Gen Ed Fo Lyfe

 I come from an Honors family. Taking general education was never really a thing for us; we took the "tough" classes and we let people know it. Unfortunately, every family has the outlier, and that person is me. Since the start of Sophomore year I have taken six or seven classes that are considered GenEd. And while I may sit and marvel at the things some people say, I am the girl who the kids in AP classes sit and judge. And I'm okay with that.
Let's give some examples of conversations I've had in a GenEd class:

1. Anonymous GenEder (referred to as AGE): Have we done this before?
Me: No, he just passed it out.
AGE: Oh, well, you know, sometimes I see into the future, so I was just wondering whether I had actually done this or if I'd just seen myself do it.

2. AGE: If you hit a baseball so hard it got to space and hit the moon, would it leave a crater, or bounce off?

3. AGE: What will you do if Romney gets elected?
Me: Well, there's nothing I can do, I'll just keep living I guess.
AGE: Oh...there's always something you can do (knowing glance).
Me: (Does not return the knowing glance)

I don't like the idea of going through high school and not taking a gen. ed. class. There is an entire subpopulation at Homestead High School that the top 10% of our class will never meet. And while not everyone in general education is fun, the stories you hear are amazing. And the one liners are hilarious.

Ex) Today, with two weeks left in the semester, someone in my econ class asked what the teacher's name was. Priceless.

On the Shelf

Epiphany of today:
As I sat in my first period, my friends and I were discussing what we're good at. Caroline is good at swimming, Kate is a math geek, Claire can play the flute really well (my first period is Orchestra), and I realized: I peaked in eighth grade. I was the "valedictorian" of middle school, starting point guard on our basketball team, and first chair in concert band. After that everything just kind of went downhill. Not that I'm stupid, nonathletic, and unable to play the flute now, I'm just mediocre. I found new things to excel at. I can quote The Office like it's my profession, I can write fairly well, I'm "head host" at 800 Degrees (which virtually means nothing). But I'm still happy.

Watching:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. When you think of Jim Carrey you think of Dumb and Dumber, Yes Man, or Bruce Almighty. I think of Eternal Sunshine and the immense emotional baggage that comes with the movie. The first time I watched it, I sat in the living room, and laughed along with the characters, but became somber as Carrey began losing his memory (it's a confusing movie to explain). That was sophomore year. Last week, my boss and I were discussing it and so I decided to rewatch it. I knew what was coming, so I sat in my room with all the lights off and just bawled my eyes out for the last hour. It is genuinely the saddest movie I have ever seen. But it's so good I still watch it.

Reading:
I wrote earlier about a John Steinbeck short piece we read in one of my classes and we're reading more. East of Eden is Honors American's latest choice. I like Steinbeck's style almost as much as I like Salinger's. I'm only one chapter into the novel that is supposed to be a "modern" (1950s) retelling of Genesis. Being raised in a Christian household, I know the book of Genesis pretty well and I can find many correlations. The first chapter is basically just the speaker (who is unknown at the time) going through how his home became his home. The valley he lives in went through stages and he starts from when the Native American's lived there. It's so detailed and articulate. I just enjoy reading it. Although it is 600 pages long, so this enjoyment may end quickly. We'll see.

What I'm Loving

One of my goals is to attend a Ted Talk...I really mean it. They have collections of the funniest talks (Ted Laughs) on Netflix and I watch them constantly. This week I watched one in particular I found very funny. It was about the trends manager of Youtube, who "professionally watch youtube videos."

He says there are three steps for a video to become viral:

1. Tastemakers

2. Communities of participators 

3. Unexpectedness

A tastemaker would be a person people look up to, the example he gives is when Jimmy Kimmel tweeted about the video Double Rainbow. A community of participators is the people who join together to love a video, or make fun of it (like Friday, by Rebecca Black).  

All the spikes on the graph are Fridays, he points out. The reason it began picking up was Tosh.0 talked about it and formed community participation; a society dedicated to making fun of Rebecca Black. With other forms of entertainment, there is only one party benefiting--the viewers. But with the internet now people can participate, make response videos, or even parodies.Unexpectedness is that moment where a not-so-funny video becomes hilarious because of one quick occurrence that was completely unexpected. 

This was interesting because I've never really thought about what makes something famous, or how the viewers are the ones who decide whether or not the videos are good. It's personal and it's completely dependent on us.

