Hillary or Obama?

When I went home for winter break, the first most frequent question was asking how law school was going. The second most frequent question that I received was Hillary or Obama?

It feels like only yesterday when I was at a Bruin Democrats meeting discussing the 2004 Democratic nominees for President. Fast forward a few years and you see some new and exciting faces (Clinton as of today & Obama), some familiar faces from '04 for better or worse (better: Edwards, worse: Kucinich & maybe Kerry), and some candidates who are trying to pull a "Bill Clinton- come out of nowhere and then win in 1992" (Biden, Vilsack, Dodd, Richardson, Gravel- yeah I don't even know who this last guy is).

So back to the question at hand: Hillary or Obama? In my own politician-way, I've dodged the question. I have preferences but honestly I haven't read enough about anyone to make a committment. Even if California moves up their primary, I still have over a year to figure things out.

I must say though, even though the primaries are over a year away, they're already very entertaining to follow. I like most of the choices now on both sides much more than in 2004. The Democrats side is interesting to watch because you have two political "rockstars" who are both breaking barriers. It will be interesting to see how the party of "diversity" factors this in and decides. And the Republicans side is interesting to watch because you have people representing all the little factions of the "big tent" Republican party (the LA times has an interesting story about core conservatives finding a candidate). These primaries are a political scientist's dream case study. It will be very interesting to see how everything pans out.

Me, Myself & My Laptop

On the first day of our property class, our class made a comprehensive list of what things are most valuable to us. After "our bodies as a manifestation of our personalities" (yeah, don't ask) was our laptops. When I think about it though, my laptop has practically become an extension of my body. I spend more time with my laptop than anything or anyone else.

It's usually the first thing I see in the morning, what I take with me to school everyday, what I work on when I come home, what I use to communicate with my friends and family, and the last thing I see before I go to bed.

This past week, I've also realized how my laptop has become my life support for information. I found out my grades online and facebook told me that two of my good friends ended their relationship with a broken heart icon.

It is interesting to see how computers and the internet have revolutionized what kind of information we discover, and how we can discover it. I remember during my senior year of high school, I wrote an article for my school newspaper debating another writer about the merits of finding college acceptances/rejections online.

I guess with any new innovation, there are pluses and minuses. The internet allowed the Dean of Berkeley Law School to incorrectly admit a slew full of people with the press of a button (no, not bitter at all). And it allows people to put up websites like this. But it also has amazing benefits that we all know, like providing you the ability to read this wonderful blog.

I think I am just going to try to cut back on this lovely innovation a tad bit. It scare me a little bit to be so dependent on something that can crash or lose connection. And I need to do this before my laptop goes from being an extension of my body to actually being me.

Something's Not Right...

To the left is picture of the freeway pass by my house in California. I would compare this to a snowy picture of DC but that picture doesn't exist. Besides the speckles of snow fall that we had for about 5 minutes today, there's no winter wonderland here on the East Coast.

I know I am the millionth person to probably blog about this subject but it really is amusing, especially for the girl who had never seen snow fall in her city the 16 years she lived there. Coincidentally, I moved to Santa Clarita a year after it snowed and I move out the year it snows again. I am not sure if I should be happy or sad about this.

Whether or not you think global warming is causing these specific weird weather patterns sweeping the nation (I certainly think its playing a role), I am glad that the strangeness in weather is prompting a lot of people to discuss the subject of global warming. Unfortunately a lot of these important topics don't get discussed until people are personally afflicted. Perhaps crops dying, power lines being severed by falling branches covered in ice, roads closing will make people realize that climate change can have very real effects that effect our day to day lives.

And So It Goes...

I once heard someone say, "As California goes, so goes the nation." Although I might be a bit biased, I whole heartily concur. Call Californians what you may: weirdos, superficial, hippies, etc. But don't forget to put trendsetter on the list, and not just for fashion.

As I was reading my casebooks this week, I came up with a surprising amount of California cases. There was a property case involving UCLA Medical Research, where the doctors did not inform the patient that they were going to use his unique cells for research. Shadiness of the doctors aside, this case shows (1) How California (and UCLA in particular) is one of the leaders of scientific and medical research and (2) How California courts addressed an important case about whether or not we own our bodies.

In Public Law, we discussed global warming lawsuits and California came up again. California is taking its own initiative to curb emissions by setting their own standards (though there are industries that naturally want to stop this). Environmental issues is a place where the Governator and I see eye to eye, and I was happy to hear him say that California will take the lead on green issues. People might not think that one state changing its policies might have a big deal, but California has a lot of cars and traffic, and thus has a lot of national clout.

Just look at the smoking issue. Who would have thought that a ban on smoking in public areas in California would spread nationwide, and even worldwide. I am sure there are many other issues as well.

I always wanted to work at the federal level of government because I wanted to be at the level that effected the whole nation. And that hasn't been ruled out. But if I did go back to my home state, I am glad that it's California. And on a final note...

RIP Citrus

My mom told me it snowed in my hometown today. It hasn't snowed here. Although I find that amusing, I also hope for the best for all Californians dealing with this unusual coldness. And not just because they have weaker tolerance for the cold, but because this actually does dramatically effect a lot of people, especially it seems the farmers. I already miss your oranges.

