Where do we go from here?

I haven't really been updating this blog all that much. I think part of it is because its subject matter tends to be very general, and quite frankly random, so I always struggle with what exactly to write about. Of course the larger issue is that I suspect that very few people actually read this blog, and I thus don't have much motivation to update. Perhaps if I posted more consistent subject matter more people would check it regularly.

I spent a good part of the day reading a D&D blog (for those that aren't familiar with the game, D&D = Dungeons and Dragons). That tempted me to focus on D&D, but at the same time few of my friends actually play or are interested in the game, and I currently am not playing in a campaign, nor am I DMing one. While reading through the blog (Grognardia, in case anyone is curious), I found myself gravitating toward posts on the author's ongoing campaign. This, in turn, really made me want to DM my own long-term campaign, but alas player availability is seeming to be an issue. If I actually manage to get a campaign going that would be the perfect opportunity to start a D&D related blog, but at the same time I almost think that this blog isn't the appropriate venue for such an endeavor. Namely because I would still like to use this for random musings, thoughts, and reports.

I really wish that blogs had an easy way to categorize subject matter by post title. For example, at the top of my blog (under the title) there would be links for "topics" (or something, I don't care what it would be called) so I could click on "D&D," "environment," "trip reports," etc. and all posts within that category would show up. Likewise, each topic would have its own url so if I wanted to link someone to my D&D blog, for example, on the Wizard's of the Coast forums, I could do so without them having to sift through all of my other random posts. I suppose I could always create a second blog (since D&D is different enough from my more...academic interests to justify it), but I really like the title "The Chamber of Mazarbul".

So I guess the take home message is that I would like to start updating this blog more regularly. Hopefully that will attract more readers. I'm just trying to figure out what direction I'm going to take with it. Some posts will soon follow as I test the waters.

Unemployment

This whole being unemployed thing is starting to get old. It was nice for the first 3ish weeks of being at home. Now I'm just getting antsy. Ideally, I'd like to get a seasonal position with UPS being a "driver's assistant." They hire them during the holiday season to essentially grab packages from the truck and run them up to people's houses. I can't imagine that it saves enough time to justify the position (especially since the pay is quite decent, $13/hour from what I hear), but I'm not complaining. Someone somewhere must have done a cost/benefit analysis, and I guess it would be cheaper to pay a bunch of seasonal employees than to send out more trucks to make up for the increased volume of packages. In any case, thus far this is the only position I've really applied for yet, though I have been looking for jobs in the general area. Soon I'll have to lower my standards. Not having a car makes it harder.

In the not as near future, I'm working on applying to a position in the Sierra Nevada doing bird research as part of a field crew (possibly supervising). The pay is pretty good considering that these positions tend to just be living stipend + housing, but this one is $1800-$2700 per month with free housing and work vehicles provided. And I would basically get to go backpacking in the Sierra Nevada and count birds! My lack of previous experience with mist netting, point counting, etc. is unfortunate, but I'm going to apply anyways and see what happens. That would be mid-April until August. I'll also probably look into seasonal work at a national park, most likely the Smoky Mountains. In either case, I hope to have a car by that point. Which means that the pressure is on to get a crappy job and make some money. At least AmeriCorps is taking care of my loans for a while yet :D

I don't have much of an idea of when I'll be applying for grad school. It's partially because I'm not sure if I want to go for a Master's or a Ph.D. I love research, but it can be stressful and time consuming, especially if I ended up going into academics. I just don't necessarily like the idea of having my career monopolize most of my time. I don't want to be a slacker, but I also would like an appropriate amount of leisure time. You only live once, why let your job dominate your life? Even if you love your job, variety is good. I guess I'm leaning toward going for the Master's first, and seeing how that goes.

Coast to coast...

I'm back home in OH after my road trip from WA. And a week and a half after I got back, I went to Maine to visit Liz. So in the last couple of months I've been to the beaches of Olympic National Park (Pacific) and Acadia (Atlantic). Good stuff :) But yeah, I don't think I feel like posting a lengthy trip summary, so I'll just list where I went on the way back.

