Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Vince's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
3:33 pm	when i post I post about nothing. But this is a recommendation about music. If you've seen the anime Akira, you should get the soundtrack. It's that good. I mean, ridiculously "wow, the hair on my arms stood up" kind of good. I rediscovered it. I lost the cd years ago but found it at the Urbana Free library. It has now joined the list of music I can listen to while writing scholarly arguments about whatever the heck I feel like. But seriously....listen to it. Current Mood: artistic (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
12:51 am	You know what's funny? Old high school writing. Oh...I was so young and naive. Or I was incredibly savvy and knew I was writing to a bunch of old, conservative, white lawyers who wouldn't agree with the other viewpoint. But either way, this essay is filled with stereotypes, b.s., and horrible pandering and fear-mongering. Happy readings and here it is. FYI: I won 2nd place and received a savings bond that I am eagerly waiting to cash in next year. “Boom!” Books, magazines, a jacket, and other personal objects flow out of a locker onto the floor like water over a cliff. A tall teenager with brown eyes, an athletic build, blue bandanna that holds his brown, greasy hair in place, baggy “Boss” jeans, and a “Wu-Tang” shirt stands and watches the school principal rummage through his belongings. “Hey man, he can’t go through my stuff” says the teenager in a perturbed manner. Still, the principal searches. To his frightening dismay, under a mountain of books, papers, magazines, and numerous junk, he discovers a gun along with a Zip-lock bag with a highly addictive white powder known as cocaine. Though school life seems simple and safe, the true fact is that the safety in schools is dropping. Incidents of lockers containing drugs and weapons are increasing. Thus, new regulations that deal with locker searches must be set. At the present time, the topic of locker searches is a highly debated event. One side believes in the students’ right to privacy. Another side believes in locker searches without a search warrant. Presently, locker searches required suspicion or a warrant. But in this new age of gang violence and lethal weapons, new policies regarding locker searches must be made to help keep the schools of America safe. Many possibilities exist on how to solve the problem of lethal weapons in schools. In Chicago, metal detectors are placed at the entrances of schools as a deterrent. However, metal detectors are not the most effective way of prevention (McManus 3). According to Peter Blauvelt of the National Alliance of Safe Schools, “Detectors make everyone feel like they’ve done something wrong.” Besides, it is very possible to sneak in guns and knifes into schools through the use of windows and other entrances not barred by metal detectors. So that leaves the another question of what is the best means of preventing and deterring weapons from entering. Well, new laws have went into effect that deal with preventing weapons and increasing safety. School officials in Minnesota are allowed to search student lockers for any reason (The Advocate). A bill passed by both the House and Senate in Illinois states that school officials have the freedom to search lockers and any other school property whenever they want (ACLU.org). Random locker searches without search warrants provide the best chance for finding and confiscating weapons (Willis). The punishment for having a gun or drugs in school ranges from suspension to expulsion (The Advocate).Thus, fear of expulsion deters the chances of weapons being brought into the school. Also, the mere fear of school officials rummaging, exploring, and searching through a person’s locker at any given time during the school day can keep students from bringing guns and drugs into the school (Kibbe, Greenberg). This alone, makes the searches a powerful deterrent (Albany Times Union). However, many students, parents, and libertarians are firmly against the random locker search policy. Libertarians, students, and parents argue that it is an infringement upon their Fourth Amendment rights. However, a case has shown up in court dealing with that subject. