Everything is Complicated is the title of Sempe's book. Sempe is a French cartoonist. This book is a collection of cartoons where little characters find themselves in everyday life situations with always a twist of humor on a certain subject.
Anyway, I just thought this title resonated with my state of mind right now. I am just having a bit of trouble writing and finding inspiration. It would seem to be quite simple, writing every other day on a blog, but no, it is complicated.
A lot of people are used to writing blogs everyday about anything in their life or on what they saw on TV. In this loud crowd, I am just the silent person somewhere in the middle, or maybe over on the side. I listen instead and observe most of the time.
And then you are going to tell me I am actually writing on a blog. Yeah, I am writing on a blog, about how bloggers are a loud crowd, so I must be loud too. Everything is complicated.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Sitters surrendered
Finally they came down. After nearly two years the sitting outside the Memorial Stadium at UC Berkeley finally got to an end.
I got mixed feeling about this whole story and the outcome. On the one hand, the cause for which the tree people were fighting for is one I adhere too. The campus of Berkeley is so urban, that a little vegetation feels like a break in between the concrete. On the other hand, this sitting went on for too long, and I think a lot of people would agree with me that it went against the tree sitters.
I was living in the International House at Berkeley, right next to the Memorial Stadium, when the sitting started. I would walk by the Stadium and the tree sitters everyday to go to class. If you would have told me at the time that the sitting would last for two years, I wouldn't have believe you. At the beginning, there were only a few homeless people hanging out in there.
Then, the sitting crowd started to grow in early 2007 until they were around 15 to 20 people. At that point I began to question their protest. There was a lot of chalk writing on the sidewalk adjacent to the new community of tree sitters. A lot of it was about global warming and it seemed like those trees were the last trees on earth. I know it wasn't the only reason of the sitting, but please do not talk about global warming when only a few trees are at stake. When talking about global warming, talk about the Brazilian rain forest...
By the end of the school year, I just thought the whole protest was going too far for not much, and in other word was getting ridiculous. When I heard in september 2007 (I had moved from I-house) the people were still there and moreover were put behind fences, it just made me laugh.
The way the sitters persisted until the very last second was, to my opinion, annoying and laughable. Last monday, when all of the trees were being cut down, except for three, there were still 4 persons on one of the tree. And at that point, any reasonable person would accept the defeat and come down. But no, they still hung on those few top banches, with no provisions. It is only when the scaffolding was at reach of their feet that they finally came down to some sense.
Now I am just glad this all came to an end. One good thing that came up from the sitting, is that from now on, people of Berkeley could have their words on future urban plans of the campus.
I got mixed feeling about this whole story and the outcome. On the one hand, the cause for which the tree people were fighting for is one I adhere too. The campus of Berkeley is so urban, that a little vegetation feels like a break in between the concrete. On the other hand, this sitting went on for too long, and I think a lot of people would agree with me that it went against the tree sitters.
I was living in the International House at Berkeley, right next to the Memorial Stadium, when the sitting started. I would walk by the Stadium and the tree sitters everyday to go to class. If you would have told me at the time that the sitting would last for two years, I wouldn't have believe you. At the beginning, there were only a few homeless people hanging out in there.
Then, the sitting crowd started to grow in early 2007 until they were around 15 to 20 people. At that point I began to question their protest. There was a lot of chalk writing on the sidewalk adjacent to the new community of tree sitters. A lot of it was about global warming and it seemed like those trees were the last trees on earth. I know it wasn't the only reason of the sitting, but please do not talk about global warming when only a few trees are at stake. When talking about global warming, talk about the Brazilian rain forest...
By the end of the school year, I just thought the whole protest was going too far for not much, and in other word was getting ridiculous. When I heard in september 2007 (I had moved from I-house) the people were still there and moreover were put behind fences, it just made me laugh.
The way the sitters persisted until the very last second was, to my opinion, annoying and laughable. Last monday, when all of the trees were being cut down, except for three, there were still 4 persons on one of the tree. And at that point, any reasonable person would accept the defeat and come down. But no, they still hung on those few top banches, with no provisions. It is only when the scaffolding was at reach of their feet that they finally came down to some sense.
