Category: Uncategorized

When I was little, when Borders was still around, I loved buying books. Dad would tell me I could buy one book, and I’d take so long looking around, trying to decide between all the different books I wanted. I wanted everything.

In recent years, as I’ve had to start thinking about saving money, I haven’t bought nearly as many books. Most of the books I get now are presents for my birthday or Christmas. Aside from buying textbooks, the only real time I spend money on books is when I get a gift card.

Well, I got a gift card for Christmas this year, and I’ve been debating what to spend it on since. Here’s the thing: there are countless novels I’ve been meaning to read, but I don’t really want to spend money on a random novel unless it’s one I’m going to revisit. Otherwise, I could just check it out from the library, right? If I’m going to buy a novel, I want it to be one of my new favorites, you know? I don’t regret owning I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak or The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, because I’d like to reread those one day, and it feels good to own your favorite books. When people are visiting, they see the books you use to represent yourself.

In the end, with the help of my friend Kháhn San, I settled on two books. The first was Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. There’s no guarantee it’ll be one of my favorite books or anything, but it’s very long, complex, and difficult, so I’ll want longer than the standard library loan period to read it. I’ll probably want to go back and revisit earlier chapters late in the book, and really get into the experience of decoding the complex web of narratives. The other I chose, on my friend’s recommendation, was Bluets by Maggie Nelson. I’m told it’s a relatively accessible book of poetry, and that’s what I’m looking for. I figure a book of poetry is another good choice for buying, since poems are the kind of writing you want to revisit a lot. You don’t really read them as narrative; rereading a poem is different from just reading the same story over again.

Even if I don’t buy many books anymore, there’s still something so magical about bookstores; even if I don’t want to buy every book, I still want to read every one. Once everything is in ebook form and bookstores are less populous, this is what I’m going to miss.

……Just kidding! But when the sun does burst out from behind the grey clouds, it is not only the sky that seems to get lighter. Even my daily walk to the dining hall was shorter with the sunshine streaming down. Every breath becomes a phenomenon, a spectacular gift from nature. Then there is the increased awareness of motion. Up and down, left and right. I am suddenly aware of the motion of my arms and my legs as I stroll along the sidewalk. How am I doing it? When did I learn this? Half of my hazy memories stem from static ridden home videos alone. My path to South Quad leads me past the Cube and the people populating the square. The children are reveling in action too. Their joy illuminates the complete lack of fear to their movements. Their parents move in a completely different manner, following different rules. They move their cameras up and down as helpless as I to capture the complete transformation that has occurred before our eyes.

 

As a person that has always loved winter, it feels like a betrayal to admit that I love this weather. But as much as I like the coziness of a knit-wool sweater and the warmth in the bottom of my stomach after a cup of hot chocolate, all of that is manufactured as a response to the weather. You can never truly embrace winter without keeping at least two layers in between you and the cold. Everything is open and free under the sun. We expose ourselves in t-shirts and shorts without concern. Our fears evaporate in the clear air and leave us with minds liberated from responsibility. Perhaps that is why I can move in such child-like wonderment today, all those adult burdens have simply vanished.

This is not an altogether original observation. When I proposed this blog post to my roommate, she may have rolled her eyes, and responded with a “duh”. But I think she unintentionally proved my point. This weather unites us, tempting us to all come out of our separate houses and dorm rooms. Sunshine is universal. Even on the coldest day in Ann Arbor, when the wind temporarily robs you of the ability to breathe, it must be sunny somewhere. Then, there is the comfort, that in a few months the sun will return with all its suffocating, summer humidity. Wherever you turn, you cannot escape the influence that the sun exerts. It is a constant reminder of life, fueling the processes that allow everything on Earth to bloom. I glance at a shrub and am reminded of eighth grade biology without the boredom of the classroom. Thousands of little pancake-like granum are hidden in that leaf, unconsciously saving the world by using the power of the sun to fix CO₂ from the air. I feel the heat on my skin and think of the expansive, cold space that surrounds this tiny planet. Out of millions of floating rocks, this is the one with the star at the correct distance to create life, rather than burn it out of existence.

The sun has become more than simply the physical fuel for our lives, but also the inspiration of art and mythology. Every day, Apollo traverses the sky in his glowing chariot. Every night, Ra enters the Underworld and fights his eternal battle against Apophis, the god of Chaos. In Aztec legend, Huitzilopochtli is the sun and the moon is his sister’s decapitated head. Again, the sun is universal from one end of the hemisphere to the other. Akycha hails from the Inuit mythology and Inti from Incan legend. It is not just ancient history either. One of the most enduring symbols of America, after all, is the Washington monument, an enormous obelisk. Everything is built to optimize the sunlight, even the new buildings currently being constructed built for the University of Michigan business school. Its influence is omnipresent. You would have to move the Earth out of the orbit of the sun to escape its presence.

