This is fucking ridiculous. Never mind the fact that this is a blatant copout by the English teacher who assigned this. If these are emotions or thoughts that come up as a result of the Virginia Tech tragedy, then you ought to acknowledge the fact that they exist. Read Underground by Haruki Murakami (lol, 3235235th time I've mentioned him), which is a book about the 1995 (?) poison gas terror attack on the Tokyo subway. Basically, Murakami interviewed different people and asked for their personal accounts of the tragedy, what they felt, and so forth; but most importantly, he asked them how they lived their lives afterwards. And you have some pretty odd reactions. One guy divorced his wife the day after he got caught up in the attack. Another person feels sorry for the people who committed the attack. And so forth. One of the most important aspects of a tragedy like this is the psychological effect it has on people; it should be explored.
Of course, the emotions expressed in the essay might not be serious at all, or might not be a reaction to the VT tragedy. But they came from somewhere.
On a less serious note --
T.I. is performing at Tufts tomorrow! And I might not be going. Dammit. My little group of friends didn't get tickets... putains du millenium
Friday, 27 April 2007
Excerpt from my 2K6 summer journal
Friday, July 21, 2006
...
There's this sign we just passed that says "Idaho is too great to litter." I know the message is intended for when you're in Idaho, but that's a great slogan to take elsewhere. The next time you're at home wherever you are and you go out thinking about just throwing your juice box away on the road because there's no trash can, remember that Idaho is too great to litter. Even in Massachusetts, Idaho is too great to litter. Man, Idaho. It's just so great, I don't litter anymore!
...
There's this sign we just passed that says "Idaho is too great to litter." I know the message is intended for when you're in Idaho, but that's a great slogan to take elsewhere. The next time you're at home wherever you are and you go out thinking about just throwing your juice box away on the road because there's no trash can, remember that Idaho is too great to litter. Even in Massachusetts, Idaho is too great to litter. Man, Idaho. It's just so great, I don't litter anymore!
Shameless Advertisement
http://carbonleaf.blogspot.com/2007/04/she-sells-sanctuary.html
I didn't feel like copying it because now you might be tempted to read my other bullshit. This one just happened to be more explicitly philosophical. Also, you might achieve a slightly higher understanding of this nonsense if you read Heinlein's "Starship Troopers", which should be universally required reading anyways. Your library has a copy, and it's worth the two hours it'll take you to read. Hell, go to church twice and read it.
I didn't feel like copying it because now you might be tempted to read my other bullshit. This one just happened to be more explicitly philosophical. Also, you might achieve a slightly higher understanding of this nonsense if you read Heinlein's "Starship Troopers", which should be universally required reading anyways. Your library has a copy, and it's worth the two hours it'll take you to read. Hell, go to church twice and read it.
Let's take a trip back to the Progressive Era!
Dennis Kucinich for President '08.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kucinich#2008_Presidential_campaign
I agree pretty much 100% with all of his views. And he's vegan. Too bad he looks like the Kebler elf.
Vote for the only progressive running by voting for Dennis Kucinich for President in '08.
Yeah.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kucinich#2008_Presidential_campaign
I agree pretty much 100% with all of his views. And he's vegan. Too bad he looks like the Kebler elf.
Vote for the only progressive running by voting for Dennis Kucinich for President in '08.
Yeah.
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
Boring, shitty semester
Okay, I'm done with my policy of general vagueness towards my second semester at college. It was shit.
What I hoped to accomplish did not and will not happen. The heart I put into my work is tantamount to, I dunno, nothing? I failed to reestablish the lovely college balance that existed last semester. My relationship with French is tenuous again--and again, the question: do I like these things just because I'm good at them and because of the teachers I get? Shit, give me an English class where I don't have to write essays. Give me an English class where all I have to do is put my all into class participation. I can't even count how many Tufts students ought to fail at class participation! Ugh. Let me learn from comedy and don't depress me with nihilism-inducing stories where not much happens. Baudelaire's a douche. Where's the organization in Linear Algebra? If this course is so common, why do I have so little faith in the idea that everyone's learning the same thing? And then Japanese, which has also become dry.
Understand this; oui, understand this,
but don't take me back to the Prep.
Me writing that makes me smile.
Good night.
What I hoped to accomplish did not and will not happen. The heart I put into my work is tantamount to, I dunno, nothing? I failed to reestablish the lovely college balance that existed last semester. My relationship with French is tenuous again--and again, the question: do I like these things just because I'm good at them and because of the teachers I get? Shit, give me an English class where I don't have to write essays. Give me an English class where all I have to do is put my all into class participation. I can't even count how many Tufts students ought to fail at class participation! Ugh. Let me learn from comedy and don't depress me with nihilism-inducing stories where not much happens. Baudelaire's a douche. Where's the organization in Linear Algebra? If this course is so common, why do I have so little faith in the idea that everyone's learning the same thing? And then Japanese, which has also become dry.
Understand this; oui, understand this,
but don't take me back to the Prep.
Me writing that makes me smile.
Good night.
Monday, 23 April 2007
Fish
Ahoy! All freewrites start with "Ahoy!"
It's a fish, that problem: life. But Frankl's got it; Victor Emil Frankl knows what's cookin'. What's cookin' is fish. Fish is cookin'. But in terms of philosophy, I think this Frankl character has discovered the meaning of life, although he failed to quantify it (anyone could have told him it was 42). He's got all the answers, this character.
But read some of his books: his logic is strangely mathematical, or at least that's the way I saw it, because that's the way I think, and that man connected. He reeled me right in. I'm done with these horrific puns. What the WTF? That's a new phrase I learned.
