Imma tell you about April

I know I haven't blogged a lot this April. Please forgive me. You know it's very unlike me to neglect my duty as your devoted blogger--but April has been a royal mess for me. I mean to say, even after things stopped going really poorly, I was still scarily busy. Not even the fun kind of busy--it was legit and scary.
So in place of, well, a month's worth of entries, I now present to you: April in a nutshell--minus all the stuff you already know, like how I got my nose pierced.

*Mitch and I hosted Easter at our new apartment. We even dyed eggs!



*I'm officially the Day Student Government's Chief of Staff for the 2009-2010 school year. Woo!

* I'll still be doing research--just very part-time. URGO will be paying me $1,000 for my research in May, and after that, it's all for freeeee.

*I'm officially done with classes, minus a paper for my SCLE (Gender Representation in Kabuki Theater)--but Martha, my adviser, said I can turn that in after finals week (so it's due next week).

*My presentation on the aforementioned SCLE rocked. Approximately twenty people came, which is a pretty big showing for something like that. The classroom was packed!

The artwork I used for my presentation's fliers, etc. Look, it's an onnagata!

*I'm still available to intern, but as of today, I know for sure I have a second-round interview with the City of Edina's Communications Department (which is mighty exciting). It's next Wednesday, so keep your fingers crossed for me, eh?

I would add more, but Per just fell asleep, which means it's a good time for me to sneak in a nap. Until next time, loves!

HIS 104 Final - Modern China, Tibet, and everything else

This is the third and last time I'm going to tell you everything I've learned in my HIS 104 course. Today, at 1:30 P.M. is the final, and I need to get my study on.
Get ready to be wowed by modern Chinese history!
P.S. There are probably a LOT of spelling errors. I really don't care right now. I have freakin' finals to worry about.

• Those really famous Terra-cotta statues are in Xi-An.
  
• The way people in China became "noble" was taking a series of tests (the tests were comprised of Confucian thought and the liberal arts). Chinese (or "Han") who passed these tests were known as "Mandarins."
• Confucius pushed the idea of harmony. To find harmony, everyone had to understand and accept their positions in the world--for example, a woman's first loyalty is to the emperor. Next comes the Mandarins, and then her husband, and then her sons.
  
• The hairstyle in which you have a shaved forehead and a long braid down your back is called a "queue."
• The British had a long shopping list when they got to China to trade. But China didn't really need anything the British had--and they put a lot of restrictions on the British ships that came to China to engage in trade. The British, of course (those British) didn't like those restrictions. So first, they sent Lord McCartney to China to ask for better trade stuff (and for their missionaries to be allowed into the interior of China), but he was rebuffed.
  
• Kowtow = the act of bowing so low that your head hits the floor.
• During the 1800s, Tibet was pretty much an independent country. When Mao took over, he felt that Tibet "needed" what the Chinese could bring it (and that Tibet was the rightful property of China).
• Katak = the white scarf you give to the Dalai Llama. You know, when you meet him.
• The Chinese took over Tibet in 1949.
  
• Three things, according to Gus, affected China and made them do what they did: 1) Their dynasties wore out. The Qing were no longer really in control. 2) In about 1800, they started to have too many people to feed. 3) For the first time in Chinese history, their balance of trade with the outside world had shifted.
• One Mandarin, Commissioner Lin, was sent to end the opium trade/consumption. He went down to the English ships and demanded they hand over the opium--so they did, and Lin had huge holes dug in the ground, where he dumped the opium in water and lye.
• The Treaty of Nanjing was basically the British getting more "fair" trade. After this treaty went into effect, they had more places to trade, extraterritoriality (if a British person got in trouble in China, they weren't tried by the Chinese, they were sent back to Britain), set tariffs (5%), missionaries could work in Shanghai, and China had to pay for the Opium War(s), since "they started them."
• Some guy named Hong kept trying to become a Mandarin by taking those exams, but he kept failing. Eventually, he went back home and went into a coma-thing, and when he woke up, he said that God had told him A) Jesus was his brother, and B) he should get rid of the Qing. So Hong started a sort of revolution--thousands of people joined--and they were referred to as the Taiping (thus, the Taiping Revolution). Eventually, the Taiping Revolution fell apart, but it's still considered the most important of the 19th century. It's estimated that 20 million people died (and the Qing survived).
  
