by B.J. on 10/31/2003 08:37:00 AM 0 comments Print this post

'Tude Just Shut the Fuck Up, Cha Bra ?

Annoying is. . .

. . .when surfer motherfuckers react positively by stretching out the vowel sounds of a word. Like "sweeeeeet."

Some motherfucker woke me up paying careful attention to stretching out the 'eeee' in "sweet" for at least 30 seconds. Stupid ass. I went outside down four flights of stairs half-asleep and clubbed him with a cardboard box. He fell down. Then I closed my window and fell back into bed.

Who the hell started using the word that way ?

Its sofa king annoying.

"Sweet" implies "nice", another annoying word when the vowel sound is stretched and it becomes "niiiiiiice."

Because of extensive use of "sweeeet" and "niiiiiice" by those annoying surfer motherfuckers who wake me up at 8 in the morning with no classes till 11 I have come to not only hate how it sounds, but also what they imply.

"Sweet" and "nice" are annoying because they imply something with pookashells and long hair and longboards undoubtedly clean and white. These words imply ecstasy in a lives that are already easy enough.

At least with "cool", it's blue and therefore neutral. You really can't tell if blue is clean or not, but "cool" is stuff that's dense. It's closer to the ground. And that's where I'd want to stay.

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History of Parking Meters

by B.J. on 10/30/2003 09:11:00 AM 0 comments Print this post

Do you ever remember ever thinking that you would kill the guy who invented some annoyance like school, lawyers, or parking meters ?

Well, I got the name of one of those punks who created these annoyances: Carl C. Magee, the parking meter.

Feel free to dig him up and successively pelt him with pennies till you feel like he or someone else gets the message.

"The world's first installed parking meter was in Oklahoma City, on July 16, 1935. Mr. Magee had been appointed to the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce traffic committee, and was assigned the task of solving the parking problems in downtown Oklahoma City. Apparently, folks who worked in the area were parking on downtown streets, staying all day, and leaving few spaces for shoppers and others who visited the central business district."


"Magee's solution was to install parking meters, charge for the use of the parking spaces, and turn over those spaces that would otherwise have been filled by all day parkers. In addition, the parking meters would generate revenue for a growing city. It must have worked, as the idea of metered parking eventually caught on worldwide. From that early beginning, the use of parking meters by municipalities, colleges and universities, and private parking facilities has increased to the point that today, in the United States alone, there are an estimated five million parking meters in use."

Read more and thanks to this site

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by B.J. on 10/28/2003 09:42:00 PM 0 comments Print this post

2003 - 2004 Chicago Bulls Key to the Season

Alright, this is the fucking season.

There's a weight of expectation on them to do some damage. ESPN and USA Today have them ranked as #15 in the power rankings and as the 7th seed for the playoffs. NBA.com has 1,2, and 3 (Eddy Curry, Jamal Crawford, and Tyson Chandler) within the top ten of players ready to break out this season. And with good reason.


Jamal Crawford


Eddy Curry


Tyson Chandler

That good reason is that these young guys are the core players of a team.
Last year Eddy Curry edged out dat motherfocker Shaq for the field goal percentage title, something Shaq held for seven straight years. Jamal Crawford fought through a whirlwind of adversity from early season benchings, cold spells, family deaths, to re-claim his job from acclaimed super rookie Jay Williams. Tyson has shown steady improvement in both years. These guys need to establish themselves as powers this year.

However, personally, I'm skeptical if these guys will ever live up to their full potential because there is too much depth that will cover up their mistakes. Donyell Marshall, Corie Blount, and Lonny Baxter will pull down rebounds when Eddy is too "lazy" to do his job. Marcus Fizer will score when Tyson is on his usual aversion to offense. Scottie Pippen and Jalen Rose will play defense when Jamal shirks his defensive responsibility. This type of depth is great for a championship team, but not so for a team relying on a young core because this young core is untested.

The key to this season's and preceding seasons' success will rely on this young core. Jamal, Eddy, and Tyson need to prove that they can carry the Bulls on their own through their own mistakes. That is, the team relies on them, and they create most of the momentum. And while we can rely on these guys, the big guys still seem to be teetering and tottering at the brink of their potential because of this three-year coddle treatment and thus as of now still seem to have trouble creating momentum for this team.
If they can't create momentum they won't be anything special. . .

But what do I know. I'm just a fan.

