General Lee - and hating it

General Robert E. Lee was a prominent general during the American civil war. He, like many others during his generation, was forced to choose between the country that he loved - and was trained to protect and the beliefs of his family. Either way, he was considered a traitor.

My speech and debate coaches have been having some tension - and communication problems (yes, ironic). This has spilled into their general meetings - one person will say something and the other tries to explain it better. Students that work exclusively with one coach badmouth the other to some extent. But never has it reached the heights that it reached today.

Because we started a new quarter, our team had new people enrolled in our course, so today was supposed to be a very laid-back explanation of what speech and debate is and what we do. However, this was not to be the case.

Due to the large amounts of people who decided to join the class(es) for credits, our debate instructor decided to get a separate room- without telling anyone beforehand. This includes the other director who was as flabbergasted as the rest of the people there. When 12 of the expected 60+ students arrived, she still sailed out, commanding all who were in her class to follow along.

As someone who does both - and was planning on officially registering in the other class- I was quite confused. Why was she walking out of the meeting? What was going on?

After talking to the other coach and fixing up my appointments with him, I walked over to the room that my debate coach had claimed. She informed us that she would be meeting in this room from now on and if we wanted to get our A, we would need to show up each week in that room.

WTF.

After all the new people had left, she told the rest of the debaters that she left because it was too noisy and too inefficient in the other room for her to work sufficiently. She also said that she had suspicions that the other coach was trying to steal her students and that he wanted to kick her out because his best friend also applied for the job and failed to get it. She claimed that she does all the work and that she's in official trouble because of all the extra work that she's doing.

Now, I think that the majority of the stuff she's talking about is horse shit, that she's just sick and stressed (tenure review tends to do that to people), and there is a basic failure to communicate that has blowup out of proportion. But whether or not any of this stuff is true, she shouldn't be disclosing any of these suspicions to her students. That's unprofessional. Am I wrong for feeling awkward and confused? I really wish that this hadn't happened. Because I work with both coaches, I'm caught in the middle. I feel like I have to choose one side or the other - and like the general, I'm afraid there is no easy alternative.

A most exhausting weekend.

A cow goes moo,
A duck goes quack,
this chick says
She'll be right back!

Seriously folks, I have a debate tournament tomorrow and Sunday. I also have a speech that needs to be written and memorized before then. So go do something else unproductive until I recover.

18 minutes to be profound

My laptop is almost dead.

Crappy Brooding post

I have iron-deficiency anemia, which essentially means that I don't have enough hemoglobin carrying oxygen around my body. This is important because the oxygen is what allows your muscles to produce massive amounts of ATP (cell energy). This allows you to keep going for longer on less air.

I can't.

Without gasping like an out-of-shape car addict, it is impossible for me to climb stairs. I have to pace myself in activities and make sure that I have plenty of energy and am well rested before doing anything. I need to eat something before 10 or my vision starts blacking out (which can be annoying). I tend to get dizzy after donating blood and have an innate urge to snack. Due to this, I start my lunch at 10 am and space it out to about 2.

But that's boring background info.

The week after I decided to give blood (yes, they passed me), I wanted to ride my bike to school. Now, I was feeling good, and I had done it before, so I wasn't quite worried. Besides, the 10 mile ride is mostly downhill. What could go wrong?

Everything.

I was rushed on my way to school, so I neglected to eat breakfast before I left. I grabbed a bagel and stuffed it in my backpack to eat during my first class. I grabbed my bike and went on the road. It was cold and drippy outside - the rain pushed its wet drops on my face and helmet. I forged on, coasting and pedaling, trying to push some warmth into my frigid, frozen legs. I did fairly well for the first few miles, hitting the pavement at a decent speed. But I quickly got tired after the first hill and had to walk up it.

Oh well. It's windy and I'm tired.

I kept going up and down, but about half-way to my college I got tired. Really tired. I told myself that I needed a brake, so I stopped at a bus station to eat my bagel. I took a bite, and felt nauseous. My tired body was rebelling - I could not bike any further. I collapsed on a bench, parked my bike, and waited for my body to feel somewhat recovered so I could forge on - I still had to get to school.

All of a sudden, I woke up and realized that I had fainted. On a bus stop. And still had to travel 5 miles.

So I did what any self-sufficient and completely independent young adult would do. I called my father. He was stuck picking up something and told me that if I had wanted a ride, I should have said so earlier in the morning.

Thanks.

