Shouzer

I’m just going to quote the Wikipedia article because it is short:

The Lennon Wall was formerly an ordinary historic wall in Prague, but since the 1980s, people have filled it with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles songs.

In 1988 the wall was a source of irritation for the then communist regime of Gustav Husak. Young Czechs would write grievances on the wall and in a report of the time this led to a clash between hundreds of students and security police on the nearby Charles Bridge. The movement these students followed was described ironically as Lennonism and Czech authorities described these people variously as alcoholics, mentally deranged, sociopathic, and agents of Western capitalism.

The wall continuously undergoes change and the original portrait of Lennon is long lost under layers of new paints. Even when the wall was re-painted by some authorities, on the second day it was again full of poems and flowers. Today, the wall represents a symbol of youth ideals such as love and peace.

The wall is owned by the Knights of the Maltese Cross, who graciously allowed graffiti to continue on what actually is a lovely Renaissance wall, and is located at Velkopřevorské náměstí (Grand Priory Square), Malá Strana. Source

Here are some pictures:

I tried to find some video of the Velvet Revolution on You Tube, but I failed. They have some at the Museum of Communism in Prague, but it doesn’t seem to be on the internet. The Velvet Revolution is the name given to the overthrow of communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

This is probably stuff you could do without knowing, but I’m bored and can’t sleep so I’m writing a post.

1. My sleep cycle has been crazy since I got back.
It feels ridiculous to call it jet lag at this point, but I feel pretty messed up. Most nights, I’ve been going to bed by 10 and then wanting to sleep for 10-12 hours. Tonight though, I’m not feeling all that tired, and it’s 11:30. I don’t understand this at all.

2. I like Mika
This is another bi-product of living in Prague for a month. I only had a few real options on TV of stuff I could actually understand: CNN International, Euronews, MTV Germany (which occasionally aired shows in their original English with German subtitles, so I got great stuff such as Parental Control and Bam’s Unholy Union), 2-3 other music video stations, and this trashy, wannabe porn station called Eurotic. Therefore, I spent a lot of time watching music videos. I saw this one a lot, and I liked it. I got the album when I got back to the States, and I enjoy it as well.

3. I still haven’t unpacked my suitcase.
Mmmm…..procrastination. There’s mostly a bunch of crap in it that I never use. Although, I have actually used things and then put them back in the suitcase, like my belt. I have no idea why I did that. Maybe I’m an idiot.

4. Mother’s Day is coming soon.
Anybody have any gift ideas for me? I’m drawing a blank this year. Actually, I suck at buying presents, so I draw blanks on almost every occasion such as this.

5. Can I say that I lived in Europe?
Is a month in Europe enough to say that I lived there? One of my life-long goals is to live on all 6 continents, and if I can count Europe, I’m half-way there. I don’t think it really counts, but I’m also not sure what constitutes living in a place. Is it a month? 2? 3? 4? Or is it some other intangible thing?

Yeah, sorry for just wasting that minute of your life, or 5 if you watched the video.

My task for today was to get new tires put on my sister’s car, and when I got it in the morning, I found out it needed an oil change as well. No problem, right? I have a Bachelor’s degree in engineering, I was one of the project leaders on the hybrid vehicle project, where we redesigned the entire powertrain of an SUV, and I worked as an intern at a company that designs cars, where I got sterling reviews and an offer for full-time employment.

I bought the oil and the filter, then I took the car home and pulled it out on the grass. I went and collected all of the supplies I would need: socket wrenches, oil pan, a towel, and funnel. Then, I crawled under the car, and immediately things were going great. I could actually reach the drain plug and the oil filter with no problem. I was loving that because you have to jack my car and remove a skid plate to have a chance at reaching either of those. I was actually whistling while I drained the oil.

Then, I got to the oil filter. This SOB was stuck on there pretty good, so I grabbed the towel to get a better grip. Still, no success. So I decided to grab one of those gripper things from the kitchen that’s for opening jars; it gave me less grip than the towel. I’m getting pretty frustrated at this point. There are special wrenches you can get for removing oil filters. We have three of them, and all of ours are too big for the oil filter on this car, of course. Incidentally, they are too big for mine as well, and I would invest in a smaller one if I was ever going to change my oil again.

