Miss Peach Returns to High School to Retake Driver’s Ed by Catie Rosemurgy

Miss Peach Returns to High School to Retake Driver’s Ed

One cannot love something
one has too much power over, such as cars
and younger men. This is not to imply too much

of a similarity between cars, which emit
a greenish light from their control panels,
and educated younger men, who have
pretty eyes. Both tend to crash,

but whose fault is that? All one can do
is roll down the window and try
to avoid legal prosecution.
Which is not to say younger men are too much

younger or smarter, or more visionary,
or that cars are necessarily
insane-making. One is not so susceptible,
and one is not sickening. Such a thought, in fact,
makes one spit. Rule-making becomes impossible
when one is disgusting, and life is about making

and being made by forces
which one knows are there, even if
one cannot see them
being drawn in the sand. Life is not about

personality disorders. Yet slowness remains,
one learns through reading,
a cultural crisis. The movies can't figure it out.
Given our endless but civic pretending,

some rare, muscled, or differently fueled thing
must at least convincingly
play the role of speed. America, one sings in school,

is the great process of careening
into the unknown. Being American,
one hopes, is the flattering process
of having one's hair blown back.
This is what is true about otherwise
stupid love. But the powerless, vaguely mint-flavored
younger man is not here
solely to meet up at 5 A.M. before practice.

Look at the beautiful blurring
of his pre-important edges.
One cannot reside in a dewy nation of becoming
without wanting to wake up

married to whatever sweet,
smart thing hasn't happened yet. Oh, steering wheel.
Oh, gas pedal. You are terrible lies.
Oh, pretty eyes. Pretty, visionary, bewildered eyes.
Where in the hell are we going?

The City of Blinding Lights

The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go
I knew much more then than I do now

Neon heart dayglo eyes
A city lit by fireflies
They’re advertising in the skies
For people like us

And I miss you when you’re not around
I’m getting ready to leave the ground….

Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh

Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights

Don’t look before you laugh
Look ugly in a photograph
Flash bulbs purple irises
The camera can’t see

I’ve seen you walk unafraid
I’ve seen you in the clothes you made
Can you see the beauty inside of me?
What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?

And I miss you when you’re not around
I’m getting ready to leave the ground

Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh

Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights

Time… time
Won’t leave me as I am
But time won’t take the boy out of this man

Oh you look so beautiful tonight
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights

The more you know the less you feel
Some pray for others steal
Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel… luckily

In Transit (Barcelona and Madrid)

I just got onto the train for Madrid to rendezvous with my mother. Camp Nou is not open today (since its Sunday) so I decided to just go straight to Madrid. The past few days in Barcelona have been extremely enlightening. For one, I learned that transcription initiation is bidirectional (completely contrary to what students have been taught for the past decades). But perhaps most importantly, I was exposed to the vast potential of epigenetics and reprogramming. Chromatin remodeling is going to be the next hottest thing as I observed it to be by far the common motif from this conference. I am again reminded that having the opportunity to go to such “meeting of the mind” gatherings allows me to learn about only the most cutting edge research not yet offered in textbooks.

Man, Im excited. My mom is a great travel companion.

A brief recap of the stay so far…

Went to flea market first day; shady place that offered bargain deals of everything from antiques, to kitchen appliances, to shoes, to SNES games, to playing cards with pornography. Out of necessity, I bought a nail clipper, and out of impulse and peer pressure, I bought a bowler hat.

Additionally, I bought a camera. I was at the electronic store for over an hour, on two separate occasions conflicted over whether I should buy a camera and which camera I should buy. Finally, I just couldn’t bear not taking pictures of what I was seeing. After the digital camera broke over a year ago, I had planned but not followed through on purchasing a new one. I got a Panasonic that has a Leica lens. Super nice. Biel was quick to point out that I’m an annoying photographer.

It has rained here and there over the past few much to my disappointment. I had envisioned sunny skies and sandy beaches, but the city smell and surroundings of the hotel and convention center remind me more of mother island Taiwan.

