Thursday, July 29, 2004

SMU Guide

Check out what the SMU Guide has to say about a Commuter's Wish List and dropping PreMed. OK, I have never seen those "commuter guys" in the lounge. I bet you they're just frat-house boys wishing they were cool enough to be commuters.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Book Shopping

I went ahead and bought a bunch of books for school online. So far books for 5 classes has totaled $200 because I make proper use of online bookstores. I decided to hold off on getting the books for Social and Intellectual history of Europe just because there are so many and you never know how many will actually be covered in the class, etc. I've been in the situation before where I bought more books than I needed. My Brit Lit 1 class requires the Norton Anthology of English Lit Vol 1, which is 3000+ pages long and weighs so much it costs extra to ship. So I did some investigating and found that it is available split up into 3 books so that I don't have to carry the whole thing at once. I called up the publisher's customer service department to make sure that the page numbers matched up in the 2 versions. She confirmed that they did and was ecstatic. You don't know how many horror stories there are of students and their Nortons: stubbing their toes on them, getting knocked unconscious when it fell off a bookshelf, losing them because they don't fit in a bag, and the back strain. But I'm a smarty pants who likes to make life easy on herself, so I found a way to beat the system. HAHA!!

Monday, July 26, 2004

Extreme Makeover

Hey y'all, how do you like my blog makeover? Now I know what you're thinking: Didn't the old comments disappear when you changed the template? But I thought of that before I changed it: I copy and pasted the comments from Comment This to the actual body of the posts. HaHa!! So now I'm free to switch up my templates without losing the comments and I can use Blogger's comments. Now if only I could figure out how to add links to my sidebar...

Thursday, July 22, 2004

Hi everyone! Today I got up early to visit my O Chem professor. I bought him a chocolate bundt cake from Corner Bakery as a thank you for being so great this summer. I told him my story about my O Chem odyssey with Dr. Biehl and then my professor mentioned how he (my professor) was on the Health Professions Advisory Committee of UTD. He said that he thought there was nothing wrong with taking concurrent courses at 2 universities since UTD and SMU are considered pretty much equal in the eyes of med schools. He also said that he would be happy to write me a recommendation letter in the spring. Yippee!! Incidentally, his class is the first college science lecture class I've made an A in (I've made A's in labs). Right now my science GPA is 3.1. I calculated that if I get an A in Physics 1 and 2 + labs and my A&P online course I'll have a 3.4 science GPA come med school app time! (most people strive for a 3.0 sci GPA. I'm so excited about all this stuff. I'm really turning my grades around. I'm shooting for a 4.0 this term. Tomorrow I head back to work. I think I may be training someone, but I've been gone for 2 months so I'll see how it goes. I'm currently in the market for books. Here are the ones my fall classes require.

Fall 2004 Textbooks

CF 3314
Readings include:
1) Roland Stromberg, European Intellectual History since 1789; half.com 16.79
2) Albert Camus, The Stranger; half.com 3.99
3) Edmund Gosse, Father and Son; half.com 5.78
4) Heda Kovaly, Under a Cruel Star; half.com 6.90
5) J. D. Watson, The Double Helix; amazon 3.50
6) Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon; amazon 3.64
7) Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own;
8) Emile Zola, Germinal;
9) Robert Graves, Goodby to All That;
10) Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz;
11) Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto;
12) George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia.
ENGL 3305

Texts: Lunsford and Connors, EasyWriter;

Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. I (7th edition);

Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

ENGL 3341

Texts: C. Brontë, Jane Eyre;

E. Brontë, Wuthering Heights,

Gaskell, North and South;

Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles;

Ibsen, A Doll’s House;

Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays;

Course reader with selected poems, essays, and contemporary criticism.
Psyc 3341
Textbooks:
Brehm, S.S., Kassin, S.M., and Fein, S. (2001). Social Psychology, Fifth Edition. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
PHYS 1301
Physics, 6th edition, by Cutnell & Johnson
BIOL 2404
Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology by Elaine Marieb, current edition.


On : 7/25/2004 3:08:21 AM persianguy (www) said:

Hey, good job with the grades! Maybe you could find a decent husband, if you weren't so damned....

Good job. Keep it up!

On : 7/25/2004 10:54:24 AM gp (www) said:

haha.. persianguy..

what class is homage to catalonia for? thats a fantastic read. looks like a great class.

