Being Human

So the other day at work I assisted a handicapped woman out to her truck with her groceries. Not only was it my job but I was happy to do so. My grandfather and father were disabled at the end of their lives, and I just have respect for people in general (until you do something to make me lose it for you as a person, not a group). As I was loading her stuff inside, she told me she appreciated my patience with her. While that made me feel good, I was also a bit sad. Had she faced people before who were jerks about her situation? If so, was it often? And the idea that this one woman, who I didn't know and wasn't sure was a "regular" customer (not that it matters, but they emphasize treating regs well) had faced such jerks made me angry.

People are people. I wish we could stop judging on appearances and brief observances and just be nice to each other. Yes, some people are asshats and douchebags, but aside from them, most folks are cool and sometimes legit need our help. I wish I could see the older lady using a walking chair thing to get home and offer to help her, not fearing some weirdo might appear or be her.

I did help a woman back in 2006 like this. I was going to my car in the next parking lot over from my store when I ran into this woman who had locked her keys in her car. She asked if I could drive her to her house, which was just up the street and near my grandma. Me, being 20 and naive and nice, helped her out and was rewarded with $5 for gas and time, which was not needed but appreciated. I had class coming up but helped anyway because she needed it.

But sadly the world is not so nice and simple and rewarding. I wish to help as many people as I can in my time in what ever way is available to me. I just hope that folks don't have to feel bad or be exposed to more jerks. Usually people who are sick and/or disabled are treated like shit anyway. There is no reason to make it worse.

Just live by the golden rule and don't suck and fail at being a decent human being.

GSD Family Tree (Part II)

Allon = first well-known trainer from Pallet
Theodore = Oak patriarch
Abel = mayor of Pallet
Theodore = headmaster of Pallet's postal service
Samuel = researcher/professor
Robin = Sam's wife, Gary's grandma; met Sam in university
Reed = their only son; works for Silph Co.
Kathy = Reed's wife, Gary's mom; also works for Silph

Reed and Kathy basically dump Gary with Samuel and don't spend much time visiting him as they travel a lot for their jobs.

GSD Family Tree

Katherine = Marcellus' second wife; genius but often unethical scientist
Petrea = their daughter, who chases after a boy from an odd family
Minerva = Madame Boss, founder of Team Rocket and Giovanni's mother; connected to Samuel Oak
Devon = from Pallet; returns from Almia, marries Melia, and disappears on a journey
Melia = Delia's mother; opens the Pallet House and dies while Delia is with Team Rocket
Misty et al's parents = former gym leaders who died in Sinnoh when Misty was young
Tivoli = Tracey's father, who lives in the Orange Islands
Emi = Tracey's sister who adores him and lives with their dad

Comment Win XV

Right?

From this Cracked article.

You Know You Have a Problem When...

...your younger brother asks you to help with a science video, and your response is, "You're ruining my Pokemon experience" just because you are watching, finally, the Pokemon Origins English sub videos on YouTube.

Almost as bad as when your mom is making dinner and the only reason you quit playing Pokemon X is that your 3DS's battery is on red. And you're 27.

And these both happened within the last 24 hours.

I need to get into grad school soooo bad.

FB Post I Am Reluctant to Actually Post

Okay, folks, normally I don't do this because I respect other people's beliefs whether they are political or religious because everyone has the right to think how they want.

But...

Why is it that every time I visit a page that is primarily fueled by sentiments against the president all I see and read is either racist bulls**t and/or just plain misinformation? I mean, fine, dislike his policies. Goodness knows I didn't agree with much of what Pres. GW Bush did. But I never called him Hitler or said much of the crud that, from what I have observed, mostly white folks say about Pres. Obama.

So fine. If you don't like Obama's policies, cool. I can totally respect that, and we can have an honest and open debate about the future of our country. But if you say dumb s*** that is so thinly veiled as racism or simply plain stupidity just because a black man is in the White House, fuck you. And yes, I didn't censor that on purpose.

Yes, FUCK YOU, you racist assholes hiding behind free speech and dissent who know crap about what the president has actually done and has failed to do because Congress has blocked him at almost everything he has tried. Does he have his own failures? Most definitely. You can call them out all you want, and I won't argue because I am not a blockheaded sheep. I would still rather have Pres. Obama than any of the other massive failures the GOP has put out recently. Considering he won twice and by huge margins each time, I would venture that the majority of America agrees with me. (And don't even get me started on "voter fraud").