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that random drug searches of students’ lockers do not constitute unlawful search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment. The court upheld that students’ “have a limited expectation of privacy while in the school environment,” and that a school district’s interests outweigh students’ privacy rights (The Philadelphia Inquirer). So the well-being and safety of the other students at school outweigh the privacy rights of one student. In addition, lockers are school property , so schools have the right to search them (Kibbe, Greenberg). No person wants to live in a place where violence and crime run rampant. However, many schools fit this description of chaos and violence. Schools are trying their best to exterminate drugs and weapons off school grounds and make school into a learning institution instead of a battlefield. Currently, the best chance of ridding the schools of the vile disease of weapons and drugs is to institute a random locker search policy because the safety of the schools and its students outweigh the privacy rights of students. Current Mood: bouncy (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
12:17 am	"I guess there's only one way out of this" Current Mood: working (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
2:23 pm	Is this really happening? I have a deadline in about 2 weeks -- 3 book chapters that are equivalent to about 75-100 pages of writing.  Completed drafts, not final revised drafts but still...the pressure is on. I'm working on my computer while EH is studying for the GRE behind me.  I notice the battery on my computer is running low, despite being plugged in.  Hmmm.  I jimmy the power cord and everything is okay. Working away, I flicker catches my eye.  I look over to where the A/C power adapter is for my computer.  The cord that powers the computer from the adapter -- that connecting point sparks and then sets on fire, like a little match except the smell of burning plastic now permeates the air. Is this really happening?  Is my computer really setting on fire? I blow it out, unplug it, and there we go.  Yup, it happened.  Note to self:  get a computer that doesn't spontaneously combust. Current Mood: incredulous (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 22nd, 2007
9:58 pm	FYI Neko Case's voice in any New Pornographer's song makes me happy. Current Mood: happy (Comment on this)
9:49 pm	a little break I've been ploughing away for the past hour at Cafe Kopi (in Champaign, not Chicago regretfully) so I'm taking a break to revel in my pastry. An Oreo bar with house coffee. Hmmmm, so tasty. It was either this, a lemon bar, or a espresso vegan cookie. I went with the worse possible one b/c well, it went the best w/ the coffee and was the cheaper one too. I am pleased with my decision although I don't know if my belt size will be. On other good food note, my sister reminded me that Sunshine Cafe in Andersonville has reopened. I'm ecstatic. I love that place and was introduced to it by multi-media artist friend Chien after a short film shoot (Youtube "Fail Fail Fail" for some awesome awkwardness).  Mmmmm, tasty Japanese udon noodles.  The place has been closed for about a year now.  Great food, nice decor, friendly vibe, cheap eats, and BYOB.  Oh how I love Chicago. Time to enjoy another bite of this Oreo bar before going back to work. Current Mood: happy (Comment on this)
12:31 pm	This...has blown my mind 1,500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines do Michael Jackson's Thriller. Current Mood: Amazed (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, July 20th, 2007
9:17 pm	oh, I'm posting... This pretty much means I'm procrastinating from writing.  It's a Friday night, I've had calls to go do fun stuff, but I'm much more content with going to my favorite coffee shop and writing for 2+ hours.  Does this make me a nerd, geek, or workaholic? I've been going out a lot for the past 4 weeks and it's time that I take it a bit easy, especially since I do  have a lot of writing to accomplish.  Pretty much, I'm having the summer I wanted to have last year but didn't have due to a variety of conditions.  So I'm taking it now....and all my grad friends have been greatly supportive with words like "Oh, it's summer" and "You can't work yourself to death.  You'll get burnt out."  Yes, this justifies things.  Besides, EH comes back from Japan in a week and I need to make some HUGE  progress to not saddle down our time w/ me writing and her...well...reading?  Maybe studying for the GRE?  I don't know.  I'm not to concerned about my project, it's more of a matter of sitting down and writing, which I'm doing now. I do need to find time to finish House of Leaves and read the new Harry Potter before she comes back while writing a chapter (or two!) Back to the life/grind. Current Mood: energetic (Comment on this)
