Shameless plug!

I am in the process of creating a transit plan, and I need all the information I can get. Here is a survey for citizens of the Coachella Valley. Please, take 5 minutes and fill this out. All the help I can get is wonderful!

Here it is!

My Future Family Size

I think my family size is now determined to be large (like Catholic-Irish large) just based on my inability to create normal-sized portions of meals I make. Seriously, tonight, for just myself, I made enough ratatouille to serve six. Granted, it will last the week, but still, I cannot, for the life of me, judge serving size, always to my detriment when I make enough to feed an army. So, it is done, I will have a large family just because of this.

Also, it was fun to photograph:

Arts One in a nutshell

I decided, in my procrastination* of packing for the summer, to lay out a quick guide to Arts One reading, group A. Since it is the second year of these readings, it is time for an adjustment of the book list, but here's to you hoping it won't change too much. Anyways, a flash guide to the reading list of 2011/2012:
*Also, don't do this too much. Soon, you will have accumulated days, not hours, on the couches in the commonsblock, most of which was watching reruns of Seinfeld and How I Met Your Mother, telling yourself that after just the next one you will write a paragraph or two, that inspiration is in that very paragraph, and you know, deep down, that it really isn't, but somehow you will find a way to finish just before the time runs out and you will make it back to bed with the bittersweet feeling that although you finished a not-quite as good as it can be paper, you will be going to sleep and happily forget how miserable you were until the week after next when the cycle renews itself.

Book of Genesis
Eat an apple, go through remarkable pain once a month–for women only. For men, you get a slap on the wrist and an eternity with women who now have this monthly gut-punching.

Kant What is Enlightenment/Conjectural Beginning of Human History
Giving the finger to God and getting kicked out of Eden? Good thing.

Irvine Socrates on Trial
...cannot remember ...come back

Plato Euthyphro
...cannot remember

Sophocles Oedipus
Parents worried that their son would sleep with his mother and kill his father, so, of course, they made sure of it happening. They find out, it gets bloody. Kids are probably scarred for life.

Seneca Oedipus Tyrannus
See Sophocles, except make it into a soap opera and add more vaginal stabbings.

Plato The Republic
Philosophers are the best, everyone else are just sheep. We have metals in blood, meaning if you do not have a good metal, you are screwed. Also, man escapes from cave in Allegory of the Cave; men are given the chance to choose good/evil, they choose the opposite everytime they die, philosophers are the only ones who know what's up, of course.

Machiavelli The Prince
Lie, cheat, steal, and know your history to be a good prince. Don't be an idiot.

Marlowe Doctor Faustus
It may seem like a good idea to get everything you wanted for, you know, nothing big, but just your soul... it's not. Generally, trades with the devil, not a wise idea.

Brecht Life of Galileo
The Church is always right, even when it's wrong. Galileo was essentially given a horse head under his covers to shut up.

Shakespeare Hamlet
Doesn't do anything, ever... and when he does, he fucks shit up. All because he is an emo child.

Rousseau Discours on the Origin of Inequality
We were better off as post-Eden apes.

Shelley Frankenstein
Man builds monster, realises he built monster, chaos.

Lippman The Scopes Trial
The American South was a scary place.

Nietzsche On the Geneology of Morality
...forgot/no fucking clue

Wells Island of Dr. Moreau
Cutting open animals while still alive, good thing?

Chopin The Awakening
Spoiler: She kills herself.

Freud Dora, Sexuality, etc.
Subconsciously, all you want to do is sleep around with your father (or mother).

Foucault History of Sexuality Vol. I
Is the war on sexuality being waged? This one was a bugger...

Plath Bell Jar
...

Else The Case of Robert J Oppenheimer
Man builds bomb, realises he built bomb, chaos.

DeLillo End Zone
A stoned football player questions football.

Walter The Zero
Did not get this far in my readings.

McCarthy The Road
All hope is lost... Also, humans will scare the shit out of you after this one.


I will come back to revise and finish this, but, for now, that is pretty much Group A's list.

