Pink Martini - Aspettami

Half the Sky

Photo can be found here

A friend of mine is spending the summer in Uganda. She just posted this post about the thing she's found the hardest about being in Uganda. The whole post is very thought-provoking and interesting, but I'll just quote a little bit here:

"I may be in Africa right now, but still there is a separation between me and these people, as tangible as the glass pane separating me and these little boys.  It’s a weird feeling.  I wonder how long it takes in Africa to stop feeling like a philanthropic tourist.  I’ve wondered a lot since being here if I love Africa for the right reasons.  Or better, do I want to make changes in Africa for the right reasons?  There are over 8,000 NGOs registered in Uganda all trying to make a difference, some for the right reasons, some for other reasons.  It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the enormity of development here.  It’s different than I thought it would be.  It’s messy and disorganized and sometimes (often) ineffective.  I believe in it though.  And I believe that the sooner we’re on the same side of the glass the better it will be."

I just finished the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide yesterday. (I wrote a little about this before here, before the book came out. The authors had released excerpts as articles in the New York Times.) It's a sobering read, but a very eye-opening one as well. We, as humans, have a tendency to block out the uncomfortable things about life and the human existence. I find this tendency to be much stronger in America; the majority of us tend to turn cringing away from the homeless man on the streets of our own town, let alone from the suffering of millions in other countries. Safe in our little bubble of (tenuous and fragile) prosperity, we don't really want to spend a lot of time contemplating the plight of the uneducated, abused, malnourished, and impoverished "other" people that live all over the world. People that don't even have a real floor or running water, let alone the latest iPod or the newest smartphone.

And then, when we do finally look outside of our carefully constructed bubble world, we go into these people's countries and cultures and try to "solve the problem" with no reference to their situations within that culture. Which doesn't really solve anything and just takes a lot of money to achieve (usually) very minimal results. And so, for the last few days I've been thinking about that, and my friend's post just helped me articulate some of my thoughts. The authors of Half the Sky make the point that the kind of aid that countries like Uganda and Sudan, Pakistan and Afghanistan, etc really need is the grassroots kind - that is, locals helping locals, funded by foreigners when the locals don't have the resources. Reading Half the Sky has really gotten me thinking about how we're supposed to fulfill the commandment the Savior gave us when He said we need to love our neighbors as ourselves. Obviously, we need to spread the gospel, and obviously it's the only thing that's really going to fix the problems in this world; everything else is just some form of a stopgap measure, when you get right down to it, or treating the symptoms instead of the actual disease, if you will. But on the other hand, the Church (or its members) can't just waltz into places and start teaching the people and telling everyone to clean up their act without so much as a by-your-leave, and some kind of action must be taken in the interim. The question is, what is most effective? And how can I be part of the solution instead of part of the problem?

That's what I've been pondering. And no solution has readily presented itself. That's the thing about problems that confront half the population of the world - there are no easy solutions.

Things As They Are

Photo can be found here

 Recently I have been pondering on things as they are: our justice system, our food, our cars, our school systems, even the music industry. And though it isn't very profound, it's been occurring to me, over and over, that just because things are as they are right now, doesn't mean that they should be that way. We punish criminals in this society by sending them to jail. Our cars run on gasoline. We HAVE cars, as opposed to any other form of transportation. We eat flour as our primary staple. We send our kids to school starting when they're five and teach them in a certain way, expecting them to stay in school for the majority of their youth.

It's true enough that things as they are work well enough for the majority the majority of the time. But if there's one thing that SJC taught me, it's to question your underlying assumptions. And what I see is the penal system failing to actually improve the lives of those who are sent through it, pollution from all the millions of personal cars and a lack of adequate public transportation, rising education costs and fewer returns on the investment of so much time and money. I see a culture getting increasingly top-heavy, bloated, and stagnating. To my eyes, Americans have little experience with things as they are for other people and other cultures, and so are touting their own status quo loud and long as "the way things should be". And really, "things as they are" is really only "things as I see them from my point of view", since none of us are capable of seeing all the facets, nuances, and variations of life.

Not that I'm advocating radical social change here. I'm just voicing what's been rattling around in my head lately, and maybe suggesting that you take a little time yourself to contemplate what things you're doing in your life just because "it's always been that way" or "we've always done it that way". Tradition and habit are not sufficient reasons for doing anything; there should be thoughtful meaning and purpose in everything you undertake. So get out this week and maybe drive to work or the grocery store along another route and take the opportunity to see things from a different perspective.

Quote can be found here

Nothing and Too Much to Say

CN Blue - 사랑빛 (Lovelight)

Have you ever thought too much? I liken the feeling to trying to untangle a ball of yarn. The more you try to straighten everything out, the more tangled and complicated it all gets until you just want to hurl the whole mess as far away from you as you possibly can. The upshot of the whole thing is that even though I have so much on my mind, I really have nothing to say. Only old problems getting hashed and rehashed in my head until I just want to cover my ears, jump up and down, and scream. Unfortunately, that's not very productive. It doesn't accomplish much at all. Or anything, for that matter.

