A Procrastinator’s Musings

5.8 magnitude, centered in Chino Hills.

I felt it pretty strongly here in Aliso Viejo. And it lasted for a while!

After having lived in earthquake-devoid India for 13 years and sleeping through every earthquake for the past 5 years, I have finally experienced an earthquake!

I wrote an editorial in The Growling Wolverine at the end of junior year. Today, something someone said reminded me of it, and I felt it might be an opportune time to look back at it.

Social relationships are inherently biased towards chaos and confusion. As citizens of a modern civilized society – as teenagers in a predominantly social high school environment – we get entangled in a larger web of social relationships every single day. New friendships are formed and fresh alliances established, but also old connections are replaced and opponents recognized. Ultimately, the root of all social turmoil is the human desire to feel accepted, to feel involved, and to feel loved. This innate human tendency – the necessity of human beings to have a sense of belonging – can manifest itself in a variety of ways, many of which result in little other than “high school drama.”

High school is really the first time in life where an individual become mature enough to form a deep, meaningful relationship. Usually, this relationship takes on the form of a best friend, oftentimes a person that the individual has known for many years – since middle school, since elementary school, and sometimes since the day they were born. However, just as high school produces the perfect environment to develop a friendship that goes beyond the scope of sharing ice cream and gossip, it also has an uncanny ability to enable individuals to turn a blind eye towards people that have stood by them through every step of life, for longer than they can remember themselves. The high school social web has a tendency to attract people to others of a different mentality, who are seemingly able to get more out of life, regardless of the far greater value of the friends they are leaving behind. As impossible as this sounds, it is part and parcel of teenage life. Subtly, but surely, friendships are displaced. Old friends – the ones who identify you for the person you are – are often left behind in favor of the “friend of the month.”

But, at least from where I stand, the greatest evil of the high school experience is the clique. The clique is a lethal weapon. The clique isolates, the clique unites. Try to simultaneously participate in two, and you will become the new object of competition. While this feeling of being a desired companion is extremely satisfying as far as ego-stroking is involved, it inevitably leads towards the deterioration of social relationships. Don’t get me wrong here – I am certainly not supporting the isolation of each individual clique. What I rather ask is: why the clique? High school students should certainly be mature enough to be able to distinguish their best friends from their acquaintances. Then what is the need to separate a certain group of people from the larger part of society? What purpose does this serve besides fractionalizing friendships and creating arbitrary boundaries? My answer stands firm: absolutely none. Take friendships as they come and accept friends for the people they are – don’t choose new friends as a ticket into that group you really want to hang out with.

There is one social institution that, more than anything, makes me laugh. This institution in question is the high school couple. It is not so much the idea of the high school couple that induces the laughter in me, but rather the ideal it represents for a typical teenager. The idea of someone in your life – someone that shares a more intimate bond with you than anybody else – makes perfect sense. It is the perfect solution to the inherent human desire to feel loved. However, the perception of a high school relationship has to be perceived in practical terms. A high school relationship is where we first explore the boundaries between friendship and the next step. Therefore, it is entirely foolhardy and downright pathetic to assume that your first relationship is the love of your life. Every day, I see people invested completely in their special someone – walking to class together, eating together, and spending all their time…together. While it’s a great sensation to feel loved all the time, spare a thought for your friends. Spare a thought for those who have chosen your company as their friend, as their confidante, as their support through the high school life. Spare a thought for the ones you have spent countless months, if not years, with. I fail to understand how one can perceive their new “love life” to be completely superior and worth sacrificing the friendships they have built over multiple weeks, months, years, classes, and schools. A high school relationship, one with a “special someone,” is certainly welcoming, but remain grounded. Just don’t forget that it’s very, very unlikely that this person will be with you for the rest of your life, whereas there’s a good chance that you will be on the phone with your best friend from high school when you decide to get married.

I have to admit that the tone of this article has sounded rather cynical and negative. More than anything, this has been a response to what I witness around me every day. I am not trying to suggest that social relationships are impossible, and that you should give up trying. Neither am I saying that new friends aren’t worth meeting. What I am trying to say is that true friendships are something we build over time, with effort, with dedication, and with a common desire to feel loved. Hanging out with new people is okay, as long as you are not doing it simply because their activities of choice seem more risqué. Starting a relationship – logically on a higher step than friendship – is also okay, as long as you realize that there should be a balance of companionship. Meeting new people is an inherent part of the high school experience – don’t stop now. Just make sure that when you get closer to a new group of friends – friends that you truly appreciate for the people that they are – just take the opportunity to glance back. Make sure you didn’t leave anybody behind.

