The Collected Writings of Sardonicus

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?



Charm “Confundo” is Latin for “to confuse”. Used to confuse an object or person, to make them believe what the spell caster wants them to.

Got a second round interview with GD&C for December 2, so I'll be looking forward to that.

Huh... so when do you know when an opportunity is waiting to be seized or if it's already closed to you? And at what point is persistence no longer the right strategy? Knowing me, I already know what I'll do. I might have to play a dangerous game here, with a number of complex factors I need to take into consideration. Lets hope I choose wisely.

Alohomora
Spell used to unlock doors.

Isn't it funny how life unravels? How there can be infinite ways that will bring you to the same conclusion? I had hoped for a direct path, but maybe some things are worth the wait. I'm reminded of the Illiad, and the journey of Odysseus back to his kingdom after the Trojan War. His fate was never truly under question, I guess, yet he nevertheless had to endure unbearable trials before he was allowed to fulfill his destiny. I'm uncertain if what I seeing ahead of me is my "destiny," or simply another temptation to overcome. Are one of my options right now my journey "home," or is it the call of the Sirens luring me off track? And if it is the first, which path is the right one? Do I believe in destiny enough to trust that my choice will ultimately prove to be the correct one? Who knows... I should put some thought into this.

Accio
Summoning charm, used to make objects fly straight to the spell caster.

Interviewed with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher this morning, ran to the Met for my art history trip, then went to see Harry Potter! Hooray! A great day :).

Went to dinner and a movie at Market Fair Mall yesterday :). There have been plans to see Wallace and Gromit for about a week, and it was a pretty fun movie. But there was a short film featuring the penguins from Madagascar in the beginning which I liked a lot more. Sorta reminded me a bit of March of the Penguins, which was a really sucky movie. Hmmm, nothing cool on tv tonight, so I'll probably just do some work or download yesterday's Family Guy.

Soooo, what's in the news...? Sigh... just saw this article:

Asian Youths Suffer Harassment in Schools

a passage from the article:

At his school, Lafayette High in Brooklyn, Chinese immigrant students like him are harassed and bullied so routinely that school officials in June agreed to a
Department of Justice consent decree to curb alleged "severe and pervasive harassment directed at Asian-American students by their classmates." Since then, the Justice Department credits Lafayette officials with addressing the problem — but the case is far from isolated.

Nationwide, Asian students say they're often beaten, threatened and called ethnic slurs by other young people, and school safety data suggest that the problem may be worsening. Youth advocates say these Asian teens, stereotyped as high-achieving students who rarely fight back, have for years borne the brunt of ethnic tension as Asian communities expand and neighborhoods become more racially diverse.

Glad I didn't have to go through that. But yeah, it does seem like there's gonna be some sorta clashing on this for some time to come. Especially with many of the fobby asian kids that come over and act really differently from people here. Ah well. We'll see if the problem gets worse.

Went to see the movie Weatherman with Nicholas Cage at the Hamilton Theaters here. Great, great movie. It was emotional, witty, clever- with some slapstick- and with some pretty spiffy acting. Cage is always great at playing a depressed guy, because his face always looks sad anyway. I missed the first 15-20 minutes of the movie, but I didn't have too much trouble following it. Also had some Indian food for dinner, and Indian food seems to be better since the last time I tried it... hmmm, looks like I'll be going to Kalluri Corner more often from now on. Had the Chicken Tikka Marsala or something like that. Forgot how to spell it.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT WAS CANCELLED???!! WHAT? Someone... must... pay. And I shall collect.... IN BLOOD.

Blue skies? I see it. Is it real? Either way, things are decidely better.

Writing a 4-page paper for ART420 on this 17th-century Japanese folding screen titled "Wind God and Thunder God." It's a fun composition, but also a little weird and creepy at the same time. Anyway, I probably won't finish it today, but I really want to leave this computer cluster and go back to my room and get ready for bed. I can't believe OIT hasn't recieved my replacement fan yet, so I've been stuck with a dysfunctional computer for the past 3 weeks now. Wait, it might even be longer than that. I'm ready to show up to OIT and start busting heads. Waiting for my computer to work again is my problem. But I'm gonna make my problem, their problem... No I won't. But I will be annoyed at them in the meanwhile.