Well, it was time for the big guns. I got some vice grips out of the tool bench. It was nearly impossible to get the around the filter because of obstructions on the car and the ground. I would have jacked the car to get more room, but I was off in the grass. I didn’t want to die. So I fought with the vice grips for a while, and called around trying to find someone who had one of those wrenches I could borrow. I probably should have just walked to Walmart to buy one.

Anyway, after about an hour of trying, giving up, sitting, and then trying again, I got a decent grip on the filter, and I turned it about 1/2 a turn. I figured I was set now that it was loose. Nope, I had to turn it about 2 full turns before it was loose enough to turn by hand. When I finally got the thing off the car, it looked like this:

From now on, I’m taking my cars to the oil change place. It cost me $17 for the oil and the filter. I think Marion Toyota charges like $20-25 to do it. That’s obviously worth the money.

Maybe when I get my PhD I will be qualified to change the oil in my car. I am clearly not trained for such a chore. Either that, or I need to spend more time at the gym and less time in the lab.

Well, hopefully no one from my TEFL course has stumbled upon this site through some random Google search because this story would make certain people very unhappy.

It is the Saturday before I leave Prague. I checked out of my hotel on Friday morning because the thirty days of my lease were up, and I was staying with a couple of friends, I’ll call them Ted and Marshall. Now, in Prague, the Metro is closed from midnight-5am, and on Friday night, I stayed out until the Metro opened in the morning. Why? Because I had no home, and when you crash with friends, you are at their mercy. I also slept on the floor that night/morning so I was understandably grouchy after my 1-2 hours of restless “sleep.” That might not have been necessary for this story, but it was important in my mind.

Anyway, I hung out with Ted and Marshall most of the day, and that was nice. I spent all of my Saturdays up to that one alone (more on this later). Their apartment was something of a social gathering point that day. About 10 people just randomly showed up there to see what was going on. We went out a few times, but it was mostly pretty chilled out.

Everyone was planning to go out at around 6 for dinner/drinks. I had an unconfirmed dinner arrangement with two girls, and I did not want to stand them up. So at about 5, I took off to see if they were home. To get out of Ted and Marshall’s apartment building, you had to have a key. So I borrowed Ted’s key, went outside, and tossed the key back into the window of Marshall’s room, which faced the street. I then jumped on the Metro and headed the few stops down the line to the girls’ apartment. They were not there. Hence the reason I spent most of my Saturdays alone. Few people in the course had cell phones, and I was not one of them. It took two keys to even get to the door of my room so I could never rely on people showing up. This meant, I had to show up places and hope people were there. I usually opted for going it alone. I’m antisocial like that.

But I digress, I met up with the crew of people downtown for the dinner since I was obviously not going to be treated to anything homemade. When I found Ted, we had a nice little conversation about his key.

“Dude, do you have my key?” -Ted
“Nope, I threw it back into your apartment. I think I heard it hit some wood. Didn’t you find it?” -Me
“No” -Ted
“Well that sucks.” -Me

Shortly thereafter, we are roaming around downtown Prague in a pack of about a dozen English-speaking people, drawing, I’m sure, lots of attention, and we realize that Marshall has run off somewhere with a girl. (This is another story which I am not going into now. Perhaps in another post.) This leaves Ted and myself pretty screwed over since we cannot get back into his apartment. All hope is not lost though, for then arrives Robin. The How I Met Your Mother fans should probably see where this is going now, but I’ll continue for the rest of you. Robin is a resident of The Villa, which houses about half a dozen of the TEFL students, and while calling it The Villa might be an overstatement, it was about 10x nicer than my place and within walking distance of the school. It turns out though, that one of the residents of The Villa, I guess I’ll call him Barney, has already moved out. Robin assures us that we can crash in his room. He has a double bed, which means I don’t have to sleep on the floor, so I’m pretty OK with the idea. Ted has a pretty ginormous crush on Robin, so I’m pretty sure he’ll be OK as well.