The Love of Learning

The other day I posed the question in my blog of why Asians have poor eyesight in the United States. In addition to the many hypotheses that I received from soliciting different friends, a friend messaged me with his own explanation, based on his reading of a genetic anthropology book.

I don't mean to sound elitist when I say that I like being around educated people, especially educated people who will entertain my questions or think them out with me. By educated, I don't mean the smartest person in the class. A person with zero degrees can be just as educated as a person with five (though I guess going to school to learn how to read helps). To me, an educated person is someone who has a passion for learning and seeks out knowledge, whether through books, classes, or experiences.

I love discussing theoretical and practical issues in the news, trying to figure out how everything fits together and how the world works. Maybe its a byproduct of being the daughter of an engineer and having books like "The Big Book of Tell Me Why" and "How Things Work" lying around the house. When I want to know something, I will always look it up- thank goodness for the omniscient Google (yes, I know not everything on the internet is true). And we won't even get into how excited I get when I learn something new and exciting reading Newsweek.

Naturally it is important to apply your knowledge, preferbly in a way that helps society. But I think people should always keep learning and thinking critically. Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I love taking classes and I want to be one of those retired people taking college extension classes.

Mind Over Matter

It's amazing how much influence your mind has over your physical body.

How writer's block can prevent you from writing a memo that should not be difficult. And how telling yourself that you are a good writer, and hearing that same sentiment from someone else, can get you typing away again.

How a negative impression of someone can make you see everything wrong with a person. And how a positive relationship with a person can make you see positive attributes, even if they have flaws like everyone else.

How traumatic experiences with certain items of food (like seeing fish squished together in tanks at Asian markets) or reading about cannabalism can make you lose your appetite. And how going to a fancy new restaurant or to a new country will make you a little more adventurous in your eating.

How disliking a subject can make even the shortest readings unbearable. And how an exciting subject entices you to do more reading than you even have to.

When people say it's all in your head, there's a lot of truth to that sentiment. It seems like half the battles in life are getting over your own mental blocks. For some reason, I felt like I encountered a lot of these blocks this past week for no apparent reason that I can think of other than my body was punishing my mind for trying to fool it into being in another time zone. But the week did end on a positive note, thanks to some encouraging words, some great friends to hang out with and a mental break from things.

Areas for Further Investigation

In predictive memos for law school, you can conclude your memo with areas for further investigation. Since I accepted the fact that I am back in law school and am writing more memos, this will probably be the end of my major Vietnam entries for now. I have a feeling I will be referencing the trip for a while, but I feel like I've already done the majority of storytelling that I can do without boring people. So in conclusion, these are my areas for further investigation...

1. Why do the vast majority of Asian Americans that I know here in the States have glasses and/or contacts whereas the Vietnamese people in Vietnam did not?

If you go to my family reunions, almost everyone has glasses or contacts (and some lucky people had laser eye surgery). But as Alex pointed out, there is hardly anyone with glasses in Vietnam. I've thought about this question and pitched it to a bunch of friends. Some theories:

• Glasses and contacts cost too much for people who's average income is $1 a day.
• The academic ones, the ones who strain their eyes more because they have their heads in books, left the country.
• Asians Americans have greater access to the technologies that rot our eyes. Sure Vietnamese people have tvs and computers (I even saw these tiny kids uploading digital pictures from their birthday party onto their computer), they probably don't sit infront of those screens all day like we do.
  

In the end, its probably a combination of all of these. I just really hope that their eyes are less worse than ours, and that they don't have really bad eyes that they can't fix because of cost. Since my glasses broke the other day, I realized how bad my vision is and how I would not be able to function in society without my glasses.

2. Why Pho?

As my aunt's husband so poignantly asked, "Why in the world would a country with tropical humid weather...where its 100 degrees...have a hot beefy noodle soup as its national dish?" My only explanations were that 1) it tastes good 2) it might be hot but the clear broth and fresh vegetbles don't make it too dense for the hot weather and 3) hot countries just have hot food, think of India and curry.

3. Why mustard yellow?

The country likes to paint its buildings very "unique" colors. One of the most prevelant among these is mustard yellow. The Presidential Palace, a very beautiful building with French architecture is this awful color? In addition, Vietnam's nicest new buildings are its schools. They too are painted this color. I really have no explanation for this.

4. Why do Vietnamese soldiers protect the American embassy and we can't take pictures of the embassy?

Our tour guides said that most Vietnamese people have a positive view of Americans, and my interaction with people there seemed to indicate that. So my question is why does it appear that the American embassy needs Vietnamese protection. As I passed by the foreign embassies in DC yesterday, I never saw American troops guarding anyone else's embassy. Moreover, this Vietnamese protection is so serious (or strange) that you are not allowed to take pictures of the embassy. The guards out in front have even been known to pull aside cars and buses where people inside are taking pictures. Of course I did not know this tidbit of information as I snapped this picture of the embassy, and as you can see, there is a Vietnamese soldier blocking his face from the picture. Very odd.

5. Why eat durian?

You would think that something soooo stinky, so spikey, and so hard to get into would be nature's way of telling you "don't eat this." While some people interpret this as nature's way of preserving something really good, I find this hard to believe because of the close link between smell and taste. I may be a finniky eater but I can appreciate most fruits, and Vietnam has a plethora of wonderful tropical fruit. Yet people still love their durian.