Summer Project

Just like "Julie & Julia," Aurora and I have a little blogging project that we will be doing this summer. In my obsession with everything Columbia (I mean, who takes a picture of Columbia St. and Broadway... in Vancouver?!), I was browsing the Lit Hum reading list and noticed how similar it was, in structure, to my Arts One class. Brushing off the bit of pride, it became a personal goal of mine to try and read through that list, a list towering alongside my Arts One education, a right Seneca and Sophocles. Well, in telling Aurora, we took the challenge together and, this summer, we will be mixing sharp wit with some good, old-fashion discussion. We also rose the stakes, seeing some of the selections as 'simple' (or rather seeing the Gospel week and looking back on our Catholic education), and decided to raise their books with ours along with a great film ending each section. So, without further ado, here is the tentative structure of our plan:

Section I (6 May - 20 May):
Homer Iliad
Hymn to Demeter
Homer Odyssey

Film:

Section II (21 May - 7 June):
[I needed to extend it because of my Hungarian class]
Herodotus Histories
Aeschylus The Oresteia
Sophocles Oedipus
Seneca Oedipus Tyrannus

Film:

Section III (8 June - 22 June):
Euripides Medea
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War
Aristophanes Lysistrata
Plato Symposium

Film: Manhattan / Annie Hall [Woodie Allen]

Section IV (23 June - 7 July):
Book of Genesis
Book of Job
Gospel of Luke
Gospel of John
Selected works from the Quran
Selected works from the Torah

Film:

Section V (8 July - 22 July):
Virgil Aeneid
Augustine Confessions
Dante Inferno

Film:

Section VI (23 July - 6 August):
Boccaccio The Decameron
Montaigne Essays
Shakespeare King Lear

Film:

Section VII (7 August - 21 August):
Cervantes Don Quixote
Shakespear Hamlet
Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice

Film:

Section VIII (22 August - 5 September):
Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment
Woolf To the Lighthouse
Nietzsche On the Geneology of Morality

Film:

Section IX (5 September - 19 September):
Sartre Being and Nothingness
Foucault Histoire de la Sexualité/History of Sexuality
Kant Critique of Pure Reason


Film:

The Battle of the Stations

Have you ever read something that you just needed to share it? Mixing transit, New York, Columbia, wit, and education, this article captured my attention such that I needed to share it, not just wanted to. So, here it is, in its entirety. Enjoy!

A Battle of Subway Stops—Is 116th Superior to 110th?

Victoria Wills and Mark Hay engage in a battle of local subway stops. Read this and more in the upcoming April issue of The Blue & White.

Illustration by Adela Yawitz, CC '12

AFFIRMATIVE—116th or Bust
by Victoria Wills

Mark asked me to commit.

He wanted me to pick a side, buy a ticket, and follow him all the way. What Mark failed to mention is that once you’re in, the only way out is the way you came. He asked me to meet him at the 110th stop.

It’s not the first time he’s pulled this. For weeks, Mark has tried yanking me away from 116th. Which is to say, distancing me from all that is beautiful, all that is familiar, all that sits close to home. In both proximity and aesthetics, 116th personifies what I value; Mark has proven time and time again that he just doesn’t give a shit.

A relationship means meeting in the middle, and Mark can’t seem to grasp that. Things have to be his way. If he opened his mind for even a moment, he might realize that there is absolutely no logical reason to walk six extra blocks to the subway.

Sure, he’ll probably give you some anachronistic, aphoristic wisdom about the merits of strolling Broadway—some of that Baudelairean hogwash he tends to spew. For all his talk of superiority, Mark is no more than a manipulative, pseudointellectual name-dropper, unable to face reality.

Fine. I can play his game. To borrow Mark’s pretentious rhetoric: why, if more intellectually stimulating, does the journey to the 110th dump the unlucky rider in The Cave? The 110th stop is claustrophobic. It is poorly lit, noisy, and has no windows to the outside world. Devoid of the lofty arched ceilings and tiled mosaic of my beloved 116th, that southerly station feels placeless—a dark world of meaningless shadows.

But petty intellection misses the mark: my opponent is entirely oblivious. Doesn’t he see that I need my space, that I need options? I take comfort in knowing that, having entered a station with someone on the east side of Broadway, I can still go uptown while she goes down; I can even leave the station entirely. I like knowing that there are two staircases, and I that can choose either one. I like knowing that even after a 45-minute trip from Brooklyn, I can duck out at the 115th exit. It’s about the high ceilings; it’s about having room to breathe.

If anything, Mark’s choice of 110th over 116th reflects his poor understanding of what a girl wants, what a girl needs. A good relationship with your subway station is of the utmost importance.

Like Mark, 110th comes on all too strong. 116th eases you into things. It’s like the mandatory 24-hour period before calling after the first date.