Maryam: It's for Social and Intellectual History of Europe

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

OMG, y'all I took my O Chem 2 final exam today, and I just got my scores back. I totally kicked some Organic ass--I got an A in the course!!! Eat my shorts, Dr. Biehl. He said I'd never succeed, well he can just kiss my ass. Woohoo!! God bless my O Chem teacher, Dr. Haines. I only failed one of his tests and that's because he was out of town and we didn't learn the material, so he dropped it. He's so awesome; I definitely want to take BioChem with him when I'm a senior. I'm taking tomorrow off then heading to work Friday-Sunday. I'm so happy!!!!


On : 7/21/2004 6:42:23 PM diego (www) said:

awesome. nothing better than sticking it to someone who says you wouldn't be able to succeed at something....oh the memories of AP Computer Sci II, my wonderful teacher who said I would have a difficult time keeping up....

On : 7/21/2004 7:51:53 PM Sammy (www) said:

Congrats on your really awesome grade!...hmmm...and A....I wonder what's that like?.....

No, seriously, I really am wondering! =)

On : 7/22/2004 2:15:04 PM Maryam (www) said:

Thanks guys; y'all are so awesome. Sometimes it seems like a lot of people try to tell me I'm not good enough. In 10th grade, I made it to TX state science fair, but my Chem teacher told me not to go because I didn't stand a chance. She literally said I shouldn't try because I wouldn't win. I went to the science fair and won a Special Award from Conservation International. I rubbed it in her face when I came back. At least I know I can count on y'all for encouragement. Group hug!

Saturday, July 17, 2004

This asshole has been crank calling my sister all day. The thing is my sister has been gone all day so I've been answering the calls. He says really disgusting things about her. His number doesn't show up on caller ID and I've tried star 69. I hate how I can't do anything. I want to protect from this jerk. Once she saw him in Wal-Mart, and my mom could tell she knew this boy. My mom drilled her and she admitted that he was the crank caller. Now that I heard what he said on the phone I wish I had known it was him at the store so that I could have strangled him. I remember when I was in 7th grade and this group of girls crank called me and my mom used to the Caller ID to call them back. She asked to speak to their dad and told him what they had done. The dad was a great guy and said the same sort of stuff had happened to him when he was a kid and he never wanted his daughter to be like that. He assured us that she would be punished. The next day those girls were like, "Hey now she's grounded and it's your fault." I said, "No it's her fault for cranking me. She got what she deserved. Maybe you'll think twice before you mess with me."

Thursday, July 15, 2004

I have been in a European mood ever since seeing L'Auberge espagnole, a French film about a group of students from many different countries who share an apartment in Barcelona. That Spanish lisp is so cute. Last night I had a dream that I was in EuroTrip, which is weird because I've never seen that movie and haven't heard about it in over a year. I hooked up my new computer to the cable TV. The computer has XP media player, so I've been using it's TIVO-like feature to tape a bunch of stuff. Cool beans!


On : 7/17/2004 12:20:51 PM gp (www) said:

that movie is humorously truthful. all of those characters were in my life, down to the guitarist that playing "no woman, no cry". i saw it when i was living the same life.. it isnt my type of movie, but at the time it was really funny.

i saw a short film that abbas kiarostami did. i think i mentioned him to you before but you didnt know him. he's the foremost art director in iran. i wonder if your parents know him? im curious as to how art directors are received worldwide. i guess you can gauge this based on how many art directors there are in a country. not many coming out of iran (or the us).

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Hookaholics Blog I hope I'm not one of them.

BTW, je ne comprends pas.


On : 7/15/2004 3:35:25 PM gp (www) said:

como se llama sex?

On : 7/15/2004 5:53:15 PM Maryam (www) said:

"As sex is called?"

Wow, now I really don't know what's going on. I'm gonna click my heels 3 times and say, "I wish I was more learned...especially en espanol."