In any case, I would like to analyze my reasons for failing to write. I haven't written since my blog post in mid-February; I've written no papers, no freewrites, no nothing, although, get this: my English teacher from last semester has kept in contact with me (she's kinda cute too, but that's another story for another day, and another day I will tell another story), and she loves my writing, and she keeps bugging me to write, so I'm going to. But I haven't needed writing until this point. Life was great, life was fine, and one of two situations was the case; either my head increased its capacity to organize thoughts internally, or my thoughts were simple enough to be organized within my current capacity. I understood the universe, in the same way Zaphod thought he did. I suggest a combination. After learning much about the nature of Reality in my Fundamentals of Math Concepts course, I started seeing patterns in everything, and I could sort of store data post-analysis in my head, so it required less organization because of a good front-end for transfer, to put it in programming terms. I suggest, however, that my thoughts must still have been simpler than normal, because now things are increasingly complex—it increases with time, but it's not linear, hell no—try cubic—and I need space to organize.
Long paragraphs have few readers; did you know that FUCK YOU BOB Chris Hedges is one of the worst writers of all time? He's a reporter, and you can tell, because not only does he have no fucking clue how to use commas, he writes all sporadically like he's writing an article, and his information is all scattered about with no organization. English majors love it because they're all liberal pussies; mathematicians hate it because there's no pattern except the man's stupidity. The "FUCK YOU BOB" is something I picked up from a course called America at War. The teacher's name is Bob Dow; the teacher's game is playing connect-the-dots in a dictionary and calling it a fucking class. I wish it was a fucking class, because of the two girls, one of them is actually very attractive. He would make Furlong cry with his analysis of poems and novels. The only good thing to come of the class is the book list: it has three good books. We read "A Farewell to Arms", "Slaughterhouse-Five", and "Man's Search for Meaning". Other than that, FUCK YOU BOB we just spend two and a half hours trying not to fall asleep every Wednesday afternoon, and two to three hours watching a horrible movie, except we'll get to see Full Metal Jacket soon.
In other news, I've finalized my schedule for the rest of my four-year career; I'm going to have a Computer Systems Engineering major, a Mathematics major, and a Computer Science minor.
Peace out.
It's a fish, that problem: life. But Frankl's got it; Victor Emil Frankl knows what's cookin'. What's cookin' is fish. Fish is cookin'. But in terms of philosophy, I think this Frankl character has discovered the meaning of life, although he failed to quantify it (anyone could have told him it was 42). He's got all the answers, this character.
But read some of his books: his logic is strangely mathematical, or at least that's the way I saw it, because that's the way I think, and that man connected. He reeled me right in. I'm done with these horrific puns. What the WTF? That's a new phrase I learned.
In any case, I would like to analyze my reasons for failing to write. I haven't written since my blog post in mid-February; I've written no papers, no freewrites, no nothing, although, get this: my English teacher from last semester has kept in contact with me (she's kinda cute too, but that's another story for another day, and another day I will tell another story), and she loves my writing, and she keeps bugging me to write, so I'm going to. But I haven't needed writing until this point. Life was great, life was fine, and one of two situations was the case; either my head increased its capacity to organize thoughts internally, or my thoughts were simple enough to be organized within my current capacity. I understood the universe, in the same way Zaphod thought he did. I suggest a combination. After learning much about the nature of Reality in my Fundamentals of Math Concepts course, I started seeing patterns in everything, and I could sort of store data post-analysis in my head, so it required less organization because of a good front-end for transfer, to put it in programming terms. I suggest, however, that my thoughts must still have been simpler than normal, because now things are increasingly complex—it increases with time, but it's not linear, hell no—try cubic—and I need space to organize.
Long paragraphs have few readers; did you know that FUCK YOU BOB Chris Hedges is one of the worst writers of all time? He's a reporter, and you can tell, because not only does he have no fucking clue how to use commas, he writes all sporadically like he's writing an article, and his information is all scattered about with no organization. English majors love it because they're all liberal pussies; mathematicians hate it because there's no pattern except the man's stupidity. The "FUCK YOU BOB" is something I picked up from a course called America at War. The teacher's name is Bob Dow; the teacher's game is playing connect-the-dots in a dictionary and calling it a fucking class. I wish it was a fucking class, because of the two girls, one of them is actually very attractive. He would make Furlong cry with his analysis of poems and novels. The only good thing to come of the class is the book list: it has three good books. We read "A Farewell to Arms", "Slaughterhouse-Five", and "Man's Search for Meaning". Other than that, FUCK YOU BOB we just spend two and a half hours trying not to fall asleep every Wednesday afternoon, and two to three hours watching a horrible movie, except we'll get to see Full Metal Jacket soon.
In other news, I've finalized my schedule for the rest of my four-year career; I'm going to have a Computer Systems Engineering major, a Mathematics major, and a Computer Science minor.
Peace out.
Friday, 20 April 2007
Happy 4/20!
Good morning my fellow freewriting adepts.
Today is 4/20. This means it's time for EARTH DAY CELEBRATIONS AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY! Oh and smoking pot. But not for me, because I have a wicked hot date that I don't want to forget about. Yeaaah.
Currently I am encoding some Captain Planet episodes I downloaded into a format which can be put onto DVD and read. The purpose of this is so we can play Captain Planet (aka the best cartoon ever) at our booth today along with documentaries about organic living and genetically modified organisms. Not only will the Captain (no not the spiced rum making one) teach environmental messages, but entertain those of us who will be baked out of our minds (everyone minus me). I see no fault in this plan.
So next year I'm taking multivariate calculus (finally), physics II (review), engineering mechanics (not sure what this is), linear algebra, and INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE! I have five fucking classes. Bad. Bad 30ish hours of school a week. Bad. Plus work.
When I die I would like to be buried in the earth without a coffin or preservatives in my body. I would then request that a tree, preferably some type of maple tree, be planted over my corpse. Of course, my burial site should be guaranteed to be protected from demolition/etc. for the next hundred years or more so the tree which grows from my essence can prosper and perhaps even propagate.