Recently I've been wondering why I'm here in Logan. Academically, obviously I'm here to finish school (finally!), but the thing about life is there's never just one reason for anything. Take SJC for example. Ostensibly I went to Annapolis to fulfill a dream I'd had since high school of attending St. John's. But I think the real reason I went there was to have the experiences I needed to decide to go on a mission, which was an important part of my development and growth as a person. And of course I met many wonderful people who have influenced me in many positive ways. Not to mention I gained a unique kind of education that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else or in any other way. And I fell in love with the East Coast and its sense of history. I learned a lot from my years in Annapolis. So...why am I here at USU? What am I supposed to be learning from this experience? Maybe it's too early to tell. After all, I didn't move to Annapolis expecting any of the outcomes that actually arose. Maybe my problem is that I moved here with certain expectations and those things haven't happened. I thought I was coming here for one reason and maybe that's not the reason at all. But then, what is it? I wish I knew. 

Why, why Georgia, why?

I am driving up 85 in the
kind of morning that lasts all afternoon
just stuck inside the gloom

Four more exits to my apartment but
I am tempted to keep the car in drive
and leave it all behind

Cause I wonder sometimes
about the outcome
of a still verdictless life

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why, why Georgia, why?

I rent a room and I fill the spaces with
wood in places to make it feel like home
but all I feel's alone
It might be a quarter life crisis
or just the stirring in my soul

Either way, I wonder sometimes
about the outcome
of a still verdictless life

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why, why Georgia, why?

So what, so I've got a smile on me
but it's hiding the quiet superstitions in my head
Don't believe me
Don't believe me
When I say I've got it down

Everybody is just a stranger but
that's the danger in going my own way
I guess it's the price I have to pay
still "Everything happens for a reason"
is no reason not to ask myself

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why, why Georgia, why?

Life Is What Happens When You're Making Other Plans

People keep asking me what I want to do with my degree, and the truth is, I really don't know. But people don't want to hear that you're almost 25 and have no life plan.

The thing is, I did have a life plan. It's just that life didn't work out according to it, and now I'm scrambling to make a new one. In a world where everything worked out according to how I would like it to, I'd get married, move to Korea for a few years, have some kids, and work from home with a partner writing dramas that would be amazingly well-accepted critically as well as popularly. And then (to placate my mother and sooth her fears that her grandchildren wouldn't speak English if we lived in Korea) we'd move back to the States for a bit and live somewhere not too far away from my family so my sister and I can have our kids play together. And everyone would be happy and everything would be peachy and my husband and I would retire and have cute grandkids to spoil and serve a mission and just have a lot of fun.

Of course, I think the actuality might end up just a teeny bit different. But just a teeny bit.

비야

I love this song. Yellow Monsters is one of the best k-rock groups around, in my opinion. And it fits my mood perfectly.

I'm sorry I never post anything other than music, but right now I'm having a hard time gathering my thoughts well enough to make enough sense out of the chaos to write anything.

Satellite Heart

Link to the official video on YouTube

You know, in general I think Twilight and all its attendant fandom craziness is not that wonderful, but I will say, the movies have great music on the soundtracks. This song is just the right sound for me right now.

빛나는 태양

I've been on a crazy Taeyang kick lately, even though his solo stuff isn't the kind of music I normally listen to. Nevertheless, obsessions aren't usually rational anyway, so here you are. Taeyang is part of the five-member group Big Bang, which is arguably one of the most famous groups in or out of Korea. He's known for his excellent dancing and trademark mohawk. And let's face it, for his really nice abs, too. The links will take you to the official versions of the music videos, which are higher quality but don't have English subtitles.

Prayer

Where U At

Wedding Dress

Mental Noise

I haven't been writing much of late, not because I have nothing to say, but because I have too much.  Nothing much is happening event-wise in my life, but there's so much rattling around in my head I might go crazy from all the noise.

To Cherish

cherish |ˈ ch eri sh |
verb [ trans. ]
protect and care for (someone) lovingly : He cared for me beyond measure and cherished me in his heart.
• hold (something) dear : I cherish the letters she wrote. | [as adj. ] ( cherished) cherished possessions.
• (of a hope, idea, or memory) think of longingly or lovingly : We will cherish your memory.
ORIGIN Middle English (in the sense [treat with affection] ): from Old French cheriss-, lengthened stem of cherir, from cher ‘dear,’ from Latin carus.

People put a lot of emphasis on love. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for love, but it strikes me that you can love something (or someone) and still not treat it (or them) very well. I don't know what prompted the thought, but I've been thinking about the word cherish for awhile. I like it. I like the connotations of care and protection included in with love that are the definition of cherish. To me, it means more than just love. That's what I want to be one day, not only loved but cherished.