We checked out the Barcelona Cathedral and Sagrada Familia, and also walked down La Rambla. I could not really recall much from my last stay here, but I recognized the Nike shop where I bought my Barca shorts as well as a Starbucks where I bought a drink. We went to a tapas bar Wednesday night and drank sangria. Tapas dishes included: a lentil and spinach dish, calamari dish, mushroom dish, and chicken kabobs, all of which were quite tasty.

Surprisingly, my Spanish is marginal enough to get by here. Someone also complimented me on how good it was. Perhaps if poetry doesn’t work out, I’ll start the 2A series con Español. I could read menus and translate for people. Languages are so awesome and I hope I can be fluent in Spanish and German. Once at a restaurant, when I couldn’t understand something on the menu that was in English, I looked at the German version and was able to figure out my query!

The group consisted of the 5 members of the lab and each time we went out, it was extremely difficult to make a decision to go somewhere or have somebody take charge and be the leader (or enabler).

For the coming week, I’m thinking about going to France and Amsterdam. Maybe as day trips or one night stays. I wonder if it will be feasible. Although I would be traveling by myself, it would be a great experience to see these places again with the perspective I have now. I am here. I envision myself running into some random groups of travelers and awkwardly tagging along. Hahaha.

Starring out my window, I can see the beautiful morning Catalunian country side which is quite a relieving sight for my eyes sore from posters and power point presentations.

I haven’t touched a white piece of plastic that flies around in almost a week. Doing good so far. The conference has made me really excited about research and I really want to move on from disc and get some sweet publications and make my mark in the stem cell field. But I know it will only be a matter of time when the dark side of the force will draw me back to playing ultimate. I hope not. Espera.

-------

So while I was purchasing my train ticket, my credit card was rejected. I predict that this is probably because I had bought that digital camera a few days ago and my bank probably shat a brick and froze my card. Now, I have no means of paying or withdrawing cash. But what am I going to do? I suppose I can call my bank later on because I had planned on going shopping since I have some money saved up.

I made it to Madrid fine and took about an hour to make it to my mother’s hotel. She was not there so I left my backpack and decided to check out the city. So where to?

---------

I went to Bernebau Stadium, which is where Real Madrid plays. I didn’t go to Camp Nou this morning so I decided to may this Spanish Club a visit. Sweet. I paid for a tour where you could enter the stadium and check out the trophy room and whatnot. Unfortunately the pitch was being changed but the stadium is gorgeous. I took a picture with Kaka, but didn’t have enough money to pay for it. And I took a picture with the champions league trophy. But no money to buy the picture. Fucking cal national. I’m literally stranded because of having no money. And hungry. Bur for now, sleep on the couch at the hotel.

Barcelona, Day 1

Y yo me irÉ...
Juan Ramon Jimenez

Y yo me iré. Y se quedarán los pájaros
cantando;
y se quedará mi huerto, con su verde árbol,
y con su pozo blanco.

Todas la tardes, el cielo será azul y plácido;
y tocarán, como esta tarde están tocando,
las campanas del campanario.

Se morirán aquellos que me amaron;
y el pueblo se hará nuevo cada año;
y en el rincón aquel de mi huerto florido y encalado,
mi espíritu errará, nostálgico…

Y yo me iré; y estaré solo, sin hogar, sin árbol
verde, sin pozo blanco,
sin cielo azul y plácido…
Y se quedarán los pájaros cantando.


And I will leave...

Barcelona is a gorgeous city and its great to be back again.

On Monday, Alan forgot the poster in his gfs car so I had to drive back down to get it. Everything is fine and I make it to LAX time and butterflies to spare. I didn't get a window seat or an aisle seat much to my dismay but on this flight, I would meet someone so awesome.

I got myself situated in 45E with my book and ipod and start up How I met your Mother on the personal entertainment scree in front of me when an Indian woman with a poster stops and checks the seat number. Her poster did not have a tube and would have been crushed in the overhead compartment so I offered her my tube to store the poster in. As she was re-rolling her poster, I see that the poster indeed contains stem cell content and I ask her if shes going to the ISSCR. I introduce myself but her name was Indian and I couldnt remember it. Turns out we're on the same transfer flight on the way to Barcelona. Funny how things work out. Shes published as a first author in Cell. A total up and coming superstar in stem cell research. Topics we discuss range from epigenetics, chromatin remodeling, iPS cells, Kobe, Ariza, Shaq, Artest, and more LAKERS! We end up sharing a taxi from the airport because our hotels are nearby. She charges it to her grant. Free ride!

