Using extra virgin olive oil as make-up remover, is actually better than using actual manufactured make-up removers.
Not that it has anything to do with me though.
Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter. Finally.
So as I said, I am in Atlanta on a host family program for international students. I arrived here last Saturday, 19th December, by plane from Boston. After arriving at the airport, I took the subway to a station where the organizers would meet us after we call them to inform them when we have arrived since all 30 of us wouldn’t be arriving at the same time. Me and two other Japanese students who study at UNT who arrived from Texas around the same time I did from Boston, both went to check-in and register ourselves. I then met my host father, who at 9pm, brought me and welcomed me into his wonderful home and to meet his wife and two young daughters.
So, for my first 8 days, this is the house I am staying at:
After a nice bath, I mingled with the family a bit, got used to my new “home” and hosts, and played a bit with his youngest daughter, Laura, and their cute pet dog Skipper. Laura had fun showing me what Skipper’s fashion sense was:
The third day (first day of formal activities with the other students), we were taken downtown, and I met Santa who was trying to cross the road, ho ho ho:
Then, we went to the court house.
We were guided by this guy who is a Law professor in Atlanta, and we were shown a video about jury duty, the same video shown to the people who get selected for jury duty in Atlanta:
Then the fun part began. We went to a real court room, to witness a mock trial! We had final year law students to act as the lawyers and a witness, and we had a real judge.
I got to sit where the jurors sit, and for an hour, I was a member of the jury, so fun:
We were briefed about what kind of case we will be witnessing:
And then we had to rise when Judge Newkirk entered the room.
And he told us that if we misbehave, the lock-up room is just.. there:
And so the trial began.
The detective was at the crime scene, and he “thought” he took fingerprints, but his police report “seems” to have no record of it. Lawyer Smith (who is defending Mr Ferhad, a former policeman who is being accused of killing his wife) points at the detective, “you careless detective!” (or something like that):
As jurors (ehem!), we must observe body language:
An objection!
The lawyer on behalf of the State, trying to prove that Mr Ferhad is guilty (always innocent until proven guilty in the US), makes her closing statement.. “The proof is overwhelming… beyond reasonable doubt… just look at the evidence… don’t be fooled by a man… he killed his wife and you know it”:
“Don’t be stupid! (something like that!)… The evidence is flimsy… my client is innocent and you know it because… Are you willing to put an innocent man to life?… Just think carefully, why would he do such a thing….?
He did NOT kill his wife!
Jurors ARE YOU LISTENING?! (no that did not happen)
And because the burden is on the State to prove a man is guilty, she gets to speak one final time:
This was a reenactment of a real court case. In the real story the jury declared the defendant guilty.
The we went to the State Capital, to see the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the Governor’s office:
And in the building, the 25-foot Christmas tree was being blessed with a stroke of natural sunlight, such beauty:
And in the building is also a museum.. with lots of random stuff.
Went to see Turner Field, where the 1996 Olympics games were held. The stadium was HUGE when they held the olympics there, but demolished a big part of it to cut on maintenance cost.
I’m waiting for my flight to Atlanta. Will be there until the 6th of January.
From today till the 26th of December, I’ll be staying with a host family, and the from the 26th onwards, I’ll be staying with a different family. And during the day time, I’ll be with other international students visiting Atlanta.
My flight leaves in about 45 minutes. I love free wi-fi, and I’ll have free wi-fi on the flight too.
Ok GTG!
Since that day I began to crystallize, in my conscious state of mind, the dreams I have been having for the past few years, since I usually recall bits and pieces of dreams. Or sometimes, they just come back to me in a very deja vu kind of moment. Or, sometimes, too, I have the same dreams several times with only slight differences.
The interesting thing that I realised about my dreams is that most of the time, and really, I mean most of the time, they are like movies. When I dream, I dream that I am in some kind of story. When I dream, there are all sorts of people I’ve never met: Europeans, Americans, Australians, Asians, of different shapes and colours and sizes. When I dream, there is usually a soundtrack playing in the background, like a movie. When I dream, there are sound effects, realistic sound effects (the kind that could win an Oscar). When I dream, the characters speak the same way actors would speak in movies, almost real, yet not quite.
I don’t know why, but yes, most of my dreams are like that. Sometimes the people in my dreams, including myself, say words I’ve never heard before. And when I wake up, if I can remember the word, I’d check it up in the dictionary, and most of the time those words exist. Interesting. I learn vocabulary even as I sleep.
And as for the soundtrack, the music is generally well composed and written in my dreams. I can’t tell if those are songs I have heard before somewhere or whether my brain just makes them up as I dream. Either way is very likely and possible.
The dialogues in my dreams are also very similar to scripted dialogues in movies. The people in my dreams speak to each other in the exact same way you observe characters in a movie interact with each other. And most of the time I don’t know who these people are in my dreams. They just, I don’t know, auditioned for my dreams?
The stories I dream of range from car crashes to simple stories about friendship, or planning a rescue. And interestingly, I sometimes even have a narrator in my dreams, just like some movies do.
I am not a dream analyst, and I don’t really bother interpreting dreams. I just enjoy the free movies I get to watch while I sleep.
Dream maker – you heart breaker,
One of the dorm buildings at Brandeis University. Yes, it’s a castle.
The John Harvard statue at Harvard Yard, when the campus was supposedly “going green”
MSLS 2009, where every one dressed up smartly just to take pictures.
I helped her win some pretty nice stuff. But I found out I can’t draw with lipstick in my mouth whilst bending down.
My sister’s wedding night, about half a decade ago. Now…
There’s Dylan,
Amelia, and….
Ryan, who joined the family on 16 November 2009.
But, wait. We’re all a bit OCD in some way, right?
If I put on my right shoe before I put on the left, I feel so uncomfortable. After walking a few steps, I need to take off both shoes, and then put on the left shoe first. Then the right. Then I feel at ease.
Before I study, my desk area must be neat and tidy. Because if it isn’t, I end up putting aside all my work to tidy up my desk. Which slowly turns into a massive spring-cleaning session in my room.
When walking along a sidewalk, or on a path, or on any surface for that matter, I don’t like stepping on anything that look like stains, patches of whatevers, fallen leaves, or even tiles that are dirty. It usually looks like I’m dancing.
And oh, I like reading and typing phone text messages in full, with proper punctuation etc. Wastes space, but it’s just more fun that way.
I do other random silly and interesting things. But I don’t bother remembering them well enough to write them here. I just thought of writing this because although I should have been working on my thesis paper, I spent the whole morning cleaning up my room. I also cooked vegetable soup for lunch. Which has nothing to do with OCD. But I like the fact that I actually cooked vegetable soup for lunch.
Now what’s for dinner?
: allo allo
: hello!
: hey dom :) it's been ages since i blogged but i'm starting things off again and went looking up old friends's blogs. i didn't know [...]
: wohooo new blog:P
: I wanted to kick myself...just can't reach my head with my feet anymore. It took me almost a month to realize that this was your [...]
: Hey Dom, nice work on the new blog!
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Life is Full of Surprises
I have a friend, who has a PhD, who works as a barista at Starbucks. Next time you order your coffee, please don’t judge the person who makes your morning brew. You never know who or what they are. Doctors serving at Starbucks, I like that!