The Last One

For Tristan and I’s last conversation, we met with Chris Appelman and his conversation partner as well because our partners knew each other. We figured that it would be a good opportunity to get more perspectives on issues that we talked about and possibly spark some new conversations. Tristan and Chris’s partner are both from China, but different areas of China. We all got a table in the BLUU and ate together for lunch. The conversation started with us talking about our plans for Thanksgiving break. Chris and I are leaving Fort Worth – I am going to South Texas and Chris is going back home to Boston. Both of our partners are staying in Fort Worth for the holiday. I felt a little bad because they couldn’t go home, I’m sure they wanted to be with their families because they have been away from them for so long. I thought that being away from my family that’s in New York is hard, I can’t imagine being away from my family for months on end while in a different country. I hope that Tristan has someone to eat a Thanksgiving dinner with. I asked him and he said that he should have plans and I hope those plans go through because no one should eat alone on Thanksgiving.

            From there, our conversation was extremely regular – like four good friends getting lunch together like they do every week. There were no times where I felt awkward for having nothing to talk about and our conversation seemed to flow from topic to topic. We bounced from shopping, to traveling, to music and Christmas gifts.

            What specifically interested me was our conversation on Christmas gifts. Apparently, they had never gotten their families Christmas gifts for the holidays and they were confused as to what they would buy their parents if they had to get them something. They were not accustomed to kin buying their own parents gifts for Christmas. So they asked Chris and me questions on what we get our siblings and our parents. Somewhat ashamed, I had to admit that I don’t actually buy my parents anything while Chris explained the kinds of gifts he usually gets his parents for Christmas. Then it was my turn to try and justify why I don’t buy my parents anything and to try and explain the system my family uses for gifts. My parents never want anything for Christmas. They tell my siblings and I never to get them anything, so we don’t. What happens is that my dad will buy my mom a gift and put all of our names on it, so no one has to compete over who got my mom the better gift. The same system is used when my mom buys my dad a gift. I don’t think that they quite understood the system, but it was worth a shot.

            Then we got on the topic of fake IDs somehow. I think it was because Tristan knows someone who might be interested in buying The Lab, a bar nearby. They were so intrigued by the fact that a lot of American students have fake IDs and wanted to know more about them. I talked to Chris about it afterwards and he said that his partner has brought up the subject before. I wonder why they are so interested in them. Maybe they want one? I don’t know, but I think that it is interesting that they are so interested in the subject.

            I must say that this conversation did not go as deep as Tristan and I’s conversations tend to be, but I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation equally to Tristan and I’s past conversations. I found myself laughing much more than I usually do, which was strange to me. No one said anything that was particularly funny to me, I just found myself laughing sometimes for no reason. It made me realize that laughter really is a social activity. I wouldn’t have laughed if I had just been talking with Tristan but because there were more people, I found myself laughing much more than normal. I guess it’s just because I wanted to share my joy and happiness with the people around me and make them feel as I was feeling as well. After all, humans are social beings and part of socialization is making people adapt to your norms. If my norm was laughter at that point, in my opinion it makes sense that I would try and get others to laugh as well.

            After I had left the BLUU I had realized how upset I was that it was my last conversation with Tristan. I immediately made it my job to make sure that it wasn’t the last time I got to talk to him. I texted Tristan after we parted and told him that if he ever had a performance, he needed to text me and let me know about it. I wanted to be in the audience. I also told him that if he ever needed anything to not hesitate to text me. I reflected back on our experiences together and could not be happier with the outcome and the process. I always felt like after we met I was happier and in a better mood than I was in before we met. I am grateful that I now have another friend and also thankful for the experience that allowed me to grow as a person. By hearing all of his perspectives on subjects it allows me to be more aware of other people’s views and opinions. I could not have had a better experience with my conversation partner.  

Serious Stuff

Well, I can definitely tell that Tristan is much more comfortable with me at this point in the semester because he has started the last two conversations with extremely serious and controversial topics. I started off the conversation by asking him how his day was going and how he was doing – the normal conversation starters. He responded by telling me he’s had a very long day and I could tell that there was something different about him; he wasn’t as happy as he usually is and he seemed like he was processing my words slower than usual as well. So I asked him what was wrong and why his day had been so long.

