Back 2 School

After moving in my stuff and settling down to classes, I must post something witty and disparaging. Now that I have the exorbitant privilege of a refrigerator and no mandated meal plan, this means no more awkward wasted time at the dining hall and 1 hour plus food binges. Speaking of awkward, I managed to get 2 photos with our great President Joseph Aoun:

1/2

2/2

Con$idering that I am looking for co-op and have several new commitments this semester, I had to engineer a new diet and schedule worthy of the Mayans and their calendar.

The Joy of Rice
Sweet, white grains of jasmine rice! A rice cooker is a godsend to college students and can even be your only cooking utility, although I also bought a combo pan-pot thing from Amazon just in case.

When the rice begins to form and solidify, you can throw in your meat or "sides" as said in Cantonese to steam-pressure cook. This can include, for example, sausages and Chinese sausages. Best of all, you can save valuable time and eat pre-cooked rice! A miracle!

The ceremonial first rice of the semester. I am proud to eat this nutritious staple of my ancestors eaten even in the Qin dynasty.

My school convenience food pyramid

So far, I have infallibly eaten rice at every meal with a side, which makes me feel less tired than eating bread for some reason. You can even pair it with a two-serving Boloco bowl. I thought I reached new lows when I ate Boloco rice with rice, but talk about economical!

Let's do some sophisticated, high-level accounting. $1620/110 = $14.73 per meal swipe. Boloco bowl = $9.82. NO THANK YOU MEAL PLAN

Saying that the meal plan is not highway robbery is like saying fast food doesn't cause obesity.

Ready for the next nuclear attack

How about some tuna tartare? IS CANNED TUNA

I wonder if I will eat so much canned tuna, get mercury poisoning, and become a thermometer.

Incredibly Funny Professors
I had the amazing luck of getting a gaggle of funny professors this semester. Being tired increases the delirium and makes their jokes 2x funnier, and when I want to sleep in class (don't judge me, I study a lot outside of class anyways), I somehow start cracking up at their incredibly cheesy jokes.

For example, my mid-level accounting professor asked on the first day to ease the tension (but ended up creating more), "How do accountants get paid?" Student: "By providing a service." Professor: "Yes, that's right, just like a doctor. He tells you to pull down your pants, sticks a shot up your butt, and gets paid." (NO JOKE)

Now, my management information systems teacher is a true comedian, and the Boston accent helps. When he was concerned that the unusual two-tiered class schedule would mess with his SoulCycling class, he said, "I want to weigh as much as I did when I first started: 8 pounds, 9 ounces."

If my mouth could send text messages and emojis, LOL chat bubbles and Pusheens would be flooding out.

Northeastern Memories: Smokers

The sign in question

When I started Northeastern as a curious newbie, the weather was above 60 degrees, Floyd Mayweather didn't beat Manny Pacquiao, and the royals didn't have a baby yet. However, a curious sight of crowds of smokers, many of whom appeared international since cigarettes aren't as "in" around the U.S., congregated in front of the Dodge Hall business building and Krentzman Quad ironically, flagrantly, openly, and hostilely in opposition to a poorly placed "no smoking" sign. I actually enjoyed their cafe atmosphere of socializing, de-stressing, and unwinding as long as I didn't get too caught in the crossfire of second-hand smoke.

Smoking plaza

It felt like we, puffers and passersby, were all busy and occupied by group projects, case studies, and the like. I wondered both how stress-relieving nicotine can be as I don't smoke and whether I'll see the throngs of smokers again next semester. Hopefully, I will for the nostalgia and visual interest of clothing-coordinated people who wore lots of Moncler and Canada Goose when the weather became chilly but not too snowy that they had to stop smoking and mysteriously burrow back like groundhogs.

Out of curiosity, I also asked my roommate why so many business students smoked. My roommate joked cynically, "It's because business students' lives are so empty," which made me give a, "Hmm..." since we're majoring in business, and I wondered if accounting is futile (only wondered! This is not reality. I'm sure many people like net income, auditing, and taxation!).