Other plans: when/if I ever have children, I want to plant a tree the day they're born. This involves abandoning my future wife at the hospital the moment the child enters this world to start digging. My mother did something similar to this for me, except it was purchased when I was maybe three. However, I believe the tree was planted the year I was born so it's all good. We even had it harvested from our old home in Peabody to be planted at my Aunt's in Beverly when we moved to New Jersey. My uncle and aunt have taken good care of it but unfortunately have stunted it's growth by planting it around bushes and other plants in a small area of land so the root system can't expand. It may be only about as tall as I am, and thinner than my... you get the idea, but it has the most beautiful leaves in the autumn.
I also plan on growing trees in the bonsai art manner. I heavily dislike bonsai which shows man's dominance over nature - trees which have been clipped, bent, and generally abused into an unnatural shape - but I do love ones which simulate nature. One of my favorites that I've ever seen was some type of maple which was planted on a rock but had its root system going down the sides of the rock into the soil below. It, to me and probably the gardener, is a symbol of perseverance and determination. I really would like to grow Redwoods as I think they are beautiful in every shape and form. I believe the oldest recorded has over 3,200 rings. This means it is older than 3,200 years. Wow. Touching it is the closest thing to touching an immortal being. The amount of accumulated biological knowledge and experience it must have might approach the spiritual. I also wish to grow bonsai pines and maples among others. On my property, I also hope to grow several sugar maple trees and be able to perfect making several maple products such as maple syrup, maple butter, maple toffee, and maple cream. Furthermore, I'll probably set aside a large part of my dream house's property aside for a garden. It's been my dream for a number of years, especially after reading Thoreau, even though I think he's a shortsighted and foolish nutjob at times, to be self sustaining. That's what the future is. Once we can't use oil anymore due to shortages, global warming, or whatever, all of our food must be able to come from local sources. No more importing cheap corn and meat from the Mid-West or fruits from South America. It all must be grown on local, hopefully organic, farms. I figure I'll happy if I can at least grow my own food and provide my own energy through solar power for my house and car, or not have a car at all.
Time for bed,
Chris
Today is 4/20. This means it's time for EARTH DAY CELEBRATIONS AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY! Oh and smoking pot. But not for me, because I have a wicked hot date that I don't want to forget about. Yeaaah.
Currently I am encoding some Captain Planet episodes I downloaded into a format which can be put onto DVD and read. The purpose of this is so we can play Captain Planet (aka the best cartoon ever) at our booth today along with documentaries about organic living and genetically modified organisms. Not only will the Captain (no not the spiced rum making one) teach environmental messages, but entertain those of us who will be baked out of our minds (everyone minus me). I see no fault in this plan.
So next year I'm taking multivariate calculus (finally), physics II (review), engineering mechanics (not sure what this is), linear algebra, and INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE! I have five fucking classes. Bad. Bad 30ish hours of school a week. Bad. Plus work.
When I die I would like to be buried in the earth without a coffin or preservatives in my body. I would then request that a tree, preferably some type of maple tree, be planted over my corpse. Of course, my burial site should be guaranteed to be protected from demolition/etc. for the next hundred years or more so the tree which grows from my essence can prosper and perhaps even propagate.
Other plans: when/if I ever have children, I want to plant a tree the day they're born. This involves abandoning my future wife at the hospital the moment the child enters this world to start digging. My mother did something similar to this for me, except it was purchased when I was maybe three. However, I believe the tree was planted the year I was born so it's all good. We even had it harvested from our old home in Peabody to be planted at my Aunt's in Beverly when we moved to New Jersey. My uncle and aunt have taken good care of it but unfortunately have stunted it's growth by planting it around bushes and other plants in a small area of land so the root system can't expand. It may be only about as tall as I am, and thinner than my... you get the idea, but it has the most beautiful leaves in the autumn.
I also plan on growing trees in the bonsai art manner. I heavily dislike bonsai which shows man's dominance over nature - trees which have been clipped, bent, and generally abused into an unnatural shape - but I do love ones which simulate nature. One of my favorites that I've ever seen was some type of maple which was planted on a rock but had its root system going down the sides of the rock into the soil below. It, to me and probably the gardener, is a symbol of perseverance and determination. I really would like to grow Redwoods as I think they are beautiful in every shape and form. I believe the oldest recorded has over 3,200 rings. This means it is older than 3,200 years. Wow. Touching it is the closest thing to touching an immortal being. The amount of accumulated biological knowledge and experience it must have might approach the spiritual. I also wish to grow bonsai pines and maples among others. On my property, I also hope to grow several sugar maple trees and be able to perfect making several maple products such as maple syrup, maple butter, maple toffee, and maple cream. Furthermore, I'll probably set aside a large part of my dream house's property aside for a garden. It's been my dream for a number of years, especially after reading Thoreau, even though I think he's a shortsighted and foolish nutjob at times, to be self sustaining. That's what the future is. Once we can't use oil anymore due to shortages, global warming, or whatever, all of our food must be able to come from local sources. No more importing cheap corn and meat from the Mid-West or fruits from South America. It all must be grown on local, hopefully organic, farms. I figure I'll happy if I can at least grow my own food and provide my own energy through solar power for my house and car, or not have a car at all.
Time for bed,
Chris
Saturday, 14 April 2007
Bad news, Greg.
So it turns out that the PawSox lost tonight's game, 6-2. However, only 2 of the runs that the PawSox' opponents scored were earned. This is due to an error by, say it ain't so, but it is--- JOE MCEWING.
Actually, in baseball, say you're pitching and you already have 2 outs. If someone makes an error when a 3rd out could've been made, any further runs scored in the inning are unearned. So a shitty pitcher could give up about 8 runs afterwards and none of them would be earned at all! Well, ex-Royal Runelvys Hernandez was the pitcher who gave up 4 unearned runs after this happened. Yeah, his ERA is 1.59. Lookin' good. I hope they don't call him up.
