I'm alive.

You may (or may not) have noticed that it has been a bit over a month since my last post. A few days after I made my last post I was in a horrific car accident. My description of these events may not be well written or very coherent, but I am just going to write as I remember.Allow me to post a few pictures before I explain more:

As you can see, the car was a total loss, or as we say "totaled" in the accident. I would normally black out the license plate number of the car, but it is no longer under the legal possession of me or anyone in my family...

Back to the story...this car accident was the closest I've been to losing my life thus far. I was on a major freeway down here in Southern California on a Friday morning--where two freeways merge and there is one exit, actually.A big rig to my right was changing lanes and was about to hit me, and out of fright I swerved to miss him (after checking to make sure the lane to the left of me was open first), but apparently I swerved so much that I lost control of my vehicle. My car jerked uncontrollably from the left to the right and then I began to spin across all seven lanes of the freeway.

At one point, my vehicle was completely perpendicular to the direction of traffic and I saw a big rig and a few cars approaching me as I watched from my position in the driver's seat. A strong sentiment washed over me: this was it, I felt. My time on this earth was over, and that I would surely die. Within an instant, I saw the faces of everybody that was most important to me, from the past and present, and I felt a deep sadness when I thought I would never see these individuals again. I immediately realized that I would miss my mother the most, and I knew she would miss me the most.  I looked down at my cellphone to see if I could manage to call her before I was hit by the cars approaching me, and then before I knew it my car spun out of the way and slammed into the side concrete barrier wall. I knew the airbags would deploy and looked down immediately after the impact to see it happen, first the driver's airbag, then the passenger's airbag. I was annoyed that they didn't inflate. It is truly bizarre how lucid my thoughts were in such a traumatic situation that happened so quickly.

And then...I looked up and realized what had just happened and my conscious being reconnected with my physical being. A sense of shock and fright washed over me.

Two good samaritans, one driving a pickup truck and one driving a large vehicle transport carrier, pulled over to pull me out of my car. I sobbed uncontrollably as I attempted to speak to the 911 operator, and these incredibly kind-hearted individuals began to take care of me. They sat me down, checked my wounds and bumps, gave me ice packs, and tried to keep me calm. They both waited with me, until California Highway Patrol showed up, so I wouldn't be alone. I didn't catch the name of one of the gentlemen, but the gentleman driving the vehicle transport carrier was Todd Brown. Thank you, Todd Brown. I will never be able to properly express my gratitude to you for the kindness you showed that day. Good people still do exist. Never give up on the implicit spirit of humanity.

As for me, I had a hematoma (under the skin, but not the skull) on the left side of my head, lots of bruises and a sprained wrist. Considering the events of the accident, and the fact that it occurred during peak traffic time, it is astonishing that the damage to my vehicle wasn't worse. But most of all, I am very lucky to be alive.

If you see me in the near future, or have seen me in the last month, and I look extra emotional and happy to see you, now you know why.

So...the world is ending today?

So, as we've all heard, Harold Camping, the 89 year old Christian Radio broadcaster and President of Family Radio, a California-based religious media network, has predicted the end of the world to be today. Camping performed a series of ridiculous calculations, supposedly using data from the Bible to determine that today, May 21st, 2011 would be the beginning of Rapture. It is said this is the beginning of the end of the world, with the actual end being 5 months from today. It is said that during Rapture, all believers, or followers of Jesus Christ will ascend to heaven, while the rest of us non-believers/sinners/heathens are left to experience constant earthquakes, fire, famine and locusts(locusts, really?!).

On paper, one would assume that Camping is an intelligent man, he obtained  BS in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Personal experience has generally had me believe that most Berkeley engineers are quite smart individuals. Hm, I guess not in this case. While normally, I would say that these types of notions are guided by attempts to racket money, it doesn't seem as if Camping has encouraged his followers to necessarily donate all of their money and possessions to his organization. But, he has simply encouraged all those who believe in the May 21st rapture to donate all of their money and be rid of all of their worldly possessions-- if the world is ending, what use are your things?

What especially troubles me about Camping's prediction is not just that he is clearly WRONG(at the time that I write this, New Zealand has already passed the time the rapture was supposed to occur without incident), but that he would encourage all of his followers to be rid of their worldly belongings, when it is reported that he himself has maintained his homestead, and has not given away all of his money. What makes it worse is that not only have many of his followers obliged his request, but they have also left their jobs and spent much of the last few months attempting to spread the word of today's Judgement Day. I would imagine that many(though unfortunately not all) of his followers are ill-educated, and will be put in a very difficult position when they wake on Sunday morning and realize that: 1.) The world has not in fact ended, 2.) Harold Camping is incredibly ignorant and irresponsible, 3.) Shit, I have no place to live, 4.) Shit, I have no way of sustaining my life--welfare here I come! Encouraging his followers to act as he was not willing to act, by getting rid of all worldly possessions, is not only wrong and disturbing, but it is IRRESPONSIBLE. Hello, how can he not even have a modicum of social responsibility?

That being said, I feel especially sorry for the children of parents who are devout believers in Camping's prediction. I especially felt bad for the children of a woman who was interviewed that blatantly stated: "I worry about my children. I know they will not be going to Heaven with me and my husband. But I just have to accept it--my children are sinners." Sheesh, and I thought my parents were hard on me? Not only is it unfortunate that these children have crazy parents, but you can't help but be a bit concerned about the psychological well-being of these young ones.

On a more amusing note, there are (real) companies lead by Athiests that advertise their services of saving the pets of believers after the ascend to heaven on Judgement Day. Hilarious, no? When I initially saw this website, I thought it was a joke:
Eternal Earth-bound Pets, USA

Nope, it's completely real. And to be honest, I'm slightly jealous that I did not come up with the idea myself. This company is clearly experiencing insane volume with a flat fee, for a service they will never have to complete. They aren't one bit dishonest in their business pitch, they can't help it if their clients are among the ignoramus that believe the May 21st end-of-days prophecy. Hmm, perhaps I will be the one to come up with the next ingenious money-making idea the next time religion makes everybody lose their minds?

So um...your blog background?

Friend: Whoa cool, glad to see you're blogging again..
Me: Yeah, thanks, it's interesting being digital again..
Friend: So, that background?
Me: Funky, isn't it?
Friend: Yeah, um...did you happen to be tripping on some type of hallucinogen when you chose it?
Me: Right...and you've known me to be the type of person that uses hallucinogens, right?
Friend: Dude, you're so tight-lipped, you could be married with a couple children and I'd not know it...
Me: True. No, I wasn't tripping. On anything, really. I liked it because it's bright and happy!

So that conversation (^^) above is one that I had with a good friend of mine just today. So allow me to explain. To me, the peacock/peacock feathers are classic representatives of South Asian culture, so I figured they would make a perfect background for my blog. Clearly I like vibrant colors, which I also feel are quite fitting to my culture. So what better than technicolor peacock feathers for this purpose? Nothing.

Now you know.

On another note, I have a bundle of very important deadlines tomorrow for my master's degree. Could this explain my sudden re-interest in blogging? I think yes.