            He proceeded to tell me that late the night before he had received a phone call from a friend, who proceeded to tell Tristan that he was planning on killing himself. Obviously extremely worried about his friend, Tristan called a cab and went to go see his friend in a hurry. Needless to say, it was an extremely long night. I don’t feel comfortable sharing all of the details because Tristan confided that information in me and I don’t think they are necessary to share. Do not worry, the friend is now safe and there seems to be no other threats of suicide.

            But our conversation about his friend lead into a deeper conversation about suicide and why we think people do it. It just so happens that the night before our conversation I had watched a documentary on the “suicide forest” in Japan. If you have never heard of it before, it is a dense forest in Japan where people go when they feel they are no longer fit to live in society. Tristan and I began talking about how interesting it is that the tradition of suicide first started with the Japanese Samurai, as a noble way of death and now it has evolved into an escape from the world when people feel like society rejects them. Now of course that is not the only reason people decide to commit the act but we both agreed that it seemed the most prominent reason.        

            This conversation then turned into a conversation about unemployment because we were discussing the fact that some Americans commit suicide because of the economy and their lack of a job. I asked him if he thought this was the case in China and he said it was quite the opposite. He told me that the unemployment situation in China is much better than in the United States because China produces so many goods that factories are always looking for workers, so there are always jobs. I thought that was a good point. Then he went on to say that he thinks it’s remarkable how many people in the United States don’t know where their products are coming from. He has noticed that everything he sees in the United States is mostly made in China and he wonders why because he knows the United States has the capability to produce everything China does. I didn’t really want to get further into the conversation because I felt like it would lead to us arguing about which way is cheapest and who is more powerful in the international market, etc. So I switched the topic of conversation.

            In my Survey of World Music class we had just finished up our chapter on traditional Chinese music, so I was excited to talk to Tristan about it because I actually had some background in the topic. It was an enjoyable conversation – we talked about the different styles of zheng music in different regions of China and how the dynasties influenced music and of course, how Mao influenced Chinese culture. It felt good to finally be able to contribute in a conversation about China, especially since he was impressed with how much I knew about the traditional styles and instruments.

            In my music class, we had learned that the Chinese government was persecuting and taking advantage of minorities in China, such as the Tibetans. We were told that the Chinese government would take Tibetan folk music and say it was Chinese (that they had composed it), exploiting Tibetan achievements and then persecuting them in the process for resisting Chinese rule. I decided to ask Tristan what he thought about the issue because it seemed to me from our past conversations that he can look at the Chinese system of government from both a citizen’s and an outsider’s perspective quite well. I was extremely intrigued by his answer. He told me that the Chinese government did no such thing to the minority groups in China and in fact, gave Tibet millions to billions of Yen every year to help them develop further. I wasn’t going to question his answer because what sense would that make? I would be arguing with him over something I have never experienced or validated to be true, just something I was taught in class. As for the music aspect of exploitation, he said he had never heard of that before. I couldn’t help but think about which one of us was right. Had I been taught the wrong thing? Or had the Chinese government brainwashed him into thinking that they were helping the people they were actually hurting? It then made me question the education system in both countries. Most of the things I have learned about foreign countries while at college have been solely based on what my professors had told me. Now I’m sure that my professors are not purposely lying to me, if the information is, in fact, not true. But, I couldn’t help but think ‘how do I know what I’ve been told is true?’ I had never been to any of the countries that we have talked about and certainly never experienced anything we talked about either. All of my knowledge has come from what professors have told me was true. I must admit that it scared me to think that everything I had been told so far could possibly be a lie and there was probably no way I would ever find out if any of it was true or not.       

            I truly enjoyed this conversation with Tristan because it showed me that he trusts me with personal information. I had become a friend that he could tell his troubles to without hesitation and that meant a lot to me. I believe that trust is extremely important in any kind of social relationship with another person. I also enjoyed it because I was actually familiar with what we talked about when it pertained to China. I also think the moment of reflection I had about my education was important and influential to my attitude about the conversation.

             

I tried to think of a witty title, but I couldn't. Dang.

Today Tristan and I met, for our fourth conversation, in the BLUU auditorium lobby area for our conversation. As soon as the conversation began we started to talk about some pretty deep and controversial topics because he just came from a class where he had to debate gay marriage. We were talking about gay marriage in China as well as in the United States and he said that people here seem to be much more open to gay marriage than in China. We were talking about the fact that some states actually legalized gay marriage and he said that he thinks China is going to pass laws to protect gay rights for people. Since China is so populated they have a high gay population, so it would make sense to pass laws to protect their rights, although right now gay marriage is illegal in China. We both discussed our views on the topic, which were similar to each other, and from there went on to discuss drugs, alcohol, and race.