On : 7/15/2004 5:57:55 PM Will (www) said:

Or czech?
:P

Monday, July 12, 2004

Last night I went to a graduation party for one of my friends. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology with Honors from the University of Texas. She's the one whose brother goes to SMU law. She's very sweet, and I've known her for years, ever since first grade of Farsi school when I was really in 6th grade at American school. I reconnected with many people I saw at that wedding I went to (the grad girl sat at my table there) and caught up with a LOT of Persian gossip. Man, a lot of shiitake mushrooms have gone down. Also, one of my friends announced that she's engaged! He's a Saudi Arabian business student at UTD (ooh, exotic). The party was held at Kasra restaurant (home of the 2 hr wait for kabob, and last night was no exception). 4 hours into the party they decided to bust out the ghalyoons (unexplicably known as hookahs to my American audience; will I ever find out why?). Everybody was smoking it. My mom said no to me trying it, but then I went over to my dad, and he shoved it in my mouth. So I smoked for the first time in front of >100 people. Honestly, I didn't like it that much. My mouth felt sore afterwards. My mom started telling me about how I could get Hepatitis from the ghalyoon because I had shared the pipe with the entire party, and that sorta creeped me out. But I'm still alive...for now.

Saturday, July 10, 2004

Yesterday I saw King Arthur. The movie raised issues current to today's political climate (religious fanatics torturing and destroying people's lives, occupation by a world power, conflict between the occupiers and the occupied based on different faiths, etc.). That aspect of the film reminded of TH White's motivation behind writing The Once and Future King. White wanted to relate the legend of King Arthur to the post-WW2 political climate. If the film had focused more on those aspects of it, it would have been more interesting. But Guinivere's character brought up a whole host of new questions: The Knights have been soldiers for 15 years, but Guinivere has been locked in a dungeon for a long time, tortured and starved. How is she able to fight just as well, if not better, than them? Who are the tribesman that she gathers and how does she have the authority to gather them? (I doubt they would just listen to girl). Why is Guinivere naked throughout the entire film? When ever my sister would see Guinivere she'd say "What the hell? Isn't it supposed to be cold out there? It's snowing, everyone is wearing fur, and she's naked!" I don't think Guinivere's blue skin came from war paint. The poor girl was freezing her leather-strapped boobs off.

The film claims to follow the true origins of King Arthur, thus not following the legend at all. Some parts of the movie do follow the truth (the Sarmations did bury their dead with swords in their graves, Arthur did unite Britons after the Romans left Britain, and he did defeat the Saxons). But for the most part, saying that this story is the true origins was just an excuse to grab those characters and put them in a different plot. In real life, there was no Lancelot, Galahad, or Merlin. Lancelot and Galahad were added by the French in the literary tradition of courtly love. The round table was also later added by the same writer who created the "Sword in the Stone" story. Arthur had 3 wives, one of which was named Gwenifayr, so some people think that's Guinivere. But she wasn't a Xena warrior princess. While saying this movie is much closer to the true origins would be a fair statement, to say it is the absolute truth would be false. Of course, if we ignore all that (because, after all, it is just a movie) and ask the question, "Is it as good movie that's worth seeing?" I would say that if you want to see a good King Arthur move, go rent Merlin, Camelot, or First Knight. If you just like knights, go see A Knight's Tale. King Arthur is not a great movie. It's gets boring at times. If I were you, I'd wait for it to come out on video or TV. I don't think it was worth my money. The legends were written because the truth was too boring.

I also saw Paycheck, starring Ben "I want to have your babies" Affleck. Now that was a great movie, like all John Woo moves are. It was fantastic and exciting. It kind of reminded me of The Bourne Identity. This is a really good movie, and I recommend it. I still don't like Uma Thurman. For some reason, all the movies try to make her seem glamorous and beautiful when she's neither of those things. She's not even that great an actress. But Paycheck is great and if Ben hadn't gotten stupid and romped with J. Lo it would have done really well at the box office and garnered a sequel. Stupid J. Lo and her kiss of death.



On : 7/10/2004 9:42:13 PM Will (www) said:

How can a man who did not exist unite Britain? Then defeat the saxons, things that happend more than a millenia apart. There is no "true" tale of king arthur is is ALL a legend, a welsh legend, not british.

But it sounds like I would enjoy this film, if only for the smile factor. Your review has made me want to see it even more. :P


On : 7/11/2004 1:37:27 AM Maryam (www) said:

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/4186/Arthur/htmlpages/kingarthur.html

That's a great site that compares Arthurian history and Arthurian literature/legend.

On : 7/11/2004 4:27:57 PM Will (www) said:

Sorry, but a geocities page is not acceptable evidence. Even if it were, the page states:
A conclusion can probably not be made on this subject because the evidence is just too sketchy...we suffer from too little reliable information.
Fairy tales.