Haha, I totally forgot to look at the Red Sox score tonight, I was so interested in catching up on minor league baseball. It's always interesting to see where all these random players have gone -- did you know Ron Villone is in the minor leagues? Mark Bellhorn, by the way, is hitting .250 with 2 HR and 7 RBI right now, so I guess he has a chance of getting called up to the Reds sometime. Oh, wait, I didn't forget to look at the Sox game results tonight; I just forgot.
Wow, it's late.
Actually, in baseball, say you're pitching and you already have 2 outs. If someone makes an error when a 3rd out could've been made, any further runs scored in the inning are unearned. So a shitty pitcher could give up about 8 runs afterwards and none of them would be earned at all! Well, ex-Royal Runelvys Hernandez was the pitcher who gave up 4 unearned runs after this happened. Yeah, his ERA is 1.59. Lookin' good. I hope they don't call him up.
Haha, I totally forgot to look at the Red Sox score tonight, I was so interested in catching up on minor league baseball. It's always interesting to see where all these random players have gone -- did you know Ron Villone is in the minor leagues? Mark Bellhorn, by the way, is hitting .250 with 2 HR and 7 RBI right now, so I guess he has a chance of getting called up to the Reds sometime. Oh, wait, I didn't forget to look at the Sox game results tonight; I just forgot.
Wow, it's late.
Thursday, 12 April 2007
Goals, desires, problems, and the antithesis of Buddhism
Hello,
Springboarding off the idea of listing stuff to do that Alex and Ashish had, here's mine. Any comments would be appreciated.
TODO:
1) Find stuff to do
2) Descend lower into the rungs of hippie-land.
3) Decide upon a major: over the past 3 months, I've become thoroughly disenchanted with computers. They just don't fucking do anything. At least they're more productive than being some sort of accountant - i.e. they BARELY generate new wealth. Accountants, lawyers, etc. just work with the system to help transfer money from the proletariat to the upper class. It's really fucked up that our nation is churning out people who produce no real increase in wealth while engineering and manufacturing dwindles. Computers just organize data. Meh. Go do something productive like save the planet or people.
I'm pretty much stuck at BU, unless I want to go to UMass _____ because after seeing all the girls and social people here, there is no way I'm going to an engineering geek only college. It's a pity BU only offers Computer, Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace, Manufacturing, and Biomedical Engineering. We need Environmental / Civil Engineering because I so want to do these two. I'm almost decided that I'll switch from Computer Engineering to Mechanical and get a minor (or major, if possible) in Environmental Sciences. This would hopefully help me if/when I go to graduate school for Environmental engineering / something similar or get into a company which has a department based on this. For example, I could help both the American economy and the environment by working for (insert American car company) in their research and development department developing fuel efficient transportation. HOW THE FUCK DOESN'T AMERICA HAVE A HYBRID YET? HOW DID WE LET OTHER COUNTRIES BE THE LEADERS IN TECHNOLOGY?
4) Join and help fully form Engineers Without Borders at BU. Changing my major to Mechanical would help me more thoroughly participate in this (see rant above).
5) Garden a lot more. This includes becoming a leader in the Organic Gardening Club I'm in and also growing a San Pedro cactus to make peyote from.
6) Stay vegan.
7) Be able to climb a V6 or 5.13 by the end of senior year at least. This involves keeping up my climbing and working out over the summer and during the school year.
8) Get an apartment with like minded people.
9) Join more radical organizations to help BU once again become known as the Berkeley of the East Coast (like it was before a president in the 70's created the BU police and bashed all of our hippie's skulls in).
10) Kayak, hike, ice climb, bike, and enjoy life.
11) Get a tan.
Peace, love and happiness. Dig yourselves thoroughly.
Chris
Springboarding off the idea of listing stuff to do that Alex and Ashish had, here's mine. Any comments would be appreciated.
TODO:
1) Find stuff to do
2) Descend lower into the rungs of hippie-land.
3) Decide upon a major: over the past 3 months, I've become thoroughly disenchanted with computers. They just don't fucking do anything. At least they're more productive than being some sort of accountant - i.e. they BARELY generate new wealth. Accountants, lawyers, etc. just work with the system to help transfer money from the proletariat to the upper class. It's really fucked up that our nation is churning out people who produce no real increase in wealth while engineering and manufacturing dwindles. Computers just organize data. Meh. Go do something productive like save the planet or people.
I'm pretty much stuck at BU, unless I want to go to UMass _____ because after seeing all the girls and social people here, there is no way I'm going to an engineering geek only college. It's a pity BU only offers Computer, Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace, Manufacturing, and Biomedical Engineering. We need Environmental / Civil Engineering because I so want to do these two. I'm almost decided that I'll switch from Computer Engineering to Mechanical and get a minor (or major, if possible) in Environmental Sciences. This would hopefully help me if/when I go to graduate school for Environmental engineering / something similar or get into a company which has a department based on this. For example, I could help both the American economy and the environment by working for (insert American car company) in their research and development department developing fuel efficient transportation. HOW THE FUCK DOESN'T AMERICA HAVE A HYBRID YET? HOW DID WE LET OTHER COUNTRIES BE THE LEADERS IN TECHNOLOGY?
4) Join and help fully form Engineers Without Borders at BU. Changing my major to Mechanical would help me more thoroughly participate in this (see rant above).
5) Garden a lot more. This includes becoming a leader in the Organic Gardening Club I'm in and also growing a San Pedro cactus to make peyote from.
6) Stay vegan.
7) Be able to climb a V6 or 5.13 by the end of senior year at least. This involves keeping up my climbing and working out over the summer and during the school year.
8) Get an apartment with like minded people.
9) Join more radical organizations to help BU once again become known as the Berkeley of the East Coast (like it was before a president in the 70's created the BU police and bashed all of our hippie's skulls in).
10) Kayak, hike, ice climb, bike, and enjoy life.
11) Get a tan.