On this particular night, everyone is pretty exhausted, so we head back at around 11:30. When we arrive at Vysochanska (where the school and The Villa are), Robin suggest we stop in at the local pub, aptly called “Sports Bar”, for a night cap. This pretty much infuriates me. I was ready to pass out at about 11:30 am, and I had failed to do so on multiple occasions. Now, at nearly midnight, I am basically at the end of my rope, and since I do not drink, a visit to Sports Bar is not likely to be enjoyable for me. I usually drink Coke when I go to bars with friends, but I didn’t want caffeine at that point. I, not so tactfully, express my irritation to Robin. When we finally get back to The Villa, I crash in Barney’s room while Ted and Robin head in the other room so that I can sleep. I laid there for about an hour waiting for Ted to come back because I had promised him the blanket (I was pretty cold). Eventually, I realize he isn’t coming back, so I just steal the thing. At around 7:30, I hear an alarm go off in the next room, and a few minutes later, Ted comes stumbling in. I tossed him the blanket, and after an hour or so, we head out for our walk-of-shame back to his apartment. Well, actually, it was the Metro ride-or-shame. As we were walking back, I asked the pertinent question, “When did you realized that my losing your key was a good thing for you?”

Epilogue:
Robin was not too offended by my late-night grumpiness. According to Ted, she liked me a lot because she could not read me despite the fact she was a psychologist. She wasn’t sure whether I liked her or not. Turns out, I wasn’t sure about that either.

Ted didn’t realize his good fortune until we were already at The Villa. It would have been a much better story if he had masterminded the whole thing, but it’s just not true.

Robin and Ted are still together as far as I know. They just spent a week together in Sweden, and last I heard, they were moving to China, as it is the most romantic place on Earth. I didn’t talk to either of them much after that night. Ted got kicked out of his apartment later that day, and I had to find a new host to leech off. Plus, he acted differently when he was around Robin, and one of my pet peeves is guys who act differently around women. I probably do it too, but it still makes me angry. Ted was originally planning to come to Thailand with me. I’m just glad he decided to take her somewhere else. That would have been very awkward for me for the aforementioned reason.

The item to which the title speaks of is this: Withholding weather information. It happens every day on the teasers for the evening and nightly news. You’ve heard it before. The lead anchor gets a 6 second spot where he blurts out something along the lines of, “What’s the chance of rain tomorrow? Find out tonight at 9.” And then you’re back to your show. Why not just tell me in that 6 seconds what the chance is, and spare me the trouble of waiting. The local news should not be competing with other programs in its timeslot for viewers. That’s insane. The news should be a daily staple of American life, regardless of viewership. But this is what their tactics suggest they are doing. If the local television news is competing with anyone, it should be the internet, especially for a topic such as the weather. When I want to know the weather, I want to know it now, not later. By reminding me that I don’t know the chance of rain tomorrow only sends me to the internet for the answer. I don’t wait around for the 9 o’clock news to get my weather fix. It’s counterintuitive, if you ask me, and I just don’t understand.

Well, I promised a full post about my trip to Prague, and now is as good a time as any I suppose. I had an amazing time there. Prague is beautiful, especially in the spring. I’ve posted lots of pictures here, so you know that. Actually, I have a few more:

Prague

Looking back, I’m amazed at how good a time I actually had. I did not realize how stressed I was when I was at college, and how much that stress was affecting my life. It melted away by the end of the month, and I feel like a different person. Actually, the day it happened the most was Good Friday, week three of the course. I had the afternoon off that day, so a friend and I went to the museum at Prague castle after class. Then, I went back to the school, where I had two emails with great news. One informed me that the paper we wrote for our senior design project is being published at a conference in Chicago next month. The other informed me that I had received a job offer in Thailand at the school I posted about before. After I left the school, my aforementioned friend and I went to these girls’ apartment for dinner. He and I were living in this hotel which I can only describe as depressing, and they felt bad for us, so they cooked us dinner. They also let me bring my laundry over since we didn’t have the facilities at our hotel. After dinner, we went to a party at another friend’s apartment. My laundry wasn’t done yet, so they offered to just finish it for me. Why? Because they were just awesome like that. The party was a blast as well. I’m not usually into those sorts of things. Loads of people standing around getting wasted is pretty boring for people like me who do not drink. This one was a good time though. Lots of really funny stuff happened. I won’t recount it here though because it was the sort of thing where you had to be there. In short, that was probably the best day I’ve had this year. It was very revitalizing.