• There was this other group of people called the "self-strengtheners," and another called the "conservatives." Empress Cixi (the Empress who kept appointing really young boys as Emperor--so young that they couldn't really govern--and kept killing/imprisoning them) was a conservative--which meant she believed that China's way was THE way (a traditional sort of view).
• Japan asked Korea for trading ports, etc. Korea said no, but the Japanese said "We're coming anyway." So Korea asked China for help--thus began the Sino-Japanese War.
  
• The Japanese walloped China, and this was a wake-up call for the Chinese--that they were a lot less developed in comparison.
  
• One of Empress Cixi's little emperors grew up and started making reforms (encouraging math and engineering, etc.), but Empress Cixi didn't like that. So she called him crazy, imprisoned him, and reversed all his reforms (the 100 Days Reform).
• There was also this group called the Boxers, who took it upon themselves to try to expel all the foreigners in China. They killed a bunch of missionaries sort of on behalf of the Empress Dowager. Eventually, though, they fell apart, and the Empress Dowager admitted that stuff had to change (such as offering Western education, etc.).
  
• The Empress later declared that, after her death, she should be succeeded by Pu-Yi (the last emperor of the Qing).
  
• Between 1911 and 1912, something happened called the "revolution." The Qing government collapsed. A guy named Su Yat-sen was given credit for this. Sun Yat-sen ended up being the first kinda sorta kinda really president of the Republic of China.
• On the 4th of May, 1919, university students protested, demanding a new mood in China--a unified China, getting rid of foot binding, writing in the vernacular...
• This movement sparked the Chinese Communist movement (and the Chinese Communist Party).
• Comintern = Communist International. An organization designed to help small communist parties to form in the rest of the world.
  
• Sun Yat-sen's group, called the Gummingdong (eventually called the nationalists) were in a sort of alliance with the Chinese Communists. But after his death and Chiang Kai-Shek took over, they were the opposition to the Communist Party.
  
• One day, Chiang Kai-Shek decided they should kill all the Communists and Communist sympathizers. So the day he finally makes a big, sort of successful move, the Communists flee to Yan'an. This was called the Long March. They lost about 80,000 men on it.
  
• It was around this time that Mao became the leader of the CCP.
  
• Kai-Shek wanted to go after the Communists, but his generals, etc. said go after the Japanese. Eventually, he actually had to team up with the Communists to fight against the Japanese.
  
• In 1937, the Japanese basically began a war against China. They took Shanghai (Nanjing became the new capital). When the Japanese got to Nanjing, they committed what's now referred to as the "Rape of Nanjing." They killed tons of people, raped tons of women and children, and stole basically everything.
  
• The Japanese ended up deciding that, after Nanjing, they really didn't have enough men to go farther into China, so they stopped.
  
• Kai-Shek kept asking the U.S. for resources so they could help fight the Japanese (during WWII), and the U.S. gave him some. But he didn't use them--ppl think he was saving them for his fight against the Communists.
  
• Not long after WWII ended, there was civil war in China between Kai-shek and the Communists.
  
• In 1949, Kai-shek fled to Taiwan (and the U.S. then called Taiwan the "real" China).
  
• Not long after Mao took over, the Korean war began (and Mao helped out North Korea).
• During the first part of Mao's rule, he brought inflation under control and instigated massive land reforms (approximately 1 million landowners died).
  
• "Let 100 flowers bloom" = a saying in Chinese. Mao used it to encourage people to speak up and provide criticism of his government. When they did, he got mad and called them counter-revolutionaries.
  
• After the land reforms, Mao built communes. The communes worked well for a year, but after that, for weather reasons and because district chiefs (whatever they're called) lied about how much they were producing--and there was a great famine. LOTS of ppl died.
• In 1959, Mao and top-dogs got together to try to figure out what to do.
  
