Lathfest

Oh, what a night. Mid-April back in twenty ten, if I could I would do it again, what a concert, what a night.

I'm sure I don't have to convince anyone that Yardfest was amazing. Wale is thuper duper talented and fun and Cudder stole my heart. Seriously. His stuff is amazing live. You would think that since a lot of his music is really chill his concert would be too. But nahhhh. He had mad energy, did cool little dance moves, was SO CYUTE and said "yyeeahh" like how weezy does. I love him. Also, I didn't realize he was so small! Such a cutie pie.

Gah I love his music. It's cause his stuff is either really personal or just fun. While the videos I uploaded on FB are just short little snippets you should watch them. Better yet, see him in concert so that you can experience him for yourself. Not surprisingly, about two songs in I could smell mary-jane. Funny how they saved it until CuDi came on.

After the concert I went back to Thayer and jammed to some more Cudder and talked about how I now want to marry him (or at least tried to considering my voice is essentially non-existent). Also, I apologize if I yell at you tomorrow if we have a conversation. It's possible that I may not be able to hear anymore. Those were some very large speakers and I was very close to them. Not even complainin' doh.

Anyways, let me now take the time to discuss the infamous "Mather Lather". I will admit that it was pretty fun. Although I was skeptical at first considering 5 minutes after I arrived the fire alarm went off and we were forced to stand outside in the cold for 15 mins. Besides that, the party was pretty entertaining.

I feel like I should dispel some myths for people who weren't there. The party wasn't like you walk into the room and you are immediately surrounded by foam. Nah. You walk in and there's this column thingy in the middle. On each side of the column thingy there is a foam machine on top where foam is coming down. So yes, it is possible for you to be completely covered in foam is you are by the column thingy. If not it's mostly on your feet and legs and being completely covered is avoidable.

I noticed that most of the people who were completely covered were enjoying the foam with another person. I won't go into detail here but let me just say that I hope that both parties showered when they returned back to their rooms.

All in all last night was a very fun prelude to today/tonight, though I must admit I was nervous when I walked out of my dorm at 12 to find that it was raining. Not to worry though, Harvard sent out an e-mail saying that they had ordered thousands of ponchos in case they would be necessary for the concert. Lucky for us it cleared up, but now I wonder what they'll do with all the ponchos....what type uh waste? 'TEVS, right?!

After the concert I chilled and I just spent about an hour watching my FNL DVD from last year. SHOUT OUT 2 THE CAST!! U GUYZ MADE MII SENI0R SPRINGGG!!! MWWWAZZZ LYLSS.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. If not, listen to some CuDi and it'll make all of your troubles go away. Start with this.

Until next time,

JRJ

PS. this was a ~chiLL~ p0st

Pet Peeve

Good evening, everyone. I hope this blog post finds you all in a good place. Unfortunately, I myself am p-oed right now. So if you're feeling particularly happy, stop reading. now. okay. here's your warning.

Time to let you know about something that really bothers me. Since being at college it has become one of my major Pet peeves, though chewing gum like a cow chews its cud and passive aggressiveness are two pet peeves that I'm not sure will ever be topped.

But nevermind that, let me get into the pet peeve that I'd like to focus on now. I'd like to call it "people talking for extended periods of time in parts of the library that are supposed to be silent in". Let me make it clear that I don't mind if someone sees their friend and they talk to them quietly (key word, quietly) for a couple of minutes. However, last night, someone pulled a chair up next to their friends individual desk and literally sat there talking to them for over an hour........

S

M

H

-______-

At least when some people talk, they're sitting at a table meant for multiple people and periodically go back to doing their work. But NO. This person was consciously not doing worrk or even pretending to. If you wanted to have a little chit-chat with your friend, you could either: a) take the conversation to the cafe in the library (where talking is allowed), or better yet, b)GET OUT OF THE LIBRARY BECAUSE YOU AND I BOTH KNOW YOU'RE NOT BEING PRODUCTIVE.

Instead, you're distracting me from my work, causing me to fidget in my seat and become very annoyed.

This instance hasn't been the only recent one where I've encounter this problem. About a week and a half ago there were back-to-back days where people started a conversation in the area where people were working and then moved to the stairwell. This is fine. Completely understandable. Except not when you're voice picks up about 1235 levels in the stairwell to the point where you are essentially screaming. To all who do this, know that there is absolutely positively no reason for you to speak that loudly. I can assure you that the person who is standing a foot away from you can hear you and I can also assure you that I along with the other people who are innocently trying to study have absolutely no interest in what you are saying. So shhhh. Remember to use your inside voice. Especially when you're in a library for goodness sake.