Started out climbing Mt. St. Helens. Next we went to Olympic NP and hiked up the Hoh River Trail up to the Blue Glacier on Mt. Olympus. Then we went to the beach and did a day hike near Lake Ozette (Cape Alava to Sand Point). Then came North Cascades, and the trail we were going to do was on fire. So we did another trail but hiked out early because of rain (despite being on the east side!). So we got to Idaho early, visited Julie's friend Simon, and then visited another of Julie's friends in Bozeman, Montana before heading out to Yellowstone. Backpacked in the Lamar Valley (wolf hotspot, but we unfortunately never saw one) and then headed to Grand Tetons for a day hike. On the way back east we stopped at Badlands NP for an overnight, and then spent nights in Wisconsin and Chicago (with Mike!).

Acadia was fun too; I drove up there with Dawn for basically a long weekend (her grad school schedule didn't allow for a longer trip; oh well). 15 hour drive, and we drove through the night, got there at 7 pm on Thursday morning and napped while Liz went to work. She's doing environmental education in the park.

Ummm...yeah those were really short, lame trip summaries but I don't really feel much like typing right now.

3...2...1...Offblast!

I fly back to WA today. Computer access will be limited, if not nonexistent. Aug 25th I climb Mt. St. Helens. Then it's off to Mt. Rainier NP, Olympic NP, N. Cascades NP, somewhere in Idaho, possibly Yellowstone, etc. That last part hasn't exactly been planned out yet :) Be back some time in late September, possibly with a long entry about the trip. And pictures, assuming my camera makes it :/

An encouraging attitude toward predators

So today I was with the WCC field crew doing site maintenance at a landowner's on Jim Creek (I'll call him C.P., for the sake of anonymity). This site was planted this past fall, and so I was involved with the prep work, the planting, and now maintenance. So I've known C.P. pretty much since I started my position here. He's a bit socially awkward and when he makes jokes sometimes people just...don't really get them. He can also be pretty opinionated. He takes some getting used to, but in general he's a very good guy. He put a lot of work into the restoration site, and is very cognizant of environmental issues and being a good steward. I'm not completely sure what his source of income is (it's suspected by many in the office that he's independently wealthy, though nobody really knows the details), but he farms a good portion of his land. I'm not the best judge of area, but I'd say he farms 2-3 acres (so it's a pretty small operation). Organic, as far as I know. He gives a lot of his food away (to us when we're there; today I got beets!), and I've been told that he donates a lot of it to food banks. His lifestyle is encouraging.

Today he told a story about how "his" bobcat was shot by one of his neighbors. This bobcat would frequent C.P.'s land, catching mice in the field. He spoke very highly of the cat, and also lamented that there weren't any cougars in the area (as there historically were). Apparently this neighbor used the excuse that the cat had to be killed because otherwise he would kill too many chickens. I guess he (or one of the other neighbors) had a chicken coop that didn't have fencing completely enclosing it, and one time the bobcat got into it and killed all of the chickens. C.P. remarked "of course he killed them all, he was in a small space and there were chickens flying everywhere! You should have had wire over the whole thing!" C.P. then explained that one time when he had his chickens running free around the yard, he saw the bobcat kill one of them. He didn't do anything about it, explaining that "he [the bobcat] has to eat too, and one chicken isn't such a big deal."

This mentality needs to become widespread. Large predators are an integral part of ecosystems, and their extirpation has had deleterious effects across North America. Anyone from the midwest knows that we have too many deer. Wolves are widely considered a keystone species, especially after the negative effects of elk browsing on aspens were observed after their extirpation, and then subsequently reversed when wolves were re-introduced to Yellowstone. Who knows how much the eastern U.S. has changed. The attempted re-introduction of red wolves into the Smokies was a good start (albeit an utter failure), and conservation action to recover Florida panther numbers is encouraging. But currently, the majority of Americans simply don't understand how to coexist with large predators. Honestly, it's just common sense. Give them habitat (stop needlessly developing so much wilderness!) so that they have a healthy prey base. This way they won't be tempted to prey upon livestock. However, some livestock predation is inevitable. Especially if people are too clueless to take proper precautions. Throw a few llama into a herd of sheep. Get a few extra dogs to patrol your land (this is more of a predator deterrent than anything). Electric fence around pastures. There are several other precautions that have shown to be effective in deterring wolves. Don't let small dogs and children wander around unsupervised.

I'm not saying it will be a perfectly harmonious state of affairs; there will certainly be human - predator conflicts. These can be minimized, however, and overall the presence of predators and the effects that they have on the surrounding ecosystems are a boon that far outweighs the conflicts.