As for the course Juver’s questions in my previous post, it was honestly pretty boring. I found it to be pretty repetitive, and at least a week longer than it needed to be. They focused very heavily on grammar and teaching grammar. Apparently, that is the part most people struggle with. It was the easiest thing for me to teach though. I think it is because most of my thinking is analytical and logical whereas most people in the course came from a more creative, liberal arts background. The teaching practice they put us through was probably the most helpful bit of the course. We spent about 7 hours actually teaching and about double that observing other people teaching.

Am I glad I did it? Absolutely.

Do I feel ready to teach in a real life setting? That’s harder to answer. I personally do, but I’m not sure I feel much different than I did before the course. I do not mean to take it lightly, but it is not something I ever really stressed about. There are lots of people who teaching English abroad with no training at all, and the schools seem to know that their foreign teachers have little to no training. For instance, when I am teaching in Thailand, there will be a Thai teacher in the room at all times. My role will mostly be to provide a model of proper English usage as a native speaker. I will not have to do any of my lesson planning, although some schools do require that you do, and I will not have to teach grammar, although I am qualified at this point to do so.

If you are thinking about getting a TEFL certificate, I would recommend that you wait until after you finish your Bachelor’s degree. Most schools won’t hire you until you have one. Also, I would recommend finding a TEFL course in the area you think you want to live in, as it is easiest to apply for jobs in person. If you want to go to south east Asia though, it really doesn’t matter where you get the certificate because they seem fairly desperate for teachers, especially in South Korea and China.

Most people who go into TEFL do it some they can travel for a year or two before going to grad school or settling down into a mundane life. Very few people that I met plan to make a career of it, and lots of them weren’t even sure they wanted to do it for a year. The life of a TEFL teacher seems to be fairly chill. It is the sort of thing you do to make ends meat while you travel or pursue your other passions. As for me, I am hoping to get in some scuba diving while I am in Thailand. I think I’m going to have to find a few more passions while I am there to occupy my time though. Grad school applications will take up some time, but I’ll still have lots left over. Hopefully, I’ll meet some cool people to hang out with.

The visa limbo that I referred to earlier is that it takes about 2-3 weeks to get a visa. My graduation ceremony is in 5 weeks, and I refuse to skip it. College was the absolute hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I am extremely proud of myself for finishing it, and I am going to the ceremony to celebrate it. This has created a complication though because the school wants me there ASAP. Right now, my options are to go next week and then come back in late May for the graduation, and then apply for a full visa while I am home. Or, I can just wait until after the commencement ceremony and apply for the visa while I wait. I think I am going to do the later even though the school prefers the first option. I don’t want to wait 2-3 weeks after my graduation for a visa. I’ll have to pay rent on an apartment in Bangkok, and they’ll probably charge me my vacation days for that time. Plus, I don’t really have the money to toss in an extra round trip flight from St. Louis to Bangkok. I’m not sure what I’ll do in the mean time, but at least I can conserve my money a bit.

That’s all I can really think of to talk about. Any of you (that I know) are welcome to come visit me any time in Bangkok. It’s a great time to go since you won’t have to pay for a place to stay. Plus, everything there is supposed to be really cheap. You’re only real expense will be your flight.

This story over on /. is just the kind of thing I was hoping some states would man up and do. Go Montana!