Change sure sucks, doesn't it? But guess what? That's exactly the nature of culture. So for all of those sad, sad white people lamenting the loss of the country they never truly owned (after stealing it from the natives and all), too bad, so sad, get over it.

Most of the rest of us have. You stupid assholes.

Pokemon X Team

Thus far, at almost eight hours into the game and with only one badge so far though I have reached the next gym, this is my team:

Froakie (female, level 23) (water)
     water pulse
     round
     bubble
     quick attack

Pikachu (female, level 22) (electric)
     thunder wave
     thundershock
     quick attack
     electro ball

Charmander (male, level 23) (fire)
     scratch
     dragon rage
     ember
     smokescreen

Pancham (female, level 20) (fighting)
     slash
     karate chop
     arm thrust
     work up

 Fletchling (male, level 24) (normal/flying)
     roost
     agility
     flail
     peck

Tyrunt (male, level 21) (rock/dragon)
     bide
     stealth rock
     bite
     charm

I just turned my jaw fossil into Tyrunt aka REX, but I like his moves, stats, and types so I switched him into rotation and took Torchic (male, level 25) out. I didn't need two fire types at this point, and he was growing too fast and outclassing the others big time since he was a gift from Nintendo.

So yeah. Not that anyone cares, but I want to record my journey this time around.

Comment Win XIII

 From this video.

Most 90s kids will remember using AOL and waiting painfully for it to connect to the local number. Good times.

Until someone picked up the phone.

GOODBYE

GS Distress Timeline (Minor Spoilers)

1943 Marcellus Hakubi, Minerva Sakaki, Samuel Oak, Robin Melia, Devon Ketchum born

1954 Miyamoto born

1959 Samuel enters Celadon University early

1962 Samuel obtains undergrad degree; begins graduate studies

         Marcellus Hakubi transfers from uni in Sinnoh to Celadon

         Minerva starts there as well

         Sam, Marcellus, Robin, and Minerva become friends

1964 Marcellus and Minerva marry

         Giovanni Sakaki-Hakubi born

1965 Marcellus graduates while Minerva drops out; they start a
         business

         Sam and Robin marry

         Devon Ketchum returns to Pallet and marries Melia

1966 Reed Oak born

         Delia Ketchum

1967 Marcellus leaves his family and returns to Sinnoh

         Minerva takes on alias of Madame Boss and founds Team
         Rocket

         Samuel becomes a doctor in his field

1971 Miyamoto joins Team Rocket

1975 Jessie born to Miyamoto, James to wealthy family

1980 Mewtwo project begins as quest for Mew; GS Ball commissioned

         Liz's father, part of TR, meets her mother

1981 Miyamoto goes missing; Jessie is put into foster care

1982 Delia begins studying under Professor Oak

         Brock Slate, Tracey Sketchit born

1984 While doing research, Delia meets Giovanni, joins Team Rocket

         Liz's father quits

1985 Liz born; her mother dies shortly after

         Gio and Delia become engaged; shes leaves him and returns to
         Pallet

         Madame Boss retires, leaving TR to her son, who becomes
         Viridian's gym leader

1986 Misty born; Gary Oak born (April)

         Ash Ketchum born (May 22)

1987 Robin Oak dies, leaving Sam in a depression; his lab suffers

1990 Liz's father murdered to frame Giovanni; MB steps in to prevent
         this and arranges for Liz to be raised by Johto family

         Daisy, Violet, Lily, and Misty's parents die in accident in Sinnoh

1993 Jessie and James join TR, meet Meowth

1996 Tracey leaves home to become a watcher

         Brock becomes the Pewter gym leader when his mom leaves
         and his dad becomes a hobo

         Misty obtains her trainer's license but doesn't leave home yet

1997 Ash, Gary, and two other trainers from Pallet receive their
         licenses, leave Pallet

         Ash meets Pikachu, Misty, Team Rocket, and Brock (April)

1998 Ash earns his final badge (April)

         Ash comes in the Top 16 at the Indigo Conference (June)

         Ash, Misty, and Brock leaves for the Orange Islands; Brock
         stays with Prof. Ivy

