Wild Parrots

OMG, so there are totally WILD parrots that live in Southern California. Last week while canvassing I stumbled upon one, literally parading up and down a gate to a house I wanted to go to. I thought it was weird, but I didn't think anything of it. Then yesterday while in Ocean Beach (a community within San Diego) I saw a whole troop of them in the palm trees, squawking and such. I didn't even know parrots were in North America, let alone San Diego. I want to take pictures and post things on my blog here, but my camera lens has stopped working. Its stuck in the camera and wont come out! :*(

But anyway. Parrots. Thats AWEsome.

Canvassing

So, I totally love canvassing. And being healthy. And canvassing while being healthy...

I started on Monday with campaigning (canvassing) and Monday and yesterday were awful. I didn't get anyone to support us on the issue. But my problem was that I didn't have my act together. I couldn't get the information out without sounding like a robot, etc, etc. However, this evening I totally got my act together and did great. I can't wait until next week to do this full time. As for the rest of this week... I'm at the museum. We are having the gallery opening of Georgia O'Keeffe and the Stieglitz (sp?) circle. I wish Georgia O'Keeffe hadn't died, then I would have been able to meet her tomorrow! Schade! We have two more parties this week, Friday and Saturday, that I am also working. Sooooo, should be fun. Its been crazy this week trying to manage the transition between jobs and figure out how to keep my self feed, on time. Pay day is friday... whoooo... I get to make a trip to the DMV and become a California citizen! I'll probably do that next week though when I get through inspections and stuff.

Rwanda Rerun

Just a quick note, violence has escalated in the Darfur-Sudan Conflict. We all have seen movies like Hotel Rwanda or Blood Diamond. Well, this is not a movie.... and this kind of violence is what is going on right now as we speak. The numbers (deaths) add up quickly, so if you care, click on the title of this blog entry, or the following....

http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/escalation_fb?rk=d1cxfh4q3cIeE

and sign the petition. Please check out the website as well (click on home at the top) and see what else you can do.

.... Never forget we live in a democratic society. Thus, your responsibility is to ACT.

Civil Wars

A rather striking thought (actually several) occurred to me during my world history course today... as we entered into the contemporary era, starting with WWI, there was a great shift in political structures (democracies replaced monarchies), gender relations, living environment (rural to city) and class structures (a decline in land holding aristocracy and an increase in upper class members with wealth based on merchant activities, etc). WWI and WWII were, essentially, western wars. Now, if I were to draw rather loosely upon the infamous Foreign Affairs article, The Clash of Civilizations by Samuel P. Huntington, in that the world could be divided up into relative cultural civilization zones (the West, Latin American, Arab, etc), would it be safe to say that WWI and WWII were essentially "Civil Wars" within the Western civilization?!?! Thus, could we predict that a major theme of our contemporary era is Civil War? ...will the rising powers of Asia, Arab nations, Latin America, Africa eventually be confronted with these civilization-wide civil wars. hmmmm. that kinda gives an interesting macro structure to things.

Global Warming and Gay Rights

So, you all have probably heard, California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage that was passed in 2000 by a 60% majority via public ballot. Things are crazy here! Its the most amazing feeling to see everyone so happy here in Hillcrest. And for me personally, its liberating. Can you imagine living as a second class citizen? ... never knowing if you will be fired from your job for your sexual orientation or if some gang beats you up, there is no legal recourse whatsoever!?!? I made a vow that I would never marry a guy until gay rights were granted and gays, bi's, lesbians, and trans could marry too.

The fight has just begun though. People are already rallying behind the pro and con sides. There has been a petition to put a constitutional ban on gay marriage on the ballot come this November. So, I've decided to quit my job at the museum (I'll only be working part time on weekends to keep my employee benefits there) and join up again with the organization I was working with this past winter and campaign and organize people here in San Diego to protect and uphold the court decision. GLBT issues have destroyed my family and my life and working on this has never felt so right in my entire life. I won't give up a future of full equality for myself and my family and future generations for anything.