10:21 am	my teaching...i.e. "I'm going to vent for a minute." For about the past year, my teaching scores have been "watched" by the dept (I'll keep it as vague as possible).  Mind you, I would like the dept to focus on sound pedagogy and good undergraduate education.  However, I haven't seen this to be the case with many of the faculty (minus the rhetoric faculty). I have a feeling this post is going to go all over the place, much like conversations with me. In a nutshell, the grad dept I'm in has inordinately high teaching scores.  I think this is for two reasons.  One, we have good teachers b/c we're in a "communication dept" so in theory, we're good communicators and thereby good teachers.  The second, I think this isn't considered as much, is that we have a reputation of being a ridiculously easy dept with incredibly easy classes.  Put these together, good teachers and easy classes ---> easy As.  I think teaching score inflation might be as prevalent as grade inflation.  But whatcha gonna do? However, if you choose to nudge the students a bit more, well...you can get penalized.  Particularly students who think that the class should  be easy.  I don't know, I never jumped into a class thinking that it should be easy.  It's college.  It should be hard.  I'm (or my poor ass parents) are paying for it so freaking challenge me already. I'm not even going to get into law students and external hires (not that they're all bad but I've heard some horror stories regarding their teaching which is ultimately easy on the students but doesn't subject them to anything). I guess this goes into my qualms with the corporatization of higher education.  I'm not going to go there...yet.  Maybe later.  I think if we give the students the perception of learning, of being educated, of being skilled through easy As, they've bought their product.  Alright...this is going off subject.  I was just going to post on two choice comments I had on my ICES (student evals of teachers/classes) scores.  Overall, I'm pleased with the scores even if the dept might not be (I'm either average or below average of my dept but not too bad in the scheme of things).  I'm improving my scores and getting a grasp of my teaching persona a bit more and clarifying my expectations on such (as much as I am restricted by the course I am teaching).  So overall, I'm happy.  But....here are some choice comments: "He is an excellent TA but he thinks that this is our only class and therefore puts a lot of extra work on the class."  - (I don't put any extra work that isn't laid out in the manual.  Believe me, I would cut a speech or two and streamline the class a bit more than subjecting students (and myself) through 6 speeches). "Weakness - sometimes it felt like he didn't know what was going on in class, meaning he was very casual" - I don't even know what to say to this one.  B/c I'm casual and approachable, it must mean that I don't know what's going on.  Yeah, okay.  There were some very helpful comments (considering organization and penmanship - they hate it) but it's these gems that give me the "WTF?" face. (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 19th, 2007
11:59 pm	a man of process.... While researching, I read something along the lines of "rethinking Asian American art as a process, not an exoticized product."  This....struck a chord with me. I think, in general, I like the process of things.  The process of learning, the process of getting ready to perform, etc.  When I did a fair amount of theater/performance stuff, the end product of the show was more of the impetus of subjecting myself through a process of creating.  So joining the Asian American Artists Collective, meeting new people while working with them, and putting together a new show, that was fun part.  The show at the end, that's just something to show. Then there's the process of building relationships, both platonic and romantic.  I'm not even going to touch on that. But something that I'm still wrapping my head around is the process of writing.  I guess, being an extrovert, it's a bit harder for me to work through this process than say co-writing a show.  Although I'm better about distancing myself from my writing, it's still difficult. This posting makes no sense.  There ya go...the bumpy process of writing embodied above. Current Mood: pensive (Comment on this)
Monday, July 9th, 2007
11:22 pm	Tour de France "Oh, I know. Saying you're a fan of the Tour this summer is like saying you still listen to Creed." Current Mood: amused (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 8th, 2007