Another thing that happened recently in the library that was less annoying than it was uncomfortable and strange was walking past a desk set in between two bookshelves only to observe a girl sitting on her boyfriend's (I would assume) lap hardcore making out but then stopping and looking at me when I walked by. Go-lly, I'm sorry for interrupting your hook-sies sesh, but I was expecting to find someone sleeping, picking their nose, or picking their ears, not to find two people making out. The worst part was there were no seats in the library so I was forced to walk past these lovebirds two more times. You would think that after the first time I say them they would've been like, "oh, someone just saw us making out in the library. maybe we should stop doing this. it's kind of weird."

But nah, the same thing happened all three times I walked by. A trifle, I know.

I've heard rumors about the stacks at Widener, but not about tables that are usually crowded on the third floor of Lamont. CMON SONNNN.

In closing, next time you're going to talk for an extended period of time or at an extraordinarily loud level in the library, please think twice. I bet you would be annoyed too if you were trying to study and this happened to you.

Also, if you plan on making out with your significant other in the library, don't. I can appreciate the fact that the two of you appreciate each other, but chairs in the library, especially at an incredibly busy hour, are not there for you to express this appreciation.

I urge you to consider my sentiments and share them with others. If we can all follow and spread these ideas, I truly believe that we can make the world a better place.

All my love.

-JRJ

what type uh planet

This planet is so seriously outta whack that it's scary. Yesterday it was 89 degrees and sunny, today it was in the 50s and was windy with an occasional drizzle, and tomorrow it's supposed to be gross and stormy. While I certainly enjoyed the sun, this really random mix of weather kind of freaks me out. Planet, you iight, boo? Additionally, the weird and sudden changes in atmosphere pressure give me headaches/migraines. I made the mistake of reading for 2.5 hours last night after noticing the beginnings of a migraine and went to bed with and with and woke up with one. I apologize for those who had to witness my creepiness in lifesci where I chose to sit in the balcony wearing my sunglasses the entire time. Not gonna lie but I felt kinda cool.

Also, it's amazing how my dorm got so much hotter just from the one day of heat. Mostly in the stairwell though cause opening the window did the trick for my room. I'm hoping this means that my room and classrooms won't be too unbearable once it's hot out

more often. I can't help but remember the days in Columbia High School where it was significantly hotter in the building than it was outside. Hot days literally made it impossible to do anything productive. Everyone was cranky and couldn't focus, the school smelled, you had

to be half naked to be comfortable (but unfortunately the dress code didn't allow you to have that comfort...oh, speaking of, can someone inform me about what ever happened with that dress-code protest that went on earlier this year?), and it was always awkward went you caught people slyly trying to sniff their armpits to make sure they didn't stank (Don't cringe, you know you did this). There were those who did this subtly (first photo) and then those who were shamefully explicit (photos 2 and 3).

You see, apparently at CHS it was vital to have all of the AC concentrated in one part of the building (the library). The thing is, the students didn't really have all that much access to it. OH, the chs library. So so so many memories with those faculty members.

Anyways, it'll be interesting to see tomorrow if people have followed my advice about umbrellas. I'm not sure how windy it's supposed to be but if it is windy I had better not see people struggling with umbrellas. Or else I'll be finna come duel.

The parents are in town this weekend and we're going to the Sackler museum tomorrow. Should be pretty cool. I usually associate going to museums with being in London when I was like 11 and always getting the recorder things that talked to you about the paintings as opposed to you reading the captions. Back then that electronic was the coolest thing about the museum and I couldn't be bothered otherwise. I expect my feelings about the museum tomorrow will be slightly different. I'm looking forward to this weekend and I was saying to my parents that it's so nice to see them and feel like no time has past. (Even though I was home not too long ago for Spring break). I find this is true every time I go home and it's the same with my parents and friends. I love that. And it's funny how it applies to school also and how it feels like spring break was forever ago when it was really only 3 weeks ago.

Speaking of time frames, the rest of the semester is going to fly by :-(. I WANT TO CHERISH IT. In just a week from Sunday, Kid Cudi and Wale will be performing for Yardfest, the weekend after is Relay for Life, prefrosh weekend, and Eleganza, reading period starts the 30th, and then finals. There's a lot coming up but it's all very exciting. I just hope it doesn't go by too quickly and that I can enjoy it. I trust that I will and you should all do the same. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, just.

