Jesus Camp and What is going on in the US?

Yesterday after Composition class, NB, CS and I (since I can't use real names I used abbreviations) continued our discussion about Jesus Camp and other political and social events going on in the U.S. I have to confess that beyond my opinions I really couldn't participate much in their conversation as it turned political about the liberals versus the conservatives and universal healthcare and who the immigrants and blacks and evangelicalists and mormons would vote for. A lot of this blew over my head although the universal healthcare topic was something I could think about since we talked about it in economics recently and why it would be difficult to implement and the major tax increase that would be required. Then again, most Americans don't like their taxes raised and don't recognize that to get, essentially, free health care they have to pay for it in one way or another. I'm not sure how I feel about universal healthcare, but I think the topic we ended up discussing a lot of is the clash between the liberals and conservatives. The next presidential election is coming up in about a year and I didn't even know who any of the Republican candidates were! That is pretty sad, and I felt especially ignorant as NB and CS talked about who they think has the lead and from what group will they get the most support. In a way it doesn't really matter who the Republican candidate is for me unless he/she turns out to be liberal, but, like that's going to happen. Most of the political stuff I couldn't really contribute to and they noticed I was pretty quiet, although I did enjoy listening to them talk and enlighten me to what is going on now. So they asked me what I wanted to talk about so I brought up teaching creationism in schools and abortion because I feel very strongly about those two topics. When I mean teaching creationism in school I guess I should say, teaching creationism in science class. Teaching creationism is fine, but it should not be taught in science class and should not be put up right next to the theory of evolution. I mean how confusing is that for kids to listen to two different theories of where we originate from. Creationism is totally fine in theology class and if it's put into schools they should offer theology classes so those who want to study creationism or interested about learning about it can. I'm not a believer, I'm an atheist, and I believe that evolution is true so it's difficult for me to understand how anyone can believe in creationism. Creationism to me is as ridiculous as evolution must be to evagelicalists.

I have to go to class now, so I'll end this post with a question that NB presented to me as we talked about college and evangelicals:

What would you do if you got an evangelical roommate?

Senior Chapel

Senior Chapel was pretty fun. I enjoyed listening to the talented musicians and singers in my grade perform for us. It brought back memories from Senior year, like when we sang "Lean on Me". This is because the pre-variety show show the variety show band put on (of which I was a member) included "Lean on Me". The rhythm section played and the rest of us sang, banged a tambourine, and sort of danced around. It was probably one of the most special memories I have of variety show because I wasn't nervous about not forgetting any of the words or moves during my scene and I was with band people and my orhcestra friends. Mainly the band people though, because they were the people I spent four years with struggling through marching band and concert band and we created a bond that is different than that I have with my regular friends. Anyway, with the sound of us singing/shouting our hearts out and the AWESOME rhythm section going on in the back it was almost spiritual. I felt comfortable with myself and didn't feel like I was a fool or crazy, it was utter fun. It was ineffable because I can't find the words I want to use to describe how I felt. It was a combination of the feelings of being a senior, spending my last year at Punahou, and the "brotherliness/sisterliness" I felt toward those next to me. We put our arms on each others shoulders and swayed to the music and clapping our hands. So, thanks Senior Chapel Committee for making "Lean on Me" one of the songs we sang. It made me to relive one of the most memorable experiences of my senior year.

Protection?

