Do you see the dancer turning clockwise or counter-clockwise?
I didn't even understand the point of this at first. Obviously she was turning clockwise. She couldn't be doing both at the same time. This wasn't a test of left brain versus right; it was a test of whether you knew which way a clock turned.
But then my brother told me he was able to flip her on command, after initially seeing her turn clockwise as well. So I gave it another look, and after a couple of minutes of frustration, lo and behold, she was turning counter-clockwise! How in hell...
I still see her turn clockwise initially, but if I focus on a specific area (no, not there), she flips. Amazing.
These are the left and right brain functions. Left = counter-clockwise, right = clockwise. Interesting that I'm supposedly right-brained. Bizarre, really. I think most would say I was left-brained by a long shot, given the following. What are you?
LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic detail oriented facts rule words and language present and past math and science can comprehend knowing acknowledges order/pattern perception knows object name reality based forms strategies practical safe
RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling "big picture" oriented imagination rules symbols and images present and future philosophy & religion can "get it" (i.e. meaning) believes appreciates spatial perception knows object function fantasy based presents possibilities impetuous risk taking
Chang's 3rd Law of Human Behavior The first step to overcoming a bad habit is becoming hyper-aware of it.
That's just my fancy appropriation of G.I. Joe.
My first year at Google, I went through presentation training that included a videotaped session, and it was a godsend. I was horrified by the number of ums I managed to utter in a three-minute presentation. Every damn sentence started with an um. I never even realized I was doing it. But once the problem got shoved in my face, I was able to quickly overcome it.
Now I'm facing a much tougher challenge. On Thanksgiving, I was picking on Leslie for her funny Canadian accent (redundant, I know). Offense is OH-fence instead of AW-fence. Against is uh-GAINst instead of uh-GHENst. And let's not even get into about, hey?
Naturally, this led to a discussion of my own quirks, and much to my surprise, I was told that I peppered my speech with like and you know. Hmm, I had never noticed this before...
But thereafter, every time I spoke, I was totally self-conscious of the fact that I was indeed using like or you know at least once or twice per sentence, sometimes more! It was true! How had I developed such an awful habit?
So now I'm, you know, in the process of exorcising the demons. Like, I might struggle to say even the most simple things as I like consciously search for a way to say them without using the forbidden words. It shocks me to see how pervasive it has become in my everyday speech and how difficult it has been to overcome. But I'm getting there, and I've, you know, already noticed some improvement this week, though it has also led to some painfully long pauses at times. It's difficult to speak coherently while simultaneously trying to figure out if the like I'm about to utter is a legitimate use of the word or one that must be avoided at all costs. The ums were easy to overcome, because they're always bad.
Now that I'm hyper-aware of it, I've also noticed that pretty much everyone with whom I speak does it, too. How did we all get here? Do we all just feel the need to qualify everything we say (like) and seek validation from those to whom we say it (you know)? I thought it might be a California thing, but it most certainly is not. It afflicts New Yorkers and Oregonians alike (you know who you are).
I have Written/Oral Advocacy next semester, so I have to get my shit together by then.
TV is still dead to me. The Frank TV premier was disappointing (I think that stuff just works better as a stand-up routine than as a show), the writers' strike trudges on (I miss intentionally funny news), Lost is on hiatus for another couple of months, Heroes came out flat...
But TV on DVD is very much alive. On the drive home for Thanksgiving, Won and Leslie got me started on the first four episodes of Prison Break. It took only one to get me hooked. Now I'm through episode 12, and I'll probably finish the remaining ten episodes of season one tomorrow. It will undoubtedly end in a cliffhanger, but I'll have to put off season two until winter break. I've got finals to think about, after all. I hope the withdrawal doesn't affect my performance.
If you're looking for a TV fix, Prison Break is the drug for you. The most addictive show since season one of Lost. I'd probably be done already if I were watching with Hubert.
A list of my own, the top five things for which I'm thankful in 2007:
1. My growing family, which now includes Leslie and her Canuck-loving family.
2. Being engaged to someone who has planned pretty much our entire wedding (honeymoon included) six months in advance and also just wrote a blog entry about being pee-in-the-pants nervous for a college football game. Who would have thought I'd find someone who is not only as big a sports fan as me, but also way more anal? Scary.
3. Boalt, which has turned out better than I had hoped, with great friends and professors, and a long winter break that I'll be spending in Hawaii.
Had it sucked, I'd be full of regret for having left...
4. Google, which made it so hard to leave for school in the first place. Best workplace in America. Hopefully this isn't the last time I get to include it on this list.
5. The Anaheim Ducks, Stanley Cup Champions. Second-best sports season of my life, and helped me win three out of four Stanley Cup playoff pools. Made my brother's wedding just that much more enjoyable, too.
Also receiving votes: Jim Harbaugh (for beating USC and bringing some life back to Stanford football)
And cheer on the Hawaii Warriors on ESPN 2 tomorrow night! Boise St. at UH
I was able to get the afternoon off from work tomorrow so that I could go to the game (but I do have to make up for it on Saturday morning). You can't understand how nervous/excited/almost-going-to-pee-in-my-pants I am! Here are my top 5 reasons to watch:
1) It's for the WAC championship, which isn't usually a big deal, but we are dealing with teams #15 and #19 in the BCS rankings. 2) BCS game? Dare I even hope? 3) See pretty scenes of Honolulu and 80-degree weather! Hehheh. 4) See clips of the ha`a, our football team's Hawaiian chant 5) There's nothing else worth watching on a Friday evening... LSU, Texas- not even close.
