Allen Lew's Thoughts

Feature Photo: Leaping Around in Downtown

Protesters of leap year block the intersection at Shattuck Avenue and Center Street. The protesters threw oranges at and spit on Downtown businesses.

Only in Berkeley. (By the way, that photo is way too blurry.)

cross posted on

-Number of times I’ve been asked if I was a tutor at the SLC this year: about 7. Of course I’m not, but it’s nice that people ask anyway.
-Some people actually recognize me from my livejournal icon. It sure does make me wonder who actually reads this thing.
-My hit counter says some 290+ people visited the journal. Again, it sure does make me wonder who actually reads this thing.
-Why do I keep seeing couples snuggling in the middle of lecture? I mean I know it’s hard to focus, but cozying up with someone isn’t going to make things easier.
-Anybody see that big puddle in from of Pimentel a few days ago? The one in front of Lewis? Walking on both of them sure wasn’t fun.
-8 AM midterm on Monday at Genetics and Plant Biology Building for Bio 1A. Hmm, that’s on the other side of campus from where I live. Man does that suck.

Funny Quote-“Okay so make sure you know the emergency evacuation plan when there’s an emergency. Notice how I said when and not if.”-My Chem 3B GSI

Here’s something I found in an old Parade Magazine. It was in the Ask Marylin section, where readers write questions to the woman with the highest IQ in the world and she answers.

Q: Child prodigies excel in the hard sciences, like math, physics, and chemistry. Why are there no 10-year-old economics or political science or philosophy prodigies?

A: Because, despite our joking to the contrary, children cannot be wise. No matter how bright, they haven’t yet learned enough about themselves (which is learning not available in a book) to see how their own particular nature and nurture have interacted to produce the way they think. Only after maturity-and only if they take the time and energy to begin to shed their biases-do they have the opportunity to eventually become wise.

How very true. I mean after all you can learn advanced mathematics as a child, yet knowing a lot about the way people and the world itself takes a lot of life experience.

Err…My subprofile was accident deleted. I had so much good stuff on it too, from jokes to links. I’m so annoyed by that, I’m not even gonna bother making a new one.

Anyways, back to Valentine’s Day and why I sound like the Scrooge during this holiday. I don’t know I guess to me everything about this holiday feels, well phony. I mean come on St. Valentine? That doesn’t even sound like a real saint. Then there’s the idea that we have to make sure that someone you love knows you love them too. Come on. Love is something, as corny as it may sound, that happens all year round. There doesn’t need to be a day for that…

Okay, I just realized I added nothing original to the argument against Valentine’s Day. I suppose I’m just a bitter about it, since I never really shared a Valentine’s Day with anyone. Would they change my outlook on Valentine’s though? Probably not, and neither will three Spirits who would supposedly visit me tonight if I’m still a Scrooge.

It’s not only this that feels phony to me, but in this society, so many things just don’t feel real. I guess that’s why I can be callous sometimes; I sometimes just don’t know when people get hurt of how to sympathize with some people. Now really I’m a sensitive person, but there are times when I just don’t care about things and I just can’t get attached to some things. So really, I guess it’s hard for me to make connections that I feel would last. I’d like them to, but I guess I’m not the kind of person who likes to work at it. I don’t know what I’m saying anymore. I guess I’ll leave be.

Help the health of children by just clicking your mouse

Last Saturday, the bros of ADPhi and I went over to Tahoe for a little fun in the snow. I didn’t get to ski or snowboard, but I did go sledding, which was fun. There was a lot of other stuff that happened, that I shouldn’t say in order to avoid incriminating myself; let’s just say it was one of the few times we actually lived up to some frat stereotypes. It was a great weekend, overall, with a lot of brothers bonding and such.

Super Bowl Sunday came around, and the matchup between the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots was actually a good one. Given the combination of Janet Jackson’s boob, the Streaker at the game (CBS did not show this), and the fact that the game was good makes this one of the best Super Bowls ever.

Back at Berk, classes were waiting and such. I actually find them a lot of them interesting this semester, except for the tedium that is the laboratory. Taking two long labs on back to back days was probably not the best idea in the world. Oh well, at least lectures are interesting. The seminars I am taking are also startlingly informative. I’ll leave you now with some Interesting Facts I gathered.

Interesting Fact-The average student who lives in the Cal dorms showers for an average time of seventeen minutes. (source: Environment Science 84)
-Last year, the department at Cal with the highest percentage of people who get accepted to med school has a 100% acceptance rate. Which department? Political Science, which was 1 for 1. (source: Physics 84)

Well folks, I guess my life has been eventful in the last few days. ADPhi has had a few events over the last few weeks. Last Friday, we had Broomball and boy was that awesome. Surprisingly, I managed to score three goals that night (much to the chagrin of Steve, who I had scored 2 goals of my goals on), despite falling down so many times. Saturday, our “Let’s Get It On” Party became “Let’s Get Our Game On” as we had board games, poker, and DDR for the event. Surprisingly, people were telling me they had a lot of fun; heck, Vicky even decided against going to another party for ours. Man, it feels so good to hear people say they had fun over and over again.

