Getting sucked into politics
It seems today that people pick beauty contestants based on where they stand on the issues and politicians on how they look on tv. Its a little screwed up wouldnt you think?
Well getting sucked into politics is inevitable it seems, everybody wants to know what politics is like here and what he thinks about Clinton, Obama and McCain and the whole cherade that is American politics.
So this is a brief summary of the candidates and where they stand on the issues(as opposed to how they look on tv):
McCain
Strongly opposes the withrawal of troops from Iraq.
Supports the surge of US troops in Iraq
Promises to strengthen the military
Bring Osama Bin Laden to justice
Opposes opening diplomatic relations with Iran or N Korea
Plans to train and equip internal forces there that can overthrow their respective governments
Believes in low taxes
Supports tax cuts for middle class families
Opposes a woman's right to have an abortion(except in rape and incest cases)
Obama
Will remove US troops from Iraq
Will provide economic aid to Iraq based on her progress in reaching a political agreement
Calls for a global reversal on nuclear weapon reliance
Would use diplomacy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and eliminate N Korea's exisiting weapon programs
Will end production of nuclear weapons in the US
Will fight climate change by putting a limit on all carbon emissions
Aims to cut global warming by 80% by 2050
Willing to meet with rogue state leaders like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez
Clinton
Promises to bring american troops home from Iraq within the first 60 days of her administration
Proposes to set up an oil trust to distribute a share of oil profits to every Iraqi
Promises to implement the American Health Choices Plan, giving Americans a choice in health plans.
None of the 3 is the solution to America's problems, so Americans are screwed either way really. He's happy he doesnt have to vote for one of them, one will milk America dry to go to war, one is full of textbook ideals, and the other tells Americans whatever they want to hear.
Nevertheless the joy is shortlived, he may not have to take part in the voting process, but apparently he has to lobby for something in Congress. He just got an email from AFS saying that he and his fellow students under the YES program in North Dakota will be meeting their congressional representatives in Washington DC, come July 2nd. Not many YES exchange students are placed in North Dakota, just himself, Gigih and this guy from the Phillipines, Ryan.
Just so you understand whats going on here, the US State department sponsers around 300 students all over the world to come to the states as exchange students, this of course, costs money. The group that decides on budgets and controls spending in the US is the Congress, they control the purse strings of the US, as well as laying down the law for Americans. Now just reflect on that statement for a little while, let the huge responsibilities of the congressman sink in. Now consider this, of the 500 men in Congress:
29 have been accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad checks
117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
Yeah. Thats right.
Of these 500 men, Albert, Gigih and Ryan will have to meet one of these guys and convince him that Congress should continue support for the funding of the YES program, and secure his vote. Lets just hope this congressman is one of the good guys.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Graduation.
The end of the line for formal instruction, graduation day is when society looks at her well groomed offspring, all ready to go out into the world armed with information that would be of no real use, but nonetheless it is considered an achievement to have completed high school here.
Of course back in Malaysia, the education system is such that anyone can advance to the next grade, and completion of secondary education lies solely on whether one is able to pass BM. So schools that still go on to take up the whole Graduation Charade back home anyway would be stopping short of down right stupidity. America does it better anyway.
Only 6 graduated from Starkweather High,
which makes it seem more of an achievement, but the reality is that is all the Seniors there are in the school. Nevertheless, its celebrated with all the pomp(a band, a choir and a full-blown ceremony)
that the bigger schools attach to their graduation ceremonies. Why all the unnecessary cynicism you ask? Well maybe its got to do with the Valedictorian having trouble remembering the year America got her Independence, but hey, she's hot. That makes it all OK. Looks always trumps smarts. In fact both the Salutatorian and the Valedictorian are hot, so its all alright. Nobody's complaining.
So after the speeches and the presentation of awards, the thing was over with and all of the grads had a grad party at the same time and expected everyone to come to all of it. He and Gigih made it 3 of the open houses, of which Carrie's was the best.
It was on this day that most of the kids at school realized that this might just be the last time they will ever see the "exchange students" and suddenly girls you barely know came up to you and hugged you(again, nobody's complaining), people promised to hang out, and everybody says they will miss you. Gosh, it seems like the less you know people, the more they miss you. He promises them he will come back and visit in the future, but he admits that its just something you say in this kind of situation.
To be completely honest, he's too eager to get back to miss this place too much, sure he will miss the rolling plains, the miles of open space, the quiet and basically everything that is opposite of the downsides of living in a city, but he will be looking forward to meeting up with his fellow afs-ers, getting back together with the old ss17 gang, and FORM 6. Nevertheless, he still has much to do here what with a month left, which will be packed with an impending road trip down to Indiana, a camping trip, and numerous outings with friends who "want to do something before you go", he will hardly have time to do anything other than enjoy himself.
