Update!

October 19, 2009 at 7:18 am (Awkward, Posted by Cindy, grad school)
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Ok, I have to admit that this is copied from emails to Peggy, my old PI, and Margot, but at least it’ll give you an update…

First, the aftermath of the police encounter.  A letter came in the mail, “I’m investigating your complaint.  There are several cases in front of yours, but make sure to call me as soon as you get this so that I have the most up-to-date contact information for you, &c.”  So, when I called and spoke to the investigating officer, he was actually quite sane and reasonable.  At first, he explained to me that the officers who work the late shift tend to get the craziest cases with students, and I wanted to tune him out because, HELLO, just because they’ve dealt with rude students (however many) in the past doesn’t mean they can be rude to US, especially when we’re being cooperative!  He did go on to acknowledge that the way we were treated was rude and unprofessional, and that it violated their code.  (Or something.)  I don’t think much will become of this, but it needed to be done.

This quarter, I’m taking two “real” classes  (DNA transactions, proteins), a student seminar, an invited faculty seminar, and a once-a-week class on “how to be a grad student.”  There isn’t that much to report on that front; the classes seem pretty standard fare, although my proteins class hasn’t gotten more in-depth than MCB 102’s protein section thus far.  We’ll see.

My rotation is in an Arabidopsis lab, where I’m getting to do benchwork as well as computational stuff, so just what I wanted!  My other rotations will probably be more computational, because I have to learn that more than labwork, so I’m enjoying the familiar for now.

I’ll leave with a story about  the program administrator for my department-

She’s one of those old battle-axe types; if you stop by her office, there’s no way to leave without talking for at least half an hour (and usually it’s an hour).  (Yes, I realize I’ll probably be like her in 50 years.)  By now, we’ve heard her standard spiels–the FDA is a conspiracy, Obama is turning America into Hitler’s Germany, evolution is bunk.  She’s a bit crazy, but the good thing is, she is always watching out for us.  OSU changed to a whole new computer system over the summer, which she doesn’t completely understand, but if she hits a roadblock, she calls the department and yells at them until it’s worked out.  Ha!  And as for setting me up.  Oy vey.

“Now, there’s a young gentleman coming; he’s also from UC Berkeley.  Do you know him?”
“Uh, I don’t think so, Jan.”
“He’s also Asian-American.”
“Oh, ok, Jan.”
“If you’re walking around late at night, he’d be good to have around, and I think you’d make a good companion for him.”
“Um.”

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Zombie

September 29, 2009 at 5:54 pm (Inappropriate, Is Assholes, Posted by Cindy, Travels)
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Why zombie, you ask?  Well, yesterday, I was wandering around in a state of delirium.  It’s almost October, so it’s almost Halloween.  And, oh yes, I’ve been incommunicado in blogworld for too long, and I have come back from the dead! Wait.  Are zombies revived (well, not revived, as that would mean a new life, and they are quite unlike their original form, are they not?) from the dead?  Or what?  What is the provenance of zombies?  SOMEONE HELP ME!  I could ask the internet.  Wait.  I am asking the internet.

At any rate, quite a lot has transpired since I last updated.  Let’s see.  So, I was in Taiwan for much of the summer.  The first week, I visited my family.  My dad’s side lives in the mountains, and my mom’s side is in central Taiwan.  Then, I attended a language learning program sponsored by the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission (OCAC) for six weeks.  It’s for people who (theoretically) have some sort of connection to Taiwan, aged 18-24.  They’re the same people who run Loveboat (not it’s official name, which I think is Formosa Camp), which is kind of like the Taiwanese version of Birthright, if you know about that.

I’ll have to come back later and upload more Taiwan pictures.  JP’s sister, Cathy, noted that her impression of Taiwan was that it was very lush, and that was exactly the word that came to mind when I got to see the natural scenery.  Most of my time was spent in Taipei, though, which is all hustle and bustle.

When I returned from Taiwan, I had about two and a half weeks to pack for Ohio.  Oh yes, I have returned to the motherland.  Well, the non-Taiwan motherland.  Is your motherland where you were born, or where your mother was born?  And if the latter, then what if your mother and father were born in two different places?  Would it therefore be more accurate to have both a motherland and a fatherland?  I think Mik has some kind of Latinate terminology for such things.  I am no Latinist; nor am I a Hellenist.  Digression!  (Everyone but Mik should get that reference…)

At any rate, my parents set out from California on September 5, opening day of college football!  Luckily, both the Bears and the Buckeyes handily defeated their respective opponents.  (And sadly, are both one-loss teams now.)  We stopped in Salt Lake City, Denver (got to see Katie!), and St. Louis, before arriving in Columbus.  I’ll have to write more about that journey later; for now, let’s just note that, between sleeping and failing at life, I missed every state border crossing except for Ohio.  The heart of it all :D

What I really want to talk about today is something that happened this past Saturday night.  I’ve emailed this story to a couple people already, so I’m copy/pasting here.  Then, I’ll update at the bottom.

