Saturday, July 07, 2007
PS
for the record joel was correct- i was waiting to blog about camp kesem with ned aka raindrop. unfortunately, ned is too busy preparing to embark on an awesome italian adventure.. so you get my terrible writing instead- feel free to blame him for that. i do . and steve, your abuse of me on this blog will not go without payback. be prepared.
sooo.. hi :-)
alright all. it is time for me to finally re-introduce myself to the front porch. for those of you who forgot who i am after all this time (or who can't guess from my username), its jenna, the girl who adores you all like woah. it has been SO fun catching up with the blog and getting a sense of what you are all up to this summer. whether its crazy cool and exciting or relaxing and rejuvenating, I think it definitely sounds like you are all having interesting, good experiences, and i think that is really AWESOME.
to start in the very beginning of my summer.. ending the year with the few of you left in durand was really nice, and a great way to transition into camp mode. camp kesem was amazing... people told me that it was "the best thing they've done at stanford" and i can see why and would have to do a lot of reflecting to find something that i consider "better". i gave up a lot to do camp kesem and that worried me a bit, but it was worth every experience i couldnt have because i decided to do it, and i would have given up so much more if i was asked to. it was a really important week for the kids, who are surrounded by other kids who understand them and what they are going through. there is a big range of feelings about cancer, and there are a few kids who have been going for all 7 years and others who i spent the week helping work through homesickness. my job was as counselor of the 6-8 year old "yellow unit" and co-coordinator of arts and crafts. because of the age group i had, camp was less about cancer and more about fun and forgetting and just being a kid. all roles were important, and all the counselors did a great job with the entire week- they are amazing people that i am so glad to have gotten to know- sometimes i forget how many great people there are at stanford that i just havent met yet. ahhh im starting to ramble, and am terrible at writing this down... but, if you cant tell, it was just an all-around fabulous experience: challenging, painful, frustrating, rewarding, enriching, enlightening, empowering, wonderful week.
i finished kesem debriefing, grabbed dinner with val and victor, fell asleep, and woke up to 6 hours of class. woohoo. but in general im LOVING being at stanford over the summer: it is so nice to be enjoying the campus, facilities, surrounding area, and people still around without feeling overwhelmed by commitments- social, academic, extracurricular, etc. the people still here are great (i lovvvve you guys!!!) and im meeting a bunch of other really neat people as well (including my roommates!) and am just feeling overwhelmingly spoiled by having my own room! and a bathroom! and kitchen! it is fabulous. i'm taking three classes and interning 8 or so hours a week at health promotion services. i keep forgetting about the honors thesis and the grant i have to write.... but those will get done at some point too. in between the beach and berkeley and barbeques.
this weekend i surprised my mom by coming home for her birthday.. she had NO clue and was thrilled. we saw spring awakening with jo, who is still in the states- doing rounds at Mt. Sinai- before heading to uganda. by the way, for those of you near new york city, i highly highly recommend going to see spring awakening- i love musicals, and this one is high on my list. i didnt sleep much on the redeye home because they bumped me to first class and i wanted to stay awake and enjoy it. im almost running on empty now, after waking up early for a cooking class this morning with my mom and her best friend. so although my writing is poor and my thoughts scattered, its been worth every moment of this weekend.
wow, so reading back over this, my email sounds giddy and possibly annoyingly happy. and im writing this while in my house, so yeah, im likely to be extra smiley. but really, this has been an awesome three weeks so far. minus the "Kesem Cold" I caught (say that 5x fast) but which is almost gone. i fly back to school late tomorrow (always a mixed bag of feelings for me) and head back to work at 9am monday. but i cant wait to read more of your posts when i get back to school- again, they are all so fun and enjoyable to read! give me a call whenever, or shoot me an email. stay safe all and i love you!
