Chon Buri Perspective

It is very interesting to be forced to find different oppositions that surround our every day life. Without this forced analysis, these oppositions are overlooked or quickly dealt without a second thought. Here are a couple oppositions and their resolutions I’ve found around me:

1.Climate vs. Enclosure

As the temperature is starting to change outside, so is the temperature inside our house. It’s become significantly colder inside because our house is poorly insulated. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even like to stay upstairs anymore; my favorite place isn’t so much my favorite place as of right now. Yes, we have turned on our heat for the winter; however, we are all college students so in an attempt to save whatever money we do have, the heat is turned on for a minimal amount of time.

Resolution

To resolve the heating and insulation issue we have tried to eliminate the cold from coming into the house. This last weekend we went out to Menard’s and purchased some indoor window film and lined all the windows in our house. So far it’s working wonderfully. This process is a nice and easy way to resolve the problem.

2.Performance vs. Entropy

Living with five other people, there are inevitably schedule conflicts. Usually when people walk in, other people walk out. When someone’s trying to sleep, other people are up and about. This latter example has actually caused a few fights within the house. Or if some of us are working on homework, others want to hang out and may become distracting. Here’s a specific example: my room is in the basement directly under the living room and just a few feet away from the washer and dryer. I’m constantly being woken up because people walk into the house and slam the door or someone’s having a party upstairs and I can’t sleep because it’s way too loud. The best is when I’m about to go to bed and someone starts doing their laundry at 3 o’clock in the morning. Mind you, the washer and dryer aren’t so quiet when it’s right outside the door. Or try doing your homework when four other people in the house aren’t; it’s hard to stay focused. Performance is definitely hindered when there is so much disorder. So what’s the resolution…

Resolution

Well, for us, it’s impossible to coordinate all of our schedules together. An important thing to remember is that I’m not the only person living in this house; there are four other people I have to consider. None of us can or should go around forcing other people to change their entire schedule to accommodate one person. So we envelop the opposition and allow the opposition to sculpt itself. The majority of us have accepted and just deal with the problem. I’ve somehow developed a way to ignore and block out most of the noise. If I’m doing homework and people are being distracting, I’ve just learned to force myself to go somewhere else. We all deal with the same problems. Most of us have come to terms with the schedule differences. It’s simply the way our us functions.

Posted by patty khamdam at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Nintendo. This little piece of technology is probably one of the most valued inventions of the 20th century. It is adored by millions ranging from kids all the way to adults (who probably should have stopped playing years ago). From one amazing innovation, grew this entire gaming community that's devoted to playing, creating newer, better gaming boxes and games, and competing gaming companies. Nintendo video games are definitely a phenomenon of the 20th century. For god sakes, there's an entire store devoted to Nintendo!
Phenomena consist of things, framework, and clockworks. Also all phenomena have a marked beginning, a genesis. Nintendo contains all these factors. Let me break it down.

GENESIS:
Let’s begin with the source. Where did Nintendo originate? What is it’s beginning? Believe it or not Nintendo started with playing cards called Hanafunda. The original Hanafunda were hand made out of mulberry tree bark. These cards could be used to play a number of different games. The owners of Nintendo, Fusajiro Yamauchi and later his son-in-law Sekiryo Kaneda, were very business driven, coming up with new and innovative enterprises (www.nintendoland.com). The one that made a difference was obviously Nintendo video games.

Hanafuda cards

1) THINGS: Physical entities that exist in the sensation of our experiences and impact our senses (Saloojee).

Here are all the things that create the Nintendo “atmosphere�:

a. Controllers
b. Nintendo box
c. Games
d. TV
e. Cords

2) FRAMEWORKS: a set of ideas, principles, agreements, or rules that provides the basis or outline for something intended to be more fully developed at a later stage
(www.msnencarta.com).

I think that the framework for Nintendo was based on technology and entertainment. Entertainment was a big drive in the Nintendo company. They created concepts that focused on amusement, fun, and games. As for technology, Nintendo paved the way for the video game industry.

3) CLOCKWORKS: Framework in which fixed number of things start with a given set of mutual relationships, go through changes in periodic manner and keep returning to an original set of relationship. It is also stable and predictable (Saloojee).

Obviously, the inner workings Nintendo video games are predictable because they run on programs that direct specific commands. If you press this button, your character jumps. Or if you press the other, he runs….you get the idea. The outcomes of the games aren’t predictable, but the actions and consequences are predictable.

Nintendo created a huge video game following. It’s made video games one of the most popular past times. Whether this is a positive or negative phenomenon depends on who you ask. For the majority of the population, they would probably tell you it’s one of the best innovations of all time. So even if you despise Nintendo and what it’s created, you still can’t deny the fact that Nintendo is a huge phenomenon.

Posted by patty khamdam at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Right now in my extremely busy, non-social life, there is one place that I can always manage to go; that place is the TV room. Yes, this place may sound quite insignificant; however, this is the place that I spend most of time. I can go into that room to relax, escape, and become trapped. Let’s see… I take most of my naps there, watch TV, do homework, play games, read, draw, and think. Everyone in the house calls it my room because I spend the most time out of anyone there. And even though they call it my room, it is a community room. It’s where we all gather on Sunday -well now Thursday- to watch our show. It’s where we all sit and catch up with each other’s lives. That’s another reason I love it so much.
Besides the bathroom, the TV room is the smallest room in the house. I would call it very cozy. Seating option is at a minimal. There’s one small couch, one rocking chair, and the floor. This way everyone is close and makes the room more intimate. On sunny days, the large window allows the room to fill up with light; it is very beautiful. On rainy or cloudy days, the TV room is the best atmosphere to take a nap. One other really special aspect about this room is that it encapsulates the décor and attitude of the entire house. Look in this one room, and a stranger gets a very good idea of the rest of the house. Yes, the room is very “old lady� (that’s from its previous owner); however, it also screams college house. The mismatched furniture, all the Nintendo paraphernalia, and random decorations. I find this mismatched aspect very endearing. We all joke, laugh, and appreciate it.
As unimportant as this room may seem, the TV room is my place. When this experience is over, I will associate this tiny, mismatched TV room to my college years.

Here is the TV room. This is the couch where you can almost always find me.

Here is me taking a nap on the couch.

View of TV from the couch.

Posted by patty khamdam at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)