One of the comments on the story is a guy saying, “Isn’t this what Republicans used to be like? For state powers and against centralization? What would that make Bush? Fascist?” If I had mod points, I would have modded it up as Insightful. I posted long about how we’re moving closer and closer to a fascist state, so I’m glad somebody out there agrees with me.

After Kyle’s post, I couldn’t help but post a few of my favorite Will Ferrell clips:

I feel like we should get something up here about the shootings that took place in Blacksburg, Virginia. My prayers go out to everyone who has been affected by what occurred there yesterday.

So if you read Juvers’ blog (new link over to the right), you know about the asinine ways of the City of Champaign Parking District. I didn’t look, but I think I’ve posted on here before about their rate increases that make inflation seem like a blue light special. To be really quick about the light in which I think of them, I’d say they work pretty close to Lucifer himself.

Anyway, last Tuesday, I had a meeting over at Wohlers Hall to work on a project. 3:30 pm. The walk to the Wohlers computer lab takes me right past my car, which is parked snugly on the side of the road at the intersection of 3rd and Chalmers. At this time, my car is in its rightful place. My meeting ends at 6:15 pm, and I start the journey back to my apartment, listening to Under0ath on my iPod. As my apartment building comes into sight, I realize I am standing directly in the middle of where my car once was and still should be. Dude, where the f— is my car?

First instinct. Call the tow-truck company that is sovereign over my street. You see, there must have been a jealous tow truck owner up here at some point who caused a stir and got the streets divided among the various trucks. It sounds immature, but like I said, we’re not coloring with the brightest crayons here. Back to the story. Andy, of Andy’s Towing, says tells me he didn’t tow a car matching my description that night — in fact, he hadn’t towed any cars that night.

Second instinct. My car got stolen. I go downstairs to tell Jared, and we share a “damnthatsucks” laugh or two. And then I started doubting myself. Did I really see my car there on my walk over to Wohlers? It’s possible that I completely missed its absence, while focusing on how much I didn’t want to be going out to do homework. So I gave ol’ Andy another ring. Could my car have been towed last night, I ask. No, again, but Andy has an idea to call the Champaign Police Department and get their take. Wonderful. It was like getting Star Power in Guitar Hero 2. The fiend who took my car was racking up 4x combo points while I tried to find him, but once I had contact an organization of the City of Champaign, he tilted his guitar and promptly entered the zone of the 8x multiplier.

So I called the number Andy gave me, and sure enough, the City of Champaign had towed my car from the parking spot that I paid for with half a grand and 2 pounds of flesh. Instead of telling me why in a declarative sentence, such as “Your car fell apart,” or “The K-9 unit found all your crack cocaine,” she poses the answer to me in a question. “Do you have up to date registration?” The heck if I know. I hadn’t seen a letter from the state telling me to get my stickers renewed, so I assumed all was well. I conceded that I might be wrong, and asked how to rescue my motor vehicle from its imprisonment. My car was impounded at Tatman’s towing (the Northeast side of Urbana), and the city had a hold on it there. First, I must acquire said updated registration and insurance, provide proof of these at the Police Department, and bring newly required “let go of my car” document to Tatman’s.

I made a mistake here. No, it was a smart thing to ask, it’s just the answer made me salivate the way you do right before you vomit. I called Tatman’s to ask, “How much does this cost?” If I get my car before 3pm the next day (it was still Tuesday night), then my fee would only be $125. Ever day in the pound, it accumulates another $25, and if I come to get it between the hours of 7 pm-7 am, there would be an extra $10 service charge.

Well, luckily, my mom didn’t have anything big at work the next day, and even luckier, she found that letter from the state underneath my entertainment center at home. This is where some of my mail ends up when people put it on top of my TV when I am out town. A gust of air, the mail falls down, and I never know it was delivered. She generously got my new sticker, an insurance card (since my current card was locked in my car in Urbana), and drove them up Wednesday morning.