The end of the line for formal instruction, graduation day is when society looks at her well groomed offspring, all ready to go out into the world armed with information that would be of no real use, but nonetheless it is considered an achievement to have completed high school here.
Of course back in Malaysia, the education system is such that anyone can advance to the next grade, and completion of secondary education lies solely on whether one is able to pass BM. So schools that still go on to take up the whole Graduation Charade back home anyway would be stopping short of down right stupidity. America does it better anyway.
Only 6 graduated from Starkweather High,
which makes it seem more of an achievement, but the reality is that is all the Seniors there are in the school. Nevertheless, its celebrated with all the pomp(a band, a choir and a full-blown ceremony)
that the bigger schools attach to their graduation ceremonies. Why all the unnecessary cynicism you ask? Well maybe its got to do with the Valedictorian having trouble remembering the year America got her Independence, but hey, she's hot. That makes it all OK. Looks always trumps smarts. In fact both the Salutatorian and the Valedictorian are hot, so its all alright. Nobody's complaining.
So after the speeches and the presentation of awards, the thing was over with and all of the grads had a grad party at the same time and expected everyone to come to all of it. He and Gigih made it 3 of the open houses, of which Carrie's was the best.
It was on this day that most of the kids at school realized that this might just be the last time they will ever see the "exchange students" and suddenly girls you barely know came up to you and hugged you(again, nobody's complaining), people promised to hang out, and everybody says they will miss you. Gosh, it seems like the less you know people, the more they miss you. He promises them he will come back and visit in the future, but he admits that its just something you say in this kind of situation.
To be completely honest, he's too eager to get back to miss this place too much, sure he will miss the rolling plains, the miles of open space, the quiet and basically everything that is opposite of the downsides of living in a city, but he will be looking forward to meeting up with his fellow afs-ers, getting back together with the old ss17 gang, and FORM 6. Nevertheless, he still has much to do here what with a month left, which will be packed with an impending road trip down to Indiana, a camping trip, and numerous outings with friends who "want to do something before you go", he will hardly have time to do anything other than enjoy himself.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Heels aren't the only thing she isn't wearing
To tell you the truth, Albert thought long and hard about the title for this post. Then he took a closer look at the picture of her in the previous posts
Well he's sure you can tell that some heavy thinking was going on prior to this post being written, its become sort of a trend here that sexual innuendos precede the heavy topics, but hey, before we get to that, Albert is gonna bitch about the weather.
Looks like, at the rate the North Dakota's weather is going, we aren't even going to have summer, its going to be spring, then fall and then winter. Its been one month since spring began, but we have had subzero temperatures(it maybe only in the nights and mornings but it still isn't acceptable), thanks to the unusually cold winter, which delayed spring and hence summer will be late too. But finally it actually is beginning to look like spring,
The Darling Buds of May
and not a moment too soon.
School ended today. That too not a moment too soon. Sure he'll miss the pretty faces, but the extra hours of sleep are totally worth it. Yes school's out for the year and on paper, its summer break, but its going to be at least another month before the freezing nights and mornings are really gone for good.
It seems like there is this custom where before school is out there's a field trip, this time it was to golf. Albert of course didn't expect a golf course within a hundred mile radius of this farming community, but this place just keeps throwing him curve balls. Who would've guessed that 15 minutes away was the Cando Golf course?
Albert never liked golf. Its one of the only spectator sport where players are only really competing with themselves with zero interaction between players. If they got to go at each other with their clubs or the club car it would be an entirely different story. But no. It remains as THE most boring sport out there. Albert found it especially frustrating.
Of course you have people that were good at it,
and those that don't necessarily fall into that category,
Over the course of 7 holes Albert lost 4 balls and sank 2 of them, racking up a score of 75. Not too bad. Ok, so it was pretty bad, he never liked it anyway. Nonetheless the golf course was picturesque.
but it sure as hell would've been nice if he could've rode on those little cars.