On : 7/11/2004 6:20:16 PM Maryam (www) said:

I never said it was acceptable evidence, or evidence at all for that matter. Why do you want to make it sound like I'm wrong when I didn't make a claim to begin with? I'm not an Arthurian or a historian, nor did I ever say I was. The film claims to tell the truth based on Arthurian history. I'm familiar with Arthurian history only by the limited attention it is given in my English courses. The attention given to it is limited because the history itself is limited. I personally only care about how the legend changed throughout literary history (from Malory to Tennyson to White).

On : 7/24/2004 10:31:15 PM Sammy (www) said:

What?!! King Arthur isn't real?!?!?! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry, but I must respectfully disagree with your view on John Woo. MI and MI2 were sadly disappointing and disgraceful to the viewers of the TV series...or maybe this utter dislike of John Woo results in a subconscious hatred and annoyance of Tom Cruise...no, I must hold Woo responsible for those horrid movies...I still can't stand Tom Cruise, but I shall save that for another day!...nevertheless, I shall respect your viewpoint of Woo movies and shall go back to believing in Arthur legends! =)

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

So Kerry picked Edwards. Yea!! Edwards is so cute, which is important because this is nothing but a beauty pageant. Kerry made a wise move because if Dems agreed they don't like Bush, but not that they like Kerry. Having Edwards on the ticket helps balance the Democratic ballot. I still need to see Fahrenheit 9/11. Maybe this weekend. I took by 3rd O Chem test today. Maybe I'll break 83 this time.



On : 7/7/2004 9:52:25 AM Will (www) said:

Fahrenheit 9/11 is crap. I enjoy a fresh look at the establishment as much as the next guy, even more so, i am sure. But moore is just as bad as every other sensationalist out there. He appeals to emotions rather than fact. Far to often he uses "libral numbers" such as ... "the gulf war's are the most bloody conflicts in history" Of course he is refering to the Iran/Iraq War, using their body count to make an erroneous point.. Thats a soft issue, based ever so loosely in fact, he goes farther and actually denies evidence many times. In the new movie he interviews several congressmen to ask them why their families are not enlisted ... whoops he found some who were . While he airs the initial "confrontation" he omits the part where the congressmen say that their families are serving in Iraq. And even denies this in the voice over.

The worst moment of motion picture history. Bowling for columbine, When he sinisterizes the ICBMs rolling down the same streets children play on, Rolling down the road as children sleep. While i like his violence is in the system idea, his over the top theatrics really weaken his points and cause him to bend his "facts" too much.

On : 7/7/2004 3:40:39 PM gp (www) said:

my two cents.. probably worth even less with growing inflation:
what's great about moore is that he realizes its sensationalism and exploits it. he makes his films idiot proof (though ive only seen one so i cant say that). for that very reason he plays on emotion, while compounding it with facts (though minimally in most cases). i dont like moore, but i will defend this movie, as i think even a close-minded individual might take a second look at their views, which is probably important. the mass amounts of fan-fare it has received is strange. especially with more factual documentaries (the unseen war, fog of war) on similar subjects which came out in months past.

but really, im sick of hearing left, right and centred views on this movie. it compounds the fact evermore and gives it more media than it deserves. i cant even imagine what kind of publicity it gets or got on tv. oh, and now that you mentioned such a great image, i have to see bowling for columbine..

On : 7/7/2004 6:09:37 PM Maryam (www) said:

It's a movie. It's art. Art is emotion.

Moore has an agenda. He's not presenting a balanced look at the Bush administration and then asking the audience to come to its own conclusions. Before the opening credits roll he has already decided for us which side to be on. He has to use leftist sensationalism in order to further his goal: the removal of President Bush from office in November. Every movie has to have a villian, and Moore casts Bush in that role. Try not to take it too seriously; it's just a movie.

On : 7/7/2004 11:10:28 PM Will (www) said:

its not a movie, its a message. One that people beleive in, by depricating the message he depricates the people who beleive in it. Or even worse, he misleads the people.

On : 7/9/2004 12:51:17 PM gp (www) said:

you do have a point. i wish i knew what his motive was, because it does seem self-serving, but then again hes not the typical middle-upper class liberal. i think he just loves this country and he'd rather change it to meet his demands than leave. whats the best way to do it? better than becoming a politician (or terrorist), is to make movies about his message. more people pay attention to movies than they do politicians. and i think people trust movies more than they do politicians. im beginning to sound like im moore's biggest fan. anyway... like i said before, we're creating more fanfare with this argle bargle. so we should stop and let nature (and the antithesis: journalists) take their course on this film.

