Tree Hugger

The seventies saw a start in a lot of environmental activities. In 1970, the US celebrated its first Earth Day. The Environmental Protection Agency was also created in 1970.
Two very influential books were published in the early seventies. Bill Peet's The Wump World and Dr. Suess's The Lorax. Both these books have very similar stories. In The Wump World, The Wump World is invaded by Pollutians. The Wump's are forced to hide underground while the Pollutians destroy their world. In the end the Pollutians leave after using up all the resources of Wump World. The Wumps come out of hiding and find some untouched places but realize that their world will never be the same.
In Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, the Onceler comes to a place where "the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean." He notices that the Truffula trees of this area are good for making thneeds and sets up a shop. The Onceler also capitalizes of this environment and ends up destroying it. In the end of this story the Onceler hands a child the last seed of the Truffula trees with the warning that "UNLESS someone like you carfes a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better."
Both books have stories about the destruction of the environment and then end with a chance of hope. The main difference is Seuss puts the responsiblity on the reader to do something about the environment, and Peet emphasiases the resilliance of the environment to show how the environment can take care of itself if we dont destroy it.
Intrestingly The Wump World, was published in 1970. The Lorax was published in 1971. I think Seuss's book is catchier in its style, but there does seem to be a possiblity that Seuss read Bill Peet's book and then coppied it. Although they both have the same aim, my perception of Dr. Seuss is someone who is totally original in his apporach to stories. Kinda interesting.

saving on shampoo

I had my first hair cut in about a year.
It is shorter now. Shower time is reduced by a few minutes.

woo

So yesterday I spent at least 6 hours on public transportation waiting for barts, caltrains, and buses, all to get to the big game. I realized that in that time of travel i could have made it to SoCal in a car, or to some other cool place other than home.
Oh well, i'll be doing another one of these long trips. Hopefully less than 3 hours though on tuesday or wednesday.
Thanksgiving is so close!

crazy day

My day started with a hike up near the botanical gardens at about 1 am. I was trying to view the meteor shower that was supposed to happen, but the meteors never came around. The only one that happened was around 1:40 AM and I was writting something and missed it. Kinda crappy. I finially got to bed around 3 AM and woke up for my 8 AM class. Felt kinda crappy.

I learned today that if you dont want to talk to the people on Sproul, you can tell them you are 17 and they really don't care about talking to you anymore. I find this works especially well with the people who want you to sponser a child. You can also tell them that you dont have a credit card. That works very well also.

Finally, I saw the 12 AM show of Harry Potter. It wasn't as good as I expected. They cut out so much stuff. It was awesome seeing a movie so late though.

Sleep time. it's 3:11 AM

weak sauce.

UC Berkeley really needs a better rock wall. The only university owned rock wall is a flat concrete wall outside of the RSF. This is probably one of the worst rock walls at any UC and pretty bad compared to many other school, even smaller ones.
Man i'm getting weak.
On another note, I was climbing today and this mom was letting her kids, i'm guessing under five years of age, boulder up a slab that is about 20 feet tall. This was freaking me out by just watching it but the mom seemed perfectly fine with all of this. Her daughter actually made it to the top of the slab and her son made it up most of the way. I was very impressed by this.
I always wondered what it would be like to not care about danger and never learn what fear is.

Light Rock Less Talk...

96.5 Koit has already started playing Christmas music, and has been playing it as early as a week and a half ago. I really like Christmas music, but this is more than a month before Christmas. Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet. It's pretty ridiculous. I may be tired or Christmas music before it is December.

oceans one

So my bike got stollen sometime between last week and this Tuesday. I've had my old bike since 6th grade so it is kinda sad. I guess thats what happens in Berkeley, and it is my fault for not having a U-Lock. It kinda sucks though.

critters

Yesterday I was camping at Point Reyes for the CHAOS gourmet trip. So after dinner I went to my backpack to get my toothbrush and stuff but the bag was gone. This was inconveniet and also worrisome becuase my pack also had my wallet, cell phone, keys.
Well I survived the night without my pack. My sleeping bag and pad and stuff were already inside the tent. When I woke up in the morning I took a walk around the camp the try to find my pack. I ended up walking into the brush a little bit and noticed a green bag near the border where the bushes begin to get thick. Upon further investigation I foudn this to be my pack. The front pocket had been broken into and all that was left of the two granola bars and fruit snacks I had was the wrappers. My toothpaste and toothbrush also carried bite marks on them and the rest of the pack was infested with pill bugs. I guess a bag is a good shelter in the damp weather. I guess it was funnier if you were there.

splash

Today some cold water splashed on my feet and it reminded me of being in Idaho. I think my vacation to Idaho was one of my most memorable vacations. I really miss being near a river and hot springs.