we, as a world, are really fucking up.

so, i am in a climate in literature class as CCA. we read about climate in politics, in media, and in literature. we freak out about what will happen to the earth, question science, republicans, and michael crichton. we send each other articles, videos, and book recommendations. recently, one of my classmates sent me this video called the story of stuff. it shows us how we are fucking up the earth by manufacturing obscene amounts of stuff, which we just pile under ground anyways. here is a sample of the video, but go to the site www.storyofstuff.com to see it in its entirety.

plastination and turkey day: what they have in common

so on wednesday, the day before thanksgiving, my pals (robert, jordan, candra) and i drove to san jose (stopped at in-n-out for milkshakes and burgers), and went to the tech to see the bodyworlds exhibit. if you have not heard of bodyworlds, it is an exhibit of (dead) human bodies preserved through a process called plastination. it looks just like it sounds- plastic.

  

the exhibit had people posed, individual body parts in glass cases, and breakdown of the nerve systems, etc.  it was pretty cool to see these things, and not too gross. my favorite was the slices of human pressed between fiberglass: 

but i did have some MAJOR problems with the exhibit.  firstly, there were 5 or 6 rooms and we did not see a female body until the third room, and she was, or course, pregnant.besides this being offensive or disturbing to some people, she is in a sexualized position.fucked up right? also, the other women (about 5 outta 24ish bodies) were in yoga, ballet, or ice skating positions. FUCKED UP. we saw plenty of male bodies (with their stringy skinless testes) with explanations of their makeup. how can we hypersexualize the female body so ruthlessly?also, there was a huge picture of reagan in the alzheimer’s section. and non smoking, and anti-”obesity” campaigns both in and-outside of the exhibit, with quit now pamplets and body mass index scales.bodyworlds is an overly priced republican commentary on human health. i felt used and pissed off.and i still do. obviously.so what does this have to do with turkey day? because i cooked my very first turkey- and it was 20 lbs. of raw nasty flesh. i am never doing it again.  we did have a great day though. about 9 of us just ate, drank, watched football, and chilled. it was really great to have my best pals together and happily stuffed! no pun intended- really.

i just did something terrible

i went to a chinese buffet.

i know i know. i dont know why i did it. but it happened. and i wish it hadnt. i shouldve known, considering it was in fremont, which not only is a wasteland, but does not have a high Chinese population.

you would have thought, also, that the condition of the restrooms would’ve clued me in to what i was about to endure. chartreuse lychen grew up the back of the toilet and the faucet only ran two temperatures: bone bursting cold and flesh melting hot.

but no. we continued on- holding our cafeteria trays and sliding past each basin of luke-warm wads of over-sauced meat and bug-eyed seafood.

again, i shouldve known not to proceed as i walked over to the salad bar and nine dozen prawns were staring up at me…nuzzled together like clams in mud.

i couldn’t save them. they were already dead.

so we sank into the plastic sheathed booths, avoiding eye contact and wondering silently why we were two of 7 people there.

$7.99 for unlimited msg to fill my howling gut seemed like a good idea until i bit into the “kung pao” chicken and decided i was actually eating pigeon- or possibly something canine.

i spit out the half-gummed carcass, and tried the shu mai. it was stuffed with sausage and cold in the middle. strike two.

gyoza- like road kill wrapped in tire rubber. strike three.

did i keep going? yes.

my roommate attempted her “meal” next. sweet and sour chicken? no. “pizza?” no. sushi? definitely not.

we decided after her attempt at dessert and my inability to decipher if i was chewing lo mein or tape worms,

to run out of the place, puke in the parking lot, and drive the 27.5 miles home.

we each sucked down a camel light (didnt help) and then finished off my $2 container of hippy gum.

i dont think i will eat for the rest of today. whenver i look at my cat harold, i feel guilty cause i just ingested his cousin.