So I've been listening to a few tracks from Dr. Dre and Snoop (old Chronic/Doggystyle tracks and some of the new stuff) and I realize that, though they're great musically, lyrically they're kinda representative of all the negative stereotypes of rap music: drugs, violence, misogyny, etc, without a whole lot of content or value.

I miss grunge music. Not that I listened to it when it was out, but I did discover it in college, and now I'm wondering why people cant make such good, nonsensical music nowadays. Instead they have to have "emotions " (some people have been explaining to me what emo is) and poppy catchphrases and whatnot.

Listening to Nirvana.

Yeah I know its been like a week since I've posted. I've kinda lost track of time now. Work is good, can't really elaborate much at the moment. So hot it's been the last couple days, so very hot. Why, oh why? I won't complain too much, as I prefer this to the cold rainy days we had not too long ago. I'm not really sure about whats going on in the outside world, so I don't have much witty social commentary at the moment. I'm gonna try to get back on track with my blog now though.

Sort of a continuation of the "friends" post from some days back. Do you ever find yourself attracted to people that you know or are pretty sure are wrong for you. Not that they are necessarily bad people or anything (or maybe they are) but you know that you just couldn't (or shouldn't) workas a couple?

Another sign that I'm growing up, in a good way. So before if I was in charge of setting up a presentation and it got screwed up and I got put on the spot and it took a long time to figure out what was happening and it threw off the schedule, I'd be all mortified and what not, but now I'm just like Oh Well and kinda laugh it off. Sure I'd rather it not happen that way, but I really don't care that much (in a good way) -score! Now if only i had my license...

Will Ferrell is quite amusing. Have watched "Night at the Roxbury" (mildly funny) and "Anchorman" (very funny). The impressive thing is that he's funny in different ways in his different skits/movies.

Why must it be cold, rainy?

"Heeee's the one who likes all our pretty songs and he likes to sing along..."-sorry, listening to Nirvana today.

Will come up with a real post soon.

So I was once again reminded that I think I've made friends with some girls primarily because I'm attracted to them. Not that they aren't also cool people or whatever - I don't think I would hang around someone who was completely a jerk just because she was good-looking - but I also have the strong impression that I wouldnt be as interested in some people as friends if somewhere in the back of my mind I wasn't interested in them as more than friends, even though in many or most of these cases I have no actual intention of getting with them or trying to do so. And it seems that an attractive face makes their personalities seem more attractive too ,though I have also had the reverse happen (i.e. a really cool or good person seeming more attractive physically as well) . Back to the question at hand though, is it ok to make friendships based consciously or subconsciously on attraction or no, or does it even matter?

So it was really good being in Cambridge/Somerville/Boston those few days. I got to catch up with several people who i missed last time I was in town (in April, visiting grad school) or just wanted to hang out with more. The Js are always fun. I got to meet the new subletter, who is a nice guy, despite the fact he is now in MY room with the cool gothic lamps :) (you have to see these lamps sometime-they're cool). "Jane" (not her real name), a friend of the Js who is one of our other roommates seems cool-I haven't gotten to interact with her too much yet.

I'm gonna miss the seniors who graduated this year, I hope they (you if you're reading) stay in touch, and I'll try to do likewise.

FYI: I'm at my summer job now, as my previous post mentioned, so I may be posting a little less, but I will try to post every day or two (which would actually be more than what I was doing) so stay tuned.

Hi, i guess I haven't been updating for a few days. I was (an am) out of town. I went up to Boston for a few days and stayed with my old roommates (the Js) and othre folk at our new place in Somerville (or is it Summerville) that we're renting. My room has a subletter for the summer, so I had to sleep on the couch, but he's nice and all so I didn't mind too much. The place is cool-looking forward to the fall.

I got to catch up with some folk while I was there. Hung out with several of the graduating seniors-I'm gonna miss you guys when I come back in the fall. Also saw some folk who will be around when I go back.

now I am back at Camp in maine, where I worked last summer. Most of my actual job hasn't started yet, so I'm just kinda hanging around going over some things, pretty low-key. About 10 or so counselors from last year are here now (they came early to work setting up/fixing up things), but it looks like only about 15 or so people will be returning (not counting admin folk or whatnot)-most of the counselors are new.

anywho, thats the short update-i will probably elaborate on some of this stuff in coming days. stay tuned...

