Final Meeting with Jinn

Sadly Jinn and I had our last meeting today. It's so weird to me that I just met her this semester, yet it feels like I've known her for years.

We discussed our plans for the upcoming weekend; I told her it was one of my girlfriend's birthdays so I was in charge of planning her dinner celebration, presents, and all that good stuff. Coincidentally, it's her boyfriend's birthday this weekend too. She feels like she's already given him everything you could possibly give a boyfriend over the years, so she has to get creative. She said he wants a motorcycle, but there's no way that's going to happen anytime soon.

We then talked a bit about surprise parties and how much we both dislike them. Her friends in China used to throw her them and she always dreaded it. She told me that as she's gotten older, birthdays have gotten less and less important to her. When she was younger, she used to enjoy going out and getting all dressed up, but now she said she'd prefer to just sit at home on the couch and relax. I can definitely relate, when I was a kid I remember thinking my birthday was the most monumental event of the year, and over time it’s become less climactic. 

We talked about her upcoming trip to Greece and she began telling me about her travels all over the world. I told her how much I wanted to go to Europe and she encouraged me to, but advised me not to study abroad because it’s such a touristy experience. She said when you’re on your own; you get to be more immersed in the local culture. If you are studying abroad with a bunch of other Americans you know, you don't get the real feel of the place. I thought this was really good advice; I had never considered that perspective before.

She told me her three favorite places to travel to are Italy, France, and Spain. Italy is beautiful and has the best food but Spain is a lot cheaper. Although she isn't a huge fan of France, she said Paris is a must-go. 

The remainder of our time together was focused on one topic: cats. When we were talking about her trip to Greece, she told me about her boyfriend’s parents' evil cat. (Side note: I am NOT a cat person and this conversation only confirmed those feelings of hatred). The cat literally sounds like it is demon possessed. She said it scratches people whenever it wants attention (sometimes drawing blood) and always throws up in her bed. She shared one story about how her boyfriend’s mom broke three ribs because of this cat. Her stories (awful as they were) were pretty hilarious and I was glad she shared them with me.

After we finished talking, I gave her my home address for the summer and she promised to send me some postcards from Europe. I told her to text me or email me if she is ever back in Fort Worth, and she said she would. As we said our goodbyes, she handed me a postcard that she had written a nice note on the back. It was sad saying goodbye, but I’m so grateful that I got to meet Jinn and get to know her better over the course of this semester.

Lie Witness News- Coachella Edition

As I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed, I saw that various friends had posted the same link from the Jimmy Kimmel show. So naturally, I decided to watch it. If you haven't seen it already, I highly encourage you to do so (it's only about 3 minutes!)

Basically, Jimmy Kimmel sends out a news crew to interview people at the Coachella music festival about all these fake bands he and his team have made up. The way people react to these interviewers is hilarious. They play along, confidently acting like the bands' biggest fans, but in reality the bands don't even exist. Some of them go to absurd lengths to make their lies believable, which makes it all the more enjoyable.

Most of them don't even miss a beat. One group of teens rambled on about how the "Obesity Epidemic" is "new and innovative" and "has a great style". Another guy even said that he had played one band's album on his community radio station in Canada.

Another thing that makes it humorous is how absurd these fake band titles are. Most of them aren't even believable, yet still people buy it.

It's a classic example of superiority theory. We laugh at them because we are glad it's not us in that position. We like to imagine we wouldn't be that foolish, but in reality we would probably be inclined to lie just like they did.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_IzYUJANfk&feature=youtu.be

Thoughts on Twain

Since I'd never been exposed to Mark Twain before, I had zero preconceived notions about him as a person. Of course I had heard he was a great American author, but other than that he was simply just a household name to me. I don’t know how, but I escaped reading most of the classics in high school. I guess this was both a blessing and a curse, but for whatever reason Huckleberry Finn was not included in my list of required reading in middle school or high school.

 When I first started reading, I was a bit thrown off. I hadn’t expected this book to be a random collection of Twain quotes. But once I got used to it, it was an easy and enjoyable read. Though I didn’t fully understand some of his quotes, I had no trouble staying engaged.  

Reading all these different excerpts helped me understand why he is such an acclaimed author. I must say, he was the MASTER of the cognitive shift. I would read a few lines, thinking I knew exactly where it was going only to end up laughing because he had completely thrown off my expectations.

For example:

“There is nothing you can say in answer to a compliment,” said a blushing Mark Twain after a complimentary introduction to a crowd in Jamestown, Virginia. “I have been complimented myself a great many times, and they always embarrass me—I always feel they have not said enough.” (pg. 45)

What I enjoyed most about this book was getting to pick up on Twain’s style. His sassy, sarcastic, condescending tone is present throughout and he makes no effort to hide it. He had no problem pointing out the shortcomings of man and even of himself. I found that refreshing.