And on a semi-related tangent: let beavers do what they do! They're much better dam builders than humans anyways.

Rant on Overpopulation

"The Developers, of course--the politicians, businessmen, bankers, administrators, engineers--they see it somewhat otherwise and complain most bitterly and interminably of a desperate water shortage, especially in the Southwest. They propose schemes of inspiring proportions for diverting water by the damful from the Columbia River, or even from the Yukon River, and channelizing it overland down into Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

What for? 'In anticipation of future needs, in order to provide for the continued industrial and population growth of the Southwest.' And in such an answer we see that it's only the old numbers game again, the monomania of small and very simple minds in the grip of an obsession. They cannot see that growth for the sake of growth is a cancerous madness, that Phoenix and Albuquerque will not be better cities to live in when their populations are doubled again and again. They would never understand that an economic system which can only expand or expire must be false to all that is human." ~Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

Interestingly enough, E.A. earlier described a microcosm example for global overpopulation, perhaps unwittingly as he didn't make the comparison directly. He described the rampant poverty on the Navajo reservation, and how Navajo are forced into the slums of the "white" cities, etc. as their own land has been essentially destroyed as a result of their increased fecundity (namely due to the introduction of the white man's modern medicine and its subsequent effect on infant mortality). Overused and overgrazed, the Navajo reservation no longer supports the (then) current number of Navajo, hence the population overspills out into white slums.

What happens, then, when we extrapolate the situation to a global level? Where will the "overspill" human population go? Sci-Fi offers romantic notions of escaping the planet and colonizing other chunks of rock in space. Utter absurdity. Life on Earth is adapted for Earth's climate, one of possibly infinite arrangements of climatic variables. What is the likelihood that we'll find a suitable planet for habitation, free of ill (and likely unforseen) effects? What if such a hypothetical planet were otherwise perfect, but the atmosphere failed to block out harmful solar radiation? It would be like sucking on lollipops made from Uranium 235, and the "colonists" would soon succumb to a most miserable, agonizing death. So much for expanding our available land. As much as I love Firefly, terraforming is a fantasy.

So our available planet space is finite. We will soon be trapped in our own depleted "Navajo reservation" to take what we can from what little is left of the land. It's less productive overall, for a higher number of people. The gruesome truth of Overpopulation. THIS is the single most dangerous threat to the environment, to society, to the existence of life on Earth. Pollution, habitat loss, etc. are all related to and amplified by population. We've overextended our carrying capacity in a way that no species (to our knowledge) has yet been able to do, as a result of cheap energy from the alchemically altered bodies of organisms that lived millions of years ago. It was cheating. Non-renewable energy provided a false sense of prosperity.

Of course the basic concept is not as unnatural as it at first appears. Carrying capacity is not a fixed value, but is dynamic (responding to changes in the environment). Changes like the applications of fossil fuel to industrialization. Changes like a boom in the population of hares, increasing the carrying capacity of the fox. Such cycles are common in nature, and as the increasing number of foxes prey upon the hares, the prey species begins to decline because too many of them are getting eaten. Well, that leaves less food for the fox, and its carrying capacity decreases. Or at least that's how the textbooks put it; they even make it easy to understand with a nice graph: a red sine wave slightly misaligned with a blue sine wave. Blue (fox) follows red (hare), and an increase or decrease in hares causes an increase or decrease in foxes (likewise, an increase in foxes causes a decrease in hares, thus the feedback loop is ongoing). The textbooks make it very crisp and understandable indeed (good for the visual learners, of course). Distanced from the reality of the Struggle for Existence. The graph can't evoke the hunger that the fox feels when he can't find any hares. The slow weakening of his muscles. The more he needs food the less able he is to hunt food. And so his body consumes itself; slowly, and painfully. Perhaps he goes mad. Starvation is not a pleasant death; if he is capable of emphathy (and perhaps he is? We know not...) then he certainly envies the quick death of the hares that were plentiful in his puphood. The sustenance that he hasn't known for weeks, or even months.

But with non-renewable energy, there is no cycle (at least not one applicable to the human reference frame). An increase in the utilization of petroleum certainly increased our carrying capacity, but what happens when that resource runs out? A drop in carrying capacity, much like with the fox. And then the biology student will truly understand that deceptively simple graph, with its red and blue sine waves.

