The government that runs us

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags:
21 November 2010
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You know, sometimes I wonder if democracy is really the best form of government.  If you look at who gets elected in to the myriad of positions… well, just how qualified are these people?  They come from all kinds of backgrounds and often get elected not necessarily because they’re better, but because they have the money, connections, personality, or what have you.  What do they actually know about politics and running a country?  I think it’s good to get people from a broad range of professions and experience, but I also think everyone running in an election should pre-qualify, either with courses, a test, or both.  Why shouldn’t the future mayor, governor, or president have to first learn a little something about policymaking and how previous legislations may or may not have worked?

I wish there was some sort of vocational school or graduate/post-graduate program that all elected officials had to go through prior to running.  I mean, in a way the royals got it right.  Future kings and queens are bred to be the leader of a country.  They learn a particular set of skills, are exposed to a particular set of experiences, and are expected to behave in a certain way as well.  What do we require from our presidents, senators, and state leaders?  Nothing concrete as far as I’ve seen.  So why not take a lesson from the monarchy structure of governing and combine it with the oh so free democracy we have?  Letting democracy run free might not be the best way to run a country.  Let’s breed our future leaders much like scientists are – through a rigorous set of requirements to prove competency in the appropriate areas.

Alumni mentor

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
18 November 2010
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Tonight I met my mentees for the UCLA Alumni Mentor program!  It was really fun and I’m looking forward to building strong relationships with them.  As far as I know, we’re on our own now that we’ve been matched up, so I’m going to come up with some fun things we can do together over the course of this year.  I’m really looking forward to learning about these two that I have been matched with.  One is a first year just embarking on the college experience and one is a fourth year, getting ready to transition out.  I hope that I have some useful insight to offer them both!

I remember back when I was a fourth year, just returning from a year abroad in England.  I had opted to live on campus again and many of the friends I made in the rooms around me were first years.  I think it was then that I started to really have some mentoring kind of role.  I had amassed a lot of knowledge in those years of undergrad living and had so much to share about not just the UCLA campus, but college life in general.  It’s crazy to think that they are now fourth years.  In my mind, they’re still first years, full of energy and inexperience.  But alas, they have grown so much and learned a lot over these years.  It’s pretty cool.

I hope that I prove to be a good mentor, even if I am still pretty fresh out of college.  Last year I opted not to participate because I felt I didn’t have enough to offer – no real world experience, no full-time job, or any of that “grownup” stuff.  This time around I was eager because I’ve been working for many months now and I’ve had some really great experiences since I left college.  Between that and all the internships and jobs and student organizations I have under my belt, I feel like I can contribute something useful now.  It’ll be a learning process for me and them, and I’m glad to have this to look forward to and plan for.  🙂

Foreign desire

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
15 November 2010
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I have these dreams, dreams of living abroad.  I’ve mostly done so fleetingly – a few months here, a few months there…  It just hasn’t been enough to satisfy my hunger for immersing myself in another world.  I love the slower pace of life in many European villages.  The land brims with history and meaning and the weather is fantastically real.  None of that 300 days of sunshine per year business.  It’s a charming set of countries, each with a rich culture to share.

Mostly I want to go back to England and live there for another year or two.  There’s something about the quaint village tucked away in a quiet corner of the country that holds an appeal for me.  Actually, it doesn’t even need to be that out of the way.  When I was studying abroad at the University of York, I found the town of York to be a wonderfully refreshing place.  Cobblestone paths meandering throughout the town and twists and turns that left me utterly confused much of the time.  It took a long time to really understand how one road could lead me to a shop that had previously taken me four or five turns to get to.

Though it tended to be colder than I would have preferred in the warmer seasons, the cold seasons were gloriously filled with hot nourishment, scarves, fuzzy socks, and all the trappings of a frigid winter.  It was easy to connect with nature and enjoy life when there was a lake to stroll by (granted, it was man-made), rabbits to spot, a horse in a field who loved carrots and apples…  Beauty was all around me and I was very happy with where I was.  I even had time to cook and try out some dishes I had never made before.  Some Sundays, my flat would get together for a meal of roast meat, steamed veggies, and Yorkshire pudding and gravy.  Oooooh Yorkshire puddings!  How delightfully crisp, yet soft they were, with just the right blend of sweet and savory flavors.

I can imagine a similarly peaceful and satisfying life in Southern France or Switzerland as well.  I could definitely retire to one of those places, but before that, when I’m still young, I want to return and live out a few simple years.  I have shared my desire to live abroad with Panda, who fully supports it.  There’s just one glitch.  This is a life I imagine with him by my side, so I can share these pleasures with him.  Unfortunately, with his chosen career path, he will likely not only be in the U.S. the entire time, but he’ll probably be with the same organization until he retires as well.  Where’s the room for travel and living abroad?  Virtually none, really.

So how do you reconcile that?  Therein lies the dilemma that has been troubling me ever since this desire to live abroad again began to resurface.  And so we shall see what compromises will have to be made over the years.  For now, I have my dream and a stubborn resolve to find a way to satisfy both my wants and his.

