Sunday, December 12, 2010
Knock-off Khalil-Mamoon
Tonight I bought what seemed to be a Khalil-Mamoon hookah, until I realized that it wasn't right after I tried 3 bowls of Al-Fakher grape tobacco on it with different setups. Something didn't feel quite right in terms of the pulls. Either the hookah is just bullox, or my hookah setup isn't so great. Because I had a hookah before, I know it's the latter. Never have I perfected a water-to-air ratio in a hookah, nor a great bowl. Oh yeah, whatever happened to my past hookah? A friend borrowed it, and another friend of a friend borrowed it from him, until it somehow got lost within the borrowing web. Oh well, it's not like I'm desperate for my old one, since it probably has AIDS from the amount of different people that used it. No, I'm not stupid. I know how AIDS spread, it's a shallow joke.
Barbie and Ken Edition Scooter
Yesterday, I visited BuWajd with some friends, we hung out, shared some Gulf culture with two Americans. It was a very. . . cultural night.
Although, getting to BuWajd's was the highlight of the night. BuNora and I rode a pink scooter in the rain, in a speed limit zone of 55 where we were only going about 30. I felt as though the back-draft from the cars would blow us off the road! Going back from BuWajd's, I was wearing goggles and a pink helmet, making me seem like a sissy version of speed racer.
Although, getting to BuWajd's was the highlight of the night. BuNora and I rode a pink scooter in the rain, in a speed limit zone of 55 where we were only going about 30. I felt as though the back-draft from the cars would blow us off the road! Going back from BuWajd's, I was wearing goggles and a pink helmet, making me seem like a sissy version of speed racer.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Damaged Eardrums for No Reason
I went to a nightclub in Portland, only to get my eardrums rocked the hell out of, and now the only thing I can hear is a constant ping noise.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Truth Lies in What Brown Man Said (please notice the pun)
Today, I attended an appointment with my psychiatrist, and talked about topics that don't concern any of you except for the "brown man" topic. Mentioning culture shock to my psychiatrist, I got a reaction from her indicating that she wasn't surprised at all with what I brought up. In fact, when I explicitly told her that browns have a hard time making friends that are "of an ethnic majority in Corvallis" she instantly understood what I was trying to convey. I QUOTE her, "You will probably need to make friends one by one, [because people here are really cautious about brown people]. . . that they look Islamic." I know what I have in the square brackets aren't exactly what she said *HAHA I just had to type quote capitalized in the beginning of a sentence, something I always wanted to dot* but. . . she meant something like that :-) What I don't understand is why whites think brown people are "Islamic." Dude, Islam is a religion, it's like saying all white people look "Christian."
Another incident with NeumaNN made me feel like I had no face to save. The last meeting before this one, I said I would appeal to the case, but apparently today I felt like I had to swallow my pride and not let another white man view Arabs with a worse reputation, considering that the their reputation is shit as it is. You dig? A clarification: Arabs, which make a GREAT portion of the international student population, are infamous in many different attributes. Look forward to my future blogs as to why I mentioned this.
I went to Dixon Recreation Center (the gym) in hopes of buffing myself up. Usually it would be a lot fuller than it was tonight, but that's due to exams week, as well as the fact that people who already finished exams got the hell outta dodge. I see this brown Paki that I usually see around campus, and who's been in at least two of my classes. This man has white friends. This man ALSO has a HEAVY Indian accent (word up, our brown man from the forums). I knew he had white friends because he is social and walks with white people. I know this because I saw him do that several times. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that he isn't part of our brown man, white people scenario, for he still might follow our sociological rule of the brown man; just that he doesn't look like he's severely impacted by it from a third-person perspective. I will look into this further and update you all.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Pretty People Look Prettier Together
I'm in the Valley Library and there's a girl and guy in the table in front of me that look like Sandra Bullock and Enrique Iglesias with long hair, and apparently they're a couple! This is making my day! . . .just thought I should mention it.
Return from NeumaNN. . . and exams. . .
