Crouching Tiger, Blogging Rio

The good news is yes, I survived my week of hell. The not-so-good news was that I didn't make it through the week without some casualties. I frequently drove my commute on 3 hours of sleep, I barely ate enough to feed a small child, and to top it off I managed to staple my thumb, completely missing the stack of papers I had lined up so nicely for the stapler. It took blood, sweat, and a substantial amount of caffeine but my midterms are done and all my reports are handed in for now. Guess what though? Yes indeed, I am on break and, yes again, I do have tons of work to complete for when I get back. 


Other times I would have been greatly aggravated and/or disappointed with the fact that I have to keep working without some form of rest. I was highly considering taking a break from the Karaoke Blog Ring of Death this month and blogging in general due to the amount of study that I have to accomplish. Something had to be cut, there was no way I could make everything fit in and do it well...or so I thought. I took a step back and analyzed my life when I read this article and the Wikipedia page on James Franco. 


What am I doing...complaining about some homework, study, work, music, and blogging? This actor, a person in a career that many consider to be superficial and lacking relevance, is never stopping his academic career. He is a mental sponge, soaking in knowledge left and right from the best schools in the country. One of qualities that I am most proud of, as a student, is my passion for learning. I love hearing about new subjects, new ideas, different perspectives and I am always open to learn from people willing to share their expertise with me. Well, James Franco is living that exact life. Let's quickly glance through his curriculum:

• A college degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from UCLA
• An MFA in Writing from Columbia University
• Is working on his master's degree in filmmaking from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts
• Attended Brooklyn College for fiction writing
• Commuted to Warren Wilson College for poetry
• Now he is a PhD student in English at Yale
• Later, he plans to attend the Rhode Island School of Design for Painting

All what I have listed above he has done or is doing while being an acclaimed and versatile actor. Now, I don't know if I want a Best Actor Oscar nomination or to be a host for the Oscar ceremony, but I do know that I want to do everything on my plate with the highest quality possible. Whether it is playing my saxophone, going to the gym, doing some systems simulations, or just writing down a post, I want to make sure that I am putting in a piece of myself into the work that I do. There are many times that I feel overwhelmed with too many responsibilities and expectations to surpass, but I again recognize and remember that this is what I want. 


After some thought and consideration I decided to say fuck it, I am staying around. I like 20sb, I like my blog, I love music, and I love my studies. I am not surrendering one step on any of my commitments or activities. It will take some major organization and concentration to be efficient but I am willing to take the punches necessary to keep going strong :D. My post title came from the fact that I see myself as bloody and bruised, but still getting back up to say "Suck It" to my heavy schedule. I don't back down and I don't run away from obstacles in my way. I break through them. Simple as that. Let my good friend Bruce explain the rest to you.

This is the face I make when I finish an exam. True story.

So now, on to doing my design projects, studying all my printed material, and doing several homeworks while trying to complete my blogging and musical ambitions. It's going to be a good week.

Work and Music

Here is a quick post to show everyone what I have been up to during this weekend. As you well may know from my constant complaints, I am swamped with work and blogging duties. Not only am I backlogged on guest posts (sorry Amber!) but I also need to film the karaoke vid, recognize some other awards given to me, and watch a bad sports movie to write up a review. Though of course all the homework, exams, and design projects assigned for next week have absolute control of my priorities, it is still nice to remind myself that there is other stuff I need to do besides dive into the books. 


So yea, bitchin' time over, now for the fun stuff. First of all...check this out, its my work station:

I could build a book castle if I wanted to

You can't really see it, but I assure you I also have a HUGE folder with all the journal articles I have to read for my memory devices class...it is underneath the black book, right there in the center stack. 


As a parting note, since I am going to go back to my world of laplace transforms, quantum mechanics, and vanadium stainless steel implants, I want to leave you with this - a nice little cover. Jex Mix from Jes Getting Started and I both love this song, Please Don't Go from Mike Posner, so I decided to be quick and record a first draft cover. Hope you enjoy it.

Bringing Sexy (Science) Back

It seems to me that the main factor in casting television shows these days is attractiveness. Turn on your TV and it is sex this, romance that, love interest here, cheating there, oh no's, uh-oh's, and hell no's. Viewers worry about the storyline sure, but sometimes they are more preoccupied with who is with which character and where, how, how often are they doing it. There is sex and attractive people everywhere, in every field. There are all the television hospitals with their doctors all eyeing each other and feeling each other up (ER, General Hospital, House, Grey's Anatomy). Then you have the lawyers who defend the innocent, take down the corrupt, and establish courtroom sexual tension (the Law & Order franchise, Damages, The Deep End). Cop shows are a standard for any television network and the fighting crime has never looked so good! (Blue Bloods, Southland, the CSI's).

Now you are probably asking yourself, "why are you doing a full recap of all the shows that are on TV, Rio? I have TV Guide for that kind of crap." True enough, any cheap ass entertainment magazine from the gum rack could provide you with enough eye candy and spoilers to last you a lifetime. My point is...where are my engineers? All the playas doing the Gauss, the Newton, and the Heaviside? Sure, a writer gets his own series (Californication) and of course high school teachers are the highlight of 2010 (Glee). Furthermore, even the freakin' mathematicians have a show dedicated to their exploits (Numb3rs). But the guy who designs car engines? Nope. How about the people who design skyscrapers? Nada. Clearly, the sexiness has left the engineering laboratory. But I am here to bring. it. back.

All hope has not been lost. Creating a sexy engineering show should not be that hard. We used to have MacGyver, so it is simply a case of cutting off the mullet, losing the vest, and putting on a suit...right? At this present time and day, our main representation is Howard Wolowitz, who is an aerospace engineer on this lil' old show that you may not have heard of, The Big Bang Theory. Yes indeed, the guy believes himself to be a ladies' man AND still lives with his mom is the engineer on prime time television. Take a look for yourself:

Oh yea, take a good look at that sexiness. All right, all things considered, Wolowitz is not too bad. There are a few good quotes here and there:

"I'm a horny engineer...I never joke about math or sex" (Can't say I do the same)

"I was once robbed by a pre-op transsexual on J-Date and that didn't even crack my top ten."

"Women, huh? Can't live with 'em; can't successfully refute their hypotheses." (AMEN brother)

It's time for some new blood, some new additions to the main roster of the small screen. A script needs to be written, and this baby should bring out the sexiest parts of engineering, machine lubricant not included. Ideally it would include a mixed cast of attractive guy and girl engineers, a bagful of suspense and drama, and a topping of action. Screenwriters should also look to include a heavy dose of sexual tension between the cast members, and a very high sex appeal for the very fact that these people are the very embodiment of science. They can build shit, and are not afraid to use heavy machinery. Lab coats and calculators will not be looked at the same after all of this.

Hollywood, if you are reading this, take note and give me my creator's credit. There is a whole revolution of attractive smartness about to happen. I am just the messenger of this new movement, but I would not mind being the face (blogger?) of your new engineering shows. Get the science out there, and make it wild.