• Deng Xiaoping and a guy named Liu convinced Mao to be a "thinker" while they pretty much ruled the government.
  
• Deng suggested people get material incentives. Mao didn't like that.
  
• Liu was suspected of being a traitor person, and imprisoned. He died in prison.
• In Russia/China, there was the Party, which made decisions, and then the government, which followed through with those decisions.
• The big people in the Party were known as the Politburo.
  
• Party membership was very limited. Less than 5% of Chinese were allowed in.
• Mao said the main incentive for people should be a moral incentive.
  
• Lin (not Commissioner Lin from before) was an important general in the Chinese military. He was the won that thought up Quotations from Chairman Mao--and made his soldiers read it all the time.
• 1966-1976: The Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution.
• After this, Mao pulled a "dirty trick." He told the students who'd participated in the GPCR to go out into villages to spread the word about Mao, etc. But the students weren't allowed to come back to the cities--sometimes ever.
• After Mao's death, Jiang Jing wanted to take over with her compatriots (The Gang of Four), but she was arrested by Deng.
• People blamed Mao's mistakes on the Gang of Four--not on Mao.
• Mao had talked about having "appropriate technology" for China. This included "barefoot doctors"--people who got minimal medical education and then went out into the villages to help people with basic stuff.
• Mao helped to raise the standard of living. After Mao came into power, the literacy rate rose.
• Deng Xiaoping, after taking control (after Mao's death), did away with the communes and said things like "It's good to get rich."
• He also established Special Economic Zones--where foreigners could come in and build factories.
• He also instituted the 1-child policy.
• It was also under Deng that the Three Gorges Dam Project was started.
• Tienanmen Square incident: tons of students were mourning some pro-democracy + market guy, and these erupted into protests/a big mess. Lots of people died, and the Chinese government doesn't let people talk about it.

That's all. Wish me luck.

Video of Per, th Shiba puppy

Enjoy, loves.

Per playing...er, trying to play, in his sweater


Per playing with his reflection in the mirror


Per playing. Generally.

Per, my new Shiba puppy

Finally, I'm going to tell you all about my new Shiba (Inu) puppy, Per.
First things first: the Shiba Inu is a Japanese breed. The origin of "Shiba" is a little sketchy, but "Inu" just means dog, so I usually refer to them as simply "Shibas." Per, our puppy's name, is Norwegian for the name "Peter." Since I picked the breed, Mitch picked the name.

So why did I pick a Shiba? Well, Shibas are an independent breed. Males, especially, are similar to cats, in that they're typically pretty content with being left alone--even when people are around. They're also very loyal--which doesn't mean what you probably think it does. When looking for a specific breed, if the description says "loyal," that means your dog won't necessarily get as much joy out of being with people that aren't you.

The best illustration I can think of is the story of Hachikou, an Akita (a sort-of-not-really-but-sort-of relative of the Shiba), who waited for his person to come back from work every day at the Shibuya train station. Well, one day, Hachikou's person didn't come back--he'd died at the university earlier that day. But Hachikou, for the remaining 10 years of his life, came back to the train station every evening to wait for his person.
So revered is Hachikou's story in Japan that not only is he commemorated with a now-very-famous statue, he was also, upon his death, preserved (that is, "stuffed and mounted") and is currently exhibited at Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science.

Hachikou's statue at Shibuya Station, a popular meeting ground

Hachikou's remains

Anyway, Shibas typically display that same type of loyalty. Pretty neat, huh?

And here's the story of Per. So far, anyway.

Mitch and I drove to a shipping place by the airport to pick Per up from his breeder, a woman named Marj who operates a ranch out in Maynard, Minnesota. On the ride home, Per pooped in my car. Thus began my calling him a "turd."

Per's first picture (with us)--in my car, preparing for the drive back home to Minneapolis.

Well, since then, Per's become a hit. He's way too adorable for people to not lavish love all over him. He likes when I make this weird "Rawr rawr rawr" noise, and will chase me/make me chase him around our apartment. He likes to lick and tug on hair. He doesn't mind sleeping on laps, but prefers to sleep near-but-not-on people. He nibbles and hits (yes, hits) other dogs, and probably eats too much (I've noticed his back end is getting a little big).