***

Cast of characters:
me
Natalie (my friend Peter’s friend, goes to OSU, is nice and showing me around)
Anna (their other friend from high school, just met her tonight)
8 guys who live in a house together (Kirk and Dusty are brothers, Jesse, and Ben are the relevant ones to this story)

Evening: at a bar. Nothing particular to note.

After: back to the guys’ place. It’s raining, so I walk fast. And that, I believe is how I manage to stay dryer than the other two girls do. I think. Or, you know, I’m a duck and repel water. OOH after this weekend’s game, I don’t think I should be making duck references. *Sigh* Anyway. A bunch of them smoke, so we sit on their porch and hang out, while away the hours, &c. Ben turns on the music from their roof and disappears. Mid-conversation, there is a loud CRASH. Uh-oh, car accident on their streetcorner. Dusty and Anna rush over to make sure people are ok. There are two cars involved, but a food delivery guy had just gotten to the guys’ place, so he pulled over to the side, and some good Samaritan also pulled over. Meanwhile, Dusty, Anna, and some other passersby make sure the people in the crash are doing ok and divert traffic. (All of a sudden, a bunch of cars, cabs, and pedestrians are trying to get through the previously-quiet intersection.)

Kirk goes upstairs to turn the music off, because Lady Gaga or something similar is, you know, probably not appropriate. Dusty and Anna are still on the street when the cops finally arrive, but then their statements are apparently not needed. I’m not sure what the procedural due process is for this, but I guess the driver of one car jumped out of her car immediately and started admitting fault/apologizing/&c. By the way? The driver of the other car lost a tooth and his passenger had something wrong with his neck. So, we sit on the porch and watch the police stand around, then start to interview only the people in the cars, not the passersby. The paramedics come and have to carry the second passenger away on a stretcher. Yeesh.

Meanwhile, Jesse doesn’t know why the music is off, so he turns it back on. As we’re all watching the street, every official’s head whips around toward us and they all say, “TURN IT OFF!” Kirk goes to make him turn it off again. The processing continues for awhile, until finally everyone leaves except for one squad car. The two police officers come to the porch and say, “Everyone get your IDs out.”

Uh, what?

The officers each go to one of the brothers; Kirk had been straightening up the porch and left his wallet on his seat, so when the police asked for his ID, the first thing he could find was his military ID. The officer seemed to think he was trying to get out of trouble by playing the serving-our-country card and was displeased. Dusty asked what was wrong, and the other officer started his tirade: “Did you SEE the accident happen in front of you? Police officers and paramedics need to be able to hear to do their job.” Dusty tried to interject, “We were trying to help…” but the officer cut him off, “I don’t care. It’s 3 in the morning, and everyone in a 50-block radius can hear you, you keep talking and we can cite you for any number of things…” He had taken Dusty’s ID, so Anna stood up (and Natalie and I were both going for ours, too) and asked, “Do you need to see my ID?”

The cop turned to her and brusquely demanded, “Do you live here?” And when she said no, he scoffed at her and said, “Then sit down and shut your mouth.” Um. Yes. America’s finest, ladies and gentlemen. They take the two IDs and go sit in their car, filling out their paperwork FOR A LONG TIME. We’re not sure if they’re just trying to make us sweat, or if it’s going to be a BFD. They then call Kirk over, who stands at the door and gets a long, angry lecture. He comes back with a citation. They then call Dusty over, and Kirk said that, among all the other things the police hurled at him, one of them said, “You can thank those girls up there for giving us lip.” EXCUSE ME?

It’s clearly not Anna’s fault, but she feels so bad that she is on the brink of tears, Kirk goes inside, clearly peeved but, you know, what can you do, and Dusty gets a much shorter lecture. The police finally pull away, seeming to have spent far more time trying to cite two brothers for something out of their control than actually surveying the accident.

