AO Spring 2009

ao-spring-2009-issue-2-v2

Hong Kong Trip pt 1

I got back later then I told everyone, cuz I spent two extra days in Hong Kong.

Day 1:

Honestly, I really tired of being treated like a second class citizen at the airport.  This was the procedure I went through:

1. Take off everything remotely metal as well as shoes (standard procedure for everyone)

2. Walk through metal detector (it didnt go off)

3. Get blocked by the TSA guard anyway who informs me I need to be patted down (no one else has been at this point)

4. I go to get my bag, and then I’m informed that they need to search it

5.  TSA bitch paws through bag, removes one AA battery and my mp3 player then claims that was the problem…doesnt realize theres another battery still in the bag.  Takes it to the corner for further screening.

6. True Americans walk around, give me a puzzled look, and go on with their business.

7. I walk away from TSA screening cursing and with my pants falling off since i forgot to put my belt back on

By contrast, security at Vancouer and Hong Kong airports were much much more reasonable

My family was stopped at all three aiports, but the times in Vancouver and Hong Kong were for (sort of) legitmate reasons.  In Vancouver my grandma had bottle of lotion over 3 oz.  Stupid rule, but it was a rule everyone follows.  The security guy was nice about it though and let us empty it into a smaller container.  In Hong Kong my grandma forgot (AGAIN) to check some powder into the suitcase.  The security guy in Hong Kong looks at the container curiously, shakes it, and gets a faceful of powder.  Embarresed, he closes it, gives it back and lets us through.

Frankly I think its a disgrace that as a natural born citizen I need to enter the airport screening like a convicted felon.

The plane delayed in New York for two hours which meant I missed the connecting flight in Vancouver.  Quick note guys, if you miss ur flight, and its the airlines fault they can provide you with a hotel and food vouchers.  That was indeed preferable to spending 24 hours at the airport waiting for the next AirCanada to Hong Kong.

Well due to time differences i would have had only 4 days in Hong Kong so we extended the stay two extra days.

Day 3: (i dunno with all the time differences im gonna count Day 3 as the first day in HK)

Explored around Mongkok (were the hotel was).  My mom discovered that she could get a wheelchair for my grandma from the hotel.  The thing weighed a ton, and guess who had to push the thing, as well as carry it up and down the subway?  Me of course.  Did I mention the thing weighed a ton?  Thing was so sturdy, they probably made it from the same material as the space shuttle…

Either way, I think my muscle mass increased significantly and I burned off 5 pounds that week.

Day 4 – Went to Central and Admiralty.  Surprisingly the only time I actually went to Hong Kong Island.  I didn’t see much there except Pacific Place as well as some buildings (lol..as a New Yorker im not easily impressed).  Afterward, I went up Victoria Peak on the tram.  I would have wanted to hike the distance, but there was the matter of the 300 pound wheelchair as well as the fact that my mom didnt want to walk ANYWHERE.

Hong Kong from the Tram.

continued later…i have to write an article once

What, gives you the right?

Tonight I had the displeasure of attending a talk given by Neo-con Islamaphobe Robert Spencer, hosted by the Binghamton University Zionist Organization and the Binghamton Review (the conservative publication on campus).  The fact that this man was allowed to spew hatred on our campus confounds me.  His entire presentation was aimed at convincing the article that Islam is a threat to Americans and the American way of life.  What surprised me the most was when he started quoting from the Koran as if he were an expert.  Sir, studying Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina DOES NOT make you an expert.  Frankly, sir, when you decided to shout down the Muslim students when they tried to correct you shows arrogance above and beyond that which I have ever seen.  You pick the most convenient passages and quote a few extremists and then feel that you have a legitimate conspiracy theory where Muslims seek to take over the United States.  You insist that people reject the notion that Islam is a “religion of peace”.  The question I have for you, is WHAT gives you the right, to come to this university and tell us that you know, the “truth” about Mohammad and Islam.  WHAT gives you the right to tell Muslims that you KNOW what the Koran says, and that others are choosing to ignore what it says.  Lastly, WHAT gives you the right to shout down students and impose you’re radical beliefs on others.  You, are no better than those Imams and extremists that you condemn.  You live in a world of your own and you need to wake up.

The ironic thing is, he said nothing of Zionism but rather decided to go on about his own beliefs.  This isn’t the first timw that this has happened on our campus.  Daniel Pipes and Dinesh D’Souza were both allowed to speak here last year in spite of their hateful and an inflammatory rhetoric.  These three men and their rhetoric have no place on our diverse and multi-cultural campus.  I am all for freedom of speech and freedom of expression, but please, don’t use my tuition to bring these fuckers to our campus where my other activities suffer from chronic shortages of funding.  It’s ridiculous, so please find somewhere else to spew this garbage.  This campus needs to stand up to this hateful behavior, the backlash would be tremendous should a speaker be allowed to criticize Israel or the Bible on this campus, and the same protection should be afforded to other students as well.

