Clint Eastwood about gay marriage
Another reason why I love Clint Eastwood
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A Good Traveler
Quote
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
-Lao Tzu
Chinese taoist Philosopher, founder of Taoism, wrote “Tao Te Ching” (also “The Book of the Way”). 600 BC-531 BC
Taking Life Seriously
Quote
Life is too important to take seriously
-Oscar Wilde
Well I thought I was being witty walking around Union Square today when I thought “Life is too important to take seriously.” But apparently I was just unwittingly plagiarizing Oscar Wilde; damn I felt so damn cool about this saying. I probably read this quote before and just didn’t remember that I had. Anyways, I’ve noticed since I’ve been home that people seem to be aggressively planning or surviving life, instead of just enjoying life. It was sad to see so many people just preoccupied with getting through their day, work week, or just thinking “someday I will…” instead of thinking of how their time could just be a little more amazing. I know this is some campy, pseudo-inspirational work poster kind of stuff, but I found myself thinking about it. It really is depressing to see people doing that though.
I’m going home?
A mysterious feeling has been filling me this week…I’m nervous. I’m not usually one to be nervous, but for some reason I am. I haven’t been home in a long, long time and now the thought of going home makes me nervous? Strange. Although despite being nervous I’m so freaking excited to be surrounded by friends and family again. 4 days left in India, plus a whole day in the air.
Holy Fuck…I’m going home!
Do I like traveling India?
I recently called my buddy Bengay via Skype just to catch up. I picked up from his tone and his questions that he was concerened if I was enjoying my travels here in the subcontinent. I believe he expressed similar concerns in an email prior to this too. I think his concerns are legit, especially if your going by my blog posts. Lots of what I have is about getting sick, frustrated, or just straight up bad news.
To be frank, India is perhaps the most maddening travel experience I’ve ever had (apart from that train station in Shanghai). Ever day seems to be a constant struggle and challenge. Struggles against sickness, transportation systems, constant hard bargaining, and many more culprits. The most irritating for me is actually just walking down the street because of cars, noise, pollution, begging, filth, etc…
But when asked “If I’m enjoying my time in India?” I have to answer with a resounding “Yes” even if that yes is going to be followed by a long list of complaints. I’m finding India to be perhaps some of the most rewarding travel I’ve experienced. Filling me with memories, some that are joyous and some that are less than joyful, and many life lessons. Also, it is one of the few places that helps, encourages, forces, or sometimes even tricks you into seeing the world in a different light.
So yes I’m loving my journey even if I’m constantly bitching about it 
A question about traveling India
Why do all the tourists love the least Indian parts of India?
- Goa :: Portuguese
- Darjeeling :: Nepali/Sikkimese
- Mcleod Ganj :: Tibetian
- Etc…
I’ve posed this question to some other travelers I’ve met on the road. Their usual response is a pause with a quizzical look, an accepting nod, and some sort of words of agreement. I think what goes through their head is how much they liked the aforementioned places in India and then they compare them to other places they have been. As an English guy I met named Ron whose been to India several times in the past decade put it “I don’t think most Indians know how to handle tourists. So you end up with constant staring or something else inappropriate.” Perhaps that’s it or just place like Goa or Mcleod Ganj really are escapes from the more crushing realities of life on the India subcontinent…that and their weather is so much better than everywhere else!
About Trains in India
I’ve spent a lot of time on trains in India. From overnight journeys to just a short hop to the next destination. Here are somethings I’ve learned.
- Having cockroaches in the walls by your head is disconcerting while sleeping
- Shaky trains are bad for writing (looks like you’re writing with nerve damage)
- Sharing a compartment with a family that has small children is really annoying
- 12 hour overnight trains in the chair car are not conducive to sleep
- Indian railways Chinese food is far superior to Korea’s version of Chinese food
- Overnight SL-class trains means savage attacks by blood sucking mosquitoes via the open windows while sleeping
- Trains shall not arrive nor depart on a schedule that even remotely resembles their intended times
- Individual cars shall not be arranged in numerical order along the length of the train
- Locals, despite frequenting trains, seem to have no knowledge of how the Indian Rail System operates…do not ask them for help they will just further confuse you
- Always keep your sleeping berth full, either with your body or luggage. Otherwise someone will gladly fill in your unused sleeping space…uninvited
- The sleeping berths are short. If you’re tall like me your feet will constantly get rammed into by knees & luggage
- There will always be a power switch war raging about whether the fan will be on or not. The top bunk always wants to turn it off.