to start in the very beginning of my summer.. ending the year with the few of you left in durand was really nice, and a great way to transition into camp mode. camp kesem was amazing... people told me that it was "the best thing they've done at stanford" and i can see why and would have to do a lot of reflecting to find something that i consider "better". i gave up a lot to do camp kesem and that worried me a bit, but it was worth every experience i couldnt have because i decided to do it, and i would have given up so much more if i was asked to. it was a really important week for the kids, who are surrounded by other kids who understand them and what they are going through. there is a big range of feelings about cancer, and there are a few kids who have been going for all 7 years and others who i spent the week helping work through homesickness. my job was as counselor of the 6-8 year old "yellow unit" and co-coordinator of arts and crafts. because of the age group i had, camp was less about cancer and more about fun and forgetting and just being a kid. all roles were important, and all the counselors did a great job with the entire week- they are amazing people that i am so glad to have gotten to know- sometimes i forget how many great people there are at stanford that i just havent met yet. ahhh im starting to ramble, and am terrible at writing this down... but, if you cant tell, it was just an all-around fabulous experience: challenging, painful, frustrating, rewarding, enriching, enlightening, empowering, wonderful week.
i finished kesem debriefing, grabbed dinner with val and victor, fell asleep, and woke up to 6 hours of class. woohoo. but in general im LOVING being at stanford over the summer: it is so nice to be enjoying the campus, facilities, surrounding area, and people still around without feeling overwhelmed by commitments- social, academic, extracurricular, etc. the people still here are great (i lovvvve you guys!!!) and im meeting a bunch of other really neat people as well (including my roommates!) and am just feeling overwhelmingly spoiled by having my own room! and a bathroom! and kitchen! it is fabulous. i'm taking three classes and interning 8 or so hours a week at health promotion services. i keep forgetting about the honors thesis and the grant i have to write.... but those will get done at some point too. in between the beach and berkeley and barbeques.
this weekend i surprised my mom by coming home for her birthday.. she had NO clue and was thrilled. we saw spring awakening with jo, who is still in the states- doing rounds at Mt. Sinai- before heading to uganda. by the way, for those of you near new york city, i highly highly recommend going to see spring awakening- i love musicals, and this one is high on my list. i didnt sleep much on the redeye home because they bumped me to first class and i wanted to stay awake and enjoy it. im almost running on empty now, after waking up early for a cooking class this morning with my mom and her best friend. so although my writing is poor and my thoughts scattered, its been worth every moment of this weekend.
wow, so reading back over this, my email sounds giddy and possibly annoyingly happy. and im writing this while in my house, so yeah, im likely to be extra smiley. but really, this has been an awesome three weeks so far. minus the "Kesem Cold" I caught (say that 5x fast) but which is almost gone. i fly back to school late tomorrow (always a mixed bag of feelings for me) and head back to work at 9am monday. but i cant wait to read more of your posts when i get back to school- again, they are all so fun and enjoyable to read! give me a call whenever, or shoot me an email. stay safe all and i love you!
Friday, July 06, 2007
Honors Thesis
So as Ive complained about before, part of my task for this summer is to choose an honors thesis topic. It has been very frustrating and sobering, discovering just how few original ideas I have about the world. But I think I'm circling around something decent, but its still a rough idea and I'd love people's input.
The premise: As wonderful as tv-links and YouTube are, they take away one key aspect of movie watching - the community feel of the viewing. Part of the experience is going in a dark theater with strangers and all being affected by the same movie simultaneously. It's well-documented that we find something funnier when those around us are laughing, for instance. My idea is to design a new YouTube-like interface that somehow gives you a feel for the other people watching the same video at the same time. One idea is to have little webcam feeds of fellow viewers floating around the main movie, showing them as they watch it. Another is just to have little icons of people that react in different ways when they feel humor, fear, etc., so you get some sort of visual sense of how other people are receiving the movie. The research question is then how such information affects your viewing experience.