After that he went to a magic show, nothing much worth talking about, the usual sawing a person in half, escaping from apparently imminent death, a motorbike disappearing in mid air only for the guy to ride in from the side. The usual stuff. The only things he didn't expect was bumping into his prom date there. Then he wondered, how things were aligned for them to cross paths. Its strange isn't it? Under normal circumstances he should have never known her or the rest of the exchange students in the area
Spot the mystery woman
Its times like this that truly tests one's faith in utter coincidences, and makes one wonder about fate. Now believing in fate is the easy part. Its being sensible that's the hard part. Elementary reasoning will tell you that you are always directly or indirectly influencing what happens or will happen to you. Although, Albert will readily admit that sometimes it seems as though God has a twisted sense of humour. Like how Chelsea made it to the Final only after Jose leaves only for Roman to watch arch rivals Man Utd steal the trophy in his own backyard in Moscow. Where is the justice in that? But again, if Terry scored that penalty kick it would've been a fairytale ending. The influence of a single person changes EVERYTHING.
Case in point: had that idiot not shot the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, there might not have been WW1, and consequently WW2 would not have happened, the Atomic bomb probably would have never have been built, and a future nuclear holocaust might just have been thwarted. Just imagine if his gun had jammed on him that day.
Albert isn't saying what he does or does not do might influence the outcome of the human race, because he personally isn't interested in the human race unless it affects him. The question is, what will he do next that will completely and utterly change the course of his life? The prospect of having every power of deciding one's own fate is both a comforting yet terrifying thought.
Its like going back in time from a position where you are everything you wanted to be, and having to retrace your steps back to that ideal you know you will achieve. But the only thing is that one cannot deviate in any way from that predetermined path, to do so might result in a Butterfly effect, throwing you completely off that path and ending up being another pencil pusher in a cubicle. Or set off WW3.
The problem wouldn't be half as bad if Albert knew what the predetermined path was to his future ideal. Hell he doesn't even know what his future ideal is. Which decisions to make, which will come back to screw him from behind, which will end his life prematurely, which will get him married, which will see him covering major sporting events or end up with covering the obituaries, damn it would be convenient if someone had the answers to everything. All except for what she isn't wearing, no prizes for that answer.
To tell you the truth, Albert thought long and hard about the title for this post. Then he took a closer look at the picture of her in the previous posts
Well he's sure you can tell that some heavy thinking was going on prior to this post being written, its become sort of a trend here that sexual innuendos precede the heavy topics, but hey, before we get to that, Albert is gonna bitch about the weather.
Looks like, at the rate the North Dakota's weather is going, we aren't even going to have summer, its going to be spring, then fall and then winter. Its been one month since spring began, but we have had subzero temperatures(it maybe only in the nights and mornings but it still isn't acceptable), thanks to the unusually cold winter, which delayed spring and hence summer will be late too. But finally it actually is beginning to look like spring,
The Darling Buds of May
and not a moment too soon.
School ended today. That too not a moment too soon. Sure he'll miss the pretty faces, but the extra hours of sleep are totally worth it. Yes school's out for the year and on paper, its summer break, but its going to be at least another month before the freezing nights and mornings are really gone for good.
It seems like there is this custom where before school is out there's a field trip, this time it was to golf. Albert of course didn't expect a golf course within a hundred mile radius of this farming community, but this place just keeps throwing him curve balls. Who would've guessed that 15 minutes away was the Cando Golf course?
Albert never liked golf. Its one of the only spectator sport where players are only really competing with themselves with zero interaction between players. If they got to go at each other with their clubs or the club car it would be an entirely different story. But no. It remains as THE most boring sport out there. Albert found it especially frustrating.
Of course you have people that were good at it,
and those that don't necessarily fall into that category,
Over the course of 7 holes Albert lost 4 balls and sank 2 of them, racking up a score of 75. Not too bad. Ok, so it was pretty bad, he never liked it anyway. Nonetheless the golf course was picturesque.
but it sure as hell would've been nice if he could've rode on those little cars.
After that he went to a magic show, nothing much worth talking about, the usual sawing a person in half, escaping from apparently imminent death, a motorbike disappearing in mid air only for the guy to ride in from the side. The usual stuff. The only things he didn't expect was bumping into his prom date there. Then he wondered, how things were aligned for them to cross paths. Its strange isn't it? Under normal circumstances he should have never known her or the rest of the exchange students in the area
Spot the mystery woman
Its times like this that truly tests one's faith in utter coincidences, and makes one wonder about fate. Now believing in fate is the easy part. Its being sensible that's the hard part. Elementary reasoning will tell you that you are always directly or indirectly influencing what happens or will happen to you. Although, Albert will readily admit that sometimes it seems as though God has a twisted sense of humour. Like how Chelsea made it to the Final only after Jose leaves only for Roman to watch arch rivals Man Utd steal the trophy in his own backyard in Moscow. Where is the justice in that? But again, if Terry scored that penalty kick it would've been a fairytale ending. The influence of a single person changes EVERYTHING.
