The Family September 9, 2008

So naturally Armenian families are generally large. I used to think that my family was fairly small. It consisted of my mom’s side where I had 1 uncle, 2 aunts, and 4 cousins. On my dad’s side I had 3 uncles and 1 aunt, and 7 cousins also. I naturally also had my 3 grandparents and 3 younger brothers. All of this changed when I got introduced to my dad’s side of the family up here in Nor Cal.

I was introduced to my dad’s cousin up here in Nor Cal and I immediately became fresh meat for the Armenian community up here. I’ve already been to one dinner party in which I met over 10 people and learned the names of over 10 more and how each person was related to each other and what each person did. My family more than doubled in size in one day just by opening up my eyes. And this is only my dad’s side! I asked my mom about the rest of her side of the family and apparently they are all scattered throughout the world. Most are either in Jordan or Iraq and my mom doesn’t know about their statuses or something has happened that she doesn’t know about. I feel like I am missing a part of me with them so far apart. My dad’s side seemed pretty cool though. I see better now where he gets certain characteristics and where I get some of mine. Naturally during this family gathering I stayed in the closet in order to first test out how liberal they were. They seemed to be socially liberal and economically conservative, but I still haven’t figured it out. Even though they seemed cool, I still stayed in the closet. Oh the woes of being a gay Armenian. Maybe one of these days I will tell them, but for now my lips are sealed.

Unspoken,
-The Cali Garmo

Out of it September 8, 2008

Have you ever woken up and just felt completely out of it? And not the normal kind of out of it that is simply cured by coffee. I am talking about the so completely out of tune with nature that everything you do turns out to be completely the wrong thing to do. Unfortunately, today feels like one of those days for me.

I’ve been up for 3 hours and already today feels like a complete waste of time. I’ve ran out of boxes to pack stuff with. The person I was going to borrow boxes from is not picking up their phone. As I was packing I shatter a glass. My brain is refusing to function and actually learn anything. There seems to be no new job postings online. My finances have run dry and my whole ‘extended stay’ plan is going to cost close to $1800 per month. My UHaul rental is also going to cost close to $150. My body is sore (for no particular reason) and just tired. I haven’t heard a single response from any of the jobs I’ve applied for (over 8 resumes sent out so far). And I have this chilling feeling that my day is not going to get any better.

What do you do on a day like this? What do I do? I am attempting to fix all of my issues as quickly as I can. Take those lemons and make lemonade. It won’t be easy, but it is those hard days that test us the most and require us to work our hardest. So I will work harder than I have for a week and I will get things done. Even if I don’t end up as productive as I usually am, I WILL be productive.

Optimistically,
-The Cali Garmo

Left Arm September 3, 2008

So I’ve been working on some random stuff recently and I’ve noticed how I am completely dominant with my right side of my body. Whether I am writing something out, shaving, or doing pirouettes, I am using my right side of my body more than my left.

The funny part about this is that when I try and work with my left it feels awkward and weird. Are there other right-handed people that experience this same issue? Do left-handed people feel this awkwardness? It’s just a random thing I’ve noticed and want to improve. So I have decided to start working out the right side of my brain by using the left side of my body more often. 

Who knows, maybe this will lead to more creativeness on my end.

Thoughtfully,
-The Cali Garmo

The Bay Area September 1, 2008

So on Saturday, my boyfriend and I took a trip down to San Jose and to San Francisco in order to see the sights. Well, we went to San Jose to see the tech museum cause we are just geeky like that, and then we went to San Francisco to have some food. It’s sort of funny how the cultures of the two cities can be so different even though they are only about an hour apart.

San Jose had the feel of a laid back culture. It felt like you can do what you want, when you want it, and no one would really care. San Francisco on the other hand was extremely busy and active. It seemed like people were rushing you to get things done in order for progress to continue. Naturally, San Francisco is a much bigger city than San Jose, but I would not have expected that big of a divide to exist.

Another divide is in the gay culture. In SF everything was gay. My boyfriend and I did not feel awkward holding hands and walking down the street. In fact, in a town where 15% of the population is gay [reference found here], it’s almost expected. San Jose felt different though. It felt like, even though they were ok with LGBT people, they didn’t want to see it in public. I’m sure that was generally not the case and it’s probably due to misconceptions, but that is sort of what it felt like.

