Wednesday, August 30, 2006
I miss college. Not the studying, stress, or pressures of figuring out a career path, but the social aspects. I think Asian parents do a great disservice when they tell their kids that all that matters in college is studying. Socialization is huge. I can’t say I’ve learned all the social skills I need to succeed in life, but I learned a lot about communciation, conflict, and relationships in college.
Dave and I dropped by our old campus Pomona College while driving back from the Inland Empire last weekend. We like to stop by when we can to walk around and reminisce. This time it was the weekend before the start of classes, and there were students walking around everywhere. We snuck into the dorm where we both got our start, Mudd-Blaisdell. It used to be a somewhat decrepit yet grand building. It’s still grand, but a lot more sterile since they redid the inside – no longer pink (so sad) but hospital-like grey and teal. At least there’s air conditioning now.
The biggest shock was the discovery that Gibson Hall, the only computer lab in freshman-dominated south campus, had been converted into rooms. These rooms do not have much privacy; the tall French-style window-doors were left intact, offering unhindered views inside. Dave wondered why they would get rid of the computers. I think it’s because everyone probably has a laptop.
We showed each other our freshman year rooms. My hall was in the exact same location as his, except one floor higher. I think we pretty much fit in and the students didn’t think we were trespassing (though we sorta were), though they looked pretty young to me. There was a crackling energy about the way they flung open doors and filed out in groups into the night, chattering away about who they still needed to fetch or commenting on each others’ fashion choices.
It made me think of how I felt during the earlier years at Pomona. The possibilities were endless – what I could learn, who I could meet, what I could become… It was such a free time. So much had not yet been decided.
While Pomona still uses tables in its website design (the horror ), at least its Coop store is now online. Dave plans to get the astonishingly low-priced fitted baseball cap with his favorite school logo:
I want a replacement for my “dorkbird” shirt but they don’t make it anymore. =(
Isn’t he cute?
| Tags: attempts at profundity, nostalgia
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Saw this while reading blogs about the two Fox reporters who have been released after supposedly converting to Islam at gunpoint:
Christians, what would you do if some maniac held a gun to your head and asked you to deny Christ or die? Would you deny the Savior?
Click here to read the whole article. The comments are equally good.
My answer is that I would hope God would give me the strength to do the right thing, which I believe (despite all the debate) is to stand firm and take the consequences. If Jesus were in the same situation, he would not rationalize that it’s what he’s thinking in his heart rather than what he speaks that counts in the end. And it’s telling that almost all of the original apostles were martyred.
The most interesting point one of the commenters made is that it might actually be easier to die in one dramatic moment and have your faith crystallized as a martyr than continue in life being assaulted by 10,000 small sins every day.
| Tags: attempts at profundity, jars of clay
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
A photo on Flickr that just blows me away. I love Flickr. Wish I could take photos like this.
Visual candy aside, I think today might be one of those days… That groggy feeling after you wake up? I read that it’s called sleep inertia. Last week I almost got into an accident on the way to work because I was so out of it. There is a long skid mark on the 55 South because of me. I’ve left my mark.
Been thinking more about the future… When to buy a house, have kids, what kind of family I’m going to have. I don’t want kids enough to actually start planning for them yet. Financially we’re not ready, and often I feel like I’m still a kid myself.
Like last night after dinner, I couldn’t wait to get back to playing Psychonauts . I was on this level (looks pretty crazy huh?) –
Psychonauts is about a runaway circus performer, Raz, who wants to become a psychonaut or psychic master. He joins a training camp and starts learning different powers like telekinesis and pyrokinesis, and collects various objects to power up. But things start getting weird at the camp and other kids’ brains start disappearing, so he has to maneuver around the physical world and also inside people’s mental worlds to save the camp.
The world pictured above is inside the mind of an asylum patient who is a descendant of Napoleon and trapped in a chess game of sorts. The green hexagons are the board spaces and the purpose was to recruit villagers to become game pieces to battle with the enemy’s pieces.
I couldn’t figure that out at first, so it was the first level that I needed to use the walkthrough a lot. If I wanted to be a perfectionist about the game, or if I was really insecure like I was with Kameo Elements of Power, I would follow the walkthrough step by step. But I found that it’s much more fun to just play and follow my instincts and see what I can figure out on my own. It’s like problem-solving, but actually fun.
Dave was like, “What about when we have kids? Are you going to dominate their video games?”
| Tags: eye candy, obsessions