Like Mark, the 110th stop steals you away from yourself. At 116th, you can hear birds, smell the NUTZ4NUTZ, feel sunlight, and see flakes of snow fall through the metal grates. It allows you to be in the relationship, but keep your independent interests. It doesn’t go into your iTunes and delete all your guilty-pleasure ’90s girl-pop.

Like Mark, 110th is the paranoid boyfriend who doesn’t let you chat up the guy in the ticket booth.

In fact, the station is so hostile, ticket-sellers don’t deign to set up shop there. Sometimes you need that face-to-face connection. I’m not asking for physical contact, but is it so bad to like a man in uniform?

At least tell me this: when you have $1.90 left on your Metrocards, who, Mark, will consolidate them? Not anyone at the 110th station, and certainly not me.

Illustration by Adela Yawitz, CC '12

NEGATIVE—110th All the Way
by Mark Hay

Victoria thinks I’m making this all about me, me, me. She acts like I’m trying to control her, to own her, to lock her down in this one-way stairway to what I presume she thinks is a living hell.

Well, though most Columbians do see it that way, the borderlands of 110th are not the River Lethe; each successive subway stop south of 116th is not another circle of Hell. Manhattan Valley was not laid out by Dante Alighieri. Nor is it about commitment. My insistence on using the 110th subway stop is about self-respect, dedication, and an everyday practical education that Little Miss Columbia Bubble 2014 needs to drill into her head if she wants to make it in the real world.

Because that’s what the 110th stop is: The Real World. Where people stop being polite and start getting real. Or at least they stop being anthropology majors and start getting real jobs.

Victoria tries to convince me to meet her at 116th because it has choices. It’s a station made for someone who comes tearing in at the last minute, having miscalculated the time, but knows that just so long as they make it to any corner of 116th, they’ll be fine. But 110th takes preci- sion. It takes situational awareness and knowledge of one’s geography.

110th is for those who sharpen their minds in their everyday lives and believe in forethought and punctuality. 116th is for people who can’t live without iPhone navigation and a constant connection to GCal.

But, Victoria protests, it’s not all about the entrances. It’s about proximity. It makes no sense for her to hoof it all the way to 110th. And to that I say for shame, Victoria, for shame. You are truly a sloth. I bet you order all of your food via GrubHub. We scholars are an atrophied breed. If you have ever stood out front of Butler, you will realize that all the students within and hipsters without are chicken-legged and brittle. They hobble on their stilt-shins over to the nearest subway station and cling to the pole for dear life. But those who choose 110th, regardless of (or in fact due to) its distance, are of a heartier stock. We live our lives with health in mind. We are the Greek ideal of balance between physical and mental education; Juvenal’s mens sana in corpore sano. I especially pride myself on the maintenance of calves that can only be adequately described as majestic. True, we are Columbians, and 116th is “our spot.” But what does it do to us to linger under- ground and stare at walls glorifying our names, to see our institution hailed as the ultimate end of all travels? 116th is the death of humility and the greatest ego boost ever to poison Morningside Heights.

110th is escape from the Ivory Tower. It is the physical manifestation of its riders’ balanced minds and bodies and their noble, humble spirit. 110th is a reality check with regard to one’s place at Columbia; it asks that acute attention be paid to even our smallest actions. It challenges our identities and pathetic Ivy superiority complexes.

110th is sublime, profound. And that’s why my love of the 110th stop makes me so much better than you, Victoria. It makes me so much better as a human being. So much better.

Original article can be viewed here: The Bwog.

I do not generally do this...

This video is just absolutely stunning. Tears were forming in my eyes. Please, just take two minutes, watch this.

Why do I watch Glee?

Yes, I am a self-proclaimed Gleek. Each week, I love catching up on my McKinley High gossip and news; I am getting excited and impatient over the impending graduation.
But, why?

I know Glee is not that good of a show. It is good, indeed, but nowhere near the excellence of, let's say, Game of Thrones. The audience is pretty split as well, those who really love the show, those pretty 'meh' towards the whole thing, and those who just do not like this television programme. For me, it is a getaway, a sort of escape from reality, and God knows, everyone needs a little escapism in this climate.

But, really digging down, why does America the world like glee so much? Every week, a bunch of new songs come on accompanied by some high school gossip, new relationship, or dramatic experience. Some songs are brilliant, some are just ok. I think it really boils down to the 'goofy' aspect in the show.

