It's not often that after coming out of a class, your classmates come up to you and thank you for your comments...

When your friend finds/steals a full bottle of bacardi at a club, it's not necessarily a good thing. You know you can't take it out without getting caught. So, it means everyone gets a bit drunker than they intend to.

How important is music to you? What does it do for you or to you? Is it genuinely important to you, or is it just something to fill the silence of a car ride, a work-out, or some other background thing? Is popular music good in itself - can it be divorced from its connotations of sexiness, wealth, trendiness, coolness, etc?

If you're walking around an airport looking for the gate for your flight to Florida, don't bother looking at the numbers/signs. Once you see the collection of old people sitting together, you'll know you've come to the right gate! I knew Florida has a lot of old people... but it's a bit funy when you're flight is full of senior citizens.

There's this man who's been living in the Paris airport for nearly 15 years. You can read about him here (you might need to sign up on NYTimes.com). What is really up with that? Does he really have nowhere to go, or nothing better to do? What point is he trying to make? Even if he's not trying to make a point, what is he really about? What does he represent? Is he just being silly/stupid? Or is there something to living in a departure lounge and seeing hundreds of people pass by every day? Is there something significant about the whole "lost identity, bureaucratic limbo and persistence"... or is just all BS? On the one hand, this guy could be really cool - shunning the rest of society and defining his own (and very original!) course of life. On the other hand, he might not have a clue of the implications of his actions, and he therefore doesn't really deserve my attention/admiration/respect.

Ghetto Booth Dancing
I just don't get it. You go to a club and they're playing reggaeton (Spanish-Reggae music) and there are all these people "dancing" to it. Only, they're not dancing so much as they are gyrating their hips/butt into one another. To me this is more fornication than dancing. But I guess my reaction/perception is cuz of a cultural bias. I'd have problems going up to strangers (or strangers coming up to me) to initiate that (or any) sort of "dancing"... but for some, that's exactly what they come to the club for. I just wonder what people around the world would think if they caught a glimpse of how people "danced" here. Even people from more liberal or Westernized countries.

I wonder if they'll make anything out of this "bacterial battery" technology.

Did you know that international students in the US cannot do more than 1 online course per semester? The US government is paranoid about the whereabouts of internationals. Their reasoning is that if students only take 1 online course, that means that they'll be on/near campus more often. What's the big deal? If people are going to be criminals or terrorists, then they're going to do that regardless if they are in 1 or 4 online courses.

International Students are only allowed to work up to 20 hrs/week on-campus during the school year (unless they apply for something called Curricular Practical Training - which is a job specifically in their field, and is required for a course). There is one circumstance whereby the student will be able to work off-campus in a field unrelated to their program. INS provides work authorization based on "severe economic hardship" caused by unforseen financial difficulties beyond the student's control (e.g. substantial fluctuation in the value of currency or exchange rate, unexpected changes in the financial condition of the student's source of support, inordinate increases in tuition and/or living costs, substantial medical bills, etc). This "provision" is far from good. What real difference is it going to make? Even if the student gets to work off-campus, they still can't work over 20 hrs a week. The most ironic thing: to apply for the "Severe Economic Hardship Provision"... you have to pay.

Someone I know from my college, who lives across the street from me, was robbed yesterday. While she and her roommates were out during the day (at work, or whatever), someone got into their apartment and took a bunch of stuff. They didn't break the locks, and there was no sign of tampering. Could they be really good at picking locks? Or could they have had the keys?

This morning I helped her move stuff out of the apartment and take it to her boyfriend's place downtown. I wondered what she felt like. She lost her jewelery box, which had lots of gifts from people, and her cds. I wondered what would bring her to want to move out of the apartment, since, a) it's probably not going to be robbed again any time soon, and b) she has to look for some other place to live.

This news prompted me to buy another deadbolt for my door and to install it quickly.

This morning I've come to the realization that cockroaches have a sense of humor. Let me explain...

After brushing my teeth I walked to my room. I noticed a still, medium-sized (less than 1 inch) cockroach on it's back in my living room. It wasn't moving. I know that cockroaches are extremely resilient creatures. In fact, if you chop the head off of one, it'll continue to live for up to 24 hours (and then it'll die only of starvation). So, I looked at it for a while, and gently blew some air on it. The guy started wriggling it's legs. I was then presented with a dilemma. Should I wack the guy, dirty my slippers and make a mess on my floor, which I'll have to clean up? Or, should I pick it up with a tissue and throw it and the tissue in the toilet? Generally, I reserve wacking for live guys - I HAVE to wack them, there's no other way (I don't believe in sprays - they don't work well, and they're not good for us to breathe). While I was deciding what to do, I took my Windex and gave it two squirts. I figured the ammonia would do something to it. It wriggled about some more... I wondered if I was torturing it. I decided I should try to pick it up in the tissue. When I put the tissue over it, the guy, I guess, pushed against the tissue, and got onto its legs. It started running away. I thought to myself... this cockroach has really been f**king with me! All along it was fit enough to run away! Why was it lying on its back? Anyways, I gave it a wack, but it wasn't very well placed. It went on its back again, and was STILL wiggling about. This time I took no chances. I placed the tissue over it and quickly gave it a couple more wacks. Then, I took the mess to the toilet and flushed it away. Then, I cleaned the floor (hooray for Windex) and washed my hands.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
- Dr. Seuss (1904 - 1991)

