dreams oil joints
Sunday, February 25, 2007
a thought i had while reading la symphonie pastorale by andré gide:
how do you explain to a (congenitally) blind person what sight is, to a deaf person what sound is? do they feel like they're missing a sensory modality if they've never experienced it? all the languages that i know of base their descriptive capabilities on separating the sensory modalities, so i think it would be nearly impossible to effectively communicate what sight is to a person that's never had it in terms, for example, of sound, or of taste or touch or smell.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
People who are scared that syria or iran might get sucked into open confrontation with Israel have no idea what they are talking about. Syria's army, especially, would be obliterated in a second if it moved a finger against Israel. Assad is no fool, what he wants most of all is to stay in power, not destroy Israel. I don't believe that his antagonism towards Israel is motivated by a truly anti-Semitic or pro-Palestinian state of heart. He, like any dictator, needs an enemy to demonize in front of his people to justify his dictatorship. A dictatorship only lasts so long when there is nothing nearby for it to confront. The only Syrian who would not benefit from an amical relationship with Israel is Assad, as his power would soon falter.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
one observation about the israel-hezbollah war: i haven't heard about any violence by palestinians on israel since the war began. no hamas suicide bombings, no rocket attacks from gaza. maybe the media just haven't been reporting this stuff, though that seems unlikely. also, i would think that if hamas and co. wanted to continue doing this stuff, now would be an optimal time, with israel's attention focused elsewhere. maybe they're scared shitless of what would happen to them. i really have no idea. it's just something i've noticed.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
my two cents on the current conflict in the middle east: the israelis at the moment don't care one bit about world public opinion. at the moment, every single nation on the planet could be telling them to stop bombing lebanon, and they would still continue until they achieve whatever goal it is they think they can achieve. i think, therefore, that it is a waste of ink and/or spit to criticize them or try to reason with them, however justified the complaints might be, however rational the arguments. let's just wait until they finish what they're doing, and see what can be salvaged for lebanon, the palestinians, and the "peace process".
Thursday, February 16, 2006
motivation for school work has hit an all-time low. i can't remember caring less about grades and stupid little things like turning assignments in on time, or, for that matter, doing the assignments at all. i didn't feel this lazy even as a second semester high school senior. what am i working for here? i'm working to: a) pass East asian civ and b) pass gym. that's all i need to do. that's all i care to do.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
snow!!!!!
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
the thing i love most about the snow is how quiet it is outside when a lot of it is falling. everything is muffled, life slows down, you can just relax and enjoy nature, see how nature can completely subdue and re-naturalize even the biggest cities on Earth.
last night, after celebrating eric's birthday at saigon grill, eunji, judith and i went to see this play/rock show in the east village. really good show, the music was great (for the most part) and the guy was hilarious onstage. www.knockoutdrops.com/bellevue.htm. i hear they're about to get picked up by a big theater. anyway, afterwards we trudged over to the west side, with snow blowing in our face for most of the time. but it was so quiet and peaceful when the wind let up. we ended up at this small bar called kettle of fish, apparently one of the places that bob dylan started out at. we hung out there for a while; i drank this awesome belgian trappist beer. so good. then subway back up, then some grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich making at 2 am, and then sleep! until winter league this morning. it's great to be able to act like a 6-year old in the snow once in a while.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
in my 2 hour pre-track practice nap, i had a dream. it was a weird dream. i was taking the subway to practice with the team, except somehow the practice location was a classical greek amphitheater built around a large sandy area. this sandy area is where we going to practice. needless to say, this classical greek amphitheater was located in the Columbia campus. and i was taking the subway to it. from Columbia. anyway. for some reason, i had a large bath towel with me as my only piece of luggage. no cleats, no water bottle. just a towel. my subway trip from Columbia to Columbia required that i change subway once. and during that one changeover, i forgot my towel in the train! i got off the first train, and right as that train starts to pull away, my dream self thinks to itself, "you fucking moron, you forgot your fucking towel on that train!"
that's pretty much it. now for some running. hopefully i don't ruin my knee.
(if anyone knows of an amphitheater located between low and pupin, let me know. i think that's where it was.)
you are about to read my seven cents on the current crisis concerning the Danish cartoons lampooning radical, terrorist Islam.
the two countries where the riots are happening are Iran and Syria. not at all coincidentally, I believe, these are the two countries in the Middle East whose governments are most at odds with the Western world. one important distinction between them is that Syria has an ostensibly secular government, which i'm sure wouldn't refrain from having others use religion to elicit certain reactions from Syrians, while Iran is unabashedly religious, and so can elicit those desired reactions openly. could it be that those governments pounced on such a small, insignificant issue to divert attention, both domestically and internationally, from the trouble that they are currently in, Iran with the nuclear issue and Syria with the Lebanon issue?
frankly, even if they have intentionally been whipped up by their governments, i can't empathize with the rioters. yes, the cartoons do in a sense blaspheme the central human figure in Islam. yes, religion might be the only thing keeping some of these people sane (or, it seems, insane) on this Earth. yes, religion defines for certain people the very core of their being. yet the myriad cartoons and other pieces of satyre directed against christianity do not drive me to go burn down a couple of embassies, nor do they suscitate in me a desire to do so. even if religion were all i had in this world, if i depended on it to make sense of this world, to define my role in it, to give me hope for a better life now or later, i'd like to think that someone insulting that religion would not incite me to burn shit or call for bloodshed and beheadings.
i do sympathize with the frustrations of the Arab-Muslim peoples about the way they are regarded by first-world countries. they have essentially been relegated to the status of annoying gnats buzzing around our source of oil, both by us and by the authoritarian governments that rule them. i'm fairly sure that in the back of a significant portion of westerners' minds is the question, "why can't they all be quiet for once, or just go away?" if not for oil and iraq, we wouldn't give more of a shit about this controversy than we do about darfur.