Proposition 8

I think its time to start writing again.

For too long we Americans have let ourselves become slaves to the whims and opinions of others.  Others who think they know what’s best for us, who think they can dictate and tell us how to live our lives.  I am appalled that something like Proposition 8 (to ban gay marriage) is even on the ballot in California. Gays have every right to marriage and to deny them of something so basic and fundamental is frankly, un-American.  To those people that spew garbage about “protecting” the institution of marriage, why not look at divorce rates? 1 out of every 2 marriages end in divorces.  To say that marriage is something scared in this country is laughable.  Not when you can be wed via drive-through in Las Vegas.  Civil Unions aren’t enough and never will be enough.  The whole “separate but equal” thing is inherently unfair and discriminatory.  Religious groups, 80% from outside California have poured thousands of dollars of they’re congregation’s money into fighting to pass this proposition.  They view California as a “battleground” on which this issue is too be settled.  Honestly, what gives you the right to tell people how to live they’re lives?  What gives you the right to impose you’re values on others?  Conservatives sicken me.  They’ve held this country from greatness for far too long and hold way too much power in our system.  Meanwhile, John McCain and others have the need to pander to thier needs rather than dismiss them as they rightfully should.  Religion in this country is now a protection racket, preaching morality and brotherhood while working to undermine the rights and liberties of others.   If you look at organized crime in the early 1900s, you will see a shockingly similar pattern.  Buying politicians and offices, lobbying for favorable legislation and imposing thier values and beliefs.  In some parts, it only takes a few words to make or break senators, congressmen, governors and even presidential candidates.  Frankly, in California, people need to stand aginast Proposition 8 and against the right-wing conservative religion syndicate, and show that we Americans will not stand for bigotry and injustice against our friends, neighbors, colleagues and family.  We are a better nation than this, and it is my sincere hope that our children will look back on this and wonder how we could have been so foolish to try to deny same-sex couples a basic, fundamental right,

About The Myanmar Situation

I’m surprised this isn’t bigger news, but the actions of the Myanmar junta are reprehensible and something clearly needs to be done. Frankly, I’m surprised the UN hasn’t done a thing against the regime and I don’t even understand why it exists anymore if it can’t take action. It’s not bad enough that Myanmar is denying visas to aid workers, then taking the foreign aid and putting their own names on it. It seems that the regime is only interesting in solidifying its power rather than helping its people. This is seen in the holding a constitutional referendum yesterday despite the fact the most of the country is trying to piece their lives together rather than voting. Now, the only thing people in Burma can rely on are the monks, the same monks beaten and roughed up in the protests last fall are clearing the roads and feeding the people while going hungry themselves. I hope this serves as a wakeup call to the international community that the government on Myanmar is corrupt and illegitimate

Thus the solution,

China must stop propping the junta up. Clearly, even they can see the wrong here. After than, the UN needs to organize an intervention comprising of Chinese and American forces as well neighbors such as Thailand and India to take out the junta in a peacekeeping operation. From there, we can finally deal with the situation. This needs to happen very very soon, as people will start dying for hunger and disease. If we don’t do this, 1.5 million people will die and refugees will flood other countries, especially Thailand. I remember either last month or two months ago, 40 or 50 Burmese migrant workers suffocated in a van going to Phuket. We’ll see more of this is something isn’t done to help Myanmar. This won’t be an occupation, we can be out of there in a little as a year with a democratic government in place. We need to do this, for the people, for the monks and especially for the dying children.

Matt Nathanson/Lifehouse

Spring fling was yesterday, I didn’t spend much time at the day part though because I was completely K.O.ed by my allergies (which are thankfully gone now). I did manage to drag myself out two see two of the musical performances that night.

At 8 there was Matt Nathanson, (one of his songs was on Scrubs and it wasn’t too bad). The crowd was pretty thin at that point (and frankly cold and wet) but he did a good job of warming the crowd up. The best part of course was when he did his own rendition of “Don’t Stop Believing” with everyone singing along. That was fun. =]

Lifehouse was supposed to play at 9:15 but it took them a LONG time to set up after Matt Nathanson. At around 9ish the rain started pouring Binghamton-style so I started to get soaked. I kinda got lost from the other techies who pushed themselves into the center of the crowd so i stood with a bunch of other idiots who were getting as soaked as i was. Eventually Lifehouse got on and they were great. They saved their best songs for last and played a few that I’m sure no one in the crowd had ever even heard of. I have to admit, even though the hecklers next to me were annoying, they had some pretty funny jeers…

“I LOVE YOU LEAD-SINGER GUY!!!” (few people know the names of the guys in Lifehouse)

“PLAY A SONG WE’VE HEARD OF DAMMIT!” (since they rattled of three songs in a row no one had heard of)

etc…

The funniest part though was when one of the guys winked at a group of Long Island girls near me. Thier reactions were comical. They went to bitching about the rain and the fact that they were hating the concert to “OMG HE’S SO HOT, HE WAS TOTALLY LOOKING AT US”. Good stuff. Anyway, at around the middle after they had performed “Hanging by a Moment” I REALLY wanted to leave and go get dry, since I was shivering and very sore from jumping around and standing for two hours. I forced myself to stay until they played “First Time” (which turned out to be their last song) and I got back to my room as fast as I could.