            He asked me what I thought about the drinking age being 21 in the United States and whether or not I thought that it should be lowered. I had to think about this for a second because I had never really considered what I thought about the law. I told him that I think no matter what the age becomes, people below the age are always going to try and drink. If anything, it would be smarter to raise it to 25 because that is when your brain is considered fully developed. But, raising it to 25 would cause way too many problems because there would be uproar against it. So I decided that it should stay where it is. He said that in China it is 18, but no one enforces the law and he believes it would be smarter if they were stricter about the law and raised it to 21 as well. He said that in China they consume a lot of alcohol and he doesn’t think that they should consume so much, especially at a young age. Then, drunk driving came up. He said that he couldn’t grasp why so many people in America drive while intoxicated and he wondered why they don’t stop because of the harm it is causing so many people. I didn’t have an answer for him. I felt bad that I didn’t have an answer for him because for some reason I feel obligated to have an answer for every question he asks about the United States. Maybe it’s because he always seems to have an answer for me when I ask about China. I think I also fear that I will look ignorant about my own country if I don’t have an answer for him when he asks me a question. Regardless, I had to tell him that I didn’t know why so many people do it and I agreed with him that it is a very bad thing and something that causes a lot of harm that should be stopped.

            After that topic we were talking about fall break. He asked me what I did and whether or not I had a good time and I asked him the same. Small talk. But then he said that he wishes he could get out of this place. That statement really caught me off guard. “What?” I asked, “Why would you say that?” He went on to tell me that he is really stressed out and that he needs to relax, but when he relaxes he gets more behind on things and he stresses out more. Then I realized he is a student just like me. I’m not sure why but I didn’t perceive him as having the same problems as I do and now I realize that it was extremely ignorant and stupid of me to think that way. So I began to talk to him about what was bothering him. He explained that the IEP is giving him a lot of stress because TCU is requiring him to be in the program but the scholarship he receives doesn’t cover the cost, so he has to pay for it with his money. He is frustrated at the fact that he is in the program in the first place, because he failed the English proficiency exam by one point. He said that he already knew how to speak English and to be put in the program just causes more stress and more work on him that he does not have the time for. So I tried to give him a little advice on the situation, but mainly just listened to him talk to me about it. Most of the time, people just need to talk to someone about their problems to get it off of their chest. So I was there to listen to everything that Tristan had to say to try and make him feel a little bit better about what he was going through. I felt really good knowing that he trusted me enough to talk to me about his problems and that he could open up to me and have faith in me to tell me these things. I can’t imagine how hard it is to attend school in another country that speaks a different language and then have something like the IEP program on top of school work. He works really hard every day and I feel bad that he feels as though there is no reward or results at the moment. I gave him some advice and told him to contact me anytime he needed anything and I wouldn’t hesitate to help him out. He ended our conversation by telling me that he always enjoyed meeting with me and always looked forward to it because he always left feeling happy. I returned his comment back to him, because I truly felt the same way. Leaving the auditorium I felt a sense of inner happiness and peace knowing that, even if it was just a little bit, I was relieving some of the stress that Tristan was feeling.