So, if they live up to potential I see: 50 wins
If they play up to their potential for like half a season: 43 wins
If they play the way they did last year with minor improvements: 37 wins

I go with the second one.

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Annoying Friendster Conservatives Who Couldn't Connect Dots on Graphing Paper: Labels, Rules, and Standards

by B.J. on 10/24/2003 02:52:00 PM 0 comments Print this post

Let me re-wire your thinking or whatever you already know without filling your head with useless facts you won�t ever use.

So far in all my Friendster travels, I have seen two Filipino folk profess to be conservative Republicans and proud of it (None from the liberal side).

The type of people they propose to be are just obssessed with labeling stuff, which makes for easier dividing and conquering. Example: segregation and apartheid. I only label when I notice a trend, but I make sure to know the whole story behind a label. Since these people who are obssessed with labeling and ruling and proudly call themselves conservatives, I will refer to them in the way that they want to be called, conservatives and go by the images that they like to represent themselves.

Labels are then translated into the bigger picture, and the bigger picture spells R-U-L-E-S, rules. Rules help them brush off connection with people and makes it easy for them to lay off tens of thousands of folks at a time.

Labels, rules, and standards.


Standards are things set in a way to ultimately help people reach goals. Standards are not rules. Rules are made to protect things from getting hurt. But all rules made, by which I mean, laws, are just stuff fabricated by feelings of the white guy, the guy in charge. Laws do not equate to justice. Constitution: white guys. Africa: Colonialized by white guys. The Phillippines: Colonialized by white guys, too. Perfectly legal colonialization said the white guys because laws protect those with property, they don't protect a poor guy. And so our heroes, the white guys of the United States, ran over Native Americans who had been occupying the land for about 15,000 years, because it was written in their law by God's will.

Pull yourself back to 2003 and that friendster site with those two annoying "conservative" Filipino Republicans that are the inspiration for this blog.

What the fuck are they doing ? They aren't in control of anything, they're just doing well. They like making and following rules.

They're fiscal conservatives, as in they're parsimonious motherfuckers who aspire to live in the Pacific Palisades. It's like "Yay I'm proud to buy and keep shit that I won't get to take with me when I fuckin' die." Whoopee to that shit.

I can be just as penny-pinching as those fiscal conservatives. My favorite stores are thrift shops, but it's because I just want to be able to survive. The Conservative bros (not that they've turned faggot or black or anything. . .:paranoid faces:) just want to make sure they have enough money to indulge in Benzes, golf, and butlers.

Then they set hard work as the main standard passing it off as a rule within their realm of rules to getting rich (or at least they will preach it as such). It is (if you have computers, updated books, better facilities, more teachers, just some of the "little" things that middle classers have and hoodies don't). However, I'd imagine you'd have to be really really really really top of the class to get into Harvard from the hood learning stuff that does not relate well to yourself because you are not middle class. And this non-relation to self is just one factor that prevents other boring, non-extraordinary people from working hard and following laws and rules from the start.

For example, my parents being from the Phillippines did not talk to me about what I read in the L.A. Times, so I had no idea who the president of the United States was or what he did until 5th or 6th grade. Or for you self-righteous engineers, the only reason I'd fully grasp the elementary concept of averages was because I was a hardcore basketball fan even back then and looked at MJ's scoring averages. Make no mistake, it's hard to learn stuff that you feel you have no connection with.

Another thing that prevents people from working hard is that people do not see the payoff. You can�t expect everyone to work too hard, much less Ronald Ray-gun in his term as a president (Guess God decided to do Kharma on his ass cause Jimmy Carter before him is still up and running doing good things), and the current President of the United States, an admitted drunk till he was 40, leeway that barely any middle-classer would ever get. They got away with being slackers and making false connections with the middle-class. Alongside them, you have these lifelong berry pickers in Watsonville barely getting enough to survive. You tell them in their face with your Beamer they're not busting ass (and you deserve to be and I hope you are smacked).

Bottomline is, rich or poor, there are hard workers. The next time you think about self-righteously telling some poor guy to work hard, just think about their situation first because it's advice that does not listen to them. The best thing to do for you somewhat rich, unsympathetic self-righteous hard workers is to work hard on your own with whatever you got and help those who can�t. All thou has to do is put thou self in not only someone else's shoes, but also someone else's DNA. Would thou still find a way to make something happen without money or education ? At any rate, thou (rich white guy) will feel really good and get a lasting, meaningful kick out of helping someone.