I mean, the show is pretty goofy, you have to admit. It is like every high school stereotype and caricature put into one place... in the middle of Ohio, of all places. But, it is the return to fantastical, musical shows of the '50s and '60s which have really not resurfaced properly in decades. Musical films, like "Singin' in the Rain" and "An American in Paris" really combined the sort of escapism and goofiness that Glee is offering, and it does it notably for the first time in decades. I mean, of course, there have been musical films and programmes since then, but the 1950s have become so romanticised in American's heads that a return to it via prime time television is natural.

So, the reason why I like Glee? It is America's way to return to a quote-on-quote "simpler" time. It is a return to the fantastical and the musical, and it combines it in a way where viewers really do not need to think, they can just watch, or "veg out" as my dad would always say.

A Case for Space

I think I have an idea where to go to graduate school, and I hope it is not just a pipe dream stemming from watching Star Trek this afternoon: International Space University. Haven't heard of it? Me neither, which is a real shame. In looking into it, it is probably one of the coolest ideas I have seen in a while... and it has been around for 25 years. If it is so "old", why is it so unknown? I mean, it is a graduate school focused on space studies in all aspects that harbours an international, inter-cultural perspective. Honestly, I think it is how the world is viewing space: we really aren't.

Recently, I heard NASA is planning a flyover of the space shuttle to garner attention and try to bring back that gung-ho space attitude of the '60s/'70s. Personally, I think they are going about it all wrong. We all know that space race was just that, a race against the Soviet Union. The entire American public was in danger during the Cold War and needed to get 'control' of space before the "commies" did. It was this sort of dire need for space rather than interest for the sake of interest that built NASA, the shuttle, and the entire space programme. Today, we are only trying to push interest for the sake of interest. NASA is trying to get people interested in a subject that we, technically, do not need to be interested in. And we all know how lazy Americans can be*.
(* Jokes. Sort of.)

This initiative is only partially getting headlines, penetrating only select spheres of news, though. I found it because I have a deep love for space. If you are not really looking, there is a good chance you will miss most of what NASA says; NASA is just not making headlines any longer. But what is? Really, what is bursting through all the spheres and getting attention? What is the type of news that blasts through Facebook with no stopping? Google Glass. At least that was the most recent burst of interest. That product featurette cleared through most of the channels watched. That made headlines. Before that, KONY 2012. What is it about these? A product and a social movement. Now, I could go on and on about the social aspeects of KONY and whatnot, but, really, what attracted attention was the neat design. It was cleaned up, offered nicely, and presented like a feature film. Both Google Glass and KONY offered the public great design and something to lust after, something just beyond their reach. I mean, look at what rakes in the most about of money: feature films. At the box office, most recently, the Hunger Games brought in 300$ million as of its third weekend. 300$ million! One satellite for Seti only costs 2.5$ million. The public loves new ideas and cleaned up, well-designed products.

But, what could NASA, or any space agency, do? Well, design for the public. Rather than try to reignite that Space Race flame, cater to the new, younger crowd, the crowd weined on new technology and pretty designs, the crowd with the attention span of an ant. I am sure NASA has some pretty impressive design ideas up their sleeves, now it is time to polish some, hell, even make some more really pushing toward the public interest. Space agencies need to really bring interest back into space, and, in my opinion, the only way to do just that would give the public something to drool over, something straight out of J.J. Abram's Star Trek. If NASA were to release legitimate concept designs for an overhaul or update to the ISS, or, perhaps, a new ship that may be lacking in proper fuel efficieny but looks as if it could go to the red planet in style, I am pretty sure there would be a little more public interest.

I mean, look at these images, they are the face of a space-faring society, but we have no interest... An image like this 100 years ago would have launched several nations into the deep nothingness above us; today they are taken for nothing. Please, NASA and ESA and whatever other space agency is out there, push this design aspect. Plan things with set goals in mind, futuristic goals. The International Space University is one of the coolest things I have seen, and, with time, it could become the equivalent to Star Fleet Academy, but, their public design only attacks the "now" model of space, the, I need to say it, outdated, groups of men and women behind computers, "Houston, we have a problem" model. If they could advertise a new future, make it more accessible to more people, push for a futuristic stand point, I am sure that interest would pique, or at least be renewed for this generation.

It has been a while...

I have loads to say and no time, so this post will just be a "I am coming back, I swear."