Now I am just glad this all came to an end. One good thing that came up from the sitting, is that from now on, people of Berkeley could have their words on future urban plans of the campus.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Sunday Kayaking
When I got the invitation to go kayaking from a friend, I didn't hesitate and said yeah to the opportunity to have some outdoor activity. That said, I was also concern the paddling around the coast would turn out to be a torture for my weak little arms, as I experienced last time I kayaked with my brother who was unstoppable even with the wind, and the horrible currents.
Fortunately the weather was great, and there was no horrible current. I had a great time paddling from the Santa Cruz harbor to the wharf and then back until some point before Capitola, and back to the harbor. And what made it even greater and special was the wildlife.
Kayak is such a great way to get close to the marine wildlife, and you don't understand that until you get onto that kayak. When you are on the kayak, you are nothing. You are just this tiniest boat that no other boats see because you are so low on the water, and you are at mercy of dangerous currents or waves that pushes you to those rocks, and then you get yelled at by the life guard on the beach because you are too close to shore (even though people on there were little specks).
But then everything calms down, motors' noises are further away, and you finally see it showing it's head. Shyly and far, at first, and then you think it was just something floating by until it comes back closer to you and realize it was a seal. One was a paddle away from me, and we were both surprised to fond ourselves face to face, if I may say. We stared at each other for 10 seconds and then he took off by sinking down.
At some point we were paddling through thick huge brown algae, and in the middle of this algae field, was this sea otter with its baby sitting on her. It was the most adorable sight. We were so close, and they totally ignored us, continuing their grooming.
That day we were lucky to see a couple of dolphins hunting in the area too. I got as close as 10 yards at some point (and that was unexpected), and I couldn't believe it. Seeing them so close, splashing around, you were reminded that they were still strong and wild animals, and that kept from trying to get even closer. They were hunting, telling from the abundance of birds hunting too, and from their disinterest to any boats. Everytime there would a disturbance, they would quickly go away, I guess follwing the fishes. They weren't jumping much, but I could say for sure the 2 were bottlenosed dolphins (Tursiop truncatus), like Flipper and most of the dolphins you find in marine parks. I wonder why only 2 individuals. Have they been expelled from their group? Have they decided to be on duo for some reason?
Questions that no one are able to answer.
My point is that not a lot of busy and modern area have this kind widlife still around and so close to human activities. I think it is a privilege that everyone should be aware of.
Fortunately the weather was great, and there was no horrible current. I had a great time paddling from the Santa Cruz harbor to the wharf and then back until some point before Capitola, and back to the harbor. And what made it even greater and special was the wildlife.
Kayak is such a great way to get close to the marine wildlife, and you don't understand that until you get onto that kayak. When you are on the kayak, you are nothing. You are just this tiniest boat that no other boats see because you are so low on the water, and you are at mercy of dangerous currents or waves that pushes you to those rocks, and then you get yelled at by the life guard on the beach because you are too close to shore (even though people on there were little specks).
But then everything calms down, motors' noises are further away, and you finally see it showing it's head. Shyly and far, at first, and then you think it was just something floating by until it comes back closer to you and realize it was a seal. One was a paddle away from me, and we were both surprised to fond ourselves face to face, if I may say. We stared at each other for 10 seconds and then he took off by sinking down.
At some point we were paddling through thick huge brown algae, and in the middle of this algae field, was this sea otter with its baby sitting on her. It was the most adorable sight. We were so close, and they totally ignored us, continuing their grooming.
That day we were lucky to see a couple of dolphins hunting in the area too. I got as close as 10 yards at some point (and that was unexpected), and I couldn't believe it. Seeing them so close, splashing around, you were reminded that they were still strong and wild animals, and that kept from trying to get even closer. They were hunting, telling from the abundance of birds hunting too, and from their disinterest to any boats. Everytime there would a disturbance, they would quickly go away, I guess follwing the fishes. They weren't jumping much, but I could say for sure the 2 were bottlenosed dolphins (Tursiop truncatus), like Flipper and most of the dolphins you find in marine parks. I wonder why only 2 individuals. Have they been expelled from their group? Have they decided to be on duo for some reason?
Questions that no one are able to answer.
My point is that not a lot of busy and modern area have this kind widlife still around and so close to human activities. I think it is a privilege that everyone should be aware of.
