Papaoomowmow

Far from home,
his history ends. A squirrel
is fat for winter.
It bounds across the quad.
And god watches over all.

Yesterday I bought a planner for the next year.  I've bought planners every year since high school.  I've bought many different kinds of calendars: At-A-Glance, Day-Timer, and San-X.  Since 2005 I've bought Moleskines.  The planner I bought yesterday was also a Moleskine.  It's so exciting to peel the plastic wrapping off them, and imagine what I might be writing in them soon.  This year the last two lines of each day are marked for weather and temperature... a thoughtful addition.

Have you ever won anything at a carnival, arcade or midway game?

I have never won anything at a carnival game.  I'm bad at them.  I had a stuffed animal won for me once.  It was very big... it was three feet tall.

Are you a registered organ donor?  Why or why not? 
Submitted by jacolily.

I'm not sure if I'm properly registered.  This summer I got a state ID and asked to be an organ donor, but my ID card says it needs two witnesses' signatures.  I don't have those yet.

I think it's good to be an organ donor.  It's good to be generous.

I made a walking avatar at the Simpsons Web site.

That's me! :D

I just added this book to my Amazon wishlist:

 

 

 

It's a nice picture, okay? :)

Now Amazon is telling me that customers who bought this book also bought:

1. Horses of the Sun: A Gallery of the World's Most Exquisite Equines
2. Managing Your Supply Chain Using Microsoft Dynamics AX
3. Stallions of the Quest

One of these does not belong.

How did I find this book?  Amazon told me that customers who bought "Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice" (Third Edition, mind you) also bought "Macroeconomics," "A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases and the Cure of Advanced Cancer by Diet Therapy: A Summary of 30 Years of Clinical Experimentation," "Modern Industrial Organization," "Children's Minds," "Introduction to Tessellations," "Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics," "The Entrepeneurial Imperative: How America's Economic Miracle Will Reshape the World," "Games of Strategy," and books on unicorns.

I'm not sure what's going on!

is community a driving force for me? location? work? individuals? what is it that gets me up every morning, gets me out the door, gets me excited about living? what do i look forward to? do i look forward too much? more than being here and now? am i 'here and now' during the activities i spend time looking forward to?

I found these questions here.  I was surprised I didn't feel I could immediately answer them.  Community, location, work, and individuals are each important to me.  Individuals are probably the most important to me.  I believe people should set good examples for each other, and they shouldn't give that up in the name of anything else.

Right now I'm not sure what I look forward to.  But people definitely shouldn't look forward too much.  Looking forward too much means that you're not seeing what you have now.  And you're never satisfied by the things you anticipated, because you're anticipating something else by the time you get them.  That's bad.

In China, developers wanted to demolish a block of houses.  One couple wouldn't move out of their home, so the construction site looks like this:

I heard that the couple divorced, and only one of them is fighting now.  This is her:

I wish I could have seen Beijing and Shanghai while they still had their old houses.  I know living conditions weren't good there... it's a selfish wish.

In Taipei, my great-aunt lived in a neighborhood like that with her daughter.  That was also cleared.  I saw their place before it was demolished.  It was run-down, drafty, and old-fashioned.  The plumbing and electrical were bad.  But it was on a narrow, crooked alley with other old, one-storey houses.  It had a lot of character and history.  The property actually belongs to a university.  My great-uncle worked for the university and that is where they lived.  I think they live in a apartment tower now, also owned by the university.  I'm sure it's better, but I'm sad that it isn't the same.

Did you order Girl Scout cookies this year?  What kind?

I did!  I ordered one box each of Samoas, Tagalongs, and Thin Mints.  I don't have them yet.  I hope that my order didn't get lost.

I didn't order any last year and I want some really bad by now.

My work mind is different from my academic mind.  When I am working with academics, I make instant and complete judgments on everything I hear and see.  I ignore others' body language and I'm aggressive and critical.  I ignore lines of argument whose premises are unacceptable.  I derail conversations in order to assure that they are premised acceptably, and if I can't do this, I tune out while I mentally refine my argument.

When I am working with regular people, this goes down like a brick in water.

I was just getting good at academic mind again.  Now I am working and I have to use work mind.  Will I lose one for the other?  I hope not.  I want to go back to school.  I want to go back to school and do extremely well, and I don't want to lose my edge.

Life's hard.