Revolution

Who can actually say what has really happened in Egypt? One day I was listening live to Mubarak saying he will stay in power until Sept and not bow to foreign pressure. The next day he stepped down. And now he is missing, with various reports of strokes and mental illness. Where in the world is Hosni Mubarak??

One thing's for sure: the Egyptians got rid of their dictator, and they managed to stay, mostly, nonviolent. One for the history books kids.Yay! Now we all watch, to see if it actually turns into a democracy. Also, the rest of the region is going to hell (or a better place) with Yemen, Bahrain, Iran, Lybia, Palestine... all seeing protests of various sizes and efficacy. Who can say what will happen next?

Here is a video on possible Israeli-Egyptian relations Video

And while I am loathe to give credit to American's for the uprising (though some are trying so hard to take it), here is link to a wonderful set of ideas... non-violent revolutionary literature and it's author. Click on the link "From dictatorship to democracy". Guess what's next on my reading list?

Think Less

" One of your strongest skills - your high level thinking - is irrelavant for you current position at this company." - My manager to me last monday

How utterly absurd...

And who will defend me?

check this out

My friend is here visiting from NYC and we were sitting in the living room discussing the H1-B. It's that time ladies and gents. At the end of this month the lawyers will send in our applications. 50% of them will be automatically rejected - randomly chosen to not even be considered. The other 50% will await the kindness of the US government to see if we can continue to work here.

As if our futures were not uncertain enough there is the added complication of the bail-out, the stimulus bill, the depressed economy. My friend is telling me that companies on the TARP - troubled asset relief programme - are not allowed to apply for work visas for their foreign employees. "Buy American" has become "Hire American" and is disturbing in both spirit and effect. Every time there is a problem this coutry kind of rolls up into a ball - like an armadillo, or Buster from Arrested Development. Will they do more harm than good this time? we will have to wait and see....

Ahoy G20!

Hipsters, be free!!

"The dance floor at a hipster party looks like it should be surrounded by
quotation marks. While punk, disco and hip hop all had immersive, intimate and
energetic dance styles that liberated the dancer from his/her mental states – be
it the head-spinning b-boy or violent thrashings of a live punk show – the
hipster has more of a joke dance. A faux shrug shuffle that mocks the very idea
of dancing or, at its best, illustrates a non-committal fear of expression
typified in a weird twitch/ironic twist. The dancers are too self-aware to let
themselves feel any form of liberation; they shuffle along, shrugging themselves
into oblivion. "

-from here

I often feel the need to move freely. To dance, to fight to frolic. Where can I be free?

Authority and desire

Today I retire the confession "Me hate authority. Authorty hate me," even though that is still very true. I think I can be extremely frustrating to my supervisors not because they feel like I am incompetent, but because they see nothing standing in between them and what they want from me except my own stubborn unresponsive will. The problem is, they can't make me want what they want, mostly because ... I don't know what I want.

In other news, I went for drinks with this guy from the office. My roommate has informed me that that counts as a date. He had hinted a couple months ago that we should go out for drinks. I thought it was a casual team thing - we work together - so I was enthusiastic. Last week when he came over to ask me to drinks that night, it would be dishonest of me to say I didn't sense the date vibe. He was WAY too nervous. He hesitated, his voice stumbled, he practically whispered the invitation. I resisted the urge to run. The honest part of me was therefore not surprised when we were the only ones at the bar that night. We had fun.

Jungle Fever

I'm getting an error when I try to post my Girl-talk videos from the summer, so iIll talk about this instead:

My roomie just admitted until recently he thought that Jungle fever was a legit medical thing... When his friend told him she had jungle fever, he asked "What are the symptoms? Are you ok?" But seriously, jungle fever is the new pink - it's hott. Go for it! Why get caught up with fear, worry and other silly things? Brown skin is sexy. You know you want to...

Flakes, bookshops and Camus

Visited a great little used bookstore in Harvard Square the other day. One of my friends opened Camus' "The Plague" and found a tax return check for $475. She takes it to the counter and the man there breaks out laughing. "She works here," he says. "She's such a flake!"