SO, my question to you: What are the best parts and worst parts of watching movies/tv shows online? Obviously the instantaneity and lack of commericals are great. But at what cost? Do you miss watching movies in theaters or all gathering together for a TV show? Think of our 24 watching parties this year - what aspects of that are missing from watching it the next day at Fox.com? To take it a step further, what about watching a show on your video iPod on the subway? Pros and cons of that. What sorts of information would you want about fellow viewers: name, age, location, current emotional state, other movies they liked, nothing? Would you find an interface like this distracting? Would you feel your privacy was invaded if I asked you to show your face to other viewers? Or, just any other thoughts...
Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.
The premise: As wonderful as tv-links and YouTube are, they take away one key aspect of movie watching - the community feel of the viewing. Part of the experience is going in a dark theater with strangers and all being affected by the same movie simultaneously. It's well-documented that we find something funnier when those around us are laughing, for instance. My idea is to design a new YouTube-like interface that somehow gives you a feel for the other people watching the same video at the same time. One idea is to have little webcam feeds of fellow viewers floating around the main movie, showing them as they watch it. Another is just to have little icons of people that react in different ways when they feel humor, fear, etc., so you get some sort of visual sense of how other people are receiving the movie. The research question is then how such information affects your viewing experience.
SO, my question to you: What are the best parts and worst parts of watching movies/tv shows online? Obviously the instantaneity and lack of commericals are great. But at what cost? Do you miss watching movies in theaters or all gathering together for a TV show? Think of our 24 watching parties this year - what aspects of that are missing from watching it the next day at Fox.com? To take it a step further, what about watching a show on your video iPod on the subway? Pros and cons of that. What sorts of information would you want about fellow viewers: name, age, location, current emotional state, other movies they liked, nothing? Would you find an interface like this distracting? Would you feel your privacy was invaded if I asked you to show your face to other viewers? Or, just any other thoughts...
Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.
Klosterman Question #2:
Alright kids, the Einstein question was a warmup. We're going a bit darker this time around:
#2. Let us assume a fully grown, completely healthy Clydesdale horse has his hooves shackled to the ground while his head is held in place with thick rope. He is conscious and standing upright, but completely immobile. And let us assume that--for some reason--every political prisoner on earth (as cited by Amnesty International) will be released from captivity if you can kick this horse to death in less than twenty minutes. You are allowed to wear steel-toed boots.
Would you attempt to do this?
As requested.
Raining today, so not much going on. At a small internet cafe/business card printer shop in Muizenberg, about 30mins from cape town. Two of the guys are out surfing in the rain, and I'm enjoying this little rundown village. Not dangerous here, just so funky. Lots of reading, lots of tea- not much else to entertain us on our days off. Even TV is repulsive. But that's okay-- it's gorgeous even in the rain.
Our "leader" gets back tomorrow and she'll probably try to kick our asses into shape, even though we've been working our asses off. A little aggravating.
Picture key:
this is what they do most all the time. try recording that for 12 hrs. the one on the left is christina. i like her. she sits and stares at me all day.
watching the sunset
watching the sunrise. that bush is nearly impossible to get through. damn buggers climb right over it.
baby Mike. awful nasty piece of shit baby. he's the one who got me in trouble with the big guy and then played innocent. arg
evolution in action. fucking mindblowing.
that's the view from our house, cape town somewhere between those two peaks.
Kommetjie, our sleepy ramshackle alternating with expensive town.
dunes in the distance-- we climbed from where this picture was taken down to where those dunes are and found a troop that no one's observed before. Sweeeet and painful all at once. not to brag, buy my legs resemble Merritt's, post-regatta.
Bugger on a car.
the top of the cliff we climbed at 7AM. This is at 9:30AM, and the babs are no where to be seen....
Thursday, July 05, 2007
The Inside Scoop
First of all, to answer Joel’s previous question: I’d say good ol’ Albie is still more impressive. I mean, unless the magician has hair like that, in which case it might be a more difficult choice to make. Just so you’re not disappointed, I say now this is not a Fourth of July story, because mine wasn’t very interesting. Instead I shall tell you about my “job.” Get ready for Hollywood glamour and intrigue!
