Phase [Insert Number] Begins Now

Today marks the first day back from no computer for 2 months! If you need me, I'm going to binge on all the Steam games I got this summer but couldn't play until school starts Tuesday. 

I'm aslo going to have to get used to atcually TYPING wrods instead of letting my phone ficx it for me. Oh, autocorrect, we had goodd times together, but you are so bad for hymen kins.

The Burning Man's Pants Are On Fire!

     The excitement behind the idea of Burning Man is so irresistible to an outsider - that blissful idea of leaving it all behind for a short while and heading away into the desert.

     However, those involved in Burning Man, whether they want to admit it or not, spend so much money preparing for the event that calling it non-commercial is almost a lie. Those sparkle fairy wings, the floats, the boats, the tents, the RVs, and the bottles of water (or alcohol) are all part of the market cycle.
     Tickets to the event start at around $200. This is supposed to be a commerce-free event. Corporate CEOs arrived in helicopters and served grilled cheese sandwiches. Google donated bicycles. The sales of coffee and ice are given to the surrounding cities. If that is not advertising, I don't know what is. I am all for a positive, enlightening experience in the desert. I've had one. But it certainly didn't cost me half a grand. I'm not trying to belittle anyone's experience at Burning Man, but denying the profitability of the event is basically looking the other way.

Lend Me Your Ear

A letter to young ones with microtia/atresia, 

the parents of those children, 

doctors, 

 & 

to anyone else this might apply

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

     If you have microtia-atresia, it's not the end of the world. I know because I was born with it, too. Your ear might look a little different than your brothers & sisters, your friends, and your moms and dads. But I've learned over the years to embrace the fact that I'm different. No, seriously, I mean really weird. Have you read my previous posts? 
     Ear or no ear, hearing or no hearing, my personality and my life experiences are what really connect me to those around me. I endured teasing when I was growing up. I feel like it was a lot, but I don't know. Doesn't everyone have some kind of trauma during childhood? Everybody gets teased as a kid, and it is damn tough. You're going to come home crying some days because someone teased you about your ear. You'll come home crying some days, too, because someone teased you about your hairstyle or some crazy pants you thought were cool, or that time you had awful stomach cramps and had no choice but to go in the locker room bathroom where everyone could smell it, then they told everyone else in the 6th grade class, so when you walked into your next class late everyone snickered at you.*
     Your parents may be convinced (through the concern and conviction of your doctors) that, by giving you a "real" ear, you will be so much happier and much more social and have so many friends, and you'll you be so much better off. Your parents will probably be talked into sending you through several surgeries, just to make you look "normal".  The surgeries wouldn't even help you hear again, because your ears were missing too many components to simply drill a hole in your head. 
     All those visits to specialists, all the long wait times in the waiting rooms, all the blood tests, all the skin and rib grafts, countless tests of your hearing, countless measurements of your head and ear shape...
     You'll meet nurses who are nice and nurses who will forget that you are just a little kid and your mom and dad couldn't spend the night that night and you were scared and alone. 
     You'll meet nurses that will lie to your face when you ask if you are getting a shot soon, and then tell you no and she will rush at you with a giant needle and you might start screaming because you were so surprised by the lie and just wanted to know what was happening. You'll fight her off because it doesn't look like an ordinary needle. You might get strapped down in a Velcro body suit so you can't move but all you wanted to know was what was happening. The needle will hurt. 
     You'll meet lots of other kids - some with microtia - but you'll also meet some kids who just had brain surgery or they're dealing with leukemia and some of them will flat-out tell you they are dying, a concept difficult to grasp so young... Some of those kids will be nice to you. Some of them will be mean to you, and you won't understand why. 
     Then there's post-surgery, where you won't be able to play outside with your friends for a long time until your doctors say it's okay. Even then you still will have to be careful, though, because of the giant bandage wrapped around your head, so you basically stand around and watch your friends play on the monkey bars without you. 
     You'll have to answer countless questions from your friends and family, being put on display at company holiday parties or family gatherings where your dads or moms will show everyone their new "purchase" that sits smack-dab on your head. 
     You'll probably have to have more than one surgery, too. So the pain, the ointments, and the sutures - and so many scars - become all too familiar by the time you are 10 years old. 
     You'll find that any pair of glasses won't fit right. After the eyeglass specialist adjusts your new glasses for the millionth time, you think forget it and say it feels right. 
     You'll get used to walking on a certain side so you can hear your friend more clearly. Some people will forget you can't hear but try not to be mad at them. 
     You'll get used to sitting at a certain seat during dinner so you can hear everyone. Sometimes you'll feel left out because there is so much noise. You try to read lips but sometimes you won't understand. By the time you're in your thirties, those habits will become second nature. 
     
