Worry vs. Donuts

I’m writing this mainly in response to Sean O’Mara’s FanimeCon report on Otaku USA’s site.

Remember when you first got into anime fandom? Sure you do - everyone does. Perhaps you’re a younger fan who saw Ash and Pikachu facing off against Team Rocket on a daily basis, or perhaps you watched Robotech in the eighties. Me? I saw a re-broadcast of the oft forgotten 1980 dub of the Galaxy Express 999 movie. The dub was awful, the edits were deliberate… and this 12-year-old geek in training was eager to see more. When I was 16, I finally summoned the courage to head for my local Suncoast Movie Company store and tried asking the clerk if he knew of any other local anime fans or groups. “Yeah,” says the clerk, but before I even have a moment to get excited, he follows his answer with, “but you have to take a test to get in.” A test? What the fuck? “Yeah,” he says. “For starters, do you know who Osamu Tezuka is?” Sure I did, but the notion that I had to take a test to get into a social circle was not something I was about to do. Besides, I had SATs and ACTs to deal with, and that was all the testing I needed in my life at the time. Two years later, I would visit the local Sci-Fi con only to discover that some of the convention fanbase really didn’t want us there (in fact, they didn’t want many other groups there - which is why another con eventually stepped in and is currently running a better show than they ever did). There was an anime viewing room, but it was run out of a cabana party room. The message was clear: you can be geeky, but your geekery is different from our geekery. (Read the article)

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Dear California Students:

I noticed that a bunch of you are upset about the price of education skyrocketing. Yeah, I’m pissed about that too. We live in a weird country; one where our education system is often given the short end of the stick. I could list link after link that questions where our education dollars are going, but you already know things are bad, right? RIGHT? FUCK YEAH, things are bad! Let’s go do something about it! Let’s go join those protests!

Come on!

…what, you aren’t coming?

What’s that? You’re worried about failing? What your parents will say? Oh, you have a midterm to study for. I see…

Hmm… does anyone else see the problem here?

I’ve been listening to students at UC campuses complain about the cuts in funding for months now. Without exception, the story always goes like this:

Me: “Hey, things are looking bad, huh?”

Student: “Yeah, I heard someone in class saying they’ll need to take a second loan since their parents can’t afford the tuition increase.”

Me: “Wow. Did you see any protests?”

Student: “Yeah, down at the student union. A few hundred people, I think. I was scared to join though…”

Me: “Scared?”

Student: “I have midterms! If I don’t go to class, I get an automatic fail! My parents will kill me!”

Let’s think about this line of logic a bit, shall we? The people around me are suffering, things are bad, I feel bad… but oh my god, if I deviate from my normal routine, my parents will kill me! That would suck a whole lot more than my friends having to quit school because they can’t afford it and my TA having to work at Burger King when the funding for their department is cut!”

Yeah, things are bad. People are going to lose their jobs. But Daddy might get mad and I might fail “Philosophy of Human Existence”, so I’m not going to do anything.

Are we out of our minds? I’m not trying to demonize students (I was one until two years ago) - I know that they all mean well - but when did we become so self-centered? I’ve seen many people posting to their Facebook and Twitter (yeah, your 140 characters helps a ton) that they support the protests and hate the funding cuts, but their support ends there. There have been protests, sure, but they are only attended by a small percentage of the student population. I chuckled when I read this story about how many people participated in a protest at UC Davis. My favorite line:

as many as 150 students were at the building protesting the tuition increase

UC Davis has an enrollment of 31,426. That means less than .5% of the student body was at the protest. Do you really think that the UC Regents and Yudof are going to see that and say “OH MY GOD, a group smaller than the number of students at an O-Chem lecture is protesting! We’d better listen!” Uh, no. They aren’t. They are businessmen, they deal in numbers, and the numbers are pathetic. A protest needs to attract the kind of numbers that Picnic Day does if it’s going to really affect things.

I could go on with the sarcasm, but this is no laughing matter. Besides, most of you have probably figured out my point by now, so I’ll just say it.