- If your groups berths are sepearate ask the ticket inspector to move them. If he declines try bribing him…worst that will happen is he will say no
- People in the AC classes tend to be upper-middle class Indians hence more well behaved according to rules
- If you’re a solo traveling woman choose the ladies car or an AC class car
- Always bring your own food to the train station
- Some of the nicest and most honest Indians you will meet will be on the trains. So take a chance and chat up your compartment-mates, it will most likely be rewarding.
United we rise
I thought this was a great video. I never heard this Charlie Chaplin speech before, but it’s fantastic. It’s from one of his movies called The Great Dictator. The movie is 60 years old but this speech still seems to hold true. Hope those fires of revolution against oppression in the Middle East and North Africa keep on burning.
Also I’m not sure on where I stand on outside forces jumping into the fray in Libya. I’m down with the no-fly zone to stop Gaddafi from bombing his own people, but should international forces intervene? It kind of muddies up the revolution, but then again I’m not knowledgeable enough about the situation there. Also Bahrain, Yemen, and others keep up the good fight. North Korea and Iran feel free to join in anytime you want.
P.S. Larry I hope your recovery is going well. Hurry and heal up so you can get back to busting my Dad’s chops.
The full text of the speech is after the jump Continue reading
Paying for teachers in America
This morning I was talking to my Dad about the pay that teachers receive in America. I keep hearing about the ridiculousness that is happening up in Wisconsin; way to go protesters, keep it up! I know this is probably a little dated for most netizens (by dated I mean 2 weeks), but my Dad hadn’t seen it so I thought it was worthy to share on zee blog (quoted from some dude on facebook):
Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do – baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.
Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 peryear. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children
X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!)”
So I also decided to go out and check for some more information. First up and a mainstay for bashing ridiculous situation of news reporting in America. Here is a little bit of John Stewart on The Daily Show showing the contradiction between reporting about bailout money and Wall Street fat cat’s pay and reporting that teachers are being grossly over compensated.
I also found an infographic. I don’t know how I feel about infographics, because they are to actual research what soundbites are to real news reporting…just a lazy man’s way to consume basic information without understanding it. Although since I’m feeling lazy today I’m going to let myself fall into that trap.
Teachers Pay as a percentage of GDP - Go Korea!
Also just because I’m posting infographics might as well post this one that has been floating around the nets for awhile, even though it isn’t related to teachers pay I still felt it was important to disseminate this piece of knowledge. This infographic is about how much money stays in the pockets of the rich as a result of Continue reading
Going Away House Party
Tonight I decided to hold a last house party. Sort of a going away party although I have a few more weeks. But this is the last chance I will have to have a house party before furniture starts to get sold off and what not, so it just makes sense. I’m really going to miss my little house with YeYe. It is one of the few places that I have truly felt at home in a great many years.
So when thinking about this party and all the people I wanted to invite, I started leafing through my old photos. One picture particularly stuck out was a picture Madeline took when I had a fireworks party at my old Gwangalli house.
Gwangalli Fireworks party 2009
What stuck out about this picture is that all of those friends are gone! Well almost all are gone, there are still a few floating around such as Ben-Straight, Choi-oni, and Mina. But everyone else has departed. Depressing to see when you’re planning a going away party. Although not to worry I have made some new great friends that will come to fill my house tonight. But it does make me miss all the people, some of which it is doubtful that I’ll ever see again (at least anytime in the near future), unless we are talking about the California kids then I’ll see them in 3 months.
Party on Garth…