Cyberhood vs neighborhood

Though I'm pretty technically savvy, I'm still a luddite of sorts when it comes to online communication. I have a history of doing this. I just prefer straight up talking to someone, preferably face to face, over any other form of communication. I avoided ext messaging like the plague until I was forced to come to terms with the fact that it wasn't just a passing fad. Anyway, long story short, I never really cared for any form of electronic communication method. The literal distance between people connected through an internet community reduces the bond between its members. I believe that a virtual community is a kind of surrogate for a type of interaction you are missing in real life. The class project was a little different though, in that we were all members ofa virtual community and a real one. What I observed is that we saw each community as separate entities. I know I never payed as much attention to what anyone wrote as much as I would have if we were talking. I strongly believe that online communities exist to fill needs people can't meet in their real lives.

Rickrolled... Again

Well, if anyone here used youtube today, you may have realized that if you click on any of the featured videos you get rickrolled to a video of Rick Astleys "Never gonna give you up"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI - Rick Astley "Never gonna give you up" "RickRolling" is when someone misdirects you through a link or some other means to the aforementioned video, thereby "RickRolling" them. Rickrolling became extremely popular on the internet and is now pretty much everywhere. Today my friend Rickrolled me over the phone using a new service from prankdialer.com. For those of you imagining using this to rickroll your friends, seeing their confused looks as they hear the infamous song on their cell phones, hold up. The website has gotten so popular that it crashed from insufficient bandwith, it may be back up later so if you want to Rickroll someone, heres your chance!

By the way, the article on homesickness below is a boring read, skip it and read the one about armchair politics!

Homesickness

I've never been prone to homesickness, but I have to admit that I've been feeling a yearning of a certain sort for home recently. Funny thing is, even though I miss my friends and would love to talk to them, I totally forget to. All the time. Seriously, I don't know why I forget all the time. I tell myself after I receive a text or a missed call that I'll call them back later, when I'm not so busy(I greatly prefer talking to someone to texting). Then I just never get around to it. It's not that I'm too busy or anything. I seriously want to talk to these people, but I just don't. What the hell, yeah? Well, my resolution this week is to handle this; call up the poor folks I've been neglecting and have a nice long chat with each of them. That'll brighten up our day.

Have a great one,

Tory

Pondering Armrest Politics

Ok, I admit, the leprechaun plot caption was just to get your attention, but stick around anyway :)

Well folks, lets be honest here. Though most of us would like to think that our lives are governed by free will, and that we are independent. Neither of these statements are true. Most of our interactions are governed by rigid, unspoken social rules which are taught to use through observing others as we grow up. This is evident whenever we are in a situation which we don't consciously know the correct action for. I'm going to talk about of a situation we've all been in multiple time before, and I'll list the things that you, I and everyone else did (and continue to do).

The Situation: sitting next to a stranger. Between the two of is a single armrest. Seemingly, only one of you can have that extra measure of comfort that comes with having the shared armrest.

Options:

A: Put your arm there first, and keep it there, in case the person next to you decides on option C(see below)

B: Give it up to the other person; Why even try?

C: Engage in a game of cutthroat armrest chess. Snatch it when the other person reaches for popcorn, discover that he reclaimed it as you were stretching. Repeat the process. If this option is chosen, I can guarantee that even if that armrest changes possession 20 times over the course of the movie, flight or whatever, neither of you will speak to the other regarding the armrest. It's an unspoken rule, closer to a law, really. You will both leave where ever you were with a deep feeling of resentment toward the other person, and will proceed to complain to your friends about him/her.

D. The thing where you kind of share a armrest, but no one is really satisfied. One persons elbow goes on the back half, while the other persons forearm rests on the front.

E: Most people will never have to experience the freakiness that is option E. Option E is not so much a option(read: Choice) as a surreal experience that you have been sucked into.

Examples of E type incidents :

1. http://youtube.com/watch?v=k1MHY_AFNAM

2. Having someone choose the urinal next to you when there are 5 other urinals not being used.

3. Someone completely circumvents the list of options for the armchair situation, and does something odd instead, like puting his hand on the other persons leg when the other person holds onto teh armrest(I know someone who has done this), or having a stranger ignore the generally obeyed concept of persona space and put their arm over yours when you have the armrest(this has been done to me)

4. Or my personal favorite, someone spontaniously break into song. Not just a singing it quietly to themselves either, I mean full blown musical theatre in public(This has happened to me).

This is a pretty good example of it - "Food court musical" (My favorite part is when the janitor arrives)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkYZ6rbPU2M


Anyways, I'm finishing this up after I started it a while ago, so I forget what my original purpose to writing this was. I'm pretty sure it was well thought out and even possible interesting.

