What I will speak about is that I am astonished at how relevant the book still seems to be. It was written in 1933 – yet still resonates with the social apathy towards the homeless today. What I felt was continually iterated in the book – alongside and through the intimate perspective of a ‘tramp’ lifestyle – was the invisibility of the homeless population. Orwell rarely spoke about his interactions with anyone outside the transitory life – because people tend to ignore them and continually find ways to distance themselves from the homeless. This sat with me as I walked to work and someone asked me for change, cycled to the supermarket and a man was playing a harmonica with his hat on the ground, and as I entered the shop and I was asked to buy a ‘Big Issue’. I was conscious of how easily we brush past, walk on and ignore. It also struck me that the only reason I was conscious of such things was because I had recently read a book – and what I hate to admit is that my temporary awareness will soon be dulled back into ambivalence. Or will it?

What does it take for us – for people to stop ignoring these things – is it akin to eating an elephant – one bite at a time – so that we slowly chip away at such frustrating social ills that we finally break free of our selfish cocoon and get out there and DO SOMETHING?

Or rather – do we have temporary and transitory windows of social compassion – like christmas charity or feeding the homeless at thanksgiving – that patch back up our guilty self-centred bubble?

‘Poverty frees them from ordinary standard of behaviour, just as money frees people from work’

I know that must sound quite simple – but to me it is quite an important realization about who I am and what defines me. I believe the best in life – the best in people – the best in situations. Now its true this is not something that I always do – but I think the general belief that any place, person, experience holds value is something we take for granted.

To be positive that what you are experiencing is something valuable – now as I type and think about this statement it is not without its contradictions of false notions – you can’t tell someone that has been the survivor of a traumatic event that they should be positive about it. And I’m sure if I were made to suffer pain and violation like that of those tragedies in the world then I would have quite a different perspective.

But from where I am sitting I am fortunate to only write in the theoretical – that my experience continues to allow me the strong will to believe that there is a positive outlook to the challenges and experiences that we live through.

I could be happy anywhere I live – based on my experiences of friends and places I have been in my life – that the world is filled with interesting good people that we just need to be open to the experience of allowing into our lives. Sure there are people – that we might have a better connection with – but at the core of it – we all have value to provide to each other.

What does atavistic mean?

Pete’s response was grounded in him criminology background and described it to mean someone with primitive feature how you would describe as ‘the missing link’, additionally it is how you would characterise someone that is typically criminal in appearance – sunken eyes, prominent cheekbones, etc.  This is quite an appropriate description (especially considering the context).  Yet, for a complete definition here is the Merriam Webster version:

at·a·vism

noun \ˈat-ə-ˌviz-əm\

Definition of ATAVISM

1

: recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination

Blood types: Also called a blood group is a classification of blood based on the presence of absence of inheritied antigenic substances [these antigen are substance/molecules that trigger ther production of an antibody by the immune system (thank you wikipedia word links)] that occur on the surface of the red blood cells. Being blood group O here is what wikipedia says about my blood group:

Blood group O (or blood group zero in some countries) individuals do not have either A or B antigens on the surface of their RBCs, but their blood serum contains IgM anti-A and anti-B antibodies against the A and B blood group antigens. Therefore, a group O individual can receive blood only from a group O individual, but can donate blood to individuals of any ABO blood group (i.e., A, B, O or AB). If anyone needs a blood transfusion in an emergency, and if the time taken to process the recipient’s blood would cause a detrimental delay, O Negative blood can be issued.

Also here is a handy table about the compatibility of red blood cells:

Blood Donation Benefits: So then with all this knowledge of blood types – and who can donate to who to save who’s life…why should you get stuck with a needle.  Well acccording to HealthMad the benefits of donating blood is in the iron.

Blood donation removes some of the excess iron which can cause free radical formation in the body. In fact, studies have shown that men who donate blood on a regular basis have a lower risk of heart disease. With heart disease being the number one cause of death in males, this is, indeed, an important health benefit of donating blood.

Since my post today was actually about something that I learned yesterday – I figured that as I was doing some nanotechnology research, this was an interesting bit of knowledge:

Nanoscale is usually defined as smaller than a one tenth of a micrometer in at least one dimension, though this term is sometimes also used for materials smaller than one micrometer. ~wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanomaterials#cite_note-0)