If these protests are to REALLY succeed - to really have an impact - everyone has to participate. Everyone.

The guy programming all night to earn his CS degree in 3 years? Yeah, he needs to show up.

The girl agonizing over her Physics midterm after retaking the course twice? Yep, her too.

The Asian kid who’s studying for his BA in Pre-Pharmacy because of “asian guilt” put on him by his parents? He DEFINITELY needs to show up! He needs a break anyway. ^_^

I know that people are scared. I know that you’re worried that participating in some kind of “resistance” may affect your entire life. But you know what? All those people that participated in 1960s era campus demonstrations turned out fine. Some of them probably run the companies that you’re studying so hard to get into.

Please, please, please hear me out here. If you want me to come help, just ask, and I will in whatever way I can. The regents won’t listen to me since I’m not a student, but you are the reason they have jobs - they have to listen to you.

Things will get better. We just need to give the whole system a push - together.

-Evan

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Hello all!

So, my plans for the evening (aside from working on TAF stuff and The Gallery) include a trip to the UC Davis Segundo Commons for “Late Night.” Apparently, Late Night is where the commons stays open late so that students can eat and drink a bunch of food (ranging from “healthy” to “grease”) instead of heading to some other eatery for other kinds of food.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I think one of the best things about these places is that you can “choose your own adventure” with the drink machines. This is kind of like russian roulette for your palette, but occasionally you hit upon something that’s actually good.

Some of my attempts, gathered from years of working on college campuses and consuming break room crap:

Lemon Cola: (1 part lemonade, 5-6 parts cola) The idea is that it’s supposed to taste like the “Twist” cola beverages that were around a few years ago. It does - as long as you drink it quickly. If you have access to REAL lemonade from one of those drip machines (In N Out has them), use a little less of it - but it will still taste better.
Verdict: B. Good, but far from perfect.

Sparkling Lemonade: (1 part lemonade, 1.5/2 parts 7UP/Sprite/Lymon) Do you remember Sunkist Sparkling Lemonade? That stuff was the shit. You can make it with these beverages. It usually works best with fakey lemonade (Minute Maid, etc.). Much like the Lemon Cola, you’ll want to drink it sooner so it retains more carbonation.
Verdict: A-. Almost as good as the real stuff.

Break room Mocha: (1 packet cocoa, 2 half and half packets, 6 oz or so coffee) This mess is the closest I’ve been able to get to a decent mocha at work. That is sad, considering that this stuff tastes like you just mixed a bunch of random crap together. Which I did. Shame on me.
Verdict: D+. Needs a whole lot of work.

So, does anyone out there have any random beverage concoctions they want to share?

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12:47 PST: Good afternoon, and welcome to the Election Day blog. Yeah, a funny thing to do when I haven’t touched this thing in months, but what the hell. I’m coming to you from the desk of the Pacific Tradewinds Backpackers Hostel in San Francisco, California. Fun place. Since it’s pretty obvious what we’re pulling for here (No on Prop 8, Obama, fluffy kittens for every American), this blog will mostly focus on the character of people here in the Common Room chatting about the election and life. Ah, there’s the phone. Someone looking for a guest.

Of course, I’m going to be doing 4 other things while doing this, so if there’s no other updates… that’s why. 

RESULTS: None yet. Phooey.

Conversation: we’re talking about how SF will respond if Obama wins or loses. We’re expecting lots of parties if Obama wins, and if he loses… well, we’re preparing for some kind of riot. I’m no good at gun battles, so I guess I just got another reason to root for Obama.

2:51 PM PST: Still waiting for results… but the laundry is done, so no complaints there. 

The locals are planning on heading to a bar somewhere to watch the results come in - we don’t have a TV here in the hostel. 

It’s quiet, so I’m going to take this chance to call Lanny.

7PM PST: As things go Obama’s way, the common room is full of people checking laptops. Ironically, the people who are glued to their laptops most are people from overseas, eager to see how the USA decides this thing. There’s a lone McCain supporter among them; a Japanese woman who thinks that he looks “cooler.” I did my best to explain what Americans think “cool” means to her in Japanese, but I’m not sure if I changed her mind…

People are heading to the bar soon. Things are about to get a lot quieter here.