Buddhism

Tristan and I met for the third time the other day and unlike the other meetings, where I had thought about possible conversations before we met, I put no pre-thought into this meeting. I decided to go into the meeting and treat it like a normal conversation with no pre-planned topics. I now realize and think that this was the idea for the conversation meetings the entire time, treating our conversation partners as friends. Experiencing the conversations with this approach will allow us to not only learn about our conversation partner and their culture, but also prevent the conversation from having an interview type feel to it. Having an open-minded attitude about the conversation will allow for endless possibilities of where the conversation can go, instead of restricting the conversation by sticking to the topics pre-disposed in the mind. So, as I walked into the BLUU auditorium to talk to Tristan, I was excited and, honestly, a little nervous about the conversation that was about to happen. From reading some posts from my classmates, I feel as though I’d been going about the conversations all wrong since they seemed to have this feeling before their first meeting and this was my third meeting with Tristan. Tristan walked in after I had been sitting down for a few minutes and sat down across from me. We began to talk about our days and we went through the motions of typical conversation, talking about the weather and what we had planned for the day, etc. Then I had a thought. I don’t know where it came from, but I thought about Buddhism. For some reason, I have always been intrigued by Buddhism. I don’t really have a reason for it I guess; I just think it’s an interesting way of life. It dawned on me that my conversation partner was from China. So after my revelation I decided to ask him about it and what his thoughts on it were. Little did I know that Buddhism would consume the rest of our conversation. He began to tell me that he knew many Buddhists and that you can find them all over the place where he lives. He said that when he was little, he was always afraid of them. This struck me as odd because Buddhists have the reputation of being very calm, passive people who normally are not regarded as scary. He went on to tell me a story about when he visited a Buddhist monastery when he was younger. He said that the Buddhist’s had something about them that made them eerily mysterious to him. He wasn’t sure whether it was their clothes or their silence, but he knew that he didn’t like to be around them. I asked him if he still felt this way and he admitted that he does to some extent. Now that he isn’t as ignorant, their beliefs and actions make more sense to him but they still seem mysterious to him. Then he expressed a thought that was really interesting. He brought up the government in China and how they are afraid. When he said that I had no idea where he was going with this idea and I couldn’t wait to find out. He said that he believes the government is fearful that someone will undermine them and challenge their authority. They do not want new ideas getting introduced to society and that is why they exercise such tight control over the population. Tristan believes that Buddhism is a tool used by the government to manipulate society. Due to the extreme hierarchal structure that is present, if the government controls the religion, then the government controls society. He said that the government would prefer if people repressed their personalities and by controlling the religion that dominates the country, they can also control the people in the society. The government exploits the religion to depress people and keep social order. I thought to myself, “Well, it obviously isn’t working very well if Tristan thinks and recognizes all of this”. I was amazed by his ideas and thoughts on the topic. Now I have no way of telling if this is true or if there is even any evidence to back up his claims. But his perspective is what interested me. What awed me was the fact that he thought of all of these ideas and was actually beginning to convince me that the government used Buddhism as a method of exercising their control, and I know nothing about the religion! It made me realize how easily people can be taken control of if they follow a religion, or any organization for that matter, basing their decisions on the words of a spokesperson. Is this is the type of phenomenon that occurs in the moments we hear of in history and think ‘Why would anyone follow that’? I don’t know, but I thought it was interesting to think about because I had never experienced that before. Overall I really enjoyed our conversation and the new perspective and insight that I gained on the Buddhism religion. I look forward to meeting with him again. 

Conversation #2

Tristan and I met again last week in Market Square of the BLUU. Our conversation started off very general, asking each other how our days were going and how classes were going. Then I found out that Tristan actually lives in Irving and he has to commute to campus every day, which makes things difficult for him. I was intrigued as to why he lived so far from campus and turns out he is living for free in an apartment that someone is loaning to him. That person just happens to be a producer of “Prison Break”. How on earth did Tristan know him? While Tristan was performing in Hong Kong, the producer was at the performance and they were introduced to each other after the show. When Tristan came to the United States, the two reconnected and the producer offered up an apartment he owned while Tristan was studying at TCU. To me, it seemed as though Tristan had a really nice life in Beijing. He was playing shows in Hong Kong, which were apparently pretty prestigious if he had the producer of “Prison Break” attending them, he had worked the Olympics, and was in the best school in Beijing for piano performance. So why come here? I had to ask him this because it was hard for me to comprehend what he found so great about this place compared to his homeland. What he said was that the TCU piano performance professor had known him when he lived in Beijing and they were in contact regularly and became good friends. Tristan said that this professor is the reason he came to TCU to study. He says that TCU is very nice to international students and he loved the American culture, so it was an easy decision for him to make. After talking about his decision to come to the United States, I started to ask Tristan questions about health care in Beijing. I was learning about it in my Survey of Nursing class and couldn’t pass up to opportunity to actually ask someone who had experienced it. He said that he believes the medicine system in China is totally misusing Western Medicine. I asked him what he meant and he said that all of the doctors will give people antibiotics for anything they come in with, even if it is a slight cold or fever. He said that over here, doctors have very strict rules with what they can do. Over there, the doctors use the medicine with little restriction. This was odd to me because from what he’s told me in the past, the country is extremely strict and it is odd to me that the medicine is so lenient. I then started asking him about traditional medicine practices and whether he thinks that they work or not. Things like cupping, coining and acupuncture. For those that don’t know what these are, cupping is a traditional practice in which different sized glass cups are heated up and placed on the skin, forcing the skin to be suctioned into the cup due to the difference in pressure. Coining is a traditional practice where the edges of a coin are rubbed, hard, along the back and front of the body, pushing out the evil spirits. I assume most of you know what acupuncture is, but for those that don’t: acupuncture is the practice of inserting extremely fine needles into one’s skin at various pressure points throughout the body. Tristan believes that cupping and acupuncture work, but that in the hospitals over there, you will find Western Medicine. Some people in China believe that Western Medicine has adverse side effects to their bodies and refuse to take any medications or see health care professionals that are not traditional spiritual healers. He also believes that some aspects of the Eastern Medicine where he lives are completely ridiculous, like the belief that animals influence your health. He went on to explain to me that people believe that turtles have the power to cure cancer. This is the belief for other animals as well, I just can’t remember the specific examples he gave me. I thought that it was extremely insightful and quite culturally relative of him to look at his own culture through that lens. I am impressed with his ability to analyze and discuss his own culture, especially the things that he doesn’t agree with. I understand how hard it is to analyze and discuss something you have been immersed in all of your life. I told him that I was extremely impressed with his ability to do so and also with his wide knowledge of topics. He was shocked. He said that it was very nice of me to think that, but it was not true. We ended our conversation there, for he had to get to class. I look forward to meeting with him again. 