So now it becomes a question of where should a gay Armenian live in all of this atmosphere. There are more Armenians living in the San Jose area, but more gays living in the San Francisco area. My solution to the matter? Move to somewhere directly in the middle. I am Armenian and gay, and with that I must choose my cultural boundaries carefully. So I am living in a location not too close to the gays for the Armenians not to think I’m gay and I am living in an area not to Armenian so that I can occasionally make myself more gay.

So the Cali Garmo is on the move! Look for him in your local Silicon Valley neighborhood somewhere between SF and San Jose!

Realistically,
-the Cali Garmo

A mathematical quandry August 31, 2008

Last night I was randomly awake and I thought up of a random math game and was wondering if there was a way to actually win it. It is based off a game we used to play as children, and it goes a little something like this:

Objective: Be the person to have said the highest number.
Starting out: Person A says 1. Person B says 2. Person A then says 3. Person B then says 4. etc.

So the question is, is there a way for either person A or person B to actually win this game if they were to go on for an infinite amount of time?

Now what usually happens is one of us (usually me) gets tricky and says:
Person A “My number is whatever you said last +1″
Which usually warrants a response such as: Person B “Well, my number is whatever you said last +2″

So next question becomes, in this case, is there a clear winner or does it still end up with an undecided ending?

This continues though, to become:
Person A “My number is whatever you said last *2″
Which, again, gets the response: Person B “My number is whatever you said last *3″

So the next question is, is there a clear winner in this case or do they still end up with an undecided ending?

And finally the question becomes, is there a mathematical formula that will cause one of the two players to automatically win once it is stated and the other person can’t rebuttal no matter what they come up with?

So there are my 4 questions of the day. If you have any thoughts, please leave a comment. Who knows, this may end up being my theory that I try and prove if I get accepted into grad school.

Philosophically,
-The Cali Garmo

Obama and McCain August 29, 2008

And the race is on in the world of politics. As both candidates have chosen their Vice Presidents, we can finally start the election path.

As many people know, Obama had a speech just yesterday at Invesco Field in Denver, CO. Over 34 million people watched him give his phenomenal speech. If you did not see it, here it is:

It was such an amazing speech, that I started crying halfway through. Obama is truly a man worthy to be president and he will be getting my vote. He stands on the same side of issues that I do, and is also one of the first presidents (that I know of) that have talked about gays and lesbians in their acceptance speech. If you did not like Obama before, you will love him after his speech.

Now McCain is a different story. I feel like the more he opens his mouth, the more I want him to shut up. He can’t even get his political strategy to work for him in the election. The day after Obama’s speech he tells the world who is VP pick is. Does he really think the world is going to care who is VP pick is the day after such an amazing speech. Everyone is still talking about Obama’s speech. I think McCain should have waited a day if he wanted to get more publicity and shift focus away from Obama.

I do like one thing that McCain has done, his choice in VP. McCain has chosen Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, as his VP. McCain has actually chosen a women to be his VP. I must say that I am very proud of him for doing that. But that is about all I can be proud of with McCain.

I will of course watch McCain’s speech during the Republican National Convention, but I am not expecting it to be as great as Obamas. He doesn’t have the eloquence or charisma to draw in a crowd like Obama can. I guess we shall wait and see.

Politically yours,
-The Cali Garmo

Job Search August 27, 2008

So I have finally decided to quit the wonderful world of teaching due to many comlicated reasons that I may lay out for you one day, but todays topic is more about searching for jobs.

So many different people have so many different types of jobs, but how do you look for a job when you don’t know what you are looking for? They teach you in school how to learn and how to grow and how to pursue one profession that you love. What they don’t teach you is what you do when you decide to change your mind and switch career choices. They don’t explain what you are supposed to do when the jobs you are looking at are requiring experience that you just don’t have.

This seems to be the situation I’m in. I am looking for jobs in I.T. but have almost no background information in them. I know almost no programming languages, and have no research experience in the field of math. What is someone to do when they are not qualified for the jobs they want, but need a job to hold them over for a year.

Due to this crazyness I may just end up having a throw away job and apply for a PhD program for next year in math. It seems that over 90% of jobs require a PhD or a masters degree in Math. Since I have neither I am finding it very difficult to find a job. I’m hopping something will come up through internet search after internet search, but who knows what I will find.

So for now I keep searching.