Literature often glorifies mankind and skips over the ugly parts of our history. We know that humans murder each other, lie to each other, and betray each other, but we don’t typically like to be reminded of that. Twain has no problem addressing the shortcomings that we all tend to brush under the rug. He does this repeatedly, even comparing mankind to animals. But not in the sense that we are equal to them, rather that we are below them.

He says:

 “If man could be crossed with a cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.” (pg. 33)

So now that I have had sufficient exposure to Twain, I can honestly say that I enjoyed this reading. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have any prior reading experience to scar me. Nonetheless, I liked this book. It might be my favorite that we have read so far this year.

Mark Twain

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” –Reader’s Digest, September 1937 (pg. 75)

It was much harder than I thought to choose only one Twain quote to comment on; I enjoyed so many of them. But this one in particular stood out to me because of how hysterical and relatable it is.

                                            

It’s a pretty common thing for us to think that we know more than our parents. At least for me, this was the constant struggle between my mom and me when I was growing up. I always failed to heed my mother’s advice because I thought she didn’t know what she was talking about. It wasn’t until I went to college and had to live on my own that I actually realized how right she was about everything.

 It’s truly idiotic to ever presume we know more than our parents. They’ve been alive way longer and will always have those years of experience and knowledge over us.

This is exactly what Twain’s remark is getting at. But it still portrays the prideful idea of thinking we are more intelligent than our parents, and that’s what makes it funny. He doesn’t consider the possibility that he himself had matured; naturally it was his father that had done the learning.

To this day, I catch myself doing the same thing. Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot more respect for my parents’ wisdom than I used to. But there is still a small part of me that harbors this foolish pride, thinking I’ve got it all figured out.

So this quote begs the question- do we ever really grow out of that?

Sweet Frog with Jinn

Jinn and I had our sixth meeting today at Sweet Frog. We both got some ice cream and then sat down to catch up.

Jinn leaves for Greece in a few weeks (May 4th to be exact) to visit her boyfriends hometown and meet his family. She can’t wait to leave, she even asked her boyfriend if he could book an earlier flight. After spending some time in Greece, Jinn's going to Italy and Spain for the remainder of the summer. It's so weird to me to think that I met Jinn only a few months ago and in a few short weeks, I will probably never see her again. She doesn't think she will be back in the United States any time soon, so sadly our next meeting will be the last time we ever get to talk face-to-face.

Somehow we ended up on the topic of zoos (don't ask me how). I have never been to the Fort Worth Zoo before (its definitely on my to do list), but Jinn had been a few times so she told me all about it. She doesn't really like zoos because seeing animals in cages makes her sad. I told her about the San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld, both of which she had never heard of. I knew this shouldn't have surprised me being that shes from a foreign country and all, but I was shocked that she hadn't ever heard of Shamu! 

She told me how much crocodiles (she calls them “cocos”) and gorillas scare her, so she always avoids those exhibits when she goes to zoos. Ever since she saw King Kong, gorillas have terrified her. Her boyfriend, ironically, is afraid of mice. She made fun of him about that for a little while.

Next we talked about our plans for the weekend, and I told her a had a formal I was going to on Friday. She didn't know what that was, so I explained it to her as a prom type event, but then realized she didn't know what prom was either! I felt stupid for assuming she would understand these things, and tried to explain it to her as best I could. Jinn and I talk so easily about so many different things that sometimes I forget she’s from a different country, weird as that sounds.

We then talked about the differences between what girls wear to formal events in China and what they wear here in the U.S. Jinn said that when she and her friends would go to a formal event, they would get all dressed up in long dresses and heels. She noticed that it seems more normal for girls here to wear short dresses to formal events. She informed me that in general, people in China dress much more formally, even if it's just for regular day-to-day activities. 

After we had finished chatting, we parted ways and decided to meet up next Thursday for our last meeting. I’ll be sad when these weekly meetings are over!

Meeting Number 5

For Jinn and I’s fifth meeting we met up at the bookstore. Since it was such a nice day out, we sat outside and chatted for a while.

Jinn had just gotten back from her trip to California with girlfriends, so we talked a lot about the different things she did there. She went to Disneyland for the first time and LOVED it, but wasn’t a huge fan of the crowds and long lines. She had mentioned that she wanted to get a Minnie Mouse hat since so many people were wearing ones, but never ended up buying one. We both agreed Disneyland is overpriced and a little intimidating at first, but definitely a must-go if you’re visiting California

She also spent a few days up north in San Francisco, which she liked a lot more than LA. She went shopping up in LA and noticed that the customer service (and just people in general) are a lot less friendly than in Texas. Since I’ve grown up in California, this is something I didn’t notice until I moved to Texas. I definitely agree with Jinn, people in California (especially the big cities) are a bit standoffish. They’re not necessarily rude; they just tend to keep to themselves.

We swapped stories about other touristy spots in California that she visited (Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, etc.) which was cool cause we had a lot of the same opinions about these places. We both loved Santa Monica but agreed that Beverly Hills is a little too high end for the average shopping trip.