Not “that pregnant”

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
12 November 2010
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Once upon a time, when I was at the intersection of Gayley and Strathmore driving into Westwood, a pregnant woman was crossing the street in front of me.  To my friends, I commented that I never wanted to be “that pregnant” and they laughed, arguing that there were no degrees of pregnancy – you either were or you weren’t.  But alas, they totally missed my point!  I have absolutely no interest in my belly bulging so much that no shirt will cover the lower part of it.  I don’t want to be that pregnant.

Then, recently on radio they spoke of the “very pregnant” Alanis Morisette, which implies that you can be more (or less) pregnant than the average woman.  Hah!  I thought to myself.  She is very pregnant; I don’t want to be.  It was a little bit of vindication for a viewpoint that my friends did not share.  Sure, biologically you either are or are not, but that doesn’t mean that when you are, you can’t be more or less.  I’m just sayin’.

Fall(ing) leaves

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
10 November 2010
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ginkgo leaves turning brown on tree

The ginkgo leaves fade from green to yellow to brown as the season changes and they begin to die.

Light and fresh

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
09 November 2010
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new haircut makes everything fluffy and silky

Ah, haircuts!  They are always so refreshing and renewing.  There’s something about getting rid of some hair and coming out with a silky, shiny ‘do that is very pleasing.  And today that is what I got done.  🙂  I’ve been meaning to get a haircut for awhile now – the ends of my strands were beginning to fray and the dryness lately has made my hair brittle and coarse.

The cut is nothing different from what I usually get, but the shampoo and conditioning I got today were great for the condition of my hair.  Now my hair doesn’t weigh heavy on me or get tangled towards the ends.  It feels so good to run my hands through and there’s not a hint of static!  The wonders that a salon treatment can do.  I absolutely love it, though I still don’t go more than two or three times a year at best, since it’s really a luxury and not a necessity.

Doesn’t your mood lighten too when it’s a bit breezier around your head?  The better to appreciate wind with!  The better to flip around!  The better to twist and curl!  Oh yes, it feels good and it makes me feel good.  Sometimes I do understand why people spend so much money on things.

Computer fail

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: ,
07 November 2010
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Well, I had the misfortune of dropping my laptop from about desk height to the (carpeted) ground.  Now I can’t log in to my user profile and it takes me to a generic temporary one each time.  🙁  I’m glad that I can still use the computer, but all the settings I had saved in my account are pretty much inaccessible and I don’t know how to fix it.  I took some time to load all my pictures to my external hard drive in case I can’t log in at all at some point, but I’m really hoping that a day-long break will help my computer right itself.  I’ve restarted and system restored and tried a variety of things to help the situation, but as of yet nothing has helped.  Yet another motivation to get myself a desk to use in my room.  All other surfaces are just too unstable!  Maybe I’ll end up replacing this computer for my birthday then… I have been meaning to get a new one, but never had much of a reason to.

What time is it again?

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
05 November 2010
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Oh Daylight Savings, how you confuse me.  All this talk of falling back and springing forward makes sense until I try to figure out if the sun will be setting earlier or later in the day now.  By all intuition, it should be later since it gets dark pretty early now.  Yet, according to all logic the opposite will happen.  So why does it happen?!  It doesn’t make sense to get up and have the sun even higher than it was before, then leave work only after the sun has set and not during the setting.  You’d think they’d fix the time so that we get up as the sky is lightening and leave work when it’s still light out.  I’m baffled.

But hey, at least I get an extra hour to work with!

Election day

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
02 November 2010
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I’ve hated the negative back and forth going on between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown, so I chose to exercise my vote by not voting for either of them.  This time around I chose to stay away from the polls because there was nothing I strongly cared for or believed in.  I’ve voted in both presidential elections since I could vote, missed the mid term election in 2006 since I was studying abroad, and now again decided not to participate in this mid term election.  I also don’t feel good about voting if I didn’t take the time to review the materials for the opposing sides to make a decision that I am comfortable with.

But, I think in a way I was hoping that Meg Whitman or Carly Fiorina would win, just to get that business perspective into our government.  We could use a bit more fresh blood with new approaches.  But I guess I generally do tend to side with Democratic views a bit more, so I guess the outcomes can still be good.  We’ll just have to see how things pan out from here…

Foot massage

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
30 October 2010
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I’ve been going to get massages at a foot massage place near my home and I’m so glad I found a place like this.  I was really feeling the need to get a good reflexology session about a month ago, so I researched local reflexology places and read in the reviews that it wasn’t just a foot massage.  In fact, I have no idea why they call it a foot massage when the foot part is probably 20 minutes while the body part is 40 minutes.  For a full hour, it’s a mere $20-25.  That’s a steal!

I guess they might do it because today I found that their body massages are the ones you’d expect at a spa, where you get undressed and climb under a blanket on a raised bed.  So there is a distinction, but the fully-clothed version is already great.  I make sure I wear loose-fitting clothing so it’s easy to get to all the sore spots and pressure points.  The lady I go to also has great pressure – I like it pretty firm to really loosen up that muscle.

At this price point, I can afford to go every week!  And that certainly seems to be what has been happening so far.

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