In conclusion. . .

I feel my ideas. And I know these ideas are all for doing whatever is right. I feel it. Those who feel their ideas usually have struggled in some capacity. (I can't say that I have experienced profound struggle, just that I know I would hate to be some person trapped in the 'hood.) This conservative here has no feeling. He's lost in the concrete material he gets and thanking God for everything. No hint of humanity. Feeling your ideas hold no credibility in this society because it gets dismissed as bias. And I'm saying that labels, rules, and standards held by Conservatives are biased (and outdated) too.

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by B.J. on 10/21/2003 12:52:00 PM 0 comments Print this post

Words of Wisdom to the "Comfortable"

"Privilege is the privilege of not knowing your own privilege." - Unknown









Remember that, kids.

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Selected Anthropological Facts (Anthro 001, Intro Human to Evolution)

by B.J. on 10/19/2003 12:02:00 AM 0 comments Print this post

In preparation for the midterm (and since I'm the only one in the world who visits this site everyday) I'm going to post random Anthro shit:

[Fixity of Species Folk]

Lyell: (???)

1) Uniformitarianism: The geological processes of the past occur today.
2) "Deep Time"
3) Principles of Geology

Linnaeus:

1) Classification (Systema Naturae)
-Identifies by physical traits
2) Uses genus (morphology) and species (whether they can breed)

Cuvier:

1) Catastrophism: Landscape is the way it is because of violent outbursts
2) Zoology

[External Environment Influencing Species Folk]

Buffon:

1) External environment changing species, but no species giving rise to another
2) Broke down age of earth through cooling of Earth

Lamarck:

1) Acquired Characteristics: ex/ giraffes stretching their necks
2) 1st to explain how and why things change in environment and evolutionary process
3) Coins biology

[Mendel's Contributions: Establishing the rules of discrete inheritance]

1) Law of Segregation: Genes occur in pairs. During gamete production, members of each gene pair seperate, so that each gamete contains a member of each pair. During fertilization, the full number of chromosomes are restored, and the members of gene pairs are reunited.

2) Dominance and Recessiveness

3) Independent Assortment: Distribution of one pair of alleles into gametes doesn't influence the distribution of another pair. The genes controlling different traits are inherited independently.

[Steps of Protein Synthesis]

1) RNA forms
2) Transcription: mRNA copies DNA code
3) mRNA goes to Ribosome
4) Translation: tRNA molecules carry amino acid and match with codons.

DNA provides the template because is it is the sequence of DNA bases (a gene) that ultimately determines the order of amino acids in a protein molecule.



[Hardy-Weinberg Formula]

Predicts the distribution of genes in populations assuming:

1) Mating is random
2) Infinitely large population with no sampling error
3) No evolution

[Modern Synthesis]

A comprehensive explanation of organic evolution incorporating Natural Selection and Mutation, defining it from a modern perspective in two stages:

1) Production and redistribution of "variation"
2) Natural Selection on this "variation."

4 Forces of Evolution:
1) Mutation - A change in DNA

2) Natural Selection - The genetic change or changes in a population due to differential reproductive success

3) Genetic Drift - Evolutionary changes; changes in allele frequences, produced by random factors as a result of small population size.

4) Genetic Flow - Exchange of genes between populations

Phyletic Gradualism - Evolution is a slow process with gradual transformation of one population into another which: a) involves most or all of the ancestral population and b) occurs over most of a species' geographic range.

Punctuated Equilibrium - Speciation occurs quickly with little change for long periods of time. The jumps occur when a beneficial combo reaches a certain threshold percentage.

[Reproductive Isolation]

All genetic mechanisms that prevent or limit gene flow between populations. Stuffs interbreeding. There are 2 kinds of these mechanisms: prezygotic and postzygotic.