Over-dramatic much? What can I say, I've been reading Edward Abbey. And of course the hypothetical example that I gave is a simplification; after all, renewable energy will provide a boost to our carrying capacity! But a boost equal to that of fossil fuels? And where exactly will that carrying capacity line hover? 6 billion? 9 billion? 3 billion? 1 billion?

And more importantly, what shall be the terms? We can continue to "cheat" and raise our carrying capacity beyond what the world can sustainably support. Instant gratification, right? Develop all the world; turn all the fields and forests into cropland; turn all the oceans into hatcheries; dam all the rivers and drain all the aquifers; use every last resource for the benefit of humanity and fulfill that prophecy of the 6th mass extinction!

Will the amphibians survive? Perhaps the African Clawed Frog (that vile harbinger of chytridiomycosis), for it's too valuable a research organism to let go extinct! Will the songs of scarlet tanagers, hooded warblers, common yellowthroats, and wood thrushes be silenced forever, only to be replaced by the obnoxious, monotonous cheeping of house sparrows? Who will the starlings have left to mimic?

Bottom line: sustainability cannot happen without stabilization of human population growth rates, and likely decreases. So how do we want to go about it? With our big brains we can (theoretically) foresee things like this. We can predict much more complex phenomena, so why is Overpopulation so commonly ignored? Perhaps because it's an uncomfortable topic. If "culling" is out of the question, then what? Birth limits (worked great in China!)? Forced sterilization? Well, making birth control/family planning available to third world countries is certainly a great start. But then again, the birth rate in America isn't even at that target net value of 0 (at least), and to top it off we're consuming a disproportionate amount of resources. How can population be seriously discussed and ethically addressed?

Hopefully we figure it out soon. As unorthodox as random sterilization sounds, it's a hell of a lot better than half the world starving to death.

So why are humans starving to death a problem exactly? After all, I did provide an example of how it's natural for starvation to stabilize population size (those poor foxes). Why should humans be any different? No, it's not because we're more valuable, or important, or because we have more of a right to live and be comfortable (as much as the vast majority of people would like to believe). The real danger is that humans have become such damn good competitors that, in securing resources for our own species' survival, we will degrade and destroy ecosystems and cause a disturbing numer of species to go extinct.

We're not the only species that can potentially do this; an example that immediately springs to mind is swarms of locusts destroying every living plant in a given area. The difference is one of scale; the locust destroys 10 acres, 100 acres, 1000 acres, perhaps even 1,000,000 acres. There are always new sources, however. The destroyed region becomes a sink population, but there is always a source to re-populate it. What happens when the scale of destruction is global, though?



It amazes me how much time and money people spend redecorating their houses, mowing their lawns, etc. and yet many of these people don't give a damn about the environment. Clearly they have some concept of taking care of the place that they live, so do they just not realize that they live on Earth too? What makes it even more absurd is that the "little boxes" that they care so much about are relatively easy to replace (if, for example, it were to burn down). Just move somewhere else! The Earth, on the other hand, is all that we have. Either people are ignorant of that fact, or they truly (and childishly) believe the Sci-Fi balderdash that we'll colonize other planets when Earth simply isn't enough. Perhaps they just don't believe that it will happen in their lifetime. But what about their children's lifetime? Don't they want to secure the continuity of their genes (why else would they breed at all)?

Denial isn't constructive.


To quote Abbey again, "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." And we all know what happens to the "host" of a cancerous population of cells, when said growth becomes too prolific.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince first impressions *SPOILERS*

Ye be warned: Spoilers!


I'd like to preface this by noting that I never expected Half Blood Prince to translate well from book to movie. So they did as well as can be expected I guess. Besides, it was still better than Goblet of Fire and the 1st two movies.

A few extra action scenes that weren't in the book were added, (Death Eaters attack the Muggle World and the destruction of the Burrow) and for the most part I think they were probably necessary. Granted, it's been a while since I read that book but I seem to recall it being largely Dumbledore giving Harry memory tours, backstory on Tom Riddle, and "teen drama" of the romantic kind. Not that I disliked the book (I remember it being one of the better ones), but yeah, once again I think the story is much better told in print than on film.