No crazy happenings at the PD, except that the lady photocopied every legal document I had on my person and then called my insurance company to verify my policy, as if I was part of a big scam to PAY THE CITY MORE MONEY. She gave me my hold release, and we made the trip over to Tatman’s where they wouldn’t take my check because its number was below the mandatory 500 mark. I supposed my money was no good to them. So my mom paid in cash. After signing a release document, the secretary gives me the “I’m only the messenger” look, complete with words, “I’m only the messenger.” She hands me a ticket from the City for $25. What for? The same gosh darned reason that they towed my car! Overdue sticker. Can they legally give me that ticket without me driving my car? I declined to ask, because it is my opinion that if you are in hell, and you see a light, run as fast as you can and never look back. I went to Public Works, paid the ticket, and tried to remember I only had to live in the confines of this city for another 4 weeks.

Ok, I’m done now.

Today is the last day of my TEFL course in Prague. It has been pretty fun. I’ve met loads of cool people, and I had a nice time in Prague.

I accepted a job this morning in Bangkok at the Fun Language Institute. It’s a school for kids ages 3-15. I think it should be a pretty good time. I start work there on May 2.

Sorry I haven’t written any textually detailed posts since I got here. I really don’t know what to say about it.

Honestly, this story is just sad. A full four years after Bush stood on the USS Abraham Lincoln in his flight suit declaring “Mission Accomplished”, the Red Cross says the situation in Iraq is “ever-worsening”. Sweet.

Somebody finally stepped up. And his name is Roger Goodell. He’s the commissioner of the National Football League, and recent reports offer evidence of him in having the largest mansack of the any of the commish in the Big 4, er, 3 (sorry NHL). According to recent reports, Adam “Pacman” Jones and Chris Henry will be suspended without pay for the season and half the season, respectively, for their off-field confrontations with the law.

I really wish you could have heard a conversation I had with Jared regarding Jamar Smith. My stance on athlete behavior is pretty much this: You are told from the first day you play for a school (be it grade school, junior high, high school, etc.), that it is a privilege to represent your team, and you should act accordingly. That means your standards are higher because when you wake up in the morning, you represent not only yourself, but a much bigger population (Ex. your fellow students, faculty of the school, fans of the team, citizens of the city, donors to the organization, and many, many other stakeholders). You are told it is a privilege on day one. You are told on day two. You hear it before every home game, every away game, every new season, and ever offseason. By the time an athlete exits his college playing days and ascends to the pros, the word privilege and its definition are ingrained on his (or her) mind.

Because of this, I find it more than difficult to look the other way when an athlete displays poor judgment on or off the field. These men are payed to play a game that they supposedly love. That’s a privilege. So when you bring your ex-con gangbanger posse to the club during All-Star weekend, and someone gets shot, I have no sympathy for you. The same goes for when you have sex with a minor, assault a police officer, get pulled over with a blood alcohol level of twice the legal limit, beat your wife, or any other act that brings shame to the team you play for. If you do one of those things, you just bought yourself a ticket to the unemployment line. Call me old school, conservative, or just an idiot, but all this makes sense to me.

About Jamar Smith, I said I feel for the kid. He’s young, under a lot of pressure, and I hope his situation doesn’t prevent him from getting an education and providing for his future family. Do I think he should be kicked out of school? No. Do I think he should play another game for the Fighting Illini? No. He knew it was a privilege to play for his university when he made the decisions he made that night. He must have been told hundreds, if not thousands, of times in his life. That’s too much to ignore for me.

One day, I am going to teach high school math, and if my dreams come true, I’ll be a basketball coach at that school. The first day of tryouts, every child will be told what an honor it would be to make the team, and how his life should reflect that honor. Any other coach, parent, or role model those kids have will tell them the same thing. If one of my players cheats on a test, gets caught drinking, or performs an act anything less than becoming to his school and team, he will have played his last game. It’s not me trying to be a slave driver or a hardass; it’s nothing more than my belief of how athletes representing a team should behave.

Back to Roger Goodell handing down those thick suspensions, read this quote from the AP via FoxSports:

“It is a privilege to represent the NFL, not a right,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement announcing the suspensions. “These players and all members of our league have to make the right choices and decisions in their conduct on a consistent basis.”

We see eye to eye on this one.