         Ash and Misty meet Tracey and Lapras

         Ash becomes the Orange League Champion (October)

         Ash, Misty, and Tracey return to Pallet with the GS Ball

         GSD events occur

1999 Gary competes in Johto at the Silver Conference, quits training
         to do research (June)

         Misty's sisters leave on a cruise; she becomes gym leader

2000 The sisters return, but only Daisy helps out around the gym

         Tracey and Daisy begin dating

         Max Sakaki and Abby of TR begin a journey in Johto

2001 Brock decides to pursue a career in Pokemon medicine

         Max, using an alias, competes in the Silver Conference (June)

2002 Max competes in Hoenn at the Ever Grande Conference;
         recalled to TR base for more training (June)

         Cerulean Gym obtains distinction as top-rated gym in Kanto

2003 Gary stays in Cerulean while he investigates declining number
         of water Pokemon off of the cape; he and Misty fight but
         form a strange friendship; he leaves for Sinnoh

2004 Neo comes to Madame Boss and they hatch a plan (January)

         GSD II events occur (April)

         Marcellus and Giovanni decide to work out father/son
         relationship

         Gio and Delia decide to work on their relationship

         Ash refuses Gio's tries but forgives his mother, begins seeing a
         doctor for his split mental personalities

         Ash finds out that his league record as Max is under review

         Tracey begins seeing Zoe

(next 3 months...)

         Ash reconnects with his old Pokemon and gets closer to Misty,
         who stays in Pallet

         Gary leaves for Sinnoh

         Ash trains often and hard

         Ash's record is cleared, and his achievements stand (July)

         Ash, Misty, Tracey, and Zoe leave for Sinnoh

         LIH series occurs

Comment Win (Revived)

 From this article.

Bad Night Turned Okay

So I was having a crappy night. My brother used most of my gas (again), and I had to go to work in the evening for only three hours (when I have to drive 20 miles to get there and 20 more to get home). I was not happy, even after listening to my "happy" playlist loud for about ten minutes after hearing the news on NPR, which I like a lot.

But AHA! One man asked if we still carried disposable cameras, which sadly we do not. The push for digital has destroyed that medium so well in so many places, even though plenty of people can still benefit, like kids going on a field trip where the parents either don't have or don't want them to use a digital camera. At first I just thought it was odd, but then later, another lady asked for a flashlight, bug repellant, and....a disposable camera. For her daughter who was going to a science camp for three days. I asked my regular customer as I was helping her choose a flashlight what grade her child was in, and it turns out she was in sixth. Then it it hit me. The sixth graders of the Etiwanda School District still go on that three-day trip me and my friends went on back in 1998, the fabled trip that we had heard about for so long and that cost the parents of those lucky enough to afford it $150.

Awesome.

I remember the cabins (same gender, of course). I remember the amazing dining hall where my tablemates drank shakes 'til we all got headaches. I remember the night hike and eating mints, which sparked in the dark as we all learned how to work together while we walked with our hands on each others' shoulders and our eyes closed. I remember the time we all made creatures and had to come up with their biology and habitat. I remember Dana Point and dissecting squids to find out which sex they were.

I remember taking showers and sharing with the nearby cabin. I remember having to hide the fact that I still wet the bed, even with medicine. I remember the lie my dad told me to tell anyone who asked about my medicine (some sinus problem). I remember feeling bad that I almost admitted to some girls that I washed my hair every day (a trait passed on to me by my dad, something I later questioned whether or not contributed to my questioned OCD personality).

But mostly I just remember how much fun it all was, even fifteen years later. So I hope all of the kids leaving early tomorrow enjoy the heck out of themselves. I came home with a sunburn and so many memories and so much knowledge. I wish more kids could have a a similar experience. It really started me on my way to liking science. If trips like this can inspire more kids to find their passion, that would be great. Life is too great to not experience and enjoy, even that young.

Life Things

Just a little blurb.

You know your life is boring when finally getting to try out the new dandruff shampoo you got on clearance from the grocery store you work at is the bright spot of your day off.

And it smells so nice.

Personal History Statement

There are many reasons why a person may wish to obtain a graduate degree. These can range from economic reasons to purely personal ones. For me, my desire to earn a graduate degree stems from several places such as familial, economic, social, and personal, and it will also allow me to teach in underrepresented areas where quality educators are especially needed.

