Ramil Blog

I woke up this morning, and my roommates told me that a walrus was just born at the zoo. Naturally, I wanted to go see it and wish it a happy birthday. However, the baby walrus was born to the Coney Island Aquarium and not the Bronx Zoo. But I was already excited for the zoo, and so I went with my friends Danny and Kate anyway. We had a great time exploring the Bronx, naming all the animals, and enjoying the day. Here's "Ramil Goes to the Bronx Zoo":

After much wheeling and dealing, my friend Joe managed to get enough cheap tickets for a big group of us to go see a charity event hosted by Ira Glass. In case you're wondering who Ira Glass is, he is the host of the fine radio show, This American Life on NPR. What's the show about? Anything and everything. That is, each week, they pick a theme, and present 3 or 4 stories about that theme. I love This American Life, and I think anyone who gives it a chance would love it too, so check it out!

I was first introduced to the program this summer as an assignment for my Intro to Sociology class. At first, I was like, "Who listens to talk radio anymore. This isn't the 50's!" But then, slowly but surely, I became addicted. The 60-minute show fit perfectly into my morning commute, the stories were always different and interesting, and Ira Glass is hilarious and real. If that wasn't enough to convince you about how cool This American Life is, I implore you to go give it a try. Oh yeah, it's going to be a TV show, too.

Anyway, so the event was held at Town Hall, and it mainly focused on Ira Glass's new book "The New Kings of Non-Fiction." Mr. Glass was accompanied by some of the book's contributors: Chuck Klosterman, Susan Orlean, and Malcolm Gladwell. Since none of them could sing or play instruments, they had a short discussion facilitated by Ira Glass.

It was cool because, instead of asking them questions that they had to answer on the spot, he gave each of the 3 "Kings" a couple of assignments to complete beforehand as preparation for the discussion. The assignments varied from selecting pieces of writing to be read aloud, to making profiles for each other. Their responses to the assignments were very thoughtful, and spoke to many of the most relevant issues journalism, but what I found most interesting was how exactly and uniquely each writer on stage matched their writing. When I think of writers, I always think of the movie Misery, minus Kathy Bates. I picture James Caan toiling away at the type writer, alone in the countryside, writing down 4 words at a time, then crossing them out, then altering the sentence slightly, still unsatisfied. (For another example, see Secret Window.) But hearing Chuck Klosterman, Susan Orlean and Malcolm Gladwell read their published writing, and listening to them answer questions made me realize that my notion of the writer in the woods was kind of out dated and dumb. Writing for them is finding something cool, capturing the idea, and getting it across in your own voice. And I think that's just gosh-darn cool!

I sincerely apologize for not posting in over a week, but I was freaking out about midterms. Some of you might be thinking, "What's the big deal? It's only four tests!" Well, you thought wrong. Unlike most folks, I have to take a lot of 1, 2, and 3 credit courses, which means many more midterms. So while a normal schedule would have 16 credits (4 courses @ 4 credits each), I am taking 18 credits (10 courses, 2 seminars @ 0-4 credits each). And I tend to go a little overboard with studying. However, since my midterms in my 1-3 credit class aren't weighted as heavily, they aren't as substantial, but it's still a lot of added work. Also, I didn't have a midterm for each class, just for 7 of them. It's hard to balance all those midterms while classes are still going on, but I think I managed pretty well.

But now that they're over, I'd like to share some things that I've discovered about Bobst. Before this semester, I had never really taken advantage of Bobst, but now that I know her well, I think I will be visiting much more often. After spending many hours in NYU's impressive library, I believe I have mastered some good techniques on how to get the best study spot.

Okay, so the first thing you need to think about is whether or not you want to eat. If you do, then you've gotta head down to LL1. If you've got noisy, smelly or a ton of food, it's best to stay in the common area, but if you have quiet food, then you can study in the glass room.

If you do not have food, it's time to go upstairs to the reading rooms. It's okay if you've got something to drink, as long as it's covered. If you're looking for a quick, surefire way to get a great study spot, it's really easy: take the elevator to the tenth floor, walk up to the railing, look across the balcony, and scan for any open seats in the reading rooms. My favorite room is the Alumni Lounge on the 8th floor. It's got those desks with the tall, glass dividers, and the carpeting is red (not necessary but nice to have around).