It is hilarious to think that the Earth was once considered the center of the solar system when our lives so clearly revolve around the sun. The warmth of the sunshine is always there even when it is not sunny in Ann Arbor.

With Midterms coming up/happening, here are some tips to keep you going!

1. Don’t pull all-nighters (even if you’re dying to play “just one more level” or see “one more episode”)
2. Set your alarm and WAKE UPPPP!
3. Plan your day/week at least a day earlier, having at least three goals per day- this will divide your time efficiently and you won’t feel dead all the time. Takeaway: DoN’t PrOcAsTiNaTe!
4. Make time for some leisure activity or socialness (like reading, writing in a journal, coffee with a friend, or just a nap)
5. Pick your study spaces wisely! (If you want a quick study space, UgLi probably will be packed)
6. Do whatever to keep yourself energized throughout study sessions! (Get coffee or take brief walks when needed)
7. Sleep for at least 5 hours each night (especially the night before, or else you’ll be dumber than if you hadn’t studied on the actual exam)
8. Think positive! Psychological research shows that people perform 25% higher in scoring if they think positively!

As my advice may or may not be getting those of you who are reading this hyped for exams, here are some of my photos of campus! Relax and enjoy the architecture! (P.S. All images are on campus)

 

 

Going through the catalogue of Adult Swim shows, both finished and currently airing, is to delve into the most eclectic series of shows ever produced for television. I remember that moment when Cartoon Network would suddenly switch over to the late night block of animation, when the kid friendly program was suddenly swapped for a swearing meatball or a former Hannah-Barbera superhero turned talk show host. But after a hiatus of TV-show consumption, and returning to an updated Adult Swim catalogue, I discovered The Venture Bros.

I was not hooked immediately. Instead it took the second episode I watched to fully win me over. Initially, the macho-hilarity of Brock Samson (voiced by Patrick Warburton – a voice I never tire of) was what got me to watch the second episode in the first place. But what made me stay for the next six seasons was the unique take on “arching” the show utilized.

Although The Venture Bros. was initially a parody of Johnny Quest following the tradition of repurposing old (and somewhat forgotten) Hannah-Barbera characters (albeit with more original input by not utilizing old animation cells), it quickly becomes a sporadic yet cohesive work, filled with a string of references on the trove of pop-cultural and pulpy goodness geeks treasure: comics, cartoons, you know where I’m going with this. I was hooked because, like Rick and Morty, which came after, the show was open to a series of stories, characters, and relationships that came from a cultural cannon I was incredibly fond of, meaning so long as the writing was good, I would be treated to seasons upon seasons of entertainment.

As I mentioned before, one of the critical structural elements that allow for this system is the mechanic of “arching.” In the world of The Venture Bros. villains and heroes are clear-cut on a vocational level, focusing on the absurdity of adults wearing spandex and fighting each other. Oddly enough, the arch villains hardly kill the heroes or non-heroes they arch. Instead, the show plays it out like a game of cops and robbers between adults – making some characters, like Rusty Venture, jaded by the entire experience.

How could one be jaded by adventure, by a life of villains and heroes? Well Rusty was a child adventurer like Johnny Quest, and now he is just a washed up second-rate super-scientist (and many other things which I will not reveal because…spoilers). Even Johnny Quest makes a cameo experience as Action Johnny. He is a nervous wreck as an adult because his father dragged him along on absurdly dangerous adventures. Sucks to know I’d probably be the same if I ever went on those insane adventures. Really kills the dream. Or does it?

Essentially the arching structure allows the show to consider the absurd world of fictional heroes and villains, never hesitating to utilize legally safe knockoffs of beloved characters like Spider-Man (Brown Widow in the show – he shoots webbing from his anus). Perhaps the meta-effect of the show would be far better aligned had I seen this show when I was younger. But the effect of the creative choices is still appreciated. The Venture Bros. geeks out. It has its fun with all the nostalgic and beloved pop-cultural icons that we all adored. But it is simultaneously giving it all a fresh spin while simultaneously providing a world that is the apotheosis of childish wet dreams and an adult tragicomedy. It is a world of disappointment, a horror-show, which I still kind of wish would exist. Is that messed up? I guess the child never died in me, but the older perspective…that’s new, and if the child in me has lasted this long, I do not see my older self leaving its set of keys on the kitchen counter any time soon. The dream never dies.

