Hi everyone!

This past May one of my childhood friends, Paige Pauli, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Over the last few weeks I've watched something incredible happen: my elementary school classmates, the kids I was in theater with in middle school, and even some of their parents have rallied together. Suddenly I'm in contact with people I haven't heard from in 5 or even 10 years. SO many people. All of whom care about Paige and want to do something to support her.



We've formed a team for the Light the Night Walk to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It's called "Paige's Peeps." If you're going to be in Seattle on 9/20, we'd love to have you join us for the walk!

But if you can't walk with us, it would be awesome if you could show your support for Paige, for her Peeps, and for this cause by making a donation via this page: http://www.active.com/donate/ltnWA-AK/2302_rkpopkin. Any amount helps! And be sure to check with your employer to see if they'll match your contribution. (To those who are starving-student types: you might consider also checking with your parents and see if they'd like to donate!)

Thanks for your help!

Love,

Rachel

Just a quick note from Costa Rica: hi! Having a lot of fun, singing for appreciative audiences, exploring, being outdoors, enjoying my luxurious homestay with British expats, blogging occasionally here: http://rcstour2008.blogspot.com/

Back to Seattle June 24 late.

ttfn, lulz,

rk

Threadless has a big sale going on, now until Sunday. Use this link to do your shopping and I get points towards more indie-ish t-shirts. Kind of a brilliant viral marketing incentative, that. You heard it here first.

While I was busy fielding a question about modern Judaism in section, my mother emailed me news about a cultural aspect of the other half of my heritage:

Italy: Men Can’t Grope...Themselves
Whatever their reason might be, a passing hearse or simple discomfort, Italy’s highest court ruled that men may not touch their genitals in public. The ruling settled an appeal by a 42-year-old worker from Como, north of Milan, who was convicted in May 2006 of “ostentatiously touching his genitals through his clothing,” though his lawyer argued it was a problem with his overalls. But the court struck against a broader practice: a tradition among some Italian men of warding off bad luck by grabbing the crotch. The court ruled that this “has to be regarded as an act contrary to public decency, a concept including that nexus of socio-ethical behavioral rules requiring everyone to abstain from conduct potentially offensive to collectively held feelings of decorum.” The judges suggested that if they need to, men can wait and do it at home.

Her comment: "finally!!!"

In other news, I never write in LJ anymore, but I will try to change that. In the meantime, there's always my slightly more legitimate blog, rachelpopkin.com, to keep you mildly amused.

Following Jana's lead, I'm posting a story I wrote in elementary school. Looks like this was from 1996, so I was in fourth grade.

( The Trip of the Time Triplets )

I love how I just stopped writing the happily ever after part. BORING.

i can! i can has it!

I just saw 19 police cars (one of which was a K-9 unit, one of which was a paddywagon) surround my dorm. Awesome.

This is what went down: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=520356

It's been a long time since I posted. Some big news:

1. It's official: I'm going to work at Microsoft after I graduate.
2. I reinjured my bad knee and it sucks.

Some goals for the year:
1. Don't stress out. You already have a job, stupid.
2. Do things that are fun. Like joining the 'Cliffe Notes.
3. Don't do things that are not fun. Like being involved in too many student organizations.
4. Don't get pwned by asthma.

So... yep. That's a little snapshot of my life right now.

My friend and YGS founder Jason Hungerford's aunt is missing. Please post this on your LJ to aid in the search.

MISSING: Joey Lynn Offutt

FindJoey.org

My roommate and I are entering a game at Microsoft that is like the Amazing Race, but with puzzles. It's going to be ridiculous nerdy and awesome. And it's going to last 36 hours. We are hardcore.

The application for this game (The Game) requires that we photograph ourselves in various locations around Puget Sound (...and the west coast in general), with various "subjects" also in the photos. We don't have to go to all the locations or include all of the subjects, but more is better, obvi. We pretty much have the locations on lock at this point, but we basically have none of the subjects.