Got in at 9:15 at night and didnt hit the road until 10:30 or so, but the city sky was so pretty. There was a mountain range in the background and a layer of purple right on top of it with clouds and shit. The weather is going to be nice. Hopefully not too hot. I go

I got dropped off at the hotel i had originally booked and went to the reception desk. I pull out the best spanish i can and ask where my collegues are and the lady responds that they are not here. WTF? Not here? The air conditioning of the original rooms was broken so they had moved to a hotel a few blocks away. Trekked over and sure enough, mr abhold and mr kiang were in the lobby trying to figure out internet.

On my walk to the new hotel, i felt exhilarated to be back. With ipod and travel backpack I roamed the city and wandered. It was already like 11 at night and I was not scared at all. I saw stray cats and dogs. Maybe its the smell. Barcelona is right by the Mediterranean and it has port smell...

And Camp Nou is right there...

Things always work out somehow, no matter how screwed you are. Pieces fall apart but new ones fit together.

Slighty out of focus

This is a very poor day for doing any work that requires disciplined thinking and precision. The world looks like an impressionist painting today, slightly out of focus and emphasizing large patterns of color and shadow. Work with numbers of strict logic will be especially affected. If you do this kind of work today, check it over for errors in a couple of days. Almost certainly there will be some mistakes. Communications today will be especially difficult. Even when you and another person are trying to be very clear, you may have misunderstandings. This is a poor influence for any important discussions about business or personal matters. Even if you are sure that you are speaking clearly and honestly, make sure that others are treating you the same way.


I love this one. Somebody has second day stupids...

7/3/09

Valid during many months: At this time your thinking has settled into stable patterns, and not very much is changing in your mind. But you have discipline and concentration, which enable you to get a great deal of work done. You have a clear idea of what you want to achieve intellectually, and you are willing to work for it. This is an excellent time for any long-range planning that requires great attention to details. It is not so good for the kind of planning that requires you to see the larger scope all at once and handle it as a single system. This influence favors any kind of work involving organization and restructuring. It is excellent for most business transactions, especially those requiring carefully thought-out plans for development. It is not so good for risky or speculative investments, because your level of intuition is lower than normal. It is also a good time for serious study and difficult mental work.

Your views about the world have reached a point of stability, so you act from a consistent position. You believe that you understand what the world is about and you operate on that basis. Obviously this can create some problems. If your mental patterns become too fixed, you close out viewpoints and opinions that will help you grow. Narrow- mindedness is a danger with this influence. You can either organize your knowledge into its most useful form, or you can cut yourself off from knowledge through intellectual rigidity.

This influence sharpens your critical faculties. Your standards are very exacting, and you are likely to judge everything by them. Consequently you are very quick to see exactly what is wrong in any situation. But here again there is the danger that critical thinking may become an excuse for nit-picking and narrow-mindedness. You can too easily learn to see the flaws in everything before you see the strengths, which makes your world seem a great deal more imperfect than it is.

national poetry month

So with the termination of a dream of becoming a German literature semi-scholar, i will probably pursue poetry again. Here something cool from this years poetry month from April.

The Hug
by Thom Gunn

It was your birthday, we had drunk and dined
Half of the night with our old friend
Who's showed us in the end
To a bed I reached in one drunk stride.
Already, I lay snug,
And drowsy with the wine dozed on one side.

I dozed, I slept. My sleep broke on a hug,
Suddenly, from behind,
In which the full lengths of our bodies pressed:
Your instep to my heel,
My shoulder-blades against your chest.
It was not sex, but I could feel
The whole strength of your body set,
Or braced, to mine,
And locking me to you
As if we were still twenty-two
When our grand passion had not yet
Become familial.
My quick sleep had deleted all
Of intervening time and place.
I only knew
The stay of your secure firm dry embrace.