1. Alberto Gonzales Resigns- Finally. He's botched the firings of nine federal prosecutors, wiretapping, the Ashcroft fiasco, torture approval, and others. What could've been a historic legacy, with him being the first Latino in such a high position, is now a disgraced one.
2. Tony Snow Resigns- They're just dropping like flies over at the White House, aren't they? Who's next, the Prez and the VP, who are long overdue? Only a year and a third...But anyway, good luck to Snow and his battle with cancer, though I doubt that he left his press secretary position for anything other than this reason, despite his saying that it was about the money. Perhaps more money for chemotherapy treatments, maybe?
3. Larry Craig Resigns- The Republican exodus from Washington is so contagious, it's affecting Congress also. Out of all the people in the world, the ones I cannot tolerate the most are hypocrites (and those who commit wrong deeds and do not repent). Of course, Craig had to play up to his conservative constituency in Idaho and keep proclaiming his straightness, but sooner or later if one keeps telling a lie as big as what his sexuality is, it's going to catch up to him. On the flip side, I do doubt how true the police's report on Craig's alleged actions in the Minneapolis airport, but I doubt they would put on a total farce, and Craig would fight the report rather than give up his job.
4. Wildfires in Greece- The Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis has said "We are living through an unspeakable tragedy." And it is. 64 people have been killed already, and an unthinkable 500,000 acres have been burned. Reports are that some of the more historical sites have been saved, such as the site of the ancient Olympics, and thankfully so; thousands of years of history gone up in smoke in a few days would be unthinkable.
5. Georgia wins Little League World Series for Second Straight Year- And what a thriller it was, a walk-off home run by Dalton Carriker in the eighth inning (a standard Little League game lasts seven) and a brilliant performance by Warner Robbins, GA reliever Kendall Scott for five innings after Tokyo got a 2-0 lead after two. But what happened after the game was much bigger. Georgia celebrated its championship with the joy and pride that comes after such a great accomplishment, but after a few minutes went to the Japanese team that was crying in the middle of the field, picked up the ones that were curled on the ground, and hugged each and every one of them. Just thinking about it still brings tears to my eyes. The win was big, but in my mind the sportsmanship showed by both teams is even bigger. Congrats to both.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/26/AR2007082601167.html
My 5 Points-
1. School started Wednesday- Possibly the hardest semester I'm going to have to endure so far. Quantitative Physiology and Biochemistry, for some reason, I put in the same semester. Good luck to me. I must say that I'm not that scared of Biochem, but more scared of the fact that I'm not going to put as much time into it as I should. QP, from what others who have taken the class say, is not that hard, but the amount of work required makes it so. And on top of that, there's the Thermo that requires practicing problems, and the Technical Writing and the Psychology, in which I fall asleep and cannot get the lecture notes that the professor says is the most important for tests...
2. Bet with Ai-Lin- So we have this bet as to who would work out more over the semester, with a Haagen-Dazs ice cream riding on it (ironic, isn't it?)...While she does ten minutes a day of yoga/pilates usually, when I work out I go at least an hour at a time of running and sometimes another hour of lifting, and then there's sports games like soccer (which I must say that I miss and in which my skills are degressing, the few that I had anyway). She's more consistent, I go in streaks. I'll keep you updated; so far I'm leading by about 100 minutes.
3. Biochem Homework- Back to academics for a minute, as this requires its own section. I printed out the first biochem problem set on Thursday, and after one look at the assigned problem, I practically got scared, as at first glance it looks really complicated. After a few hours of pondering, I realized that most of the question was extraneous (hopefully) information, but that doesn't take away from how potentially hard and time-consuming this class is going to be. Decisions on what might happen forthcoming.
4. Came home for Labor Day- I miss home. I miss the big bed, the showering without flip-flops, the bathroom where everything is your own, the walking barefoot everywhere in the house. Glad I came back, even if for only a few days. And I realized I concentrate better at home (though it could improve; only got Biochem reading done so far...more tomorrow).
5. Seki's- Saw Chris (friend/classmate from Wash U), a couple whom my parents know from my days at Japanese School, and Dr. Frank Yin, the chairman of the Biomedical Engineering department at Wash U. I have realized I need to work on my manners when seeing people in public (stand up and shake hands, introduce parents, etc., actually wave, not raise the back of your hand), but thankfully he's a nice person and very chill (I got to see him in shorts:). And when he stands up when you go over to say bye and introduces his wife again, you know he has a lot of respect for students (and also perhaps to furtively teach me a lesson). Also had a good conversation with the Japanese couple; I might remember their son a little, though not really probably because they mentioned him, but otherwise everything was just general greetings and catching up. With Chris it was just a wave; he was with friends himself.