The reverse psychology and appeal of norm violation can be seen in this humorous YouTube video shown in international business class where Italians supposedly do everything wrong compared to Europeans:

I guess you could replace EU citizens and Italians with any group and subgroup of people

The specific reference to smoking around a "no smoking" sign strangely reminded me of how few people use the closed smoking booths at Logan Airport as if being trapped in your own smoke and adopting the smell are worse than the lungs directly inhaling it. 

If I see smokers again in September, they will give me that warm, fuzzy back-to-school feeling!

I Wanted to Stick My Hand in Dirt

Since I dutifully skim Northeastern's daily e-newsletter that clogs many people's emails, I saw an article linked to the New York Times about beneficial microbes in dirt as the chain of recent newsletters focused on bacteria research. This was near the innately stressful finals week. This was also near when Facebook thankfully informed me that it was World Naked Gardening Day.

Beam me up, sun!

Since I was a prim person in my childhood, I was afraid of getting dirty when "playing" (standing) in the grass at the park or if bugs, particularly ants, would get into weird places. I still feel that I, as a rational person, don't want to get my clothes dirty and sit on the grass, although part of me wants to if laundry wasn't such a hassle.

Anyways, since exams lingered on my mind even though I didn't want them to and didn't study much, I strongly felt that hippie nature would be a much needed boost to my immune system like a completely organic Emergen-C, which I never drank before. Therefore, I saw a big ceramic pot of earthy brown dirt that I wanted to stick my hand in to feel the nutrients. However, I didn't do this at the last minute since I was afraid of strangers seeing and judging me in the unusual act of molesting the dirt.

Now, it's easy to say, "You should have done it" when reading this on the Internet, but imagine if you were in my position of desperately seeking microbes and students were passing by to see an Asian guy with his hand in a pot of dirt. That would be awkward. Sometimes thoughts spring out of an OCD, but I really felt that my body would feel good with my hand touching nature.

Please Take at Your Leisure : )

What goodies are inside Pandora's box?

It's move-out season, and I think what's left in the "Please Take at Your Leisure : )" box at Kennedy Hall illustrates the desperation. Initially, there were garbage bags for packing, but those were all taken like they were free handbags on Oprah. This is, truly, the tragedy of the commons.

Let's look at what's left from donors and benefactors: silica gel, gluten-free rice cakes, a ketchup pack, peanut butter from our room, and an empty bag of beef jerky. The last one requires a, "Seriously?" as the donor was probably too lazy to walk a few more steps to the basement trash cans, or someone ate it all in cold blood. Truthfully, I would be irrationally afraid of eating that and the big tinfoil loaf labeled "Panera Bread" that was eventually taken. I also considered taking all the exotic Lipton teas, but I was wary of the sugary ingredients. Later, they were gone.

Clearly, I am not asking for better freebies but merely musing on economics and the transitivity of life through a cardboard box of invalids and half-disposables. Would you like some silica gel with your gluten-free rice cakes and peanut butter?

The joy of cleaning my dorm

ASNS2245, Cultural Awareness, Dragon Ladies, and Defense Against the Dark Arts

My open note materials

After taking the final exam at the lovely 8:00 AM time slot on 4/28/15, I would like to reminisce on probably the most culturally relevant filler class I've ever taken for a level 2 elective. My knowledge of Asian Americans expanded deeply by actually doing all the mandatory readings at the gym.

I feel much more culturally aware but not quite liberated and especially not liberated from debits and credits. However, I must admit my skepticism of academic subjects like the Asian-American experience due to reading too much from academics with too much time who think too much and rarely apply real, lasting, and prominent practice beyond radical eras like the 60s. Still, the class discussed many important and thought-provoking sociological questions.

Anna May Wong, the stereotypical Dragon Lady

To me, the most funny, memorable, and extreme stereotypes were of Dragon Ladies and Fu Manchu. From "Ideological Racism and Cultural Resistance" by Yen Le Espiritu (91) referencing Frank Chin and Jeffrey Chan (60, 1972): "Dr. Fu, a man wearing a long dress, batting his eyelashes, surrounded by muscular black servants in loin cloths, and with his habit of caressingly touching white men on the leg, wrist, and face with his long fingernails is not so much a threat as he is a frivolous offense to white manhood."