Off the Shelf

I hate being sick. Feeling sick I deal with, but coughing my lungs up, fever running, and aching body sick is something that I can't handle. Last week I was subject to such sickness and it was disgusting. On a more positive note, it allowed for plenty of reading, watching, and listening.

Reading
I've been reading Franny and Zooey by Salinger. I'm about fifty pages in and I absolutely love it. I'm not sure why. I mean, nothing is really happening. Maybe it's just his style. It just seems so hopeless. I've posted about Catcher in the Rye before and this novel has the same feel. I mean, they're totally different, but at the same time completely the same. They're just so truthful. Painfully so.
Besides Salinger, I've also been reading Slaughterhouse Five. I read it last year for an English project in Jankowski's AP Lit and I loved it. So I've been skimming and remembering. It's heartbreaking; there are so many statements that are so completely accurate, but no one has ever said them before.

Watching
My sister and I have this agreement regarding TV. She has Hulu Plus and I have Netflix, so we exchanged passwords and I love this system. While I was sick and lying on the couch, disgusting, I watched episode after episode of Community. Staring the flawless Donald Glover (the man I dedicated a post to), the handsome Joel McHale, the talented feminist Gilliam Jacobs, and the HILARIOUS Danny Pudi, it's one of my favorite shows. The Abed/Troy (Pudi/Glover) relationship is probably one of the funniest on TV; the witty bromance thoroughly enjoyable to audiences (especially me). They rival the Jim/Dwight relationship...and that is saying something.

Listening 
While rearranging our living room last week, I discovered a CD I haven't listened to since fourth or fifth grade. The type of CD that no matter when you hear it, you can't help but love it. Well, if you're a bluegrass fan. I'm usually into more of the rock and roll underground music, but underground bluegrass can be just as enjoyable. Nickel Creek. They became famous at a very young age, and wrote all their own music. On my favorite album "Nickel Creek" (they were very original--but seriously, they were) for every two or three songs with lyrics, they have one of just music, featuring Chris Thile on mandolin.

 I grew up on The Fox, my dad would play the guitar and I would dance and sing, to the best of my six year old ability. I also loved The Lighthouse's Tale, even though I didn't really understand it at the time. Chris Thile was only 19 at the time the album was released; just this past year he won the MacArthur "genius" Grant for 500,000 dollars to do nothing but study music.

Who knew he'd end up looking so adorable?

Off the Shelf

Every summer I travel down south to Austin, Texas to visit with my extended family. My cousin Katy is 14 and reads more than I ever have. Two years ago she suggested the book Will Grayson, Will Grayson. So, naturally, I checked it out from the library and never read it. And now, two years later, I remembered the name and picked it up. And it's so good! Two different kids with the same name. And how they meet and interact. I'm pretty excited, to say the least.

I talked about my cynical nature in my last post and I'd like to add a book that contrasts Pride and Prejudice by encouraging my pessimism. Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorite novels of all time. Part of that is due to the unbelievable truthfulness Salinger incorporates through Holden Caufield. Whom I love. Seriously, I had this ongoing debate with someone last year about whether Caufield was a "good guy" or a "bad guy". Which, when you think about it, is ridiculous. Because in real life (and in this novel) good and bad guys don't exist. There are just people who make decisions...some good, some bad. Anyway, we argued his credentials for the entire year. And the thing about debates is that people just get entrenched in their own view...so I believed Holden to be perfect, due to his imperfections, and the opposing viewpoint just kept trying to point out how delusional that is. But I wouldn't change my mind...I was a woman in love with a fictional character.

Off the Shelf

Listening

I’m back to listening to quality music, after my half a week of binging on Britney. Death Cab is mostly the playlist for this week. I hate when people are like “Oh, I love Death Cab for Cutie!” when they’ve only heard like one song. I own every single track that Ben Gibbard has anything to do with, including his personal band the Postal Service. Here’s a foolproof way to weed out posers and the fake-fans:

1.      Have you heard of I Will Follow you Into the Dark? Yes? Good. How about Bixby Canyon Bridge? No Sunlight? Marching Bands of Manhattan? Pity and Fear? No? That’s a shame.

2.      Who is Ben Gibbard? WRONG. Sorry, he’s the lead singer and writer of all Death Cab songs.

3.      Who’s Death Cab? Seriously? Oh…you got confused because I didn’t have the words “for Cutie” after it.

After administering all of these tests and realizing that most likely Death Cab’s “biggest fan” isn’t a fan at all, sigh and shake your head a bunch so they know you’re disappointed.

