Jinn meets Mackie

            Jinn and I’s fourth meeting was a little different than usual. Last time we met Jinn told me about how she had fully moved into her apartment, and wanted me to come over so she could make me dinner. She had also mentioned that she wanted to meet some of my friends, so yesterday Jinn picked up my friend Mackie and I and we went to her apartment and she cooked us dinner. 

            I was unsure of how things would go with Mackie being there, but Jinn had said she wanted to meet more Americans and I knew Mackie would love meeting her. And thankfully everything went really well! Mackie and Jinn hit it off and got talking for a while about theatre (Mackie is a theatre major and Jinn had studied theatre and acting back in China). They discussed their favorite shows for a while and compared similarities and differences between theatre in China and America. It was really interesting to listen to and made me happy that they got along so well.

            Jinn lives just about five minutes from campus in a really nice apartment. She said some of her neighbors are TCU students, although she hasn’t really gotten to know them yet. Being at her apartment gave me some insight about the Chinese customs. For example, they are very strict about having shoes on the carpet. All of Jinn’s shoes were lined up alongside the stairs, so Mackie and I were careful to take our shoes off before we stepped on the carpet.

           

            She had already begun preparing dinner before she came and picked us up, so she cooked for a little while we waited in her living room. About ten minutes later, dinner was ready and we went into the kitchen and sat down to eat.

            The food was good and our conversation was easy and enjoyable. Jinn’s boyfriend came home from work and so we got to meet him, which was cool since I had heard so much about him. Jinn also told us a little bit about some of her classmates in IEP, in particular she shared with us that there is a French boy that all the girls are in love with. So far he hasn’t shown interest in anyone yet. This led to a whole new topic of conversation: boys.

            Jinn has traveled quite a bit, so she has gotten to know boys from countries all over the world. She talked about European boys, Spanish boys, Chinese boys, and American boys. She spent a lot of time telling us about all the differences in manners, style and dress, and looks. But by far, American boys are her favorite. She told Mackie and me we were lucky to have so many different boys to choose from and we all laughed.

            I’m glad I got this opportunity to hang out with Jinn in such a personal setting. It was cool to see her house and be able to pick up on some of her customs. After we finished dinner and she drove us back, she sent me a text saying she really liked Mackie and thanked us for coming over! All in all it was a night well spent.  

Slaughterhouse 5: Final Thoughts

            Slaughterhouse Five has given me pretty mixed feelings. I absolutely loathed it at first but gradually the dislike subsided as I kept reading. Even now that I’ve finished the book, I’m still unsure of how I feel about it. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. At the same time there were parts of the story I honestly enjoyed reading. The unorthodox structure was hard to get used to at first, but once I got past that it didn’t bother me anymore. Strangely enough, I even got used to it. One thing I will say about the storyline is that it kept things interesting. 

There were definitely story lines within the novel that I liked more than others. For example, I enjoyed the parts about Billy and his family, but not so much the parts about the war or about the Tralfamadorians. Though they did have some interesting things to say, those parts were too much of a stretch for me. It was enough accepting all the time travel and flashbacks, but throwing aliens into the mix made it all a little too crazy.

            I think the main thing that bothered me about the book was how pathetic Billy’s character is. He doesn’t really have any redeeming qualities. I could honestly only describe him as descriptive and indifferent.  He never expressed strong emotion or passion for anything. He seems to just float through his life, taking everything in as it happens and never challenging any of it. He doesn’t even react to any of it. This kind of complacency I found slightly frustrating. Typically the main character in novels is someone you admire or love or have some kind of emotional attachment towards. I felt nothing towards Billy aside from mild annoyance. After watching the video in class about Vonnegut talking about the structure of stories, it’s clear he neither advocates nor utilizes the traditional storyline” and I’m assuming he isn’t a huge fan of the whole “heroic protagonist” idea either. In fact, Vonnegut didn’t create any characters that were even remotely heroic. Most of them never even get developed because they die at some point (que the ever famous phrase “so it goes”).

            Speaking of, however, I did like the repetition of that phrase whenever death was mentioned. Depressing as it was, I appreciated the consistency. I also enjoyed some of the Tralfamadorians views, like their concept of time and how they were able to see moments in the past, present, and future all at once. I appreciated how Vonnegut wove that in at various points in the story, like when the Tralfamadorians were talking about how the universe ends and when Billy mentioned his death.

            Overall I think reading this gave me a better understanding of dark humor (though I can now say I’m not a huge fan of it). It isn’t the typical, ha-ha funny kind of humor, it’s the kind of humor that satirizes and makes light of serious things, like war. This book isn’t meant to actually make me chuckle.

That being said, there were times when I laughed out loud while I was reading. Most often I found myself laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Especially with Billy. I think the epitome of this absurdity was the image of him wearing the silver boots, draped in the azure curtains while walking around looking like a total fool and thinking nothing of it.