I'd like to end with the words of a wise scholar.

"U be the bucket and I'll be the shovel in this hole I'm diggin' called life."-Anonymous Intellectual.

-JRJ

P.S. Check out dis dymepiece.

P.P.S. FOLLOW ME. and everything is alright, I'll be the one to tuck you in at night. And if you wanna leave I can guarantee you won't find nobody else like me.-Uncle Cracker

Umbrellas

So I probably shouldn't be writing this right now given the ridiculous amount of stuff I have to do BUT something has been on my mind.

The past two days here have been DISGUSTING. I'm talking torrential rain and gusty winds. Really bad. Denim sticking to your legs is not fun, I'll tell you that much. The point is these past two days I've had the opportunity to observe people in the rain. Specifically, I've been noticing people and their use of umbrellas. My conclusion: when the rain is THIS bad, and it's THIS windy, DO NOT USE AN UMBRELLA.

Literally every time I walk out of my dorm, within 30 seconds I observe at least two people with up-turned (correct word?) umbrellas struggling to fix them. Then they stop to try to make their umbrellas right again, getting blown around by the rain and soaked by the wind because their umbrellas are no longer functional. I noticed this earlier this year and it was hilarious. But now it's kind of annoying. An umbrella clearly isn't going to do you any good. About 20 minutes ago when I was coming back to my room, someone with a hoopty umbrella was walking around with the wires sticking out of the side. I also passed at least two pathetic broken ones sprawled out in the yard. How sad. But you know what? I don't even feel bad. You should've known better. The umbrella isn't practical in these kinds of conditions. Especially an enormous, unnecessary sized golf umbrella that becomes even heavier than it normally is with the wind. Saw at least three people struggling with those this afternoon. Get it together, boos.

THEN there are those people who, in an attempt to deal with the wind, put their umbrellas facing forward in front of them, making it seem as though they're going into battle and need some sort of shield. Too much! While these people don't end up with broken umbrellas AS often as the others (I have still seen them break from this), the result is what? You guessed it. You can't see in front of you. Let's assume you're walking forward. You can't see where you're walking. I literally witnessed two people who were using this umbrella/shield contraption walk into each other two because neither of them could see what was going on. Imagine if one of these umbrellas had been broken like another and had the wire sticking out of it. Before you knew it, you'd be charged with stabbing someone in Hahvahd yahd.

My point is, if you haven't noticed these things already you should. The second someone stepped out of Annenberg today, his umbrella flipped up. Why put yourself through the trouble of having to fix your umbrella every time you step outside and consequently getting soaked which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place? My advice: buy a good raincoat. I bet the cost of a good raincoat is less than the money one would spend on buying a new umbrella every week. If not for yourself, do this for me. I got some giggles out of observing people and their umbrellas initially, but now the joke is getting old. Buy a raincoat. Leave your umbrella in your closet and if you must use it, don't use it on a day when there's a torrential downpour in addition to really strong winds.

Instead, save it for your next music video.

I sincerely hope this helps those of you in need.

Stay dry!

-JRJ

P.S. Make me feel good about myself and become a 'follower'! (right side) Thanks!

Back to the grind

It's hard to believe it was only a week since I posted my last blog and that I've back at school for an even shorter time. Once I returned, there was no time for farting around like after winter break. It was straight back into classes and what some people would refer to as "the grind". It took me a couple of days but once I reminded myself that the next two weeks were going to be super busy with midterms, and a paper I got my act together and got back to work.

In addition to being sort of out of it just because I had just gotten back from break, a lot of other stuff has been on my mind. For one, HEALTHCARE! WOO! I couldn't be happier that this finally passed and next time someone tries to say Obama isn't doing enough they should think about the fact that he's made history in just over a year despite the fact that his predecessor left him in a seemingly impossible situation to get out of. Respek.