Grizzly Man was entirely different than the documentary I thought we would be watching. As a youngster I enjoyed watching animal documentaries on Discovery channel, National Geographic, and Animal Planet in which I get to learn about the lives of animals I will probably never see. Grizzly Man, to me, was more so a biography of Timothy Treadwell than a documentary. Or maybe it was a biographical documentary? The video brought up a lot of issues relating to interactions between humans and animals, what is an inherent characteristic of nature, and character. Throughout the documentary I think the most difficult thing for me to understand was Treadwell's rational for going back to the Grizzly Maze and the Park each summer to "protect" the bears. According to the ecologist, the bear population can sustain a 6% decrease and still survive, so people are allowed to kill some bears since it contributes millions of dollars to the Alaskan economy. The ecologist also said that the poacher problem is not very large, so why was Treadwell so insistant that he had to protect the bears from poachers who were "sure to come"? I think it was ignorance and a selfish (though maybe not conscious) desire to bring meaning to his own life. He was portrayed as an All-American boy who ran into a lot of problems in college and ultimately spiraled downward because of substance abuse. Supposedly, Treadwell had a "near death experience" with some unknown substance, possible alcohol or cocaine or methamphetamines and decided he needed to "turn over a new leaf". So what does he do? He goes and lives with grizzly bears. Grizzly bears are HUGE. They can weight up to 1500 pounds (three quarters of a ton!), run up to 35mph, and have massive claws and powerful jaws. Why, of all animals that he could "save" would he choose an animal that has a lot of potential to kill him? If he really wanted to do good he would have tried to save an animal that really is endanger of extinction. Grizzly bears are labeled as "Least Concern" which is the lowest level of threat to an animal. Least Concern animals are not labeled as Threatened so Treadwell was protecting an animal that really did not need protection. Also, Treadwell never ran into any hunters during his 13 summers. Not one. All he did was nurture the bears and foxes to be comfortable with humans. He swam with them, petted them, and watched them and talked to them for months. Habituating them to humans only makes them that much more easy for a hunter to kill. Instead of hiding they may walk toward the poacher thinking that he would be like the other bipedal animal he saw, relatively harmless.

Otters Holding Hands

About a week ago my sister came jumping toward me as I got home from senior sing exclaiming with great excitement that there was this video on youtube that I had to watch. She said it was called, Otters Holding Hands. What? Wait, I think my ears were plugged or galactic star dust drifted into my ear, Otters Holding Hands? What the...? I thought that maybe it was some new song like the Berries & Cream commercial or Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise (which is simply genius and if you have not watched this, you must, otherwise you will die not having lived). Instead, she gets on to youtube, types in "Otters" and I see in the list of otter related videos an "Otters Holding Hands REMIX". Good lord this already has a following. She clicks the first one and it begins to play. In what I could only presume was a zoo aquarius habitat are two chestnut colored otters lying on their backs with the palms of their little paws enlaced. "Eeeee! Omigod that is the cutest thing everrr!" Ok that doesn't really deserve quotes because that wasn't what I said exactly, but I think it was somewhere along those lines and definitely said "cute" and "ever" and "Eeeeee" with wavy hand motions and a scrunched-up smiley face. The next minute or so became less satisfactory as I got a little bored of watching these two otters hold hands (kind of like the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility that I learned in economics, basically the more you have of something the less satisfaction each additional piece brings you). I waited because my sister said that the best thing was near the end so we watched and went "Awww" because the two otters drifted apart, but they kept drifting along and I guess the water current pushed them back together and one of the otters extended its arm and linked paws with the other otter and moved its head as if it was nuzzling the other otter. "OMIGOSH! That is the cutest ever!" and more "Adorable" and "Eeeeee!" followed. Wow, seriously that has got to be the sweetest showing of affection. Clearly, those two were made to be in a K-Drama. (Go Choi Ji Woo Otter! Go Bae Yong Joon Otter!)