While I'm on the subject of the new scenes, I actually really liked the attack on the Burrow. It was one of the more intense scenes in the movies and the chase through the wheat field had some great cinematography. Bellatrix's playful, insane brand of evil was perfectly conveyed as she lured Harry away shouting "I killed Sirius Black!," as was Harry's reckless rage. The Weasley's sense of disbelief, and defeat, was felt as they watched their house (one of the more iconic locations in the Harry Potter universe) burn to the ground. It made me look forward to some of the scenes that were coming up at the end of the movie, but unfortunately those subsequent scenes were quite disappointing.

For some reason, the Harry Potter movies don't really do character death scenes all that well. They always seem too...casual? They just don't invoke the level of emotion that a death scene should (but maybe I expect too much, being a fan of Joss Whedon...). In any case, one of the most vivid parts of the book (in my head, when I was reading it) was when Harry chases down Snape after Dumbledore is killed. With the movie I just kind of reacted by thinking "was that really it?!" And I think I remember Faux immolating himself after Dumbledore's death in the book (or am I making that up?), but in the movie he just sort of flies off into the distance.

I surprisingly enjoyed Draco Malfoy's struggle to deal with his mission in the movie. Enjoyed in the sense that I think they did it right. He was shown frequently, and only at the beginning was he his normal braggy, jerk of a self. He came across as visibly tormented, which is good given that he's normally such a vile character who is hard to take seriously. On a related note, the Sectumsempra scene, while not quite how I pictured it in the book, was excellent.

A large part of the movie was devoted to Ron/Hermoine/Lavender drama, and Harry/Ginny drama to a lesser extent. Yay, teen angst (sarcasm). To be fair, it was far less annoying than it was in the book. Less drawn out I guess, and also a little bit of humor to make it bearable.

Why wasn't Katie Bell shown in the Quidditch scenes? Or maybe she was, but it just wasn't noticeable. Still, would it have been that hard for someone to address her at least once given that she was going to play a role in the plot later on? No, instead they decided that the first time you see her is when she's cursed. Whatevs I guess.

I liked the guy they got to play Slughorn, especially since my mental picture of him from reading the books was never too clear.

The Inferi looked like Gollum. Why, exactly? Sure, Gollum's a little creepy looking, but these are supposed to be zombie corpses, any classical zombie portrayal would have been better than looking like Gollum! But then again the movie series has a history of screwing up creepy bad guys (though I won't bash them too much for the Dementors, since the imagination is really the only place that those scary bastards can reach their full potential).

Yeah, ok, so they decided to make Fenrir Greyback a very prominent Death Eater. No mention of the fact that he's a werewolf though. And there was a pretty good opportunity to do so during the destruction of the Burrow scene, especially since Remus was present and the fact that he is a werewolf was mentioned!!!!

I just realized that they didn't show Voldemort at all in that movie (except for in the memory scenes, as young Tom Riddle). Huh.

Luna's great.

I'm getting tired of typing and I don't know what else to talk about, especially since it's been so long since I read the gosh-darn books.

North Cascades National Park

Gorgeous!

Click here to view my pictures.

I went backpacking there with Erin and her roommate, Kelly, from June 11-14. Since the 11th was a Thursday, the first night we had the campsite (Big Beaver boat-in camp) all to ourselves--and it was a really popular campsite, too, which is usually booked on the weekends (as it was Saturday night). For good reason; this site was amazing! We were right on a spur of Ross Lake, with mountains all around us. We cooked on the rocky beach, watching the sun sink behind the mountains. Erin and Kelly read Monkey Wrench Gang out loud (I'd never read it before, but soon I'll remedy that!) as we drank rum. Erin tried giving Kelly dreadlocks, and I braided Erin's hair (it looked really nice too, and surprisingly symmetrical). As the rum slowly coursed through my veins, I began to act more and more like Gollum, especially when the mice started scampering about. I ran all over the place chasing them; it was quite fun. When we went to bed, there was a mouse that kept trying to climb up my corner of the tent. It would get about a foot up, and then slide back down. Tried this several times before giving up. Maybe it was playing.

