Last Conversation

Today Cheng and I met for the last time. We met up in the library and chatted about the year ending and finals. I asked him what his favorite part of TCU was, he said breaks. In other words, he likes NOT being at TCU. I laughed and asked him about his roommate, he said he was transferring to San Diego and that he was going to miss his roommate a lot. This surprised me, a chinese student and a brazilian playboy being close friends? I never considered their bond to be more than roommates. I asked about who he hangs out with and he said he didn't really like the middle eastern people in his classes, which was a bit uncomfortable, but that he really liked the Russian guy because he was wild. He said that he didn't like drinking with him though because he got "f**ked". I thought that phrasing was hilarious and we broke out in a fit of laughter. He didn't like the middle eastern students because it was hard to communicate with them and they are extremely religious. In China the government is against religion, they see people with strong faith as people who desire power, so they see them as a threat. Because of this, in China if you are buddhist you are not allowed to vote and have limited rights. I thought that was absolutely absurd and Cheng agreed, he thinks that people should have the freedom of religion like in America.

I asked him about his plans for the summer and he's being forced to come back at the beginning of july to complete the last month of the IEP program! I thought that was horrible! His only time to be back home and he only gets a month and a half? He complained a little more about that and then I asked him about Shanghai. He compared Shanghai to New York and I pictured dangerous mob men. I asked him about the mafia and he said it's an underground business but the "governmenters" are the heads of it. This got us on a government talk and he told me that in 2011 two politicians ran against each other and the one that won ended up accusing the other of murdering people long ago and had his wife and him put into jail so that they couldn't run against him ever again. I was shocked at how easy it was to destroy other people when you're in power in China. He said that was why everyone wanted to be in power. He also said it's really important to vote for the "right" person. Cheng told me he just found out about three years ago that his grandfather used to be a policeman in 1960 and he voted for the wrong guy in an election. The government took him away from his wife and no one knew where he went, he just showed up at home 10 years later a completely different man and the government forced him to be a farmer. All because he voted for the "wrong" guy. I was flabbergasted as he told me this story.

Cheng said that in China they don't teach students about Tiananmen Square Masscare. He only just found out about the event in recent years. He just kept emphasizing the fact that politicians in China are extremely dangerous. I was utterly shocked to discover all those crazy facts. I was sad when we had to say goodbye. I told Cheng that we should catch up when school resumes in the fall and he agreed.

Overall, I am really glad that this IEP partnership was a part of the class. I found it extremely interesting to learn about someone else's culture and I never would have know even a fraction of what I know about China if I hadn't met Cheng. It was a wonderful experience that I won't soon forget.

Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

This is about to get deep, so grab tissues before you read this. I'm listening to "Pep Talk from a Kid President" in preparation for this post. I recently tried something new and I proved how much I can accomplish and how far I can push myself. It was an amazing experience where I stepped out of my comfort zone and gave it my all.

I learned a lot about myself as a person. I was gearing up for an athletic event and I started training about two months ago. I started to work out every single day and cleaned up my eating habits. It was incredible the transformation that occurred. I suddenly had so much energy! I was loving every minute of it! It was a proud moment for me when I was able to workouts with ease that had previously been to hard for me. Unfortunately, that meant I had to push myself harder. It was in the "I can't go any further, lets quit now" moments where I really grew as a person because I refused to accept those limits and pushed myself even harder. I had done a sort of fit test at the beginning of the process where I did a bunch of exercises and timed them or counted how many I could do in a minute. At the end I repeated the test and it was so amazing to see my results quantified! I had bettered myself physically, and it also changed me mentally. I knew what I was capable of now, and that gave me so much more confidence.  

