conquering the world one oxymoron at a time
Archive for random
September 28, 2006 at 1:31 am · Filed under random
In my latest attempts to procrastinate instead of writing my proposal, I’ve rekindled my interest for photography. This time around, I’m acquainting myself with the fabulous world of wedding photography. The more wedding photographers’ webpages I visit, the more portfolios I see, the more I wonder why 99% of the sample porfolio pictures showcase caucasian couples. I’ve seen a couple of Asians here and there (always Asian girl marrying white guy), but I don’t think I’ve seen a single picture of a black person/couple. We know that’s not because black people don’t get married. So where are their pictures?
Why are black couples not shown in these sample portfolios (or any other race for that matter)? Do wedding photographers generally cater to a specific target audience that is primarily white? If I were black and looking for a photographer for my wedding, I would think I’d be at least a little miffed by the lack of samples showing people of my race getting married. Maybe black people tend not to hire photographers for their weddings? That seems strange to me, too, because I would think everybody would want pictures of their wedding. Or maybe I really am completely ignorant and just making blanket general statements that may or may not make any sense and could potentially be offensive to some sector of the population.
So what gives?
Maybe there are photographers who cater almost exclusively to blacks, and I just haven’t found their websites, yet. Like my high school friend who never failed to remind me that she needs “black-people-shampoo,” maybe there are “black-people-wedding-photographers,” too.
August 19, 2006 at 7:46 pm · Filed under random
My first weekend in Boston in what seems like forever, and it is already jam packed. I have maybe an hour right now to sit home in my pajamas, relax, watch tv, lay in bed, read a chapter in a book I’ve been trying to finish all summer. An hour, and that’s it. Then I’m out an about. I really want to just say “screw it” to everything, call it a night, and watch a movie. By myself.
Students/undergrads are already moving in this weekend. Next weekend grad orientation starts. I thought I had one more weekend, but no, next weekend is when everything comes crashing down. It will also mark the last weekend in August, which is pretty damn scary considering that I have made zero progress on my thesis proposal since a month ago.
This whole summer just flew by. I’ve done a lot, and in the end, it’s been a ton of fun, but none of it has been very relaxing. I really just want one weekend to myself, with no phones, no emails, no party/birthday celebration obligations. I want a weekend when I don’t have to really talk to people, when i can sit around, do nothing, dance on the carpet in my socks to stupid music, and just have ME time.
I’ve not been working much all this summer, so really I’ve had a vacation all summer. But all the “vacation” has been so exhausting that I feel like I need a vacation from vacation. I am feeling claustrophobic and suffocated, and I feel like I need a vacation where I can just be by myself for a while.
August 2, 2006 at 10:35 am · Filed under random
We’ll always miss you.
June 30, 2006 at 3:18 pm · Filed under random
Dear Bren,
Can I be your friend? I like to smile a lot, though not that often at strangers because I feel a little strange doing so, but I will start now. I wish that I had come across one of your paintings around Boston, though when I really think about it, I’m not sure what I would do. I would want to take it to brighten up my place, but I would want to leave it for the next person to have as well, and then maybe I would just take the heart of the message with me.
Bren, I like your characters. They are so adorable, and they make me want to jump up with joy and clap my hands together like a little girl who just got her favorite flavor of cotton candy. I regret not having gotten something of yours a few months ago; I saw your paintings on display at S&P, and I remember feeling so warm and fuzzy and delighted inside. My friend “commissioned” you for a painting after the Beacon Hill Art Walk; he wanted a cute little red devil on a blue background. Do you remember? I wish that I had gone that day, too, so that I could have met you in person.
You are so cool, Bren. I can’t come up with a better word to describe you, partially because I am overcome with child-like giddyness thinking about all the greens and blues and reds on your canvases, and especially those big innocent, mis-matching, circle eyes on your characters. Besides, Bren Bataclan is admittedly one of the coolest names ever.
Will you be my friend, Bren Bataclan?
Sincerely,
shan
June 16, 2006 at 5:32 pm · Filed under random
Have you ever wondered why we clap to show content/appreciation? Is this a natural reaction or a conditioned reaction? Did I start clapping because I saw others around me clapping to express a certain sentiment, and in turn I came to associate the act of clapping with an emotion (conditioned response)? Or is the natural response to joy by any ape-like mammal a desire to make noise, and lacking sticks/stones/other objects that make noise, we resort to banging the palms of our hands together?
I have been to the ape exhibits at zoos, and those animals clap, and I would venture to guess that they did not learn to clap by watching humans on the other side of the glass clap out of joy. Or how about those monster.com ads with monkeys; those monkeys clap, though the “instinctive-ness” of the clapping by those trained monkeys is questionable at best.
When did we start clapping? And how? Ever wonder that?