I woke up to the sound of a loon calling. What a perfect alarm clock! I'd never heard (nor seen) a loon before, and it had always been a goal of mine to wake up to the sound of one. Worked out well! So I crawled out of the tent (I was the first to rise, and we were all in Erin's ginormous 4 person dome tent, which we opted to take instead of the 2 backpacking tents) and was greeted to a crisp mountain morning, with the tops of the surrounding peaks veiled in clouds. I slowly walked along the beach, looking at schools of fish swim about, occasionally breaking the surface to gobble up some tasty morsel. And then I saw the loon, and in breeding plumage no less! I watched him for quite some time, then went back to the tent for my binoculars. He repeatedly dove underwater, often remaining submerged for a surprisingly long time, and then reappearing far away. Soon the osprey (whose nest was right across the lake from our camp) started fishing as well. Sights like these are enough to make me a morning person (temporarily, at least)!

After a quick dip in the cold lake, we headed out to our next destination: Thirtynine mile campsite. We ate lunch on a large boulder (~15 ft. tall?) along the Big Beaver Creek Trail. We passed several very large western redcedar, as well as a beaver pond. It was beautiful, but the mosquitoes pressed us onward. The mosquitoes overall were actually really terrible; the only negative part of the trip. They apparently liked me the best, and I probably had over 100 bites, mostly on my arms. The majority of the time I hiked in long sleeves (my body armor), despite the heat. At one point along the trail the ground was covered in rough, white cobbles. They comprised the whole forest floor! It almost looked like the ground was snow-covered. It was a strange sight, for many of the trees didn't look all that badly beaten. I wonder how long ago the rocks came down the slope?

We got the Thirtynine mile late afternoon/early evening and I decided it would be fun to climb a mountain (off trail) until I hit snow. I got tired and hungry, and was running out of water, without seeing any snow (at least on my slope). Across the valley I could see that some of the low areas on the other slopes had some spotty snow, which looked to be below the elevation that I was currently at. I guess I picked the wrong slope to climb for snow. Oh well, it was least steep. Though still a tough climb (which required scrambling over rock and talus at times). My heels started developing hot spots from trying to climb so fast, but no actual blisters. Which makes me very, very happy, since this was the first long hike that I'd gone on in my new boots! I'm very happy with those boots. Anyways, I decided to turn around after a while, and the climb down went much faster. At one point I thought I heard tanagers calling, but I couldn't locate them in the treetops. Darn, hopefully I'll get to see a Western Tanager before I go back east! By the time I got back to camp, Erin and Kelly had just finished dinner, and were debating whether to wait or not (or rather, had just decided that they weren't going to wait for me, lol). So perfect timing there. We built a fire a little while later (my primary goal was to smoke out the mosquitoes, which sort of worked).

Our itinerary put us back at Big Beaver the next night, but we decided it would be best to see if one of the other camps closer to the trailhead was available (by hiking to it, of course, lol). So we went a little further than planned that day, but this shortened our hike for Sunday morning (which was good since it was a 2 1/2 drive back to my house, and then Erin and Kelly had a 5 hour drive after that). In the afternoon we heard thunder, though the main storm stayed in a different valley. We did get sprinkled on, and the rain was welcome, as it drove the mosquitoes away for the rest of the day! It was still raining as we set up camp, but we found a dry spot under some doug fir and shore pine to cook our dinner. During dinner, the rain stopped. Everything was able to dry. The weather was perfect; rain to get rid of the mosquitoes, but stopped before it could become a nuisance!

We saw a lot of cool flora and fauna, too, including some notable herps. Two western toads (Bufo boreas) that were impressively large. I'd estimate about 5+ inches SVL. Several Pacific tree frogs (Pseudacris regilla) and several alligator lizards (Elgaria sp.), one of which I thought was a skink at the time (but after looking up the Western Skink, I realized that it was not what I saw). And coolest of all, a rubber boa (Charina bottae)!!!

And that concludes my trip summary. Now it's bed time. I can't wait to get back to this park in September (next time bug spray will be a required item!). I'm also excited to backpack Olympic NP and Banff NP!

Weird dream I had last night

Not the weirdest I've ever had, but it's been a while since I've remembered a weird dream. Plus I was strangely inspired to waste 9 precious minutes of my morning writing it down instead of getting ready for work in a timely fashion. So here goes.

