Oil Spill off Gulf of Mexico '10

It's about time that I blog about the oil spill. I wanted to wait till the problem is under control. However, it has been over 2 months and it's still spilling at a staggering 60,000 Barrels/day. Apparently every 4 days equals one Exxon Valdez spill!

This incident was initially downplayed by BP as a minor spill that can be contained very quickly. Yet we all know now what a far cry from the truth that was. This kind of cover up would certainly not have gone unnoticed by the top guy of the company, Tony Hayward. Being the CEO of a company comes with many benefits and with that comes work and tremendous responsibility. Tony Hayward basically denied responsibility for the spill, as he puts it, BP drills hundreds of wells a year and he cannot inspect everyone of them. I think it's this lack of responsibility that has affected how he handled this issue - how can one deal with something wholeheartedly if all he wants is to run away from it?! This wrong approach has deterred the response and likely fueled people's anger towards BP.

The societal consequences including job loss are pretty obvious and made very clear by the press, so I won't go there. Yet the environmental consequences seem to be determined by the amount of shoreline the oil reaches. Wait a moment, what about all the lives who call the sea their home?! Though there are some people out there trying to redirect the path of dolphins but what about the other marine lives. Just because they are not endangered does not make their lives have any less value! People are not god and yet act like they are when it comes to the environment, determining which lives are worth saving and which are not. ALL LIVES ARE EQUAL and people should treat them as such.

Let's see how this unfolds after the relief wells are completed and implemented.

New realization

I guess I've been living under a rock, but I realized only recently that natural or vaginal birth is one the most painful experiences one can go through. Some women are even cut to make the delivery process 'easier' in a practice known as episiotomy (~2 inch cut from the vagina to the anus!! sorry to be graphic). The most frightening part of this is that women generally do not feel this 'cos they are too focused on pushing! Still get shivers when I think about it. The other technique is cesarean section, where they make an incision in the abdomen to remove the baby. Extracting a child by C-section looks like something out of Alien, but then again, vaginal birth looks equally disturbing (yes, I've watched a few on YouTube - needless to say it was an eye opening experience, almost fainted at the episiotomy). And there I was already planning on how many kids I want, will have to rethink that!

I don't understand why there are so many women out there who describe pregnancy and giving birth as a beautiful experience!? The most beautiful experience I think of being a mom is watching your kid grow up, and being pregnant and giving birth is something you have to pay for to achieve that. Maybe this painful experience is what makes moms love their children all that more? After finding this out, I have a newly established appreciation for women out there who are willing to go through this. Especially my mom who went through 4 C-sections to deliver 5 kids (my twin sister and I in one go).

Money can't buy happiness?

Yesterday I cantered 3 laps around the arena! It was so much fun! To ride the canter, you just sit in the saddle and go with the flow. It's not as easy as it sounds though - because your balance has to be perfect and you have to be in sync with the horse. This gait is quite fast at around 15miles/hr so any fall would be bad. So I asked for advice if I was to lose balance and for some reason the horse wouldn't stop (I've witnessed first hand when a girl was supposed to canter but the horse went to a gallop and wouldn't stop, he finally stopped when the girl lost balance and fell off). My instructor said to look for a spot on the ground and jump to it :D It's no laughing matter though, I'm sure I'll have to do that someday! Should be interesting.

As I was driving home, I felt so carefree and overall just happy. If only I could ride more often! But that requires money and currently, I'm pretty much constantly broke. 3 years later when I get a real job and real money, I shall be riding every other day, travel around the world and make up to my parents for all the money they have given me over the years.

Who said money can't buy happiness? I say it sure can. Though you have to know how to spend it and more importantly, appreciate the things or pleasures it brings. Once appreciation is gone and replaced with taking things for granted, all the money in the world will not bring you happiness. I hope I won't ever lose sight of this - but it's not like I'll become a multimillionaire or something! If I happen to become that wealthy, I would travel around the world helping people. Not in terms of giving out food, medical supplies or shelter but more aiming at setting up education. Sorry to say this but I think it's quite short sighted to focus on the result rather than the cause. Having an education will allow people to survive and provide for themselves and that would a long term achievement. That would be fantastic to do!

My first horse show!

Today I went for my first horse show. I was rather nervous given there was only 3 people in my division (hence the high likelihood of coming last) and I got Wisconsin, my 3rd preference of horse to ride. My first choice, which was Ohio (the easiest horse I've ridden) is in the same competition as me! So yeah, I was quite apprehensive but also full of anticipation going in.

A typical ride starts off with me tacking the horse, so I went off to tack Wisconsin. I couldn't find his bridal and he was not in his stall! WTH? Where is my horse? I asked around and was told that he is currently in a show! This meant that I only have a few seconds to change the tack from the previous rider and use mine. So I carried all the tack with the help of a friend (from Caltech) next to the competition arena and waited there for the show to finish and used the change time in between to put on my tack. I rode Wisconsin for a couple of strides before we were called in to start the competition. The others had a lot more time to warm up - now, a horse needs warm up but more importantly you need to 'warm up' to the horse and he has to 'warm up' to you. The previous rider on Wisconsin probably weighs twice as much as me and Wisconsin needs to take awhile to be warmed up to me. You can see how seriously I'm taking this.

Before I get into the details of the show - just for context, I was in the Walk/Trot 18+ division. These shows are divided into 2 parts, the first part is Equitation where 'the effectiveness of the rider and overall aesthetic of horse and rider combination' are judged, the second is Pleasure where 'the responsiveness of the horse and overall pleasantness of the horse' are judged. In my opinion these two are basically the same thing, you cannot do well in one without doing well in the other.

Walking on beautiful Wisconsin

They first asked us to walk around then to pick up the rising trot. Wisconsin just wouldn't pick up the trot even though I was kicking him with all my might, then I resorted to using my crop. To which he responded by nearly going into a canter - so I slowed him down to a trot all the while thinking, damn it, I just blew this. Anyway, I did the best I could. After 10min they told us to line up so that our numbers would face them (my number was 415). I was smiling and awaited for the last place call. Amazingly, I was 2nd place - I couldn't believe it!

Rising trot

Then the Pleasure part of the show started, they asked us to pick up the rising trot. At this point, Wisconsin was already listening to me and my rising trot pick up was smooth, then we did a change in direction whilst keeping the trot etc etc. We then lined up again, waiting for the placements - they said 1st place, 415! I came 1st! I was so happy...

If I have ridden Ohio, I would have come first in both sections - there is no doubt about that. But under the circumstances, I'm just thrilled to have gotten 1st and 2nd places.

My ribbons

I've just placed my ribbons on my bed post, and there will be plenty more where they came from! Feels like a child doing it, but hey, there is nothing wrong with being proud of your achievements. This made me think about my past achievements, other than academic wise. I don't really recall any other types of awards - maybe a few for sports? But they were nothing like this, at least nothing that I myself wanted to get into. So this is extra special for me.