Peace, love and happiness. Dig yourselves thoroughly.
Chris
This site explodes in freewrites, and then Kurt Vonnegut dies. It figures.
Er, I mean, so it goes. It's been awhile since I last read a Vonnegut novel; actually, no, I think I read The Sirens of Titan over the summer, which was an amazing ride, but from which I remember almost nothing. Still, I know it's shaped my mind in some way that I deeply appreciate from one of the authors that makes me proud to be an American. Does that sentence make sense? I kinda switched thoughts in the middle of it. So it goes.
In any case, Kurt Vonnegut is dead. The man, the myth, the legend, the cat, the cradle. SEE THE CAT? SEE THE CRADLE? God, I hope they don't invent that ice particle that turns everything into ice. He came to speak at Tufts; I was kinda hoping he'd show up again. Whatever, maybe in my dreams. That'd be scary. Actually, this is one man's funeral I'd go to. I'd go there, and sit there with one of his books in hand, and hope that the book I chose isn't ironic with respect to the fact that I'm at his funeral. That'd suck. What I mean is, well, imagine me going to Dante's funeral with a copy of The Inferno, not knowing what it's about and only reading it for the first time. That'd make me look bad.
Why don't I remember anything from Sirens of Titan? I should investigate it on Wikipedia.
Oh, yes, I remember the ending: that shit was positive.
In any case, Kurt Vonnegut is dead. The man, the myth, the legend, the cat, the cradle. SEE THE CAT? SEE THE CRADLE? God, I hope they don't invent that ice particle that turns everything into ice. He came to speak at Tufts; I was kinda hoping he'd show up again. Whatever, maybe in my dreams. That'd be scary. Actually, this is one man's funeral I'd go to. I'd go there, and sit there with one of his books in hand, and hope that the book I chose isn't ironic with respect to the fact that I'm at his funeral. That'd suck. What I mean is, well, imagine me going to Dante's funeral with a copy of The Inferno, not knowing what it's about and only reading it for the first time. That'd make me look bad.
Why don't I remember anything from Sirens of Titan? I should investigate it on Wikipedia.
Oh, yes, I remember the ending: that shit was positive.
Holy Tits, Batman!
In last 10 seconds, I have conceived and trademarked the phrase that entitles this post. It is now my goal to make it the hip catchphrase of 2007. If I accomplish that goal, I will simitaneously become famous, popular, and laid (three states that somehow elluded me in high school.) I also uttered the phrase when I came to my attention that I have a serious enigma in my life. An enigma that seems to have captured the minds of millions upon billions of other people on this planet. An enigma and that some people fear is a flaw and should be wiped out of existence.
I believe in God.
Something is askewww (as I make hand gestures like the great Lewis Black). At this point, my education at an institution of higher learning should have negated my belief in an omnipotent deity. If not that, the rebelliousness brought upon by my teenage years should have definitely caused a denial of the ridculous notion that a god could exist. What about the unimaginable stupidity shown by some people of faith in these times? Without question, that should push me away from following any religious doctrine. And "Are We Done Yet" was not only made, but made $10 million! Clearly, there can be no god.
And yet, here I am. Praying to a unseen deity every evening. Going to a Bible study every Monday so that I gain a better understanding of a mysterious series of sixty-six books. Going to church every Sunday to meet with people who appear to be as delusional as I am. And yet, I can't stop. And I probably won't stop for the rest of my life. And now, I have to find out why.
Maybe it's because of my Christian upbringing. Maybe I've been hardwired from birth to believe that God is an all-powerful heavenly figure, even though in reality He may be nothing more than an imaginary friend that some people created long ago and that some people use to obtain money. But almost everyday (yes, everyday), I hear that people's upbringing (whether it be Catholic, Islamic, or Pastafanistic) is the direct result of their current atheism. They claim that an education and common sense has turned them away from believing in God. And they appear angry and full of disdain for being misled. But I have an education. I have common sense. I am trying to apply these things to religion. And I'm not angry! Well maybe a little bit. But this notion in God and his power persist. This clearly isn't it. There has to be another reason.
Okay, surely the idiocy shown by other people of faith in the political realm would turn me away. Hell, some people in power follow their faith so blindly that will willingly destroy all life on this planet (all 7 billion people) as we know it because they believe in some form of the apocalypse that will bring some form of salvation to humanity. Hell, people in the Christian faith (my faith) will oppress a substatial portion of the population because they read something as a sin out of context that is mentioned twice (yes, twice) in the entire Bible. Hell, many people of the Christian faith are turning this country backward as we speak. But I still believe. Maybe it's because almost every Christian I've known in my life has expressed more love than hate. Obviously, there are more than a few types of Christians out there. There are obviously more than a few types of people out there. Oddly enough, my Christian faith has just prevented me from falling to the unintelligent black hole that is generalizations. Okay, whatever associations religion has with politics won't turn me away either.
Maybe I'm not being as drawn towards Christianity as I am being drawn away from atheism. Now, all my free time at college has afforded me the opportunity to find an exobinant amount of useless information on the Web. Oddly enough, much of the information that has attracted me has been of the atheistic persuasion. However, of all I know about how bad people of faith can be, I can safely say that atheists can be just as bad. Can be! Can be. I know not all atheists are as bad as the ones I am about to mention. For instance, Richard Dawkins is an extremely intelligent man of science, but not even he is immune to logical fallacies and almost unbearable conviction that he is, and always will be, right. I've seen atheists pervert the messages and themes of the Bible so badly on YouTube and the Internet Movie Database that I want to live in a monastery. Hell, I'll even put them in the same category as the Religious Right (or whatever that stupid blanket term entails.) Not only that, but the anger, smugness, and overwhelmingly disdainful ways in which some atheists present their arguments make me want to staple my eyes shut and glue pencils in my ears. However, I don't want to abide by the Christian faith because it is the lesser of two evils (it's an expression, I don't mean it literally.) There has to be something else that keeps me in my Christian ways.