But, much has happened since I last posted. I just got done with my last class in first year. I did not set any fires or kill anything, which is good. So, yeah.

See you soon!

As I am sitting here on the bus, I am thinking about the "flattening of the world"

**Fair warning, this is just a sudden brain wave as I was getting off the bus and walking through the rain back home, so this could make very little sense, and reading over it is not doing any good for me.

I just had a very interesting Hungarian class where we discussed how Hungarians give tips, and what their characteristic meal habits are. It was noted that Hungarians really do not tip; they are poor, and why should they tip only a select few of the minimum wage-earning population? It was very direct, very Hungarian. Food-wise, they held a very European idea of the long lunch with smaller meals around with heavy, characteristically-Hungarian foods.

Now, the food. With a, for all intents and purposes, Jewish mother, food was a topic of choice. In her household, there was a bit of a clash of cultures: a Belgian mother and Hungarian father. Between the delicate and the light and the rough and direct sat my mother. I know she absolutely loved it, though bits of each were preferred. The point: when she visited the family in Hungary, my mother would eat like a Hungarian, which is excellent, except for the breakfasts. North America really caught onto the idea of a light, fruit-like breakfast, like that of the French speaking world. Hungarian breakfasts are meat. Well, not entirely, but they are hearty and thick feeling. My mother has told me this story countless times: Hungarians like their meats and breaks and stews, but, after a week or so, my mother needed something light, especially for breakfast. She scanned the kitchen, and grabbed a pepper, thinking "thank God, I finally found a juicy, bell pepper", and sunk her teeth into it. (Backstory: my mother and I cannot do spicy. Ketchup is spicy to us.) It was a hot pepper. She spent hours recovering, her tear ducts have never been drier. Moral: Hungary has thick foods, even the "bell peppers".

So, in class today, our prof explained that their breakfasts consist of meats and "light" sandwiches. Albeit, Starbucks has popularised the breakfast sandwich, but, honestly, I do not, personally, view a sandwich as breakfast-y. But, that is what is great about Hungary, they do not tip because they do not see the fairness in it, they eat hearty and heavy meals, they are a homely and rough people, just as Belgians are a little more Dutch, very proud, delicate, but tough, and the French are, well, French.

The whole reason behind this post is just from a quick comment said aside in class today: our prof's mother used to come home to cook and prepare the customary large lunch, but that is dying out as people are working more 8-17h jobs. A very American idea.

That got me thinking on the bus, our world really is becoming flat, and I honestly cannot decide if that is a good thing or not. The French are holding fast to their long lunch periods, but, as in Hungary, it is dying out. Tipping is spreading around the world as a standard. Supermarkets have become the standard. It seems to be erasing cultural identity. I mean, studying here in Canada is really eye-opening, a truly multi-cultural society. You can be on the bus and look around to see a strikingly English gent, who is sitting next to a quintessential Chinese girl, whereas behind you are two obviously French people (not only because they are speaking French), and next to you is a girl from Nigeria. What happens when we start to become too similar? Even myself, usually you can tell European groups apart pretty easily, but I am a mutt; I am technically Italian, French, Belgian, Slovakian, Hungarian, Irish, Norwegian, etc. We may keep our cultural history in books, groups of people, and whatnot, but there will be a loss of national and cultural identity. With a flattening, we get a more informed populace, yes, and a more globalised viewpoint, which are great. There is now more respect, both for the individual and the culture; there is an increased awareness that comes with globalisation. Still, we have genocide and suffering, but we have always had that. From sexual abuse and maltreatment of people to meaningless killings, the world is becoming more and more outraged at individual events, which it good, but this idea that more people are aware of the atrocities that surround them is only a byproduct of globalistation.

In so many respects, globalisation is great, it is the future, except, with it is the loss of cultural identity. We cannot stop globalisation, but we can at least understand that we could see a mass-cultural extinction.

Quakecast

My aunt/god-mother/Randi predicts earthquakes in her spare time using a self-created formula, and she is becoming quite accurate. The earthquakes she predicts are quit a big deal, but she does not have much of a follower base, so here is her URL: Quakecast.blogspot.com. I highly recommend following her predictions.