Other things I found funny were just downright terrible. They were the kind of things you laugh at, but then feel bad about it after. For example, the whole scene with the hobo dying in the box cracked me up. It was so ironic and depressing I couldn’t help but laugh.

            Despite my opinions about the book, I didn’t have any trouble reading it. It was interesting enough that I could read it without falling asleep, and in a way I enjoyed not being able to figure every part of it out. But without a doubt, this was hands down one of the weirdest books I have ever read.

Meeting 3

            For our third meeting, Jinn and I met at Union Grounds and got some coffee. We caught up on what had been going on with each other and she told me that she didn’t really get much of a spring break because she had to work and finish moving into her apartment. However, she is leaving in a few weeks to go to LA and San Francisco with a friend. Since I’m from California, this was exciting news, so naturally we got to talking about our favorite touristy spots (this is now her second time going to LA).

            I was yet again surprised by how well adjusted Jinn is here. We talked a lot about movies and books, and I was so shocked by how familiar she as with all the latest new releases. She asked me if I had seen the movie Warm Bodies (which I hadn’t), which then sparked a long conversation about movies and book series that have been turned into movies (like Harry Potter and Twilight). We both agreed the books are typically always better, and both agreed that Twilight is just downright awful.

            Then Jinn told me a little about her boyfriend; he is Italian and half Greek. They’ve been dating for almost three years and just moved into an apartment together, although they are leaving in a couple months for Europe. She said they were going to meet his parents in Greece, although she didn’t really want to (this cracked me up a bit). Jinn is very open about her relationships and her feelings, which makes talking to her easy and enjoyable. It already feels like I’ve known her for a lot longer than just a semester.

            There was one subject we talked about that was very disheartening. She told me a bit about how sometimes she is treated poorly here, by both students and professors. She often feels that teachers look down on her compared to the other students, and sometimes other students will say things about her or make snide remarks, thinking she can’t hear. She said most of the time it doesn’t bother her, but there are moments when she does feel discriminated against. She brought up her boyfriend again, telling me how people treat her differently than him. This was very upsetting to hear and I felt absolutely awful for her. It is so wrong that students like Jinn should be treated this way when they have done absolutely nothing wrong. Even just the time I’ve spent with Jinn has broadened my horizons and given me much more appreciation for the students who travel abroad. I can’t even imagine how hard it would be to come to school from a different country, and on top of that have people treat you as if you are inferior.

She did say that she has met many nice people here though. I asked her if she thought that people in general in China were nicer than here and she said no. She said there are many similarities between people in China and people in New York which I thought was interesting. Jinn’s quite the traveler, so I love hearing her comparisons not just involving china but other countries as well. She’s only 26 and has seen so much more of the world than I have, so I love hearing about all these different places from her perspective.

             

Something Funny

            So here is an instance of something I found funny that happened at the beginning of spring break. Hopefully you can get a little laugh out of it.

Let me preface this by telling you a little bit about my younger sister Sabrina. She is 15, and easily one of the strangest people I know. She is absolutely hysterical because she is so weird. Anyways, every time I have come home this year she has left little surprises in my room. And not like the cute surprises like flowers or candy or a little note. No, like weird, strange surprises. When I came home for fall break she cut out eight pictures of Kim Kardashian’s fluffy white cat and hid them throughout my room. She put them under my desk, by my bed, on my lamp, etc. Why does she do this you may ask? Couldn’t tell you. So this time when I came home she decided to surprise me again.

            And what was the surprise this time? Well she cut out pictures of Nicholas Cage’s face and covered every single photo in my room with these cutouts. Literally every single picture. I wasn’t expecting another weird surprise in my room, and this little “surprise” was much more subtle than the last. So it took me a quite a while before I realized what she had done, but I finally noticed it, I instantly starting laughing.

            I think the main reason it was so hilarious was because it came out of nowhere (yup, sorry, a cognitive shift). I have zero interest in Nicholas Cage. I’m pretty sure I’ve never even mentioned his name. But that is what makes it so funny because it was something I never would have expected. First off, I never would’ve expected her to take the time to cut out pictures of someone’s’ face and replace mine with it. Second, Nicholas Cage is about the last person I would expect her to use.

I was just sitting at my desk about to get on my computer and that’s when I out of the corner of my eye I saw my senior prom picture, featuring Nicholas Cage’s head on my body. I immediately thought “WHAT ON EARTH” and then burst into laughter. I knew it had to be the work of my little sister. That’s also what made it funny- it was such a classic “Sabrina” thing to do. I know few other people who would take the time to do something that meticulous and strangely creative. But like I said, that’s my sister for you and let me tell you, she’s a gem. No one makes me laugh as much as she does, and it’s because she does the weirdest things that throw me completely off guard.

I definitely think Morreal was right when he said that the bigger the cognitive shift is, the funnier we find the experience