I was moving into a new dorm (presumably at Denison?) and David was my roommate. We opened the door to discover that the building was structurally warped, such that the walls of our room (which was on the ground floor) were bent down at an 70-80 degree angle, but the floor was still level. Oh, and the walls were also sort of twisted (I swear, it must still be that time that snow collapsed my tent, twisting it on itself that haunts my dreams...). The windows were weird, kind of like bay windows but they only went out about 4 inches, and they were pretty small for the room (maybe 2 ft. by 2 ft?). And of course, there was only one double bed in the room (which was so small that there wasn't even room for another bed). No desks. Just a bed. So David and I throw our crap on the floor, lay in bed as if a TV were going to magically appear on the wall, and then after a few minutes decide that we were going to check out the rest of the building.

So we get to one of the upper floors (3rd or 4th), and there are balconies! So we hung out on the balcony for a while, and a strong wind steadily increases in speed, blowing against the building. Then seagulls start to get carried by the wind toward the building. They're blown up to it, and basically are forced to run up the walls to get over because the force of the wind won't let them change course (that, or they're really stupid seagulls). David and I begin to fake shoot the seagulls with our hands as guns, because David jokingly suggested that we catch one and eat it, since we haven't had time to go grocery shopping yet and it's dinner time. Then all of the sudden a seagull crashes/lands on the balcony with us, and I grab it by the neck and bash its head against the railing.

I give the bird to David, who starts skinning it. Then we both gut it, but we do it as if we're doing a dissection, being careful to preserve the organs intact as we take them out. I take out the ovaries/oviduct, and then see these weird organs inside so I take them out. It's a pair of blue reniform/spherical structures and a pair of red ones. I think the shapes were slightly different between the two colors, but I don't remember details. And I'm pretty sure they weren't connected to each other in any way. I ask David what they are, and he says "duh, it's the (insert nonsensical molecular gibberish, much like the chemistry that was in Bob's James Bond paper, here), don't you remember anything from your dissections?"

"Oh yeah, that's right." I reply. Even though I dont' think I had any idea what the hell he was talking about. Then for some reason I go downstairs, and I throw away our pizza boxes (yeah, I don't know where they came from either). I also brought some more of our stuff up to the room. So I walk down the hall, past the receptionist who is behind a big glass window (oh, and the walls look like Morrow's lobby). I'm now walking to our room, which is apparently upstairs now. So I open my door, and all of the sudden David isn't my roommate anymore. Liz's little sister, Maggie, is. WTF?! She's sitting on her bed, which is the bottom bunk of an L-shaped arrangement (Blair and Erin style). She's braiding someone's hair (I don't remember who), and there are two other people sitting on the floor (playing video games? I'm not sure). I'm also not sure who they were. One of them was Reyan maybe, or Josh, and David may have still been there? Two of those three maybe. But I really don't remember.

This is where it gets fuzzy, and I wake up. Two minutes before my alarm goes off. But I think that it's an hour and two minutes before my alarm should go off, so I go back to sleep right away and re-enter the dream for like 10 seconds before the alarm wakes me up.

Weird, huh?

Musings on "House"

"Like Socrates and House, we need people to confront us. If others either agree with us or 'agree to disagree with us' to avoid engaging us in debate, we'll stay confined to our own little reality. We need someone to stand up against us.

Yet very few people will do this for us, because they know we'll reciprocate and ask questions about their beliefs and opinions. Having one's most basic assumptions challenged is unpleasant, unsettling, and considered offensive in our society. Most people will simply refuse to do it...unless they are attacked and feel threatened. To learn anything, people like House and Socrates need others to question their opinions. Since others usually avoid conflict, they have no choice but to relentlessly attack people's beliefs from all sides, and harass them with questions and ironical remarks, until someone 'awakes from their slumber' and strikes back, criticizing House's or Socrate's own assumptions.

Should we condemn such an attitude? If we think about it, an education that wouldn't challenge and change the ideas students already have would be a poor education indeed. And a doctor who wouldn't display a healthy skepticism about the current state of medicine wouldn't be more than a medical ATM, dispensing drugs according to some preestablished guidelines. Yes, just like physical fights, intellectual confrontations are painful. But they lead to our greatest discoveries. At least with respect to knowledge, House is right: 'Being nice is overrated.'"

~Melanie Frappier, from her essay "'Being nice is overrated': House and Socrates on the Necessity of Conflict" in House and Philosophy: Everybody Lies.


Ok, so the title is a bit misleading as these aren't exactly my musings, but they generate further musings so whatevs :D