Me and Mitch with Per in the Augsburg Admissions Office.

Per chewing on his "bear," which we threw away yesterday because it smelled like pee.

Yet, I can't help but get annoyed with him. What you might not know, looking at him, is that he still pees all over the house (and himself), and loves to chew on my DDR pads, the couch, and the carpet. So many college friends have expressed their jealousy at my having a puppy--but having a puppy is really, really tough work. Especially since we got him when the school semester started winding down--I mean, I don't just have finals and work to worry about--I also have a puppy. He's like a human baby, except he doesn't wear diapers, and can be left alone for short periods of time.

Of course, I love him. I grew up with animals--and not just the occasional gold fish--in my short life, I've had seven dogs, two horses, a turtle, and literally more bunnies and cats than I can remember to count. And so when I went off to college and was totally devoid of furry-friend contact, it really bothered me. So having a pet again is pretty neat, and I'm lucky to be able to afford (although, honestly, just barely) a puppy, an apartment, and random living expenses.

But it's a lot of work. So if I ever turn down an invitation to hang out or go out somewhere, or if I don't get my end of a group project done on time, please please please have mercy on me: I have a furry baby at home.

Per in his sweater. We got it for him because he shivers when we take him outside on cold nights.

Per sleeping on his bear, against my couch pillow (which he isn't allowed to do, except for this picture, I guess).

Per will become a frequent character in my entries from now on, so if nothing else, read No, I Am a Cat for the cute puppy pictures.

A not entirely comprehensive (but still massive) to-do list

It's that time again (time to, because my life is so hectic, create a to-do list). I like making these public, even if they aren't comprehensive, because I feel a little more obligated to make progress.
So here's another. The following are things I need to finish before May 1, which is Augsburg's last day of finals for the regular school term. ( "(X)" means completed.)

• Have Bob Groven sign my Business and Professional Speaking add form.
• Finish writing the HON 240 essay on the socio-economic consequences of trans fats.
• Call my doc. (X)
  
• Pay rent.
  
• Prepare for and lead the end-of-the-year Homemade meeting. (X)
  
• Maaaaaybe attend the Honors banquet. (X)
  
• Get my hair done at Moxie this Saturday, at 3 P.M. (X)
  
• Research for International Economics negotiations (something about GMOs...). (X)
  
• Talk to Academic Advising about testing out of Public Speaking.
• Figure out, definitively, when I'm going to present for my SCLE (Student Created Learning Experience). (X) Then actually present.
• Write my SCLE final essay.
  
• Fill out the scholarship app Deb gave me.
• Fill out another scholarship app (no, I'm not telling you which one).
• Table for Postcards to the President on Friday, April 24. (X)
  
• Turn in Male Colors. It was due in the library over a month ago. (X)
  
• Go to Target for various food/living items (I'm currently using Scotch tape instead of athletic tape for my bad finger). (X)
  
• Study for my Tuesday, April 28 HIS 104 final exam (on current and past material).
• Create my section of our HON 240 presentation by Tuesday, April 28. (X)
  
• Listen to the convocation I missed and write a short report on it for HON 240.
• Watch The Last Emperor and To Live for HIS 104.
  
• Order Mitch's grad present. That is, give him $ or Euro for his trip to Europe.
  
• Don't freak out.
  

That's all I've got for now. I'll officially stop adding to-dos after Friday (April 24). Any time before then, however, is fair game, so look for updates and help me keep my nose to the grindstone.

1,000 views and counting!

WOW! My profile (and thus, presumably, No, I Am a Cat) has officially been viewed 1,000 times. What great news!

Thanks, everyone, for being such lovely readers (and thanks to you occasional scanners as well)!

I suggest you all participate in this fun little activity: go back in time and read my first post as a Homemade blogger, under the pseudonym Mnemosyne (which I've stuck with in various incarnations for almost five years): "Abcdefg, BYA (pronounced 'bee-ya')."
Heck, go back and read my first twenty or so posts! Fifty or so! ONE HUNDRED or so! Relive my first year at Augsburg College. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two about me that may or may not be true now, more than a year later. (Ha).