This is where I need your help: I want to gather as many of these subjects as possible, since they multiply our image bonuses by 2. Please check out this list:

( Subjects for The Game )
If you own or otherwise have access to any of these items, please comment or email me ASAP.

Love,
Rachel

what a fabulous birthday. thanks everyone.

OMG. So I live next door to this guy, "N". We're both on the second floor with windows overlooking the street. N has a cute boyfriend, "J". A few minutes after midnight, Annemarie pointed out that "um, N's little friend is totally throwing rocks at his window." I looked out of my window and saw that indeed, this was the case. It was totally adorable, so I sat and watched for a while. Eventually I started giggling because IT WAS THAT CUTE, and J noticed me.

Me: Um, hi!
J: Haha... hey... sorry, I'm trying to get the attention of the person who lives next door to you, but I think he might be asleep.
Me: So, uh, would you like me to go bang on his door?
J: Actually... could you?
*I go bang on the door, loudly and repeatedly. Nothing. I open the door and walk in to find N asleep, as predicted.*
Me: Wake up! Your bf is outside throwing rocks at your window!
N: WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU IN MY ROOM?

It was awesome.

I've read a lot of news coverage this week, but this reflection by Lou Dobbs is the only piece I've found that meant anything to me.

Excerpts:

As more days pass without answers, and they surely will, it is all too likely that this week's horror will become a historical benchmark against which future campus and school shootings will be compared.

It is also likely that too many of us will fail to ask and seek answers to the most important question of all: Why are we, our society and our culture, tolerating the deaths of so many of our college students? While the horror of the murders in Blacksburg galvanize our attention, we in the national media seemingly lack the capacity to report and analyze what has become accepted violence and death on campuses around the country.

We all seem unable to assimilate the fact that thousands of college students are dying violently each year. About 1,100 students each and every year will commit suicide, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and four of every five young people who attempt suicide exhibit clear warning signs.

The rate of drug overdoses among teens and young adults more than doubled over the five-year period from 1999 to 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. And each year, on average, there are 1,400 drinking-related deaths among college students nationwide, according to the Task Force on College Drinking. The Task Force estimates that binge drinking by college students also contributes to 70,000 cases of sexual assault or rape each year.

The Virginia Tech murders are horrible. And because they are dramatic, they have our full attention. But for all our sakes, I hope we also ask ourselves why our society permits what has become the routine slaughter of a far greater number of young people on our college campuses. We should also ask ourselves why we've done so little to understand the causes of all these senseless deaths on our campuses.

Read the whole column here. Thanks to Gabi Clayton for pointing it out.

Poll #962696 Summer 2007
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None

To the best of your knowledge, where are you going to be this summer?

Spending time in/near Seattle?

Interested in sharing an apartment with me?

Willing to live on the eastside?

In your opinion, what's the least lame place to live on the eastside? I've heard good things about Kirkland.

How much could you handle in terms of monthly rent?

Ok, forget apartment sharing - want to come visit me?

Other thoughts?

Thursday: jury duty. In the oh-god-the-irony category of life, it turns out that I'd actually received a postponement and just been too disorganized to process it. So I got up at 6am, after 2.5 hours of sleep, to go to West Newton on the bus. In retrospect, I should have taken a cab. Anyway, it was a sexual assault case and they ended up postponing the trial due to a dearth of unbiased jurors. The questioning was weird. The judge asked all the women "have you or someone in your family ever been the victim of a sexual assault?" but he asked the men "have you ever been accused of sexual assault?" Lots of strange assumptions going on there. I mean, even if you're working under the belief that men never get sexually assaulted (false), you should at least ask if anyone in their family has been a victim. At least three men volunteered that information right off the bat (there was a white-noise generator between the jury pool and the bench, but it wasn't super effective).

I reeeeally like electrical engineering. It's been super fun lately. Logic gates and flip-flops, and now we're doing image processing (in MatLab, which is shiny). I might take the superhard electronics lab course next fall (Phys 123)... we'll see.