Prezygotic: prevents fertilization and development of a zygote.
1) Temporal isolation - The mates may reproduce at different rates
2) Behavioral isolation - Different courtship patterns
3) Mechanical isolation - Intercourse cannot happen

Postzygotic: causes bad stuff to happen after birth
1) Zygotic mortality - Fetus dies
2) Hybrid inviability - Causes defects in offspring or does not live
3) Hybrid Sterility - Causes the offspring to be sterile

[Molecular Evolution vs. Morphology]

Molecular Evolution:
1) Uses direct information
2) Allows quantifiable, replicable studies
3) Appears regularly through time
4) Uninfluenced by significance convergence in form

Morphological Evolution:
1) Indirect information on genotypes
2) Depends on analysis of observed traits
3) Variable in pace of change
4) Subjective in choice of traits

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by B.J. on 10/15/2003 03:57:00 PM 0 comments Print this post

CUBS FUCKING SUCK SHIT OUT OF A TUBE BECAUSE THEY'RE DISABLED AND CAN'T SWALLOW

[Note: I am not thinking straight right now because my head's gone thru more electric shock than a fucker on the chair. I will just watch the Cubs from a distance]

FAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. The Cubs did not get screwed by the fucking fan. They just fucking suck shit.

AND I FELT HELLA STUPID FINISHING LAST on some assignment for ANTHRO. And she's going to grade it. And fuck, I was hurrying up.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

You hear me ?

FUCKDKKKKFdsjfkklsdfjkfdjas;lfdkasjlk;sdkhlfhdaflsdsflj;djsladljdhfldsfhhldshldahlf I felt like someone made in an incision on my jugular. slkhfgkljhrofhofhkljasdfhhskfjajskhfkjhsfkdjfhdksfdkjsfkjsijfhkjfdhskjfhfdkjhdfkahdfkjhdkjfhfkdsafdnklshfdkhfdkafkd

JEEBUS. SHIDDITY SHIDDITY FUCK FUCK Chulanatrak FUCK FUCK SHIDDITY SHIDDITY.

[Note: Boy, isn't that so creative]

COMPLETE FUCKINGS Kfadjkljflkjfljhfslkjsarfakkhdshjlk MELTDOWN. UNB-FUCKING LIEVABLE. THESE FUCKERS ARE CURSED. CURSED like your fucking cross-eyed grandma.

It's all over.

WOOD PRIOR ZAMBRANO OVERRRATED OVERRATED.

GONZALEZ goodbye. Ass.

[Note: No, I do not really think that].

The only one who is free of criticism is Moises Alou and he's fucking geriatric. SON OFA FUCKING SOFA GODDAMN.

They're not rebounding off of last year. It's over. OVER. Don't come back until you got what it takes you suckshitters. There will probably be a 10 year wait till the next time they crack the playoffs only to get eliminated by those fucking moron Braves or Marlins.

I HATE FLORIDA. I HOPE THE YANKEES KICK THE SHIT OUT OF THEM.

[Note: Yes, I mean that]

Gawd DAMNIT !

CHUMPS.

If you want wins, the best look is with the Bulls and we have to wait like 3 more years for that.

[Note: Gee, I hope I'm right]

FAWK

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by B.J. on 10/14/2003 02:10:00 PM 0 comments Print this post

The Day Loot Bags Got Shot Down

When his mom suggested that he have loot bags for his festive birthday party, the kid responded with a resounding no. What do you think, is he is a kid. Twelve is old enough to drive in the Philippines. But even knowing that, he felt like he cut off his mom, his ever-enthusiastic, made of elastic, never plastic mom, cuddly coodly oodles. However, he knew that he could get loot bags for parties if he ever wanted to because she was just the best.

The chubby, funny kid called her Oodles.

But today there was none of that cuddly coodly oodly crap because it was time to step up to the line. Gunshot ! They were off. Fast. White. Tall. And there was the kid trying to be fast. White. Tall. Nope can't do it, not as a skinny, no-name. Even Stassi with the strong name but weak unathletic legs passed him. He was way ahead of Stassi last week. 28:00 minutes said the clock and the kid fell. Was he going to be cut from the team? What about his algebra shit that could make knots out of a strand of pole and the curvaceous ass of the teacher who taught it, what about history ?

He guesses he'll move down to that algebra class. He was probably never good at Algebra anyway despite being in the honors class. Being good at math was definitely a fluke. Who the hell told him he was good at it ? It was probably that teacher last year who did shit.

But still was he the only person who didn't get what that damn history teacher was talking about ? No. But soon enough yeah, if he didn't find a way to jump start himself so the teacher told him. C+ C- B-, 50s and 60s. Has anyone ever been this dumb ? An F would not stand for fun.

The kid slammed his books. Dad slammed him for being too loud. "What about that algebra ?" Well, what the hell about it. That's not fair, you can't bring that up, stupid. Big eyes pop out.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Gee, sorry dad, the kid says.

