Wind-in-the-hair helps

So. I like Paramore. Emo pop rock, yeah, I'm a dork. I have always found it astounding that the lead singer Hayley Williams is only 21. I guess she just plain looks older than that, but her stage presence and voice, as well as some of their songs, are so much more mature than that. Then today I was reading Paramore's Wikipedia page and learned that the band was basically formed when three of the members were 13, around the time Williams began taking voice lessons. Suddenly, everything made more sense. She's been a trained singer since a young age. None of this just happened for her. She studied. She's a student of the discipline. This explains why, from the first time I watched the music video of their song Decode*, I thought two things:

Thing #1: "Wow, this girl's really pretty!"

Thing #2: "Oh my gosh this girl has really good singing technique with regard to mouth shape/tongue/facial muscles."

*I must clarify that I am not a Twilight fan or anything, and therefore do not particularly like this music video, or this song, for that matter. My favorite Paramore song by a mile is Hallelujah.

mi me ma mo mu

I like a lot of Post Secrets. The site really does what it's supposed to do - making us realize that other people have the exact same secrets/problems as us, exposing the impenetrable lives of others, or just displaying abstract thoughts that have been put into perfect words and maybe perfect images. But this one, ha! Yeah. This sums it up, about the "high art" that is opera.

Good but weird.

I have mad respect for people who genuinely do not give a crap about other people's personal lives. Yet I find this lack of curiosity very very strange.

Rant/question/idea/hope of the day

(Scene from Clueless - Travis donating his bong for disaster relief)

Can someone please tell me how to donate a very large amount of old clothes, books and objects in Hong Kong without either ending up 1) wanting to just leave it all in front of World Wide House on a Sunday; or 2) wanting to scream? Meaning, the charity either does pickups or is centrally located, and takes everything. And also, which charities are most reputable? I don't even care if the recipient tries to sell the stuff and pockets the money, as long as it doesn't end up in a landfill.

In the States, we used to queue up in our car at Goodwill. Once you reached the front of the line, a guy unloads your truck, or you hand him the stuff out your window. He puts it in a big pile, except some stuff that goes in a *different* pile, which I know is the "clearly just trash" pile. I know this cos this is where he threw our old tennis balls. Anyway, what does this say about the US? It says that people perpetually have way too much stuff. It says that everyone drives, especially big cars. It says that despite years of environmental awareness, tennis players still have no real way of recycling all that rubber. But most important, US charities have efficient, organized systems of donation.

Maybe I'll set one up here.

I'm sure Goodwill in the States throws out a large quantity of stuff when I'm not looking, but today I heard from V.Li that Oxfam here has turned down her mom's clothing donations because the items were too old. Also, I once called the public library here and asked if I can just drop off a bunch of books, and they said no they have to be approved. And if they aren't accepted, do I have to haul them away? "Yes." Call me lazy but books are heavy. I have no triceps. (Trust me. I tried to do a push-up last night.) OK I know carrying books mainly involves biceps, but still, bird arms. It's not like libraries here have parking spaces, even if I had a car. It's not like I can just waltz in with a pile of books on the off chance that the government wants my free donation of reading material. In the US, the library takes everything. If there's stuff they don't want, they just put them on racks as free stuff for the taking or sell them for $1. I don't think it's inherently wrong of charities and libraries to NOT accept stuff, but it's just less friendly, less convenient that the donor has to figure out how to get rid of it - again, it's all about having a system in place to take care of the excess.

I have also been desperately seeking good used furniture, which is, amazingly, even more difficult. As the expat forums have pointed out, Chinese have "hangups" about used stuff. Lame. Like how they have to buy a new doormat at Chinese New Year, or new slippers, or whatever, just for luck. There's probably some symbolic, cultural and practical reason behind this that makes perfect sense if you put it in some old-school context. Like how western brides believe in wearing "something blue" on their wedding day, often in the form of garter or underwear. How crass, considering the tradition originated because blue's associated with purity. But to be fair, another reason it's impossible to find used furniture here is people don't have lawns, so they don't have yard sales. And everything on craigslist is Ikea, which everyone knows is bound to be in pieces once you get it home.

I once said to my husband these exact words: I just think it's dumb that people make things and bury them under the ground.

Which is exactly how Hong Kong works. I'm sure it helps with all the land reclamation projects. Recycling is a mystery here. There are tons of sightings of recycle bin garbage getting mixed with real garbage. Janitor ladies in my husband's office building (IFC y'all!) have confessed this to him this in a hush-hush manner. Yet people also say all of Hong Kong's trash gets sorted at the facilities anyway, and recycle bins are decoys to make us feel greener. But why so mysterious? Let's just lay it all out, literally.

With real flea markets.

People want this.

save them save them

Shrimpers emerged as a prime suspect in the NOAA investigation when, after a round of turtle necropsies in early May, Dr. Stacy announced that more than half the carcasses had sediment in the airways or lungs — evidence of drowning. The only plausible explanation for such a high number of drowning deaths, he said, was, as he put it, “fisheries interaction.”

Environmentalists saw the findings as confirmation of their suspicions that shrimpers, taking advantage of the fact that the Coast Guard and other inspectors were busy with the oil spill, had disabled their turtle excluder devices.

The devices are so contentious that Louisiana law has long forbidden its wildlife and fisheries agents to enforce federal regulations on the devices. Last month, Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed legislation that would have finally lifted the ban, citing the “challenges and issues currently facing our fishermen.” By contrast, Mississippi officials strengthened turtle protections by decreasing the allowable tow time for skimmers, posting observers on boats, and sending out pamphlets on turtle resuscitation.

--

Full NYT article here.

It fascinates me how much the government and environmentalists obsess over sea turtle survival. Check out the pamphlet on turtle resuscitation: "Sea turtles may take some time to revive; do not give up too quickly." It's optimistic of the government to believe that fishermen and boaters would go through all the trouble to save a turtle that they accidentally injure or nearly kill. Granted, if such compassion and effort is to be found anywhere among people just trying to make a living, it would probably be in the US (Hong Kong? Forget about it). But realistically, I just don't see fishermen and boaters (who are suspected of disabling their turtle excluder devices) reading the pamphlet before bed and going that distance for the species that are getting in the way of their livelihood. Humans are selfish.

On the other hand, as far as I know, environmentalists think sea turtles are doomed anyway. The things we are asked to do for doomed species... there is something comical and tragic about all this. Letting a species die out is unconscionable; fighting tooth and nail in a losing battle is madness. But the world does not operate under rationality. Individual agendas will be forwarded. It makes me feel useless and helpless.

What's Been Owning My Mind

... the soon-to-be-mine apartment. Have been obsessively planning decorating, and I haven't even signed the lease yet (but first month's rent has been put down). Cantaloupe and strawberry... cantaloupe and strawberry...

I love sciences and arts.

One of my favorite pictures from New Caledonia. At the aquarium. They are little tableaus. Living shadowboxes. Meticulously designed and executed. A hand reaches in and spoils the miniature glowing world.

World Cup Karaoke

This is how it gets done.