The Journey Ends .... A Half-Hearted Evaluation of the Merits of Reading Ahead

Tonight the journey ends. After 57 episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, my housemates and I are left with episodes 58-61, which were originally televised as a movie, but for DVD and TV were separated into four episodes.

It was an amazing experience to watch the series without reading ahead. You see, I hate surprises, and so, whenever I read ahead. I like to focus on details, like character development, sets or in animation the drawings, etc. Recently, I tried not reading ahead with Avatar, Green Lantern: First Flight, and District Nine. Only once did it fail me.

Let me first say, all three movies had a very nice story and were very engaging of my interest, however, District Nine was almost unwatchable for me due to the camera work. It gave me varying degrees of vertigo and disorientation - it is that style of camera work, like in Blair Witch, where it looks someone is using a camcorder and waving their arms as s/he film. If I had read ahead about it, I would have probably not seen District Nine - no movie can be good enough to compensate for such wonky camera work, at least for me.

As for Avatar, well, I am very glad I did wait to just watch the episodes. The story has been absolutely amazing to see unfold and the creators were able to sustain the momentum and even generate it throughout the series. I have very high expectations tonight as we watch the finale.

My fiancée watched a couple of episodes and became interested in it as well. I think next year when the live action movie is released, we will forgo the movie theatre and look forward to re-watching the animated series - in Blu-Ray (one would think it would be released in Blu-Ray as the movie is released)!

For now, I will end with this:

Water... Earth... Fire... Air.

Recently, my friends and I have been introduced to Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is an animated series, dating back to 2005-2007 when it first aired on Nickelodeon.

What amazes me, is how I let this show slip through the cracks, until ~ 2-3 weeks ago. Perhaps in 2005, I was too busy writing my dissertation or finding a postdoc. Who knows. All I know is that I recently saw a movie preview for the upcoming movie next summer, and I thought to myself, "Ahh, that looks cool. Some archetypal hero representing some element, and oh wow, the Fire people are the bad guys. Yeah, cool, I'll watch it."

[The image I have posted, is the main character's trusty 10 ton 6-legged, flying bison - Appa. A very loyal and imposing friend to have.]

I brought it up in conversation to a friend, and he stressed how well executed the animated series was. WHAT? It was based on an animated series? Oh Snap!

So I NetFlixed the first 4 episodes. I liked it, I liked it a whole lot. I told my housemates/friends about it, and they were like, "I dunno Thakman Jones, you thought It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was good, too!"

HAAR! We tried watching an episode together, and then another, and another, ..... Yeah, we liked it!

What appeals to me the most about this show is that the characters are not flat. They are dynamic. The story itself, well, we've seen this sort of theme/meme in movies/series/literature - a hero comes of age, a hero understand his/her destiny and comes to embrace it, a person driven to ill pursuits out of a misguided but noble sense of honor, the hero embarking on a quest. There are probably others, but these will do for now, as I am only on episode 12 out of 61.

What is remarkable is that the primary antagonist, at least for now, is an amazing character. You can describe him as a "bad guy" but he is not "bad" for the sake of being bad. There is a reason he becomes the way he is, and his story and motivations are absolutely fascinating.

I feel, only my gut feel as I have promised not to spoil or read ahead about the series, is that one's redemption, both the hero and the current primary antagonist will play a role. If the first ~20% of the series are an indication, the creators have done an impressive job with their execution. I feel like the whatever direction the series takes, it will be an interesting journey and a compelling story.

What a thoroughly entertaining and delightful show.

A 10 List

Forgive me for not posting recently. I am still learning work-life balance. I am going to get more regular about this. Regular like fiber. HAAR!

1) I'm engaged. It's exciting to this I've met the person I am going to share my life with, grow old with, etc. Now, the planning is underway, and it is the last hurdle. It is a tall hurdle. Argh. Haar.

2) Arghaar. It is my new word to describe wedding planning talk.

3) In July 2009 we should see new NIH guidelines regarding stem cell use in the U.S. This will be a big development in terms of scientists are able to use in their studies.

4) Anything sort of a Big XII championship followed by a national title game appearance and win for Texas will be a disappointing season. The road for the title game goes through Florida, but you play the games for reason. We'll see what happens. Next 4-6 years are going to be exciting times for Texas fans. F' oklahoma.

5) The summer is coming up, and I am vehemently looking forward to grilling with my housemates and friends. There are a few new recipes I have been devising that I am looking forward to trying.

6) People who have no belief in the fantastic, the amazing, that dreams can come to fruition suck royally. As far as I am concerned, these types of people are unnecessarily negative and have no place in my life.

7) I am surprised by how nice the PS3 is. My fiancee seems to like LittleBigPlanet. The game looks fun and the system is quite nice. It definitely has better reliability than the Xbox 360 based on what I have been perusing online. But I'm an Xbox guy. Sony pissed me off with the way they treated me ~2001 when my PS1 died within its warranty period. So, I am hesitant to make my video gaming bed with Sony again.

8) Today is the digital TV signal conversion day. HOORAY! The future starts today!

9) The new Daves Matthews Album is surprisingly good. Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King.