Most of you know that I'm usually a big TV guy. I'll watch anything once, and that usually leads me to follow a number of shows. But I'm going through an unprecedented dry spell. Besides sports, I'm pretty much down to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. And for now, the writer's strike has taken care of those shows, too.
But tonight, a new show I want to watch! It's called Frank TV, premiering on TBS at 11pm, and it stars impersonator extraordinaire Frank Caliendo. If you haven't seen his shtick, here's a sample from YouTube:
And a promo for the new show:
It looks like the format of the show will pretty much be all impersonations all the time, which is fine by me. I eat that stuff up. I guess they have enough episodes in the can to air until the strike ends. Hopefully it carries me through my Daily Show withdrawal. Of course, I won't know if it's any good until after Thanksgiving, because I'll be on the road to Downey when it airs. Enjoy the turkey, folks!
Good event last night. As expected, Obama was enthusiastic, funny, articulate. He accomplished the goal of energizing his base, though frankly, that wasn't going to be much of a challenge in San Francisco. I could have ranted about more affordable education and gay rights and gotten rousing applause from last night's crowd.
It wasn't, however, a mind-blowing or religious experience. I didn't feel particularly inspired or anything, like I did after watching him at the convention. That was a freakin' revelation. Last night was just a solid stump speech, nothing more. Maybe the almost-three-hour wait to get in killed some of the buzz, though I guess I don't really blame them for having such tight security.
What I really wish I could have seen was his town hall at Google. While I'm sure there was a lot less flash to the event (which is part of the fun with him), I imagine the discussion was much more substantive. Any of you guys go? The last speaker I saw there before leaving was Hillary, so it would have been interesting to compare the two in a Q&A setting.
Now that it's clear Gore is not entering, there's no conflict. My primary vote is settled. Obama has a bold vision, and I hope he gets the chance to demonstrate that he's not full of empty promises.
Edit: Video of the Google Town Hall, courtesy of Vicki. Thanks, you rock!
I'm heading to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium tomorrow for the Obama rally, my first for a presidential candidate. The guy is a dynamic speaker in every video or telecast I've seen, and hopefully he lives up to that in live action. Based on Rob's experience, he's the real deal. His staffers, on the other hand...
As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I'm not sure how much the message resonated with Virginians. But in the Bay Area, I'm huge. And I'll be there in person for him when he's ready to unleash his Chang.
I finally caved and joined Facebook. I've never been into the social networking scene before. I couldn't tell you what MySpace and Friendster look like, and I never bothered with Orkut, even though it came out while I was at Google. But after seeing Facebook profiles open on every other laptop monitor in Torts class, I had to see what the phenomenon was all about.
Since I already have a website for blogging and posting photos, this basically seems like a place to see how many friends I have. And when I say friends, I also mean acquaintances who are looking to inflate their numbers (egos?) by adding everyone with whom they've ever had a cup of coffee. I don't know, maybe it's not just an ego thing, and building a huge network actually serves a purpose, but I don't see it yet.
Nonetheless, it has some fun features, and I suppose the main purpose is to network, so I'll continue to play around with it and see where it takes me. Who knows, maybe I'll discover some long-lost friends. So far it's just the same people I interact with on a regular basis anyway.
At least I'm now among the million strong for Stephen Colbert.
My buddy Steve, the voice of Stanford Stadium, asked me to be a field spotter for him on Saturday vs. UDub, which basically amounts to standing on the sideline with a headset and helping him pick out who made the plays. My answer was, "Hell yes!"
There's this guy who takes pictures at the games and posts them on his website, and I came across these two. Who's that guy shielding his eyes?
Luckily for me, another friend of mine is an official photographer for the team, so when he saw me on the sidelines, he took some pictures of me, including some with Harbaugh in the background. I'll post those when I get 'em.
Steve's regular field spotter will be back for the final two games of the season, but his pressbox spotter is usually his wife, who is now stuck at home on gamedays with their newborn, which means... look for me up there for Notre Dame and Big Game!
I don't know what it is about Andrew's housemates, but a couple years later, and suddenly we're all dressing like women for Halloween. First Gerald as slutty nurse (or was it just nurse?), and this Wednesday I showed up to Crim class dressed as... my Crim prof.
I had been kicking around this idea for a while. My prof has a distinct look: red hair, usually pulled back, glasses, and a suit of varying color with undershirt. Simple to execute. I figured if I could find the right wig, everything else would fall into place.
The wig turned out to be easy. I found one at a Halloween shop with the right color, and after cutting it and undoing the braided bun on top, it was a pretty close match. The trickiest part turned out to be deciding how much to stuff the $5 bra I got from Target. Lots of implications in that decision.
In the end, I was able to pull everything together, and it couldn't have worked out better. She was even wearing a black suit that day! My classmates got a big kick out of it, and my prof probably laughed the hardest.
Who knew law school could be so much fun?
On the other hand, remember back when I said it wasn't all that busy? Well scratch that. Memos, practice exams, law journals, reading, outlining... it's pretty serious business now. And I can't believe the career development stuff is already in full swing. Didn't I start just two months ago? I thought the purpose of school was to put off all this career business for a couple of years...