Went to DC today, met up with friend SB (not her real initials). She's someone I met at Yale I think during grad school visit then again at Harvard immediately following (also the person's who's party i did not end up attending, if you've been following this blog). She's cool folk, and we're to be classmates in the fall. We're both interested in Africa related stuff (her more security stuff, me more humanitarian/economic), so naturally we went to the Smithsonian African Art museum (where "went to" means walked around in vain looking for it for 5-10 minutes and getting in the way of middle school tour groups before eventually tracking it down, then accidentally wandered off into other exhibits before finding our way back). Talked about upcoming school, saw cool artifacts and "did you know" info, discussed sketchiness of grad students hanging with undergrads and our upcoming involvement in such activities. Then we walked around the Mall (i.e. the Washington area with all the grass, not a place with stores and a food court with a Cinnabon) and looked at the Capital, until she met up with her friend Tim (not his real name; nice dude, by the way). Got home in time to procrastinate on packing.

So I was really excited about this whole Deep Throat story, even though I was born several years after Watergate and all. Darn Political Science, creeping into my life. I still can't figure out why the reporters chose to name the informant after the porn movie, and my fear of accidentally stumbling on porn sites has limited my internet searches. Let me know if anyone knows for sure.

www.jumptheshark.com is so addictive. Check out the Elmo analysis for Sesame Street.

ok, so i just woke up, so I'll use that as an excuse for what I might say in this blog that I might not say on another day. I just realized that it is about a year since I graduated, and yesterday I realized that I'm the same age (23) that my younger older brother was when I met him 5 years ago in the summer before I started college. What have I accomplished since then.

On one hand, not much. I have a degree from Harvard, as I usually forget, yet haven't had a job since last summer (though I am going back to that place, a summer camp, this summer and got a promotion). My brother was already an entrepreneur (or however you actually spell it) doing his own business stuff by now, and I'm living in my mom's living room. I'm low on cash, have no girlfriend, no drivers license,....

And yet, as I wrote that paragraph, I realize that I'm actually kinda happy. I have a lot of prospects (I'm going back to the place I worked last summer, I'm going to start a PhD program in the fall, girls find me irresistible, Boston has public transportation...). Even if one of those might not be true, life is actually kinda good I guess. Plus I have great family and friends, am healthy (according to all these checkups I've had to do for camp/school/etc), God loves me (He's been good to me).

Yay! Things are good.

So today Common's new album "BE" comes out. For those of you who don't know, Common is an MC from Chicago who's long been hailed as a great if underappreciated artist. Fans had been a little wary of his moves into left field of late (dating Erykah Badu, increasingly unusual style of dress and music), but everyone has been hailing this new album as a classic or near classic. I listened to it a few times on an online preview, and while I initially thought it was good not great, I've liked it more each time I've listened and now think it lives up to the hype.

The album is pretty short-about 43 minutes, 11 songs. Kanye West, a fellow Chi-Town native, produced 9 of those tracks and appears at a few points, mostly on choruses, on the album. Since the album is named BE (which apparently also stands for Basement Elevation, though I'm not sure exactly what that means), I did notice the word "be" and the concept of being throughout the album. I also noticed various songs getting stuck in my head at different points (I won't bias you by telling you which). A few things might be a little problematic for a "conscious" rapper like Common (like the sex fantasies on one of the songs and accompanying girl-filled video), but Common's stuff is deeper and more thought out than a quick glance or listen might reveal (for instance, I wondered about him writing a verse on one song from the perspective of a prostitute, but found out that it is actually based on a conversation he had with a real person). Check it out on www.bet.com/music (you might have to create an account in order to listen).

In case you were wondering, my doctor's visit went fine, and assuming my TB test comes back negative, I seem to be in good health. My bad cholesterol is low and my good cholesterol is appropriately high, and my neutral cholesterol-does that exist? I'm also apparently 5' 6" now-perhaps I should stand up straight more often.

My doctor was a Harvard undergrad who lived in Winthrop house. I would've asked more, but i figured she had other patients to see, and the hospital gown thing did make it a little awkward for striking up conversation.

So I knew I watched Desperate Housewives and I knew I got my mom to watch it too, but I didn't know my dad watches it as well. Not quite the answer to the I-don't-know-much-about-my-dad post.