The first reason for my pursuit of an advanced degree is that I will be the first person in my family to attain such a distinction. While my mother has an Associate Degree and my father and grandparents had some college, no one has come as far as a graduate degree. I would like to reach that goal for myself and to make them proud. Also, having an advanced degree is integral to financial security in these times. My family always struggled to pay the bills, even with my mother's education. A graduate degree of course does not guarantee anything, but it is still very important. Aside from these reasons, it has also always been my ultimate goal along with obtaining a teaching credential. Those two go hand in hand as having an M Ed will provide better job security as a teacher in these especially tough times.

Having a graduate degree will also make me a better, more prepared, and more informed educator. Part of the reason I was at Chaffey College for so long was my love of learning, and this translated over to UCR. Then in an upper division education class, I got to learn from and interact with a graduate student. The same is true for a few of my other classes, and this showed me how much more there was to learn. Graduate studies will only build on my current knowledge base, which will feed my love of learning and also make me a better teacher and even person.

With such a degree, I plan on serving communities that are high-needs. When I first began Chaffey College, I was fresh out of high school and ready to tackle the path to becoming a teacher. My idea of being a teacher was based solely on what I had experienced in what I call my bubble. I had great teachers, went to good schools, and had supportive family and friends. However, as my time at Chaffey progressed and when I set foot onto UCR's campus, this changed in me. I saw how not everyone had my opportunities and realized that I was very fortunate. This changed view has made me want to teach in those communities that are under-served and underrepresented. It is important to have good teachers in all areas, but it is especially important to have them in high needs places, particularly in math and my specialty of science.

As stated above, my reasons for obtaining a graduate degree include financial security, personal and familial pride, and the want to further improve myself so I can be the teacher I need to be. With this degree, I will take my skills and knowledge and use them to work in the places quality teachers are needed most so I can help as many students as I can not just with school but with anything else they need.

(My Real) Statement of Purpose

I am pursuing a Masters in Education and a single subject teaching credential, which will allow me to teach in the public school system. Specifically I want to obtain an M. Ed. with a general education teaching emphasis and become authorized to teach foundational science courses as well as my specialty of biology. My career objectives are tied to much of what I learned and experienced at UCR as I would like to teach in underserved communities. Those children and parents need as many voices fighting for them as well as quality teachers who will work hard to educate their students. I also understand that there are many problems in our public education system, and I want to work with fellow educators, administrators, parents, and community members to solve these complicated and ongoing challenges. Not only do I plan on being a teacher but also a leader and a voice for my students.

Over the course of my academic studies, I have been recognized for my hard work and committment in many ways. Over my five years at Chaffey College, I was placed on the Dean's Honors List in several semesters. I graduated with Honors from Chaffey College and High Honors from UCR. Also at UCR I was on the Dean's Honors List in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences in every term I completed from Winter 2010 through Spring 2011. Although there was no list for Summer Session in 2010, I received a 4.0 in 12 quarter units. For the academic year of 2010-11, I was placed on the Chancellor's Honors List. In December 2010, Golden Key International Honour Society indcuted me as a member. In June 2011, I received the same honor from Phi Beta Kappa by the Iota of the University of California at Riverside. I was also selected to be a Community College Intern for the Copernicus Project at UCR in 2008.

Although I have never been formally employed by an education or tutoring service, I have had experience in my personal life. As a student, I have led study groups with fellow classmates, which allowed me to learn how to help others understand material and be successful. I have also tutored friends and colleagues in subjects ranging from GED preparation to economics to biology. Again, this has been good practice for growing and refining my communication and teaching skills that will further be improved upon in the Graduate School of Education's program. Finally, I was able to give a guest lecture to a ninth grade science class as the final part of my education course at Chaffey College. For this, I incoportated level-appropriate material and information from my own research in populations biology to introduce them to biomes, the next unit of their class. Although this was done in a lower-division course, the standards for that class rivaled my experience in crafting a lesson plan in my upper division education course at UCR.

Comment Win XI

The Marine who wrote this editorial is obviously insecure about himself and uses this as a flimsy reason to argue why women, who have been serving in combat already without the recognition, should not serve in combat. And I love this response. Made me LOL.

Comment Win X

From HuffPo.

What makes this even better is the Kristen Stewart bashing. Sorry but the chick cannot act.