Slightly freaked out, I headed down the street, leaning on my bike for support. Eventually I saw a bus go by and flagged it down so I could transfer to a bus that would take me to my class. So it turned out all right.

But I haven't fainted since I was in elementary school. Although both of my grandmothers and my mom were anemic, they grew out of it when they became adults. I clearly haven't.

This worries me.

Satya

This week's challenge is to be honest. This includes the barring of white lies, and avoiding an issue for self-benefit. This does not include volunteering unsolicited information.

I think that that about covers it.

WTF???

Wandering around a locale is always interesting. It is fun to find the little quirks in the system, the things that make a center or city, well, unique. Which is why I highly recommend wandering around areas - the places, the people, the really freaky stuff that you can find while roaming suburbia or a downtown city is... amazing.

But I wasn't concerned with that today.

No, today, I just wanted to find somewhere quiet that I could play an episode of the daily show in peace. A big promotion was on campus, complete with bad karaoke echoing throughout the college. Of course, I couldn't use any building - the library aides tends to be pissy if you make noise, and the student center was full of talkative people. I decided to branch out and head over to the quiet [read deserted] section of campus - the science and math buildings. Go figure. I eventually find a deserted section of concrete, with a lovely row of plants offering some scenery, and settle down to watch my video. As I began to sit down (a complex process involving a backpack, jacket, book, laptop, and bottom), I realized that the tags denoting the plants were unusual - they explained, not only the normal and latin species name, but they also explained which parts of the plants were poisonous.

Yes, you read that right. This was a garden of poisonous plants.'

Really? What sort of campus tells you, not only that certain plants are poisonous, but what effect different bits have in the body AND lets them flourish for picking? Really?? It doesn't even have some sort of sign saying "Beware of the plants!" or anything... It just looked like as harmless a bunch of decorative, semi-maintained plants as you ever saw.

Moral - appearances can be deceiving. It's safer to not trust plants at all.

And.... yeah

Ahimsa is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I cannot add more regulations on - I'd either go nuts or start cheating. So I'm going to do a week of each. This lets me focus on the ideals while maintaining some semblance of sanity.

Ahimsa

This word, the first vow, means non-violence, or no harm. The traditional Jainist strives to do no harm to all living things, from the ant in the dirt to other human beings. This includes straining water to not be accidentally consuming bugs and becoming a vegetarian.

These are the guidelines that I will be adapting for the rest of the month.

• No meat or fish. As a vegetarian, I already do this. However, I will also add that I will not consume animal products at all, unless given to me by another person unsolicited. To not eat a meal offered due to my complex new diet is not fair to the others.
• No ad homiem attacks. At all.
• Offering criticism is allowed only if solisited AND if it is based on a skill or policy - not a person. For example, I can debate against others, and offer suggestions for improvement, if asked, but cannot start cussing them out.
• No hurting animals. Including cockroaches and strange spiders.
• Offer help to people when needed.
• No dirty thoughts about people. Even single-minded professors and corrupt politicians.
  
• No complaining about people OR people's actions unless they have harmed another.
• No physical violence against another.
• Be willing to say one positive thing about all that I meet.
• Smile and say hello to all.
• Love.

If you have any suggestions for me, please comment below.

But I'm still going to wear clothes

Sitting in my World Religion class yesterday, I decided to expand my horizons a bit. I am going to try to follow the Jain religion for the month of October. I will try to follow the 5 main vows of the religion and blog about my experiences along the way. Who knows? I might gain some different perspective on the religion or life as a whole.

As the bisexual said to the priest, "Some experimentation is good."

Because the 5 vows are quite nebulous, I will address each of them in their own posts. They'll probably pop-up by Monday, although I can't promise for certain (my weekend is quite slammed with a babysitting gig, a speech tournament, donating blood, and a Lincoln-Douglass debate bonanza. Whew! I feel tired just writing all of that!) I hope to get some concrete guidelines as to what I can and cannot do. For example, the first rule is of ahimsa, or no harming of others. Because gasoline is an inherently harmful commodity, causing the distruction of natural habitat of animals and a significant reason for at least 2 two wars, I will not use any for my own benefit. If I need to drive someone else, I will, lest I inconvenience them. I will accept carpooling. But I will not drive myself somewhere for my own benefit this month.

See why each one needs its own post? I tend to get detailed....
Hopefully this will give me new experiences in life.

I sound all idealistic. This is a good start.