Through this process I relied heavily on inspirational quotes (cliché I know) and daily reminders of the goal I had in mind. One of my favorite quotes that I came across was,

"Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" -Winston Churchill

I read that quote and it blew my mind. That may seem dramatic, but I was raised on the belief that failure is not an option, so the mindset of Winston Churchill had my head spinning. It was a new way to look at the world and a new way to look at my life. I suddenly knew that no matter what happened, I was going to be proud of myself. It takes so much courage to try something new and allow yourself to be vulnerable in the process. Success isn't measured by how many times you win, but how many times you get back up and try again. I went through a lot of ups and downs throughout this process and I view it all as success because I never quit. It doesn't matter if you win the race or place 57th, the most important part is finishing. I am on a soap box, I know but it's just so important to step outside your comfort zone! I can't stress enough how life changing it is to push yourself past your limits and go outside your comfort zone. If you don't do things like that, you'll never change as a person, and without change there can't be growth. If everyone tried something new we could change the world! (Okay that might be a stretch, but you get my point).

It's like what Journey said, "Don't stop believing", in yourself, in the world, and in each other.

Funny Situations

There’s not a whole lot of funnier situations that a teacher looking up the definition of “biddy”

Some Superiority theory here…

Incongruity theory at it’s finest. Needless to say this is a bit embarrassing to post. I knocked on Ali's door and as she opened the door, much to her surprise, there I stood in a full outfit with a swimsuit on top. I put my goggles on and asked, "WHO WANTS TO GO SWIMMING?!" To say Ali was surprised is an understatement, she burst out laughing and I ended up sitting in their room eating their popcorn which is where this lovely picture came from.

Conversation: Number Five

Cheng and I met in our usual meeting space- Union Grounds. We started off talking about school work and he has another debate in his english class and his topic is the death penalty! I was surprised that they are making the IEP students debate such a controversial topic, but he thinks it should be banned. Well actually, he told me he didn't really care about it. He just thinks people should follow the rules.

We also chatted all about travel, I discovered some fascinating differences between Northern and Southern China. Apparently there is huge animosity between the people from Beijing and Shanghi. The people in the North eat more spicy, fried, unhealthy food while the people from the South eat bland, healthy, sweet food. Also, Cheng thinks that the people in the South are less intelligent. He compared the feud to be similar to the differences between North and South in the U.S.

I asked him if he's ever visited Europe, and he then explained to me all the trials and tribulations that come with being a Chinese citizen. Apparently the Chinese passport only gets you to a couple of the places around China (he said it was bulls***). Most other countries won't accept the Chinese passport because they think that the Chinese people are just going to move in and never leave. You have to apply for a Visa wherever you go, and even then it's hard to actually get one. You can't even visit Hong Kong or Taiwan without a Visa, that's like saying you can't go to New York without a Visa. That's absurd!! The Hong Kong government doesn't care about anyone or anything besides money, according to Cheng. So all these people want to move to Hong Kong to have a better life, but the government there won't help you, they just want your labor and profit. The government doesn't accept the Chinese passport because they think if they do accept it there will be a huge influx of people.

Overall I learned a LOT about Chinese culture today. Cheng explained to me that you won't find an unhappy Chinese person, which was shocking. He said people are always smiling and extremely polite.  They think Americans are rude because we just say everything straight, no talking around a problem. Chinese will not read a newspaper article if it just says exactly how you feel, you must be polite about it. An example he gave was a newspaper article reviewing bad food, an American could say: "The food was awful", while a Chinese reporter would say: "Maybe it will be better the next time". He also told me that it's impolite to laugh, cry, or make a scene in public. I asked then if people ever laugh, and he said "Of course! Just in the privacy of their rooms". I realized then I would never be able to visit China.

Conversation Number Four

Today, despite the dismal weather, Cheng and I met up in Union Grounds (our usual meeting place). He told me all about his debate, apparently it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. He said it was really hard to listen, understand, think, and then respond quickly in English. He has never done debate before, let alone in english, but it sounds like he did well! He's not excited that school is back to session since spring break, but is looking forward to the summer and seeing his friends from home.