Friday, September 5, 2008
End of first week
Yesterday was the last day of my first week at Cabrillo.
The week passed by so fast. Between classes, assignments, I have been kept busy. One of the assignment, and not the least, is to find topics to write on for Cabrillo's newspaper The Voice. And for me, it is not an easy task. I tend to get picky about what I am writing and often find not interesting enough to be worth writing about. This is something I'll have to work on.
Anyway, as a first topic on this blog, I choosed an easy one: parking at Cabrillo.
So far, I have experienced only once, on the 1st day Tuesday, the hell of finding a spot in the garage lots. I hope that would be the only time.
On the second day, I had an earlier class, and surprise, only half of the garage parking was full. And that was around 8.50am. On thursday, I also arrived around that time, and once again no problem to park. But when I got out of class at 2pm, it wasn't hell too.
Where am going from here? Let's not waste more more on ugly parking, please. Plus, there is, even at the busiest time, student parking still available at the parking lots by the new buildings.
Well, I thought if the busiest time for parking is between, let's say, 10am until 3pm, that means a lot of the classes happen in this range. Why not, then, have classes moved to another time easier for parking?
More classes at 8am? What? Yes, and I guess that would be the next problem to solve. How to convince students and instructors to come earlier? I don't know, and I don't know if my idea is proven right, but I guess there could a little more studies on this topic to know what would the more efficient way to solve this concerns for all of the students driving to class.
The week passed by so fast. Between classes, assignments, I have been kept busy. One of the assignment, and not the least, is to find topics to write on for Cabrillo's newspaper The Voice. And for me, it is not an easy task. I tend to get picky about what I am writing and often find not interesting enough to be worth writing about. This is something I'll have to work on.
Anyway, as a first topic on this blog, I choosed an easy one: parking at Cabrillo.
So far, I have experienced only once, on the 1st day Tuesday, the hell of finding a spot in the garage lots. I hope that would be the only time.
On the second day, I had an earlier class, and surprise, only half of the garage parking was full. And that was around 8.50am. On thursday, I also arrived around that time, and once again no problem to park. But when I got out of class at 2pm, it wasn't hell too.
Where am going from here? Let's not waste more more on ugly parking, please. Plus, there is, even at the busiest time, student parking still available at the parking lots by the new buildings.
Well, I thought if the busiest time for parking is between, let's say, 10am until 3pm, that means a lot of the classes happen in this range. Why not, then, have classes moved to another time easier for parking?
More classes at 8am? What? Yes, and I guess that would be the next problem to solve. How to convince students and instructors to come earlier? I don't know, and I don't know if my idea is proven right, but I guess there could a little more studies on this topic to know what would the more efficient way to solve this concerns for all of the students driving to class.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Back to school
Here I am, at school for another year. Probably not the last though.
But this is no ordinary back to school. In fact I am hoping to get a lot from this year as I am just changing my career path from research in geomorphology to science journalism.
It is scary because it is not the first time I change career path, and also because I don't entirely know for sure that I will like journalism.
What i know for sure is that:
I love science, love sharing and discussing it, love explaining it to others, love reading and watching about it. I am curious about it too and that's one of the quality a journalist must have.I don't feel shy about asking questions whether to clarify something or to get pieces of information about an unknown subject and that's another quality.
I am social person too but I sometimes need alone time which might not be a bad thing.
Overall I am happy with my first 2 days of school at Cabrillo. Teachers are inspiring and students motivated so it could only be a promising.
But this is no ordinary back to school. In fact I am hoping to get a lot from this year as I am just changing my career path from research in geomorphology to science journalism.
It is scary because it is not the first time I change career path, and also because I don't entirely know for sure that I will like journalism.
What i know for sure is that:
I love science, love sharing and discussing it, love explaining it to others, love reading and watching about it. I am curious about it too and that's one of the quality a journalist must have.I don't feel shy about asking questions whether to clarify something or to get pieces of information about an unknown subject and that's another quality.
I am social person too but I sometimes need alone time which might not be a bad thing.
Overall I am happy with my first 2 days of school at Cabrillo. Teachers are inspiring and students motivated so it could only be a promising.
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