Source: Wizard of Id.

Awesome is the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. It was absolutely phenomenal! Heath Ledger turned in a masterful performance as the Joker. The entire movie was incredibly intense, extremely entertaining, and somewhat sad, but very much gratifying. Go watch it if you haven’t already!

Awesome is House, M.D. For the first time in my life, I’m enjoying a mainstream television show, but I have never loved a television show this much. It’s just the best show ever! House is sarcastic, cynical, rude, and incredibly hilarious. The entire show is intense, funny, and unendingly addictive. Go watch it!

Awesome is the new Facebook profile design. It’s much neater, makes it a lot easier to hide all the nasty applications, and just looks cool. If you don’t already see it, you can probably access it by going to www.new.facebook.com. Go try it!

Credit: The New Yorker.

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Source: Calvin and Hobbes.

As you might have noticed, this blog’s been going through somewhat of a dry spell lately. Granted, there really isn’t anybody who checks it daily so I’m not really “letting anybody down.” Regardless, I’d really like to be a little more regular with this blog. Why? I’m not really sure. I just feel that I should.

I’m guessing that the reason I just haven’t  been spending a lot of time on the blog has something to do with graduation and summer. First, I was busy taking care of last-minute stuff and getting ready for graduation. And right after graduation, there were the graduation parties, the San Francisco trip, and CalSO (Cal Student Orientation).

Although I had initially planned to pen an entire post about it, I think it’ll suffice to say that I had a great time at CalSO. Most importantly, it clarified a lot of stuff in relation to classes, units, requirements, and all that stuff. I have a much clearer idea of both my first semester schedule and my planned path through Cal. On a lighter note, I met a bunch of interesting people, a lot of whom are from LA and/or Santa Barbara. That’s not to say I didn’t make friends in other places: a couple from NorCal, and one from Toronto, Canada! Overall, CalSO was really fun, and I’m uber excited to start Cal in the fall!

I’ve already talked about the San Francisco trip in my previous post, so that’s that. Oh and in case it wasn’t obvious, Columbia said no. No, I wasn’t bummed. Just happy to know for sure that I’m heading to Cal. It’s going to be an awesome 4 years!

As far as the rest of summer goes, the bleak job market has pretty much killed any hopes I had of getting a job. On the plus side, however, I’ve realized that I’m not going to spend the next month and a half sitting around and staring at my computer screen. There are too many things I’ve been putting off for too long and now’s the time to do them: make some progress on my reading list, organize all of my online stuff, clean out email accounts, shop for my dorm, write thank-you notes, clean out my desk, reformat my parents’ computer, study economics, and the list goes on (although not much further). I’m going to make this summer work for me.

Back to where I started though, I’ll try to update the blog more often. The political news is slow, so expect less linking. But I might just start exploring my own political views here. Who knows? Watch to see what comes next. Frankly, even I don’t know.

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Source: Wizard of Id.

[This post was completed over three separate days (with quite a bit of time in between), therefore the delay in posting.]

The Introduction

I’m back. I’m currently sitting in the American Airlines baggage claim area at LAX Airport, waiting for the rest of them to arrive. Is it really Thursday? As they always do when you’re having fun, the days of our long-awaited trip flew by. No regrets, however. It was a fantastic trip and a fantastic end to senior year. While I’m going to leave the chronicling of our adventures to Viv, I have an hour and a half to wait, so I’m at least going to begin penning my reflections.

I’m sure we’ll all hang out again and see each other again, for a long time to come. That said, I’m pretty sure all of us expected this trip to be somewhat of our last adventure as a group of high school friends. Especially considering we graduated from Aliso all of 2 weeks ago, this was planned primarily as a senior trip. The idea for the trip was born in a Starbucks at Fashion Island, when Demi, Lorraine and I had nothing better to fantasize about. The trip became reality a few months ago, when the majority of parents approved. And four days ago, somehow came the day that we had always thought of as a long ways away.