So, I’m an intern in the Premieres & Special Events department of Warner Brothers, which sounds kinda cool, right? Well let me tell you what I did my first week. Drumroll please.
1) Walked from my computer-less shared cubicle to the other interns’ cubicle to “observe and learn” everything they did. Intern #1, Lindsey, has the most hard-hitting, go-getting type-A Napoleon-complex personality possible. A pistol, if you will. She hustles around all day in her platform sandals, name-dropping and ass-kissing with every step. And sadly, I know she’ll probably be running the studio in a few years. I tried following her around for a few hours to see what she does and how she does it, and she’d walk so fast that I could barely keep up (which I’m sure was intentional). Intern #2, Meg, couldn’t be more different. Skinny, tan, and bleach-blonde, she comes to work in flitty little sundresses, snacks on cashews (her only meal of the day), and browses fashion websites when not answering an occasional phone call in her girly-girl voice. I’m hoping I fall somewhere in between on that spectrum. And, luckily I have a few high school friends working in other departments, so I have lunch with them every day, and get a little dose of “normal” to balance out the rest of the day.
2) Cruised the floor asking all the assistants if they needed any help with anything. Begged for work to do. Anything. They’d feel bad they couldn’t give me stuff to do, except for one nice assistant: “Hmm, I’m sorry I don’t think I have anything for you… oh wait, ooh! I have something! I need a copy made of this document! Here ya go! Have fun!” Talk about excitement. The annoying part is that I know there’s so much work that needs to be done, and I can’t tell why they won’t let me near it – because they don’t trust me yet? Because they guard it for themselves, in this crazy competitive world of entertainment? Because they had to do shit-work when they started, and now they make sure that everyone else has to also?
3) After I’d made a few rounds and was starting to irritate people, I’d sit in my cubicle and do anything I could think of. Wrote out my plans for next year. Made check-lists. Doodled logos for FACES. Tried to read some documents about premieres that were laying around (some of which were actually interesting, budgets and blueprints). Made myself a binder. And when I couldn’t think of anything else productive to do, I settled for an In Style magazine. I mean, I know I should feel lucky that my job is so easy, but I get so antsy! I want to be a part of the action! If only they’d let me design a premiere invitation, I’d show them…
But, then something cool happened. I’d become friends with one of the assistants (she’s the secretary for one of the VP’s of publicity), and since she was taking a day off on Monday, she asked me to cover for her. Woo hoo! A promotion! So for one day, my job was fast-paced, demanding, and you could say almost exciting. I talked on the phone with Mandy Moore’s rep, wrote emails about Catherine Zeta Jones (or CZJ – to those on the inside), and got to learn firsthand information about how these events come together. Cool! And then… that was it. All downhill from there, now that the assistant's back at work. But hey, this Sunday is the Harry Potter 5 premiere, which I’ll be staffing at. That could be fun. I might get to be Hermione’s bitch for a couple hours.
Though I get frustrated, I know it’s good experience. It’s such a surreal world to be a part of, and though I don’t really feel like it’s my world, it’s fascinating to observe – the shit-talking behind people’s backs, the unbelievable price tags, the ladder-climbing, the obsession with Celebrity, and yes, even the glamour. I hope I don’t sound toooo cynical. It’s just Hollywood – beautiful on the outside and a mess on the inside. Nothing I didn’t know before.
Hope everyone is doing well! I miss you!
So, I’m an intern in the Premieres & Special Events department of Warner Brothers, which sounds kinda cool, right? Well let me tell you what I did my first week. Drumroll please.