Game Plan: the next 1.5 months we are working on a Global Warming campaign (the second dearest issue in my heart and my obsession for nearly 7 years) and if I make top numbers in our office, I'll be given (hopefully) responsibility for the Human Rights Campaign here in Hillcrest. 92103 baby!

With the CA court being one of the most influential courts in the country, if we can make this happen, it will only be a matter of time before the rest of the country will follow. CA was the first to legalize interracial marriage. This is no different. A poll in 2006 indicated that people are shifting support towards gay rights. In just 6 years, the numbers in opposition went from 61% to only 51%.

On a side note, the Interior Department declared the Polar Bear officially as an endangered species on Wednesday. The idiots, however, left out vital information from the report that will effectively render the polar bear as un-save-able because the only thing that can be done is to prevent the ice from melting.... which idiot Dirk Kempthorne declared is not a significant enough issue to address seeing that the Endangered Species Protection Act is "not designed" to fight global warming. So... what is it designed to do Mr. Secretary of the Interior?

Dad's home

So, Dad just got home from a week sojourn on the east coast. I'm happy to see him again! :D I also seem to have inherited a rather pretty ring, and no one knows who it belongs to.

It's been a great week. Paul started his job, and he works evenings, so he sleeps during the day (and so thus it's quiet) and then I get the house to myself at night! I've been cooking all week. There are these funny fruits called loquats here in southern California. Adam has a tree in his apartment complex, so we picked a whole bunch and I made cobbler for him. This picture makes them look bigger than they are. They are only about 2" long.

I had a job interview with a small biotech firm in La Jolla, right across from Torrey Pines Golf Course (where the PGA is held). There are a second round of interviews next week. The woman I interviewed with will call me by Wednesday if she wants to see me again. I'm so nervous! This is the first time I have applied and interviewed for a job that is part of my career. I really need this break, for the experience, and career, and to get back into school. I figure I can get into the UC schools; establish residency and get free tuition. Thus, I need to work for a year and if I get this job (which is full salary, basically at a bachelors' degree pay rate and benefits) it'll work out fine. Next fall (so 1.5 years from now) I'll apply to one of the UC schools, either here in San Diego or something up north where it isn't as expensive to live. The experience from this job will help me get into the super-competitive science programs here, and get a bit out of debt. Plus, La Jolla is the freaking most awesome place in the US. Work gets out at 4:30... by 4:45 i'm on the beach, chillin'!

San Diego pictures

I forgot how much I love my camera and taking pictures. Here are the koalas at the San Diego zoo (free admission because I am a park employee!) the other picture is me at Mt. Soledad with Adam. That is the pacific ocean! :D

Healthy Becky

So, I just got back from the Doctor, and this totally deserves a public post. I'M HEALTHY! it's seriously like a miracle. Ok, so things aren't perfect and i've got a ways to go before I'm completely put back together, but enough so of a clean bill of health to merit no more doctor appointments for 2 months. WHOO! It's been an amazing week.

The museum closed our major exhibit so traffic is slow and boring, and will be until our Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit opens on the 18th. I've been enjoying working with the administrative aspect of Security as well. I'm no longer working at the deli. I guess I am not very talented at carving meat and cheese and putting them on bread to make a sandwich, but that is ok. I was not liking it at all anyway. I'm going back to the Environment California job and canvassing on May 19th, part-time. I might possibly go full time after I turn 21 in June. I am SO looking forward to that. I won't be a god-damn "child" anymore. I'll have legal rights and the courts in NY can't order me around anymore. Or anyone else for that matter either.

I've started seeing someone here in San Diego and have made some friends. We went to Mt. Soledad in La Jolla, just north of San Diego proper, but still within the "city" limits. It was beautiful. Then we found a neat restaurant in Pacific Beach. It was great because they had gluten free food (Cali is great... so many restaurants have GF menus) and a vegetarian section.

