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Harbor2003
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Name: Philip
Birthday: 9/11/1984
Gender: Male
Interests: Multiplayer Games, Reading, French, Anime, Manga, French Cinema, Running, One on One Conversations
Expertise: French/MCB
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
AIM:  MongullPK
Member Since:
6/16/2003
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| "Seriously, you gotta get some sleep. I once stayed up 72 hours straight studying for a biochem midterm. You know what happened next?"
"No."
"Me neither, man, because I passed out in my girlfriend's dorm room, I didn't wake up until like graduation."
"How'd you do on the midterm?"
"I aced it but that's not the point."
An appropriate quote from Sports Night to illustrate what these past two weeks of Health Coord and Health Worker training have been like. =) | | |
| Packing all day today. I want to move, but I don't want to actually pack and unpack. On the other hand, I found a new series called Undergrads that does a pretty good job of representing just how random all of college's new experiences can be for a freshman. I think that the health service workers they use in it are a lot weaker than the ones we have at Berkeley (warning: this statement may be biased). XD
Cal (character in Undergrads) reminds me of a friend I used to have in high school. Probably not getting as much sex as the cartoon version, but then again I wouldn't know since I haven't asked him about that since college. What does match up for sure though is that at times you wonder how he can be so cheerful all the time (it sounds genuine enough but nobody else would be genuinely happy 100% of the time so...?). Good show to move out to. =) | | |
| Two quick things:
• Everything happens for a reason, but that doesn't preclude the possibility that the reason sucks. ^ ^ No, it's not based off of any recent life experience or anything (in fact, most of my life has shown tended toward the reason having a higher purpose...), I just saw someone's Facebook profile that had that cliché so I thought I'd add my little smart-ass quip. ;)
• Speaking of Facebook, since when did it become sponsored by porn? Well, okay, softcore underwear and T-shirts that say "I'm a slut," but still? ^ ^;
(Okay, I was going to post one of the ads in question but now of course I jinxed it and no matter how many times I hit refresh on the Facebook homepage I'm not getting the more risquée photos. But you know what I'm talking about.)
Berkeley this Saturday. They should call it Saturyay! Wow, my puns need to be taken out back and shot. At least for you Foothillers you won't have to read them any more in the Health Tips since I won't be writing them this year. ;) | | |
| You know what, don't read the entry below
If you just want to know what's up with Philip, it is as follows:
• I bought Street French 3, the third volume of a glossary of all things vulgar and obscene in French argot (slang)
• I bought and am reading The 99 Critical Shots in Pool by Ray Martin. I can't wait to get back to Foothill and try out some of the more novel ones.
• I need to pack.
• I need to unpack once I get there this Saturday.
• I need to get excused/postpone jury duty before any of that happens (read below entry if you dare)
• Then I get to receive a week of training in how to be a Health Coordinator with awesome people (I miss Anamaría's humor and down-to-earth smackdowns...), my Cal Coord family (and the big poppa himself, Cristóbal)
• Then I get to give training to incoming bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Health Workers. Three on my team are also incoming freshman. Yowzers~
• My piano's taking on a music theory experimental shade recently. Who would have thought? Maybe I should look up some websites on how it all works. I've just been playing around with patterns on songs that I had already memorized.
• I need to quit playing World of Warcraft now that summer is over. Because school is more important. Because friends are more important. Because flirting with girls is much more social/important. It was a good summer diversion though (and will probably come in handy over the wintertime when the girls hibernate... or something). ;)
That's it! Let me know when you guys get back to Berkeley. I'll be busy as no other, but it'll be nice to know who I can call when I want partners for food, pool, anime, or just generic hanging out.