He did seem upset though, and when I asked he told me it was about his roommate. His roommate is from Venezuela and he's on the tennis team. It's hard for them to communicate because neither of them speaks english well. He says they've learned to communicate in other ways besides speaking, but that doesn't mean they get along. Apparently his roommate has girls over a quite a bit, and never asks Cheng if it's okay. I can see why that would be really frustrating, especially when he's trying to sleep. The pinnacle of his frustration came when a girl came stumbling to their front door at 2 in the morning on a friday night. Cheng was trying to sleep but she was pounding on the door and demanding to be let in. Imagine a person who doesn't entirely know english, and is also half asleep, answering the door to an intoxicated girl at two in the morning. It's quite the comic sight. She pushed her way in and asked where his roommate was, and lo and behold, he wasn't there. She insisted he told her to come over, so she decided to sleep in his bed instead. She slept in his bed and when he still wasn't there in the morning she left. His roommate came back around 10 am the next day and Cheng explained what happened, to which his roommate replied by just laughing and saying that girl was crazy.

Apparently stuff like that happens all the time in his room. His roommate is gone for days at a time and never tells him wheres he's been or what he's doing. His roommate is quite the playboy, which is extremely different from Cheng's docile personality. This has caused tension between them, but Cheng is keeping a level head and just keeps reminding himself that it'll be over soon! He plans to travel all over China with his friends when he returns home for the summer.

Laughter is the best medicine

The other night in anatomy lab (shocking that this story is about school I know) I was joking around with one of my classmates (Alan). He asked if I'd seen the Lego Movie, to which I obviously replied yes. If you haven't seen the lego movie then let me preface this story: there's an astronaut character, and the only thing he knows how to build out of Legos is a spaceship. He constantly tries to build the spaceship throughout the movie, but the characters are never in need of a spaceship until the very end. When they inform him that they do, in fact, need a spaceship this is his reaction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XFgKwnAVhI

He FREAKS OUT, hahah and it's hilarious! So in lab, Alan just keeps looking at me and saying "SPACESHIP" and I, for the life of me, cannot stop laughing. It was one of those moments where it's really not THAT funny for that long, but you keep imaging the moment over and over and it's still funny 30 minutes later. 

Needless to say, our other group members were not pleased that we were basically useless for that lab because all we could do was laugh every time we looked at each other. Then we quoted other scenes from the movie and it was just good clean laughter! I think the scene in the movie is so funny because it's a sense of relief for the audience and the astronaut, he FINALLY gets to build a spaceship! And his reaction is so exaggerated that you're caught off guard and causes side-splitting laughter. 

What I learned in boating school is...

The title is a reference to the popular kids show Spongebob Squarepants and also completely irrelevant. I just finished reading the John Hughes short story and am slightly disturbed. I'm not sure if that qualifies as humorous.. it seemed dark. I recognized the parts of a comic piece such as throwing in the monkey wrench and then making it much, much worse. I also recognized the irony at the end when the mother was pleased with the airplane flight when it was her idea to drive across country. I didn't appreciate the story though, especially the part about the dog being dragged behind the car. I did not laugh at all, rather, I wanted to cry. I guess I'm confused about how we are going to discuss the humor in that piece. I will simply have to attend class and find out!

In other learning avenues, I have been discussing the digestive system in anatomy. Essentially we discuss how poop is made for about two weeks. It's beyond thrilling. However, if anatomy is boring than biology is just death, we're discussing invertebrate anatomy and I could care less about the internal organs of a sea slug. I know that doesn't seem compassionate towards the poor sea creature, but did you know that when provoked, a sea slug will excrete all it's internal organs in hopes that the predator will eat those and leave it alone to regrow? There's your fun factoid of the day. As much as I complain about biology, I have to admit, parts of it are interesting. I enjoy learning about sharks and huge mammals, but it's difficult to be enthralled by plants and fungi.

One major thing I have learned this semester so far is time management. I think I might have involved myself too much this semester and it's been a challenge to commitment 100% to everything. But, I do think it's important to be goal-oriented and one of my goals is time management. Being under slight pressure all the time is good for me, I think, because it keeps me on my toes and forces me to be efficient in all that I do. I hate to sound cheesy but I think this semester has been one of tremendous growth for me as an individual.