I'm still depressed about Wooster not working out. I got an extension on my scholarship and I would totally do anything to continue doing research with Dr. Edmistion. But, somehow, it just doesn't feel right anymore. My friends are all graduating, I don't have enough funding to finish out, the food and doctors I need are not easily to obtain, and I am not prepared academically for Wooster classes. Its a decision that I need to make before June 6th. I have to renew my drivers license. And whether or not I register in California or Ohio will be the deciding factor. Very, very scary. I found a graduate program/direction that I would like to pursue. It's called Anthropogeny. I just need to get an undergraduate degree. I know what I want to do now, I want to continue doing research. And if I stay here in California, I can get free tuition at a state school.... kinda makes sense, no? Did I mention UCSD (University of California: San Diego) is one of the top research schools in the nation? Jeeze... the only thing to fear is fear itself.

working, and working, and working

so, i've been working hard at my two jobs, both of which are never consistent. I'm trying to catch up on my bills. but it's not working very well. Another round of court battles ensue on may 8th. the last one didn't go so well. it looks like dad and I won't be able to keep ourselves in this apartment. The problem is, that are rent is already the lowest in the area. but the good news is that i got an extension on my scholarship at Wooster, so I might be able to get back in January, yea! ... if we can get through this. I'm sick of living in constant fear. never knowing what will happen. One week everything is going to be ok, the next week the whole world feels like it is collapsing on me. I can go to Wooster, i can't go to Wooster. I can cover all my bills, then I can't. We are going to loose the house and the car gets repossessed, then it isn't. Back and forth, back and forth. Everything.

my spare time (whats left) is taken up by cooking my meals in preparation for the week and reading a bit. I've started making some friends too... so that is fun, hanging out and stuff. its good for me, lol.

Moving on

Increasingly it feels like my parents are fighting over me because it is something to fight about. I don't think very many people could possibly imagine the horror I've been through in the past 3 months. When it comes to money, my parents fight over me so they can get tax write-offs and other support payments to pay off credit cards, mortgages, etc. But when it comes to helping me with medical bills, food, or going to school... forget it. I'm non-existent.

I have dreams and goals. Things I want to do. To see. To be. But it feels like one half of those things I'm being or have been prevented from accomplishing. The other half I'm too afraid of because every time I try to achieve them myself (mind you... without much support or guidance) I often failed. When I succeeded, it didn't matter to my family. I guess I had chosen poor friends because they didn't care much either.

San Diego feels like both my prison and my haven of respite. If I went back to school, would everything just magically be better though? No... But I'd at least like the chance to pretend.

Job

I started my job on Wednesday, and totally love it. I have been working the new India exhibit. I'm so tired because I am on my feet the whole time, but I love being with all the artwork. It is rather inspiring. It makes me want to work harder at learning Hindi. I even got a gift certificate for $25 at amazon, so I bought a book on Hindi, another on eastern philosophy, and a third on meditation today. In conjunction with my homework from my doctors I've been learning how to meditate. One of the galleries next to the India exhibit is full of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. I must being doing something right because today I even got a promotion, already! I work 5 days a week, with Monday and Tuesdays off.

I've been learning some interesting things this week about mind-body medicine and have been reading a book called the Mozart Effect. It has been so exciting to work with the Pandora radio and compile genres of music that go along with my Music History course work. I'm slowly working though my World History course. For the first time in as long as I can ever remember, I am starting to feel well again. My blood sugar is starting to stabilize and I'm sleeping normally again.

I've become such a strong person. I'm going to make it through!

Knowledge is Power!

I'm going to rant and rave and bitch about something I know nothing about.... so, something that I have realized about the United States is that it is a place of dreams. If you have a dream and are willing to work hard, this is the place for you. The brightest and the best from all around the world are lured here. It can be cut-throat at times, but no one will ever take away your dreams! You have a chance, a hope... You are told that nothing is set, you can move between social classes and be what ever you want to be! There are laws to protect your rights against anyone and anything. And if you feel threatened or want to express you opinion, you are free to do so.

But what about the people that don't want to fight to be the best? What about the people that strive to be mediocre?; just to have the basics: food, shelter, family, etc. The American dream is a house and a car and two kids with a white picket fence. But dreams need to be worked for. If you aren't fighting, then you are loosing... because America is where only those that "work hard" get everything they want.