[end transmission] | | |
| Quick update: So I set aside this entire week for jury duty, right? It's the last week before I move back to Berkeley for Health Worker Program madness (Yay!). The jury summons says trials average 3-4 days so I figure I can go in and if it's a longer trial I will ask for a postponement. I decide to go into this as a learning experience and fulfilling a civil duty too... too many people are all down on jury duty and coming up with excuses not to go or to be pessimistic whilst there. The way I see it, it's the least you can do to make sure the American justice system isn't run by people who are abusing their power and are removed from "the people." I also have beef with trying to be excused because, heck, if I ever went on trial for something, I wouldn't want my jury to be composed of only those people who were stupid enough to be unable to come up with an excuse to get out of it. I want there to be analytical, objective people in the jury who are willing to (and able to) abide by the rules of the court. So in I marched and the first thing the judge tells us is that it will be a 10-day trial. Whoa! But I don't have a chance to speak up, so I show up the next day and listen to the proceedings. Actually, when you approach it like doing a job-shadow or internship and look at how the whole experience and voir dire (legal phrase originating from French meaning "to speak truth" i.e. to select a jury)... it's pretty interesting! Sure there are a lot of times when the attorneys ask really repetitive and seemingly irrelevant questions, but in this case at least the judge (Judge Danner) is very human and even cracks jokes now and then. He looks like George Bush but I respect him a lot more because he sounds like he knows what he's talking about and he keeps the lawyers in check. He is plain-spoken but not stupid, and he knows how to communicate the ideas to the potential jurors in a way that makes them willing to cooperate and respond truthfully (with the exception of this one guy who I think was just trying to get out of it no matter what...). The case itself is one charge of burglary and multiple charges of sexual assault (a couple instances of penetration and one of forced oral copulation), I think against the same person. Right away I saw how most of the jurors reacted and I think they're putting on a front to try and say that they can be objective (two people have been excused so far for saying that they can't). However, the way that they talk about the nature of the charges is such that you can see how taboo a subject it must be for them. As a Health Worker and in my own personal philosophy, I am a little bit more sound-minded when hearing about such things, because I have to be in order to not appear surprised and ostracize residents who might themselves be embarrassed to come talk to me (in my capacity as a Health Worker or as a confidant) regarding such incidents. Up until now I've held the position that you believe the survivor and that you do everything in your power to comfort them while informing them of their options (file a report, press charges, seek medical attention, and how confidentiality differs between reporting it to a HW and to an RA/RD). I've actually had some experience with this this year (at least 2 counts; one reported and one not) so I am very familiar with the common mentality amongst Americans that the survivor must have "asked for it" in some way or another. And I have to combat this by universally saying, "No, it's a crime committed by the perpetrator just like any other crime and you shouldn't blame the victim." Up until now, it's always been a matter of, "The court will decide if the accused is guilty or not. As for me, I'll assume that what the survivor says happened actually happened, since it is not my role to judge." Personally, I like this approach, even though I admit that in some extreme cases I would have to say that the "survivor" may have ulterior motives for bringing about charges. In most cases though, pressing charges isn't even reached and the most we can hope for is to heal the survivor emotionally (and unfortunately sometimes physically). However, as a juror, it would be required of me to assume innocence of the defendant until proven guilty... which in some ways is opposite to what I have been doing up until this point (in other ways, it goes along with being nonjudgemental... so many layers!). Now it does become a matter of, "Is this person telling the truth or not when they say they have been sexually assaulted?" Now I can't just shuffle off the responsibility to the courts to decide, since I am the court (or prospective juror, rather). I have to figure out if this is a bias or not, or just the rational thinking of someone who has had the life experience that I have had. At any rate, being as analytical as I tend to be, I couldn't just discount the training and philosophy that I have adopted from the Program as my own to serve as a juror. I mean, physically I can, but I wouldn't really want to cooperate under a system that contradicts my common sense and rationale.
Which brings us to an important question I'm sure many of you are wondering: Why the hell do you care if no matter what you are going to ask to be excused since you're moving back before the trial begins? Good question. I just like the mental stimulation too much. ^ ^
"It is better to let a guilty man go free than... something about condemning an innocent man to die. There's a quote like that, isn't there? [looks at audience] Well, it's a much smoother phrase anyways... the point is...." -Defense lawyer Mr. Fox, talking to the potential jurors about reasonable doubt *cringe*
The quote, by one William Blackstone (1723-1780) and quoted by Ben Franklin, is "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer." *golf clap for Mr. Fox*. I thought lawyers were supposed to be good public speakers? I'm not just nitpicking... this guy stumbles over his words every so often and seems to beg the audience to finish his sentences (I would, except I don't think I'm allowed to just blurt out things). XD
Take care, everyone!
In retrospect, that wasn't so quick. Whatcha gonna do about it, punk? ;) | | |
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