My Favourite Painting

When I was visiting Europe, I got the great opportunity to go to the Louvre in Paris. Now, while I will admit to having a bad experience there, I did see some great stuff. One of these days I'll go to Europe again and have a better experience at the Louvre, maybe take a guided tour (that might help with the utter confusion of wandering a former palace) or learn to read maps better. Anyway, I did get to see the "Mona Lisa", which I wasn't too impressed with, and that famous painting of the French Revolution where a bare-breasted woman is being. . .revolutionary. But this particular painting, Delaroche's "La Jeune Martyr", was my favourite. I couldn't find a better image, but there is another fellow down by the riverbank. Sadly, most of the prints you find are just the closeup of the martyr.
I remember trying to navigate out of the painting section of the museum (because I wanted to see the Egyptian art, damnit!), and this stopped me in my tracks. I almost wish I got a full-sized reproduction of it at the gift shop, because it's so beautiful. Years later, the only thing great I can say about my visit to the Louvre is that I got to see this piece of art there, in the flesh. I'm in no way an art critic, and I prefer photography to paint, but this piece is incredible.

The Most Productive Thing I Did All Summer

So, after failing the initial PFT at Quantico and flying back to Butte, I got the notion I should take up quilting. So, as my first project (I'd never done patchwork quilting before), I pick "Fiesta" from the Quilts Ole quilting shop in New Mexico, which was featured in this summer's Quilt Sampler magazine. What you see above is the most productive thing I accomplished this summer.

Which is so depressing to me. You'd think you could get more done in a summer than make a couple quilts, spend a few days in Quantico, go to Warped Tour and move to an apartment a little more than a mile away from your current one.

Just Another Saturday

The photo was taken this morning at the entrance of the Lewis & Clark Caverns. Ironically, Lewis & Clark passed right by the caverns (Clark on the Jefferson River, Lewis above the caverns' entrance). Teddy Roosevelt named the caverns when the property was deeded to the Montana State government for use as a state park.
The caverns were interesting; I was under the impression I would get to 'do' something more than the cushy guided tour, but that's OK. I can go spelunking another day.
After returning to Butte, I went to a friend's and played Resident Evil 4 until I had vented off enough pent-up energy.
And that's about it. I did the dishes, checked the e-mail (my mother is safely in Taiwan, and my grandmother is very happy to see her, for those keeping up), and ate some leftover take-out from the other night.
I'm now going to sit on my couch, continue reading J.K. Huysman's Against Nature, drink some tea (or Guinness, depending on how the book starts to turn out), and go to sleep early so I can wake up for Mass at 0800. Hey, at least I can walk to church then, which is a luxury I've missed out on since moving.

Advantages to Working for a TLA

I was chatting with one of my favourite professors today, and he brought up a brilliant point.

When I work for a TLA (Three Letter Agency), I'll probably have lots of girlfriends that do a similar job at the TLA (unlike at Tech, where girls, especially in Computer Science/Software Engineering, are few and very far between), and have a pretty good idea of who the dickwads are in the Washington DC area.

This professor describes a scene in a restaurant or club, when I say to a fellow, "Uh, sorry, but according to the dossier my friends have compiled on you, you're a scumbag. Goodbye." And then snap a photo with my phone so the file can be updated.

I don't really think this will ever happen (because, seriously, national security is much more important than a bunch of single girls keeping a file system on the local lowlifes), but the idea of it is entertaining.

The Language Barrier

Well, Mom apparently is safely on her way to Taipei. Eva Air says the flight is "early", which in my experience rarely happens. She will arrive at about 22:10 tomorrow night, local time. I don't know when she's even getting back. She has a visa that will allow her to stay in-country for 60 days, but I *think* she's coming back in October.

While the reason why my mother is going to be out of the country is completely valid, I'm going to miss her a lot. She's my best friend (yeah, I'm a nerd, I know), and we chat on the phone all the time. I'm actually kind of jealous that she's going over, because the food there is so very delicious.