     You'll try new things because you read a lot and want to create and explore. You might really love astronomy and spend time with your family outside watching meteor showers. No traffic, no noise, and a sky full of incredible bursts of light. If you turn your head for a moment, you might miss it! 

     You might really love music and someday make it your job. 
     
     Your life won't be horrible and a "normal" ear will make no difference. You'll find that you will be surrounded by those you love, and those who love you. 
     Sometimes you'll feel lonely because of your hearing differences and sometimes people won't understand, but most of the time you're okay with who you are and you'll try to live life and you'll try to create and you'll try to make a difference in this world because you'll have been humbled by your miracle roller-coaster of a journey. 


* True Story

Periodic Table of Sorry, I've Got To Take This Call

 
I realized today that, throughout my academic career, I have not had to memorize the Periodic Table. Ever.

     Then I asked myself why such a big deal? After some thought, I came to the conclusion that, like most of my education as a child, we were encouraged to memorize, not learn. That pretty much sums up my K-12 experience. I got through so many classes simply by memorizing stuff and not actually internalizing the information into an intellectual experience (but there were some great teachers, too).  Looking at the Periodic Table, for example, I realize that science is a "feeling" - sort of how you feel when you calculate a math problem and know it's the right answer.
     Knowledge of science leads to more questions. Kids should be excited about hearing how we have Gas Giants and Terrestrial Planets all within our own solar system!  You can't just fly up to to Venus and say, "Hey, mind if I take a look around?" We've tried that already with rather crushing results.

...but maybe someday...

     After taking some eye-opening astronomy courses, I see the world more through the eyes of logic and science and it feels right, comfortable. I can really see tangible connections where they were not present before, especially in music and the arts, and even socially. I think it really takes understanding the greater connections here and beyond before a true understanding of what is right in front us occurs. Those frustrations of trying to figure out how big Jupiter is or what the atomic weight of bla bla bla may seem tedious, and really, in the specifics of things -- who cares?

     BUT, in the grand scheme, seeing WHY it matters knowing an atomic weight or the size of a planet somehow (for me, anyway) sort of humbles me and brings me to one of science's greatest messages: You don't know everything and you never will but keep trying, anyway!
     How truly small I feel, yet connected at the same time, to everyone and everything around me. I will never fathom how large a Gas Giant is or how far away the Orion Nebula really is (yet we can still see it with binoculars!!!). I really don't know if I've made any sense here, but I just needed to get that out.

~~~~~

If you'd like to learn more about astronomy, you can download Stellarium, an open-source planetarium. It's super fun to explore. 

Be in control of your own universe through Dan Dixon's Universe Sandbox. 

You control EVERYTHING and it's cool to shoot things at planets. 

You never know what you'll discover.

A 2-Year-Old & Her Pot Brownie Habit: Kids These Days, Right?

Is La Crescenta - the hideaway in the hills near Hollywood - turning into a hub for junkies?

     Daycare owner Roubena Hartounian was arrested "on suspicion of child neglect and endangerment." A 2-year-old, having been sent home for the day, was severely lethargic, and tests confirmed there was THC (the fun chemical in marijuana) present in her system. An investigation began and drug paraphernalia was found inside the daycare.  

Roubena Hartounian, alleged ablutophobe.
Filed a restraining order against Mr. Clean years ago. 

     Hartounian said no one was living there, but it seems that someone was living there, based on the drug paraphernalia lying around and the amount of dirty dishes present.  

     Knives and rat droppings all over the place (on the TOYS, too!) seem like dangerous and continual conditions and it sounds like the rat-den was horrid for a long period of time.  I am not a parent-blamer, but isn't it odd that this went on for so long without being reported by another parent? Parents who knowingly put their children into this type of environment ought to be noted. It took a 2-year-old getting into someone's accessible stash (or was it given to the child?), then hospitalized, to close the place down. That is what's pretty sad if you ask me.

     I do not object to people smoking weed or eating it or...whatever.  I do, however, have a huge problem when a small child is unwillingly involved in both body and mind.  

*** 

     What strikes me as funny is that I realize I am a parent-blamer. I guess maybe I've seen one-too-many parents tell their kids to throw their gum and garbage on the ground instead of in the garbage bin mere feet away where it belongs.  

This all takes place in the same state that elected this guy for governor. 

   

http://bit.ly/19uhpZ9

An Affair (I mean a dinner) To Remember

Here's what you didn't eat for dinner tonight

(but there's always tomorrow night)

Tilapia with a soy/ginger/dill glaze

Mexican squash sauteed with balsamic vinaigrette and dill

Baby bok choy, leek, and garlic 

Therapy In Disguise: The Brain Drain

     There is nothing more therapeutic than messing around on my computer.  I can play video games.  I can be a hero or an asshole in The Walking Dead Game.  I can be a jerky merc or a humble hero in [Insert Alien/Zombie Invasion Tower Defense Title Here].

Watch out for those high-range power-sucking frigate thingies. Or whatever. 

     I can look up information on experimental music, 

like John Cage's Aria.  

...which inspires me to compose some crazy music if I have a second or two.