AIDS

Recently I watched a video on Netflix called House of Numbers. The movie was recommended to me by my Sociology professor. I didn’t really want to watch it, I must admit, because it was about AIDS and I watched multiple videos on AIDS in my AP Biology class when I was in high school. I’m not sure what compelled me to, but I watched the movie anyway. I guess I just figured I would refresh my memory about the syndrome because I couldn’t really remember what it was. I’m not going to bore you with all of the facts thrown out by the movie; I realize that numbers don’t appeal to everyone. But what the movie was saying intrigued me. Basically what the director did was go around the world, asking renowned scientists and researchers about HIV and AIDS and what their views on the two were, and what their definitions of them were. One thing most of them said was that the situation is not getting better. No one to this day has been cured of AIDS. The reason for this varies among the experts, but most believe it is because the drug companies make so much money off of the people living with the virus and the syndrome that they do not want to find a cure because it would significantly decrease profits. Regardless of the reason we do not have a cure, everyone that becomes infected with the virus and then the syndrome will die because of it. This idea is literally the only thing that the experts agree on. I wasn’t as intrigued by the facts in the movie as I was by the disagreement between the experts. I was blown away that these were the people we were supposed to be looking to for correct and definite information about the issue and they all disagreed with each other. Some experts said that AIDS was a chronic disease while others said that it wasn’t a disease at all. The actual definition of what AIDS is has changed so many times that the scientists and experts don’t even know what the definition is anymore. Since there is no universal definition, different countries use different definitions. You can be deemed infected with AIDS in Canada and then walk across the border into the United States and be deemed a healthy individual. How is that possible? Then I thought that if there is no universal definition, how are the statistics calculated? The director actually answers the question later on in the movie as he goes to the World Health Organization to get the official statistics on the AIDS infection count. What he finds is that even the World Health Organization doesn’t have official numbers; they only have assumptions and estimations. This absolutely amazed me. AIDS is deemed as a major world issue: there are ads all over the world advocating for safe sex to combat AIDS, education on it is implemented into the health curriculum, and people have completely altered their lifestyle because of it. In the United States people in California are even given special benefits for having AIDS. They get free living, a free cleaning service, and a handicap parking spot. Yet, the World Health Organization doesn’t even know how many people actually have it. It just astonishes me that we know almost nothing about AIDS and it has such influential power. There aren’t even accurate tests to determine if someone has AIDS or HIV. At AIDS testing centers in Africa they give you three tests to determine if you are infected. If the first two match, you most likely have it. If they differ, then a third test is used as the final determinant. Why wouldn’t they just use the third test in the first place? Because the test is not always accurate and can’t be used to determine infection by itself. For this reason, you can go to different cities in Africa and get different results. So then why would people get the test if they can’t get a definite answer? That doesn’t make sense to me, it just seems like unneeded stress. Most countries in the world use the Western Blot test to diagnose infection. Experts disagree on whether this test is sufficient enough or should be used in combination with other tests or not used at all. Another issue, besides the debate on whether it is actually effective, with the Western Blot is that what is categorized as AIDS depends on the manufacturer of the test. Each manufacturer has different criteria for what is determined as AIDS based on the test results. Also, studies have recently come out that state that HIV is extremely difficult to transmit through sexual intercourse, contrary to popular belief. They tracked down and interviewed hundreds of people who had unprotected sex with a partner that was deemed to have HIV to see how many had the virus transmitted to them. What did they find? None of them got the virus. Zero. Research continues to support the idea that HIV is almost impossible to transmit through unprotected sex. So, in conclusion, I still have no idea what to make of the AIDS and HIV scare. I don’t know if I should believe the numbers and what the experts are saying if they can’t seem to agree with one another. The issues with the tests are also kind of alarming to me. It just amazes me that something that is so mysterious and undefined can have such an influence on an entire population. It makes me wonder what makes something a social problem and another thing not. I am beginning to think that it depends on society’s reaction to the problem. There is no telling how long the AIDS mystery will linger, but my guess is that it is nowhere near disappearing.  

