Skeptickle ยป Personal Thoughts http://skeptickle.com/category/personal/ life and stuff Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:08:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Operation Reconnection rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2008/02/10/operation-reconnection/ I'm on a mission to reconnect with people that I've lost contact with but had significant meaning at some point in my life. This has been going on for the past year and there are some successes so far. If you remember my previous post about me moving about 19 times in my life, it's obvious that my environment and those who I'm in contact with is always changing. I envy people who have been in one place for most of their life and went through school with the same people. I was never good at this whole "keeping in touch" thing because I guess I never really learned a good way to do so. I'm always afraid of bothering people or even worse, perhaps they never wanted to continue a relationship in the first place. The latter is most likely due to things that are out of my control and I have come to accept that those are unsalvageable. But you'll never know unless you try, right? The real trick is how to keep an ongoing relationship after reconnection.

]]> Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:08:25 +0000 Complexities rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2007/12/16/complexities/ I am not a pessimist. I prefer to think of myself as an optimistic realist. My political philosophy is a mixture of utilitarianism, Nietzsche's perspectivism, tolerance for individualism, and the ideal of a socially democratic state. I'm still in the process of developing this complex philosophy.

]]> Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:56:18 +0000 Congratulations Grads rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2007/05/29/congratulations-grads/ For all those that are graduating this year (pH, Kumi, Jane, Trish, and others from the UCCS program), congratulations and good luck in the real world! Also congratulations to Tim for passing the Bar exam on his first try!

Apparently, whenever I make a new post on Skeptickle it has been inconsistent in making the same post on my xanga. So the posts I've made in the past few months may or may not have shown up on my xanga. Rob came up with a solution for my future posts but if you want to make be sure that you're reading the latest update on my life then I think it's best to rely on Skeptickle.com for now.

Current status: Sick. I'm trying to get over a whooper cold (or maybe flu?) I contracted sometime late last week which made it so that I could neither be productive nor enjoy my weekend. I have two papers and a presentation due next week and I have not been able to work on them this entire weekend because my head feels like it's full of cotton balls. I am also unable to drive back to Sacramento because my motor skills resemble that of a drunk person driving. Rob has been kind enough to take care of me even though I can tell he's not used to it. It's times like this that I realize how much I do when I'm feeling healthy. I'm always doing something-cooking, cleaning, learning, studying, working, running errands, exercising, etc. It feels weird to not do anything productive for four days in a row.

]]> Wed, 30 May 2007 02:01:38 +0000 Dude rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2007/04/23/dude/ I made a big realization this weekend after reminiscing with my friends from jr high. I was the biggest Jesus Freak, like, ever! It's scary how a person can go from being a true believer to someone nearly apathetic to religion or spirituality. It wasn't just one thing that made me "fall" from Christianity. It was a variety of things, with the main reason being that I grew up. I realized that I wanted to think for myself and not feel guilty about making decisions that would be poo-pooed by people who have no business in my personal affairs. However, I still have sympathy for those who kept the faith and continue living among those who don't believe. It's tough being a Christian nowadays.

On a side note, it gave me a bit of disgusting pleasure to hear that one of the girls who picked on me in jr high got in deep trouble for vandalizing her high school. I guess what goes around still comes around.

]]> Tue, 24 Apr 2007 03:27:06 +0000 Much better now rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2007/03/02/much-better-now/ Yay.

]]> Fri, 02 Mar 2007 23:31:22 +0000 I feel like a broken woman... rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2007/03/01/i-feel-like-a-broken-woman/ :'( All my enemies rejoice.