After finishing my previous post, I commuted to OSU by foot as I routinely do, although this time I intended to go for my Computer Science (CS) 162 and Physics (PH) 212 final exams that I confidently failed. Aside from that, the main course of activity was setting up an appeal to an academic dishonesty case that the aforementioned last name of a CS162 professor filed for me and a friend. After a couple more blogs, I will fully unveil what you may think is my racist nature, in case you haven't anticipated it yet.
Chronicle:
About a week and a half ago, me and a coworker (his skin color of which brown man despises) were suspected copying the weekly assigned project code from each other, it matters little how we were caught, but more importantly the incidents that follow.
He and I were first called to meet him individually, until now. When we were at his office, Neumann kept on insisting that we "went past the syllabus guidelines" and I didn't say anything to agree with him. It reached a point when we had to sign the academic dishonesty paper, whether we deny all claims of dishonesty or submit to the persistence of a nagging CS prof. I of course, in my right mind, chose to appeal and deny all claims, because at least if that fails, we both had a chance to not have an academic dishonesty archived in our files. My coworker, however, didn't. As plain as it seems, you might think both me and him would have already planned this out before hand. We had planned that both of us appeal, even though it was I who copied his code, not vice versa. Do you see where this is going? A well established stereotype seems to be apparent.
My coworker did everything by the rule. He was epically frightened of the academic dishonesty paper that Neumann will ominously place into his folder of reputation-tainting history. While I, on the other hand, can't wait to show off my stubbornness and ask him how I can appeal. So, here is the part you've all been so eagerly waiting for. . . FACT #2: White people get frightened VERY easily; in fact, so easily that even an unintended, unwelcoming facial gesture can dictate a make-it or break-it moment for someone who isn't used to their sensitivity. Unfortunately, brown men are born with mean or creepy idle facial expressions, another reason that lowers the comfort level of whites in the presence of brown man.
Chronicle:
About a week and a half ago, me and a coworker (his skin color of which brown man despises) were suspected copying the weekly assigned project code from each other, it matters little how we were caught, but more importantly the incidents that follow.
He and I were first called to meet him individually, until now. When we were at his office, Neumann kept on insisting that we "went past the syllabus guidelines" and I didn't say anything to agree with him. It reached a point when we had to sign the academic dishonesty paper, whether we deny all claims of dishonesty or submit to the persistence of a nagging CS prof. I of course, in my right mind, chose to appeal and deny all claims, because at least if that fails, we both had a chance to not have an academic dishonesty archived in our files. My coworker, however, didn't. As plain as it seems, you might think both me and him would have already planned this out before hand. We had planned that both of us appeal, even though it was I who copied his code, not vice versa. Do you see where this is going? A well established stereotype seems to be apparent.
My coworker did everything by the rule. He was epically frightened of the academic dishonesty paper that Neumann will ominously place into his folder of reputation-tainting history. While I, on the other hand, can't wait to show off my stubbornness and ask him how I can appeal. So, here is the part you've all been so eagerly waiting for. . . FACT #2: White people get frightened VERY easily; in fact, so easily that even an unintended, unwelcoming facial gesture can dictate a make-it or break-it moment for someone who isn't used to their sensitivity. Unfortunately, brown men are born with mean or creepy idle facial expressions, another reason that lowers the comfort level of whites in the presence of brown man.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
A Brown Man in Corvallis
What I'm about to write will hopefully adhere to the title, and to your satisfaction or dissatisfaction, that brown man I mention isn't me, this isn't the intro to my autobiography just yet. What inspired me to create this blog other than the fact that I lost hope in studying for finals of classes that I 100% sure am not going to pass this term, is because of a "brown" man that used to live as an Oregon State University (OSU) grad student in Corvallis. Let me give you why my blog is titled as it is. Observe this post of his on www.usmessageboard.com:
I am a grad student from India studying at OSU, Corvallis. I have never felt more lonely in my life than the time I spent in Corvallis. People here, at best, smile at me and move on. Even if I go to a bar, people never look at me as another human being and speak spontaneously the way they do with other fellow Americans. I tried to find a girl, to date, using Match.com, Eharmony, Yahoo, OKCupid etc. Let alone dating me, they didn't even respond to my emails. I tried for like 2 years and they'd just not speak to me. I am 6'3" tall and I am not fat/unattractive. The American people in my lab, who are predominantly Caucasian, never talk to non-white immigrants and they have their own group into which, they carefully manage to exclude others. They speak with me ONLY if they NEED something from me. Otherwise, they'd N_ever go personal with me.