Sunday, July 04, 2004

Happy 4th of July everyone! Eat lots of hot dogs and don't let the fireworks make you deaf and blind.


On : 7/4/2004 10:14:16 PM diego (www) said:

lol. deaf and blind? what did you say???

On : 7/5/2004 3:19:29 PM Maryam (www) said:

I mean the boom from the fireworks combined with the possible blinding light they emit. I watched the fireworks at Gleneagles from the safe distance of my backyard. (And yes, I am joking. I'm not really afraid of fireworks deafening and blinding me.)

On : 7/5/2004 8:32:43 PM diego (www) said:

lol, i was making an inference to being struck deaf and blind by the fireworks....by pretending to act deaf (what did you say)?

sarcasm doesnt work as well over the net i guess.

On : 7/5/2004 9:04:16 PM Maryam (www) said:

Oh, now I get it! Good one, D.

Friday, July 02, 2004

I am officially registered for Fall 2004 at 3 seperate institutions. I'll be taking 12 hrs at SMU, 4 hrs at UTD, and 4 hrs at CCCC. My CCCC course is online, so I'll only have to drive down there twice for my tests. I'll be working 10 hrs a week at the hospital as well so you can see how precious my time will be next term. In order to prevent complete and other exhaustion, I am currently in the market for a good energy drink. Right now I'm sort of between Sugar-Free Red Bull ($30/case) and Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng ($10/case). Of course, there's always Diet Coke ($5/case), but I don't want all those acids in my stomach every morning. If y'all know about any other ones (like Monster, etc.) I would really appreciate it. I've never been a big straight-up coffee drinker so I think energy drinks would be a better way to go.

In other news, my grandma went back to Los Angeles. We all miss her and my mom took us shopping to sort of get our minds off of her not being with us. At Norstrom Rack I found a black Fendi handbag for $200! I had to get it right away, and now I have given it a good home. Where else can you get a real Fendi for 1/2 off?



On : 7/3/2004 2:37:09 PM gp (www) said:

why not drink tea? try yerba mate for a nice caffeine free alternative (go boulder). oh shit, the mexican ice cream/fruit stand is outside. gotta run.

On : 7/3/2004 2:38:24 PM gp (www) said:

oh.. and about fendi - rome if you know where to go.

On : 7/4/2004 11:20:02 AM Will K (www) said:

$200 for a purse, tsk tsk.
I hope pete didnt miss the mobile mexicana.

On : 7/4/2004 9:41:31 PM diego (www) said:

when the purse is worth more than what's inside the purse, you have problems :P

crazy girls.... j/k.

On : 7/6/2004 7:28:20 PM diego (www) said:

oh btw...nordstrom rack rules.

Thursday, July 01, 2004

Saddam Hussein was arraigned today in Iraq and charged with war crimes. I find Saddam to have been very entertaining during the arraignment. I mean, he really knows how to put on a show for the cameras. I thought his animation when the Kuwait invasion was mentioned to be particularly amusing. I think the real trial will be equally entertaining. Let the OJ fever commence.



On : 7/1/2004 8:05:20 PM diego (www) said:

the man is delirious.

On : 7/1/2004 10:51:16 PM Maryam (www) said:

It was like watching a train wreck. He's willing to say anything to save his ass.

On : 7/2/2004 1:25:19 AM helen (www) said:

Hi, Maryam! Didn't read your comment on Omar's lj till now. I'm just visiting your site. ^_^

On : 7/2/2004 6:30:58 PM Maryam (www) said:

Hi Helen! IM me sometime. My sn is chaeymaey.

On : 7/3/2004 10:48:31 PM persianguy (www) said:

Did you see all the charges against him? Did you see Iran missing from it? For God's sakes, they have the Kuwait-invasion on there, but they forget the what...one million martyred from his invasion of Iran?

On : 7/3/2004 10:53:34 PM Maryam (www) said:

I thought the invasion of Iran was the 5th charge...I just looked it up and you're right! They didn't charge him with the Iran-Iraq war. Amrikayeaeh pedarsookhteh, they just didn't want to call Iranians victims. If the Kuwaitis are victims, then the Iranians are too.

On : 7/4/2004 5:16:37 PM gp (www) said:

i guess it depends on who is writing the charge.... sigh