Anyway, cleaned my room today. Vacuumed, found a HUGE bug and trapped it under a cup, slide a peice of paper underneath it, used a roll of duct tape to seal it closed, and then threw it away outside of my room. Those roaches creep me out.

Huh, had a pretty nice day yesterday. Though, it does stink that everything is closing early due to the fall break holiday campus hours of operation. Nothing to do. What has been mildly entertaining to watch come together is this new movie they're filming on campus near my dorm. Unfortunately, I couldn't go to sleep until around 4am because of all the noise they were making. They propped the entryway door for 3 hours, and the alarm was going off continuously. MAN, I was pretty ticked off while I was tossing and turning in bed. They had a scene or two inside my dorm building, including some filming of my hallway directly in front of my room door. Most of the scenes I overheard were shot on the 4th floor though, but it was really weird because I only heard a one-sided dialogue. I don't know... maybe the guy he was speaking to was going to be animated and added in later or something? Probably not, because I didn't get the impression that it was a high-budget movie. Anyway, most of the crew and equipment were gone by this morning, so I'm assuming they're done with filming on location. It's likely they got a lot done over the break.

Anything interesting going on in the world? Hmmmmm, well, we have the French riots and arsons-news. Europe is fast-approaching a day of reckoning concerning some of their minorities- as well as how the majority interacts with the minorities- and right now it doesn't look particularly encouraging.

Lewis Libby was indicted a few days ago of course. Will he be the fall guy? Perhaps. It's EXTREMELY unlikely that Rove will be convicted, but it is a possibility that he may offically resign, but I'm sure the current administration and the Republican Party will continue to consult with him in an unofficial capacity.

But all in all, a slow week in the news. The stations are still dedicating a bulk of their time to Katrina and Wilma relief. Can't think of anything else significant going on at the moment.

Back at school and feeling sick. Great. But I just put clean bedsheets on my wonderful bed. She's... she's BEAUTIFUL. So warm and soft, yet firm where it needs to be firm. Well, she looks good in anything of course, but she definitely cleans up well.

Ode to My Bed by Harticus

O' her sweet pillowy bosom beckons
To my gentle soul like a sweet Siren!
But alas, her song is deceptive, for
No man has returned from the warm embrace
Of her mystical sheets. Ho, Temptation!
Thou art truly a cunning seductress!!
Dear Restraint, why hast thou forsaken me...

Bedtime.

Well, it looks like the 2006 Olympic Games will have North and South Korea competing as one team. In the past few Olympics, as well as Asian regional sporting events, the DPRK and ROK have made it a priority to march together under a flag of a unified Korea, but this is the first time that the two nations will unite to field a single team. I think everyone will agree that this is an encouraging political victory for the two countries, but I wonder what concessions had to be made by the South, particularly economic. Also, I wonder if this has any effect on how many athletes in total can go to the Olympics from the Korean penninsula. South Korean athletes have been superior to North Korean athletes for some time now, and I think it may be unfair if a South Korean athlete would have to sacrifice his spot on the team just so the North fulfills some sorta representational "quota" that it wants. But small things aside, does this announcement yesterday signal real progress between the two nations? Sadly, probably not. It might be nice for Korean pride and brotherhood, but I doubt its impact- at least in the short term- will be significant in terms of its influence on state leadership.

Anyway, watched a BUNCH of dvds the past few days during my Fall Breaks. Some quick reviews.

The Aviator: Pretty fantambivalent about it. Thought it was well made, but I always feel uncomfortable watching movies about mental illnesses.

Hero: Dull-acious. Don't even know what I saw. I'm not a fan of these Chinese martial arts movies. Sure, they have pretty girls and pretty scenary from time to time, but the stories are always sucktastic.

Bullet Proof Monk: I deserve to be swallowed by an elephant for watching this movie. Not only have I lost 2 hours watching it, I lost my self-respect.