I have been to SF, Sand Diego, LA, Bakersfield, San Jose, Austin,.......White people spoke to me as though they were blind to my skin color. They spoke to me the way my Indian peers in India would. The story is different in Oregon and especially in Corvallis. I asked white people in the psychological counseling department and I asked white people who work in shops that I usually go to: They just won't admit that people here are racists.
I wish to know from people who know about Corvallis, Oregon, as to why this is happening to me. Please do not advise me the way you'd to a Fresh Off the Boat Indian. I do N_ot smell bad. I have an accent but people here can easily understand me without having to ask me to repeat what I said. I dress well. I do not pick my nose. I can go on with this list but the point is that from my side, there is nothing that could possibly repel an American. I know this for a fact because I hired a dating consultant and payed him to tell me if I was repulsive and on the contrary, he said I have quite an attractive personality.
Please help me with your honest opinion. I have absolutely nobody else to ask for help.
Now, I've never had the dishonor to meet this person, but I will assume that he is Indian, and that his skin pigmentation is the generic "brown", similar to that guy in the awesome profile picture with Benny the Beaver. Back to the task at hand--I can relate to his dilemma!! I might not be Indian or have an Indian accent, but I do seem to look like a brown Indian to the white denizens of Corvallis, Oregon! Trust me, if you were brown (and maybe you are) you would know when you look like a brown Indian when a REAL Indian comes up to you and strikes a conversation in one of their many dialects.
Let's begin by having the reader, you, catch up on how I was placed here in Corvallis via the very predictable strings of fate; I say this because my fate truly is very predictable. *Getting contact lenses from the nearby eye care center next to the local 7/11. What nonsense self-dictated dares to perform: flirt with old lady at counter, ask her about the epic soundtrack CD which has instrumental Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Lionel Richie songs.**Back, dare fulfilled =D* When I was in elementary school in Klamath Falls, my family and I would head over to the mosque in Corvallis (look it up, the one that has recently been assaulted by a local arson) and a friend a couple of times a year in sparing frequencies. The town didn't interest me that much, because my family and I would go there ever so often. However, when I was granted a scholarship and had a choice to go to a selected list of universities, I chose OSU. Well, originally I wanted to attend the same university my father went to for most of his undergraduate years, Oregon Institute of Technology, but it wasn't on the list of universities. So, I chose the closest university that has a "good" Computer Engineering program, that university, regrettably (I'll inevitably explain why later, even if I forget to), is OSU. Story of my life.
Now, from what I can decipher off the brown man's first paragraph, is him simply being upset from the fact that he can't feel empathy from white people when they are in his presence, and like he frankly typed away, "they'd never go personal with me". Oh, and also the fact that he's upset because he can't hook up with a white woman. Hmmmm. . . why do I feel as though all this commotion being kindled revolves around a matter that collaborates one with the opposite sex? Because many times, the opposite sex is the reason for paranoia anomalies like brown man's, and mine that I will enlighten you about as we progress.
Despite how much I hate people who are full of themselves and whom brown man exemplifies, I will still give my honest opinion from what I experienced. You see, brown man here takes the threshold of the word "racist" a bit too shallow, my definition of "racist" is much more aggressive and extreme. FACT #1: In my 2 years of stay in Corvallis, I realize that there is a subconscious tension that kicks in the minds of white people when they are in the presence of a brown man. Meaning, their first impression of a brown man will be stigmatic, the white people do not realize that they are being racist in any way. This, in my hypothesis, is due to the unfamiliarity of the white people towards the brown man. Apparently, information conveyed through today's mainstream media also has a drastic effect on amplifying this stigma, even to people mildly exposed to the media.