]]> Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:08:24 +0000 Bowling Alone rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2007/02/26/bowling-alone/ I am studying in Political Sociology the concept of social capital. Social capital has a few different, and oftentimes vague, definitions but the version I'm referring to is Putnam's. Robert D. Putnam's book Bowling Alone has recently been known to be the definitive source of research for this area of study. I read through most of the book so far and am beginning to understand why people feel so isolated and fail to participate in groups anymore. While he presents a valid case about the effects of low social capital in our society, I think there's more to the source of the problem than mainly television and the internet. I think he didn't emphasize enough that Americans are working more hours with less pay and their job security is less certain than it was half a century ago. We are also now driven by a highly consumer-centric society. Even our "experts" are hired by businesses to support faulty claims that their products will make us happy. So it's difficult to distinguish who to trust or not. He compared groups that are supposed to represent the interests of the people to mail order catalogs. Their members (like the AARP) only participate by writing a check for them once a year. Some of those groups don't even have any members and yet they exist! So who can we trust? Our families and close friends? Toqueville once warned of the dangers of individualism. By focusing inward rather than outward, democracy cannot possibly survive. This does not mean to ignore your own self-interest. In fact, it would require enlightened self-interest to help someone out in the hope that it may come back to you if enough people were of the same mindset (Sidenote: I highly recommend watching the movie "Pay It Forward" for a better idea of this concept). The problem is that there's a general decline in people who have that type of mindset. I learned that evangelicals tend to focus inward rather than outward like other denominations of the Protestant church. That may explain why the spreading of this type of faith has lead to high social capital within it's confines, but provides low social capital to the nation overall.

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]]> Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:17:36 +0000 Turning 23 rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2007/01/03/turning-23/ I'm turning 23 on Saturday. I don't want to turn 23. However, Rob is sweetening the deal by planning the day to distract me from the fact that I'm another year closer to an old-and-wrinkly Sophia. I look forward to it. :)

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]]> Thu, 04 Jan 2007 07:55:15 +0000 Merry Christmas Everybody! rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/12/25/merry-christmas-everybody/ I wish ya'll a Merry Christmas!! I hope for you peace, happiness, warmth, and love today and everyday thereafter.

As 2006 comes to a close, it's a good time to reflect on how fortunate we all are and all the positive things in our life. We're so good at looking at the negative things that we fail to remember the positives. I know I fall into that trap a lot of the time. Let us not focus on materialism for one second. There are people less fortunate out there that don't have the love of friends and family and don't have the means of affording a place to live. Many are at the brink of starvation and some are in the chaos of war. I'm no longer religious but I pray for those suffering in Darfur. Please pray with me for the inhumanity to stop and for the people to find peace in their lives.

]]> Mon, 25 Dec 2006 11:57:35 +0000 Toledo O-hi-ah rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/12/25/toledo-o-hi-ah/ Rob and I are currently visiting his mom and her significant other's family here in Toledo Ohio. We had some trouble getting here because of complications with our flight (it was supposed to be a 7 hour flight but turned out to be 10.5). I'll elaborate later. The house is HUGE (at least 5 bedrooms) and Sharon recently remodeled it so that it's interior is gorgeously decorated in time for Christmas. Outside, there's a river and a lake that connects to the Erie Canal-system. It's refreshing to take a walk outside among the trees, with the water flowing past you, and the birds having a rest before migrating south. Rob's mom's bf and his family are a riot. There are five siblings total but only four showed up with their families. One of them is a professional chef so he has been cooking dinner for the past few days. His bbq ribs are the best ribs I've ever had. They fall right off the bone. Word has it that even vegetarians enjoy them. Today he cooked up some elk that he hunted, skinned, butchered, and dry-aged himself. I can honestly say that it's the perfect meat. It's extremely lean, the fibers are fine and tender, and the flavor mildly resembles beef. He's an excellent cook! There's so many people here that the house is bursting with activity. I'm not used to being in a full house like this but so far it's enjoyable and the people here are very nice.

]]> Mon, 25 Dec 2006 11:31:23 +0000 Zombie rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/12/14/zombie/ I feel like a zombie today. I didn't get much sleep last night for a variety of reasons. I'm pretty sure I did badly on my Poli Sci final. For some sick reason, he told us to study the questions from the quizzes and none of the questions on the final were even close to what were on the quizzes. I can't wait for tomorrow at 5pm when this will all be over and I can make my 5 hour trip back home to Rob. Mmm, Rob, the giver of backrubs and provider of good night sleeps. My laptop battery's running low so I must get going. Adios.