Mom's been teaching me bits of Mandarin, which we use on the phone. When I visit my favourite Math professor's wife, who is Chinese, I tell her all the new phrases I've learned and what I can remember from my last visit. I'm far, far from being conversational in Mandarin, but it's a lot of fun.

I wish Mom had brought me up bilingual. While I understand why she only wanted me to learn English growing up, it would be so cool to be fluent in another language. All the multi-racial kids (mostly Asian/White descent) I knew in California are bilingual, and I feel kind of left out.

Language is such an important part of human culture, and I feel I've missed out on a lot of my heritage. Especially since most of American culture disappoints me.

It sucks not being able to even communicate to your relatives. Even though English proficency is mandatory in Taiwanese and Chinese schools (you even have to pass an English test to get your college degree), that does not necessarily mean the people educated there are fluent in English.

It would be nice to visit Taiwan next summer when I get done with school and the only thing I have to worry about is my (other) best friend's wedding in August. And hopefully starting the new job (don't know what it is yet) in September. That would be a lovely plan.

Well That Was Unproductive

After a two-and-a-half hour awkward conversation with this Marine recruiter, I escape his office.

At least I discovered I'm not supposed to be a Marine. That was the vibe I was getting from the whole experience.

Ironically, I wasn't buying the recruiter's spiel on hireability if I get the MOS I want, even though I know TLAs (Three Letter Agencies) prefer people with military experience.

Hmm. Well now what?

(Kill Zombies)

Discernment

I just wanted to take the ASVAB to see if I would qualify for the military intelligence jobs that I'm interested in. Just exploring my options, using the military as a last resort in case the NSA or the CIA don't want me.
And no sooner do I take this test, I have recruiters wanting me to sign Delayed Enlistment paperwork and calling me on the phone. I get done with the recruiting center in town, get a sandwich at Subway, and as soon as I get home and walk through the door I get a phone call.

Me: Hello?
MCR (Marine Corps Recruiter): Hi, this is Staff Sgt. (I didn't quite catch his name), how are you today?
Me: Oh, I'm all right. How are you?
MCR: Great. How was your day?
Me: Long. I just walked in the door.
MCR: So what are you going to do now?
Me: I'm going to have something to eat, play Resident Evil 4 (yeah, I really needed to kill some zombies) and do some homework.
MCR: Resident Evil 4? That's out?
Me: Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

(Minor discussion on video games, with me wondering why this fellow is chatting me up when I know and he knows that he wants to sign me up)

Turns out he doesn't know anything about my previous involvement with the Marine Corps, so I had to explain all that to him, and why I washed out of OCS. He kind of gave me a hard time when I said I fell out of the run, but hey, who called who here? He asks me when I last took the ASVAB (this afternoon), and what my score was (98). I ask him if I can get the MOS I want (he says I can get "intelligence" guarenteed, but didn't say anything about counter-intelligence).

But I have an appointment with him tomorrow about enlisting. I don't even know what or if I really want to do this anymore. I put so much time, effort and heart into the Marines the last time I'm not sure if I have enough manna to get involved with all that again. A part of me really wants to do this, to prove I have what it takes to be a Marine. But another part of me holds back, because it was too heart-breaking to fail the first time. Granted, it's only a four year commitment, with an additional four years on the IRR (Inactive Ready Reserve), which isn't a long time if you're 22.

But there's another test I get to take, a language test to see what languages I'm "qualified" to learn. I hope that I'll be qualified to learn a Level 5 language, which means I can learn Arabic or Mandarin Chinese. (I think we all know what my first choice is!)

I want to talk to the Air Force and the Navy, though, because my cousin (who did counter-intelligence last year in Iraq) was very impressed with the Air Force's OIS program, and the Air Force and Navy tend to have the nerdier jobs.

I'm not even sure if I want to go into the military anymore. My priest says that I need to be patient, and God will let me know what He wants me to do with my life. But God is either sending me mixed messages, or not sending messages to me at all. Or maybe I'm not getting the messages. I wish I knew what to do.

Resident Evil. . . 4!