GIVING THEM LIP!? EXCUSE YOURSELF!!! I’m definitely calling to file a complaint today. I don’t think it’ll do any good, but it needs to be on record that a) two men were cited for something they didn’t do (and I realize that there’s nothing my statement will be able to do about that) and b) the police officers treated all of us so rudely and unprofessionally.

***

So, I called the Department of Internal Affairs (sounds so serious!) and filed my complaint.  He didn’t take it very seriously, but he had to take it anyway.

Officer: So, he didn’t swear at you or anything?
Me: No.  And I realize, in the grand scheme of things, this is nothing compared to homicide.  But, it was rude and unprofessional.  You wouldn’t talk to your mother that way.
Officer: I would never compare this to speaking with my mother.
Me: That’s fine, but you simply don’t speak to people that way without giving the impression of rudeness.  Even had we been aggressive, which we were not, they would have been required to maintain their composure!

***

I don’t, in general, have “beef” with law enforcement.  We have systems.  All citizens, private or public, ought to do their best to uphold the reason and sanity of society.  The two police officers were out of line.

By the way?  It was Columbus PD, and the number on their squad car was 9041.  Keep an eye out for them, and if they’re nearby, I guess you’d better shut your mouth.

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Quick Rundown

July 22, 2009 at 2:27 am (Posted by Cindy, Travels)
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  • We have a 10PM curfew. At 11, the building is locked. True story.
  • Which means we sometimes have to go out at 9 and leave at…oh, 9:45. HAHA.
  • Btw, we’re not allowed to drink. Even if we’re not in the building and of age (which all of us are, because we’re all over 18).
  • Speaking of age, almost everyone is younger than I am. I’m such an old lady.
  • The program had a kareoke contest today. My class won. (Clearly not by myself. That would be bad for all involved.) These are the songs my class did:

That seems to be about it for now. OH, I “saw” the solar eclipse today. Pretty cool.

3 Comments

Totally predictable

July 5, 2009 at 3:19 am (Inappropriate, Posted by Cindy)

Mik will yell, “Typical!” when I post this.

I would update, but I have to pee.  Sorry guys.  More to come when I go to Taipei :D

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July 4, 2009

July 3, 2009 at 11:13 pm (Family, Picture, Posted by Cindy, Travels)
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Happy Independence Day, america.  Yesterday, we went to temple and my grandparents hired a new servant.  Both should be discussed.

We are Daoist…but also kind of Buddhist.  I asked my grandmother if she learned what we pray to as a child, and she laughed, “Who learns these things?”  So, I really don’t know who knows, and if I were more adept at reading Chinese, I could probably look up the names of deities written beneathe each figure, but I only know maybe one out of every three characters, if that, so it’s a bit impossible.  In high school, I did a group project about Daoism, but reading about the traditions in English is very different from doing things.  The customs are also so engrained culturally that it can vary from region to region and family to family because it’s how you lead your life, not a separate “religion compartment” that you open up to find an instructional manual.

My paternal grandmother told me to “make wishes,” but I find prayer a complex undertaking.  English?  Mandarin?  Taiwanese?  Does it matter?  Putting my desires and aspirations into words feels false, for these thoughts, not typically verbalized, are ill-fitted to my stilted prose.  So, too, are my aspirations prosaic.  If I ask for one “thing” for each member of my immediate familiy, I feel guilty for neglecting my grandparents’ health.  If I rotate through my relatives, who am I to decide what would most benefit each of their lives?  Then, too, if i am judicious in selecting spiritual boons, shouldn’t I concentrate my summoning powers on starving children and war-torn communities?

The whole experience is smoky, from the incense sticks we light to the god money we burn.  You enter from the right-hand door and exit from the left.  The doorways often have raised thresholds, because the gods can float; they don’t need to step over the panel the way we do.  My family takes a rather agnostic approach; my mother laughs a bit at some of the bizarre attributes we ascribe to our deities, but still teaches us the customs because she respects the institution.

Yesterday also saw the advent of a new servant.  JP once made the odd claim that Mongolia is the Mexico of Asia.  Not true.  I think East Asian nations have a relationship with Southeast Asia similar to the US with Mexico.  My grandmother explained to me that, in the early days, Taiwan hired many Filipino laborers.  The problem was that “they liked to go out on weekends, and they didn’t do work on Sundays because they would go to church.”  The labor force thus shifted to the Vietnamese, and I’m not sure if there was any problem with them.  Lee Papa mentioned that Taiwanese men started marrying Vietnamese women, so perhaps households were loathe to exploit “their own.”  At any rate, most workers now come from Indonesia.

