Holiday's

We all know Valentines Day was created by Hallmark in the olden days when people sent cards to close acquaintances and family members, spreading the love of Saint Valentine. But technology has led to a fairly new phenomena that seems to have spread throughout every echelon of holiday spirit. It is the always present, but seldom appreciated, mass e-card distribution. Mingling between the Viagra and Instant winner emails, like a naive child that you can't help but notice, can be seen these generic Valentine e-cards.

Target sent me the sweetest notifications on their cutest night gowns "Show him a Happy Valentine's Day, Jennifer." It's as if they know that deep down I'm a woman.

Where is the shame? People on every social networking site exclaim to their contact list "Merry Christmas!" No longer is any holiday safe. And on this most holiest of card giving days, the Valentine must lower itself to the level of Fathers Day: I, John Smith, wish everyone with an Internet connection an obligatory Happy Valentines Day. The proverbial wind blows, and people continue their unattached lifestyles.

Tuesdays Feb 9th

There is a song, where one must re-enact the sounds of hens. This song is being performed in my chamber choir class, and we went over this part multiple times today. I got into the spirit of things and got it down, and was praised by the director. So now I know, I'm the best person in the group at sounding horrible. I should voice my anger at such an insult, but I'm just too chicken.

Flirting with Danger.

I recently read a comment posted on a professor rating site about how a professor was flirting with girls in the class. I thought that these actions were slightly appalling, but that wasn't what the poster was after. This girl was mad that this professor was flirting only with white girls. It was a hate crime. Bypassing the silly infractions of morality to get to the meat of the matter: the professor wasn't attracted to black girls. Clearly stating the benefits of having a chocolate flirt, she couldn't stop her statement at how African American women were equally if not more appealing than white girls. Finally ending her statement with an empowering "Black Power!" letting everyone know that black girls should also have the right to be ogled during class.

Afraid?

I have sang in front of a couple thousand people before, and not felt the slightest bit of tension. But during my piano class today, when I had to play in front of 16 people, I almost couldn't keep my heart in my chest. I cannot for the life of me figure out why it is exceedingly difficult to perform in front of small groups of people. Especially people I know. So to remedy this situation, I have decided that every time I have to perform in front of small groups of people, I simply have to imagine them all in their underwear with video camera's. Broadcasting my performance all over the world for one night only. It isn't that much of a stretch, everyone has cell-phone video recorders. And picturing them in their underwear isn't too hard with the "pants on the ground" style so prominent in society today.

Everyone has a twin, stop it.

After the simple lab yesterday, Organic chemistry was a wake up call today. Completely crazy. We started a lab today, and will finish it up next lab period as we start a new lab. I got into the lab, and then noticed that my lab partner is another short Asian girl. I know that Asian and short are usually synonyms, but I actually thought that they were the same person until Tina introduced herself as Tina, and not Kim. (Kim is my genetics lab partner).

They are both that stereotype, smart and focused with writing that looks more like typing. Graphs and charts and drawings that actually look like they are supposed to (unlike my drawings err... scribbles). I don't know yet, but I think that Tina (or is it Kim?) probably has that one sport that sets her apart in some way. (still fitting the stereotype, something like soccer, a snow sport, or gymnastics).

Sac State is very multi-cultural, Asians in science/history, African-Americans in sociology/psychology, Hispanic people in Kinesthesiology/public speaking, with Whites left over doing Crap/Undecided. Which means that I must be Asian, right? It's starting to seem like stereotypes aren't based in fact at all.

This similarity crisis happened to me before with fraternal twins. Stephanie and Amy, who were in actuality not that similar in appearance. I could never tell them apart. People thought I was joking until one day I was dancing with Stephanie (the Tango? I'm pretty sure). So anyway, she was always close to me when we were dancing. Finally, I finished the dance with her sitting on my knee and Stephanie comes over with an angry look on her face. Suddenly I had Amy on my knee, and Stephanie questioning me why I switched. I couldn't answer that, I didn't even know how Stephanie turned into Amy? I finished dancing with someone else.

So to all those people out there that look too much like someone else, stop it!!! You are doing that just to make me look stupid.

Nothing like it.

There isn't anything like sitting on your laptop, and hearing that crunching sound it makes. This happened to me today when I was in a dazed mood, trying to figure out exactly which science class I had next, and if anything was due.

I finally figured out that I had a pre-lab due, and noticed that I still had an hour left to do a 15 min assignment. But this wasn't just one of those 15 minute assignments where I had to spend 15 minutes doing it. It was one of those 15 minute assignments, where I had to spend half an hour figuring out what the heck the assignment was. All I had to do was draw the common commercial plasmid (?), and there was a hint: read the lab manual. It was in there somewhere, on a tiny paragraph, in a subsection that could only be read with a microscope, but I found it. After drawing it on a piece of paper, using the old knee-desk set-up, I thought that it looked like an odd doughnut, or maybe a conceptual new-age artists representation of "good enough".

After all of this work (the drawings, and the other drawings), I walked into lab and put some liquid from one tube into another tube. DONE! I really am getting some bang for my buck here as CSUS. Next lab, using a high-tech merry-go-round. YAY!

Friday

Being an elderly person has its benefits (though I am not sure what they are), but I was taught an invaluable lesson on the problems associated with old age. This happened during my time with my friend, whose grandparents are some of the strangest old people I know.

The grandmother, living here for most of her life, grew up in England with an accent to prove it. She supposedly has improved her speech over time, though her R's and some other sentences should be revised. (I'm a wee bit troubled at wheh we ah deary).

The grandfather can always be seen with a glass of wine, and a story from when he was in the war. Where late one night, a sugar-beet field was hit by a mortar near their base. He received his only wound in the war by getting hit in the helmet with a sugar-beet, knocked him out.

One conversation with his grandparents included the grandfather asking me my age (simple enough question), where my friend yelled out that I was 15 (clearly I am not). Being known for lying about these things, the grandmother called my friend a "bloody liah." I finally corrected that I am currently 20 years old, where the grandfather replied "So you're of age." Falling back on stupidity in these awkward situations, I replied that I couldn't legally drink for a little bit. This is where the grandmother jumped in again, "nah, the age is 18. 18 for the boys and 21 for the guhls." The grandfather responded, "That wouldn't make any sense, the girls should come before the boys if anything." Then I fell into silence, and the grandfather went into his sugar-beet story again.

I have determined after meeting them, that I will never get older than I am now (maybe 21). I think this can be accomplished through will power.