Reading

I’m honestly the least romantic person I know, I’d rather hang out with friends than go on a date, I don’t ever want to get married, and I don’t really believe true love is a thing. Of course, I have almost no experience and can (and probably will) accept that I’m wrong at some point in my life. But when I read Pride and Prejudice I forget all my cynical thoughts and fall in love with Mr. Darcy. In “You’ve got Mail” Meg Ryan’s character talks about Pride and prejudice and how she gets caught up in the language (“with words like thither”) and how she’s “always in agony about whether Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy will get together” no matter how many times she reads it. I’m that way. Every time I start it I think they’re too different! There’s no way! She might as well of married Mr. Collins! Why won’t she just kiss him already! But then I get goose bumps when they finally end up together (I’ve read this a few times and don’t get tired of it).I get furious when Mr. Wickham is revealed for what he truly is. I get so excited for Jane when Mr. Bingley returns to ask her to marry him. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of Pride and Prejudice; it let’s me take a break from my pessimistic attitude and enjoy a good love story. 

Donald McKinely Glover

Donald Glover is the perfect example of the whole package in a man (singer, actor, writer, cutie). So I've decided to devote an entire post just for him.
If you've ever seen Community, you'll recognize Glover immediately. He wrote for 30 Rock, one of the funniest, edgiest prime-time TV show, for three years. Besides Community, most of the roles he's played are small, obscure roles in shorts no one has ever heard of. My personal favorite, Black Peter Pan, tells the story of Wendy, John, and Michael, when Peter comes back with a few changes. It's not cry-from-laughing funny, but it's still clever and witty, like everything Glover has written.
Three people tried to tell me about Childish Gambino in the past week. I hate rap, but I've basically fallen in love. I highly recommend Bonfire and Heartbeat, if you're not offended by cursing. Or anything. His raps really cover a lot of non-school appropriate subjects. The first time I listened to his raps, I just thought he was vulgar. And he is extremely vulgar. But when the third person who told me about him showed me his photo, I freaked out. I squeal an awful lot on a regular basis, but this was an all time high note. I didn't realize the man writing the witty, inappropriate raps was none other than Donald Glover:

 That fact literally makes me love his raps. So for at least this week, he is my favorite human being.

Off the Shelf

Eating:
As food is one of the most important things in my life, I decided to place it first. I have pizza about three times a week, which sounds unhealthy. But at 800 Degrees, it's actually not bad. I mean, a lot of carbs. But I am not that girl who is worried about that kind of stuff. Tonight I got a verdure for the first time. It is delicious, let me tell all of you out in cyber-space. Being in Indiana, when people call in and ask for this pizza, they often say "I would like a ver-dur." I stifle my giggles and type it into the computer system. Today, I bought one and typed it out as verdur. Both the pizza and the chuckles from the cooks were thoroughly enjoyable.

Listening:
Every few months I have a few days where I listen to the worst quality of music ever. This week it's Britney Spears. I listen to the classics, when she was fifteen, as well as the post-bald phase of Britney. Radar is my complete favorite even though the entire three minutes is one auto-tuned note after another. The synthesizer leads into the bass bumping enough to shake the entire car. Then comes the nasal, completely fake voice, with rhyme after rhyme. So awful, but so catchy.

Watching:
After reading Mindy Kaling's book, I decided to watch Goodwill Hunting, written and staring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. I was talking to my brother as it started and he said, "I'm glad you're watching it; it's the only thing that doesn't make me want to punch Ben Affleck in the face." Nathan is not Ben's biggest fan. Robin Williams is so often in comedies that it felt strange to see him yelling at a young-man, as his therapist. The professor who is pushing Damon's character the entire time reminded me of a more abrasive version of my father. The guy who pushes people in the direction he wants them, even if it's not what they want. I cried when Damon's character broke up with his girlfriend and again when he's fighting with Williams. Quality film right there.

Reading:
Flannery O'Connor. I know she's a respected American author. But I just hate her short stories. I've read three and all three have just confirmed and reconfirmed my opinion of her. Being super catholic all of her stories are considered rather gruesome and graphic. A lot of religious motif's are brought up. And I just don't enjoy reading about that stuff. They seem too common to me. Repetitive.