Whether motivated by an intent to prevent exploitation or to protect Taiwanese menial laborers, the government passed laws restricting who could hire workers from Southeast Asia.  Households may only do so if someone is elderly or disabled.  Because my grandmother has been having knee troubles, my grandparents have hired a worker to help out around the house.  Two years ago, they had Anda, who was boisterous and claimed girlfriends all over Taiwan.  she ran away with one of them.  Because of the labor laws, they had to wait 6 months; then, the agent brought Lily.  Lily was very delicate and didn’t last very long.  She suffered from depression and went home.  Anda was my age; Lily, a couple years younger.  Yesterday, the agent brought Dina.

The interview with my uncle and his wife ranged from more understandable questions like, “Are you going to run away?” to odd/preposterous pronouncements from the agent, “She only looks dirty because she’s dark.”  the agent didn’t strike me as particularly genuine, sharing details of Dina’s life about which she was quite mistaken.  She tried to assure my family that this would be a good fit, but it became clear that she didn’t know much about Dina.

The entire system is exploitative, but my grandparents do need the help, and they treat their employees with respect and care.  at the same time, I don’t feel comfortable having Dina do things for me, as I’m neither old nor infirm.  I left all my laundry until today to do, so I was about 3/4 done this morning when Dina took over.  (I’m slow.)  It’s the guilt thing again.

She calls my aunt tai-tai (wife, or the Chinese equivalent of Madame), my grandparents Grandma and Grandpa, and me jie-jie (older sister).  Which is cute, but she’s 27, so she’s older than I am.  On the other hand, everyone in my family calls me jie-jie, because my mom’s younger sister is cute and affectionate, and she started calling me that.  So, I guess it’s not really a subservient thing.

My uncle, aunt, and cousin went to Kaoshiung today.  Before he left, my cousin talked to the fish: “I’m leaving now.  You guys be good!”  So cute!

–

I don’t think I’ve adequately worked through the power structure thing, but I’ll take a break now to share some pictures.

Here’s what a temple looks like.

TempleI didn’t take pictures inside, but I did take pictures of the god money part.

Burning God MoneyThis was the temple we went to with my maternal grandparents.  My dad’s village is in the mountains, and the temple there is set against this backdrop:

Fu HsinIt’s enough to make you feel spiritual, isn’t it?

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Travel Journal: Taiwan 2009

July 2, 2009 at 3:27 am (Family, Posted by Cindy, Public Transportation, Travels, food)
Tags:

June 28, 2009

2009 is shaping up to be a year of many flights.  1/2 of the flight to Paris, the ones coming back from Paris, to and fro Columbus, and now, Taiwan.  Today’s estimated flight time is 12 hours 28 min; we are supposed to arrive in Taiwan at 9:55PM.  The plan: stay up the entire time, eat everything, drink everything, watch thought-provoking films, world movies, and trashy pleasures.  This should render me physically and mentally exhausted so that I can rest soundly upon arrival.

Now watching: The Watchmen

Followed by Two Lovers

–> bathroom break

~7 hours left

crossword interlude

And now, no video is showing.  might I have broken the feed?  Fail.  Aha.  There is a problem with the system, which they just announced.  At first, I was worried, because in Chinese, they said wo men shu yiao tsong shin chi dong, which i thought meant something was seriously amiss with the plane.  Luckily, the next announcement was in English: We need to reboot.

I’ll jot down some of the highlights of the day, and if the movies don’t start back up when I’m done, I’ll commence with the Oscar Wilde.  (I missed Pride, so it’s the next best thing.)

  • Jon giving me advice
    • Try not to make people hate you
    • You’ll be living with 4 other girls.  Your cycles will sync. So I’ve been told.
    • Watch out for a guy called Louis.  He’s perverted…and smelly…
  • Running into family friends we’ve known since Cleveland who now live in the Bay Area.  Same flight.
  • Man starts talking to us in the waiting area.  Asked how many children Lee Papa and I had.  (Fail.)
  • Man next to me on the plane got moved to better seats (three to himself) so Lee Papa and I get to spread out.  (Win.)
  • The Watchmen-is superhero sex more super?  What’s the back story?
  • Two Lovers-Why settle?  Didn’t Joaquin Phoenix go wonky?

Thoughts on the trip…

  • Not yet packed for Ohio.  Fail.
  • Lee Mama is neurotic.  Clearly, I’m her daughter…

Alright, time for some Wildeing…

July 1, 2009

I read “The Importance of Being Earnest,” (or should plays be underlined?) but then my eyes got really dry, so I thought I’d better take a nap.  I never did get any more movies to play.