~~~~~~~~~~~

     I have endless possibilities for how to entertain my brain.  I can look up mindless factoids and additional information and cool videos from something I discovered through StumbleUpon.com .

I mean, who knew that places like these exist? 

     I use Google Earth to find random places such as the 

giant rabbit art display in Italy's Piedmont region  

or to look at the gigantic Richat Structure in Mauritania. 

   
     Wow, I could go on and on. And I will.  There's also the abandoned city settled on a coal mine that has been been burning since Memorial Day 1962.

   

     There are also some dudes who are crazy enough to film our diminishing glaciers.  They managed to capture the largest glacier calving on film. This one is seriously jaw-dropping. If you have Netflix, check out "Chasing Ice" and proceed to shut-your-mouth-you-look-like-a-codfish and have an extra Valium on hand.

   

     Filling my head with information seems to soothe my head and fill a void, that aching need, for knowledge.

Gifts from our loved ones

Ah, yes. I, among many, have had the wonderful experience of stepping right in cat vomit. Now, most cat owners agree that the hairball is inevitable. What's even more "evitable" is that your foot will meet it before you do.

Body & Mind: Mentally Minced

Crossword three-down says ennui
But do they really know what it means?

Sitting there thinking, thinking, thinking
Sitting there drinking, drinking, drinking

Trying to separate logic and hate
And all the connections your mind creates

Walking around grieving, grieving, grieving
Smiles without meaning, meaning, meaning

Knowledge seems infinite
And, too, the academic ascent a struggle

You reach out, hoping to not allow the limitations of your body
To limit your eternal yearning for happiness
For pleasure
For compassion
To limit your everything and true pain.

To remember a smile (or a warm feeling) is to break past a brick barrier.
The regenerative wall is fisticuff-ready,
But you are stronger and have a hammer.

I Hate Long Lines

     We need technology if our government is to survive. We need more contact with respect to who represents us- not just in Congress but also in the bureaucratic processes of our national and state systems. Underfunded government offices have led to regular furloughs of government workers which impact not only the efficiency of the government but also puts additional strains on those enrolled in the programs. 
     Heavily populated cities still house administrative processes from yesteryear. A single mother on a low-income program cannot simply contact her assigned representative. She must either schedule an appointment, which does not actually guarantee that time slot, but either way, she must walk in and wait in a very long queue. A simple email to a representative could lead to lower overhead cost (security, check-in agents) because many questions could easily be resolved electronically. To obtain official records, one must enter a city office and be fielded by one of potentially many employees. The capability of some government offices is still limited to fax machines. Remember those? 
     The growing changes in technology have yet to affect students on college campuses across the nation when dealing with financial aid packages. Students are required to stand in line to verify information or to receive information about their financial aid status and student loan awards. With the technology available, a student should be able to access his or her campus financial aid pipeline without the four-hour wait. 
     The days of standing in long lines should only be reserved now for theme parks and should no longer exist in this digital society.