1) Walked from my computer-less shared cubicle to the other interns’ cubicle to “observe and learn” everything they did. Intern #1, Lindsey, has the most hard-hitting, go-getting type-A Napoleon-complex personality possible. A pistol, if you will. She hustles around all day in her platform sandals, name-dropping and ass-kissing with every step. And sadly, I know she’ll probably be running the studio in a few years. I tried following her around for a few hours to see what she does and how she does it, and she’d walk so fast that I could barely keep up (which I’m sure was intentional). Intern #2, Meg, couldn’t be more different. Skinny, tan, and bleach-blonde, she comes to work in flitty little sundresses, snacks on cashews (her only meal of the day), and browses fashion websites when not answering an occasional phone call in her girly-girl voice. I’m hoping I fall somewhere in between on that spectrum. And, luckily I have a few high school friends working in other departments, so I have lunch with them every day, and get a little dose of “normal” to balance out the rest of the day.
2) Cruised the floor asking all the assistants if they needed any help with anything. Begged for work to do. Anything. They’d feel bad they couldn’t give me stuff to do, except for one nice assistant: “Hmm, I’m sorry I don’t think I have anything for you… oh wait, ooh! I have something! I need a copy made of this document! Here ya go! Have fun!” Talk about excitement. The annoying part is that I know there’s so much work that needs to be done, and I can’t tell why they won’t let me near it – because they don’t trust me yet? Because they guard it for themselves, in this crazy competitive world of entertainment? Because they had to do shit-work when they started, and now they make sure that everyone else has to also?
3) After I’d made a few rounds and was starting to irritate people, I’d sit in my cubicle and do anything I could think of. Wrote out my plans for next year. Made check-lists. Doodled logos for FACES. Tried to read some documents about premieres that were laying around (some of which were actually interesting, budgets and blueprints). Made myself a binder. And when I couldn’t think of anything else productive to do, I settled for an In Style magazine. I mean, I know I should feel lucky that my job is so easy, but I get so antsy! I want to be a part of the action! If only they’d let me design a premiere invitation, I’d show them…
But, then something cool happened. I’d become friends with one of the assistants (she’s the secretary for one of the VP’s of publicity), and since she was taking a day off on Monday, she asked me to cover for her. Woo hoo! A promotion! So for one day, my job was fast-paced, demanding, and you could say almost exciting. I talked on the phone with Mandy Moore’s rep, wrote emails about Catherine Zeta Jones (or CZJ – to those on the inside), and got to learn firsthand information about how these events come together. Cool! And then… that was it. All downhill from there, now that the assistant's back at work. But hey, this Sunday is the Harry Potter 5 premiere, which I’ll be staffing at. That could be fun. I might get to be Hermione’s bitch for a couple hours.
Though I get frustrated, I know it’s good experience. It’s such a surreal world to be a part of, and though I don’t really feel like it’s my world, it’s fascinating to observe – the shit-talking behind people’s backs, the unbelievable price tags, the ladder-climbing, the obsession with Celebrity, and yes, even the glamour. I hope I don’t sound toooo cynical. It’s just Hollywood – beautiful on the outside and a mess on the inside. Nothing I didn’t know before.
Hope everyone is doing well! I miss you!
How was the fourth?
I had an interesting fourth of July.
I'm assuming that most of you (if you're anything like me) weren't that cool in high school (or maybe you were, but you went somewhere like Milton, where nobody's cool ;-] Andrew). Like, I had my friends and we had fun, but I certainly wasn't tight with the kids who were dating all the prettiest jailbait and smoking pot at fourteen and all that.
However, my mom has a very good friend who she works with that has four children, each of whom is in among the cool kids of their age and class. They also happen to all be pretty good friends of mine, but in the family friend sense. There is one daughter, she's my age, and she's been one of the cool kids forever. We'd hang out, but there was clearly social stratification involved when we went to school in middle school and everyone knew I was the weird kid taking eighth grade math who owned a graphing calculator at the age of eleven. I was not cool. Still ain't.
Anywho, my family and I went out to celebrate the fourth last night and the kids, parents, everyone got hammered. My mom had about three drinks too many and once used the expression "going down" to describe the relationship between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. I was abhorred. The girl insisted that I come out with her friends afterward instead of going home with my parents, so I did. It was sobering. The kids who once owned Marblehead High School seem to be stuck in the same ruts they were in eight years ago, the last time I really knew any of them. Not only have half of them quit college, they work at burger joints, liquor stores, and still get stoned every night. You never really see this sort of thing at Stanford, and even my friends from home who smoke weed every night still seem to be going somewhere, even if it just might be outside the borders of the town they grew up in.