Conversation Number Three

Today I was running really late to meet with Cheng. I was out of breath as we dove right into our conversation talking about spring break! He went to Austin, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi with a friend who flew in from Miami University. He loved Austin and wants to live there in the future. He saw Lady Gaga on 6th street which blew my mind! He was so nonchalant about seeing a superstar! In San Antonio he went down the Riverwalk, but he was disappointed about the lack of people there. He misses the crowded streets of China and wishes Fort Worth was more packed. In Corpus Christi he traversed the beach and found some fossils which he showed me pictures of. They were little animals with swirled shells. It was so precious how excited he was about them. Overall he loved spring break, he said it was quite relaxing. We talked about home and his parents can't WAIT for him to come home. I nearly choked on my drink when he told me it was 2000 roundtrip to fly home! I found out that his grandparents live on the first floor of his house and his family and him live on the second floor. Apparently his grandparents just wanted to talk to him all the time and told him when to go to sleep and when to wake up (which is crazy). So he doesn't miss them all that much. It was kind of a rushed meeting but we chatted a bit about my spring break and his classes. All his classes are English classes so there's not much to talk about there. However, he does have to have a debate in his speaking class coming up which he's very nervous about because he's never had to debate in a class before. I completely understood his nerves because debating is all about thinking on your feet, something most people struggle with. We wrapped up by planning our next meeting and said farewell!

Conversations Round Two

I don't know what happened today but Cheng was super talkative! We talked for almost 45 minutes straight! He also opened up a ton about his family life and personal life. I learned a LOT about how China functions as a society. Cheng comes from a "normal family" (similar to an upper middle class family in America). Because of this, he is able to spend money and do what he wants when he wants without much trouble. He also told me when he lives in China he didn't care about his family at all, he just saw them as a money bank. The coolest part of our whole conversation was that he told me ever since coming to America and studying here, he's come to realize how hard his parents work to give him the life he has and he knows it's his "duty" to care about them now and call them every once in a while. I couldn't stop smiling cause I thought that was SO cool that he found that here! He told me he feels like he's grown up a lot here and finally become an adult, and that he thinks he could handle situations by himself now. I was so excited! I asked if he was happy about all these realizations and he laughed and said "No! Now I am so guilty!". According to Cheng most kids in China, if they go to college there, don't learn anything in college and just party and spend money. "We learn too much in high school", Cheng said as the reason no one learns anything in China. Apparently, kids go not ever go to class and the college will just give you a degree because they don't care. I thought that was insane because that would never pass at most colleges in America.

We also talked about society from the standpoint of China's government, if you are a governor, you can just put your son into a position as head of a company. Apparently this is the only way to become a CEO in China, and since the change from communism to a more Americanized economy, the richest people are the CEOs and the government workers. The government recognizes this, however, and is trying to change that. I asked him if he thought that was the case here, and he said that here it's much easier to escape from the class you're born into, but in China you're basically stuck.

After all this serious talk about classes and government we decided to talk about a less serious subject and I asked him about his favorite sports and games. He was on the basketball team in high school and really misses the team and the game, he plays in the rec a lot but he's really excited to go home over summer and play basketball with his teammates again! He also informed me that in high school he lived with his team in one dorm room, 6 people in one room! I also asked about the classic Chinese game Mahjong. At first he didn't quite understand what I was asking (apparently I was pronouncing it wrong) but once we were on the same page he told me he hates mahjong because when he was a child and he was at his grandma's house, she would just play mahjong all day and not take care of him! I felt so bad! He told me he had to cook his own meals as a kid cause his grandma was too obsessed with Mahjong, after that we left Mahjong as a taboo topic. However, he loves poker! Apparently poker is way more popular in China than mahjong, but there are certain limits to how much you can bet and gamble.

Our conversation ended on a really good note when we talked about how excited he is to go home for the summer and he listed off all the things he's going to do when he gets home. He said he never realized what he had until he left China and now he's really appreciative of what he has back home, especially his cat!

Learning Science

Biology, Anatomy, Chemistry, Physics, Biomechanics, the list goes on… These are just a sample of the wonderful classes required by my major. Lucky for me I'm an excellent planner and have all my classes picked out till the day I graduate! Looking at the list makes it all seem easy, until you're actually in the class trying to keep up in your notes while the professor talks as rapidly as the auctioneer at an auction house.