Here was one of her last entries:

World: 211

Calif: 403

All I want to say is there was on MSNBC website the article says:

A strong earthquake in the central Philippines killed at least 13 people Monday as it destroyed buildings and triggered landslides that buried dozens of houses, trapping residents. At least 29 people were missing. The 6.8-magnitude quake, in a narrow strait just off Negros Island, caused a landslide in Guihulngan, a city of about 180,000 people in Negros Oriental province. As many as 30 houses were buried and at least 29 people were missing, Mayor Ernesto Reyes said. "Their situation is bad because if you are covered by landslide for one hour, two hours, how can you breathe?" he said. "But we just hope for the best, that there are still survivors."

My weekend quakecast said if the world number is around 210 any area within 850 miles of a previous 5 needs to be on alert. This quake happened within 200 miles of a previous 5.

Enough said. My heart and prayers go out to the people of the Phillippines.

Photos from First Western Canadian Muggle Quidditch Game!

Here is the next round of photos:

The final count was three broken brooms.

I don't even...

Clench the sock, clench it!

Beaters.

"Serious, serious, serious, Patrick, serious..." and "What is going on with those Rugby guys' hands?"

"Dat ass"

Smile or serious? Bit of a miscommunication...

Gravity: off

Photos courtesy of Siobhan Rosalie.

Why I have trouble with busses as a means of public transportation

This is probably going to be such a bold claim on my part, but I do not care, I want my opinion out in the world.

And, yes, the title is a bit misleading. What I mean by me not viewing busses as public transportation is not exactly what I am saying. I mean busses, in my view, are the lowest of the low in terms of public transit.

I am new to the world of public transportation. I would give myself maybe a week's worth of experience, legitimate experience, and what I have learned from years of transporting myself across cities and from reading up on different forms of transit is that busses are a poor excuse for a real public transportation system. Now, I am not saying that busses are not extremely useful and any transit system is golden without busses, no, they are indeed a necessary part of any decently-planned city, they just represent something bigger and worse than themselves.

Busses drive on roads, right? Well, roads lay the foundation for the personal vehicle, something that I am not too keen about. Yes, I love my Betty White (my car that is an old person's car that drives like a stallion), but cars are one of the deep-seated reasons for my dislike of North America. One of the best examples I can give is this: Los Angeles, at one time, had the foundation for a nearly flawless transit system based on rail, but it was scrapped when cars began to become popular in the States. Instead of a decent rail-based system over the roads, Los Angeles chose to pursue a bus-based transport system and a system of not rail but roads, roads that would shortly lead to the ridiculous congestion of personal vehicles we see daily all over Southern California. Busses are a transport system that promotes that very idea of exhaust fumes and relatively few people per vehicle by just running along roads.

Now, I got into a pretty good discussion about the benefits and detriments of Vancouver today. I, personally, am no fan of Vancouver. I find the urban sprawl gross and an emphasis on the car that leads me to make connections to Los Angeles (though a "true" Vancouverite would apparently tell me that the cities surrounding Vancouver are not, in fact, Vancouver, which I disagree. That is like saying that West Hollywood and Santa Monica are not a part of Los Angeles, which, in the grand scheme of things, they are). Also, I commented on the poor urban transport, to which I found no end of rebuttals: "Look at the bus system!", "We have a decent, regular skytrain.", etc. Well, ok, so there is a grand system of busses that dissects Vancouver and a skytrain that runs along three to four corridors throughout a pretty large city (wait, I meant cluster of cities), but, honestly, that is not the best. An emphasis on busses means an emphasis on roads, which leads to the personal vehicle. And while, yes, the city of Vancouver has relatively few cars, there are still a huge number of cars on the road. For such a green city, it really took me aback. On top of it all, one of the busiest routes in the city, and one of the most logical to tackle almost immediately, is the last of a skytrain connection between UBC and the rest of the system/city. I know that there are over four bus lines that all connect to the Canada Line, but, honestly, taking an over-flowing bus, like the 99, does not really suit me. Taking a slower-than-the-rest-of-traffic bus along a road to finally real some rail is not my idea of a really great public transit system. Once you get the airport-downtown covered, the university (of about 50.000 students) should be a priority.

I know many people disagree with me. Most people I run into absolutely adore Vancouver, and I am not saying that they are wrong, I am just showing people why I am not a fan of busses and why Vancouver's public transit system, while extensive, is not terribly efficient* or the best.