Not, he also says.

He told shut up to a little person(s). so annoyed, so annoyed, omg, shiet.

He can't find my friends anywhere. payce they out dawg, no one wants to play.

Was it because he didn't give them loot bags ? He would have given all the loot bags in the world if anything positive for him showed up (if you haven't noticed it's been negative). But kid didn't have loot bags to give away because he didn't have any of his own. His were shot as if there was a drive-by to personally shoot the bag like there is a personal rain cloud over cartoon characters.

But then he moved out of the house of cook.

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by B.J. on 10/12/2003 08:01:00 AM 0 comments Print this post

Most Random Page of Bloggerness

I did not realize how mind-tripping Harlan's July webpage was.

Like this: complete listing of bathrooms around the globe., like this: the very first South Park, like this: boxer dying in the first round of a fight., like this: women reviewing video games and controllers that vibrate.

By the way, he says that somewhere in July is where the truck dismount game is, the game where you get a truck and put a virtual guy in various positions and see how much damage you can do. I don't see it ! Where the hell is it ?

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by B.J. on 10/11/2003 10:45:00 AM 0 comments Print this post

Zion I = The Music of Anthropologists (at least for one anthro major)

Zion I takes you on a trip not only with their experimental, "ethereal beats", but also with their abstract lyrics. There's always something to figure out with them. Zion I's lyrics kick ass. And you won't find the ones that are not linked, except here on my website.

When you're in a Critical situation and you're Trippin', this crew will take you to Elevation like you're some kind of Silly Puddy. How Many. Boom Bip.

This song "One More Thing" is the one I listen to most cause it has guitars, slow, distorted, mellow rap, all making me feel like I'm in Egypt.



Zion I - "One More Thing"

[Zion I]

Systems
Of
Pressure,
Blessing
My
Freshest,
Light-hearted, breathe
Deep inside we weave
Mental styles to see,
Tryin' to listen believe
Into my heart,
My heart,
A spark. . .

Black markers written on walls
I�m standing so tall
We ball
Sometimes we fall
Gotta get up don�t trip up high
So Paul
Speakin� my gospel do it like this
But life it feels hostile ,
I
Search the skies I�m doing it everything
This is how I shall rise

[Susie Suh]

We all know
We all know

Yeah

We all know

But I got
one more thing
And I don�t
know what to say
And I don�t
know what to say

[Zion I]

Brain cells react
Every time that I put in on impact
Car attack
Method explode
Let me explain what my raps
Written in blood, livin� in water
Do everything like the daughter of earth
Work, place, church
Sometimes it seems I�m not
Worth anything that I would be
I sing my song so I can be free
Just watch me
Clock me
Liberation is all that I know
My flow

[Susie Suh]

You
know
Oooooohhh
Baby I don�t know
Baby I don�t know (you that good)
I got one more thing to say
But I don�t how
I don�t know how

One time
For your mind
Susie Suh Zion I
One time
We can just shine
Just let it come out
And goin� the round up the place da la la la la la la la la la

The Drill's just a deep water slangy headbopper.

Zion I - "The Drill"

Stranded on asylum
My self need it silent
Ground let the mash
Bump the flame like a pilot
See me on the sign and little z
Betta holler
Always pop my collar
Roll like a rotweiler
Diesel when we flex this
Slide on my nexis
Amp live always represent texas
Ima get it hotter than a dance floor chatter (chatter)

Flex like this war sex that your fizzo
Why you getting jelled
Baby backing on your fizzo
I keep it solar
Melt down your polar
Your just a little baby cub on my sonar
I been doin� it and doin� it well
But you probably couldn�t tell
Cause I�m short on my mail
Make or break six double eight
Makin� a sell
What That they told me at the label
But I rebelled
I�m like Nat Turner
Carryin� two black burners
My rap stacks attack like axe murders
And push further to the point of no return
Zion I burn like a thick stick of sure

[Refrain]

Is you with this?
You know the drill
Its Zion I massive on the real
Did you like that
We gotta be
We end on a
Then we rock for you

X 2

Is you with this ?
Come on little mama

X 4

I�m like the cat working� corporate
who never got a raise
Who slaved in hell a thousand days underpaid
Went to school to be a scholar now miseducated
But Fuck what you know if you still can�t make it
Seen a sister shake it break it to pay the monthly bills
Tuition, rent, survival skills its fo real
But I�m stick in this limbo
I speak to my kimfo
Relate to the style
Cause you understand
You been broke
Seen a lotta sufferin�
Seen a lotta woes
But where I finally go
Only might Ja knows
So I spit my lines
Makin� minds hypnotized
I hope the gates of heaven open wide
When I die
While you clamorin� glamour
I�ll be stammerin� gramma
You like arm�n hammer
I�m the funk Alabama
To bounce with the clout
Bringin� large amounts
Trust me keep it dust till you turn shit out

[Refrain]

Some say I�m too deep

"Finger-paint" is the song that every girl likes. But nonetheless still tight.