Now if you're in it for the long haul, there's a more advanced strategy you can try. It doesn't always work, but when it does, the rewards are worth it. Yep, I'm talking about the table by the window. "How do those people get those seats?," you may wonder. "Have they been here all day?" "Did they pay money?," I have heard some ask. Maybe some of them have. There's no talking in there so no one will tell you. But I do know how you can be one of them. First, you have to find someone who looks like they've been studying for too long. These people will have empty cups of coffee, organized piles of papers, and will not care what they look like. Since all the tables have four chairs, take the seat either next to this person or across from them. If you're lucky, they won't last much longer, and you'll have a table by the window all for yourself. Once they have left, quickly spread out your things to discourage others from employing this strategy against you.

Now that you're armed with this knowledge, go use it! But if you see me at a table by the window on the 8th Floor, be ready for a challenge...

So for the past couple of weeks, I have been helping my sister rebuild her apartment. She just bought her first piece of property in Manhattan, and it was in poor condition. So, in addition to schnazing the place up a bit, she also wanted to add two more rooms. It was a lot of work, but luckily, my dad builds houses for a living. (See Flipping Out for an exaggerated idea of my father's occupation.) And my brother's pretty good at building stuff, too.

It was really hectic getting the renovations done, because my dad had to leave for Germany last Friday, giving us less than 3 weeks to complete the apartment. Aside from the tight deadline, we had to deal with a lot of structural issues, like identifying load-bearing walls, working around pipes, noise restrictions, and garbage disposal.

But everything worked out, and now my sister and her two tenants are all living happily together in their makeshift apartment. If you're having trouble visualizing what the apartment looked like during the renovations, you're in luck because I've created a video documenting the process.

Oh yeah, and there's something you might need to know before you watch. My sister's name is Amira, but you'll hear me call her "Ate" throughout the video. Ate is Tagalog (the language of the Philippines) for "older sister." So, without further ado, here is "Ramil Builds a House:"

So yesterday, psychologist and genius Howard Garnder came to speak at Skirball. He spoke as the inaugural Jacob K. Javits lecturer, and is a Visiting Professor at NYU. Howard Gardner is best known as the architect of the theory of multiple intelligences, the director of Project Zero, Harvard University, and one of the most influential names in education reform.

His lecture was titled "From Multiple Intelligences to Future Minds," and in it, he tried to link his classic theory of multiple intelligences, "MI" theory, to his most recent research concerning the five minds and good work. If you're unfamiliar with Gardner's work, these titles seem kind of strange and abstract, but it makes a lot of sense if you hear him out.

So, before Gardner's MI theory, everyone thought that there was only one intelligence, general intelligence, or "G." There was a consensus that if you were good a piano, or good at math, etc., it was because you were a generally smart person. All your talents stemmed from this one "smartness", and all these skills were connected to one intelligence. Gardner's MI theory essentially debunked these ideas, and suggested that the pianist is good at piano not because he is generally intelligent, but because he is musically intelligent. The mathematician is good at math because he is logically intelligent. Gardner originally outlined 8 different intelligences that pretty much cover the gamut.

Makes sense, right? Doesn't is seem like it's almost common sense? Well, thats because Gardner's work is almost 40 years old. At the time, it was a completely radical theory, and Gardner made everyone in the fields of psychology, neurology and education take a serious look at his research. By studying adults with brain damage, autistics, and savants, Gardner was able to prove that intelligence is not just "G," but that it is multi-faceted, with the different aspects of intelligence working relatively independently of each other.

His lecture basically outlined MI theory and introduced the newer ideas of the five minds and good work. I really enjoyed the lecture, and I was shocked at how down-to-earth and funny he was. Here's this man - this certified genius - who has changed the way the world thinks about being smart, and he's talking to this crowd like he sees us everyday.

I'm sorry for making such a long, maybe even boring, post (I know some of you out there hate them!), but I just thought the whole thing was really cool. And now you know all about Howard Gardner and MI.