Playing Pool with Juan

            Two cents to fill up a car with gas in Venezuela. I could not believe what I heard as I repeated back to him, “Do u mean two dollars a gallon?” “No” he responds, “Two cents to fill your car.” I began scratching my head and smiling as I normally do when I cannot believe an action or a statement. “Your turn” Juan says as we play pool against two of his friends. Down the whole game it was my turn to shoot after the previous turn Juan made two back to back beyond lucky shots (since you shoot pool I assume they are shots). I complete my turn and win us the game, no biggie.

            Following our two on two pool game, Juan ran back to his dorm, Milton Daniel, because he forgot some paper he needed. As he went back I played pool with his friends, beating them as well (I really am not that great at pool). I enjoyed myself playing against his friends as I was able to understand a little more about their lives and how school is differently here as opposed to in Venezuela. After I beat each person they left, almost as if it were a tournament that we were playing. Almost as if we planned Juan’s arrival, he entered the lower part of the Rec Center as I beat his other friend who lives in Samuelson. It was time for the important game, Juan vs. Robbie, a battle for the ages.

            Ok so maybe a little exaggeration existed in that last sentence, but the game did last an extremely long time. However that was the result of our talking an inability to make our final two shots. As we played the final game Juan asked me about my Spanish skills and I told him that I took up to Spanish three so I can read the language decently well but my listening ability lacked promise. He began talking to me in Spanish throughout the game at random times asking if I understood what he said. Most of the time it resulted in me saying something along the lines of you ran and did something with a cat. Maybe that exact sentence didn’t happen but it got the point across. In addition to improving my Spanish skills—just to throw this in because I failed to mention it earlier, I always help him with how to say something in English so there is a two way street—we talked about television shows. Currently Juan is watching Prison Break, a fantastic, adrenaline rushing show filled with drama, love and the pure genius of Michael Scofield.  Last year I binged the show, watching every episode over winter break thanks to the recommendation of my brother. The conversation then developed into what he could watch and I gave him a few suggestions such as Breaking Bad and How I Met Your Mother (He likes Charlie Sheen in Two and a Half Men so he must love Barney Stinson). Eventually he beat at pool as I scratched and made the eight ball in the wrong pocket on my final shot.

            The more I talk to Juan, the more I realize how much we have in common. Just as the game was ending he was talking about going to the Laker-Maverick game to see Kobe play. Growing up in southern California I am unfortunately a Laker fan (the past couple of seasons has brought me much sadness). Juan also wonders about LA and California in general. He says he is visiting at some point and wanted a suggestion of where to visit. Sadly based off of what he wants to see, he needs to go to LA, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco.

            Learning about Venezuela and rekindling my Spanish abilities is always enjoyed when I hang out with Juan. The two of us really know nothing about each other’s home area and so discussing how it is like and what people do around there always is enlightening. I like hanging out with Juan and I am sure we will hang out even after this class. I am hoping next time we go to the gym, he always wants to lift with me. Sadly we just go at different times.