I suppose we've heard stories like this before from everyone else, but I had to see it myself, and that was my experience. Also it was raining so they cancelled the fireworks.
Let's hear fourth of July stories.
I'm assuming that most of you (if you're anything like me) weren't that cool in high school (or maybe you were, but you went somewhere like Milton, where nobody's cool ;-] Andrew). Like, I had my friends and we had fun, but I certainly wasn't tight with the kids who were dating all the prettiest jailbait and smoking pot at fourteen and all that.
However, my mom has a very good friend who she works with that has four children, each of whom is in among the cool kids of their age and class. They also happen to all be pretty good friends of mine, but in the family friend sense. There is one daughter, she's my age, and she's been one of the cool kids forever. We'd hang out, but there was clearly social stratification involved when we went to school in middle school and everyone knew I was the weird kid taking eighth grade math who owned a graphing calculator at the age of eleven. I was not cool. Still ain't.
Anywho, my family and I went out to celebrate the fourth last night and the kids, parents, everyone got hammered. My mom had about three drinks too many and once used the expression "going down" to describe the relationship between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. I was abhorred. The girl insisted that I come out with her friends afterward instead of going home with my parents, so I did. It was sobering. The kids who once owned Marblehead High School seem to be stuck in the same ruts they were in eight years ago, the last time I really knew any of them. Not only have half of them quit college, they work at burger joints, liquor stores, and still get stoned every night. You never really see this sort of thing at Stanford, and even my friends from home who smoke weed every night still seem to be going somewhere, even if it just might be outside the borders of the town they grew up in.
I suppose we've heard stories like this before from everyone else, but I had to see it myself, and that was my experience. Also it was raining so they cancelled the fireworks.
Let's hear fourth of July stories.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
I can’t decide: “American primatologist taken hostage by baboon male” or “American primatologist sentenced to life for murder of compatriots”
Hi guys,
Ani, I completely empathize with having too much time to think. However, I know I am in the more beautiful place, and I'm loving the view! Yesterday I was looking out over the Cape of Good Hope (not to rub it in or anything, I just love saying that name), with my Buffel’s Bay baboons sitting behind me scratching their asses, and I thought to myself, what the fuck am I to do? Medicine? Marine Biology? Law? Become an unemployed Australian badass? Marry a 50yr old Greek slimehead? I have some clue of what not to do, but really no clue of what to do.
That was on hour 3 of watching these fucking baboons. There are 12 solid hours in our workday. And the landscape is anything but easy to navigate. I lost them yesterday in 12 foot high bushes with acacia thorns five inches long on average, which they easily crawled over. Evolution my ass.
The alpha male of the troop, BB King, attacked me yesterday. That might be the biggest news I’ll have all summer. Don’t worry, a hundred pound baboon running straight for me is nothing- they have king cobras and some of the most deadly snakes in the world here, and the rustling in the bushes testifies to that. However, he did leave me shaking in my boots, quite literally, and completely sick and tired of fucking immature baboons.
They are curious creatures, but their lives are quite dull. Especially when you’re not allowed to interact with them at all, beyond following them. So I spend my time combing the beaches or sitting on a rock reading if I have abook with me.
I have a day off today, so I’m writing this in advance in Word for you. Hopefully I’ll get some pictures up for you guys, as the scenery is spectacular here. I’m already injured—not by the babs but by my backpack. I’ve done something to my shoulder, so I’m walking around all day in the field with a purse slung over the other one, with a full Nalgene, four sandwiches and an elephant’s meal of dried fruit in it, on top of my camera, binocs, GPS, notebook, 90% deet cream, cell phone and aviators as well. And yes, that is all necessary. Yesterday, I finished my sandwiches before 2PM, with five hours left to go, and busied myself counting over 150 ticks on my pants before the day’s end.