Biology was always a class I dreaded in high school. I hated it so much I vowed to never take another biology class ever again. Why on earth would I need to know the difference between an animal cell wall and a plant cell wall as a famous singer/dancer/actress? (Clearly I had a solid career choice) I was bored to tears in that class everyday in high school. I came to college as a Political Science major with an emphasis in international relations. I thought I could just travel the world and be a translator or something and everything would be peachy keen. Just one problem- I hate politics. Why I thought that wasn't a problem I will never understand. After my first semester taking honors Intro to Political Theory I was done with political science. The best things I got from that major? Sweet sammies and a free t-shirt. I was back at square one and frantic, I decided that I liked exercise, and I liked my physical therapist when I injured my ankle in high school, so that was that! I'm gonna be a physical therapist!

Don't worry, a lot more thought went into that decision than I make it seem! :) However, there was just one enormous obstacle to my new major. BIOLOGY. So. Much. Biology. The beautiful thing about life though is that people change and tastes change! I went into Introductory Biology 1 with about as much excitement as a 10 year old getting braces. To my utter shock, after about a month of class I was really enjoying this! I was learning about DNA replication, the immune system, cell processes, and I wasn't bored! It was as if my eyes were opened to this new magical world! I was so excited I almost considered being a doctor, however, that bubble was popped real quick when I realized that would mean taking Organic Chemistry.

I've taken Chemistry, and am currently in Anatomy and Biology and the things I am learning are changing my views of life. I have so much more appreciation for the complexity of the human being, and for the researchers who are discovering new things every day! I know this doesn't relate to humor, but I've never been more excited about learning than right now. I'm learning things that are actually relevant for my future career and I will get to apply them! I'm definitely nerding out right now, but it's just really exciting to be able to study what you love. :)

Ham Biscuits

It's all fun and games until someone farts. Well that's not exactly what happened…. but it's still relevant. Last night a group of friends and I went to a birthday dinner for our friend Katie. Now you have to understand, Katie is an outspoken 110 pound hockey-player from Connecticut. So it goes without saying that Katie is hilarious. She's a wisecracking sass machine. Needless to say, a lot of jokes were said throughout the night. Some of my favorite moments, however, were after dinner. We decided to get sweet frog after dinner and were sitting at the table all telling stories about our parents getting drunk when we were kids. Katie starts to describe her father drinking, but her exact words were, "He was going slam-a-jam-a on those margaritas". None of us knew exactly how to respond to that so we all broke out laughing, especially when she finished by saying he passed out in the lobby of the hotel they were staying at. In her next story she described her mother's drinking experience as her going "ham biscuits" We all just stared at her laughing because who says things like that?? It only works for Katie.

After these fits of laughter we had finished our ice cream and it was time to go. At P.F. Chang's we had all gotten to-go boxes and left them in Jordan's car while we got ice cream (naturally). Now to preface, Jordan's car has a distinct smell, similar to the new car smell, pleasant, but different. So when we returned to the car after sweet frog, the scent of Jordan's car had mixed into a deadly concoction with the asian food. Opening the doors was like a one way ticket for our nostrils to unpleasantville. At first we couldn't understand what smelled so bad, and then we figured out it was the asian food and the whole drive home we could NOT stop laughing because Katie described the smell as asian farts (because of the asian food). She also told people we went to dinner at P.F. Wangs. By the end of the car ride we were all in tears and clutching our stomachs (and noses) because of laughing so hard. It was the kind of laughter that makes you never want to leave because it doesn't even matter what you say at that point- EVERYTHING is hilarious. It was a wonderful moment because all the endorphins were rushing and everyone was just in the best mood. I'm sure we all added a couple years to our lives on that car ride.

What Funny Looks Like

Images

This type of humor is geared at people like me who are not avid sports fans. It's funny because we have no idea what is going on during sports interviews normally. 

This is funny to all people (hopefully). It makes light of the dog's groggy appearance as if he just woke up and it plays on incongruity because we don't expect the dog to have "farted himself awake".

Jokes:

Q: How many NCAA basketball players does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Only one. But he gets money, a car, and three credit hours for it.