US companies don't do a good job of preparing employees and their families for overseas assignments. According to a paper in "Academy of Management Executive" the failure rates for American expatriates is higher than for European and Japanese expatriates. I wonder why this is the case. Maybe Americans are less likely to understand and respect cultural and business norms of their host countries. After all, many people around the world hold a stereotype that Americans believe the world revolves around them. America exports its popular culture and its value system, and at the same time it's largely impervious to outside influence. So, what should/can be done about this?

The Irony of "Pleasant" Smells
Anthropologist Desmond Morris wrote in his book, The Naked Ape, that body odor was intended to arouse the opposite sex. Why did society decide that these smells were unpleasant? Morris wrote that they were too overtly sexual. To back up that statement, he cited a study that showed that children don't perceive BO as unpleasant. It's ironic then that we wash our powerful sexual scents to reapply scented deodorants, soaps, shampoos, perfumes, etc. Why did this pattern of behavior start? Morris thought that in modern culture, we have to be carefully monitor our sexual arousal - a little arousal in the form of a perfume is pleasant and aids in reproduction, but too much (i.e. "raw" odors straight from the body) are too distracting and get in the way. A person who smells socially acceptable is more appealing to a potential partner than one who smells... earthy.

The Paradox of Tall Skinny Girls
You see them in magazine ads. You see them walking up and down catwalks. If you notice one at a bar/club/restaurant or on the street/subway you look. Society likes tall skinny girls. Why? What's good about being a tall skinny girl (or being with one)? It doesn't really make sense to me. I'm sure a tall skinny girl won't make a very good lover - they're very bony. I have about as much T&A as they do (i.e. not very much). They're probably not very nice to hold. So why does society deem tall skinny girls attractive? Is it because they are rare, not common? Guys who go after tall skinny girls (because of how they look) are involved in a huge scam or self-deception. In the bedroom they may be counting their lucky stars that they're with a model-chick... which is probably quite a turn-on. But simultaneously... it can't really feel that good being with a bony, flat girl. Men have been taken over by an illusion (and I'm glad I can see through it). This is just one little problem though, the tip of the iceberg. The problem is society's preference for style over substance.

This sucks: My TV smells during/after use. It's new. Is there something wrong?

This is cool:
"Good taste is the enemy of creativity"
- Pablo Picasso

I was eating a fruit yoghurt and wondered why it had a metallic taste. I realized that the spoon I was using had it's own taste... that can't be a good thing... cutlery/silverware isn't supposed to have its own taste!!! (although that'd be a pretty ingenious if they could regulate the flavors) The moral of the story... do not buy cutlery sets from a dollar store.

I wrote a post yesterday, and wasn't too happy with it. I did click to publish it... but it didn't publish and I lost what I wrote. I didn't feel like writing it again. That was kinda profound cuz maybe, somewhere, something didn't want me to publish what I wrote.

Today I've been thinking about what it means to waive out of a course at an institute of higher education. I'm trying to waive out of a "Understanding Behavioral Research" course. I realize that there's no such thing as a perfect piece of research... so no one can ever study this topic too much. But at the same time... I'm not pursuing this degree purely for educational enrichment. I'm on route to become a professional. I'm training to get skills and competencies... so if I can waive out of this course I can take an elective or an extra course in my concentration that'd do me more good than repeating this topic.

My TV arrived today. I ordered it from Best Buy, cuz they had no delivery charge and they had a nice deal on a Daewoo 27-inch flat-tube ($280). It came around 8:30 this morning. I told the guys to bring it in and put it down by our TV stand. I had to sign and initial a statement saying that the merchandise wasn't damaged while being delivered. I thought to myself as I was holding the guy's clipboard... how am I supposed to know that it wasn't damaged in delivery? The box looked ok, but how would I know that they didn't drop it, or hit it against something, or if the screen was cracked? I felt like telling him to wait while I open the box, pull the 90lb TV out, put it on the stand, and test it.... but, my flatmate was sleeping in the living room (his mom is visiting and she's taken his room). And, I saw on the guy's clipboard that he had a lot of other deliveries scheduled for the day. I'd only requested a drop-off service, not assembly/installation (that would cost money). So... the point is, I could have been thorough and checked things properly, but... due to some circumstances and certain traits of my personality, I didn't want to cause hassle. I just signed the thing and the guy left. I just have to assume that things are working. I'm pretty excited to get it out and test it... like a little kid and a new toy (I've never owned a TV before too)... but my flatmate is STILL sleeping! It's past noon and we weren't out partying last night.