Extreme redundancies...

As Joe put it: "Another example of the disastrous state of public education"... *sigh*

I think a close second is the water company "Penta" that supposedly has manufactured water to be "structurally different than normal water" where it has clusters of five molecules of H20. Riiiiiiight...

I need to capitalize on the idiocy of American society too - my product will be fat free O2 that's been put into clusters of 6 molecules. I'll sell it to the American public and hope anyone stupid enough to buy something like that will magically exit the gene pool. The best part will be the name - I'll call it "Hex".

Cell phones and driving

Are cell phone conversations and driving really all that bad? I think we've all seen the 40 something year old asian woman that's sipping on her latte while gossiping to her friends on her cell phone about the latest workplace rumor... or maybe that's just me having lived in Southern California. In any case, I think we've all seen these people narrowly miss the little old lady trying to cross the street on her walker, or maybe they're absent mindedly blocking traffic in a 4 way intersection.

In any case, I wonder how bad cell phones are compared to having a conversation with a fellow passenger in the car. The last few months, I've noticed that I'm either I'm totally unaware of my surroundings while driving, or I'm unable to follow a conversation when I'm chatting with a passenger. It's the same level of unfocused driving I get when I'm talking to someone on a cell phone.

Maybe it's just me - maybe in my senile state, I just can't multi task anymore. I have trouble putting my attention on just one task at a time (or perhaps that's the buddhist in me that abhors not living in the action I'm doing in the moment...). I could always try testing this scientifically.... although I doubt the NTSB would appreciate me testing how prone people are in crashing their cars in the middle of San Diego.

And what's with the idea that cell phone headsets make it safer to drive and talk? In some parts of the country, it's illegal to talk on your cell phone unless you're using a handsfree set. Ok... so what's the reasoning? You need your hands free while driving? Tell that to the drivers who drive stick - I usually see them drive with one hand on the wheel and the other on the stick (in fact, I know someone who got out of traffic ticket by pointing out that logic to the judge).

Not sure why I'm venting today. Seemed like the thing to do the day right before my holiday vacation starts :)

Funny little musing

Listening to my Zencast podcast this morning, the speaker read the following, which I found curiously funny:

If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when,
through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against
creed, color, religion or politics,
If you can give love unconditionally without pressure or expectation,

Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog or cat.

My body, the enemy

I generally hate making ranting blog entries, but I feel like I should make an exception to this one:

I hate it when limitations are placed on what I can and can't do in life. Sounds like a general statement? Yeah - it kind of is. But I absolutely hate it when someone / something tells me that I am not allowed to do some activity when I really really really want to.

So last night I went to a dance studio with Johnnie, Lyra and her friend Pavel for $10 salsa lessons. As always, I was a little nervous, but I had lots of fun going to the Mariott Hotel across the street from Johnnie to dance at their little Salsa night shin-dig so I figured "sure, why not?". Besides, I know it means a lot to Johnnie that I at least try to dance and learn a little about this passion in her life.

Once at the dance studio, (which had a strong resemblance to a dojo - I had to fight the urge not to bow at everything insight...), we had the Gumby like dance instructor on speed. Although it was supposed to be a beginner lesson, I felt as though he went through even the "warm up" steps at Warp 10 and moved his body in ways the human body should flick, wave, or step unless he you're the Man of Plastic. Don't get me wrong - I was quite impressed... but the entire time the warm ups were going on, my eye brows furrowed more and more as I struggled to stay concentrated on what he was trying to teach. He may move at Warp 10, but my brain doesn't follow things at Warp 10...

Next, we broke up into partner dancing to start the "real lesson". "Christ", I thought. "If I struggled that much on the warm ups, the real lesson is going to make my head spin - literally and figuratively". We partnered up and he (once again) quickly moved from one set of steps to another, building on each lesson to make a complicated (to me) series of steps that became a dance routine.

Don't get me wrong here - the entire time I was feeling frustrated, confused and terrified that I was doing something wrong. But I love it. I love being in positions where I feel that way. It's like bouldering in a way - there's a challenge there that you pick up and you know you can do it. You realize that the fear is irrational and you persevere to get past it. You understand that the frustration and confusion will pass if you work at it. I knew that if I just kept trying and hammered away at the steps, I'd eventually get it. Of course... "eventually" is a relative term....

At some point during the steps as I was reflecting on this, it happened. Yes, "it". The same "it" that plagues me when I lift boxes at awkward angles. The very same one I felt when leading the Orphan at Jtree and had to back off. That old familiar sting, where it feels like a needle pokes a hole in my shoulder (thank you Nine Inch Nails for those words... :) ). Yes my friends, I injured my shoulder *again* while dancing. In hindsight, I should have stopped sooner since my body position and tension was EXACTLY the same position while arm barring in a wide offwidth crack - much like The Orphan. But I persisted - I didn't want to stop. I was being proud, stupid and stubborn and wanted to pretend that it was my imagination while I was on this high of "I'm doing something for my personal growth!". And now I sit here on this couch, nursing a sore shoulder.

It's incredibly frustrating (in a bad way I feel) to be denied the things that make you feel happy. Even more so when it's your own body rebelling against you. Your body should be, if nothing else, that one singular ally in the world - the object that is in perfect alignment with your desires, your will, etc etc. Unfortunately, not in my case it seems. I have to wage a carefully planned series of moves to navigate the motions of the world so I'm not shut down entirely by my own injuries. I feel like I have to spend a small portion of my mind always self-analyzing for any hint of injury and then learn to deny myself what I want so that I can still do things in the long run that I enjoy.

*sigh*

I hate being injured... :(

And incidentally, I hate it when people give me these looks as if they think I'm making excuses to stop doing something like dancing. I fart in their general direction