Watching Two:
Watching the Office is a pretty bad habit for me. I watch episode after episode everyday. And after watching Goodwill Hunting, I finally get a reference Michael makes. The office workers go down to the warehouse to have a "guys day." Michael is explaining himself to the warehouse workers and says "It's a Goodwill Hunting situation. I have to make sure there's nobody down here that shouldn't be." Now I understand it! That's why I can watch the same episode 100 times, I learn something new every time.

Moonrise Kingdom

My father arrived back from walking the pilgrimage in Spain this weekend. Being pretty condescending in his day to day life, after spending two months abroad surrounded by beautiful scenery and "basically no buildings built after the 14th century," my father reached an entire new level of Professor-ness. So for about one day all I heard were remarks about how much better is in Spain, about how much better Spanish is than English (pretty ironic, considering he's an English professor), and about how mass in much more meaningful over there across the ocean. After that he got back to his normal self, quoting Shakespeare and insisting he's right about everything. I take after my dad...anyway, his idea of spending labor day together was seeing "Moonrise Kingdom" which I did not dispute at all, hearing wonderful things about it.
I was disappointed. I mean, it was great and I loved the recreation of the sixties (it was all pretty accurate, according to my dad). It had good music, and the characters of Sam and Suzy were wonderfully portrayed. But with all the raving reviews, I expected something more. I guess that just goes to show how awful human nature is. I had built up this amazing movie in my head, that no real movie could compare to.
It was a quality film; much better than most I've seen in a while. Bill Murray was/is great. But the entire time, I just kept thinking...this kid looks like Dwight Schrute.

 Am I the only one?

(Halfway) Off the Shelf

Reading
I've been trying to get into A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and every time I pick it up I get distracted, or remember homework I forgot I had, or realize I have five minutes to get ready for work. As a result, I'm only about forty pages in. It's disgusting and sad and eyeopening all at the same time. Dying of cancer really is an awful way to die. I think I'd rather just die quickly than know I'm sick and sit around waiting for the day when my family members don't have to worry about me. After all, they all know I'm not getting better.
I've read fifty pages of Angela's Ashes and I can't decide how I feel about it. It's so easy to forget that it's a true story, not a novel. It's written so calmly that I can't help but feel the person who wrote it never actually experienced any of the things happening. But he did. If I had ever lived the way the family in the book lived, I would write a book all about how horrible materialism and selfishness are.
Eating
My aunt bought me a sushi-rolling board last summer, and I just broke it out and made sushi a few nights ago. It took me several tries to make it worthwhile, but boy was it worth it. Delicious.
School
In AP Composition we read an article about Jonah Lehrer, the author who plagiarized and invented quotes for his book. I've been reading some of his articles he wrote before his validity was questioned this is my favorite. It's interesting because depression can be hereditary and several of my family members have been depressed at one point in their lives.
Music
One word: Oberhofer.
More than one word: That's a weird version of the song, but I can't find the album version.
History of Oberhofer: They're weird and sound that way. No one had ever really heard about them until they went on David Letterman...and people still don't really know how amazing they are. I always let people borrow their CD and I always tell them: listen to the entire album once. Hate it, I expect you to. Then listen to it again. Everyone so far has become obsessed after listening to the album for a second time.

Peace. Love. Rory.

"Sergeant Stubby and the Dog's of War"

This is a photo of the previously mentioned Rory (named after Rory from Gilmore Girls), my westie. I will never forget the day I found out we bought a dog. I was arriving home from a summer camp, when I saw my sister through the bus window. I remember turning to my friend Liz and saying "Oh my gosh, my sister dyed her hair!" And then, noticing the white ball of fur in my sisters arms, adding: "OH MY GOSH. WE GOT A PUPPY!"
My overwhelming love of dogs in general encouraged me to read the article "Sergeant Stubby and the Dog's of War" while wandering around McSweeney's webpage.

This article tells the story of the dog, Stubby (named for his tail) who was the first unofficial war dog. He was smuggled to France by his owner, Robert Conroy during WWI. The small mutt was discovered on the ship and was allegedly only saved because he raised his paw to his chin in salute to the commanding officer. Dogs are surprisingly very helpful in battle, described in detail by Robb Fritz. Stubby participated in seventeen battles himself. His superior abilities to hear and smell  proved to be an asset. In one instance he awoke, due to a strange smell. He started barking, awakening the soldiers, who quickly put their gas-masks on, saving their lives. Stubby was taken to a hospital and nursed back to health. He was named a Sergeant (the only dog in WWI to receive an actual military title) after he attacked a soldier who ended up being a German spy.