She then told me more about her time in San Francisco and even recommended a few restaurants to me. She particularly enjoyed one restaurant because of all the attractive male waiters (this cracked me up) and assured me I had to go eat there next time I was in the city. I shared some of my San Francisco experiences with her, and although it had been a few years since I’d visited, hearing about her trip made me want to go back soon.

I absolutely loved getting to talk with Jinn about California. Though it made me miss home quite a bit (and made me a little jealous I couldn’t be home), it made me so happy that she enjoyed her time there.

We ran into a few of her classmates going into the bookstore, so I got to meet some more IEP students. Another one of her classmates sat down at the table next to us, and shortly after Kristin showed up. Turns out he was her new conversation partner! So we were all introduced to each other and then continued our separate conversations.

Jinn and I agreed to meet up next week for our second-to-last meeting. I can’t believe that these meetings are almost over!

"A Poodle? Not even close"

Okay- I apologize for posting another link about something funny, but my friend just showed me this article and I had to share. It's absolutely hilarious.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/ferret-poodle-argentina-125901615.html

For whatever reason, I really appreciate this type of dumb humor. I don’t know why, but this is the kind of stuff that makes me lose it and fall on the floor laughing.

The basic story is that this man bought a pair of poodles only to discover later from his vet that both poodles were actually not poodles, but ferrets (wait for it)- on steroids.

It doesn't get more absurd than that.

It's a cognitive shift at its finest. Imagine thinking you just bought two dogs and then realizing they're actually rodents on drugs. 

Initially I thought this whole thing was a joke. But it’s actually real; the tone of the article couldn’t be more serious. They even included a list of tips to make sure the animal you purchased is a real poodle and not a ferret. Because clearly, this is a widespread issue we must all be informed about.

Hidden Camera Fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In9XbjyCbnY

The clip above is a segment that was done a few years ago on the Ellen Degeneres Show. Personally I think the Ellen show is absolutely hilarious, and in my opinion this episode takes the cake. I had seen it awhile ago, but a friend sent it to me the other day, so I thought i would share.

Ellen is a huge practical jokester; for this prank she put a tiny microphone into David Beckham's ear as he went in for a massage and she demanded he say whatever she dictated into the earpiece. Ellen did this segment before with Dennis Quaid too (if you think this video is funny be sure to look up that one too- its hilarious).

What makes it so funny to me is that David Beckham totally commits to this role. He says everything Ellen tells him to say, delivering each line with confidence. And he barely wavers when he speaks, somehow maintaining a serious face the entire time. Meanwhile, the viewers are hysterically laughing in the audience and Ellen is cracking up at her own lines.

Obviously the cognitive shift plays a huge role in this kind of humor. And that is due to the absurdity of Ellens' demands. She makes Beckham say crazy things that we would never expect (like for the masseuse to not use her thumbs). This element of ridiculousness is what we find so funny.

We enjoy seeing famous people make total fools of themselves because its something we all do. It reminds us that they're human too. We like seeing these celebrities we hold in such high esteem be the butt of the joke- because we've all been there and we know what it feels like.



Hope y'all enjoy!

Souvenirs and Such

“She never did decide (on joining a church).  She did develop a terrific hankering for a crucifix, though.  And she bought one from a Santa Fe gift shop during a trip the little family made out West during the Great Depression.  Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.”  Slaughterhouse-Five, pg. 49

My quest to find a souvenir took me pretty far (and by “pretty far” I mean the TCU Bookstore). So after looking around a bit, I found this TCU mug.

It may not seem like anything, and it isn’t really, but my mom and I have this tradition where we collect mugs from different colleges. It began when I started visiting colleges at the beginning of my junior year. My mom and I rarely take trips together just the two of us, so when we made our travels plans to look at different universities we decided we would turn it into mother daughter time. I looked at nine different schools, and on every one of these trips it was just my mom and me. Since I applied to a bunch of random schools scattered across the country, it gave us the opportunity to go visit a bunch of states I probably would’ve never seen. So for every school I visited, we bought a mug. Even when I visited a school I knew I wasn’t going to go to, we still bought one just for the heck of it. Over time it became our tradition.

Below is a picture of one of these mugs we collected. It’s from the University of Chicago which I visited last winter. We have mugs from all over the place: Seattle, Boston, Santa Clarita, San Francisco, and of course, Texas.

So when I wandered into the bookstore and saw the large collections of mugs, it immediately reminded me of all the trips I took with my mom the past two years.



Initially after I read this line from Slaughterhouse 5, I’ll admit I found it very peculiar and maybe a little pathetic. Like, who actually buys stuff from gift shops? But then I thought about it and realized we are all probably guilty to some degree. That’s why Vonnegut says "Like most Americans". We buy little trinkets and stupid toys to represent things that we deem are important. We give them sentimental value. So yes, there does seem to be some truth to the idea that we try to make sense out of these things we find in gift shops. Otherwise we wouldn’t buy them right?

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the links to my other group members' blogs!

http://smileswithmackie.blogspot.com/
http://kfaciane.blogspot.com/