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The AnimeIowa posts will follow this one. - Ed.

Dear Madison, WI:

We need to talk. I know, I know…that sounds really bad. But we need to chat. Don’t think I have any less love for you - I enjoy all your charming, fun qualities. Hell, I can even appreciate the drunks on State Street for mere entertainment value. However, there’s a serious disservice you are doing to your student population every year in the middle of August. Don’t walk away from me - you know what I’m talking about: Moving Day and Homeless Night. (Read the article)

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FOR YOU, our valued customer. A few serious things followed by some silly ones.

Japan: LDP loses Upper House Majority: やった～！It’s about time.

Rant about Maxim: Some of my friends read Maxim magazine. I read it once, and I still wish that I had the 5 minutes of my life that I spent reading it back. This blog is run by Elliot, a guy I knew growing up in Richfield when I was younger/geekier than I am now. Basically, this article sums up all the stuff about Maxim that makes me weep for humanity. I don’t read the other magazines mentioned either, but it’s still a swell rant.

Anime Expo BLAH BLAH BLAH: Trust me, I’m as tired of the whole “OMG ANIME EXPO IS IN TEH GHETTO WE WILL ALL DIE IN A BALL OF FLAME” rants as you are (or should be). While a lot of people like to whine about AX as if there aren’t any other anime conventions in the world (hint: there are!), it makes me smile when someone actually takes the time to use modern technology and make a handy map of the area, complete with hotels, food, and reference points for mass transit. It doesn’t solve any of AX’s problems, but it does make an attempt to make the best of a bad situation while reminding us that anime fans are an intelligent bunch that will find a way to have a good time even if they scheduled AX at the bottom of the ocean.

And that leads us into the geeky stuff!

Rockman Hare Hare Yukai: Instead of the SOS concert, Anime Expo should have simply shown this thing. Haruhi and Megaman fans should watch this now. The rest of you should watch it… eventually.

8-bit Link: I have infinite respect for this person, since she not only did the masquerade, but participated in Anime Improv IN the Link outfit. Considering the small size of the halls at AI last year, that’s quite an accomplishment.

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Papers, projects, sights, sounds, and so forth.

Enjoy!

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There’s no way to begin this post without sounding like a raging mass of emotional nerves. So I’ll dress the part. *puts on emo makeup* Feel free to play the Cure song of your choice as you read this: Spring 2007 taught me just what a “bad situation” is. This isn’t to say that I didn’t have fun or didn’t enjoy day to day life. It just means that this past semester was really tough. *removes makeup* Okay, you can turn off The Cure now. Feel free to listen to something else. I’m listening to Epik High myself. Korean Hip-hop is neat.

Fortunately for me, I also had a lot of fun this semester. I hung out with friends, fell down on volleyball courts, visited California, cycled all over the place, and befriended cats at local coffee shops through generous offerings of milk and hot chocolate.

So what are the highlights? Well, for that you’ll want to (Read the article)

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- Last time there was a major school shooting, video games took the blame. Now we are addressing someone who has lived in the United States for 15 years as “South Korean” as if his nationality was what made him act that way. Was anyone looking for evidence of racial bias in the 21st century? You’ve got lots of examples now!

- Signs that society is a little messed up: Headlines as displayed on Yahoo, in order: “Virginia Tech Shooting Rampage” is followed by “The Night the Blackberry went dark.” So while we’re mourning people, let’s all remember the pitiful rich people who can’t use their overpriced toys. Extra irony points: In his video “manifesto”, the person who went on a shooting rampage at VT was complaining about rich people who are never satisfied.

Talk about depressing. We need some kittens, stat.

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Don’t worry if the next sentence makes no sense.

Back from California! The trip went well. I am single again though. Congratulations to all my friends who got engaged in the past month! The following is a California rant. Click on the link for more.

(Read the article)

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