Iran, shit!

I'm not even sure what to say. I'm worried and scared. I've always known Ahmedinejad is an asshole, but following @persiankiwi on twitter is giving me a new insight into just how ruthless he is. Seems like there are a lot more dead than just seven. This is just more proof that he cannot be trusted with a "peaceful nuclear program."

If I could pray, I'd pray for Moussavi supporters, their cause, and their safety. As is, I'll remain a hopeful optimist (possibly slang for "naive"). I don't have much faith in Ayatollah's "investigation." It's in his interest to keep Ahmedinejad in power. I suspect the results will be something like "Yes, Ahmedinejad's landslide victory is questionable, but we're sure he'd have won anyway, so just keep him in power." Sigh.

Good luck, Iran.

Absent, but still outraged

I haven't posted in a while due to the massive end-of-semester course load. But I'm not doing anything that I should be right now because I'm having trouble focusing, so I thought I'd put up something.

Here are a couple things that have upsetting me lately:

~I have trouble leaving the house, even though outside of the house is where work generally gets done. It doesn't help that the house is full of free food, ice cream, and Internets.

~Chris and I were on the train, on our way back from San Francisco the other day and both suffering from headaches and SLEEPINESS. Then, at around RWC, a huge group of EXTREMELY obnoxious LOOOOUUUUUUUDDDDD twenty-somethings got on and began yelling to each other.
A girl sat in front of us and participated in this yelling. Then she noticed us, despite it all, attempting to rest our weary heads.
she said, "Wow, it's loud in here. I can't believe you can sleep!"
I replied, "Well that's because I'm fucking tired. And damn you guys are fucking loud."
She was a little taken aback by my snappiness, but attempted to defend herself, "Well... it's a really big group. And it is a public space..."
"Yeah," I said, "it's a PUBLIC SPACE!"
That shut her up. She stopped yelling, and would periodically turn around and apologise and promise that the group would get off the train soon.
I feel a little bad about snapping at her, but at least it was one of those cases where it was worth it, because it really got the point across.

~My cat's been sick. *sigh* Poor little baby kitty. She's about a year old now, we think. Cats this young should NOT be this sick.
Coming back from the vet for the nth time, my mom's friend came inside. I asked, "how is she?"
He said, "Well that's why I came in. She's a very sick cat. It might be time to say goodbye. I'm sorry."
Then they explained that the doctor gave her new antibiotics and that we'd see how she does on those.
Dammit, then START WITH THAT! Don't start with, "we're putting your baby down." Jesus.

Ok, that's all for now. Extensive torture-themed outrage coming up in a week or so (first Obama-oriented outrage! Yeah! Take that Obama!).

My yelp review of Pasta?, a Mountain View restaurant, has been removed

Because it lacks first hand experience! Ok, that's fair. So here it is, for your reading enjoyment. :)

So, I haven't actually been here... (put your deleting hats on), but there is a reason for that. That reason is simple, and it is also the reason I'm writing this. LITERALLY, every time I pass by this place (or the Palo Alto location), I think to myself, "what a stupid name!" I get that they were going "Hey! Why not pasta tonight? :)" but what I always get from it is, "Pasta? Really? You sure?"

Others have conjectured different interpretations of this eternal question. "This is pasta? You call this pasta??" It's like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: we know the answer, but what was the question? Incidentally, no matter how you interpret the question, the answer always remains, "no."

I was lamenting this fact with a friend today, when it occurred to me that I should write this review. He agreed.
"Now," I said, "the question remains: should I write the review about the Mountain View location or the Palo Alto location?"
"They just keep making more things questionable," answered my friend. (By the way, we decided on Mountain View because we were at Amarin at the time, avoiding pasta.)

Pasta? is making me question everything? My taste? My creativity? My life choices?? MY RATING SYSTEM???

Streets of San Jose III -- I need to get fat

I'm walking down the street in San Jose and some creepifying dude rides up to me on a bicycle and says "nice jeans." I let him roll away without saying a word.