I'm frustrated to still be doing work for psych now that I'm 90% sure I won't go on in that field. Had a huge APA report due today - that was fun. My diagrams were awesome, though, thanks to a little company on Blakely St.

Seattle Men's Chorus generously gave RCS 50 free tickets to "That 80s Show." I'm so excited! I know RCS will love them.

I've been pretty much working non-stop since last Tuesday. Pset, quiz, group paper, job applications, writing a guide to Seattle for RCS, pset, paper, paper, quiz, and now the end is in sight with "just" one takehome midterm and one actual midterm to go.

The takehome is about brains. Braaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiins.

I'm halfway through the final paper I'm writing tonight... all night... and so I'm taking a little break from writing about reasons why women don't go into politics (even when "going into politics" means "taking on a leadership role in a congress simulation for a college class"). It's fascinating and pretty easy to write about, especially now that I've spent two days reading up on it. (BTW, The Secret to College is this: when you don't have a good paper topic, write about gender issues in whatever you're supposed to be talking about. A wise man told me that during freshman fall, and though I did not see the light until sophomore fall, I now know that it never can fail.)

Earlier tonight, I took a very different kind of break, and went to the 2nd-ever Lowell House laughing meditation. I did this because I'd resolved, in my first term as RCS manager emerita, to live life a little more fully (read: do more strange and random things that are much easier to do while in college). Laughing meditation is definitely one of those things. When else am I going to get to lie in a circle with friends and tutors and just laugh insanely for 20 minutes? Yes, it sounds weird, but it's not that hard to keep laughing when everyone around you is lying on the floor laughing for no reason. I mean, that's absurd. It was relaxing and it gave us all a great high (natural high, mom. endorphins).

Adiemus = best productivity music ever. Vocals, but no words that I can understand. Generally upbeat, lots of fun harmony stuff, but not so fun that I have to actually pay attention to it. (I tried listening to Faure's Requiem while working on this paper this morning... hahaha right.)

It's raining in Seattle right now, and I'm loving it.

The air is different here. Better. Lately I've been telling myself that I could make a life anywhere... but now that I'm here, smelling the trees and the lake, I find it hard to imagine staying in a place like Boston forever.

JetBlue 497 flew into Sea-Tac on my second favorite approach pattern. We came from the north and passed over the city before we came in to land. In the dark, I could see the lights of Kirkland, 520, I-90, Mercer Island, Bellevue. (The only better approach is the one coming from the north over the Eastside. On that approach, I can usually spot my block if it's light outside.) I could see the darkness of the water. I used to take the water for granted, how it's everywhere here. Now I appreciate it every time I see it.

I'm in town until January 6th. I want to see lots of people. If you want to see me, tell me that so we can hang out. If you want to indulge my geekery, you can use this site to let me know when you're free. Yeah, yeah, I know... but it's soooo pretty! Precious...

I just formed a team for Harvard for the Boston MS LifeLines MS Walk on April 29, 2007. If you live near Boston, I hope you'll join me.


Emily's MS-aries (and imperial friends) at the 2002 Seattle MS Walk.

I'm walking for the fabulous woman in the middle of this photo. My cousin Emily was diagnosed with MS in 1997. I love her and I look up to her and I want her to have all possible opportunities to fight this disease.

I've registered for the MS LifeLines MS Walk of Boston because I want to do something for Emily - and because I want to do everything to prevent more people from learning what it means to live with this disease. Today, there is no cure for multiple sclerosis, and with a diagnosis occurring most frequently between the ages of 20 and 50, many individuals face a lifetime filled with unpredictability.

Please join our team and invite your friends to join us too. If you can't walk (or roll) with us, please consider donating some money to Team Harvard's fundraising effort. No donation is too small!

Every step brings us closer to a cure,

RK

P.S. Eighty-five percent of the proceeds from the walk will provide help for today and hope for tomorrow to 14,000 families affected by MS. Please visit www.msnewengland.org for more info.

P.P.S. My personal fundraising page is linked from the Team Harvard page, or you can find it here.

"I am the master of, like, hippie bullshit." - AEM