I don't know...wait that's it! I don't know! I don't know what compels me to be a Christian. Maybe it's that's nice soft safety blanket that Christian provides that gives me the answers that others can't.
Oh, but others can! We didn't plop down out of the sky 6,000 years ago like the Bible said. The whole world wasn't flooded like the story of Noah said. How could God just crap all over Job just to settle a wager with the Devil. Outside of 33 Gospels and ambiguous Roman records, we have no proof that Jesus ever existed. So how can you know that God exists?
Exactly. I don't know. Do you?
(And don't think for a second that Christianity gives me a safety blanket. If anything, being a Christian has given me far more excrutiating questions than easy answers.) Despite the complexity of religion, it's very simple. I don't know. You don't know. I quote one of my favorite writers when I say, "We don't know anything". I don't where life begins, and I don't know where life ends. I don't know why the planet Earth ended up the in perfect place in the galaxy and in the perfect distance from the sun to support creatures intelligent enough to question their own existence. And you know what, those are the only questions that matter.
But why Christianity? What makes those answers more satisfactory than another of the other ones?
Look back at all the things I mentioned. People are angry. People are vengeful. People are ready, willing, and stupid enough kill themselves and others just to get what they want. People can't respect each others differences. And I didn't even mention hunger, povert, war, and the rest of the things in this world of shit we inhabit. And as much as I want and need to help, I'm just one person. And I can't stop them all. And it feels like no one will stop them all. And I just want to get out of this shit, but I can't. And I can't take it anymore! And...
And there's God. He never goes away. He's still piquing my brain. Despite everything that tells me I'm a fucking lunatic for believing in a supposed, unseen big man in the sky, God is there. And He keeps me at peace. And if God can do that, I'm pretty sure God can do anything, even in these trying times.
Holy tits, indeed...
I believe in God.
Something is askewww (as I make hand gestures like the great Lewis Black). At this point, my education at an institution of higher learning should have negated my belief in an omnipotent deity. If not that, the rebelliousness brought upon by my teenage years should have definitely caused a denial of the ridculous notion that a god could exist. What about the unimaginable stupidity shown by some people of faith in these times? Without question, that should push me away from following any religious doctrine. And "Are We Done Yet" was not only made, but made $10 million! Clearly, there can be no god.
And yet, here I am. Praying to a unseen deity every evening. Going to a Bible study every Monday so that I gain a better understanding of a mysterious series of sixty-six books. Going to church every Sunday to meet with people who appear to be as delusional as I am. And yet, I can't stop. And I probably won't stop for the rest of my life. And now, I have to find out why.
Maybe it's because of my Christian upbringing. Maybe I've been hardwired from birth to believe that God is an all-powerful heavenly figure, even though in reality He may be nothing more than an imaginary friend that some people created long ago and that some people use to obtain money. But almost everyday (yes, everyday), I hear that people's upbringing (whether it be Catholic, Islamic, or Pastafanistic) is the direct result of their current atheism. They claim that an education and common sense has turned them away from believing in God. And they appear angry and full of disdain for being misled. But I have an education. I have common sense. I am trying to apply these things to religion. And I'm not angry! Well maybe a little bit. But this notion in God and his power persist. This clearly isn't it. There has to be another reason.
Okay, surely the idiocy shown by other people of faith in the political realm would turn me away. Hell, some people in power follow their faith so blindly that will willingly destroy all life on this planet (all 7 billion people) as we know it because they believe in some form of the apocalypse that will bring some form of salvation to humanity. Hell, people in the Christian faith (my faith) will oppress a substatial portion of the population because they read something as a sin out of context that is mentioned twice (yes, twice) in the entire Bible. Hell, many people of the Christian faith are turning this country backward as we speak. But I still believe. Maybe it's because almost every Christian I've known in my life has expressed more love than hate. Obviously, there are more than a few types of Christians out there. There are obviously more than a few types of people out there. Oddly enough, my Christian faith has just prevented me from falling to the unintelligent black hole that is generalizations. Okay, whatever associations religion has with politics won't turn me away either.
Maybe I'm not being as drawn towards Christianity as I am being drawn away from atheism. Now, all my free time at college has afforded me the opportunity to find an exobinant amount of useless information on the Web. Oddly enough, much of the information that has attracted me has been of the atheistic persuasion. However, of all I know about how bad people of faith can be, I can safely say that atheists can be just as bad. Can be! Can be. I know not all atheists are as bad as the ones I am about to mention. For instance, Richard Dawkins is an extremely intelligent man of science, but not even he is immune to logical fallacies and almost unbearable conviction that he is, and always will be, right. I've seen atheists pervert the messages and themes of the Bible so badly on YouTube and the Internet Movie Database that I want to live in a monastery. Hell, I'll even put them in the same category as the Religious Right (or whatever that stupid blanket term entails.) Not only that, but the anger, smugness, and overwhelmingly disdainful ways in which some atheists present their arguments make me want to staple my eyes shut and glue pencils in my ears. However, I don't want to abide by the Christian faith because it is the lesser of two evils (it's an expression, I don't mean it literally.) There has to be something else that keeps me in my Christian ways.
I don't know...wait that's it! I don't know! I don't know what compels me to be a Christian. Maybe it's that's nice soft safety blanket that Christian provides that gives me the answers that others can't.
Oh, but others can! We didn't plop down out of the sky 6,000 years ago like the Bible said. The whole world wasn't flooded like the story of Noah said. How could God just crap all over Job just to settle a wager with the Devil. Outside of 33 Gospels and ambiguous Roman records, we have no proof that Jesus ever existed. So how can you know that God exists?
Exactly. I don't know. Do you?