10) The Star Trek movie (2009) was incredible. I need to see it again sometime, or perhaps wait for Blu-ray / DVD or whatever. It is movie that met my expectations.

30 Going on 31

This past year, my 30th, was a good one. It also marked the end of my 3rd decade, ages 21-30. What is remarkable for me is that it seems as though it was just yesterday I was making way between my dorm and the engineering quad at UT while fretting some stupid Unit Ops exam or just salivating for the next bit of knowledge in neurophysiology or transport phenomena.

I miss those times, but I am also happy to be where I am. I think 10 years ago, I was going through what I would call the worst period in my life. It takes time to heal, it takes time for things to pass, etc. I think for me to think back to that time in my life, and for me to recall it with a smile on my face, well, it is a testament to these words of wisdom handed to me by someone far more grounded than I was at that time. It is safe to say I have healed, and that part of my life is compartmentalized.

My greatest fear for the next 10 years is straying from the path that will help me realize my potential. I refuse think anyone, outside of athletes, can say that life is downhill at 30-31 onwards. There is still so much to do, so much to achieve.

My 20s were a time when I had a chance to train my mind and broaden my skills, and essentially, set me career trajectory for the first part of my career. My 30s are here now, and its time to start executing on that stuff.

Soon, it will be time to get married, looking at buying a home, think of a family, plot the next point in the career trajectory, etc. It is hard to believe that the things we do, the people we meet in our 20s set us up for all these decisions and influence our modes of thought.

In the last 10 yrs, I have been able to witness the isolation of the human embryonic stem cell line, seen federal research on it banned, then observed breakthrough at circumventing hESC use, and now, come Monday the ban is lifted. Considering my line of work, and training this is remarkable in a 10 year period of time.

Who knows what the next 10 years holds- academically, career-wise, and personally? I do look forward to being able to share this with the girl I love, my family, and friends.

More importantly, what advances in movies based on comic books / graphic novels will we see? I cannot wait! Finally, I really do think, in the next 10 years, I will my Longhorns from The University of Texas at Austin win 2 national / BCS championships. I really do.

It is absolutely sick the amount of coaching and talent that is there and will be there. It's on you, Longhorns, to make me look good when I revisit this post in 10 yrs!

Until then ......

HAAR!

Next post - what the new stem cell policy really means. Enough introspection for now!

2008 - Year End Review and Other Odds & Ends

Well, this year is about to come and end. It was definitely the shortest year of my life, being that it was 1/30 of my life versus say my 25th year, which was 1/25 of my life. If you are going to take this fractional approach to determining the significance of what one year is to your life, then ages 0-5 are very key.

This year was very significant, however. Many things became clear to me as well as great deal happened this year. I'm going to make a list of significant events that transpired this year. I could argue that year 30 of my life was profoundly significant.

1) I realized I without a shadow of doubt that I have met and am with the woman I will marry one day.

2) I got job after approximately 12-14 months of searching, applying, getting rejected or not liking the job I was applying for, seeking advice, deliberating, and whatnot. I am absolutely excited that the next phase of my career begins as I venture out of the pure academic setting into an environment that will resemble a 1/3 academia, 1/3 start up, and 1/3 government agency. For the time being and near future, SF is my home.

3) The Texas Longhorns performed far better than I could have imagined 4 months ago and I have quite an imagination. The next 4-5 years look really, really great.

4) A really good friend, Hayley, graduated!

5) My sister turned 25. Damn, I still remember when we used to play Transformers or football together growing up.

6) I published papers that I am proud of and presented well at conferences and the classes I taught. I was also able to be an effective mentor and branch out my research from what I am trained to do.

7) After the first 1/3 of the year, the latter 2/3 were awesome for food and eating! It helps when you have saliva free flowing in your mouth. Interestingly enough, the ancient Chinese used chewed rice/saliva as a determination of guilt or lying.

8) Batman II/The Dark Knight was an absolutely amazing film. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

9) Kung Fu Panda is awesome.

10) I re-discovered the awesomeness of how good tacos can be.

11) I realized I want to buy an HD TV. Video games and watching football are just not the same once you have seen HD. Sigh. The January sales and the Super Bowl sales cannot get here any faster! [Note I did not use the word "sooner" because oklahoma sucks fat monkey nuts. I also did not capitalize "oklahoma" for that reason.]

12) 2008 sets up 2009 very well. 2008 was a year of determining the path/direction my life will take. 2009 will be a year where I begin to implement and strive toward the goals I want to achieve.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year/Haar!

A Proportional Response

One of my favorite West Wing episodes is entitled A Proportional Response. BRAVO has been replaying old episodes since election season just passed, and it has served as an enjoyable respite during lunch since I am only 3-5 min walk from home nowadays.

The gist of the episode is what is an acceptable show of force for the U.S. after a Syrian terrorist shoots down a passenger jet carrying civilians and military personnel on a medical mission. The fictional president is enraged and would like to have a show of force that is like the "hand of God", and show the world what the consequences are for harming an American life overseas. I would be lying if I said I do not agree with that thought.