I thought about it. That is ridiculous, but exactly the kind of thing I would do. She placed her check -probably as a bookmark - into the book, and somehow, without remembering, shelved it in the bookstore and then - responsibly - filed for a new check, but still...

That woman, is me . I love her, with all her flaws.

I'm here Bitches!

The other night when i was out on the town, some old white guy stared the shit out of me. I have officially arrived in Boston!

Union Square

I was walking through Union square looking absent-mindedly at the people playing chess. I caught the eye of an older kind-looking fellow who was at a table alone.

"Come here baby! Let me teach you how to play chess." He said.

I just smiled, shook my head and kept walking. Everybody in earshot started cracking up as he shouted at me across the park:

"Listen to me!!

You won't be cute forever!

You WILL turn 50!

You've got to get INTELLIGENT!!!"

Ha!

BTW... today is my birthday! yay!

Childhood OCD

When I was younger I used to leave exactly as I came. Tiles would light up showing me the twisting diagonal paths I would take on the checkered floors. When my brother taught me chess I would imagine little knights hopping with me; one step right, two steps forwards to the black tile. One step left two steps forward landing on white, until all the adults thought I had picked up an early penchant for dance. Where there were no tiles I would see a dangling thread as if I had unwoven on the way in. I would untangle myself from the building, hugging corners, mentally retracing my steps until I reached the door and was free to walk as I pleased, finally sure I had left no trace of myself behind.

Thanksgiving in context

The liquor store was closed for Thanksgiving - go figure - so I brought some Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee as a gift to my professor's house - never go to someone's house without a gift. It turns out that he had invited four stranded students to his house for Thanksgiving. There was also his mother, wife, daughter, brother-in-law and friend (from grad school). It's amazing how much more you understand when you see someone in context. Professor G's context - family and friends - showed that his utter insanity is perhaps less shocking than I had previously thought.

It was really nice for him to invite us to his home. Not many people would do that. The food was awesome, and once we got into the swing of the madness the awkward silences got fewer and further between.

One thing did stand out though. I was pleasantly bantering with the brother-in-law about his hair. He was full mountain man. He was amazing! Over the course of the night, we learnt that he lived in a place that allowed him to have neither water nor electricity bills. He had a full beard and two scraggly pig-tails reaching far down his back. He said, that since the army made him shave, that he had not cut his hair since he had come back from Vietnam. A small alarm bell went off in my head. Then he said that if we look at owls, we realize that being covered in hair allows you to be more sensitive to your environment. Intruiguing. His hair is how he transmits waves into the universe and how we receive them. That's why indians pray with feathers, 'and that's why you have pubic hair'. What?!?! "That's why you have pubic hair."

The table was silent. I guess everyone has one crazy relative. Someone changed the subject to pie.

The dinner was wonderful and memorable. That family makes a mean pecan pie. We left to find the other students on campus.

We found some friends in one of the houses. They were the ones who did not want to go the president's house and who had not been invited to a professors house. We all scrounged up a dinner or scrambled eggs, salmon sandwiches, hamburger meat, pasta with tomato sauce, rice, chicken, sardines, octopus and bread. I don't know much about the awkward holiday "Thanksgiving" but it is wonderful to spend quality time with good friends. We later watched Chronicles of Riddick. I wonder when they are making 2 and 3.

To Youth and Womanhood

My bro said that he no longer enjoys the party scene. I think he may be getting a little older. Today, my next door neighbour told me the same. But I think its just because the parties here suck. But we'll see what a young woman can find on a Saturday night. There are a few private parties going on. Not least of which is the initiation party for one of my dance groups. We let about 8 people in, and today, we drink!

My attempts to buy a cell phone have failed becuase I forgot to bring my passport to the mall with me. Damn you Verizon!! We shall meet again!

In the meawhile, I must continue to prove the fundamental theorem of algebra, fix my resume and write a cover letter. Wish me luck.