Case in point: had that idiot not shot the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, there might not have been WW1, and consequently WW2 would not have happened, the Atomic bomb probably would have never have been built, and a future nuclear holocaust might just have been thwarted. Just imagine if his gun had jammed on him that day.
Albert isn't saying what he does or does not do might influence the outcome of the human race, because he personally isn't interested in the human race unless it affects him. The question is, what will he do next that will completely and utterly change the course of his life? The prospect of having every power of deciding one's own fate is both a comforting yet terrifying thought.
Its like going back in time from a position where you are everything you wanted to be, and having to retrace your steps back to that ideal you know you will achieve. But the only thing is that one cannot deviate in any way from that predetermined path, to do so might result in a Butterfly effect, throwing you completely off that path and ending up being another pencil pusher in a cubicle. Or set off WW3.
The problem wouldn't be half as bad if Albert knew what the predetermined path was to his future ideal. Hell he doesn't even know what his future ideal is. Which decisions to make, which will come back to screw him from behind, which will end his life prematurely, which will get him married, which will see him covering major sporting events or end up with covering the obituaries, damn it would be convenient if someone had the answers to everything. All except for what she isn't wearing, no prizes for that answer.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Prom Night
Alright, so it wasn't a drunken night of debauchery or the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake, financial decadence or an orgy of consumption that entails abandoning the pretense to policing sex/booze/drugs, sustained over the years by parents, kids, and school administrators. It was after all, the Prom night in a small town called Starkweather.
Albert was admittedly a little apprehensive about going to the whole Prom thing, but all it really takes is a gorgeous German exchange student for a date to change his mind:
Besides, he put too much effort in helping the juniors with prom to miss it.
That's Julia Kreiss by the way. And that's Albert's brooding look of contemplation.
And so it was that Albert and Gigih decided to go to Starkweather's "cute" little prom(as Julia puts it).
Never underestimate the American tradition, sometimes when there is the superficial practice of American culture, most people don't really give Americans credit for their own distinctive culture that they have evolved into, which is very much different from how its adopted in Malaysia. Quite unlike the "fake" Proms in Malaysia, Americans here take Prom VERY SERIOUSLY.
First off, after everyone was dressed, the girls stuck this flower(its actually called a "corsage") on left side of the guys suit and the guys fitted a duplicate around the left arm of his date. Its just something they do here.
Then they had the formal candlelit dinner at David's place:
Served and waited on by Chef David:
Albert felt incredibly out of place in this prim and proper setting, but managed to adhere to table manners(everything from setting the napkin on his lap to the nonsensical ones like filling up his plate from the top right corner). He even managed a little small talk. Its amazing what human capabilities can achieve when it's stretched far enough.
A little camwhoring followed naturally
Iris(Swiss exchange student), Gigih, me and Julia
With the pre-prom formalities complete, David chauffeured them to Starkweather High, where they were among the earliest couples there. The girls, coming from a big school and having a big, generic like prom thought the small, exclusive setting of Starkweather's little prom was cute and real pretty. Albert wasn't a big fan of the theme: Dreaming in Pink, but it turned out to be unexpectedly good, with all the understated elegance and innocence, it simply gave you this tingly feeling of niceness.
The result of the Juniors hard work
They exchanged pleasantries with the other early couples, the usual "wow, nice dress!" or "nice suit", but if you listen closely, don't be surprised to hear the faint whispers of "I swear she wore the same dress last year!"
The photo shoot followed, there was a nice little set where the couples(Albert&Julia included) held each other in an embrace and smiled for the camera. Then of course, more socializing as they waited for the Grand March.
Carly and her older sis Kori(whose dress is begging for a wardrobe malfunction)
Richard & Robyn
A devilish looking Carrie
Joey&Nick(the walmart boys) Kevin, Andrew
After the countless introductions of their respective dates, the Grand March finally began. The principal announced the names of the couples, "Julia Kreiss escorted by Albert Krishna", and the couples strutted down from separate paths and met in the center, locked arms, posed and had their picture taken by the crowd. This was repeated by the 29 other couples, and FINALLY, after all the formalities complete, the dance floor opened.
dance floor
there definitely wasn't any waltz-ing
And so they danced the night away, all 3 hours of it, even uptight Gigih was forced to have fun almost against his will, but damn it, he was going to enjoy it whether he liked it or not. There were slow songs, where you and your partner held each other in the hip-shoulder pose, and just sway slowly with the music. Through what must have been Divine intervention, Albert did not trample on anyones toes, nope, not once in the 5 slow dances. Then of course you have a the staple club music where everyone just goes crazy. There also was the macarena, which Albert learnt to do on the spot, Thriller popped up outta nowhere, a couple of country songs and of course, soulja boy. If anything, there was variety.