Healthcare: Great. Responses to healthcare: trifilicious. Multiple congressmen were SPIT on by conservatives the day of and after the vote. I don't understand how this is allowed. If a Republican were spit on this would be a HUGE deal. How dare we disrespect the great patriotic congressmen of this country, right? Yet these people were SPIT on and black congressmen, (one of whom was a champion during the civil rights movement in this country) were called the n-word as they walked to work. This really upsets me. The fact that TODAY we still have people who want to rewind and go back to a time when certain groups of people were marginalized concerns me. The fact that the "teabagger" movement is considered a legitimate MOVEMENT. Really?! Despite from trying to draw a historical parallel that DNE (does not exist, calc AB whadddupp?!), these people are refusing to believe that healthcare will benefit them when the majority of them don't have coverage. Healthcare is a good thing. Especially for people who don't have coverage now. I don't see how you can argue the other way. If you get sick it makes sense that you would benefit from some sort of plan that would allow you to get care at a cost that's affordable to you. Right? So why do these people not want healthcare? Why are all these way Right groups coming out with such full force now? WHY in the world would intelligent people vote for a ticket that could've possibly made Sarah Palin president of the United States? I hate to constantly play the race card but if it's all that's in my hand....

And it has been this whole week. On Wednesday (I believe) an article was written for the Harvard Salient (for those of you who don't know, the Salient is the Conservative publication on campus) that called Harvard's new "Ethnic Studies" secondary field "a good example of an academic subject driven entirely by a leftist political agenda". The author stressed the importance of a "conservative" education that included no histories other than those of Western civilization. He essentially calls the accomplishments of all other peoples, namely marginalized groups useless and illegitimate...things that we shouldn't bother learning about. "Americans of color have undoubtedly done some things of note, but their 'encounters' and 'experiences' are not of paramount importance to a university education." What about the "Americans of color" who were the basis for the foundation of the economy of this country back in the day? What about the outstanding accomplishments of black artists and writers despite generations of structural setbacks they had to endure? He LITERALLY says that "Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality" are "useless". USELESS? This is simply untrue. On the most BASIC level...there was a time when women could not vote. Now they can. Should we just ignore that there was a change there? Is that not noteworthy? As far as I'm concerned, a "university education" should not ignore history.

So...what does this mean? If you are not a white, christian, male of Northern European decent, the history of your being is illegitimate. Sorry, I know that might be hard to hear. Now I know some people might be thinking I'm being too harsh. After all, freedom of speech right? What about my freedom to be legitimate and learn about myself and where I come from? To my surprise, there are people out there who believe that I shouldn't have that freedom. How could someone this young hold these views? It doesn't make sense. He wasn't born at a time when "progressive" things weren't being taught which means that he grew up in an environment where he heard these things. It's scary to me that people who hold such regressive beliefs about people and the world, particularly of this country (just because it's closer to home for me) still exist today. WE DO NOT LIVE IN A POST-RACIAL SOCIETY. If anything, people are more vocal about their racist views now because there is so much backlash against Obama anyway, so why not? But hey, they have a voice so what can we who know this stuff is just plain wrong do about it? We have to have a voice too and be just as loud, if not louder. Right now is truly a scary time because the more we progress (black president, healthcare) the more angry and vocal the regressive voices (racist people spitting at congressmen and saying the n-word, teabaggers) will become.

My point is we gotta get back to the grind. There are amazing things happening right now and there's opportunity for so much more. I have a feeling people are going to be talking about this time in the future so I'd like to make some more history while we have the chance and before it's too late. Keep talking to people, write little blog things like this, argue with people, read about what's going on. Get back to the grind. I certainly have. LifeSci 1b and this stuff have been on my mind all week. Oh leh do ih.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLH3XLZirHU

-JRJ

What type uh -ation

Today it was beautiful outside yet again. I went to the reservation for the first time in years and took a pleasant stroll. Occasionally, I would continue the trend that started last night of thinking of words that end in "-ation". Examples: hydration, constipation, education, fermentation, etc. Also, another thing I did a lot of last night...saying "what type uh". This lingo has been used before in situations when weird things when on. But we took it to a whole new level and used it for every possible thing. While this may seem annoying...yeah, it is. But unfortunately that doesn't change the fact that it's really fun to do.

Accumulation.

What type uh randomness?

Do you guys remember the movie the breakfast club? It's so good. And the ending is mad realistic. After spending a day in detention with people who actually weren't in your group of friends or your "crowd", everyone knows that you definitely wouldn't be friends with those people. It would affect your Reputation. It's also interesting to think of what people in high school would correspond to each character. Characterization. Just a thought. A Contemplation.

Anyways, I apologize for not blogging for the past few days. You know how in high school how during summer vacation your sleep schedule changed and then you had to try to gradually (graduation) get back to your normal sleep schedule. Well, that's what I'm trying to do here. When I go back to school on Sunday, I'm definitely not going to be able to do this every day. I will try to every week or so. So don't get too addicted. What type uh dependence would that be.

Relation.