I am a grad student from India studying at OSU, Corvallis. I have never felt more lonely in my life than the time I spent in Corvallis. People here, at best, smile at me and move on. Even if I go to a bar, people never look at me as another human being and speak spontaneously the way they do with other fellow Americans. I tried to find a girl, to date, using Match.com, Eharmony, Yahoo, OKCupid etc. Let alone dating me, they didn't even respond to my emails. I tried for like 2 years and they'd just not speak to me. I am 6'3" tall and I am not fat/unattractive. The American people in my lab, who are predominantly Caucasian, never talk to non-white immigrants and they have their own group into which, they carefully manage to exclude others. They speak with me ONLY if they NEED something from me. Otherwise, they'd N_ever go personal with me.
I have been to SF, Sand Diego, LA, Bakersfield, San Jose, Austin,.......White people spoke to me as though they were blind to my skin color. They spoke to me the way my Indian peers in India would. The story is different in Oregon and especially in Corvallis. I asked white people in the psychological counseling department and I asked white people who work in shops that I usually go to: They just won't admit that people here are racists.
I wish to know from people who know about Corvallis, Oregon, as to why this is happening to me. Please do not advise me the way you'd to a Fresh Off the Boat Indian. I do N_ot smell bad. I have an accent but people here can easily understand me without having to ask me to repeat what I said. I dress well. I do not pick my nose. I can go on with this list but the point is that from my side, there is nothing that could possibly repel an American. I know this for a fact because I hired a dating consultant and payed him to tell me if I was repulsive and on the contrary, he said I have quite an attractive personality.
Please help me with your honest opinion. I have absolutely nobody else to ask for help.
Now, I've never had the dishonor to meet this person, but I will assume that he is Indian, and that his skin pigmentation is the generic "brown", similar to that guy in the awesome profile picture with Benny the Beaver. Back to the task at hand--I can relate to his dilemma!! I might not be Indian or have an Indian accent, but I do seem to look like a brown Indian to the white denizens of Corvallis, Oregon! Trust me, if you were brown (and maybe you are) you would know when you look like a brown Indian when a REAL Indian comes up to you and strikes a conversation in one of their many dialects.
Let's begin by having the reader, you, catch up on how I was placed here in Corvallis via the very predictable strings of fate; I say this because my fate truly is very predictable. *Getting contact lenses from the nearby eye care center next to the local 7/11. What nonsense self-dictated dares to perform: flirt with old lady at counter, ask her about the epic soundtrack CD which has instrumental Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Lionel Richie songs.**Back, dare fulfilled =D* When I was in elementary school in Klamath Falls, my family and I would head over to the mosque in Corvallis (look it up, the one that has recently been assaulted by a local arson) and a friend a couple of times a year in sparing frequencies. The town didn't interest me that much, because my family and I would go there ever so often. However, when I was granted a scholarship and had a choice to go to a selected list of universities, I chose OSU. Well, originally I wanted to attend the same university my father went to for most of his undergraduate years, Oregon Institute of Technology, but it wasn't on the list of universities. So, I chose the closest university that has a "good" Computer Engineering program, that university, regrettably (I'll inevitably explain why later, even if I forget to), is OSU. Story of my life.
Now, from what I can decipher off the brown man's first paragraph, is him simply being upset from the fact that he can't feel empathy from white people when they are in his presence, and like he frankly typed away, "they'd never go personal with me". Oh, and also the fact that he's upset because he can't hook up with a white woman. Hmmmm. . . why do I feel as though all this commotion being kindled revolves around a matter that collaborates one with the opposite sex? Because many times, the opposite sex is the reason for paranoia anomalies like brown man's, and mine that I will enlighten you about as we progress.
Despite how much I hate people who are full of themselves and whom brown man exemplifies, I will still give my honest opinion from what I experienced. You see, brown man here takes the threshold of the word "racist" a bit too shallow, my definition of "racist" is much more aggressive and extreme. FACT #1: In my 2 years of stay in Corvallis, I realize that there is a subconscious tension that kicks in the minds of white people when they are in the presence of a brown man. Meaning, their first impression of a brown man will be stigmatic, the white people do not realize that they are being racist in any way. This, in my hypothesis, is due to the unfamiliarity of the white people towards the brown man. Apparently, information conveyed through today's mainstream media also has a drastic effect on amplifying this stigma, even to people mildly exposed to the media.
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