Joblessly,
-The Cali Garmo

A change of heart August 25, 2008

So I’ve wanted to be a teacher for a while. In fact, I knew I wanted to be a math teacher since the ripe old age of 8. This happened due to my falling in love with math and teachers in my second grade year at my first ever public school. Since then, I have worked hard to achieve my goal of becoming a teacher. There have always been the random flings here and there that never amount to anything such as drama or dance, but I am now getting into a fling that is much more than a fling. It not only has a full set of devotion behind it, but also the intellectual curiosity that seems to keep growing in me.

Now for me this is a new concept, changing paths. Once I lay down a path I usually go for it with all of my heart and don’t stop on the way, but this time it’s different. As I’ve started my credentialling program, I’ve been having a serious case of change of heart. It seems every second day I am finding more and more reasons why I no longer want to become a math teacher. Why maybe the goal I set out so long ago couldn’t foretell that I would grow up and want something more out of life. Todays thought is that teaching doesn’t feel like a real job. I know you are working over 12 hours a day, but you make so little money you can’t afford to do anything with it. So, y mind begins to wonder.

The hard part is mainly comes from my Armenian side. We are a very stubborn people and it’s difficult for me to let things go. My intellectual side helps me out with this as my brain can control my instinct so that I don’t do stupid things all the times, as tends to be the case with many Armenians. So my stubborness is telling me to just stay with the program. That I basically chose it and so I should stick with it to the end. Finish the credential year, then finish my masters year, then work as a teacher directly after without any break in my life at all. The intellectual side of me is pleading for more knowledge. My credentialling program is feeding me nothing. I have yet to feel like I am learning anything. I feel like I sit in boring class after boring class learning stuff the common human already knows. I want to go out there and learn stuff. The amount of math and physics and computer science that I can be learning instead of sitting on my butt ‘learning’ about education is astronomical. I could have written a whole book about mathematics in this amount of time. And I know that cause I’ve done it.

So what do I do? Do I let my intellectual curiosity take over and leave the program to enter the real world in order to quench my thirst for knowledge? Or do I stick with my plan from so long ago, and be the stubborn Armenian I am, and just live with it, and accept that this is life?

Questionably,
-The Cali Garmo

Fraternity August 24, 2008

So as yesterday had a mini side theme of my frat, I thought I would expand on my fraternity and tell you all about all the amazing things I hope to accomplish with the frat.

By coming back to the states I knew automatically that I wanted to get reinvolved with the fraternity. It is such a part of my life that I could not think of not involving myself once again. I just never imagined that I would get bombarded with requests and join in so many spots that I may need to rethink my future in this fraternity. Or at least my level of involvement.

So the Friday night of our convention I officially went alumni. The next day, all hell would break loose. Saturday morning begins and it is the day of our first meeting of our National Alumni Association (NAA). During this meeting it turns out that we are electing new officer positions, and it turns out we do not have a Regional Director for the Western Region. As the time came to chose who would be the next Western Regional Director, Christopher Guerrero nominated myself for the position. I knew at that time I did not feel comfortable jumping this far into an organization I had only joined the night before, so I kindly declined. After this it turns out that no one else was willing to take the position on. Naturally, being the human I am, I decided to suck it up and just take the position on. 30 minutes after that I was voted in as the Western Regional Director for the NAA. A total of 15 hours after I had joined the organization.

My worries would not stop there. While sitting in on an office of technology meeting I was swiftly recruited into the office without my knowledge. Naturally, since my boyfriend was the one heading the office, I accepted. And I must say this was in fact the one thing I did want to join on my return and am really happy to be a part of this office. Now life would have been good if it only stopped there.

After this, my crazy weekend would continue. On sunday night we found out that the fraternity creed was not passed. By this time I had already pledged myself to helping create a creed and therefore I was automatically joined into the heritage committee where I will be helping work on the creed.

So three major tasks in which I should be working 3+ hours per week on each thing, during a time in my life when I barely have time for lunch, will be exciting. I am going to have to manage my time in the most amazing of fashions and also have time for some fun in life. Being the crazy garmo I am, I know I will manage, but if in the end I can’t handle it all, I must consider dropping something. Unfortunately, that first thing would probably need to be the creed, but I hope to never have to come to that point.

So if anyone ever thinks they have no time for anything, just remember that time is not counted in hours, but instead in seconds. Every second you spend thinking of doing something but not doing it, you lose time. Therefore create time and work hard and make sure you get everything done!