1:03 am	Kamera In my immediate family, I'm the arty one. My oldest sister used to do some drawings but not anymore. Given, the extent of my artyness is located in one photography class, a couple acting classes in college, and whatever appreciation (and vocabulary to articulate that appreciation) I have for various art forms, I really don't consider myself that knowledgeable about "art," although i do have my own opinions and thoughts about it. Whatever, that's neither here nor there. In any case, I end up taking photos for everyone else. I've an okay visual sense but nothing to write home about. But the problem of this is that...well...I'm never in any photos!!! However, I just bought a new digital camera and ended up meeting w/ my friend RS at the local Barnes and Nobles. And RS LOVES taking photos. So we basically tried to go through a gamut of "emotional" states and documenting them. All this is to say, I have photos of myself! Current Mood: happy (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
7:38 pm	his words coming out of my mouth Ever since last summer, the amount of F-bombs I drop has increased. I, along w/ KL, blame this on CF, who uses the f-bomb as a verbal filler. Instead of saying "um" or "uh" as a verbal filler, he just inserts the f-word. Yes, it's his fault. I noticed this increased usage of the f-bomb by reading over my previous post. I think I need to cut it out. Now, if I can only learn some more GRE words to replace the f-bomb.... Current Mood: contemplative (Comment on this)
12:56 am	sounds from the city My good friends CF and TR love to spend July 3rd at the Taste and conclude it w/ fireworks on the Lake. This...is fun. However, you also have to deal with the one million other people who like to do this. They have always done this; i believe TR went w/ his family a lot as kids and CF, well, I don't remember when but it seems like it's kicked up ever since he came back from the army. I, however, am always torn on whether or not to go. Seriously, it's ridiculously crowded. It's incredibly annoying yet somewhat energizing (if you're alone. If you're in a group, fuck it. It's a pain). What I love about it is the random conversations and snippets that I overhear walking by. For example, last year I got caught in one of the horrible intersections where the Taste of Chicago just turns into a huge clusterfuck. Loudly, a lady screams out in frustration "Stop touching me!" A random lady replies in a stern voice "This is the Taste of Chicago. You're gonna get TOUCHED. If you don't like it, don't come to the Taste!" I love it. This year, however, I didn't hear any choice phrases. I listened to my mp3 player on the train from the burbs. But when I'm in the city, Chicago, when it's that crowded, I like to hear it. The EL rumbling by, suburbanites frightened by the commotion, street vendors peddling water...all of it. I like it. It's real. It's lively. It has an energy. The city and its space takes on a character of it's inhabitants that differs from everyday city; it's the f-ing Taste and there are a million people crammed into 6 blocks. So bad in thought but fairly fun in action. Besides that, it was surprisingly easy to weave around the crowd this time around, since my right arm wasn't in a sling and I didn't fear for my life of getting it banged around. However, I was getting peeved looking for my friends b/c I got some bad directions, which wasn't horrible. Rather, I was tired of carrying 12 16oz tall boy cans of High Life in my messenger bag while holding EH's House of Leaves book in my hand, fearing that someone wouldn't spill their bbq turkey leg all over it. It wasn't too bad w/ that stuff getting through the crowds; I was just tired of carrying it and really wanted a beer. The fireworks were awesome. I took loads of photos w/ my camera. I was playing around with shutter speed and movement to manipulate the streams of light coming from the fireworks. Some good, some bad; all fun since I haven't picked up my camera and done some shooting in awhile. I also like doing night photography; just a nice change of pace and different ways you can play w/ aperture and shutter speed while getting drastically different pics of everyday objects. We saw a family/group of 8 people walk through the Taste area w/ rental bikes. Seriously now, bad idea. I guess that's the part of being a tourist. Speaking of bikes, I just saw TR yesterday at the Sox game and warned him that his tires are so dry rotted that they'll probably go flat. Today, on the way to work, he had a flat tire. I'm f-ing psychic. I've become the resident bike person in our group of friends. That's cool. My friends fix my cars, do woodwork, etc. I'll fix the bikes and help w/ whatever writing or research that is needed. That is all...an abrupt conclusion. Current Mood: good (Comment on this)
Monday, June 25th, 2007