Zion I - "Finger-Paint"

Feel my finger paint
Color to stimulate cha
Rise relate cha
Pass in love and nature
Rhymes to break ya, take ya
Up to the maker
Away from the pain
We feelin� safer
The liberate to rectify the soul
Written in red, green, black
Trim it with gold
We been in war
Hey man we seen it all before
Got you feeling the fundamentals of flow toe-to-toe

How we battle
You can light the shadow
Walking with
You bring a barrage of marshmellow
Yellow
Words and word curse
Lip style mellow
Zion the lion-hearted fellow
Bellow

Finger paint you can hold the weight
When the mind is great, then the soul create
I reperate like water when I change my state
Mindscape to the next levitate

[Susie Suh, Refrain]

Breakin� all the shit that I don�t want to hold
Makin� all the slumbers inside me flow
So in all the seasons can make me grow
And I�m breathin�
I�m breathing� slow

x 2

[Dust]

Feel my finger-paint as the world spins
Let my finger-paint cleanse your sins
My finger-paint�s paintin� all colors on your skin
See my reflection in my brother, my twin
I�m spark in a light to your soul deep within
You can hear the echo when I drop my pen
The children hold hands under the rainbow
Everywhere we go we bring the same flow
Feel my finger-paint on my para-bola
Supernovas, nebulas, satellites
My finger�s paintin� all over the mic
My finger�s paintin� lightning when it strikes
Bring down the rain, release the pain
Master the craft, die ya rocks ya game
My fingers paint across all terrain
My finger paint penetrates your brain

[Refrain]

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by B.J. on 10/08/2003 10:43:00 PM 0 comments Print this post

Some Notes on Taking Notes

:brushing off dust:

Arnold is the governor (bad). Prop 54 did not pass (good). Belinda had a birthday (good). The Cubs 2 days ago and came back and blew the fish out of the water (goo. . .I don't know).

More on all that shit later.

Damn, I feel like my mind is out of shape.

Oh well. Whatevs.

But case in point: I forgot all the techniques of note-taking that took me to academic success last year.

The story is:

The best notes I ever took was in Oceans last Winter. My notes were all fucked up at first. But when study time for the first midterm came and I realized that there would be no point to taking notes if I was not going to use them, I re-wrote the notes and made big headlines for new topics and subtopics on additional pieces of paper, arranging everything by date. Beneath those pieces of paper, the folder I always wrote on a folder which added resistance to my pen, making the notes a lot neater. Damn was it fun to feel the spokes of my hard-pressed all-capitals writing on the back of those notes.

But then I had spring quarter. I fucking fell asleep in every single class because of this shitty Tuesday/Thursday only school sched. I was not always on top of the reading. My notes just became random shit I would write during the boredoms of the class. But virtually all my tests that quarter were papers (one Community Activism midterm).

Now I have to re-learn how I made my notes cool because I have an actual test again.

Here's what I remember:

- Make big headlines
- Write neatly by pressing down hard with a pen on a folder(it's my way of keeping my own attention)
- Organize
- Put dates
- Make the shit have meaning

I just realized today that my notes suck.

Before



After



They'll get better, I think.

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Wigga What? No on Prop 54

by B.J. on 10/03/2003 04:50:00 PM 0 comments Print this post

You get more thorns poked into you talking about race than running through the Exposition Park Rose Garden.

Rush Limbaugh recently re-signed from ESPN because of criticism for saying that one player, Donovan McNabb was overrated (which would have been fine if he just stopped here) because of the "liberal" media's hype of him and their desire to see a black quarterback succeed. The funny thing is that Rush would support Prop 54.