DS

Nintendo DS. Plato's Republic. Sleeping student head. Each stacked atop each other in a poignant example of the life of a student at my school. Play. Work. Sleep. Although this may come in any order, often times it is Play, Sleep, Work, or Work, Sleep, Play. And sometimes the sleep goes on in the class instead of at home and this activity of "sleeping in class" increases exponentially as each year of high school passes. The play part has also grown since freshman year with so many different ways to deter ourselves from school work. I can't seem to walk around campus without seeing kids playing on their Nintendo DS, PSP, laptops, listening to iPods or other music players, playing cards, talking on their cell phones, or playing basketball. Those are just some of the options at school, at home there is also television and facebook and myspace and any of those other internet blog/comment sites. (Take blogger as an example, although this sort of blogging is me being productive). And why do students take the minimal amount of hours out of our day to contribute to unnecessary activities? Because we want to put off the necessary ones as long as possible! Oh, there it is, the dun Dun DUNNNN "P" word: Procrastination. Even though we could do our math homework first, which might take one to two hours, after only those one to two hours we'd be done and could either move on to the next homework item or if that was all the homework, do the things we'd rather do. It really doesn't make any sense as to why we choose to waste time when it only makes the time we actually do the work super late/super early so we are tired and are prone to falling asleep at the computer. (Oh yeah, this is another place where we fit sleep in). When I was a freshman, sophomore, and a first semester junior I knew this quite well and hardly ever did not turn in a homework or project late from procrastination or from sleeping. But now, especially as a fourth-quarter-in-college senior, homework is not so threatening as before except when it can lead to me being uninvited to the Senior's Beach Skip Day or college. Since AP's are over, the hardest of the classes, it seems like we are done with school when in fact there are still language, Economics/European History/Community Service, and English classes that have projects and homework and tests. In response, more of my peers and friends are turning towards their gameboys instead of completing "that Econ worksheet" making the "Play" and "Sleep" parts of our days supercede the "Work". Beware of too much play or sleep, keep things in balance. Not so easy to do as to preach, but maybe one of you juniors more diligant than me will follow through.

Surprises

What a year. College applications and decisions and scholarship applications for the colleges I hopefully would get in to, Northwest Passage Trip, Rose Parade Trip, PROM/Prom Committee, Senior Sing, and all the other pre-graduation activities. Not to mention two AP courses and discovering Senioritis is a real (and potentially dangerous) "disease". But when I strip down the year, peel off the special, only for senior activities, and the only-this-year activities, I think of the three people who vanished from my life. Two I didn't really know besides seeing them around campus and in the ITV room and hearing tidbits over the past four years from my friends. The third I saw and talked to at family mochi pounding, New Year's Eve parties, and when he came by to visit my grandpa or if I happened to pass him and my Aunty at Zippy's or Kahala Mall. None of the three should have died. Isn't that weird to say? Can anyone should not have died? If someone dies, I guess it can be comforting to think that it was simply their time to go. You know, so there's not as much anger and regret to think that they "went before their time". I don't really buy that. I guess, as a daughter, that I cannot see a parent die when the children are still young and believe that it was the parent's time to go. I cannot imagine what it would be like if my Dad died or if I grew up with no memories of my Dad. Another part of me hasn't accepted the third person's death, not yet. Even though I went to the funeral service and saw the urn and crying relatives I cannot really believe that I won't see him at the next mochi pounding sitting next to the wooden rice cooker tending the fire with my Grandpa. This past year reminded me that none are impervious to death. So if there's anything I learned this year, it's to make sure good-byes end on good notes because you never know when it may be the last.

Hair variety

It's pretty interesting to see the different hair styles that people have nowadays--especially the girls. There are a multitude of Asian girls with generic long hair or with long hair and bangs. This variety is also available layered or highlighted. There is also dark, long, and curly or dark, long and wavy. In blonde there is dirty blonde, platinum blonde, and, I guess, generic blonde. (?) Blondes can also come with long, short, straight, curly, and wavy.
Then there are the girls who choose the shorter hair cuts, some feminine, and some more boyish. I too have contemplated cutting my hair short. Not too short, but shaggy short, messy, and hopefully attractive. Alas, when I got into the barber's chair this past December I stared into the mirror, looked at my long locks (which I've had since forever) and chickened out. Instead of asking for a massive change in hairstyle I simply asked for a couple inches taken off the bottom, still layered, and (gasp!) bangs (also layered and not too short to make my forehead look awkward). Unfortunately, I stopped the barber too early and the tips of m bangs ended in the middle of my eyes. The pokiness and vision obstruction did not occur until I arrived home. I was afraid to take the scissors to my hair so I had to wait some two months until they grew out and weren't as much of a bother.