Kaleidoscope

Photo here

 Have you ever noticed that other people's lives are a lot easier to live than your own? By that I mean that everything is so much clearer to you when it's someone else's problem. As a general rule of thumb. You can tell yourself all kinds of things, things you'd say to your friends if they came to you and asked you for advice, but they're not very motivating or clarifying when you tell them to yourself.

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but I think that happens to me because I get locked into a feedback loop of overthinking the situation. Something seems like a great solution until you're lying awake in bed at night, staring at the ceiling or the wall, with all the variables (real or perceived) running through your head on repeat. For me, it feels kind of like a kaleidoscope looks - the same basic pieces, tumbling over and around each other, morphing into a thousand different patterns as they twirl around at the end of a tube. Every time you look at it it's different, but somehow it's still the same.

Monday, Monday

The plan for today involved getting the job hunt started in earnest. After sleeping in, of course.

Instead, what happened was a knock on my door shortly before eight this morning. It was my grandma, asking me to take her to the ER. Now, I admit that I was a little bit "Oh, stop being such a baby" about the whole thing, especially since my grandma is just a bit of a hypochondriac. But she told me that she'd called our neighbor (who's a retired doctor) and asked him what she should do, and he told her to go to the ER. So we got into the car and drove to the ER on this dreary, cold, rainy Monday morning after finals.

It turns out that my grandma has some sort of gall bladder problem, which has given her gall stones (and a lot of pain and nausea) and caused pancreatitis. Since she can't eat lest she aggravate her pancreas, she'll have to stay in the hospital for a few days until she stabilizes enough to do the surgery to remove her gall bladder. On an unrelated tangent, it amazes me how quickly news spreads. Already half my grandma's friends and people from church have called asking for an update on her condition; two people had brought her flowers by the time I got back to the hospital after I ran home to check on my grandpa and eat some food.

I'm so grateful that this didn't happen last Monday. Or the Monday before that, even. That would have probably ended me. I would have croaked from the stress of too many things going on in my life. I think now I've finally managed to process - on an initial level - that my grandpa is really gone. I've gotten all my final papers in and that stress out of the way. If this had come on top of those two, I don't know if I'd have made it. I might have just curled up in a ball and stayed catatonic for a while until it all went away. Too bad that doesn't actually solve any problems. Now I need to tackle finding a job for the summer, finding a way to get to that job, and finding a place to live this autumn. And finding out what the heck I'm going to do with my life after next May.

Summer Goals

My Goals for the Summer

make a baby quilt with my grandma

take up rock climbing

learn to longboard

pass the Korean language aptitude test

do a lot of family history

make new friends

 run a 5k

get lots and lots of sleep

Stream of Conciousness

I did it. Remember those two 10+-page papers I had to write in just three days? I did it. I blows my mind just a little bit. With the first paper, the paper I wrote for my Intro to Islam class (fascinating, by the way) on comparing and contrasting the concept of God in Islam and in my religion, I felt such a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when I turned it in Friday night. I spent half of Saturday at my grandfather's memorial and with my family; the other half I spent cramming all I could about Sino-North Korean relations since 1949 into my head. I don't do homework on Sundays. Believe me, I was anxious about that. I mean, that left me with just one day to write (and finish researching) a whole paper on a massive topic. But I woke up at five am on Monday and wrote the first 3.5 pages in under four hours -- which is a miracle for me. Then I went to take the one final I had. I came back and wrote a little more, but I couldn't concentrate. I took a break from just after three pm to about six-thirty pm. Watched Bones, checked my Facebook, went and had dinner at a friend's place. I came back, said a little prayer that I could stay focused, and knocked out the rest of the paper. It was in before ten pm, two hours before it was due. The whole experience was completely anti-climatic. There wasn't any sense of accomplishment or relief. Mostly I just felt like I'd written a crap paper. I woke up Tuesday morning and checked Blackboard and there it was: a 19.5/20. Maybe I was too hard on myself. Maybe my teacher wasn't holding me to the standard I thought she was. Maybe she just read it late at night and wanted to just get it out of the way. Maybe she read it after someone's paper that was actually crap. I don't know. I still don't know what I made on my other paper. And I've got one more left. This one's about the Korean War, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. Not the current war in Afghanistan. The one with the Soviets. And I have to find a job. A car. A place to live. A purpose for the rest of my life.

I said before that I've been listening to Mutemath a lot recently. This is from their song "Clipping".

Feeling overload
Carrying bottled skies around
I've been drowning all along
Wearing out in a faltered sea
And I give up

Common sense failed again
Meddling in a foreign scene
Foreign dream
Oh, Time won't spare another sun
Daring me with another choice, another choice

Anymore, I don't know who to fight anymore
I don't know what is right anymore, anymore