(And don't think for a second that Christianity gives me a safety blanket. If anything, being a Christian has given me far more excrutiating questions than easy answers.) Despite the complexity of religion, it's very simple. I don't know. You don't know. I quote one of my favorite writers when I say, "We don't know anything". I don't where life begins, and I don't know where life ends. I don't know why the planet Earth ended up the in perfect place in the galaxy and in the perfect distance from the sun to support creatures intelligent enough to question their own existence. And you know what, those are the only questions that matter.
But why Christianity? What makes those answers more satisfactory than another of the other ones?
Look back at all the things I mentioned. People are angry. People are vengeful. People are ready, willing, and stupid enough kill themselves and others just to get what they want. People can't respect each others differences. And I didn't even mention hunger, povert, war, and the rest of the things in this world of shit we inhabit. And as much as I want and need to help, I'm just one person. And I can't stop them all. And it feels like no one will stop them all. And I just want to get out of this shit, but I can't. And I can't take it anymore! And...
And there's God. He never goes away. He's still piquing my brain. Despite everything that tells me I'm a fucking lunatic for believing in a supposed, unseen big man in the sky, God is there. And He keeps me at peace. And if God can do that, I'm pretty sure God can do anything, even in these trying times.
Holy tits, indeed...
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Declining Personality: Valedictorian Speech Pt. II
A while ago, we used to talk about DSmith's paper, or the Gilmore paper, or Walor's test--it seems like we never said "history paper," "English paper," or "trig exam," especially not the last one, which would be a common phrase in any other high school. No, our academics may have encircled our lives, but it all had personality attached to it. We all knew these people, we all knew a lot of people, and yeah, high school.
Now, I tell you I have a linear algebra exam because "math exam" sounds too high-schoolish, even though I know that's not what I ever said. To be short, we don't have many things in common anymore, but it's profound to expound on that, I think.
By "things in common" I mean the specific, tangible activities. That's impossible - we're all on separate campuses now, and busy with our own college spirits. Take that as a pun--spirits as in alcohol, but spirits as in the different overtones of the school, or the different ways in which the schools work.
It feels like it's harder to know or to remember who you are. So save yourself. Be yourself, yourself undeniably, as often as you can, out in the open, and this is a message to myself as much as it is to y'all.
Now, I tell you I have a linear algebra exam because "math exam" sounds too high-schoolish, even though I know that's not what I ever said. To be short, we don't have many things in common anymore, but it's profound to expound on that, I think.
By "things in common" I mean the specific, tangible activities. That's impossible - we're all on separate campuses now, and busy with our own college spirits. Take that as a pun--spirits as in alcohol, but spirits as in the different overtones of the school, or the different ways in which the schools work.
It feels like it's harder to know or to remember who you are. So save yourself. Be yourself, yourself undeniably, as often as you can, out in the open, and this is a message to myself as much as it is to y'all.
It's so funny how much I'm not what I used to be
Here I am, thinking that maybe I should sleep through my math classes in order to wake up and try to finish this badly-started French paper. This is never a thought that would've occurred to me in high school. Is that because the restrictions at el high school were so sharp, or is it that la vida at la Tufts is so loose and free, and (like at any university) the teachers don't care whether you go to class so much?
Whatever. I want to get my test back. But this damn computer lab closes in 36 minutes. Fuckers. I'm on page 1.1 (e.g. page 2) and I need to get to 3.0. This is NOT looking pretty. I can't readily tappety-tap all that easily in my room because my roommate has to sleep, and my keyboard is my loud desktop keyboard. You know, that thing? Yeah.
Also, my essay has not point. It's because I'm too afraid to make a point because I don't think it pertains enough to this stupid passage. Another Engrish mistake I'll keep for the road.
Yeah. Plus my stomach is making stupid noises; dinner sucked unexpectedly and I haven't eaten enough fruit.
But I wonder - why is it so difficult just to, like, take it here? I thought I was pretty happy! Maybe I've got to get used to my mind failing on me, and just take it casually from now on and hope it works out. Because it's been failing a lot lately. And I don't think beer is going to help that. So, yeah. Casually, just casually. I guess I gotta start things 32093093290 days in advance now. Fuck, I don't have any time left for these French essays! WHY are they so close together?
If I don't get a 100 on the Diff Eq test I'll get scared. Or above 90. Please above 90!!!
I sound insane or stupid, but I'm just trying to make sense of things. So are you. War out, peace in.
Whatever. I want to get my test back. But this damn computer lab closes in 36 minutes. Fuckers. I'm on page 1.1 (e.g. page 2) and I need to get to 3.0. This is NOT looking pretty. I can't readily tappety-tap all that easily in my room because my roommate has to sleep, and my keyboard is my loud desktop keyboard. You know, that thing? Yeah.
Also, my essay has not point. It's because I'm too afraid to make a point because I don't think it pertains enough to this stupid passage. Another Engrish mistake I'll keep for the road.
Yeah. Plus my stomach is making stupid noises; dinner sucked unexpectedly and I haven't eaten enough fruit.
But I wonder - why is it so difficult just to, like, take it here? I thought I was pretty happy! Maybe I've got to get used to my mind failing on me, and just take it casually from now on and hope it works out. Because it's been failing a lot lately. And I don't think beer is going to help that. So, yeah. Casually, just casually. I guess I gotta start things 32093093290 days in advance now. Fuck, I don't have any time left for these French essays! WHY are they so close together?
If I don't get a 100 on the Diff Eq test I'll get scared. Or above 90. Please above 90!!!
I sound insane or stupid, but I'm just trying to make sense of things. So are you. War out, peace in.
Monday, 9 April 2007
Lo que ocurre en la vida de una persona que va convertiendose a hippie
Good morning,
I'll continue now from my last post:
I'm not sure if anyone got it, but what I wrote last time was almost completely plagiarized from Hunter S. Thompson's opening to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". The only original thing was the content, not the style. As for the accuracy of it, I think (not very sure - can't remember a good deal of it) it was pretty accurate. Except for the nitrous. The total damages for the day are as follows:
- I ended up twisting my ankle (probably) dancing around stupidly to Disney songs.
