What I Should Already Know:

There are some words and phrases that pop up all the time in my readings that I recognize, but if someone were to ask me what the meaning is, I'd make something up that makes sense just because I'm not sure I know what it means... I can use these words in a sentence and it sounds like it works, but who knows if I actually know what I'm talking about. Like tax evasion. What is tax evasion anyway? 

I used this method in math class all through high school. When it got confusing, I made my own math and if I got a decent answer, I'd leave it. I hate when people ask why they need math. It works the part of your brain that you use in problem solving- and not the problem solving when you are in a grocery store calculating the exact price of one roll of toilet paper. Math helps you break laws and conspire against superiors. Well, it helps me do that. For some, it strengthens their efficiency and for others, it strengthens their mischievous tendencies. 

I should really know what tax evasion is. 

On the Washington Post and Politics

This is what I read today: History teaches that when religion is injected into politics- the Crusades, Henry VIII, Salem, Father Coughlin, Hitler, Kosovo- disaster follows." Isn't that an interesting way to look at the world? The New York Times is presenting the world with this point of view, which is convincing enough to recruit future democrats. The world will still operate under democratic majority, but perhaps ignorance to republican ideas plays a role in these articles. 

When Nos is More Important...

By the twentieth, I have to read two chapters in my International Organizations book, seven chapters in my Politics of Global Governance book, a couple articles in my China workbook, 53 pages in Modern China, 146 pages on Beijing, read Bound Feet and Western Dress- the whole book (215 pages), three chapters in a book on East Asia, a thirty page article on prostitution in Japan, another thirty page article on something that has to do with Asian politics, 80 pages from The Emergence of Southeast Asia, a chapter about the beginnings of the printing press, three chapters from Media Power in Politics, two chapters from News: the Politics of Illusion, two chapters by someone with the last name Coulter, fill out my scholarship packets, sell books on Amazon.com, fill out my tax forms and prepare for the meeting which is... today. I finished the budget forms which, for some reason, takes hours of my life away when it really shouldn't. If this all gets done on time, I can watch the inauguration at ease.

Twenty Nine Minutes

Now it's twenty eight.

... Now it's twenty six.

Let's start with the basics. I ask questions. It's not like I sit directly in front of the teacher and ask about the details on the beatings of victims of the Balkan Wars; I'm the menace in the back of the class accusing the quiet ones of being a Serb communist. The questions I ask are about you. Your life interests me; the mystery is what captivates me. Sometimes, I know the answer to the question I ask; I pose it anyway in effort to see if you lie, or just to confirm my suspicions. And your comfort zones are of no importance in my consideration of phrasing a question- because I have no consideration when asking. I want to know, so I ask. 

Part of this eagerness to learn is derived from a lifetime of secrets I never knew existed, and it results in an excitement for the possibilities of my life. I feel like I can do anything- and there is a consensual agreement that I really can. There are so many things I want to do, and this leads to an unstable "plan"- I don't think it can be called a plan since it keeps changing... My parents hate that. I'm notorious for changing my dreams, and the joke that tails along has a negative connotation. I don't know why it's seen as a bad thing. Why would I want to chase something that doesn't excite me? 

But then again, everything excites me. Perhaps I'm blinded by the idea of a new challenge or a different road, or maybe I just instinctively know that somehow, even the most boring things can somehow be fun. This, I learned from my sister. So in six months, when my parents roll their eyes after I tell them I'm dropping law school to become a marine biologist in the East China Sea, I can just blame Bethany since it's obviously her fault that I thought it looked like a good time. 

In the end though, when I am looking back on all that I have done, I want to be looking at thousands and thousands of people who, after only my legacy is left in the world, when my name is mentioned, they say, "Oh Jamie Hinsz- yes. She changed my life."  With anything I decide to do, I want it to mean something and I want it to make a difference. I want to look at something amazing and say to myself I did this. And I want you to be a part of it. 

Dinner time.