The Beginning

The trip really couldn’t have started off much more inauspiciously. (Quick note: owing to the fact that I booked my plane ticket considerably later than everybody else, I was flying separately on United Airlines because that ticket was considerably cheaper. This was also the reason for my arrival at LAX about an hour and a half before everybody else.) Considering the early departure time of 7:55am (my departure time was 7:52am), we had figured that it would be safe to get to the airport an hour ahead of departure time. This was not the case to be as the American Airlines terminal could be summed up in the following word: mayhem. The lines were long, the confusion was infectious, and tempers were high. Long story short, everybody barely made it on the flight (they were going to close the gate if they had arrived any later). Everybody except me and Demi, that is.

After helping them get started in the line at American, I had to walk about 5 minutes to the United terminal. Unfortunately, I arrived minutes too late to check baggage in, and had to take a standby ticket to the next flight. I was lucky enough to make it on there, however. Demi suffered the same fate, but she was not so lucky. Unlike the next flight on United, which was about an hour later, the next flight for American didn’t leave until 10. After postponing that flight time about 3 times, American finally put Demi on the flight. She arrived at the hotel in SF sometime around 3pm, by which time the rest of us had dropped off our luggage, had lunch, and headed off to Chinatown.

The Bumps

Although the trip was off to a rocky start, and there were definitely some bumps along the way, most of our setbacks remain little other than sources of infinite laughter. Faisal getting stuck behind on the BART was one of the early highlights. Unfortunately, he caught the next one right back and all was well again. Viv left her BART ticket next to her phone, which demagnetized it and she had to get it replaced in order for it to work. Demi teased Viv to not leave her ticket next to her phone again. Next time we get on the BART, take one guess as to who left their ticket next to their phone: Demi! Probably the only time that we got truly frustrated was when three streetcars left Fisherman’s Wharf for Market St. completely full, without us being able to get on. After having spent about 45 minutes at the stop, we finally got on one though.

The Happening

Quite possibly the one event that will forever mark our trip happened in our first hour at the hotel. We had just checked in and were getting comfortable in our rooms. Suddenly, Faisal and Cody started looking out of the window. Apparently, they had heard what they thought were gunshots. After ridiculing them for a bit, we saw police cars and ambulances rush to our street. Sprinting down the stairs and outside the hotel revealed that some guy had been shot down the street. Six shots (according to Faisal and Cody). After that little incident, an unspoken pact was formed: when you exit the hotel, turn LEFT (Zoolander?). Four days later, we never did turn right. Miriam overlooked the hotel door a couple of times, but we caught her soon enough. This also kickstarted four days of black jokes (chainsaw, anyone?), staying away from seemingly homeless black people with hands in their pocket, and amusingly telling each other to call the cops if they don’t return in 10 minutes. We came pretty close to being scared when some (black) guy started walking next to Demi while she was on the phone. Thankfully, we were all of maybe 5 feet from the hotel, so we escaped inside. On the way out later, Kiersley walked straight into a black guy, who seemingly wanted to give her a hug. I don’t think she’s quite over that yet.

The Hotel

Neighborhood aside, the hotel was actually really nice. And it’s probably home to our best times on the trip. The first day, for example, we ended up cutting short our Chinatown escapade and canceling the Ghiaradelli Square trip, choosing to instead rest, eat, watch TV, and just chill in the hotel. This decision to remain indoors also prompted the first of many games of Apples to Apples (which I had brought, much thanks to Demi, who gave me the game for my birthday). I can’t even begin to recount all the inside jokes: risky marriages, hot love lives, juicy choir boys, cheap motels, and on and on. And I finally won! Brian has an uncanny ability to take forever and then win off the most random cards. On a side note, whoever decided to make a card out of John Phillip Sousa needs to go die. We also fit in a game of Risk, a round of Texas Hold’em (which I learned to play), and a few games of BS. The hotel had a bunch of rooms to explore, the first of which became our “secret meeting place.” It’s also known as the fitness center, where Demi is tall and towels are separated into fresh and soiled. The fifth floor lounge was useful for reheating (and re-reheating – more on that in a bit) pizza. The ninth floor lounge had a vending machine, which was useful for late night snacks and drinks. Although Kiersley won’t go there if there are black people inside.