However, my unabashed skepticism is related to a potentially sad conclusion. Slightly late in packing up my materials, I overheard another student asking the professor about his future plans. He said he didn't know if Northeastern will offer this class again, to which I remarked in my trademark aloofness, "Is this class like Defense Against the Dark Arts where they change the class and teacher every year?" We all laughed awkwardly. 

I hope they continue this class, but I unfortunately don't have time to protest in solidarity with my Asian brothers and sisters. I'm also a little like a passive Asian who doesn't cause agitation except for with LinkedIn. This will probably not be my last post about Asian America similarly to my multiple references to Blade Runner.

My Obsession with Blade Runner

In the past, I tended to become obsessed with things like obscure animes and Sonic the Hedgehog. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe, and that includes Roy Batty's famous monologue in Blade Runner.

In the first semester at Northeastern, I took RELS1260 or apocalypticism in film for a humanities requirement. It seems that classes least related to accounting and finance make for the best writing material!

What seemed like a weekly movie night also had profound discussions and an impactful final speech, though I accidentally compared the lectures that a few students found boring to attending church especially due to the religious and philosophical content. (I did not find the class boring.) This class had a lasting impact that I embody in the mystique of Blade Runner.

My obsession led me to rewatch the movie twice and annoyingly recommend it to everyone. I also started spontaneously saying quotes when fitting, playing "Blade Runner Blues" and the soundtrack, and replaying key scenes and trailers on YouTube. The futuristic neo-noir ambiance is incredible especially considering its futuristic predictions from the 80s.

Night in Boston

Matching my first semester busyness and occasional dreariness, the Boston landscape started to look like the world of 2019 Los Angeles with the rainy nights, faceless crowds, and glowing buildings like the Prudential. Most touching and relevant to Northeastern, crossing Huntington Avenue and avoiding getting killed by a Mini Cooper created haunting echoes of the traffic light, "Cross now... Cross now..." when Deckard tries to assassinate Zhora. I am also strongly reminded of neon drenched cities in China with their huge populations and occasional rainy/smoggy gloom. 

I also considered buying an awesome LED Blade Runner umbrella as a testament to my fanboying. Maybe this article will reveal some insight into my, for better or for worse, obsessive pathologies. I discuss my Blade Runner project in part 1 and part 2.

Buy one here!

Blade Runner Project Part 2/2 - Analysis

Final project - yes, this is MS Paint, so the art is not the best

I elaborated on my former Blade Runner obsession here. To avoid my work in school assignments going to waste, I will post my final project drawing and the accompanying analysis. I tried to cover almost every interesting point during the heyday of my obsession. This is the more fulfilling analysis; here is part 1, the proposal.

Dickson He

Professor Doe

Apocalypticism in Film, Section 2

3 December 2014

A Perspective on Blade Runner

Ridley Scott imagines the future world of Blade Runner as hectic and helter-skelter, resulting from a malignant outgrowth and confluence of social trends that signify both progress and the costs of progress.

Blade Runner Project Part 1/2 - Proposal

Rough sketch - yes, this is MS Paint, so the art is not the best

I elaborated on my former Blade Runner obsession here. To avoid my work in school assignments going to waste, I will post my final project drawing and the accompanying analysis. I tried to cover almost every interesting point during the heyday of my obsession. This is the project proposal; here is the analysis, part 2.

Dickson He

Professor Doe

Apocalypticism in Film, Section 2

8 October 2014

Creative Project Proposal: Art of the Setting of Blade Runner

Although I grew up in the suburbs, I have always been entranced by large cities and the opportunities, diversity, and mix of people they present. Of course, there are also negative aspects like crowdedness, pollution, and seemingly extended gray weather, but these neurotic elements can add to the mystiques of places like Boston and New York City. While I have only went to New York City once, its fast pace and hypnotic lights has left an indelible imprint. Blade Runner takes place in a dystopian future Los Angeles, and pictures of the movie on Google Images immediately connect with my lust and fascination for cities and apocalyptic sci-fi like Neon Genesis.