*Efficiency is marked by the movement of people at increasingly high speeds to their destination. Busses, while bringing people to their destinations, are bogged down by surrounding traffic and generally run slower than the cars that surround them. Rail, be it an over-ground or underground, moves markedly faster than any road-sharing vehicle (even the streetcars that I am designing for Palm Springs**)

**The reasons behind that are that streetcars are fun to ride, do offer another option beside buses, and, because of their enjoyment to ride, offer an insight to various other, mostly rail-based, public transportation systems. As Jarrett points out, "[s]treetcars that replace bus lines are not a mobility improvement," they are, though, more fun to ride, attract more ridership, offer a better (and cleaner) quality of ride, among other notes.

http://www.humantransit.org/2009/07/streetcars-an-inconvenient-truth.html

Photos courtesy of Google Images.

I do things in a really weird way...

Yet again, another short post.

So, I am creating the plan for a street-car, rail-based system for the Coachella Valley, and it occurred to me that I am doing it completely and thoroughly backwards. Well, not the plan itself, but myself. Usually, people only go about large plans like this after years of schooling and experience, and here I am, putting lines down on a map with a articles on transportation design and map creation up on my computer next to me.

I really do not know what to say, I am just glad that I have the opportunity to do this and really push the idea that "look, here I am going ahead and just doing this. I am no one special, just someone with an idea. Go ahead and do what you can in the world."

Booooom! Caaaaw!

The First Ever Western Canadian Muggle Quidditch Game


It sounds so much more dramatic than it really was. Actually, no, it was pretty dramatic.

To begin, we woke up at 6am. Really it was 5:30... and it felt like 3:30. The shower I took was probably the most comforting thing I have ever experienced, second only to the shower after returning all muddy and sore.

The night before, César and Anaïk both planned to join and be our fans, but in the morning, Anaïk was the only one to wake up; I knocked on César's door like no other, and I heard a shuffle and a groan, but no answer (we finally got a response when we reached Victoria. At least he got his sleep.). So, it was just Anaïk and I rushing from Totem to the bus loop early in the morning in super dense fog (the fog was getting really intense. The day before, there was an actual wave of fog that hit the campus. I was outside when I turned around to see it come crashing down over the buildings of Totem. In my head, because speaking to myself out loud is weird, and I never do it, I was screaming, "no!! Don't take me!! Ahhhh!" ––I may have over-dramatised this).

We were in the US!

With our excitement muffled from lack of sleep, we boarded that first bus as a mostly complete team–the rugby guys, as we once knew them (they are now Lindl, Daniel, and Lewis... phew, finally got those names),  were not there. Complete with our brooms and new shirts, we sat down and forced away sleep. A bus, a skytrain, and another bus later, we met up with the rugby guys and boarded the ferry, which, to be quite honest, was super exciting–it was foggy (sweet, fog!), on the ocean, boarding a ferry, going to my second city in Canada ever; for a desert rat, it was awesome.

Probably the best sign on the ferry (food)!

Besides my overwhleming hunger and the vacuum noises that arose when I ate my food, nothing of note really happened on the ferry. There were some beautiful cliff faces and islands and much water, but that was all. It was when we got on the double-decker, Victoria-bound bus that got interesting.

UPDATE: My bad, there was something interesting on the ferry: we crossed United States waters on your voyage. That was fun.

See me peeking out?

On the bus, standing in uncomfortably close quarters with Johanne and Russel, we began our trek from Swartz Bay to University of Victoria. –Before I tell the next part, it is important to note that I have pretty bad eyestight, but have not found a decent pair of frames as of yet (yet meaning four years)– As we are making small talk and bonding a bit, my teammates look to me and see a face that I can only describe as pure intrigue followed by enourmous dissappointment. They all looked at me in blank confusion until I told that I swore I had just seen a cow when, in fact, it was really a brown bench with a dog next to it. Yes, I mistook a bench for a cow. It was at that moment, precisely, that we began our earnest search for cows on Vancouver Island. We arrived downtown with no luck, but we did see alpacas, which Johanne mistakenly referred to as alcapis, and some boulders... boulders that resemble sheep that resemble boulders OR a sheep mixed amongst boulders that resemble sheep so that it is not alone OR a flock of sheep... our team still debates whether those were sheep or boulders. My argument is that is is one amongst boulders because I am pretty sure I saw one move, but this is coming from the guy who thinks benches are cows.

On Victoria lines, you "request" a stop.