Anyway. Maybe y’all can’t imagine little me doing rough and ready field work, and you know what? I’m starting to agree. Not because of the physical, but because of the boredom. Reading “A portrait of the artist as a young man” while watching baboons fight is fascinating, but it’s a short book, and I can’t carry anything longer…
No complaining allowed. Sorry. I owe a few of you emails, but it is quite difficult to get internet here, especially with such long days and no internet within walking distance. And the telephones?? Well, the landline is impossible to hear out of, and calling the US with my South AFrican cell for 15 minutes costs… well, $30. Then again, that is all I’m buying here, because there’s not much else to do…
This house is in Kommetije, right on the beach, surrounded by wealthy expats and native South Africans (Afrikaaners). The workers are all black, and they sit on the rocks on the beach, wrapped in multiple layers against the sun. They take their shoes off if they are women; if they are men, they lean against the fences and cross their arms and gesture only with their heads. George, you know what it’s like here, and the Cape Town people I am with don’t give me much hope for any economic, social or religious changes happening anytime soon—they’re our age and older, and they criticize the people living in townships for not cleaning up better. I don’t think I can morally judge them, but I think I’m right in saying that is kind of strange and not very understanding.
Happy 4th of July. Those of you at Stanford, I’d recommend watching the fireworks in the Oval—Ani, you know you should, and bring some good food! Those of us elsewhere and abroad, all I can say is be careful and don’t be afraid to miss the states or Stanford. I miss the endless conversations, whether by phone, email or in person.
Yours truly,
Frustrated and charmed by the landscape,
Caroline
Ani, I completely empathize with having too much time to think. However, I know I am in the more beautiful place, and I'm loving the view! Yesterday I was looking out over the Cape of Good Hope (not to rub it in or anything, I just love saying that name), with my Buffel’s Bay baboons sitting behind me scratching their asses, and I thought to myself, what the fuck am I to do? Medicine? Marine Biology? Law? Become an unemployed Australian badass? Marry a 50yr old Greek slimehead? I have some clue of what not to do, but really no clue of what to do.
That was on hour 3 of watching these fucking baboons. There are 12 solid hours in our workday. And the landscape is anything but easy to navigate. I lost them yesterday in 12 foot high bushes with acacia thorns five inches long on average, which they easily crawled over. Evolution my ass.
The alpha male of the troop, BB King, attacked me yesterday. That might be the biggest news I’ll have all summer. Don’t worry, a hundred pound baboon running straight for me is nothing- they have king cobras and some of the most deadly snakes in the world here, and the rustling in the bushes testifies to that. However, he did leave me shaking in my boots, quite literally, and completely sick and tired of fucking immature baboons.
They are curious creatures, but their lives are quite dull. Especially when you’re not allowed to interact with them at all, beyond following them. So I spend my time combing the beaches or sitting on a rock reading if I have abook with me.
I have a day off today, so I’m writing this in advance in Word for you. Hopefully I’ll get some pictures up for you guys, as the scenery is spectacular here. I’m already injured—not by the babs but by my backpack. I’ve done something to my shoulder, so I’m walking around all day in the field with a purse slung over the other one, with a full Nalgene, four sandwiches and an elephant’s meal of dried fruit in it, on top of my camera, binocs, GPS, notebook, 90% deet cream, cell phone and aviators as well. And yes, that is all necessary. Yesterday, I finished my sandwiches before 2PM, with five hours left to go, and busied myself counting over 150 ticks on my pants before the day’s end.