June 2, 2006 at 10:52 am · Filed under random
me: i think he has an Asian fetish, he’s such a white fob
jason: i go to the asian grocery for rice noodles
me: but you’re half asian jason
jason: i actually just like rice noodles, good texture
me: so maybe he likes rice noodles too
jason: he’d like to show you his rice noodle
May 5, 2006 at 12:33 pm · Filed under current events, random
I am on the alumni directory for the Academic Magnet High School in Charleston, despite never graduating from there. An email was sent yesterday to the list about AMHS being #10 on Newsweek’s newest list of the 1200 top US high schools. I was very much pleasantly surprised; I didn’t know AMHS was THAT good. What surprised me MORE, however, was the notable absence of my actual alma mater, the SC Governor’s School for Science and Math, which also lacks a Wikipedia entry. On a list of the 1200 top US high schools, I would have definitely expected Governor’s School to be above AMHS in ranking …
Well, it turns out that several schools, termed the “public elites”, were excluded from the rankings. To quote: “NEWSWEEK excluded these high performers from the list of Best High Schools because so many of their students score well above average on the SAT and ACT” :) All of the various state Academies/Governor’s Schools are on this “public elites” list, including the infamous Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.
I guess I really did get a first-rate education. Not to mention some kick-ass friends for life :)
May 2, 2006 at 9:52 am · Filed under random
I’ve noticed that Discover Card sometimes gets a bad rep with people. I’ve never understood where this comes from. ALL of my dealings with them have been absolutely phenomenal, and their customer service is top-notch. Since we live in a society that emphasizes facts and proof, here are some concrete examples.
I pay all of my credit card bills online, and I do it the last day of the month after I get my monthly MIT paycheck. So come April 30, I go to pay my Visa and Discover Card bills. Surprisingly, I couldn’t log in to Discover Card and was told there were “technical difficulties.” I chalked it up to website issues, and tried again on Monday with the same “technical difficulties” message. Today, I got an email from Blockbuster Online (whom I have set to automatically charge my Discover Card once a month) that my credit card didn’t go through. Discovercard.com still says “technical difficulties”. Weird.
So I call 1-800-DISCOVER and was transferred to the fraud department. It turns out that they froze my account because they wanted to check on a few charges made on my card. It was used at Budget Car Rental and was swiped twice at a Shell gas station this past Sunday. This raised a red flag with their fraud detection system.
Here is what really happened: my students and I took our spring house trip this past Sunday where I used my Discover Card to pay for 2 van rentals at Budget. Additionally, I swiped my card at two different pumps a minute apart to pay for both vans’ gas at the end of the day. Their system registered this “double swiping” as someone having to try twice before the card went through. Ding ding ding, coupled with the van rental charge, POTENTIAL FRAUD! Talk about security. I explained the situation to them on the phone, and when I hung up with the customer service woman, she said “Remember, you NEVER have to pay for fraudulent charges made to your card.” Thanks lady :)
Sure, it was a hassle to have had to call them to assure them that I did indeed make the charges and to please reset my account. However, I would much rather have had this hassle than to have fraudulent charges on my credit card.
This actually reminds me of when there WAS a fraudulent charge on my card. My fourth year at UVA, there once was a suspicious charge of ~$3000 made on my card over the internet. As soon as the purchase was made, Discover automatically froze my card. They then called me to let me know of potential fraud, and after I told them I did not make the purchase, they closed out my old account, opened me a new one, gave me a new card, and even sent me a report summary of their fraud investigation. All of this was done automatically out of THEIR initiative. It wasn’t as if I saw my monthly bill, caught the suspicious charge, and called them. They called ME before I even got my monthly statement.
I have also messed up on paying my bill on time where I was just plain irresponsible and forgot. When I called them to explain, they said “sure, no problem”, no questions asked, gave me the benefit of the doubt, removed all late charges, finance charges, and saved my credit.
Discover Card rules.
March 2, 2006 at 4:30 pm · Filed under random
Now that I own a thermometer, it has become my newest toy. This will probably be more than anyone ever wanted to know about my body temperature and health, but I find it interesting, and this is afterall my goddamn blog, so shove it and deal.
I woke up this morning and took my temperature: 96.2. WTF??? I was glad the thermometer no longer read 101.8, but isn’t 96.2 a bit TOO low? Noon, I take my temperature: 96.8. Umm … okay. 4pm (just now), I take my temperature again: 96.5. So um… yeah okay.
Google google google “body temperature” later, and here are the things that the googlized internet had to say:
“There is a range of 97.5 to 98.9 of “typical” body temperatures measured under the tongue.”
- I guess I am “atypical”; my mom always did tell me I was special …
“Perhaps 1 in 20 people have temperatures even a bit lower or higher.”
- Does 1 whole degree count as being “a bit” lower?
“The elderly have lower temperatures, perhaps because metabolism slows with age.”
- This must mean I’m mature for my age. Though I thought I had a high metabolism?
“When back pain is accompanied by fever, serious conditions such as a kidney infection; bone, joint or disk infection; tumor; or bloodstream infection come to mind”
- CRAP!! That sounds really serious!!! My neck and back were INDEED sore yesterday … hmm …..
February 13, 2006 at 2:04 am · Filed under random
I guess I shouldn’t be too bitter. Americans pronounce “can” with that hard, wide-mouthed, stretched-out “an” sound. With a name like “shan,” I can only expect people to pronounce it as if it rhymes with “can.” But I must ask … how does one pronouce flan? One does not say flan that rhymes with “can”. One says flan, as in flawn.
So please, pronounce it shan, as in shawn. Except if you’re from somewhere around the British Isles, and then you can pronounce it however you want to. Because 1) you don’t make that hard, wide-mouthed, stretched-out “an” sound that typifies Americans, so this would never even be an issue, and 2) your accent makes everything you say sexy, regardless of how much you butcher the actual pronunciation.
case closed.
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