So what did I learn today – well actually – I confess I learned this yesterday, but the dull throbbing in my neck & shoulders is a consistent reminder today: Thai boxing require a great deal of coordination. Yesterday, after weeks/months of thinking about it I went to my first beginner thai boxing class (see: http://pro-amfightcentre.co.uk/) this idea came off the back of the memory that when I was studying for my exams in my Oxford days (and trying desperately to fit into my high school prom dress for the Brasenose ball) I starting working out at the St. Cats College gym.  Being a college gym it was quite small and had a select number of machines and weights – then in one corner it had a punch bag and some gloves thrown on the floor.  At first I didn’t take much notice of it as I was happy to run on my treadmill and elliptical. However, one day I did come down and see my friend Nick punching away – he mentioned the benefits of great workout + stress relief – and to be honest it was one of those days where you really could just punch something – and so I gave it a ‘shot’ (I know pretty bad pun).  But after that I was ‘hooked’ (ahhh…another one…terrible!), but kidding aside – whenever I went to the gym after that (and on the condition that no one was actually downstairs to witness my embarrassing display of flailing and kicking) I would put prodigy on my headphone and punch and kick away! It was a lovely affair for about a month, but then gym membership fell away, and I moved, etc. So I have been wanting to try it out again for ages, and figured if I am going to do it – I should do it right! Hence that my googling led me to my first beginner thai boxing class, and my new knowledge of how completely difficult and coordinated even the simplest move can be.  Now rather than just blindly punching at some bag I was learning that you should peri and cross and punch to exert the most force based on your body’s abilities and stance. 

It was quite a lesson – and seeing as how these classes are 2-3 times a week – hopefully I will continue to learn new an interesting things each time.

Now this tangential anecdote has a point…believe me, I hold no grand illusions that I am some sort of great/good/average writer.  I use ellipses far too liberally, my grammar is shit – comparable only to my spelling – which thankfully is filtered by little red dotted lines, but my point is that writing clarifies things for me, and what I need in my life is a bit of clarity – and hopefully someday soon I will be needing to write this all down for a law school application.  Some personal statement of who I am and how I am prepared to communicate my life goals to them in under two standard pages (except Berkeley – then you get four). So I am going to write…because that is what this american confused scattered girl does to clarify.

With that introduction…here is a start.

Everyday I cycle myself to and from work…this could be either b bar or CambridgeIP, but it occurs about 6 days a week…it is three miles and takes me about 20 minutes. In the morning I oscillate between my BBC World News Podcast – and mindless music – depending on the state of myself due to my actions the previous night (ie. how much I had to drink).  On the way home it is always music…or occasionally chatting with Rona…it is these times that my mind really starts to wonder.  I made checklist of things I should do, I make plans for what I am doing with my life, I think about boys, I wonder why the hell I still live three miles away from work as winter is fast approaching! I think about all things me.  But inevitably I get home and list is never written down – the laundry goes undone yet again – and my life plans get put back on my mental shelf because I need dinner, and a new episode of [insert tv show of the day] is on sidereel.com.  So I told myself – blog – take the ideas down from the cycling shelf and put them in a more productive location – that is here.

Here at least is a concrete place – with a search index and sense of accountability – that I can’t just think and make plans to apply to law school, move flats, book a trip to france for a long weekend, learn how to speak french, volunteer in the environmental/development world, contact old friends – and think ‘tomorrow’. Now I can point to a place and hold myself accountable for the ‘tomorrows’ as they so obviously become ‘yesterday’ and ‘last week’.

I have moved to a new home…Cambridge, UK.  I actually moved back in December, but have been desperately neglecting my blog.  I then realized how much I miss writing on a regular basis…I guess it was just easier when I lived in Pakistan because I was constantly discovering new things, and their was the whole ‘people wanted to know I was alive on a daily basis’ aspect.

That being said I am a firm believer in the ‘you learn something new everyday’ adage.  Meaning that I am discovering new things everyday here in Cambridge, not just as a place but through the various people I meet and experiences I have.

I am at such an interesting point in my life as well [for the first time in a long while I am single, I have moved to this place where I knew absolutely no one, and started an internship (now job) that is my first proper job in my life]…this little slice of life I feel should be captured, as I hope to look back and ‘think…oh in my early 20s when I was living in Cambridge…’.

I am still wrapping my head around this idea that I moved to a place where I knew no one, and have so quickly adapted to feel at home in Cambridge.  This point was exposed the other day when I was having a drink with this nice guy I had met, and he asked me if I missed ‘home’.  And I thought to myself both ‘where is that?’…and then ‘I guess I am home’.  To most I think home is this concrete concept, a place where they return to where their parents are, or where they grew up, to me it a much more fluid concept…

Now I know you cannot generalize about the US, as every region is different and has its own people and personality…but some general observations such as the use of space, the flowing conversation of strangers, and the importance of car ownership…made me begin to realize how much I had become acclimated to my life in the UK.

As I reacquaint myself with the places and spaces that used to be so familiar…especially as I travel to TEXAS this weekend to visit a number of my closest friends I can’t wait to see what I (re)discover about my old home [did I mention that I was excited to be visiting Austin this weekend!!! I can hardly wait until tomorrow].

As much as I already miss the UK, I must admit it is nice to be in the same time zone as my friends again.