Uncontrollable Laughter #2

Today I walked into the basement lounge of Milton Daniel. It happens to be right next to my room, so I tend to visit the lounge frequently because people are always baking and I can smell what they are making due to my proximity to the room. My roommate and I were extremely bored between classes and smelled brownies being baked, so we decided to check it out and see if we could get some brownies while we waited for class to start. We entered the lounge to find our two friends, Ashley and Chris, baking the brownies. We kindly asked if we could have some of the brownies when they were done cooking and they were generous enough to give us some of the brownies. But now we were presented with a dilemma. We had 25 minutes before the brownies were done and of course they had to cool off for a little while after they came out of the oven. So, I decided to see what we around the room that we could play with for a little while. I found some extra eggs that Chris and Ashley hadn’t used in the batter for the brownies. Jackpot. At first, we just started throwing the eggs around at each other, kind of in a hot potato fashion. As we were playing “hot egg”, I had a revelation. My grand moment of clarity was to see if I could trick my roommate into thinking that you cannot break an egg if you press on the sides as hard as you can. Now, before you go ranking on my roommate for actually doing something this stupid and sketchy, there actually is some truth to it. If you take an egg and put the butt end and the pointy end in between your hands at the base of your palms, it is indeed impossible to break an egg. You can try it if you truly desire, I promise it will not break if you do it correctly. The problem is, not many people know the correct placement and technique when they press against the egg so it does not break. Usually what happens is that the egg will slide slightly from its original position, throwing the balance and distribution of the pressure off. This results in the egg breaking. Luckily, I know how to do it so that the egg will not break, even if I use all of what little strength I have to attempt to crush it in between my hands. So, I showed Hunter, my roommate, that it is in fact impossible to break the egg if it’s in this position. I told him that he needs to give it a try and at first he refused. But I used good old peer pressure to finally get the once reluctant roommate to agree to try it. The only condition he had was that he wanted to do it over the sink just in case something went wrong. I said that was perfectly fine. So, I handed him the egg and he proceeded to walk over to the sink. He positioned the egg in between his palms and my friend Chris got his video camera ready. Hunter began to press against the egg. At first, everything happened as it was supposed to. He couldn’t break the egg because he was timid about putting pressure on the egg because he didn’t want it to break all over him and the clothes he was wearing. To my delight, after seeing that it actually works he gained the confidence to try again, but this time giving it all of his strength. Going with my expectations perfectly, the excess force caused his hands to move slightly thus causing the egg to burst all over him, the sink, the cabinets above the sink, and the wall behind the sink. Chris and I broke into immediate uncontrollable laughter. Tears streaming down our face when he turned to us and his hair was drenched in egg, he stormed out of the room while uttering the words “I hate y’all”. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common exchange between my roommate and me because he seems to be the cause of my laughter quite often. He’s a good sport about it though and usually gets over what had happened within a few minutes. What caused me to laugh was a combination of laughing at his misfortune and the fact that what I thought was going to happen actually worked and went as planned. The astonishment of things actually going as planned was just an addition to my source of laughter. Was it the superiority theory? I think there was certainly an aspect of it. I felt that I had outsmarted him and tricked him into doing something that I had suspected would happen and it amused me that he was gullible enough to actually try it. Am I saying that I’m more intelligent than him? Of course not. But I certainly felt like I was for that short amount of time and it helped to contribute to my laughter in addition to laughing at his physical humor, thinking that I was glad it was not me. To make this story more visible, I will attempt to get the video posted on my blog as well, so that hopefully you all can share my laughter at this event.