“Don’t eat the glue, Marius”, “This looks horrible, Marius” and “Mrs. Lex, your son is utterly untalented… in an endearing way, of course” are quotes from my pre-school days I will never forget. Not because they described me very well, but because they shaped my stance on arts and crafts more than anything else in my life. My teachers concluded I was incurably untalented, after I had made a photo frame to give to my Mom for Christmas. While the other kids had garnished theirs with glitter and bedighted them with beads, I had glued uncooked noodles to my frame.

Even though I realized my teachers had clearly given up on me, I still tried to create something unique, every time we did arts and crafts. A feetless flamingo, a chiseled chestnut and many hours of whacky weaving later, however, I too accepted that I would probably never be good at this. Following this realization, I started, you know… eating glue and stuff.

After pre-school, I went on to elementary school, secondary school, high school and eventually to university and didn’t have to do arts and crafts for a very long time… Until today!

The art of paper cutting is China’s oldest and most popular art. Shortly after paper was invented in the Han Dynasty about 1900 years ago, and became more and more accessible to people, this beautiful folk art emerged. Over the course of hundreds and thousands of years, a variety of new techniques was applied and perfected by the Chinese. Nowadays, paper cutting is still very popular and not only in China. In many parts of the world it is a common type of arts and crafts.

In China, the paper cutouts or “剪纸 (jianzhi)”, are used as decorations, especially at weddings and childbirths. They are usually red and symbolize love and health.

Since no one in our class was pregnant or wanted to get married, we just crafted for the heck of it. It was hard, it was precision work but most of all it was fun. I was still horrible at it, because… let’s face it, it was still me doing it, but our Chinese teacher lied about it being “beautiful” … yeah, right. For the first time in many, many years I had fun arts and crafting:

Depending on how you fold and cut, you can achieve lots of different forms, sizes, kinds, colors and even Chinese characters. When you get the hang of it, you can even cut out large, connected patterns, which do not only look great, but also give you a feeling of achievement. The cut outs make great presents and are very nice to look at, as well. In many regions of the world, they were taped to the exterior of a window, so the light from the inside would shine through the negative space of the cutouts.

These are a couple of our creations. They took me only thirty minutes:

Alright, everybody. St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, so get out your green paper and a pair of scissors and start cutting out dancing Leprechauns!

 

PS: Remember to be as weird as you can possibly be.

You know those days when you have a three hour lab at lunchtime, or a 12-hour clinical, or a block of classes without break, and you didn’t plan ahead for the moments when the only thought on your mind is food?

You almost feel stuck waiting until you can grab a bite to eat, but you can’t go quite yet because you have to dedicate this time to other things. You can’t be satisfied all the time. Likewise, you can’t be happy all the time. There will be good days and there will be bad days just like there will be times when you’ll be so hungry your stomach feels as though it’s collapsing on itself. When you finally taste food again, that sensation will be far more meaningful and rewarding. There will be times when you don’t understand why the world is against you and why you feel sad, why your favorite old dog is suddenly sick when you’re away, why your grandpa is in hospice…you name it. There’s a lot we can’t control, but I assure 100% that the light in your heart comes back, brighter than ever. Just you wait.  Time heals all hearts. You can’t measure how long it takes to mend a wound, but here are some steps to help you grow from the pain:

1. Give yourself a day to mope. If your workload is mundane and irrelevant to the large scheme, don’t do it that day. Pick it up when you’ve cleared you mind a little bit.
2. Write down your thoughts. A week later you’ll be writing about the best night you just had and skim across the words that aren’t so tender anymore. You can gauge your progress!
3. Stay busy. Pick up a new hobby or follow through with old ones.
4. Call old friends. Call new friends. See what’s up with them and you’d be surprised how much they can offer whether its a laugh or advice.
5. Dress how you want to feel. Feel good look good. Feel bad, still look good.
6. Find a release. Exercise is a good outlet, and you’ll feel healthy and energized. Then treat yourself. It’s been a while since you had Rod’s. Go get a shake and bring a friend. 🙂
7. Music. Sample to every kind and ask for recommendations. Listen “Blindsided” by Bon Iver for a gloomy, reflective song. Listen to “Take You There (El Bee Remix) by Sean Kingston to start to an awesome night WOO.

Life is good.