no regrets, right?

on the topic of me being rejected from United World Colleges

him: I can see how you would be the perfect UWC candidate.

me: Really? Why?

him: Because you’re suffocatingly enthusiastic about everything.

弱智

So I spent the last 10 minutes discussion a complex dilemma with Indie C and Nerdy B regarding my energy levels and whether or not I should try to make it to that Probability class (I know, 4th week of classes and I’m already trying to play hooky). When we finally decided that I should try to get to class, we had to explore other options of keeping me awake. It went down in a pretty ridiculous fashion…

Indie C: I think you should get coffee and go to class.

Me: Ok… but I’d hate to crash from coffee… and it’s like 6 o’clock already.

C: Well, then, just get some tea.

M: Tried that.. and I still almost fell asleep in Java. Why don’t I get decaf coffee?

Nerdy B: Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?

M: No! I mean, I just want a little bit of caffeine, since I’m not used to it… there is still a small amount of caffeine in decaf! They can’t get all of it out.

B: Yeah, but I don’t think trace amounts actually count.

M: Well, I’m pretty sensitive to caffeine… and plus, placebo effect, hello?!

C: You’re trying to get caffeinated from decaf? That is so messed up.

Eventually, after more back-and-forths and me laughing my ass off because I’m stupid like that, I finally got some hot chocolate. Yum.

Dorothy Allison

at the “What is Feminist Politics Now? Local and Global”

“The next thing I know, my back is in spasm, my knees are up to my neck. I may be having sex or I may be dying. With me, I never know.”

“No, no, I am not a lesbian, I am a dyke.”

“Now, I’m almost post-menopausal. And I’m praying for a hot flash because I’m freezing.”

collage

from the dimly-lit 104 Jerome Green Hall

Collage: from the French “coller”, which means to glue, to stick…

I’ve always been fascinated by art which requires deconstruction. There is something incredibly poetic about creation emerging from destruction, almost like a phoenix or a rebirth… because art always appears to be a birthing process, in which something beautiful emerges from a person. The word “collage” is so interesting because it specifically only refers to the sticking process, the steps that the artist takes to put together her work of art. The word, as is, entirely neglects the destruction that happens presumably minutes before, where a pair of scissors (or another cutting utensil) was put to another piece of material… and for many collages, this material is in fact another piece of art (think of yourself cutting up magazine to make a collage of yourself for grade school).

Destruction is so necessary for creation, and in that way, destruction is beautiful in itself. There’s beauty in breakdown.

they gets no respect

Here’s an old SAT analogy:

Business majors are to Economics majors what Engineers are to Physicists.

lost in translation

Those of us who understand English and French, or Chinese and French, should appreciate the following traduction.

While this is clearly a pack of peanuts (as stated in both Chinese and English), the French translation somehow pegs it as bag of salted cheese. Neither of the two ingredients (cheese or salt) is present in the ingredients list. Furthermore, the French gramma here is just abysmal, as “fromage” is a masculine word and therefore the accent should have been on the first “e” in “salé”.

Wow. Just… wow.

raw talent

My friends on the Table Tennis team stole this for me:

… because I thought he was incredibly cute and was obsessing for a while. Later, upon closer inspection and after experiencing my friends’ disbelief & mockery, I’ve come to realize that isn’t that physically attractive. But rather… that it was his awesome, AWESOME table tennis skills that got me.

This is comforting in some ways, and really not that novel in others. Socially, women have always been attracted to men with talent,  or power (or both), while men seemed to go for the pure physical attributes of the other sex. It’s good to know that I’m perhaps not attracted only to people themselves (ie. Big D), but rather to the skills or talent that make them who they are (ie. physics, pilot, swimming)… It’s comforting to know that it’s looking more like I am only in love with the idea of him… and ideas are can be more easily replaced than people.

On the other hand, as a girl of modest looks and awesome talents (and modest, too!), I seem to be at a sexual disadvantage. No wonder I’m mostly single.

Futurama

Leela, how could you?! Our love has had to endure your constant hatred, and now this? Stop testing our love!

- Zapp Brannigan, upon discovering that Leela impregnated Kif by the touch of her hand.

Dan Dennet

A virus is a string of nucleoacids with attitude.

my hobby #69

Thinking about professors’ sex life (or their lack thereof). Imagining their orgasm face.