Tomorrow is a busy day. Have to see a bunch of people and start getting ready to go back to school. I was also going to try to do some work. But. We'll see if that happens. Anyways, continue enjoying this weather.

By the way, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is on as I write this. One of my faves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZPRkkiQEoc

Gnight errybody.

-JRJ

Sun!

Today, in typical break fashion I awoke at 11am and alas, through my windows what did I see? SUN! After days of gloomy grossness there was sun! It was also really warm out. I left my house with just a t-shirt and a sweatshirt on (no pants, obviously) and made sure to wear my Ray Bans. What a great day. Tomorrow's supposed to be nice too, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to take some time tomorrow to "toss a disc around". Hopefully thank lingo was correct. If not, please let me know.

Despite the nice weather, I did have to force myself to do some work for school. trife. Not cool to assign things due the Monday after break....k, I'm over it.

Liii Lopeh educated me today with a couple of interesting statistics that she read about for one of her classes. One was that on average, taller men are more successful. This didn't surprise me. Probably has to do with things like confidence throughout life in general. The second statistic was what got me. Apparently, women who have sex with richer men have more orgasms. I don't really get why this would be the case. Maybe they convince themselves they're happier? Maybe they fake it more often to please their rich lovers? Maybe rich men have gotten with more women and as a result have more experience and are just better. Who knows. Anyone else have any other theories as to why this would be true?

In addition to doing work today, I also took a relaxing nap with my pup by my side. For those of you who have heard me go on my dog shpiel before, feel free to skip over this part. For those of you who haven't, listen up. Dogs are amazing. Especially affectionate dogs. They really have a sense of how you're feeling and they always love you no matter what. If you're having a bad day, they know. And they can cheer you up. Oh, the simple things in life. So I fell asleep facing my puppy for about a half an hour and I woke up and looked out the window. Still sunny! Great day, great day.

The Obama healthcare stuff is still getting talked about and Obama went to Fox (YES, FOX) to talk about it. He is not playing around and I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope that congress can get their act together and trust him after all this time and hard work he's put into something this important. Again, hopefully we'll get good news soon. The vote should happen by the end of this week.

News I heard today: Tiger Woods coming back to play golf. YAY! SIKE. I know it may be unrealistic/unfair of me to say that his career should be over but I cannot stand him. While there are undoubtedly other athletes who do the disgusting things that he was doing, none of them base their careers off of their composure and clean-cut images to the extent that Tiger did. Also, I watched his apology a few weeks ago and it was PATHETIC. Speaking of pathetic, his wife. Staying with him. Ridiculous. I cannot for the life of me understand it. Yes, he has money, but so does she. She would be fine without him and she doesn't (for that matter, no one does) deserve to stay with someone who cheated on her with almost or over ten women. Disgusting. Also, the kids are young enough now so that they wouldn't get too much crap from other kids or at school, whereas if this happens again later (which I wouldn't be surprised if it did-people don't change all that much), they could run into more problems.

Finally, as I've been writing this I've been flipping back and forth between late night talk shows and have been shocked to find that on all three there have been different forms of racism. With Letterman it was with snoop dog and the way he talks/where he lives/what he eats (buckets of chicken, obviously.....really?), with Leno it was with Gene Hackman imitating Chinese people and the way they speak and act, and with Kimmel it was one of him employees (who is Mexican) acting like he is really stupid and ignorant (He referred to Mardi Gras as Mardi Gracias and compared the parade to Cinco de Mayo. Is it considered child labor if Kimmel has 7 year-olds writing for him? Someone should really do something about that.) But hey, what do I know, right? Apparently this stuff is funny. Nahhhhh doh. It's offensive and stupid. Late night hosts, step ya game up, make a better joke. If I wanted to listen to stupid racist jokes I would watch South Park and Family Guy more often.

Peter Griffin: My black friend talks funny!

Joe: I have no legs!

(pause for laughter)

South Park character 1 (description-small and white): Blacks, ching ching, stupid!

South Park character 2 (description-small and white): Gingers do have souls dammit!

(pause for laughter/for audience to make the youtube connection)

Sorry for those who are offended by my hatred of South Park and Family Guy and the fact that Late Night Talk Shows' sometimes make really stupid and racist jokes.

On the BRIGHT side, something we can all agree on is that it was BEAUTIFUL today! Let's all set aside our differences and hope for more sunshine tomorrow! Yayyy!

Happy sunshine!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q536JTSe40M

-JRJ