Some people, to put it in a Social Darwinian perspective, just aren't fit.

But let me ponder a bit more. If the socially unfit are not worth taking care of but are also the backbone of the society as the working class, eventually these "hard working" people at the top will keep working harder to take more and more for themselves. The actual working class is left with a promise and a dream and are told, no one can take away your dream, this is America! Only thing is, ...they just leave out the part that it is only a dream. Personally, I would rather be told that my dream is impossible in the first place rather than be deceived. Eventually the underclass with either give out, or like all good human societies... persevere against all odds.

For me, if I have to be a number, I would rather be a number (think social security number xyz, living on plot 123 in apartment 456, working at abc company listed under 789 registration code, etc.) in a society where power is not in the hands of those who have a stake in making money, where everything is analyzed in profit margins. Our government has a revolving door at the top: senators become CEO's and the richest lawyers get seats in congress. When the president is done being the president, he goes back to running his billion dollar multi-international firms. Everything is so decentralized and so many people have a stake in the process that no one person is to blame. And no one person can fix it either.

Knowledge is Power.

Ohio primaries

I'm so excited for the debate in Ohio tonight. I got my absentee ballot yesterday, and I'm voting tonight! Been doing a little research and realized a shocking fact. The speaker of the House does not need to be elected from the House... it could be an outsider! I'm wondering who would be the vice president as well. When I think about the choosing of the vice president, often the runner up is selected. Although, certainly not always! I can imagine both Clinton and Obama in the presidency. But my question then becomes, who would be a better VICE president?

The Vice President needs to be someone strong and determined, hard working, capable of getting things done in a no nonsense way, and has proven he/she can do so with a track record to boot. He/She needs to be capable of ceremonial duties, being high profile, and not always getting the credit for everything. This person has the responsibility of running a country without being totally accountable to the public opinion polls, otherwise nothing would get done.

The President on the other hand needs to be a visionary; strong, determined, a listener, and a problem solver. He/she needs to be able to connect with the common person, at least on the surface level, whether that be from ideals, background, past employment, history, etc. He/she has a responsibility to guide the administration along the fine line of public sentiment and realistic policy making. However, he/she needs to be able to propose radical ideas and have the humility to put those ideas aside if they are not realistic. The President needs have the personal power and charisma to get things done, when and where he wants them with no questions asked. This requires, above all, loyalty. And loyalty comes from respect. But there 2 kinds of respect: one comes from fear the other comes from admiration.

The best President of the United States can be judged in the ability to instill loyalty and respect, have compassion, empathy for the people, be charismatic, benevolent, and powerful. And in my opinion, the greatest act of power is that in which mercy is given. The difference between mercy and weakness is that when mercy is expected, you are weak. When mercy is unexpected, those whom you grant mercy to not only know what could have happened in its stead but also feel indebted, thus strengthening loyalty and your own power.

So the question becomes, what kind of respect does Obama and Clinton, and even McCain instill in me? This encompasses the ability to foster respect in groups of people radically different from my own as well, both inside my country and in other countries. In the end, we are choosing a leader that has enormous power over our own lives and the lives of many many people in countries around the world, both directly and indirectly.

So if all power comes from either fear or admiration (born out of and fostered by hard or soft power), and the Bush administration has preached a doctrine of fear, fear the US, fear the terrorists, fear foreigners, etc. and some of the "best" presidents of the 20th century were those who fostered loyalty in the form of trust and admiration, Chinese loyalty in the 70's and 80's, Russian loyalty during detente, trust in social programs, etc... who can best foster these sentiments in our current three candidates?