So that's it. I gotta get fat or start wearing sweat pants or both. Ugh.

~~~~
On the bright side, if I get fat, no one will object if I say I'm "curvy," or that I have "big hips." Hey, you know these things are relative! Just cuz I don't have extra rolls, doesn't mean I'm not curvy. Outrage.

On Sarah Vowell

I first became acquainted (as in, I know some of her work, not as in we hang out) with Sarah Vowell through her contributions to NPR's This American Life. Yah, NPR, big surprise!

Whenever I'd listen to her contributions, I would always think, "what a weird voice. She should just write articles, not ever talk on the radio."

But now that I'm reading her book, The Partly Cloudy Patriot (which is painfully dated now that Bush is out of office), all I can hear is her voice, as if she's reciting these lines to me through the airwaves.

I've come to understand that Vowell's voice is what sets her apart from any other rambling girl, who feels the need to pour her bleeding heart out to the masses. (You know girls like that, don't you? *looks around nonchalantly, spots a mirror and staggers in shock*)

...
In unrelated news, I've been thinking about starting a podcast...

Conversation with a Young Conservative

The previous post opened with a bewildered statement about the existence of young Bay Area Republicans, but wasn't actually about them. This one was sparked by a conversation I had with one such person, but I certainly am not about to restate my bewilderment.

How I understand it:
Fiscal conservatism is a philosophy that at its core is about liberty (which is why the most staunch proponents of this theory call themselves libertarians). They believe people who earn their money should be allowed to decide how it is spent rather than forced by the government to sponsor programs that don't directly benefit them.

My friend posed a question to me: how do you feel about lazy people who don't contribute to society being supported by the money of hard-working people?

It was a hard question to answer, since socialism works on the principle that people contribute bits to the society to create a greater whole. The best answer I had was a counter question: what about people who live on dividends of the money they already have, and don't do anything useful for society? In the pure free market system where they pay little in taxes, these people aren't helping the society in any way. Think: Paris Hilton.

We sort of came to a stalemate at that point, but this post is in the result of "staircase revelations" -- when you continue thinking about something, long after the conversation is over.

I guess there are holes in any philosophy. I guess "lazy people" are the downfall of any Utopian society (barring fancy sci-fi technology ^_~). The reason I'm (what some would call) a socialist, rather than a libertarian, is quite simply because I have more sympathy for poor lazy people than rich lazy people.

Because for every lazy person who's living off the system, there are probably three hundred hungry students who need health care. For every person who supposedly has another baby to receive more welfare, there is are a hundred single moms who need to feed their kids.

I could end the post there, but I just want to add this: I read an article recently that lamented the $500,000/yr salary cap Obama wants to give CEOs of financial institutions who took bail-out money. And I quote,

"Five hundred thousand dollars... seems like a lot, and it is a lot... But in the neighborhoods of New York City and its suburban enclaves where successful bankers live, half a million a year can go very fast... Sure, the solution may seem simple: move to Brooklyn or Hoboken, put the children in public schools and buy a MetroCard. But more than a few of the New York-based financial executives who would have their pay limited are men (and they are almost invariably men) whose identities are entwined with living a certain way in a certain neighborhood west of Third Avenue."

Would you excuse me while I find a kleenex? I feel so sorry for these guys!

Look, this is just another reason why I don't feel sorry for the rich irresonsible people: they're the ones that got us into the financial crisis that we're in. I'm not saying the irresponsible poor people didn't contribute by buying houses they couldn't afford, but the educated rich people should've known better than to give them the loans. So then why are we giving all the money to the rich people? My socialist heart is fuming with righteous indignation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.S. I also, in my heart of hearts, believe that when most of the lowest rung of society is living above the poverty line, the whole society does better as a whole. That's all, folks!

Better than Bush

*sigh*

So you'd be shocked to know this, but there are actually some Republican people out here in the Bay Area that are in my age range. I mean I know Cali has Republican people--look at our Governator, and our Prop 8! It's just so easy to assume they're all old people from Fresno.But as it turns out, there are young Republicans in California and some of them are even my friends.

I might be digging a hole for myself with this opening, cuz some of my Republican friends might be reading this. So this is where I underscore that this post isn't about young Republicans in the Bay Area. Just prompted by a few discussions I've had with them, here and there.

What this post is about is my ongoing relationship with our new President. (Lengthy aside: Not like, a relationship two people have, obviously, but more like when people say "I have a relationship with Christ." Wait no, not really. Cuz when people have a relationship with Christ, I'm pretty sure they have (imaginary?) direct interactions with Christ, whereas all I have are thoughts and opinions about Obama. Anyway...)

I'm pretty skeptical about Obama, and simultaneously hopeful, as outlined in the Hope post from January 21st, the day after the Inauguration. Well he's had about three weeks to show his character, and it's only fair that I respond.

What frustrates me about my Republican friends is when I say, "at the very least we can be sure he'll do better than Bush," and they respond with "nnyeeeeeeehhhhh, I dunno about that." Yes, that's the seed that prompted this whale of a post.

COME ON! WHAT DON'T YOU KNOW? Bush is like Harding and Hoover combined. How can it be worse than Bush?

You know what comforts me about Obama? It's so basic, so simple. It's how articulate he is. How often I find myself thinking, "yes, yup" whenever he makes simple sentences. It's something I find myself reveling in. I feel like that's something people in other countries must take for granted.

I grew up being confused how a bumbling idiot could make to the White House. I went through all of high school and all of college shouting to the world that dissent is patriotism, or (in my not-so-patriotic moments) that it is, at the very least, rational thinking, intelligence. Agreeing with the President is a weird feeling for me. I almost feel like I must be missing something, like I'm being unpatriotic by not feeling critical.

Does that even make sense?