Robert Khuu Presents

If any/none of you were wondering …

So, a few things have changed:

1. I’ve graduated from law school, and
2. I’ve moved back to CA.

The first one I am particularly proud of. After three long years of toiling, I’ve managed to get my juris doctorate. Granted, I have yet to do anything with it, but, nonetheless, I am proud of my accomplishment. Now, I just have to get over the “you’re not studying!” guilt-meter that law school installed in my brain.

The trip was actually kind of fun. I decided to drive the entire 2500+ mile trip back to CA. My brother and I took the I-80 to the I-70 to the I-15 to get back. We drove through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Nevada. The trip back was actually pretty efficient. We woke up, drove, stopped, slept. Rinse and repeat for three and half days. I’d actually like to do it again (not anytime soon) so that I could do some exploring. All-in-all, a pretty good trip.

The trip back marked the end of a particular phase of my life. I can’t be a responsibility-free student anymore. I just have to figure out what to do for the rest of it. The only thing I’ve figured out is: 1) find a job, 2) work said job, 3) ??????, 4) profit.

Pinko Commie Litmus Test

While I tend to think that I’m a left leaning moderate, apparently, the Center for American Progress’ political quiz says otherwise. According to the test, I am:

I suppose my main criticism of the test is that it doesn’t account for my willingness to compromise w/the opposition in favor of practical solutions. Maybe that takes me out of the extreme left? The questions and answers are pretty simplistic. For example, there’s a question that asks how much we agree w/the basic statement that “unions are good” (or was it bad?). My views on labor unions are far more complex than that simple dichotomy (e.g., the more skilled the labor, less of a need for a union). The test only really checks for pure ideology and not so much political realities. FiveThirtyEight has a pretty good analysis that basically says:

If conservatives and liberals had fundamental disagreementson [over] most major political questions, you’d expect to see a statistically significant inverse correlation in their responses. But you don’t see that. Conversely, if they agreed on most of these fundamental questions, with the differences being only around the periphery, you’d expect to see a statistically significant positive correlation in their responses. But you don’t really see that either. Source: FiveThirtyEight.

So that whole bit about the “culture wars” and the “disconnect” that liberals (or conservatives) have from the “true” America? Garbage.

Can’t I lie down and worship?

Amazon recently recommended that I buy Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” based on my past purchases. I wonder where it found the connection? The only book that might result in this suggestion is Alan Greenspan’s “The Age of Turbulence” and I bought that book a few months ago. The rest of my purchases tend to center around science fiction, video games, and the occasional liberal hippie sociology book.

I’ve actually considered reading “Atlas Shrugged,” but my main complaint is that it’s a really long read. I’m mostly satisfied with reading about Rand’s viewpoint on Wikipedia in addition to listening to true believers gush over Rand’s greatness. Needless to say, but I think I’ve got a pretty good grasp of what that viewpoint entails. I mostly reject the broader implications of the Randist philosophy, but I like what it says on the micro level. On the other hand, my view is definitely incomplete. I probably won’t have the full picture until I’ve actually read “Atlas Shrugged” in addition to the rest of her bibliography, but every time I set my mind to reading her book I always encounter the same old problem: it’s so long.

In any event, given my liberal quasi-socialist tendencies, I find it amusing that Amazon suggests I read an author that tends to run counter to my philosophical leanings. It’s a little like asking me to read and enjoy Ann Coulter.

Childhood Memories

Last night I had dinner at a pretty good Mexican family-style restaurant in Akron. The food was relatively authentic, but what stuck out for me the most was the fact that it was family-owned. Particularly, I noticed that a child, who was probably 12-years-old at the most, was working as a sort of “floor manager”for the restaurant. More »

New Beginnings

I’ve decided to reboot parts of this “blog” in the hopes that I will start putting more content up on this site. As I approach the end of my tenure in law school, I’m beginning to have more and more free time. So, hopefully, there will be more to come in the next few days/weeks/monthns.