Stubby was a little inspiring hero, especially because he was one of the first American K-9 war dogs. It makes me think my dog is a little chunky and really lazy. But I doubt Stubby was a cute as Rory.

Okay. He's pretty cute.

Things that Occured to me at Work:

Literally as soon as I posted that last note, I ran around my house in a panic getting ready for work. I got home from work about thirty minutes ago and I decided to add all the random thoughts that came to me as I was greeting people, busing tables, and folding napkins.
1. In addition to reading Kaling's memoir I also read From Bible-Belt Pastor to Atheist Leader last night. My family is interesting because my siblings and I were all raised in our ultra-religious household, and all four of us are either agnostic or atheist. So reading about this pastor and his own little revelation was fascinating for me.  No one in my family is judgmental and we don't impose our beliefs upon others. I've never felt the drive to convert anyone as the man in this article does.
2. I am the most obnoxious laugher there will ever be. I inherited my strange laugh from my sister, who then grew out of it and sounds like a normal person. I hope I don't ever grow out of my laugh. That doesn't really have anything to do with anything. But I wanted to include it.

3. I'd have to include Rory in the watching category. A lot of the things I do include my dog or taking a photo of my dog. She's basically the love of my life.

Off the Shelf

Reading:
This past week I've been enjoying Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by the lovely Mindy Kaling. While not as deep as other selections, I've always been a fan of Mindy and her character on The Office, so it made for a good first book selection. Going into the memoir, I didn't really know much about her besides the fact her name was Kelly and she was a ditz. So in reading I kind of discovered an entire new human-being. One that had existed for 32 years, but I had never bothered to learn about in my 18. Her story is pretty inspiring to me because I've always wanted to escape to New York, even if I have no set plan. She moved to New York City when she graduated Dartmouth and lived with the income of a babysitter before becoming an assistant (to the) TV psychic Mac Teegarden. Mindy and her best friend Bren wrote a play called Matt and Ben, based on Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's sudden rise to fame after writing   Goodwill Hunting. Mindy Kaling is a writer, first and foremost. She emphasizes that. She writes many of the episodes of The Office, and now is staring in her own show. Her talent is present in this book. She's hilarious.

Listening:
Once a week I burn a C.D. of whatever the hell I'm listening to and take it to work with me. I walk into the back kitchen and give it away, receiving one of my own. The first week I started working, Austin and I started this tradition and it hasn't changed, seeing as we're both always listening to something new. I've got him hooked on Death Cab for Cutie and he's got me addicted to Mumford and Sons. We both have amazing taste in music, if you ask me. Listen to the Head and the Heart. They're my absolute favorite.

Watching:
Before this week I had never watched an episode of Seinfeld. My friend informed me that was absolutely ridiculous and brought me the first and second season. I sat down the other day and watched season 1 (consisting of only 5 episodes). I'm not crazy about it, but it is funny. Apparently it grows on you? We'll see.

Writing?:
I like the idea of writing so much more than actually executing the task. Writing...a way to get all your thoughts out. Articulately and accurately. And then when you're done, you get to decide if it's worth sharing, or if it's personal. But I don't really have much going on in my life to write about. Every once in a while I try to write a little everyday. But I just get bored with writing the same thing over and over again. Maybe I'll try again and stick with it. I like the idea of just adding a random sentence everyday. Someone suggested look at a picture of a memory and write about that. I think I'm going to try it with this picture. A lot of memories came with that evening.

What kind of reader am I...that's a tough one. Especially because I go through such genre phases. One month I want to read nothing but "crappy fiction" as my father calls anything written for a teenage girl in the last ten years. The next month I'll only read Jane Austin. Then I'm reading Carl Sagan. There's no rhyme or reason to my book-picking method. But I guess the most important fact about what kind of reader I am is that I, in fact, read. I'm always reading something new, or rereading Harry Potter. I think my love of books was inherited from my father, and grew as I was growing and watching my siblings read novel after novel.
I took Etymology because I like the idea of picking my own books. But I need somebody there, telling me I need to finish it. I have countless books I've started and haven't had the motivation to finish. Especially since my family got Netflix. So I guess my goal for this semester is to start reading as much as I did when I didn't have access to cable, the internet, and Netflix. It'll take some work, but I'm sure I'll get there.