Oh well, See you folks later

Tory

I just saw this and I had to put it up. I almost cried when I read this. I mean, it says "LOOK AT THIS DOG!" for crying out loud.

UFC 82

Disclaimer: I know that a lot of you probably aren't into mixed martial arts, so you can just skip over this post if you feel like it. Rest assured that I did the same to some of your posts too :).

Well, I watched UFC 82: Pride of a champion earlier tonight at my friends place, so I guess I'll talk about that for a bit. Keep in mind that my focus kind of tends to jump all over the place, so don't expect this blog to be mma (mixed martial arts) focused. But if you read my previous posts, I guess you wouldn't really expect that anyway.

Anyway, UFC champion Anderson Silva continued his dance of devastation(I mean the guy literally dances after he kicks the crap out of opponent) through the middleweight ranks of the UFC. His latest victim was top middleweight Dan Henderson, former Olympic wrestler and top middleweight(and light heavyweight). Henderson is the only person to simultaneously possess championship belts in 2 different weight divisions( light heavyweight:205 pounds and middleweight:185 pounds). Silva submitted Henderson via rear naked choke with less than ten seconds left in the 2nd round. I believe it was a dominating performance by Silva. Henderson did however control the first round, but caused next to no damage to Silva as he controlled him on the ground. In the 2nd however, Silva forced a takedown from Henderson with a knee delivered from the clinch. Hurt, Henderson shot in, but Silva countered it and took top position. Henderson then gave up his back while Silva locked in a body triangle, solidifying his position while peppering Henderson with punches. He then locked in the classic rear naked choke. Now, at this point I was saying, "Dan ain't done yet", and as I predicted, Henderson peeled the arm of Silva off of the back of his head, loosening the choke. Silva then switched to a gable grip version of the rear naked choke, and I knew Dan was done.
Well, in summation, Anderson Silva just dismantled one of the best fighters in the sport. I have no idea who can beat him at 185 at the moment.

A short update

I got back one of my midterms, the one I thought I did great on. Well, the pattern seems to be holding, I got a C on it when I was expecting a high B to a low A. The people adjacent to me in class had worse scores, so maybe the teachers just a tough grader. I really didn't expect it since she's usually so chill while teaching. On a positive note, I got a package from home which contained, among other things, my favorite Godzilla movie, Godzilla: Final War. It stars Don Frye, a legendary MMA fighter who looks just like Tom Selleck in Magnum PI, in a supporting role. The funny thing is, every other character in the movie speaks japanese except for him, he speaks english throughout the whole movie. He also brawls with aliens and tries to attack Godzilla's big toe with a sword. Its pretty awesome.

By the way, here's one of the fights that made Frye an MMA icon. He fights Yoshihiro Takayama(Whose primary talent is absorbing incredible amounts of punishment) in a (in)famous fight in PRIDE fighting championships.

Caution: like in most mma fights, faces are being punched
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3tm3a_pride-don-frye-vs-yoshihiro-takayam_sport

See you later,
Tory

Introducing...

You know what? I'm just going to be honest right from the beginning. Fact one: I'm a talkative guy, and it sometimes (Read: often) shows in my writing as well. Fact two: I just woke up about 45 minutes ago and my brain is totally not functioning at 100% right now. So, a talkative person who is still groggy from waking up could quite possibly equal a long, rambling, nonsensical story for you guys. If it turns out that way, let me apologize in advance.

(Note: I was too tired to even post a load of nonsense so I saved the above text for later, which I'm now finishing. It's around 10:45 and I'm pretty alert... So now I don't have an excuse for my writing...)

Anyway, whats going on? ...Well, I've got a midterm coming up in my pre-modern India class which I'm almost certainly not ready for. You see, this weeks pretty much been my own personal hell week. I had a midterm on monday which I spent the whole weekend studying for. After I finished it, I got that pleasant feeling you get when you really feel like you've accomplished something or when you get a piano pulled off your chest. However, in my next class I was informed that I had a midterm on friday, and in my last class of the day I found out that I had another midterm on wednesday. That sure took the wind out of my sails.

It's almost thursday and I think I pretty much nailed the midterm I had today on the head. Unfortunately, I'm the confident type, to a fault really. I pretty much think I ace every test, until I get the test back and see my real score. So it may not be a good thing that I'm feeling so good about this test. Oh well, life goes on.

Random things:

Songs I have stuck in my head:

Poe: Hey Pretty(Drive-by 2001 mix) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgSwRIZmBag

Scandal: The Warrior - http://youtube.com/watch?v=jC-BWHAiYYA

Fuel: Hemorrhage(In my hands) - http://youtube.com/watch?v=2K4B7s2njvo

Well, that looks to be a deal bigger than 150 words.

See you later,
Tory