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| OaklandI think it's odd that when I think of Oakland, what comes to mind is the black and silver Raiders logo and the idea of crime and smog. Well-- that's not odd. What's odd, to me, is that I never once thought of "land of oaks." Not once!
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| Scary Lab! Today I explored an abandoned laboratory. Apparently, quite a few years ago, a professor retired, and just up and left his lab. No one took his place, and no one feels responsible for cleaning up.
It is so creepy in that room. It's in a locked building that is also abandoned, though it remained in use a few years after the lab closed down. There are dead mice on the floor, but lab coats still hung over the backs of chairs. The refrigerator is still running and full of chemicals. I found colostrum (the milk that comes from a cow the first hours after she gives birth) from 1988, epinephrine from 1994, boxes of unopened test-tubes and tins of God-knows-what. There is still a full beaker and a syringe under the fume hood, covered in cobwebs.
I also explored abandoned mouse rooms. I had to open a thick metal door to enter the hallway where the mouse were kept. That hallways is like the inside of a submarine-- pipes and electrical wires from floor to ceiling, with knobs and dials sprouting off here and there. Most of the lights were burnt out, and man, it was creepy.
Anyway, that was fun.
Enjoy some pictures!
Friends
Birthday!
Nelly
Catch!
Birthday Present from Nick
And perhaps my favorite picture of all:
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| The state, not the cityI spent the week in Washington with two of the world’s
cutest things! One of them showed me a wonderful time around Seattle, and the
other mostly chewed on my watch. The cuter one prepared a delicious picnic with
cookies, chicken salad, and hummus, which we enjoyed together on a hill
overlooking the Puget Sound. We also saw the Troll under the Bridge (she calls
it something, I can’t remember what—the something troll), and Gas Works, a park
of the remains from an old gas company. I got to spend time in the Experience
Music Project, a museum dedicated mainly to Seattle musicians. (I got to jam
with strangers, scratch on a mixer, and sing Karaoke with Lilah in a soundproof
room.) We walked through the sculpture park (pretty cool) and watched kids get
soaked by a big fountain with a million jets that changed pressure and
direction. We ate Ethiopian food and toured Snohomish, where we walked across
an abandoned bridge. I spent much time playing with dogs, before picking up an
adorable Mini Dachsund (hopefully soon to be named Albert Einstein). So anyway, that was my fantastic week. Now it’s back to
work. What kind of work? Well, a nap, for starters—night shift starts at 11pm.
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| Going With the FlowHave I ever talked about the time I was "hyponotized" on here?
No?
Well...
I volunteered myself at a hypnotist show. The man was Kent Sorrels. I believed it would work. Here's what happened:I went up on stage and sat in a chair. I was made to relax and close my eyes. I would have closed my eyes anyway; I think it's natural for many people to feel less embarrassed in public when they close their eyes, at least until they're old enough to realize that makes them look even sillier.
Anyway, after 5-10 minutes of buildup, the hypnotist began his work. He had us do something small. At this point, I was groggily awake and aware of my surroundings. I had my eyes closed, and was feeling a bit silly. Mr. Sorrels told everyone to lean on the shoulder to our left. As in many hypnosis shows, they sat us boy-girl-boy-girl. As a young teenage (pre-teen? I don't remember) boy, I was quite happy to lean on a girl's shoulder. Anyway, I'd have looked like a doofus if I didn't-- who wants to be the only one on stage not following directions? It seems like in every hypnosis show, it seems someone goes left instead of right-- it's embarrassing. I think it would be just as embarrassing to remain bolt upright while everyone else is slouching to their left.
Next he had us sit back up and do something small. It's been so long, I hardly remember anymore, but it was one of a number of typical routines-- pretend you're on a roller coaster, or pretend that you're really really hot, or pretend that you're really really cold. Again, I took the path of least resistance-- just play along with it. It's getting embarrassing, but everyone else on stage is doing the same thing. The only thing worse would be to stand out.
The hypnotist slowly progressed to more embarrassing commands. These are the things that everyone agrees "Jack would NEVER have done that in real life, he was DEFINITELY under hypnosis." At each step, I had a choice: follow the next command, or suddenly sit down/stand awkwardly after having been apparently under hypnosis for the last 20 minutes.
The antics demanded of me get more and more outrageous. By now, this stuff isn't funny at all to me. I remember having a hard time at the beginning keeping a straight face, when we were doing the YMCA or pretending to be farmers visited by space aliens. But now it seems cruel. I'm tired of it, I want to be let off stage, and I have never felt so foolish or small in all my life. It feels dishonest, but (as I think is the case for most humans) the choice between dishonesty and ridicule is one of the most difficult decisions for me to make.
