Controlled Chaos

E-mails from an Asshole.

These were good for a few laughs, though I remember Ted Nancy’s “Letters from a Nut” as being infinitely better.

America has thrown a lot of work and stress at me, but I have overcome; in other words, I’m doing pretty well. I have been traveling in America – Montana, Yellowstone, the Tetons, Wyoming, the Upper Green, Utah, the Land of Marmots (SLC), Colorado, Fort Collins, and the open road. Now I am in my old college town to work on my thesis.

This weekend I will go back to St. Louis to see my family. Then on August 11th, I will drive with Ken, another ETA, to New York City, where I will be teaching this year.

To clarify for my Indonesian friends, I won’t be coming back to Indonesia this year.  For better or worse, there are some things I must attend to in America this year, not the least important of which is attaining my Masters degree in Teaching. I am already taking the first of four classes remaining to attain that degree. With it, I plan to apply for a Fellowship in the hopes of returning to Indonesia and working on educational reforms. I might even stay for two years (perhaps even in Makassar!) if I do that.  As my friends and family in Majene would say, “Insya Allah!”

I’ll give more details about my trip soon, when I get time to type them up.

Scientists track penguin poop from space – CNN.com

Penguins are like ninjas, hiding in the shadows.  But their poop is not a ninja.  You can see penguin guano (yeah, guano!) from space!  This method has allowed scientists to identify 10 new colonies!

Behold, the power of poop.

I was always a Blues fan growing up.  I remember the days of Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, and Curtis Joseph.  It’s cool to know why they fell off and how they made the comeback!

The Blues made 25 straight playoff appearances from 1980 to 2004. But throughout this amazing streak, the team could never reach the promised land of a Stanley Cup try. After the lockout, the new salary cap made the Blues realize they would have to bid farewell to key stars. In doing so, St. Louis knew rough seasons would follow, including three straight years of missing the playoffs. But with bad seasons come high draft picks. The Blues’ front office has done a great job drafting, and because of this, Hockey’s Future has ranked the Blues’ prospects number one in the NHL.

Back in the playoffs this year, the 2009 draft is another chance for the Blues to add to their prospect pool, albeit from the middle of the room instead of the front.

via Blues 2009 draft preview – Hockey’s Future.

Associated Press: Energy Department signs off on Ill. FutureGen site

This was in farm news a month ago when I was in Mattoon, where my mom’s side of the family lives.  I guess it’s been confirmed.  Maybe I should be happy for Mattoon, but is there really such a thing as clean coal?

Parts of America have felt dreamy:  washing my toothbrush in the faucet, sleeping without mosquito nets, seeing prices in 3 digits instead of 5…but on the all, I have been moving around enough that the reverse culture shock hasn’t dragged me down much.  Sometimes I feel dreamy because my sleep timer and internal thermostat are just so far off.  Needless to say, I’m still adjusting…

Right now it is 12:34:56, 7/8/9.  Cool, no?

This is a pretty good explanation of the Indonesian language…!

Indonesian | Language Resource Center

My first job was as a Teach For America Corps Member in the Bronx. As a member of the Department of Education, part of my benefits included full insurance coverage. Following that experience, I was granted a Fulbright scholarship, so I moved to a small Muslim fishing village in Indonesia. As part of the Fulbright package, I received full medical insurance. Thus, in the three years since I left college, I have been insured. I arrived back in America two weeks ago, and am currently UNINSURED. I lost my glasses in a rainstorm, and won’t be able to replace them until I get a job. Due to the current economic climate in New York City schools, that may be months. But it’s just glasses, right? Wrong. The year before I left, my brother was officially declared to be in remission from rhabdomyosarcoma, a pediatric cancer. He’s a year and a half younger than me. And just last year, my grandmother was diagnosed with bone cancer, which she has now “defeated.” Statistically speaking, there is a decent chance I may at some point in my life be diagnosed with cancer. And as I am currently unemployed (by no fault of my own!) until schools start hiring again, I am in the awkward and risky position of being uninsured and at-risk for cancer. A public health care option would have covered me as a teacher and a scholarship recipient. It also would cover my during these interstitial periods, and that’s more important than people realize. And not because I need my glasses immediately (actually, I do), or because I need to get in to see a dentist (I do – because I didn’t go see an Indonesian dentist, and was there for 10 months), but rather because the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the onset of any cancerous cells in my body won’t somehow magically be tagged to the days that I happened to be uninsured. A public option doesn’t make margins finding ways to deny the claims of honest, hard-working Americans like myself who work in a day and age when having one job forever seems less and less realistic.

Jonthon – Morningside, NY | BarackObama.com

via Issues: `Miss Indonesia is to learn Indonesian’ | The Jakarta Post.

The newly crowned Miss Indonesia Karenina Sunny Halim might have amazed people with her fluent English, but surprised just as many with her poor Indonesian. On the final night of the Miss Indonesia pageant last week, Kerenina needed a translator to help her understand the judges’ questions.

Karenina admits this is a weakness but has promised to improve her Indonesian language skills. “It’s been hard for me to speak Indonesian, because I use English every day,” says the half-American woman. “But I will learn. Indonesian is an easy language, as long as we’re willing to learn.”

wow…this says a lot about the elite status of English in Indonesia.  Also, she’s blasturan campuran, which is like a pre-requisite for wining a beauty competition over there, and that makes me sad… =/