Touch and Go

Surprise.

The difficulty of life difficulties has reached a plateau again but with the difference that I wallowed for about 30 minutes...okay, maybe more than that.

It's an interesting feeling because I am very aware of the constant tangible weight that is pushing down on me as it has alerted me to the fact that the heat has been turned up a notch. I think it would be easier if it wasn't noticeable...but if it wasn't noticeable it wouldn't have reason to be...conundrum.

Mostly that was crazy talk.

My abnormal psych class was canceled today so I have stranded myself on campus so that I can work on my PowerPoint presentation for next Wednesday. It's been quite the labor of love because it's tedious but also has brought up interesting topics that I am developing a taste for like how I used to hate Mike and Ikes but now I can't go a day without having them. According to the DSM-IV-TR, this is substance dependency.

I'm going to outline my presentation on here so that I can have a better idea about how I want this thing to flow.

I would like to start by providing a review of the terminology associated with my topic. I will present ideologies and explanations about interdependence and collectivism-common (but not generalized) threads of similarities. I find that focusing my presentation on Vietnamese immigrants in America will allow me to make solid claims and provide evidence that can be interpreted as a whole for the Vietnamese-American population.

A brief background of Vietnam will be provided and I will touch on "the War in Vietnam...there's only one thing I can say about the War in Vietnam", immigration waves, first generational experience, and segue to my main body of people I am going to concentrate on which are the second generational Vietnamese-Americans.

In order to properly describe the generational conflicts, I will also be discussing cultural norms, gender roles, and expectations specific to the culture.

I will then move on to my meatier part of the presentation: "Hyphenated America". In this section, I will discuss the clash between culture that is consistent among the second generational Vietnamese-American population. I will present ideas and examples concerning: dating, education, honor, respect, marriage, etc.

I will then present a resolution...which is still in the works because I'm not sure myself if there is a resolution yet.

These past few months spent entrenched in research about minorities problems on every level has led me to a pessimistic conclusion: there's no easy answer to racism in America. I was talking to a friend the other day who is a sociology major and she asked in almost bewilderment if there were still problems with racism in America. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he is white and his naughty list is filled with minorities...especially the job stealing illegal kind.

There's so many facets to racism which makes progress in egalitarian beliefs hard to achieve...but really, this is all in my back burner part of the brain as something I would like to research and contribute to change the problem.

You read this blog and you might be led to believe that I know what I want to do with my life but that is a filthy, odious lie...I only seem like I know what I'm doing in blog form.

List

#1 - Maughan is coming down to visit for the first time since forever. I sure miss that kid. If you were to objectively claim that all social interactions (making friends, dating, getting married, etc.) are part of God's grand scheme, yes, if you were part of that persuasion, would you try to continue to keep friendships lasting despite the differing courses of life paths? Or was it only for then, that time, and now it's over and demoted to a fleeting thought of a fun moment of time encased in specific periods of time?

#2 - Shark Week (arguably the best week of the year) is coming up on July 27.

#3 - I have the cutest nieces in the world and if you argue with me, I will kill you ninja style (this includes ninja stars and Batman's sweet arm-blade).

#4 - We watched a documentary on the Amish's Rumspringa, the period of time when Amish youth are allowed to go out into the world to experience and by experience, I mean most of the kids went and got high, drunk, or involved in bow-chick-a-wow-wow. Dressing in what we call normal clothes is called dressing "English" but the girls who are involved with Rumspringa do not dress "English." No lie--it's all kind of interesting to see what is surely a calmer type of Girls Gone Wild: Barn Raising is for Suckas. I see a lot of similarities between LDS culture and even my own culture. Plus they all grow beards but it's not like ZZ Top or Hasdic Jew style...the beards are long but they seem to be well-groomed.

#5 - I heard the best analogy the other day concerning life and mistakes in life...if you imagine the process like a car trip, the breaking down of the car does not mean you have to start over from the beginning. You fix your car and you continue from where you left off. It was pretty much the best example I've heard lately. Factors to consider about the metaphorical car: are concepts like space-time continuum thrown out the window if the car hits 88 mph, is it possessed by evil spirits like in Knight Rider, and is it environment friendly as in does it recycle plastics and paper and volunteers with the EPA?