What must have been the fastest 3 hours of his life, prom winded down to the last song around 1 am, and Albert and Gigih and their dates decided to call it a night,summoning the chauffeur who drove them back to their respective homes. Of course, the night wouldn't be complete without the last bit of a Prom custom, the girls took off their guarder(its this thing they wear above their knees) and handed it to the guys-
now that's one hell of a souvenir for one hell of a night.
Alright, so it wasn't a drunken night of debauchery or the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake, financial decadence or an orgy of consumption that entails abandoning the pretense to policing sex/booze/drugs, sustained over the years by parents, kids, and school administrators. It was after all, the Prom night in a small town called Starkweather.
Albert was admittedly a little apprehensive about going to the whole Prom thing, but all it really takes is a gorgeous German exchange student for a date to change his mind:
Besides, he put too much effort in helping the juniors with prom to miss it.
That's Julia Kreiss by the way. And that's Albert's brooding look of contemplation.
And so it was that Albert and Gigih decided to go to Starkweather's "cute" little prom(as Julia puts it).
Never underestimate the American tradition, sometimes when there is the superficial practice of American culture, most people don't really give Americans credit for their own distinctive culture that they have evolved into, which is very much different from how its adopted in Malaysia. Quite unlike the "fake" Proms in Malaysia, Americans here take Prom VERY SERIOUSLY.
First off, after everyone was dressed, the girls stuck this flower(its actually called a "corsage") on left side of the guys suit and the guys fitted a duplicate around the left arm of his date. Its just something they do here.
Then they had the formal candlelit dinner at David's place:
Served and waited on by Chef David:
Albert felt incredibly out of place in this prim and proper setting, but managed to adhere to table manners(everything from setting the napkin on his lap to the nonsensical ones like filling up his plate from the top right corner). He even managed a little small talk. Its amazing what human capabilities can achieve when it's stretched far enough.
A little camwhoring followed naturally
Iris(Swiss exchange student), Gigih, me and Julia
With the pre-prom formalities complete, David chauffeured them to Starkweather High, where they were among the earliest couples there. The girls, coming from a big school and having a big, generic like prom thought the small, exclusive setting of Starkweather's little prom was cute and real pretty. Albert wasn't a big fan of the theme: Dreaming in Pink, but it turned out to be unexpectedly good, with all the understated elegance and innocence, it simply gave you this tingly feeling of niceness.
The result of the Juniors hard work
They exchanged pleasantries with the other early couples, the usual "wow, nice dress!" or "nice suit", but if you listen closely, don't be surprised to hear the faint whispers of "I swear she wore the same dress last year!"
The photo shoot followed, there was a nice little set where the couples(Albert&Julia included) held each other in an embrace and smiled for the camera. Then of course, more socializing as they waited for the Grand March.
Carly and her older sis Kori(whose dress is begging for a wardrobe malfunction)
Richard & Robyn
A devilish looking Carrie
Joey&Nick(the walmart boys) Kevin, Andrew
After the countless introductions of their respective dates, the Grand March finally began. The principal announced the names of the couples, "Julia Kreiss escorted by Albert Krishna", and the couples strutted down from separate paths and met in the center, locked arms, posed and had their picture taken by the crowd. This was repeated by the 29 other couples, and FINALLY, after all the formalities complete, the dance floor opened.
dance floor
there definitely wasn't any waltz-ing
And so they danced the night away, all 3 hours of it, even uptight Gigih was forced to have fun almost against his will, but damn it, he was going to enjoy it whether he liked it or not. There were slow songs, where you and your partner held each other in the hip-shoulder pose, and just sway slowly with the music. Through what must have been Divine intervention, Albert did not trample on anyones toes, nope, not once in the 5 slow dances. Then of course you have a the staple club music where everyone just goes crazy. There also was the macarena, which Albert learnt to do on the spot, Thriller popped up outta nowhere, a couple of country songs and of course, soulja boy. If anything, there was variety.
What must have been the fastest 3 hours of his life, prom winded down to the last song around 1 am, and Albert and Gigih and their dates decided to call it a night,summoning the chauffeur who drove them back to their respective homes. Of course, the night wouldn't be complete without the last bit of a Prom custom, the girls took off their guarder(its this thing they wear above their knees) and handed it to the guys-
now that's one hell of a souvenir for one hell of a night.
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