11:43 pm	an eye for misdirection... A person fairly close to me hurt me. I trusted her and was secretly turned on, possibly accidentally or purposely. Let me explain... I have ridiculously long eyelashes. I don't know why. I just do. My brother (out of all people) has commented on it, even expressing some form of envy when doing so. Weird, especially for a guy who has a huge dragon tattoo that extends from his bicep up and around his shoulder onto his chest. This seemingly badass person is envious of my long eyelashes. How long are they? Well, I don't know if this is a good indicator but my optometrist, during a contact fitting, asked "Do your eyes ever get irritated?" "I don't know. Why?" "Because your eyelashes are kind of growing into your eye region, so when you blink, they're touching your eyeball. I'm gonna have to pluck them." This is the lower layer of my eyelashes. So EH has also commented on my eyelashes, often in amazement. I said "are you in awe of my beauty or just envious?" "More of the latter." Thanks...but I'll take it. Not only does EH stare at my eyelashes, she's marked them for conquest. "Can I curl your eyelashes?" I say no. Or maybe. We play a game of Scrabble. The bet: If she wins, she can curl my eyelashes. If she loses, she makes me dinner. She makes me dinner. So one night, I decide, sure, why not. It'll make her happy, she'll get a kick out of it and I have a little tinge of curiosity too. So she curls my eyelashes but does not warn me that there's an upturn at the curling, thus pulling the eyelid up and out a bit. This freaks me out. But I'm okay and my eyelashes looked pretty neat I'd say. So before she leaves to New York (or maybe when we up in Chicago to see the Feist concert who plays a very appropriate song named "So Sorry"), she asks to curl my eyelashes again. Ya know. I trust her. She did a pretty good job last time. No major pain but a mental map of the procedure would have be good. So she busts out the medieval eyelash curling mechanism and goes to work. Except this time, she clamps down on my EYELID!!! My eye started tearing up. On eye, teared up. It was really quite sad. Eyelash curling trust violated! Was this strategic attack upon my eyelids/eyelashes out of jealousy or simply an accidental crossing of eyelid/eyelash boundary? I don't know quite yet nor do I know if I've recovered yet.... Current Mood: exhausted (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 11th, 2007
10:25 pm	blood = oil Actually it's plasma. It took 3 hours for me to be screened, poked, centrifuged, and refilled. Overall, the worse part of the experience is squeezing a little stress ball for 5 min straight to help pump the blood through, relaxing, and then repeating six times. It was tiring!!! I rode my bike to place early to make sure I was able to actually sell my plasma. I planned on listening to my mp3 player or reading a book while waiting in line but the conversations with the locals proved to be much more interesting. Listening to why people are willing to sell bodily fluids (gas money) and schemes of how to maximize profits (trying to get new people to put them down as referrals). People talking about the local politics while also discussing what it's like to sell your plasma and the process (for the new people, which also led to a person walking away). Overall, it's been a tiring day of bike riding and bodily fluid selling. I did a little work but not nearly as much as I wanted to. But I guess that's what tomorrow is for! Current Mood: tired (3 Comments |Comment on this)
1:39 am	It's been ages since I've been to the Art Institute of Chicago(AIC). My friend TR got EH and me in for free and gave us his personalized tour of the AIC along with sharing random stories about the Noguchi table. Needless to say, I was quite pleased. The majority of art museums I've gone to lately have more of a modern theme or "cutting edge" bent, such as the MOMA and BMA in NY. As a kid, all I could remember of the AIC is the assumption of mary painting on the second floor that is in one of the main galleries so my main impression of the AIC is generally "old art." But TR has shown me otherwise and it was quite the treat. He meets me and EH outside of the Lions and walks us in. Pulling out his keys he says "It wouldn't be a tour if I didn't show you this" and opens up a door that leads into a dark auditorium. Flipping a bunch of switches, it lights up and a gorgeous multi-colored dome appears. "That, is the Tiffany Dome. You wouldn't see this unless you came here for a lecture." Then he walks us over to the Ando Gallery in the Asian prints wing. We walk through glass pane doors into a dark room w/ tall black pillar in the front of the room while japanese screens and prints line the front and side behind a clear glass window. My jaw dropped...."This is fucking amazing." I looked over at EH and she had the same expression of amazement. I was pretty much done w/ the AIC after that b/c nothing else was going to top the Ando gallery. I kind of wish we went back after Tommy left but we opted for sunlight, wading our feet in the water, and city gardens instead. Oh, this was pretty good too: http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/exhibition/scene2 Time to go to sleep so I can donate(actually SELL) my plasma tomorrow morning. Current Mood: tired (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 7th, 2007
