Being Sociable

[aggienaut]

   I've actually been being pretty sociable lately, but it hasn't made for great blogging stories. Been hanging out with Chonchol from class a lot, and occasionally stopping by Diedrichs, where I've talked to Villem a lot lately and rather become friends with him. Also went to Top of the World with an old friend from HS, Raoul (last name: Haek or something, dutch, pronounced approximately "hawk"), the other day. Turns out earlier that evening he and his friend had been partaking of steel reserve.

   UN class teacher continues to exhibit a strange speech impediment, recently featuring mention of the country of Yaymen (Yemen) and the terrorist stylings of Osama bin Laydin, Russian president Pushkin (!), and this weeks winner of the excellence in mispronunciation award: "what was your name again?" "Heidi" "Right, 'Maggie'." And of course her unfailing pronunciation of Coffee Annan in the face of the unambiguous "koh-fi" of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, continues to amaze me.

   Also worth mentioning, as the last of us left Diedrichs last night around 11:30, the new weird security guard (who had just told the current Diedrichs staff that they had to disperse us!) got in his car and proceeded to slowly drive laps around the parking lot. He was on his 12th lap when we left. WTF?


Picture of the Day

Chonchol Gupta valiantly rides off from class on The Chonchmobile


If you haven't seen the above picture yet you saw my last entry during the many hours that the pictures were down (or you didn't click on the lj-cut you cultureless bastard[/ette]!). You need to immediately rectify this situation!

( Last Entry's Pictures )


Related
   Year Ago Thursday: "No One Comments to My Entries Anymore" - As if there ever was a more shameless call for more comments than such a title. Croat smashes a 40 of steel to all our dismay, and Jessika Powell stops by Diedrichs, and writes a nice little entry I'll call a visitor's impression of diedrichs and tell you you should check out because it sums it all up nice and concisely from the point of view of someone who isn't part of the "Diedrichs crew."
   Year Ago Friday: Photo Essay: Wild Rivers - and some archive photos of the wild animal park that was originally where Wild Rivers is now.
   Year Ago Yesterday: A Night At the Roxy
   Year Ago Today: Bulgarian Steel - "Tom the Horrible Human's Stooge" (THHS) makes a rare appearance in this livejournal, I link to maps of Bulgaria, rescue a newt from my pool (in what might be the first "picture of the day" here), and recommend Jeff Whetstone to all the ladies. Has he seduced anyone THIS year at Wild Rivers though? I'm going to have to do some research.

Comments

[apoplecticfittz.livejournal.com]

Attack of the Faux-Hawk!

faux hawks

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

True.

There are actually a lot of faux hawks around here.

Re: faux hawks

[apoplecticfittz.livejournal.com]

I kind of want one.

[ashael.livejournal.com]

She probably got Putin confused with Pushkin the national russian poet. That's kind of understandable. On the other hand, she does sound quite dumb.

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Yeah thats why I thought that one was particularly funny.

Re: faux hawks

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

I might be drifting in that direction because I can't get a mohawk while I'm still down here, and I need a haircut, but I don't want to shorten my hair where it would be constituted into a mohawk once I can get one again... So I dunno what I'm a gonna do cause I don't really want a faux hawk, but I do rather need a haircut before I develope a mullet or something.

[xtakenandhatedx.livejournal.com]

well, forget about taking UN classes. Thank god my professor isn't that lame. I actually enjoy my poli sci classes :)

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Most All of my IR professors up at davis have been brilliant and enjoyable. In fact, lets review, Davis IR professors:

Siverson; security & war theory -- Pure evil. The kind that aspires to be evil, and laughs maniacally when he's made freshmen's lives difficult. Very very smart - if he has a political leaning, everything he says is so wrapped up in facts that its impossible to identify any bias.
Goldman, Emily; national security -- flabbergastingly smart. Because she teaches classes like "US Nat'l Security Policy" people are always trying to ask her leading questions that would support their personal political beliefs, and she can shoot absolutely anything down with her devestatingly intellegent responses without pausing to think for a second. I have never seen her either say anything herself or even slip in response to such a leading question in any way that would imply a political leaning
Gartner; when you least expect it, he'll tell you how he was trained as a sniper and rode around on a helicopter. Also I've never heard him say anything implying political leaning.

Anyway, my point is that none of the IR professors at Davis seem to have the same trouble my current professor lecturer is having in not coming off as incredibly biased.

Whats your major?