Anyway. Maybe y’all can’t imagine little me doing rough and ready field work, and you know what? I’m starting to agree. Not because of the physical, but because of the boredom. Reading “A portrait of the artist as a young man” while watching baboons fight is fascinating, but it’s a short book, and I can’t carry anything longer…
No complaining allowed. Sorry. I owe a few of you emails, but it is quite difficult to get internet here, especially with such long days and no internet within walking distance. And the telephones?? Well, the landline is impossible to hear out of, and calling the US with my South AFrican cell for 15 minutes costs… well, $30. Then again, that is all I’m buying here, because there’s not much else to do…
This house is in Kommetije, right on the beach, surrounded by wealthy expats and native South Africans (Afrikaaners). The workers are all black, and they sit on the rocks on the beach, wrapped in multiple layers against the sun. They take their shoes off if they are women; if they are men, they lean against the fences and cross their arms and gesture only with their heads. George, you know what it’s like here, and the Cape Town people I am with don’t give me much hope for any economic, social or religious changes happening anytime soon—they’re our age and older, and they criticize the people living in townships for not cleaning up better. I don’t think I can morally judge them, but I think I’m right in saying that is kind of strange and not very understanding.
Happy 4th of July. Those of you at Stanford, I’d recommend watching the fireworks in the Oval—Ani, you know you should, and bring some good food! Those of us elsewhere and abroad, all I can say is be careful and don’t be afraid to miss the states or Stanford. I miss the endless conversations, whether by phone, email or in person.
Yours truly,
Frustrated and charmed by the landscape,
Caroline
Monday, July 02, 2007
Question of the Week
Seeing as how I am one of the blog contributors with the least interesting summer (how can Ithaca hope to compete with Spain, Uganda, and shit-throwing baboons?), I've decided to introduce a new feature to our beloved blog. This feature is called Chuck Klosterman's Question of the Week. Chuck Klosterman is a fantastic writer about pop-culture, music, and sports. In one of his books he proposes '23 Questions I Ask Everybody I Meet In Order to Decide If I Can Really Love Them.' They are all difficult, essential questions of our time. Over the next few months, I will post one or two of these questions every week, and anyone who wishes can offer their 2 cents in the comments section. Perhaps by the end of the summer we'll know who on this list we can really love. So, drumroll please, here is Question #1:
1. Let us assume you met a rudimentary magician. Let us assume he can do five simple tricks--he can pull a rabbit out of his hat, he can make a coin disappear, he can turn the ace of spades into the Joker card, and two others in a similar vein. These are his only tricks and he can't learn any more; he can only do these five. HOWEVER, it turns out he's doing these five tricks with real magic. It's not an illusion; he can actually conjure the bunny out of the ether and he can move the coin through space. He's legitimately magical, but extremely limited in scope and influence.
Would this person be more impressive than Albert Einstein?
Post Bar Mitzvah
It is Monday morning, and I just left the house after saying goodbye to the last group of relatives in town. This means that I officially survived the Bar Mitzvah weekend. It really wasn't too bad - it turns out we have some very interesting family and friends, so I enjoyed a lot of the conversations that I had. The trick was finding something we were both interested in talking about, mostly through trial and error interrogation about college, major, hobbies, summer plans, grad school, etc. My speech on Saturday night was mercifully early in the evening, so I managed to keep it short, sweet, and most importantly, sober. The rest of the party was decidedly less sober, but still lots of fun. And let me just extend a hearty thank you to Mr. Andrew Burmon for the lovely suggestions about my speech. They were invaluable.
Thursday I went to Cooperstown NY to see the Baseball Hall of Fame, which for those who haven't been is really a magnificent place. I don't care that much about the intricate history or the various statistics, but in the entire place you just felt this aura of love for the game of baseball, a real passion for the essense of the sport itself. It was a great day, and it reignited a somewhat waning interest in baseball.
That's about it for me. I hope everyone is doing well in their various countries. Keep in touch.
Thursday I went to Cooperstown NY to see the Baseball Hall of Fame, which for those who haven't been is really a magnificent place. I don't care that much about the intricate history or the various statistics, but in the entire place you just felt this aura of love for the game of baseball, a real passion for the essense of the sport itself. It was a great day, and it reignited a somewhat waning interest in baseball.
That's about it for me. I hope everyone is doing well in their various countries. Keep in touch.
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