Proposition 54 calls for a 'color-blind' society. Ideally that's a great thing but it would work only in a society that did not have such diverse living conditions. Fact of the matter is that race is an issue because people are still segregated. Individual people still segregate themselves because they feel like they don't belong. And being segregated, they have different concerns and interests.

Prop 54 would regress from dealing with specific people's concerns and interests. It's just thinking about one part of society.

The only society these Prop 54 proponents think about in proposing Prop 54 is the segment of society that seeks and thinks they get denied jobs. (In the grand scheme of things, these proponents eventually find jobs and go on to do bigger and better things like yell at poor folk, with blacks and Hispanics in mind, for failing to "work for their money.") There's more to society than those that seek jobs or college admissions.

In the rest of society, there are what you call doctors, educators, and scientists that actually need race to discover and treat trends.

Doctors need race and ethnic information to be able to treat ethnic-specific diseases because fact is that diseases are not color-blind. Sickle-cell disease gets African-Americans. Tay-Sachs gets those of Eastern European descent. Asian women are four to seven times less likely to develop breast cancer than American women; yet when Asian women migrate to the U.S., their risk of breast cancer rises by 80 percent over two decades (Breast Cancer Facts 2001, The Breast Cancer Fund, 2001).

Educators and scientists need race to discover trends of this society. For example, South Central Los Angeles, 90058, which is 59% black and 38% Latino, has five times the level of hazardous materials emissions as the next worst zip code in the state ("California's Endangered Communities of Color," Environmental Justice and Equal Protection, 1994). Or the Bayview Hunters Point section of San Francisco, where 91% of the residents are people of color, has ten times as many contaminated water dischargers on a per capita basis as the rest of San Francisco, four times as many polluted air dischargers, five times as many facilities storing acutely hazardous materials, three times as many leaking underground storage tanks, and four times as many contaminated industrial sites (Hastings West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, Clifford Rechstschaffen, 1996).

People living in such a diverse amount of conditions will not have the same concerns. An accented NO on Prop 54 should help keep focus on what certain groups of people are suffering from and how they are not doing well. Without a No on Prop 54, we'd would be more than just color-blind. We'd actually have to use Braille.

And no, this guy below had zero influence on my supporting of 54. But it was nice to hear him speak on Thursday.


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by B.J. on 10/01/2003 01:51:00 AM 6 comments Print this post

Re: Focus on Anything But Yourself, September 29, 2003

Two days ago I wrote:

"The more you focus on yourself, the more depressed you become. When you focus on yourself, you'll likely only see the bad in you.

The answer ?

Focus on other shit other than yourself and you'll be happier. You best distract yourself."

Thanks to Strizzo taggin' up the board like it was going out of style and Cress being not at her best, I've been inspired to clarify exactly what I meant and what I was thinking when I made such bold statements.

Be grateful and happy is what I meant to say especially if you're middle-class.

But first, let me address some of Strizzo's concerns.

-I was just trying to get an idea across in my own words. With "depressed" I simply meant "down." I meant for the idea to be representative of my raw thoughts.

-Relationships with other people falls under the category of thinking about yourself because those relationships are still about how it holds you, the individual, up. It's not beyond a person.

People in this society focus on themselves because it's natural, dummy. It's what everyone does. People focus on themselves because it's their own lives to make great or fuck up. It's the only life that should matter. However at a deeper level inside the left tittie, people think no one else could hold and care about them. The feeling is probably most profoundly felt in an impoverished home with a missing parent or two. At any rate people in this society do the caring and holding of themselves, themselves.

United States society also pounds into the generic television-brainwashed head that you yourself needs to achieve something as an individual to be validated, loved, and happy. All this need-to-do-something (super-exacerbated in the impoverished population) thinking leads people into the defensive against each other and has them wondering how they could improve themselves.

Fending for thyself can be extremely stressful.

So people think about themselves and always wonder how they could improve. Let the self-defeat begin ! A drink here. A smoke there. A breakdown somewhere. All to ease the pain of being a complete, undoubted, miserable, stupid, no-name loser/failure (sarcasm). And before you know it, it's another hazy Requiem for a Dream sequence.

My point was that "happy" people in this society generally think beyond themselves. The happy fools show and give da love rather than search and ask for it. Spread the love to the "unfortunates". It's one of those paradoxes that I learned from Grandmaster Michael Cheney de Loyola in 10th grade.

I do not mean to proselytize, patronize, and become a walking religion class, but it's something I've noticed. . .

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