Pushkin

[(Anonymous)]

Pushkin's governing from beyond the grave, I take it...

This better not turn into Night of the Living Dead.

Re: Pushkin

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

A new regime will be imposed on Russia of hard-line stoicism.

[xtakenandhatedx.livejournal.com]

My major is Political Science as of now... I'm taking Intro to Poli Sci and Int'l Politics, which both cover GE req's for me. I was in our SIS (School of Int'l Stud.) program as an International Relations major after talking to the dean of that program, but decided to hop back to the larger College of the Pacific program (our liberal arts school) under Poli Sci.

I wish my professor was as intelligent as you say yours are. I have the same professor for both (Hatch) and while he's knowledgable in the area, both classes are basically identical. Also, his teaching style is lecture, followed by class discussion (which mainly constitutes of where/when parties are), and occasionally he instutitutes a "video watching" period on the causes of WW I and other such entertaining topics. I learned more watching the video then from his last 3 lectures.

Oh yeah, before I forget, the main reason why I switched from the SIS program (which seems VERY much like MUN, just not entirely centered on the UN) to the more general degree is because SIS requires a year abroad. I'm not entirely sure where or even if I'd like to do that yet, so I figure taking GEs now and seeing if I want to switch Soph/Jun year would be better.

[eatrice.livejournal.com]

your entries are always so through.
like a planned phampthlet about "what happened today"
its actually kinda cool. (but maybe im saying that since im in the entry)

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

I recommend in the highest terms spending a year abroad. I spent a year in Sweden during HS, and honestly think everyone should spend a year abroad somewhere during their formative years. I really want to go abroad again.

Typically the IR classes at Davis consist of lecture, with light class participation.. usually there's some fat 30 yr old guy in the back row wearing a cowboy hat who feels the need to converse with the professor during lecture as if they are friends or something, sharing their every insight on the subject. And often there is also "discussion," in which smaller groups of students meet with their TA once a week and have more of a discussion of the topic. Typically there are a bunch of people that fall over themselves trying to answer everything first and sound all smart. I usually sit in the back corner and wait till either those fools have all totally missed the point, or no one knows the answer and the proverbial crickets are chirping, and then I finally answer like its obvious. In this UN class though I've adopted a more proactive mentality, mainly I guess just cause I'm all over the topic, so I tend to dominate most of the conversations. I'm told the teacher noticably avoids contradicting me. (=

daily pamphlet

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Aw thanks. I usually get very little feedback aobut the entries where I just talk about my day, so I frequently wonder if everyone just loathes them. I try to paint a complete picture of whats going on so everyone can understand things in context; the biggest problem with following most people's livejournals that write about their lives is they'll make lots of references to things that were never mentioned in their lj in the first place and that makes it hard to understand. So I like to think my lj could be followed like a more or less coherent story by someone who doesn't even know me, but I fear no one really reads it consistently enough for that to work.

Re: daily pamphlet

[eatrice.livejournal.com]

haha. i guess thats good reasoning, but seems like a lot of effort.
im incoherent most of the time.
but im just gonna call that my writing "voice"

[xtakenandhatedx.livejournal.com]

Heh. Sounds like fun.

Yeah, actually, we're doing more of a history lesson right now. I think we're supposed to cover "why nations go to war" which is utterly fascinating to me, although my classmates lament this utterly. I'm currently reading through a book on the beginnings of WW I, which I believe I mentioned. The best part is that the author is utterly opinionated with a few facts in between! I agree and disagree constantly, making for an interesting read.

Here at UoP the classes aren't larger than approx. 40 students. We don't have TA's leading the discussion, but are instead expected to have student-lead discussions while the professor walks around and listens in (?). He offers no perspectives himself while hearing these discussions, but seems more like a chair at an MUN conference. Without the point-taking, of course. At least not on paper.. maybe it's mental.

Anyway, I might be heading to Davis to join up with my MUN class from HS. Are you chairing again this year? Due to .. uh.. "suspicious circumstances" related to our NYC/Rutgers trip, I was forbidden to go on any overnight conferences after November, but I might be able to check it out as a proctor this year with my school :)

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

hahaha "suspicious circumstances." Yeah I'll most likely be chairing again. I love chairing. Quite possibly more than being a delegate.

A really awesome book to read that is authoritative on the subject of "why nations go to war" is um.. by this Australian guy Blainey.. the name escapes me at the moment, but it really will give you the definitive conclusions to the extent that research is currently available.