On unrelated news, I get to go to the doctor at 8:30! tomorrow. Don't worry, just a checkup, unless they find something weird, like they did when I went to the dentist a couple weeks ago (hmm, perhaps I should check that out. It actually is oddly fun when a doctor, or dentist in this case, comes in, looks at your x-ray, and starts talking to the nurse/assistant about how he doesn't know what something is in the picture :)) Will my doctor visit be as fun? time will tell, my friends.

So I've been thinking a bit about Mexican-US and Latino-American relations a little, mainly because of some stuff in the news lately. First there was the issue about banning illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses. I do admit that this particular issue does strike me as kind of weird, considering that illegal immigrants are here, well, illegally, and so it's odd to think about government issuing licenses to non-citizens. Not that it's a bad idea necessarily, but I do see the point of those who oppose these licenses.

Then there was the comment made by Mexican President Vicente Fox that (as it's been translated): "There's no doubt that Mexican men and women -- full of dignity, willpower and a capacity for work -- are doing the work that not even blacks want to do in the United States." Needless to say that didn't go over too well with a lot of folks, and President Fox has backed away and apologized, or almost apologized at least, for this statement.

Yet I did find a grain of truth, kinda, in the statement. What I mean is that, in a lot of ways, Latinos, especially illegal immigrants, have taken up the role formerly played by blacks in the US. In popular wisdom and culture they're expected to do a lot of the menial work, and stereotypes and racism toward them are allowed to be overtly expressed in ways that are no longer socially acceptable (or at least no longer as socially acceptable) to do against blacks.

Even government gets into the act. See, for instance, the so-called Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus: http://tancredo.house.gov/irc/welcome.htm
I was surprised that elected officials in our government could be so, let's say "unthoughtful" in their politics and opinions. Some of their arguments just seem to me to be kinda garbage-see for instance immigration's impact on "Culture" (their entire "argument" is that the amount of immigrants has increased. I guess this is supposed to imply something, but they don't tell you what).

On the other hand you have the President's Guest Worker proposal that he laid out a while back. I haven't evaluated all the aspects of this idea, but the part that disturbs me is the idea of immigrants doing jobs that Americans "refuse to do." While this may be a reality, I am very disturbed that such a social stratisfication would be accepted and endorsed by our leaders. I mean, is this really so different from President Fox's comment? So, basically, some jobs are beneath us but are ok for others (formerly blacks, now Latino immigrants) to do? Ah, America. sigh

I don't know a whole lot about my father's side of the family. I had to fill out some info about him for a medical form i filled out at the doctor's office yesterday. I don't even know how old he is-I wrote my best guest.

I do know how old my half brothers are (28, 38) but still have a lot of blanks with them too. We kinda got off to a late start. I think i met my father around 7th or 8th grade, and have for the most part kept sporadic contact. My brothers I think I met at 18 (my younger older brother, during the summer before college started) and 19 (my older older brother, winter break that year). They're both cool but our relationship is kinda strange. We have the whole brother thing going pretty well (I think they, especially my younger older brother, like having a baby brother) but without any of the history. As far as I know, they don't have any sisters (the previous post was strictly hypothetical-really) or other siblings. And I know bits and pieces about their histories from casual conversation, but haven't really sat them down and gotten all the basics from them. I'm not sure if that's really a big deal or not, but it's a little unusual I guess. I would like to know some more about them in order to relate better, and I feel like we haven't had enough time for them to get to know me really-I haven't quite gotten to the "completely being myself" level with them.

Most of what I know about my dad is from my mom I think, so my info might be a bit one sided (they didn't part on the best of terms i've gathered). I haven't really asked for his side of things (I'm not entirely sure I want to, as I don't necessarily want him to confirm everything my mom has said, and I'm not sure I'd buy it if he contradicted what she's told me instead). Not that I have any animosity against him (do I?), or that my mom wants me to (she's good about not trying to influence my opinion of him, and she likes my brothers) and he has been trying to do the father thing in recent years, within the confines of me already being an adult (did I just say that?-*shudder*) and all. Maybe his version of the whole estrangement thing does make sense. Maybe it doesn't matter now. Is this all weird or not?-I dont have another family to compare it to.

Ok, so suppose you're a guy who has a half brother, and your half brother has a half sister who isn't related to you (or pretend you're a girl and just switch all the "brother"s and "sister"s above). Is it ok to date your half sibling's half sibling? I mean, technically you aren't related, but still....

Watching too many soap operas.