All in all, my first concert ever was pretty awesome even if I was irresponsible and could have caught a pneumonia from being outside. With stuff like this I guess, you have to kille your inner rational voice that tells you to get out of the rain before you get sick and actually enjoy yourself. It’s only a matter of time before you yourself will have kids and will be scolding them for doing dumb things like what I did last night. When looking at life as a whole, this (somewhat) carefree portion of our lives will be over soon enough and I guess I don’t want to look back and say that “I should have gone to a concert” or “I should have had more friends”.

Well, back to Chinese homework now =_=;

Stuff I’m Watching

Well when I finish these series ill do reviews of them but ill write about my first impressions on watching the first couple of episodes

Elfen Lied – Not for the weak stomached, there is a deep plot and the characters are very well developed as far as I can see. Gratuitous amounts of gore and nudity as well. Its definitely the type of anime with themes both implicit and explicit. It feels alot like Chobits except with darker more adult themes such as child rape, incest and exploitation. I guess it can be related to a quote I heard in class the other day. The human capacity for cruelty expands the moment you stop considering the target as “human”. This is relevant not only to historical examples such Hitler and the Jewish Race but even today as people protest the killing of human-like dolphins. For this anime, the group that is mistreated are mutants with cat ear like horns and  powerful “vectors” that can act like psychic hands.  That’s the best I can explain it.  This anime seems to be the type that needs to be watched over and over since from only one episode many social criticisms can be seen. I look forward to writing a more in depth review later

Excel Saga – On a lighter note, Excel Saga is a weird and wacky parody type anime which can be hard to follow. The plot seems a little weak but it has its humorous moments. It chronicles the misadventures of the bumbling top agent of an organization trying to bring about a new world order by erasing scum from the world (the first targets are manga writers). In spite of the idiotic characters and disjointed story, it seems worth finishing

Black Lagoon – A little darker than the average anime it’s about a young Japanese office-worker who joins a small outfit of mercenaries who go on dangerous missions in South Asia. From the first few episodes, I can see that it is going to be interesting to see how the main character changes from mild mannered office worker in the new environment he is thrust into. The story seems to have shifted to a seemingly implausible collision between the mercs and a group of modern Neo-Nazis over a sunken U-boat in the South China Sea. Hopefully the writers behind the anime will keep the story from running wild, but that remains to seen when i finish this series.

Registration

This morning I finally got the chance to register for classes

CHIN 203 – Intermeadiate Chinese          PLSC 380S – Causes of Civil War

CHIN 202 – Singing Chinese                    MATH 130 – Mathematics in Action

HPE 256 – Emergency Health Care

So yeah. I decided to continue with Chinese, that was always my plan and I’m not going to deviate from it, even if its hard.  I’ve already invested alot of time and energy into learning it and I think I’ve made a lot of progress.  Alot of people have asked me what the “point was” to taking another year of it.  I think it’s worth it.  Not only will it become an extremely important language in the future but I’m also aiming for a career in the business world.  Try convincing me that knowing Chinese won’t be useful in the business world…go on…just try =).  Of course that isn’t my only motivation for learning Chinese but thats a post for another day.  For now it looks like my schedule will be packed, unlike my super sweet schedule from this term.  I guess I’m a little disappointed that I couldn’t fit Intermediate Tae Kwon Do into my schedule, but there’s always time for that I guess.

Anyway, I’ve told a lot of people so far but I guess I should write it down.  As of this fall term, I will not be a sophomore but rather a junior thanks to the crap load of APs  I took in high school. Due to this I have an entire year to play with.  At first I considered graduating in 2010 but it seems likely that my third year of college will be spent overseas as an international student.  Try to imagine my shock when my parents told me they were okay with this.  They don’t let me out after dark but they’re okay with me living half-way around the world for a  year.  i guess they must be tired of trying xD.  I’m hoping to go to Hong Kong or Shanghai so I can take business courses in addition to improving my Chinese.

Launch Day

Hello everyone! This is (obviously) the first post and i hope that this blog will become more thought provoking rather than a diary or a summary of my uneventful life (haha). I didn’t want to go back to my xanga mostly because not everyone could comment on the posts and it seems a little kiddy for my tastes.  I guess my reason for starting one of these is because sometimes I wish I can put words to the thoughts that bounce around my head. This blog is going to focus alot on sports and politics and hopefully you’ll find something interesting here

Best,

Calvin