen patisseries on my way to the metro every morning.

Other than getting lost at the Louvre, other exciting moments include one of the most delicious dinners EVER (at Les Papilles in the Latin Quarter - when we walked in, there was a photographer from the New York Times taking pictures of the room and of our set table with meats and bread on it - for starters - there's apparently going to be an article about the best 10 tables/rooms in Paris). We had the meat dishes for an appetizer (which included slices of sausages, including blood sausage and tuna pate, which was my favorite), then a summer soup-type thing (ok, I know all these have names, and while I may claim to be a foodie, I'm a foodie who doesn't know proper names of foods):



This picture is pre-soup being added. You ladled this cold broth into the bowl and mix everything up.

The main course was penne pasta in a pesto sauce/soup/stew thing with chicken. Maybe better to say it was chicken in a pesto sauce thing with penne pasta:



Then a bleu cheese with prunes. I actually really don't like bleu cheese, but this bleu cheese was really really good bleu cheese, whicn simply meant it didn't induce vomit when I had half of it to be polite. It's pretty though, isn't it?




For dessert, strawberry something or other. I can't remember what it's called, but it's deliciously creamy and very rich. This was actaully my favorite part of dinner.



Of course, this 5-hour dinner led to none of us doing the readings for the next day, so our professor, Ben (who was also at this epic dinner), decided to show us a documentary about the Gutenberg Bible, which took most of class.

Other than that, we've started our final project already, which is a "dossier" on the Prosperity Gospel, which is really just a wiki page. Wiki pages are rather annoying to build and edit. There's no easy button that says "make new page". Instead, you have to create a link to a nonexistent page, which then becomes "orphaned", then follow the link, which will take you to the page so you can edit it. WTF?! In any case, if you're interested, here's the homepage. Just click on the link below that says "Prosperity Gospel".

All this keeps me from chasing pigeons all day.

There is a flock of sleeping pigeons (they puff themselves up and just sit there, and there are a LOT of them) on a great big piece of lawn next to the Invalides that we pass every day on our way to class. One of these days...

Quick headachy thoughts/rhetorical questions

These could go in a status update, but that'd just be silly. Why is it that now we have status updates that I think in short sentences?

I have a headache. Perhaps I should finish the Toblerone sitting on my coffee table.

Does anyone else feel like panicking after reading Marita's syllabus for the summer?

My new glasses make me look like I'm perpetually sleep deprived. Though now I can see really really well. (Contacts don't correct for my astigmatism. These new glasses do)

What the heck am I going to do without a guitar for 2 months? Write poetry?!

Really really enjoying Ender's Game. But I'm trying to read it as slowly as possible to make it last. There are other Ender-related books, right?

Why does chocolate make cankersores HURT LIKE HELL?!