Uncontrollable laughter from Silicon Valley

My name is Robbie Lamb and I love Silicon Valley. It was the beginning of the year and I moved into my residence hall, Hays, around a week before school started for work. Initially it was just me and one of my three roommates, but after frog camp ended, my other roommate, Dylan, well one of the Dylan’s (I live with two) came back and kept on talking about this show, Silicon Valley, on HBO. As I am with almost every new show, I was hesitant to dive in and allow a show to consume me. Eventually after a relentless effort on my roommate’s part, I did just that. Now, I am beyond thankful for his undying effort. To give a quick synopsis of Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley is a show about the protagonist, Richard Hendricks, who develops the greatest file compressor known to man while working for a massive corporation, Hooli. He begins his journey with his 3 core friends and co-workers Erlich Bachman, Dinesh Chugtai, and Gilfoyle. Cutting the story short, complications occur and the show tells the story of Richard attempting to create the best company he can. Now as I started watching the show, I originally did not like it. I felt that the humor was average and the potential for the show was so large that I became disappointed in the show’s underperformance. That quickly changed when I watched season one episode four and instantly fell in love with show. However, it was season two episode six, “Homicide,” in which I literally laughed so hard I had tears slowly drip from eyes as I attempted to finish watching the episode without ruining the rest of the episode with my loud laughs. Without ruining a majority of the show and plotline, I’ll give a description of the events in “Homicide.” At the beginning of the episode the team secures a deal to live stream an event involving monster trucks and motorcycle stunts. As Gilfoyle and Dinesh are looking at the calculations the stunt driver made, the two realize a fault in his calculations and that he is going to die. When they attempt to warn him of his error he blows up at them in an extremely obnoxious manner. As a result the two to perform a SWOT analysis (A motif in the show) of whether or not they should let the man die. Eventually after the analysis is performed on a very large board the stunt driver walks in and apologizes for his previous actions and asks for forgiveness while standing in front of the board. Although I am positive this blog does not do this scene justice, I started balling because of the audacity and unexpectedness of the scene in which the stunt man walked into the room with a board defiling him as human being stands tall and clearly visible behind him. As I watched the scene occur I fell off the couch and ended up pausing the show so I could enjoy the rest of the episode, which had an even funnier moment a minute later that was a tad too inappropriate to write about for this class.  Aside from the dramatic irony that occurs when he apologizes to Gilfoyle and Dinesh in front of a board that attacks him as a person and mentions sleeping with his extremely good looking wife and possible good looking mother, this scene contributes to the characterization of the two as it illustrates an event that at this point in the show, seems typical to happen to the duo.  Looking back at this moment I wholeheartedly believe that this scene has the humor I believe it possesses.  When I look back at most funny moments there are usually many factors that can contribute to the level of funniness of those events. In that moment, there was nothing but the pure comedic genius of the writers that made tears of joy drip from my eyes. It was almost as if the entire show led to that one moment—which honestly was not significant in the overall plotline in the slightest. Although I was influenced by my roommate to watch the show, there is nothing he did to contribute to my uncontrollable laughter. In that moment there was acceptable to do but laugh. Although I do admit that your surrounding play a large role in whether or not one laughs, I know this instance was pure comedic genius because I laughed so immensely from only the show.  Because of that moment, Silicon Valley will go down as one of my favorite comedy shows of all time.

What I have learned: Part two (Me)

I love arguing. The first thing I ever told my parents I wanted to be was a lawyer. Not a fireman, a superhero or police man. The idea of arguing for a living was beyond appealing. For years I told myself I wanted to be a lawyer because I could speak well and the idea that I could potentially save someone’s life by arguing and making a point filled with me desire. I used to read abundantly as well. In fact, in the sixth grade I was second in AR points (a system that assigned books points based on the number of pages and the difficulty level). Eventually I intentionally dumbed myself down to avoid the mockery given to the kids with advanced vocabularies—a decision I consider one of my worst of all time. I swear this ties into what I learned this year, just give me a little more time to elaborate. Since my childhood, my enjoyment of reading has decreased and the idea of having to read through binders of court cases ruined the appeal of the occupation of a lawyer. Since I decided to quit pursuing a legal career—the closest I now come is watching Suits— I never really thought twice about wanting to become a lawyer until the other day when I was talking to my father on the phone. On a side note, it is actually amazing what you can learn from your parents if you actually listen to what they say. Back to the topic, my father mentioned how I used to be obsessed with becoming a lawyer and I realized I was right for wanting to not become a lawyer, just not for the right reasons. This year I intentionally surrounded myself with others that I knew would induce arguments and controversy. What I originally thought would fill my inner craving for argumentation has led to an inability to focus and an even larger desire for peace and quiet. I now know that I don’t actually seek argument per say, but a large workload. My whole life I have confused arguing with a large workload because of the quick thinking required in an on the spot argument. Although a career of trying to prove a point appears beyond enticing, I do not want to live my life enveloped by constant refutations. In moments of chaos I do find peace, but there is only so much peace that can form as the result of chaos. One of my best abilities is to slow time down, and in those overwhelming moments I am truly able to find structure and a solution to the multiple problems at hand. When it comes to mid-terms or weeks where I have multiple tests, yes I lose more sleep than the average week, but I do not worry because I can always keep my eye on the end result. It is so weird how much the difficulty of school can increase within such a short amount of time. I was talking to my roommates about this the other day and it seems as if last year our time was beyond abundant in comparison to this year where we find ourselves consistently sleep deprived.  To coin a football term, my “Strength of schedule” has definitely increased, but I find that the end results should be much worth the additional difficulty. Although I tell myself I would prefer last year, the truth is, I wouldn’t. The entropy this year has brought has been at the least, a blessing in disguise. My time management and organizational skills have dramatically increased, I have become more true to myself and my real personality has shown. Although my current argumentative environment is now a setback and experience I have without a doubt learned from this year, the chaos that originally led me to think was disrupting my ability to enjoy this year is actually a main contributor to almost any pleasure I find. Although this is a lesson learned outside of the classroom, as a result of this year I have gained an increase of knowledge about myself and what I desire from my environment.