The next week I went to see Arj Barker and a couple of other comedians over at the Bear’s Lair on Monday. Man, that was so funny with the Lord of the Ring Jokes and all. In particular, I liked how Barker made fun of people I knew from David Duman, frat bro and chief editor of Squelch, Billy Mack, another frat bro, and of course, myself, for checking my watch an excessive amount of times. Speaking of knowing people, it’s great that we had free tickets thanks to the frat connection, but shame we couldn’t give away the extra tickets we had. Then, just yesterday, I finally met livejournal buddy Mihai and his friend Alyn at our Shakespearean Kegger. It wasn’t as good as it was last semester when the Cal Snowboarding club came over, but I think people had a good time (at least those people who were there).

So all in all, I’ve been having a fun time with the frat, but interestingly enough, I’m not in a particularly good mood. Perhaps, it’s because of the schedule I hate so very much with the 8 AM classes every morning and all the gaps in between. I guess it reminds me a lot of the Spring of 2003, probably what I would call my least favorite semester here at Cal so far. The more I look back at it, the more I realized how much I really didn’t like that semester. There was just so much in what amounted to sheer drama that semester and it sure didn’t make things very fun. Well, I’m hoping things don’t go that way, but some feeling keeps telling me something is going happen and I am not going to like it. Oh what am I saying? I mean I’m having fun, aren’t I? That’s something I’m going to have to ponder a bit. Good night.

Funny Quote–Henry Lew: “So, were you flattered when Amanda called you cute?”
Jennifer Lew: “Well, I would have been if I didn’t know she likes to eat stale cookies and drink flat soda.”

Ah the first week of classes and I have to say, 8 AM classes everyday hasn’t honestly been as bad as I thought it would be (though, it has been only two days). I wonder how long I can keep it up though, but with no lecture webcasts for both my morning classes, it looks like it’ll have to be “early to rise, and early to bed” (much to my chagrin). Oh well, at least I know a lot of people in my morning classes; they are the same people I’ve been taking the MCB classes with for a while and it looks like I’m getting to meet some new people too. Hopefully, some of them can turn into potential brothers of my fraternity, which is currently having a multitude of events. Check my aim profile for more details or just ask me.

Funny Quote-“You mean this isn’t Math 1B…oh f***,” some guy who went to my Chem 3B lecture by mistake.

Joey sent me a link to a bouncechrissy‘s journal after he had seen this art posted. Take a look:

more pictures

Apparently, I don’t write enough stories. Remember how I had resolved to finally write my stories that I had in my head? Now I remember why I didn’t write them in the first place: they aren’t very good. For example, me and my pal Eduardo had wanted to make a movie last summer, but we never got a script going. I scraped a previous script, but as I told Shoshanna, I was gonna turn it into a short story. The premise of the story was one man going back in time to save his friend from the lonely existence he would eventually lead. What caused it? The friend never had a chance with the girl next door. Why? Because our main character ended up marrying her. Sort of interesting I suppose. Well this is what I have so far:

Untitled (as of now)-Darkness in Illuminated Cove
  It was a cold, wet night in Illuminated Cove. It had been like this for the last two days, for the rain had come pouring down unrelenting. The streets of the town, usually busy with life, had been emptied. The people of the cove huddled indoors, bundled in the safety of their own homes and loved ones. The once friendly roads that were as easy to tame as a friendly Labrador became as wild as the storm itself. This was an unfriendly night to be out. For John Sanchez, though, every night was an unfriendly night.
  John had been living alone for the last 10 years. He had no family, no friends. Nobody. Nobody to share the day with. Nobody to catch up with. Not one soul. To him, the storm made the day no different from any other. He spent most of his time huddled indoors and off the roads, away from the world, as if everyday there was a big storm.
  This day, though, he did decide to go outside. The storm had broken one of his fuses, leaving his home as dark as he sees the rest of the world. John had felt it was okay to drive out on the rain soaked streets. In fact, he was looking forward to it. “Less traffic,” he thought.
  John was right, there was less traffic. “Not a car in sight,” he said to himself. With not a car in sight, though, no one could have seen him lose control on the slippery road and hit that light post. Nobody saw the wreck for hours and when the paramedics came to the scene, they knew right away if just someone, anyone, had called them earlier, John would have survived the wreck.

Hmm, it’s better than I thought, but I’ve having so much trouble with the rest.

From http://www.microsoftcalsettlement.com/index.htm:

A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit about certain Microsoft software acquired by consumers and businesses between February 18, 1995 and December 15, 2001 for use in California. People and businesses that are covered by the settlement can get vouchers that may be redeemed for cash after buying eligible computer products. If you or your business is covered by the settlement, you can get more information, send in a claim form to get vouchers, or object to the settlement. The Court-ordered notice and other documents at this website explain the settlement, the benefits it provides, and the options that you have, including how to submit a claim form. Claim forms are due by March 15, 2004

What this means is if you bought Microsoft Windows, Word, Excel, Works Suite, or Home Essentials in between 1995 and 2001, even if it came with your computer, that means you can get some cash vouchers for your purchase, as part of the Microsoft Antitrust suit. Get more details and a claim form at http://www.microsoftcalsettlement.com/index.htm.