-> baggage claim took forever!
-> American lady asked how to call home; she had lived in Taiwan 15 years ago
-> My name is listed wrong in the Taiwanese computers

We finally got back around 11PM and went to sleep.  The room i got seems cleaner than it was last year.  Hm.  I woke up around 8:30 and spent the day watching TV, with interludees helping out with the store and selling peaches.

-> something to look up: movie in French, took place in Japan.  Frenchman and his Japanese daughter.  Male lead looked familiar.

[I did look this up.  It's a movie called Wasabi.]

I wonder if I should read A Picture of Dorian Grey today.  It seems pretty creepy…

Now writing on THSR.  I ended up reading a book on mythology entitled…wait for it…Mythology.  Its author, Edith Hamilton, was apparently a renowned classicist.  This is yet to be confirmed by my classicist friends.

Between yesterday and today, I must have become much tastier, as I now have a multitude of bites and am oddly swollen.  Gross.  (Hand, finger, arms, possibly panty-line, face, feet, ankles…ô, my poor delicate ankles…)

Wow, HSR is freaking fast.  Well, duh, that’s the point.  It’ll take only half an hour to travel from Taoyuan to Taichung.  i feel pretty out of sorts.  First off, I ate too much for breakfast.  In the past, when I felt full, I could soldier on for another 10 minutes.  Now, if I fell full, I fell like throwing up.  Then, i twas hot.  Then, there were all the mosquito bites.  Then, there was the car ride down the mountain.  My intestinal fortitude is lacking these days, so the twists and turns began getting to me, at which point I took a nap.  Now, my eyes are dry, I’m swollen and itchy, and…I cannot go to school today, said little Peggy Ann McKay…

Let’s talk a bit about Asian guilt.  From a young age, I was taught that the home of my father’s childhood is my home.  These are my people, but they don’t know me.  Fewer and fewer in the village recognize my dad each time we go (it’s still a small town, though; many still know him); there is nothing in my visage to mark me as his or my grandmother’s.  Filial loyalty instills love and respect, but going to the mountains makes me uncomfortable.  Then, I am guilty, for I am uncomfortable.

Also up for disucssion- temple.  I’m never quite sure who hears my prayers, and my dad doesn’t really know, either.  I don’t know if he’s paid much attention to these things.  I should ask Lee Mama.

–

So, that’s all transcribed from my travel journal.  I’m now in central Taiwan with my mom’s family.  Perhaps there will be more later, but now, it’s time to eat :D

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Bullet Points

June 6, 2009 at 1:14 am (College, Posted by Cindy)
Tags:

I kind of fail at being articulate right now, so I’ll just update in bullet points.  Much more accesible that way.

  • I just started a Share Site on Shutterfly: http://cindysthousandwords.shutterfly.com
  • In May, I graduated.  Twice!
  • I decided to go to Ohio State…excuse me, The Ohio State University…in the fall for a graduate program in Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology.

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Ohio here I come!

March 12, 2009 at 3:37 am (College, Posted by Cindy, Travels)
Tags: ,

There are quite a few things on the to-do list, including the continuance of the travel journal entries (which exist…just not in electronic form!), Steve Chu stories, and of course, my paper on rum.  The last one probably doesn’t belong on this blog.  Unfortunately, I’ll be holding off on these goodies a little bit longer because this weekend, I’m visiting The Ohio State University and Miami University.

I’ll keep you posted.

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One-liner

February 18, 2009 at 10:59 pm (Posted by Cindy, food)

Pasta will do you in. Absinthe is your friend.

~Mikaela, 2009

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Pandas

February 16, 2009 at 1:34 pm (Family, Posted by Cindy)
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I interrupt the travel updating with a random quote from Lee Mama.  Background information: several months ago, Taiwan got some pandas, so now everyone is extra in love with pandas.  In fact, they’re calling them PAN-da, as opposed to “cat bear,” which is what they’re traditionally called.  PAN = fat.  Hehe.

Anyway, my mother isn’t quite so enamored of pandas.  We weren’t really sure why, until…

Me: Mom, why don’t you like pandas?
Lee Mama: Why would I?
Me: Cause they’re cute!  Everyone loves pandas!
Lee Mama: I know.  It’s annoying.  Everyone thinks they’re so cute.  I think they’re just average.

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