The Food

We ate surprisingly little over our trip, often skipping meals out of lack of time. The most notable thing was the pizza though. We ordered three (very) large pizzas for dinner on the first night, and continued to consume them in bits and pieces…over the next three days! As most of us would agree, cold pizza makes for very good breakfast. Minus the veggies of course. Pizza aside, there were quite a few memorable meals. The crepe store on Telegraph Avenue right outside of Berkeley was just scrumplicious beyond belief! I’ll be going back there a lot once I’m at Cal. Siam Thai Restaurant down Mason St. was really good too, especially the cool private room we got for being a group of over 6 people or something. It was one of those traditional Asian low tables with cushions around it to sit on. As we sat down, however, we discovered that the space below the table was actually deeper so we could put our legs down, just like at a regular table. So cool! The clam chowder at Fisherman’s Wharf was well worth the 5 minute walk down to Pier 39.

The Tourists

Although much of our trip was just an opportunity to hang out and spend some time together, we did our share of tourist-ey stuff. The second day, we took the BART to Berkeley. Demi and I wanted to visit it, of course. Viv and Cody also wanted to see, as neither of them had seen it before. Brian wanted his crepes (which definitely lived up to the hype). On the way to campus from the BART station, we saw a Japanese restaurant named Ajiya, which we all laughed at owing to Viv’s generous use of the term aiyah. We walked around campus for a bit before we headed to the crepe shop. Following that, we walked some more around the university, got boba and shopped a bit. Demi and I, along with the rest of our group, tried to find our housing unit, but just ended up finding Unit 1 instead. It’s identical so not really that big a deal. We also spent some time looking for a Cal shirt but couldn’t find the one we wanted. The third day was really the tourist day. We started off the day with (almost being late to) Alcatraz, which was actually pretty cool. We got an audio-guided tour of the prison facility, which was pretty intense. The view of San Francisco was pretty sweet too. It was nice and windy (in my opinion), especially on the boat, which gave us ample opportunity to snap some crazy pics. Later the same day, we went to see the play ‘Tis A Pity She’s A Whore. The theater was only 0.6 miles away, a very easily walkable distance. Although it was really long at 2 hours and 40 minutes, it was actually really good. I have to admit I closed my eyes for a few seconds here and there, but largely stayed awake for the play. The shrieks and screams could definitely have been toned down a little, but we had pretty good seats and I think all of us enjoyed it. Last, but by no means least, the girls (and Faisal) shopped their hearts out. They shopped after we got back from Berkeley, they shopped after we got back from dinner that day, and they shopped again on Thursday morning, before our flight. Their faces were a sight to see when they saw the size of that Forever 21, which was admittedly massive.

The Inside Jokes

There were so many inside jokes that I wouldn’t even know where to begin recounting them if it wasn’t for Viv deciding to list them on my phone as they happened. They were the reason that I loved this trip so much and that I probably won’t forget it for some time to come. Just remember that when you leave the hotel, don’t turn right! If you don’t close the window at night, Afroman will come get you! We’re going to play poker in our secret meeting room, which you can’t know about, even though Demi is tall there and towels are soiled. It’s probably not a good sign if you hear ambulance sirens approximately every 10 minutes, even at 3am. You can use Hillary Rodham Clinton in pretty much every category of Apples to Apples and win. Really. There is only one applicable question about a fork, spoon, or knife: is it fine china or made in China? Cody just loves playing with his balls – he bought them on the first day and they stayed with him throughout, although other people took turns playing with them throughout the trip. If you see a Prius, punch Faisal! Stay away from marriage because it is very risky. Aiyah! Don’t just assume that a shooting was by a black person. It could have been an Asian woman: “You don’t pay for my noodles. *BOOM!*” You should check out the people who play chess on the sidewalks – that’s tight! Jackieeee, one more thing! Si, man!

The Retrospective

While words really can’t aptly describe the trip, I’d just like to say that I had some reservations about this trip considering the size of the group and keeping everybody together and whatnot. However, in retrospection, the trip not only went smoothly but was so much more fun than I had thought. I loved all the times we just chilled in the hotel, watching jeopardy, playing games, reading Internet jokes, making fun of people, laughing our asses off, and just being frivolous in general. I loved going around and being in a city. I loved the BART. I loved the fact that we found something to laugh at every minute of the way. I loved the fact that I got to spend the first few days of my last high school summer with some of my best friends and have a grand time. Thanks guys! I look forward to our adventure in New York…