So here I am, starting up the blog that a younger version of me would denounce as narcissistic and unnecessary. Yet there is too much on my mind that on some days I can barely keep my head on straight. A lot of people, including an older version of me perhaps, may scoff at me when I say that, as my mind is not even 21 years old. But when there are days when my mind just keeps racing to the point at which I can barely sleep at night, I think I'm entitled to spill out some of my mind. So I guess I'll jump into the river that is the blogosphere and see what's up with this phenomenon called blogging. This whole process reminds me of the pensieve in Harry Potter, except I can't go in and experience someone else's memories from a third person point of view. That would be pretty awesome.
Since this is merely my first post of (hopefully) many, I think I'm going to go with a bullet point approach of what is occupying my mind right now.
- The LSATs: So I postponed the LSATs, that I was supposed to take last Monday, to the test at the end of September. In the process, I got a big fat A (for Absence) on my LSAC records, despite the fact that they only recently changed the policy for moving the test day so that I would have had to decide to postpone it about two weeks in advance. I think that's utter BS. Any possible legitimate reason could have come up between the middle of May and June 8 that would have hindered me from taking my LSATs. I read a blog somewhere that assured people in my position that admissions counselors wouldn't view the Absence harshly at all. As for my own reason for postponing that infernal test? I just felt unprepared, and I was still not scoring where I wanted to score on diagnostics. Combined with the apparent fact that some of the top-notch schools still take the average for things means I could have been screwed if I took the test on Monday. Oh well. Now I have a whole summer to prepare, and a newly found appreciation for iCal that I did not have before.
- Spiritual Stuff: After spending most of my time at Penn really not thinking about religion, something moved me towards the end of last semester to take a leap and give the stuff another chance. We'll see where this leads me. So far, it's been going fairly well.
- Next Semester: Being Music Director for PennYo will be the first time I've led a group since the Yearbook Committee in high school, and I remember how much that stressed me out. I'm hoping that next semester I'll be able to get everything done and be the leader that they deserve without going into a nervous meltdown or something. That would be the worst case scenario, but I don't think it'll go that badly. I also have to remember to buy that MBox2 so that I can start helping our alums mix music and stuff. I think that'll be good fun. And I have to start arranging. And I have to plan out the song list for next semester while keeping everyone happy. And I have to think about my life outside of PennYo and plan this new thing called an English minor that I'm planning to go through. Hrmph.
- Sims 3 and Restaurant City: Yes, no documentation of my brain's current state can be complete without some mention to these two similar games. I think many of us derive some sort of perverse pleasure when playing these sorts of games. We get to control our creations, whether a fully-functioning restaurant or a gaggle of simple-minded Sims, and subject them to any whim we have. I know I've had immense pleasure from just watching my Sims go through their daily lives, go to work, prepare meals, learn skills, and be friends with one another. I feel an odd sense of pride when these Sims get promotions in their jobs (such as from being a Paramedic to a Trauma Surgeon - if only Med School were that simple!) and I don't know whether it's because I subconsciously regard these virtual humans as the babies I've created or if I just place myself in their shoes and relish the thought of moving up in the world. Who knows. And there's also a certain joy when I get to customize my Sim's home or my Restaurant City restaurant. Maybe I'm unleashing my inner interior designer. Or my creative side has been kept down for way too long.
- The Iranian Elections: Being a Political Science major, the events unfolding in Iran have not escaped my view. From my daily roosting at The Huffington Post and CNN, I've followed this election for a few days now. I can say that even though the experts say that Mousavi really won't be that much better than Ahmedinejad in terms of foreign relations, I still hope that something happens to let Mousavi have his shot at being Iran's President. He has a record of being a more moderate figure than Ahmedinejad in terms of his dealings with Iran's traditional enemies, and he seems to be able to provide the reins for a more liberal and free Iran. His wife, Zahra Rahnavard, is even being hailed as "Iran's Michelle Obama" (though I think given what I've read about her, she may be more of a Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Dole than a Michelle Obama) and that can only lead to good things for the women of Iran. In summary though, I think why I want Mousavi to win is more the fact that the unknown alternative is better than the familiar status quo right now in Iran. If he is allowed to continue leading Iran, given Ahmedinejad's rough language and harsh stances on certain issues, he could further anger a more violent Israel led by Netanyahu, who has already compared Iran to Nazi Germany. If the world accepts Netanyahu's sentiments and he chooses to attack the Iranian state, the world will be much more accepting of the invasion if Iran is being led by a coarse-mouthed Ahmedinejad than if it was led by a politically-correct Mousavi, even though their views on issues like Iran's nuclear reserves may not be all that different. On a shorter term, I do hope the unrest in Iran ends soon, though I do hope that this unrest caused by Mousavi's supporters is a small but stinging wound that can lead to a better Iran. I just read on the HuffPost that some of the Mousavi supporters plan to depose Khamenei? That'll be an interesting show to watch, to be sure.
Note: Moved to a new page due to problems with the old one. That's the last time I try my hand at reckless blogging HTML for a while.
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