This is funny for most sports fans and it makes a joke about how athletes are pampered and over privileged. It's partly superiority theory because people feel inferior to the athletes so they make jokes about the athletes to make themselves feel better.

source: http://www.jokes4us.com/sportsjokes/sportsonelinerjokes.html

The college football player knew his way around the locker room better than he did the library. So when the librarian saw the gridiron star roaming the stacks looking confused, she asked how she could help.
“I have to read a play by Shakespeare,” he said.
“Which one?” she asked.
“William.”

This is also appealing to sports, it makes a comment about the stereotype that all athletes are uneducated. It's funny also because of superiority theory.

Read more: http://www.rd.com/jokes/funny/sports/our-15-favorite-football-jokes/#ixzz2t4S9lruJ

Let the Conversations Begin

I met with Cheng Kaipeng from China today. It started off a little rough, because giving directions in english to someone who is trying to learn the language isn't an easy task. There was some awkward silence at the beginning of the conversation, but after we broke the ice the conversation was better. We chatted about life in China, missing friends at home, the usual stuff. One thing that stuck out to me was he lived in dorms during high school. The school he went to was a half-day drive by car, so he just lived there and only went home for two weeks during the entire school year! That blew my mind, I would have been a hot mess if I hadn't lived with my parents through high school. That's a critical time for maturation and the necessity of guidance. It was as if he'd been going to college now for five years! Also- he's an only child because of China's harsh fines for having more than one child. China's attempt to curb their population growth caused his desire for a sister to be unattainable. He was actually really sad when I asked him if he had any siblings, he wants a sister so badly. Since he can't have a sister, his immediate family (aunts, uncles, cousins) is extremely close. He and his cousin essentially are brother and sister. Also- apparently there is no drinking age in China (this also blew my mind). Cheng has been buying beer for his father since he was 10 years old! I can't imagine a 10 year old kid just walking around with a six pack in his hand in America. He misses drinking and smoking a lot. He wishes he could smoke in his dorm room here, that is a big problem for him. He also talked about his Venezuelan roommate who's english is worse than his! Apparently they've gotten really good at communicating without words, since their native languages are not compatible (chinese and spanish). Overall, it was a pleasant, if forced conversation, but I look forward to our future meetings!

The Minority of Opinion of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas: ZZzZzzZzz….

Alright, I'm usually not one to complain, but reading Comic Relief is like reading a formal research paper on how grass grows. It's taken ALL the humor out of humor. I made it through five pages and then realized I was actually asleep. I know I'm being harsh, but come on! Each section of the book goes through all the theories of old, then refutes them, and cites new/more accurate theories. I have learned that philosophers back in the day had WAY too much time on their hands. (Although not literally because wrist watches weren't invented until 1868 http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-10000/first-wristwatch/). I have learned things, I promise! Just nothing that I want other people to know, because it takes all the fun out of laughing! Now every time I laugh I know its because I have energy that was supposed to be used for something else, but now is useless so I'm going to expel all the useless energy out by contracting my diaphragm in what appears to be a psychotic breakdown. I learned that the author of this book (John Morreall) essentially thinks laughter has no value. It is more valuable than gold!! It can relieve the awkwardness when you are in social situations, it can let other people know that you support their comedic endeavors, it can cure sickness, it can help you live longer, it can give you ripped abs, the list goes on. All I know is that this book is far from a "relief".

I have also come to realize Aristotle and I would be great friends.

Also- my sympathies to my classmates who have to suffer through this book alongside me.

What makes people laugh? Why do people laugh?

Their names are Allyson Burbeck, Senna Nilsson and Emily Ricks in order of speaking

What is Literature? What is Civilization?

Kiley Hiett, Kira Markus, Ali Rafetto

ENGL 20923

Each person was asked to come up with a ‘definition’-type answer to the questions asked below.

• “What is literature?”
• Mary Kate: “Books! It’s the written expression of the human condition.”
• Madeleine: “The art of written work.”
• Teryn: “What is it not?”
• “What is civilization?”
• Mary Kate: “The inhabitants of a place, but also the culture that they make.”
• Madeleine: “A group of people that live together with common things about them.”
• Teryn: “A bunch of people living together.”