Workaholicly yours,
-The Cali Garmo

Boyfriend August 23, 2008

So today is a quick post just for fun. So a few weeks ago my fraternity had our national convention and during this time I was all prepared to get to work and get my fraternity butt into gear so I can start working for them once again. Well, this naturally did occur, but something else amazing happened. I met someone!

This was completely unexpected as I haven’t had a proper boyfriend in over 2 years and it always seemed that no one was interested in me. Well, at least I could never tell anyone was interested in me cause I can’t tell when someone was flirting with me. Anyway, this guy I met is completely amazing and I am so happy to have him in my life now. And many of you are wondering, “what, how!?!?” and for those I will answer this shortly.

So I arrive at convention on a thursday and I hang out with my brothers from Xi chapter. Having a great and fantastical time. Friday roles around and it’s time for registration for the convention for me. So I go into the registration room and naturally I see this amazing looking guy working the room. So, of course, I decide in my head to do anything I can to try and stay in this room as long as possible in hopes to see him for longer than 10 minutes that day. This turns out to work much more amazingly than I thought and we end up hanging out almost all day. Naturally I am attempting to flirt with him, but I am horrible at flirting and I felt that he just wanted to be friends so I was a little bummed out, but I still wanted to hang out with him, so I did.

Friday night comes around and naturally the convention starts to split into groups. Some are going to the bars, others are going to clubs, some are going home, and the rest are staying in the hotel room and hanging out. This was the worst part for me because I had to ‘casually’ try to figure out where my boy was going to go so that I can make sure to be in that location too. While hanging out with him he said that he was going to just hang out in the hotel for the night, and so I said I was probably going to do the same. A very good decision I must say. By hanging out with him all day, I found out that he is much more than a pretty face, he also has a great personality and is amazingly smart. He went to Purdue, need I say more? So with this in mind I continued my flirting. Hoping beyond hope that something may happen.

Nothing happened that night, but the next day was almost magical. As I suddenly turned into the slave for the office of technology by having to make apple runs, standing and waiting for people, and all kinds of random tasks, I kept running into him. In fact, we had even gone to the pool together during the day, and all I can say was, yumm! So that night I decide that maybe I should be a little proactive about my flirting and attempt to actually ask this guy out. As one of my brothers had reminded me, the worst that could happen is him say no. So I spent the rest of night trying to find a good time to ask him on a date.

Our convention dinner came around and I felt this was a good time to try and get him into a conversation and ask him out (if I got enough courage).  So I showed up late to the dinner in hopes that he was already sitting down and I can sit near him, but instead he was a social butterfly and refused to sit down. So I went table by table seeing if he had chosen where to sit, but he seemed to be sitting no where. After around 30 minutes of waiting I figured that maybe it wasn’t meant to happen. I never noticed him look at me or anything so I went to some of my good brothers and sat down and started chatting. Within 5 minutes of sitting down my boy comes and sits at the table also! Can I say how ecstatic I was? We somehow ended up sitting on the same table. So I kept trying to position my seat so that I was sitting next to him, but it never turned out to work. About 5 minutes before dinner I somehow got to sit right next to him and we talked the whole night. It was amazing. I felt like nothing else was happening around me. I could talk to him forever.

Of course I couldn’t muster enough courage during dinner, but we had all decided we were going out to a club that night. I figured that this was my chance to make a move. All I had to do was get enough alcohol in me to give me courage to ask him out or something. As the dance started we somehow were not dancing near each other so I kept trying to get closer and closer, but there always seemed to be something in the way. Eventually I got close, and God knows how, but we started making out!!! After around 3+ hours of this we decided to hang out all day sunday with each other.

Sunday of course was also magical as it was almost one super long date, and we decided to make it official in essence and to start dating. The thing I expected least, occured. I’m still in awe how it all turned out. I thought this would never happen, but it somehow happened. And now we talk on a daily basis and visit each other as often as we can. He lives in Colorado. Over 1,000 miles away, but somehow we make it work. I think we both like each other too much to make distance hurt our relationship. Although having the distance is super difficult it does not stop us from liking each other.

So that is the story of my new boyfriend and how we met. As you can tell I am super duper happy about having him in my life and am still amazed that I have him. He is literally the best guy that I have ever met in my life. He is so intelligent that I cannot even resist him. His intelligence, his personality, his looks, all flawless in my eyes, and I see this relationship going very far. I hope you all liked the story, and it wasn’t too long. It was only a little over 1,000 words, but who’s counting? More updates to come!

Excitedly,
-The Cali Garmo