Map of UVic

Once downtown, we needed to hop on the bus to the university. On the first bus, we paid for our tickets, but were surprised to find that rather than a ticket-like ticket, it was a newspaper-paper print ticket-thing. It was weird. Anyways, on the second bus, which resembled our native Vancouver buses, except with the "stop" light saying "stop requested" (it felt so polite), Michelle, Johanne, Lashmir (spelling is all wrong most likely, story on that later), and I decided to bus surf, yes, bus surf. The Victoria busses are actually so much more fun than our Vancouver ones, they twist and turn and bounce all suddenly, it was great. I swear everyone on that bus thought we were the coolest people around, hootin' and hollerin' and jumping and twisting and falling.

See Erica eating sushi with chop-forks?

We decided to put on our maturity hats once we arrived...which lasted a whole fifteen seconds before we started singing a rousing rendition of several of the "A Very Potter Musical" songs. Aw well, we were having fun.

UPDATE: ...blah, blah, blah, it is late, I am forgetting details, and I am kicking myself for not having this written days ago.

So, we began to play UVic! Exciting stuff. Being frontline beaters, Erica and I were out there first. Let me tell you, our confidence was so, so high, unimaginably so. In other words, we were ready to have our asses handed to us. Yes, the first few minutes following "brooms up!" were crazier and more hectic than Los Angeles during rush hour, but once we got the hang of playing another team, somewhere else, in the day light, we were actually pretty good. Speaking only for myself, I know that I had several moments of stationary ball-holding with a look on my face like "what the hell am I doin-- oh, shit, quaffle!" Also, it is beyond tiring. I, personally, did not want to look weak and ask for a sub after maybe running five times up and down the field, but, hell, it was tiring. I was panting just after the intial bolt to the centre-line; I am not out of shape, but the added boost of adrenaline did not help matters.

They looked so legit.

"Brooms up!"

Once we really got the hang of the game, our team stayed strong. We ended up losing our first two games (no real surprise), but the scores were close. Excluding the snitch points, the first game was 60-50 in our favour, with the second 60-40 in theirs. We were holding our own against them quite well. For the third game, we substituted Zach in as our new seeker, updated the beater strategy to an on-and-off-the-snitch play, and kept it strong. By that point, we all had our positions set, there were some amazing plays had by every single one of our teammates. Actually, Lashmi (spelling - Oh God, I am probably way off), one of our beaters, had at least one awesome shot. First, though, once she got possesion of the bludger and was just ready to throw it, she slipped (perfectly) in the mud. It was probably one of the funniest moments (we all laughed together afterwards). But, after her stumble, she managed to peg the sole chaser on a very-depleted-of-our-own-players-by-our-hoops side of the field, giving possession to Russel, our keeper. It was awesome. In the end, with Erica and I successfully communcating on bludger movements, the chasers and keeper doing something very right, and Zach as our seeker, we won the game 60-50 (90-50 with snitch points). I will always have the memory of our entire team, muddy, torn up, fatigued beyond measure, running, brooms in hand, to tackle Zach for the best snitch grab in all of Muggle Quidditch history (there is no hyperbole in that statement).


Coming off of our first win high, UVic and UBC mingled through a scrimmage against ourselves, which rocked. It got at least one person to play for the first time, and we got to talk to the other team personally, and, let me tell you, they are the friendliest and nicest people ever. The scrimmage was fun and a great way to end the day, and there were some great, great plays during the game. In fact, one chaser from UVic dove through a hoop, almost effectively winning ten points for his team, only falling short because of a perfectly-placed bludger. Also, our team, as of this game, has broken five brooms, three solely at UVic. Probably the best break at UVic (because the best break is the first one for our team as a whole, in which the broom shattered into three pieces like the sword in "Lord of the Rings") was with Russell's broom: Russell was tackled at his leg, which caused him to flip and land on his broom, effectively snapping it. Being a rockstar, he shot up, got a new broom, and ran after that quaffle. It was such a great moment.

And the snitch is released!

Anyways, we got pizza as a team and headed home, which was a terribly long schlep. Muddy, sore, and tired, we stumbled home around 22:30 and promptly fell to a well-deserved night's sleep.

It was one great day. 

Everyone together.

Great coaches and refs!

Oh, and as for the title of this post, we created a new team chant/call-thing. It happened when we shouted-out "THUNDERBIRDS!" and Johanne, jokingly, went "boom-caw", which instantly became a success. We soon began to thunderously yell "BOOOM!!" then followed with a bird-like "CAAW!!", the sound of the ever-so-tough Thunderbird.