Hooray for weather warm enough in February to make a birthday awesome. Best birthday ever! Thanks, guys :)
Boo for knowing that we'll have at least one more awful cold spell before spring actually gets here. In the mean time, I can't get enough of going outside.
What to do this summer? Get an internship at the biggest firm that will hire me, or apply to work in some national park and be a hikin', campin' hippy for 3 months? University research maybe? Then I could stay in Madison, which is probably the best place to spend a summer.
Can't waaaaait for the water to be warm enough to go skinny dipping again...
08 February 2009
02 January 2009
New Year's Resolutions
1. Maintain the relatively clean nature of my bedroom.
2. Travel (already accomplishing that one! woot!).
3. Get a decent internship this summer.
4. Finish last year's pen & ink in addition to one other.
2. Travel (already accomplishing that one! woot!).
3. Get a decent internship this summer.
4. Finish last year's pen & ink in addition to one other.
03 November 2008
27 October 2008
Beaten Greenless
One of my closest friends was required to take an environmental studies class and constantly complained about how little of a shit she gave about the material, about the hippies and the armagedon worst-case-scenario arguments. I told her that she was a bad person way deep down inside, and that the environment is very important and she should learn to give a rat's ass and be concerned. She should study the issues and develop sympathetic, informed, smarty-pants opinions about them.
For this I apologize.
(enter: stage left) Environmental Studies 360: Extinction of Species.
OR, as I like to call it:
EVERYTHING'S DYING AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT.
OR, as I also like to call it:
WORST CLASS EVER.
I'm not sure exactly which class she took, but I know it wasn't the same one that I'm in. Regardless, I'm sure I now share the same sentiment that she did. This class is a load of bullshit. Every minute I spend on it, in class or out, is time that I feel would have been better spent with someone I love. Hell, I'd rather spend time with someone I dislike than think any more about the struggle of the Costa Rican pineapple farmer (the up-and-coming equivalent of fair trade coffee...watch for it), or melting ice caps carrying throngs of chubby round-eyed seal pups, or listen to my professor gloat about how he and his family lived in a hut he built for 20 years in the Costa Rican jungle without electricity (after fleeing the US to avoid being drafted to Vietnam). "It CAN be done," he says. Yes, thank you, I know it can. Congratulations, you did it. But if you really want me to stop using electricity, stop posting lecture readings online. Also, pay for me to move to a warmer climate with more daylight.
Discussion section is worse. We're constantly "role playing" about issues that are hot today. I entertained myself with the sexual connotations of "role playing" for as long as I could to make the class more tolerable ("Hey, baby, I'm gonna drill you till your habitat is tooootally fragmented." "Oooo! Yeah! Destroy my resources!" etc etc). But even that couldn't mask the irritating nature of the exercises. More often than not, we're assigned one of several positions on a topic. I would much prefer to climb up on a soap box with an opinion I actually arrived at myself, and give mock dirty looks to the guy on the opposing soap box who is just as convinced that he's 100% right as I am. It makes for better dialouge. But no. We're given one of as many as eight opinions and forced to defend it, no matter how little sense it makes.
That's not independent thinking. I understand the purpose of presenting all arguments, whether they exist in the minds present in that particular classroom or not, but do we really have to fake our opinions? WHERE'S THE PASSION?!
Another thing that bothers me is the final project for this class. It's not to write about an extinct species and what went wrong (Dodos: The Ecological! True Hollywood Story), it's to make our lives greener. And we also have to give a pre-made (surprise!) presentation to a group of 20 poor souls about how they're killing everything on a global scale (YES, YOU!). Me, I'm going to bake some cookies and give one out to each of my friends who'll write a review of my nonexistent presentation.
Look, global warming is all over the news. We've all heard about it. We all know there are things we can do to help out. But this class presents zero new material in a way that is uninteresting and not at all thought provoking. There are times when I think to myself that I should do everything I can to increase my ecological footprint, just to spite the class. But then I realise that doing so would be equivalent to pissing my pants when wearing a dark suit. Sure, it'd give me that warm tingly feeling, but no one would notice but me.
For this I apologize.
(enter: stage left) Environmental Studies 360: Extinction of Species.
OR, as I like to call it:
EVERYTHING'S DYING AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT.
OR, as I also like to call it:
WORST CLASS EVER.
I'm not sure exactly which class she took, but I know it wasn't the same one that I'm in. Regardless, I'm sure I now share the same sentiment that she did. This class is a load of bullshit. Every minute I spend on it, in class or out, is time that I feel would have been better spent with someone I love. Hell, I'd rather spend time with someone I dislike than think any more about the struggle of the Costa Rican pineapple farmer (the up-and-coming equivalent of fair trade coffee...watch for it), or melting ice caps carrying throngs of chubby round-eyed seal pups, or listen to my professor gloat about how he and his family lived in a hut he built for 20 years in the Costa Rican jungle without electricity (after fleeing the US to avoid being drafted to Vietnam). "It CAN be done," he says. Yes, thank you, I know it can. Congratulations, you did it. But if you really want me to stop using electricity, stop posting lecture readings online. Also, pay for me to move to a warmer climate with more daylight.
Discussion section is worse. We're constantly "role playing" about issues that are hot today. I entertained myself with the sexual connotations of "role playing" for as long as I could to make the class more tolerable ("Hey, baby, I'm gonna drill you till your habitat is tooootally fragmented." "Oooo! Yeah! Destroy my resources!" etc etc). But even that couldn't mask the irritating nature of the exercises. More often than not, we're assigned one of several positions on a topic. I would much prefer to climb up on a soap box with an opinion I actually arrived at myself, and give mock dirty looks to the guy on the opposing soap box who is just as convinced that he's 100% right as I am. It makes for better dialouge. But no. We're given one of as many as eight opinions and forced to defend it, no matter how little sense it makes.