]]> Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:17:00 +0000 Feeling a little down lately... rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/11/30/feeling-a-little-down-lately/ It's that time of year again when I begin feeling down, unmotivated, and out-of-sorts. I think it's both the weather and maybe the way that I'm influenced by everyone elses' mindset that we have to lavish material gifts on people we care about. I'm personally more concerned about having enough student loan money to survive next quarter and my own problems. I donno why I feel so guilty about worrying about my problems when it's tough to escape them at this point.

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]]> Thu, 30 Nov 2006 23:09:08 +0000 The Best Thanksgiving Weekend rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/11/27/best-thanksgiving-weekend/ I think I just had the best Thanksgiving weekend that I can remember. The past few Thanksgivings were less than ideal because of the drama that was always present between and within the families that attended. This year was fantastic because everything was very chill and to top it off, Rob made us French Toast in the morning! He followed my recipe and they turned out great.. I didn't have to cook Thanksgiving dinner because we got a precooked meal from Whole Foods, which was yummy. My family behaved (though my dad still filled our ears with his stories). It was eventful but relaxing at the same time. Here is a lovely example of me trying to take a picture of all of us and failing miserably because I was sitting in the middle and I didn't have time to get there before the timer snapped the picture.

Thanksgiving2006

I just love the reactions on each person's face!

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]]> Tue, 28 Nov 2006 07:14:32 +0000 Yummy Turkey! rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/11/22/yummy-turkey/ I fly home (aka Robert's place) later today for Thanksgiving break. His sister is also staying at his place and I look forward to getting to know her. He's taking us out to Alexander's on Friday night which I am very excited about. I miss my friends from there and I hope they will be just as happy to see me.

]]> Wed, 22 Nov 2006 10:26:23 +0000 Remind me to never drink coffee before an exam. rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/11/15/remind-me-to-never-drink-coffee-/ I'm swearing off coffee for a long time. I just recently realized that it gives me headaches and nausea and is NOT a good thing to have before a test. I downed a Mint Mocha Frappachino today before my midterm and now I'm paying the price. I guess I never realized how bad of an impact it was in the past because I only used to drink it when I didn't get much sleep. I associated the headaches and nauseous feeling with exhaustion and fatigue. Now I know better. At least I get to save more money that might have gone to Starbucks.

]]> Wed, 15 Nov 2006 23:21:39 +0000 Realization rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/10/31/realization/ Today I made the realization during my conversation with Amy that no one has really stood up for me in my life.

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]]> Wed, 01 Nov 2006 05:35:39 +0000 A Visit from Chapin rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/10/30/a-visit-from-chapin/ Chapin is a friend that I've known for over 8 years and has been one of the few people who I'm consistantly in touch with. We started out as neighbors when we both went to separate jr high schools but become closer once we began high school at Gunn. I'm addicted to acting silly and making her laugh even when I know deep down I can be very unfunny. I also like the fact that I can talk to her about my thoughts and opinions without her judging my overall character. Last week she came up to LA from SD to attend a conference for non-profits (she works for one) in downtown. Since she was in the area, it made sense for her to visit and stay with me and hang out with other high school buddies as well.

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]]> Tue, 31 Oct 2006 02:49:24 +0000 I have cable! And Rob's downhill spiral into housing disaster. rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/10/05/i-have-cable/ It's been almost a year since I had access to cable tv that was beyond the very basic channels. I don't miss the commercials at all though. What I miss is being able to watch the news without digging for it on the internet all the time. I like to vary my sources of news and the news channels are very good at the local level.

Robert will not be moving to Cupertino because the office staff at the apartment he applied to were mindless dicks.

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]]> Thu, 05 Oct 2006 19:27:10 +0000 Life in LA rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/09/24/life-in-la/ For some reason it's hard for me to update on this blog. I need to find more motivation to do it. Egads, sorry I'm so lazy!

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]]> Sun, 24 Sep 2006 22:05:39 +0000 Moving Day rainbose http://skeptickle.com/2006/09/16/moving-day/ Brief update on my life: Today is my moving day. I also got a haircut. Pictures later....

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