Now I'm going to sleep.
Love, yours truly, Mnemosyne.

One, two, buckle my dog's harness

I haven't forgotten my promise to write an entry entirely devoted to my new Shiba puppy, Per.
But for now, I'm going to tell you about my life since last time:

I'm officially still researching gender in video games this summer. I'm even getting paid! $1,000 for one month of research (May). And after May, I can continue my research (and of course, write a massive essay detailing my results and submit it to academic journals for publishing). It's gonna be great.

I'm also maybe/probably going to be the new Chief of Staff for the Smith/Krouse-Gagne administration (Sam Smith, as I've mentioned before, is the new Day Student Government President). Neat, huh? Sam and I are meeting tomorrow to discuss the specifics.

I'm not sure if I actually have HON 240 lab at 8 A.M. tomorrow, but I suppose I'd better go just in case. I've already missed one, and my professors cut me some slack (going to a small school, where professors care about you as an individual rocks), but A) I don't want to push their generosity, and B) I like learning. And if we end up not having lab, I'll just study until lecture at 11:50. I mean, I've got a final tomorrow!: in International Economics. This Tuesday, we've got our final test, and next Tuesday, we've got "negotiations," which means we assume the role of some international organization, etc. and negotiate with the other side of whatever argument we pick (though there are set disputes to choose from).
Oh my! I just realized I have three finals next Tuesday. I'm pretty sure I could get that changed (I've heard students are really only supposed to have, at most, two per day), but I've had to do three in a day once before, and I managed. And then, after Tuesday, I'm done for the year! Then I get to research and hopefully make money somewhere else (I'm waiting to hear back from another internship committee this Friday).

Mitch is getting antsy now. He's tired (and frankly, so am I. I have to wake up in six hours! Gross.). おやすみ！ (That's "good night").

My life is not a giant FML joke anymore

I have a puppy. But a separate post about him (Per) will come later. I promise. I just don't feel like uploading all the new videos we've taken tonight.

I WILL update you on everything else Ali.

Before this week, April was lousy (see Down on my luck, Jose the hero). This week, though, has turned around pretty well. That is, I'm still crazy busy--especially now that finals are in a week and a half--but my life is not a continuous FML moment anymore.

I applied for another big internship. I'm calling the guy in charge of collecting the applications tomorrow to make sure he received mine (I sent it in the mail, all fancy-like, in one of those plastic paper-holder-book-things).
I refuse to say where the internship is being offered, because I'm prideful, and if I didn't get that specific internship, I wouldn't want you to know. Don't be hatin'.

I also finished my HIS 104 (History of the Modern Non-Western World) essay on Kwame Nkrumah in the 1960s and what the American press said about him at the time. The essay was not the best I've ever written, but I finally finished, and I think I did a better job on the footnotes this time (footnotes are hard for me--I was exclusively taught MLA in high school), so I feel content about things in that respect.

Mitch is at the senior party tonight. Tomorrow night is the Spring Affair Dance, which I may or may not attend (I have a love-hate relationship with dances). Then, Saturday night, is the Spring Music Jam, which Mitch is basically totally responsible for. So if you're an Auggie or have an Auggie pal, I'd better see you there, ya hear?

That's all for now. I want Take the Cake ice cream.
Oh, BTW: Instead of writing an essay on my SCLE (Gender Representation in Kabuki: The Onnagata), I might do a presentation/seminar-type-thing instead. Neat, eh?

P.S. Sam Smith, a pal of mine, is the new Student Government President. おめでとう！

I got my nose pierced

This is two weeks overdue, but guess what? I got my nose pierced! For my birthday. Mitch brought me and my gal pal Amber Dahl to Saint Sabrina's, a tattoo and piercing place in Uptown, and at 7:30 P.M. on Thursday, April 2nd, I got a hole and a stud put in my nostril.
I bet you want to know if it hurt, right? Well, the whole procedure took only about thirty seconds--and though my nose is still a little sore (two weeks after), it really only hurt for, maybe ten seconds.
And I bet you want to know if I like it, right? I love it. It's small enough that it doesn't draw too much attention, yet front-and-center enough to still add a lot to my overall look.