I don't play a lot of video games, mainly because they cost more money than I'm willing to dish out, but also because I think I can find more productive, mentally stimulating things to do. However, this doesn't stop me from finding the occasional gem.

My new favorite game is Resident Evil 4. It's been out for a while, and I've only started playing it, but it's awesome.

I think the main reason why I want to get through the game is that I'm completely engrossed in the cinematics. Wow. And I haven't found a demo of the game that includes the cinematics, so I'm forced to play the game through. Oh well. This is why I dig RPGs most of the time; because so much is poured into the story, you want to know what happens along the way (since you usually know or can guess the ending).

Resident Evil 4 is a lot of fun, if challenging. It's been a long time since I've devoted myself to completing a game. I think the last time was about two years ago when I wanted to complete Kingdom Hearts, and I never actually finished it. I got up to the final boss, but he had at least one too many forms and I didn't have enough drive or motivation to do the things I needed to do to go back and finish the game.

One quest-type game I did finish was Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. (I also finished LOTR: Two Towers, but I don't really count that because it's a short game)

Anyway, I'm quite fond of the main character in Resident Evil 4: Leon Kennedy. I think I love characters more than the game itself. Tall, pasty-complected, secret agent man. That, and he protects women. What's not to love? (Other than he can be a bit stupid at times, but I'm thinking that's mostly pilot error)

I've recently developed an affinity for male characters that protect women, regardless of how "helpless" the women may or may not be. Take the three main male characters of Sin City, for example. They all protect women. Sure, they might not be the most ethical people around, but at least they've developed a healthy respect for women along the way.

Blank Books

I have this thing, where I buy blank books/journals/whatever, with every intention of putting writing in them.

Except I don't. I have a collection of pretty books deviod of ink or graphite markings.

If I ever do write in them, I'll fill three or four pages at the most and then end up tossing the book because I can never seem to pick up where I've left off. There's an exception to this, which is a book that documents almost every detail of one of my failed relationships. I have to hang on to that book because there's some sentimental value that would disappear forever if I tossed the book. Why I want to hang on to such heartbreaking emotions is beyond me.

One of these days I'll travel or start writing seriously or do something that will warrent a collection of pretty books to write in. Then I will already have the pretty books, and need spend no extra dollars in aquiring them.

Yeah, right.

What I should do is buy a bunch of different Magnetic Poetry sets and make my friends dream up all sorts of things so I can put them in odd places in my pretty books so when I do write in them, I'll be guaranteed to find something that will make me smile. I gave a friend the "Sexual Innuendo" Magnetic Poetry set, because I knew that with his mind and that collection of words, priceless musings would emerge. I visited my friend some time after he had the set, and this is what I found on his fridge:

"Woman I'd like your delicious tuna pudding on my jumbo cream full pussy plow"

And I thought that would be the perfect thing to say to a woman to get her to leave you alone. I'm inspired now to find the perfect thing to say to a man to get him to leave me alone. I could say something similar to what my friend dreamed up above, but knowing my luck in Butte, that strategy would backfire.

One of the most heinous books I'd ever read is "Memoirs of a Geisha", by Arthur Golden. So they're making a movie of it, which will be the butcher of a book that butchered Japanese culture and society. But all of my favorite Chinese actresses are in it, and I saw a preview, and it looks marvelous. So now I have to justify coughing up the $7 to see my favorite actresses in a movie that will be so Americanized, I'll have to not watch half the movie just to enjoy it. But who knows? Maybe I'll like the movie, even though the source material leaves more than a lot to be desired.

And then I can write about the experience in a blank book.

I AM a US Citizen

And I can prove it, because I just got my passport in the mail the other day. So now I can leave the States if I have to.

My photo is pretty dorky, however. I'd like to think I'm capable of letting photographers get great photos from me, but all my ID photos suck.

Also, if you need a passport, I suggest getting one now. I read somewhere (might be the State Department's website) that they're incorporating biometrics into the passports issued after Decemberish 2005. Which means all us foreign travellers will be running around with microchips in our passports. Which means they'll probably cost more to get. Just FYI for you.