Finally, we're allowed to sit back down and close our eyes. The guy is counting up again, and playing the soothing music. I can't wait to get out of there, to be alone, out of the spotlight and away from the crowds. But Kent Sorrels isn't done. He has 2 more tricks up his sleeve. First, he gives me a little plastic trophy, telling me "if anyone asks, you have to exCITEDly shout 'I was a star at the Kent Sorrel's Hypnotist Show.' I'm supposed to be confused afterwards when everyone is looking at me strangely. Next, he tells my neighbor (who also volunteered) and I that for the rest of the night, when he says a certain word, our chairs become "hot" and we have to jump out of them.
It was easy to act the part. After jumping up, I knew I had to act confused, but I was also pretty upset and frustrated. I realized that anyone who was being stared at by the whole crowd would naturally be frustrated and angry, so I just let my annoyance show. This is the part that really turned me. I was annoyed, embarrassed, and frustrated before, but in the end, it was for fun, and of course I wasn't alone. Now my greatest source of comfort-- other people doing the same stupid things-- was taken away from me. Even so, the path of least resistance was still to continue the sham. It's only till then end of the night.
The rest of the night, I kept trying to put my trophy down and leave it somewhere, but my family and friends kept asking to see it or handing it to me. It went on forever. My parents followed me into the bathroom that night, and that was the last straw. I don't remember exactly what I said, but I made up some lame excuse why it wasn't working. I awoke the next day to knowing smiles and "mysterious" questions. "So, did you enjoy last night?" "Is your chair comfortable?" "Do you remember anything about a trophy?"
There is only one response that will make this nightmare end: "Um. I don't remember. Gosh. How strange."
I don't think everyone knowingly lies. I think a lot of people convince themselves that they really were hypnotized. I think a lot of people really forget a lot of what happened. It really does happen in a blur, and you really are groggy as you do it-- after all, you just closed your eyes and listened to a deep soothing voice for 5 minutes. It's not hard to forget, or to let it all run together. I have the same vague, run-together memories from my high school play. It's probably not that hard to bury those memories. And so what if you weren't hypnotized? What are you gonna do? Tell everyone-- "Oh, I wasn't hypnotized, I just felt silly not doing those things"? In one sentence, you've just admitted to doing embarrassing things in front of a huge crowd WHILE in control of yourself AND lying about it (by acting as if you were under hypnosis the whole time). No-- the proper answer is "I can't really remember it." Even if you are honest, most people who saw you won't believe you. It's just too much fun to buy into it. My own Dad, when this conversation came up years later, laughed when I told him. After suggesting that I was lying (now) because it fit the argument (we were talking about supernatural phenomena) he finally gave me that patronizing "Okay, if you say so."
Does hypnosis work? I suppose another way to ask it is, do you really lose voluntary control over your actions? Of course, my experiences don't necessarily speak for everyone. But I guess the key is, changing the context amounts to the same thing as changing the mind. In a way, my voluntary actions were under the control of a man skillfully manipulating context. I'm still shocked at the naivete of people who ask of the Germans under Hitler, "How could they let that happen?" I think they would do much better to recognize the awesome confidence required to speak out against overwhelmingly accepted absurdity. You can change the world though intelligence, wit, creativity, or any of a thousand other talents and characteristics. To change the world's moral outlook, though, requires something much rarer-- the ability to choose ridicule over dishonesty.
Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmmm
Once there was this kid who
Got into an accident and couldn't come to school
But when he finally came back
His hair had turned from black into bright white
He said that it was from when the cars had smashed so hard
Mmm...
Once there was this girl who
Wouldn't go and change with the girls in the change room
And when they finally made her
They saw birthmarks all over her body
She couldn't quite explain it, they'd always just been there
Mmm...
But both girl and boy were glad'
Cause one kid had it worse than that'
Cause then there was this boy whose
Parents made him come directly home right after school
And when they went to their church
They shook and lurched all over the church floor
He couldn't quite explain it, they'd always just gone there
Mmm...
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| DavisDavis is a liberal, wealthy town, so I am rather surprised at its tiny public library. I had already heard that the campus library was small, since we were a satellite school for Berkeley, and for a long time the UC system (which was originally only Berkely, and then included Berkeley and Davis) couldn't financially justify putting much money into another UC Davis library. What I am surprised about is the massive amount of space in our library that is not devoted to books; there are open corridors with pillars down the center, and open wings with tiny pictures on the walls, and a huge ornate staircase in the center surrounded by open space. I must say, it is a much nicer looking library than that of UIUC... but *ahem* UIUC does happen to have the third largest public library in all of the US, behind the Library of Congress and either Harvard or Yale, I forget which. I guess I'm a tad spoiled.  | Currently Watching
Waking Life
By Louis Black, Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Charles Gunning, Ethan Hawke
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