Well, here are pictures AND video of the event. Enjoy, loves.

First, Nate, my piercer, cleaned out my nostril

Me laying on the bed--yes, you have to lie back during a nostril piercing

Mitch managed to get a pic of the exact moment of piercing

Me posing happily with Nate after the procedure

I had to take this myself because Mitch is allergic to cameras. But doesn't it look nice?


The entire adventure

Down on my luck, Jose the hero

OK, here's the dish:

I'm having a terrible day. I mean, flat-out rotten. The guilty events include, but are not limited to: getting flipped off by a stranger, being turned down for an internship, being told that my application for research wasn't accepted because my research "didn't seem like a priority to me," and getting a parking ticket.

So I took an hour and a half nap after, honestly, bawling for a good half hour. I'm not ashamed: crying releases stress somehow (I remember learning this, but can't remember when).
Anyway, I woke up and checked my email.
Sitting there, in my inbox, was an email from my Argentinean tutee, Jose.
Let me provide some context: the first semester of my first-year at Augsburg, I tutored English at the Franklin Learning Center. For most of my time at the center, I tutored a man named Jose, who was here from Argentina, studying English.
He was a very, very kind man.
And the email I got today was doubly kind. He called me his "dear English teacher," and told me how he's almost done reading a book--entirely in English. He also expresses his wish to visit the U.S. again, or have me visit him in Argentina.
This wasn't, of course, our first email correspondence. We've been emailing off-and-on since he went back to Argentina, in January of 2008. But the emails are always far between.
In his emails, Jose often comments on the kindness of the people in Minneapolis, goes on and on about how much he loves to learn new words in English, and tells me I am a beautiful, smart young woman.
No more than a couple hours ago, I was feeling extremely down on my luck. I still am. But Jose's email definitely lifted my spirits.

I guess the "moral" of this story is that it's experiences like tutoring someone from another country that can make a big difference in your outlook on things, even in little, relatively inconsequential ways like this.
Thank you, Jose.

Our new apartment

Yes, indeed-er-oonie, I moved. Last week. Er, I mean, last week and last weekend and on-and-off this week. Who knew moving took more than one day? Boo.

We (it's "we," because Mitch and I are on the lease together, and are, of course, we're physically living together) moved off-campus into the Whittier neighborhood. If you don't know where that is, think the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It's in that general area of Minneapolis.

So what have I noticed about living off-campus? Or, are you wondering which I like more?
Well, I haven't been off-campus long enough to truly know yet, but I can say that living off-campus is not necessarily always quieter. In fact, our apartment neighbors are certainly as noisy as our dorm neighbors were. On the other hand, at our apartment, we don't hear anything coming from outside--that is, there are no drunk college students throwing tennis balls at the walls. Which, trust me, will happen on every campus that doesn't outlaw fun. And some do, believe it or not. There are a few schools that don't allow dancing...or "homosexual activity," which is, of course, completely ludicrous.
Anyway, I love having what seems like infinitely more space. I also like: having a large fridge, having a large stove, having a clean bathroom, not sleeping and eating and doing everything else in one room, having somewhere proper to eat, that the love-seat's weird green color actually looks good in our living room, having a sink garbage disposal, having big windows that close...
Though, before I go off on an "off-campus living is the shiz" rant, (actually, maybe I just won't, at least, anymore than I already have), I want to advise all prospective students ("prospies") to live on-campus for at least two years. I probably still would (and I'm heading into my third year), if I wasn't sort of required to move off-campus (being that my fiance is graduating this spring and all).

OK, for your viewing enjoyment, I've included some pics (albeit, crappy ones) and a video of our new place. WOO NEW PLACE!

The view from our kitchen into our dinette

The kitchen

Our dinette. The table was my grandparent's. :O

Our living room

Our bed, a gift from my fabulous parents.