That is all.

Eh, might as well try to put myself on the hotseat. Let's talk about... afterlife. Sounds as good as any topic, I guess. Do I believe it in?.... Not really. I believe I've ruled out the usual suspects such as reincarnation, achieving nirvana or enlightenment, and the likelihood of some weird Heaven above the clouds where people walk around in white robes, or a Hell with fire and brimstone. What I DO believe is that SOMETHING must happen with the life energy. I'd find it hard to believe that this unique energy that all living things have is the one thing that defies universal law. So what is this then? I feel that just as life can be felt, so can death. Almost like a Jedi enterring the Force (forgive me for this analogy). Well... at least before Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan found a way to retain their independent personalities. That's when the comparison starts to get a little farfetched. Anyway, returning to the topic at hand... People leave "imprints," if you will, on the enviroment around them when they die. Now, of course I'm not talking about ghosts or wandering spirits in the traditional sense, but find the possibility of seemingly independent action from released life-force to be interesting enough to consider. I say "seemingly," because I don't think there's usually any real intent, but I do think that sometimes the characteristics of a life essence can reflect the nature of the energies of the person/being while they lived. For example, if a person died a gruesome and horrifying death while suffering, it's likely that they will leave behind a negative "imprint," and potentially leave behind a "haunted house"-like environment. If a person dies after living a long, fulfilling life, the "imprint" would likely be much more positive and loving. The strength of the imprint that's left behind would, of course, be indicative on the personality of the deceased, and the personality of his/her death.

Now here's going for brownie points. Does religion have anything to do with how someone passes on? Perhaps. People who take comfort in a religion probably better prepare themselves for the inevitable, and are- in general- more able to pass on peacefully and with a sense of comfort in the belief that they "know" what ahead of them and don't have to be scared. But would a person of one religion be inherently favored above another after death? No. Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, etc., it's not so much WHAT they think of afterlife that sustains these religions, it's how they instruct people to approach the subject of afterlife. Some religions probably prepare you better than others, but there's no categorical rule here. Now, I'm not much of a "believer" in guys like John Edwards- I mean the "psychic,"not the former Vice Presidential candidate- or any of the other people who supposedly talk to the dead, but even THEY seem to all generally agree that the religion of the person while they were amongst the living seemed to have no effect on their passage onto the "other side." Perhaps that's just to comfort the people who want to be comforted, but I honestly think that to them- as people who believe they can talk to the deceased- religion never really seems to come up as a legitimate subject. And to most other people's common sense, the same is true. I think that most people see the logic and sense in religious-neutrality in death, and ONLY when they're reminded to THINK about the "teachings" of their own religion do they sink into a pathetic religious one-upsmanship. There are roughly the same number of Muslims as Christians, and there are also boatloads of Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc., and the belief that ONE of them is right and will be rewarded EXCLUSIVELY is retarded. The fact that any one religion can feel so smug in their after-life monopoly is not only strange, but, frankly, sad.

But, of course, everyone will always desperately try to find their own way to feel- at least subconsciously- superior to other people, and that will never change. Whether it be religion, class, ethnic group, etc., it's nice to believe that you INHERENTLY are favored. Of course, greedy people use this knowledge to exploit others, and generous people use this knowledge to help others, but, essentially the motivating factors are the same.

Or maybe after we die there's just... nothing. This is far and away the MOST LIKELY of all the scenarios. But it's the one that's least helpful to believe. If there are two options: nothing, and after-life, either way, it's better to believe in after-life. It's simply more comforting- especially when a loved one passes away, you want to believe they're going some place good- and it makes the prospect of death a little less scary. Right now... I'm undecided which I believe. I'm sure once more people I know begin to die, I'll slowly convince myself to believe in afterlife out of almost a need for stability, but I'll probably never be CERTAIN. And I think I'm okay with that. But, I should really try to believe. Death is one of those things where you can never be too optimistic. After all, if you're wrong, you won't know it anyway :).

Okay, this was my "I need to get this off my chest"-entry. Hopefully I feel more light-hearted in future entries.