That's not independent thinking. I understand the purpose of presenting all arguments, whether they exist in the minds present in that particular classroom or not, but do we really have to fake our opinions? WHERE'S THE PASSION?!
Another thing that bothers me is the final project for this class. It's not to write about an extinct species and what went wrong (Dodos: The Ecological! True Hollywood Story), it's to make our lives greener. And we also have to give a pre-made (surprise!) presentation to a group of 20 poor souls about how they're killing everything on a global scale (YES, YOU!). Me, I'm going to bake some cookies and give one out to each of my friends who'll write a review of my nonexistent presentation.
Look, global warming is all over the news. We've all heard about it. We all know there are things we can do to help out. But this class presents zero new material in a way that is uninteresting and not at all thought provoking. There are times when I think to myself that I should do everything I can to increase my ecological footprint, just to spite the class. But then I realise that doing so would be equivalent to pissing my pants when wearing a dark suit. Sure, it'd give me that warm tingly feeling, but no one would notice but me.
21 October 2008
Noted.
Tonight I learned that trying to feed a vegan at a gyro restaurant is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds.
18 October 2008
Ice Age Trail
http://www.iceagetrail.org/
Today two of the LAs and myself went to UW-Baraboo (didn't even know Baraboo HAD a UW...) and built a portion of the Ice Age Trail. It's a 1000 mile project in Wisconsin and holy crap was it fun.
We arrived on the campus at 8:30pm yesterday and camped out in a field they'd allowed us to use. There was a campfire, a free keg of beer, and more awesome people than any one campsite has a right to have. I had a great time talking to all the people who'd helped with the trail before and were avid hikers. Where they'd been, what their story was, etc. There were old people, some women in their 70's came and hauled 12-foot sections of tree I'd cut out to the pile, and there were young people. A bunch of them live here in Madison, and a lot are UW students.
After surviving the freezing night temperatures in my roommate's awesome sleeping bag, we woke up and were given free hot breakfast (all meals are provided for volunteers...sweet!). Delicious. We set out at 8am.
First thing we did was walk the portion of the trail that had been completed since Wednesday. Then we walked through the woods, following little yellow flags, which would be where we would build trail that day.
It was unbelievable to see the transition within a few hours to go from wilderness to manicured trail, and it wasn't even that hard. And chopping down stands of sumac is TONS of fun. So is using a pole saw.
One of the most fun times I've had in a while. I can't wait to go back. Me and those I went with plan to bring a bunch of the other LAs with us when we go again in spring. I plan to invite others from the neighborhood that I know would get a kick out of it as well.
Today two of the LAs and myself went to UW-Baraboo (didn't even know Baraboo HAD a UW...) and built a portion of the Ice Age Trail. It's a 1000 mile project in Wisconsin and holy crap was it fun.
We arrived on the campus at 8:30pm yesterday and camped out in a field they'd allowed us to use. There was a campfire, a free keg of beer, and more awesome people than any one campsite has a right to have. I had a great time talking to all the people who'd helped with the trail before and were avid hikers. Where they'd been, what their story was, etc. There were old people, some women in their 70's came and hauled 12-foot sections of tree I'd cut out to the pile, and there were young people. A bunch of them live here in Madison, and a lot are UW students.
After surviving the freezing night temperatures in my roommate's awesome sleeping bag, we woke up and were given free hot breakfast (all meals are provided for volunteers...sweet!). Delicious. We set out at 8am.
First thing we did was walk the portion of the trail that had been completed since Wednesday. Then we walked through the woods, following little yellow flags, which would be where we would build trail that day.
It was unbelievable to see the transition within a few hours to go from wilderness to manicured trail, and it wasn't even that hard. And chopping down stands of sumac is TONS of fun. So is using a pole saw.
One of the most fun times I've had in a while. I can't wait to go back. Me and those I went with plan to bring a bunch of the other LAs with us when we go again in spring. I plan to invite others from the neighborhood that I know would get a kick out of it as well.
08 September 2008
Autumn
My favorite season is approaching. I love the colors, sounds, smells, and tastes of fall, specifically in the month of October.
I can't wait to carve a pumpkin, mull some cider, kick a pile of leaves (and I may make a visit home to rake them), and reminisce about what Halloween USED to be instead of a drunken nightmare.
However, I do NOT like the following things about fall:
-My lips are chapping like nobody's business.
-I'm cold all the damn time.
-I can't find a matching pair of socks because it's been so long since I've had to wear them.
-Wearing shoes.
-As soon as I get out of the shower, my newly shaven legs turn into cacti.
-The Naked beer isn't fresh anymore.
-It's dark at 8.
So as I mourn the passing of another summer, I will grab the nearest 10 blankets and try to remind myself that I do, after all, need the seasonality of Wisconsin and forget that we're expected to have 120 inches of snow this coming winter. But why so soon?!
I can't wait to carve a pumpkin, mull some cider, kick a pile of leaves (and I may make a visit home to rake them), and reminisce about what Halloween USED to be instead of a drunken nightmare.
However, I do NOT like the following things about fall:
-My lips are chapping like nobody's business.
-I'm cold all the damn time.
-I can't find a matching pair of socks because it's been so long since I've had to wear them.
-Wearing shoes.
-As soon as I get out of the shower, my newly shaven legs turn into cacti.
-The Naked beer isn't fresh anymore.
-It's dark at 8.
So as I mourn the passing of another summer, I will grab the nearest 10 blankets and try to remind myself that I do, after all, need the seasonality of Wisconsin and forget that we're expected to have 120 inches of snow this coming winter. But why so soon?!
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