As the episode continues, a more measure, reasoned response is decided upon, the "Proportional Response", where the Syrian intelligence agency and couple of other key targets are destroyed, harming no civilians. Ultimately, this is the right approach. The U.S. cannot just act as the "hand of God". Argentina can, however, as Diego Maradona proved in 1986.

In high school, 10th grade, my friends and I during 7th period chemistry at approximately 3:03PM on a fall afternoon, decided that we were nation-states. Literally, we were nation-states. Some people chose to be England or France or Belgium or Egypt or America or Brazil or China or whomever. We would then make "strategic alliances" when "dissing" on another person. For example, if I were America and my friend were South Africa, I would not make fun of his shirt that he was wearing that day unless I had a multinational coalition with me.

Hilarious. This lasted for about 2 months before we went on to the next joke. I cannot remember who I was, I think I was Switzerland. I like watches, I like chocolate, I stayed out of fights, but I had dirt on everyone, kind of like Swiss and how they store everyone's money.

Anyways, I think the concept of a person treating their relationships with other people is much like a nation-state. I was at a bar on Saturday night watching football, and USC fans proceeded to demonstrate their amazing eloquence to me: "Fuck Texas." In this situation, a charged comment from a non-ally, non-friend, I consider this comment akin to a chemical or biological attack on my nation-state. I proceeded to reply, "41-38, scoreboard, bitches."

I think they said something after that, but my my proportional response was over; nothing more needed to be said to those no talent douche clowns.

On Monday, my labmate made a comment about how another labmate's baby spat up when I walked in the room because I am ugly. My friend, she made the comment, and it was somewhat funny. My proportional remark was a mighty guffaw, followed by a comment about how her maternal instinct is that of a rock or dirt or something and the baby sensed it.

Last week, I erred, however. It was late, I was trying to get home before 8:45pm to call the love of my life who is 3 hrs ahead on East coast. A guy cut in line in front of me at the Subway, even though his sandwich was no where near completion. He had long, messy hair, unshaven, prolly a postdoc or grad student. "Hey hippy, get back in line; don't cut." He looked at me hurt, wounded, then pissed. I did not really care, he cut, and my perception was that he was delaying me. I did not really feel bad about it until this weekend and the USC turds. Those guys deserved that level hate, vitriol. This hungry guy at Subway was annoying, but probably deserved a more measured response.

So, I think there is something to all this. A proportional response is not a sign of weakness to the outside, but rather, a show of restraint and therefore, strength. Something to remember for the future.

What would you do if you were not afraid to fail?

What would you do?

The fear of failure is something that is not fun to live with. Often times, it stems from something an individual feels lacking. At least for me it does. Considering that I am now a postdoc, being afraid to fail is quite comical. I mean, just getting through graduate school, if one is successful 10% of the time, one is indeed a badass. It does not get much better as a postdoc, except, you now have a lot more experience so you do not "fail" as much. You still screw up, but you have a lot more victories.

But I am not talking about successes and failures on the benchtop; I am talking about life. How many times during the course of a year, do you have a chance to go after something you really want, to after it with everything you have in you, to feel like you did everything in your power to do your best?

Once? Twice? Thrice? I dunno. But I have one of those opportunities tomorrow.

For as much as I love football, I am not an athlete; I don't get to suit up and play ball on Saturdays for my alma mater. For me, to suit up consists of wearing a pressed shirt, sharp suit, and spiffy tie. Basically, I get a chance to be like Barney Stinson tomorrow and suit up.

So in my mind, it has been like my gameday. I have prepared as thoroughly as I can. I have looked over my presentation numerous times, just as a coach goes through his game plans. I have already traced my route for Friday morning, much like pre-planning the first 10-15 plays of a game.

What more do I need to do? Oh yes, a banana and granola bar to eat at 2 opportune times throughout the day - it is like my gatorade. My aftershave balm is similar to whatever that black stuff football players under their eyes to reduce the glare of the sun. Actually, I guess that is more like my sunglasses! HAAR.

So, if I am prepared, why am I so worried about failing? I guess it is because there is a lot on the line. This opportunity is exactly what I have been looking for since ~ Feb. 2008,when I re-started my job hunt. I realized what was really important and what I enjoyed doing. I guess I just don't want to experience what the alternative to success is regarding this juncture.

I guess there is really nothing else for me to do, except go to the gym tonight (TCU vs. BYU, should be a good game), eat a nice dinner (mmmmm... burrito?), play a video game to rest up, and sleep well.

Let me end with a quote from Richard Nixon's resignation speech, which I have really liked throughout my life. I will address this topic one day, why Nixon is one of the best presidents we have ever had.

"Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, 'whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, [...]'"

It is this opportunity tomorrow, to be the "man in the arena" that makes me anxious, nervous, sharp, and festive all at the same time. I look forward to the challenges of tomorrow.

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P.S. A blog post about failures would not be complete without mention of Oklahoma and their punk punter's fake of a roughing penalty. It was quite hilarious to watch live. It did not matter, OU sucks, and they lost. They're a good team, though, and so like the cockroaches they are, they will be back. This is a sign from El Arroyo in Austin, TX, which is a favorite place to eat for out of towners who are craving Tex-Mex. Personally, I like Trudy's better, but El Arroyo gets props for the signage.