President Bush knew that Saddam knew that we wouldn't normally invade and destroy his country. Saddam expected mercy, the hallmark of American power. Our power was weakened because Saddam had no fear or admiration of the US. The misguided War in Iraq was therefore, not misguided in the decision to invade to prove American power. If the United States expected to have power over Iraq, then loyalty either through hard or soft was required to restore that power. But the bully in the schoolyard only picks on the other kids cuz there are deeper problems in his/her own life. The bully also takes no responsibility for his/her own actions and leaves his/her victim in the dust to suffer the consequences of the attack alone.

squirrels

I realized today after seeing a squirrel that it was the first squirrel I've seen since I left Wooster! There are so many squirrels in Wooster that sometimes we take them for granted. :/

I'm totally enjoying a new radio program I found. I'm a devoted radio listener. I grew very board of collecting songs on iTunes and taking up so much space on my computer. Then I discovered the international music radio stations on iTunes. I've now been eagerly exploring Pandora radio at www.pandora.com You type in a song or band and it finds similar songs/bands and plays an entire radio station of matches. You can even combine multiple "stations" and fine tune the selection! I've been very excited about the possibility of synthesizing a great variety of information I have collected on historical music by creating stations about a particular era and writing information about the music styles. Check out my stations on the right side under the video bar. :D

I'm published!

I finally got the information on the article that I helped Dr. Edmiston on! here is the link...

http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/cmatex/asap/abs/cm0716001.html

yeah!

spring

I am trying to decipher if Spring has actually arrived here. The trees are in bloom... the gardeners are planting flowers at the park. It is as if everything has been perfectly orchestrated for Valentines day. Although it is overcast and somewhat chilly today, the fact that is has been 70-80s and sunny out all week (hence why I have not written much... i've been outside!) makes me wonder.

Getting my background check and all the details has been a real hassle with my job at the art museum. I am extremely anxious to start working but will probably have to wait another 2 weeks at least! uhg.

I started a course in World History this week. 1-1.5 hours a day. It is very different from any history class I have ever taken, much more theory oriented. But nice. It blends well so far with some anthropology books I have been meaning to get through anyway. I'm still plodding through my polysci books from college. I finished my lecture series on China last week. ...That was very interesting!

Explorations

I found 2 Buddhist temples withing 4 blocks of me, a walking/footpath suspension bridge over a nearby ravine/gorge, and a new museum (a historic building) with gardens that are still gorgeous in winter! What an amazing place! I just can't get over the weather either. 70's and sunny. On another subject...

how does one tell the difference between democracy and populism? ... and what do we do when populism in the name of democracy goes horribly wrong??

economic prosperity and sunlight

If anyone out there has access to some good information, I would be most grateful if they could answer a question for me.

Is there a correlation between the percentage of sunlight (or cloud cover) and the overall economic prosperity of a state or nation?

Looking at states; take the five permanent members of the UN security council: USA, Russia, Britain, Germany, and China. I take these 5 because in one way or another they have demonstrated considerable power and/or prosperity, thus enabling them to secure those permanent seats. I can hardly believe the USA, Germany, and Britain can be counted among the most popular destinations when one is looking for a sunny vacation. As for Russia and China... i don't know enough about them to made a claim. On the other side, states such as Italy and Spain have high rates of annual sunlight and are (arguably) on the weaker end of the economic spectrum among the core EU states. I would imagine that a considerable amount of adjustments would have to be made in order to account for political and other factors.

... just a thought. Would be kind of interesting bit of knowledge. What would some of be the implications be if a strong correlation did exist?

Hair cut!

I got my hair cut today!!! It is now much thinner than i am used to. The under layer is very very curly and wavy. Most of the upper layer has been cut off (which is stick straight). It will definitely take some time to get used to. But it is very pretty. Perhaps I will get a picture up some time.

I have been very sick these past few days. I anxiously wait for Monday when my tests are over.
I have the house to myself for the rest of the weekend. Already it is much too quiet and lonely. Our pluming got backed up last night and we sent 5 hours trying to unplug it. Finally we had a plummer come this morning and he had to actually cut part of the pipes to unclog them! It was a disaster because all of the sinks in the apartment were backing up into the bathtub. Thank god the toilet wasn't backing up too!

The weather was absolutely beautiful today. It smelled like spring and the sun has been shining all week. I wish I could set up my hammock, but we don't have a yard or trees. The temperature is just perfect.

I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all!

becky wheel

check out the first video in the video bar.... its me!