5:25 pm	Yes...yes... Summer part 2 Today, the class I was co-facilitating w/ my PhD advisor ended. Woohoo! It was a great experience, learning what he's good at and what he's not good at and the same w/ me, thus making a world renown scholar feel a bit more human. For example, he can lecture and cover HUGE amounts of information across a wide variety of articles but sometimes has trouble getting undergrads to speak or volunteer their ideas. I'm the opposite so I guess it worked out. Plus, he did the majority of the work for the class and I learned alot of stuff in the preparation of the lectures I did for this week. So now, the summer is wide open! I'm going back to the Chi-town area for the end of June into early July to work for the community college. Make some cash, see some friends, ride my bike in the trails and in the city, and generally have a great time in a city I love. Speaking of which, I'm going to Chicago for the weekend to drop off EH at the airport, go to the AIC and the Chicago Cultural Center, surprise her w/ a fun Fri night activity, and eventually go to a Versaille party (what it is, I don't know. All I know is that it's French and pastel colored themed). This summer is already infinitely better than last summer. One day I'll get sick of the "Summer is awesome" posts and maybe do an assessment/reflection of my 1st year phd but for now..."Summer is awesome!!!" Current Mood: happy (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007
12:45 am	quick post about the weekend It started on Thurs. Went home for my sister's wedding and was warmly greeted by all family members and random priests (friends of my father). My sister-in-law looked at me and said "You got some sun." "I know." My soon-to-be married sister said "all the family members are going to think that you're Filipino!" One day out in the sun and it can pretty much last me all summer. Went to a hip hop show w/ the HA at the SubT and had a good time, even though I was pretty tired. Dance a little but not really at all but still...fun times. Friday was a great. All around. Spent the morning in the city, running some errands, having some pizza, and doing a little shopping. Dropped by my old place of work to be warmly greeted by all the student workers who quietly whispered "Please...come back!" with the director of Academic Advising saying "if JW doesn't need you, I can use you!" My old boss and continuing mentor JW asked me to come back for awhile to help the new Assistant Dean transition into the job while providing support for the Orientation program that I helped run last year. It looks like they need me as much as I need them so I might head back to the Chicagoland area for a short stint of fabulous money-making and community college grounding. One of my old co-workers is pregnant and another is leaving to bigger and better pastures. Despite the college politics, things seem to be working out there and despite my occasional inklings to go back, all my coworkers say that I'm doing bigger and better things than what I can do there. It's nice to get that support from others who aren't a part of the higher ed/research one culture. Picked up the tuxes, went to the rehearsal dinner, and back to the new house. Sat - Wedding. That's a separate post Sun - recovering from the wedding. A whole other separate post, hopefully when I can get some distance from the traumatic drinking events that conspired. Mon - Morning w/ the nephew. Nap. Lunch w/ my mom and then a much-anticipated drive to the BN (seriously, who would have thought a drive to the BN - bastard child of CU in central IL would be much-anticipated but it was). Went to EH's place, met her mom, and she took me on a whirlwind tour of BN (as whirlwind as it could be). It was pleasant and a gorgeous day. We walked around ISU, got some bubble-tea, tried to go to a hip glasses store which was closed, went to Babbitt's books, and ACME record shop (which I realize record shops don't thrill me as much as they used to. Maybe replaced by bicycle shops). Hung out a local park and had an unexpected dinner at her place before jetting back to CU. Overall, BN is okay but the company was excellent. Well worth the trip. Oh, and dumplings for dinner. Who can ask for anything more? Great weekend. Bad hangover, good company, and a great wedding with fantastically beautiful bride and groom. Current Mood: happy (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 16th, 2007
9:03 pm	auto-bus tour (Comment on this)