- I drank only about 1/2 of a bottle of whiskey but smoked 2 bowls with 2 others.
- I drunk-text-messaged this chick I'm stuck on (actually this isn't a damage seeing as we're going out now but it usually would be. Drunk dialing is bad, mmmkay?).
- I don't remember how I got back from Middlesex Fells Reservation.
- I got bruised and cut from rock climbing
It was all worth it, I think.
Other occurrences in my life:
I am now vegan. Yes, this means I no longer eat meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, milk, butter, etc. I've been doing this for perhaps three weeks now. At first I had many slip ups and ate things which I didn't know contained the foods I've made forbidden (i.e. corn muffins for breakfast) but for the last week I haven't made any mistakes. I even survived Easter brunch with my conservative family.
You may be wondering why exactly I came to choose this lifestyle. Well, to begin, I like to think that I've already given myself time to consider many important issues and develop a stance for myself. While I have a strong opinion on many things, vegetarianism/veganism was not one of the things that I had thought out. However, after meeting several vegans at school and reading several environmentally oriented books, I began to question my choice of diets. Eventually, I came to the conclusion to become vegan for about 60% environmental sustainability reasons, 35% ethical reasons, and 5% health reasons. I'll outline my thought process on each for those who, like myself, were uneducated on the topics.
Environmental:
This website compiled the statics from John Robbins' (former heir to the Baskin-Robbins fortune who gave it all away because his father's company was unethical and a problem to American health) book Diet for a New America.
Ethical:
You've all seen or at least heard of the PETA advertisements. While these did not play a very heavy role in my decision, I do understand and support their message. I believe you all have read the book Into the Wild about a young man named Chris McCandless who gave away $24,000, abandoned his family, hitchhiked across the country, did odd jobs, and eventually died in the Alaska wilderness. The book had a passage which affected me deeply detailing Chris' response to killing a moose. In short, he was unable to sufficiently preserve the animal's meat and it rotted. After this incident, he was unable to kill for a while and underwent emotional turmoil. If I had to hunt for my own dinner, I suspect that I would feel the same way. I can no longer blindly eat another living being without thinking because I feel that all life has value and animals should be eaten if and only if there is no alternative. Luckily, we live in a society which has an abundant number of dietary choices. Furthermore, I believe, as PETA does, that livestock in the United States are treated unethically and are usually tortured before their deaths.
As for the topic of eating dairy or eggs, I was able to sufficiently defend myself from my family's questions using a mix of ethical and environmental arguments. First, my brother, among others, argued that cows, for example, need to be milked and that it is natural and healthy for humans to drink cow's milk. I would like to point out that cows are force bred in our country to fulfill the demand for milk. They are then force fed corn, grains, and oats (which happens to NOT be their natural diet) in order to produce milk in a factory like setting. How is this natural? If we were doing cows a favor, then we would not encourage their population to explode the way it has in our country. Furthermore, we would not shoot them up growth hormones to produce more milk (Monsanto comes to mind... http://youtube.com/watch?v=fzu9M6dUCac) and antibiotics to fight the myriad of diseases cows pick up in such an industrial setting. Also, we drink milk from cows and think it's natural but, who would drink milk from apes or other creatures? Cow's milk is produced by cows for calves with 4 stomachs so that calves can grow to ~300lbs in one year. I use this argument against eating eggs too.
Health:
Anyone else remember studying trichinosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis) in Mr. Dupre's biology class? Yeah, imagine a foot long worm burrowing through your flesh. Also, meat and dairy contains an enormous amount of hazardous fat which is linked to heart disease. As for my protein and B12 vitamin intake, I eat fortified cereal, hummus / chickpeas, and drink fortified soy milk daily. I have several friends who've been vegan for years, including one who I rock climb with, that have had no dietary deficiencies.
There seems to be a reason why other countries, most notably eastern countries as well as European countries, have a much healthier populace even though they don't consume vast amounts of meat products. In America, we look at our meat as the main part of a meal and are disappointed to be lacking it in every meal. This is so, so wrong.
And that's about all I gotta say about that.
Next time on Chris' blog post, the ethics of gardening and why humans are weeds.
Chris
I'll continue now from my last post:
I'm not sure if anyone got it, but what I wrote last time was almost completely plagiarized from Hunter S. Thompson's opening to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". The only original thing was the content, not the style. As for the accuracy of it, I think (not very sure - can't remember a good deal of it) it was pretty accurate. Except for the nitrous. The total damages for the day are as follows:
- I ended up twisting my ankle (probably) dancing around stupidly to Disney songs.
- I drank only about 1/2 of a bottle of whiskey but smoked 2 bowls with 2 others.
- I drunk-text-messaged this chick I'm stuck on (actually this isn't a damage seeing as we're going out now but it usually would be. Drunk dialing is bad, mmmkay?).
- I don't remember how I got back from Middlesex Fells Reservation.
- I got bruised and cut from rock climbing
It was all worth it, I think.
Other occurrences in my life:
I am now vegan. Yes, this means I no longer eat meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, milk, butter, etc. I've been doing this for perhaps three weeks now. At first I had many slip ups and ate things which I didn't know contained the foods I've made forbidden (i.e. corn muffins for breakfast) but for the last week I haven't made any mistakes. I even survived Easter brunch with my conservative family.
You may be wondering why exactly I came to choose this lifestyle. Well, to begin, I like to think that I've already given myself time to consider many important issues and develop a stance for myself. While I have a strong opinion on many things, vegetarianism/veganism was not one of the things that I had thought out. However, after meeting several vegans at school and reading several environmentally oriented books, I began to question my choice of diets. Eventually, I came to the conclusion to become vegan for about 60% environmental sustainability reasons, 35% ethical reasons, and 5% health reasons. I'll outline my thought process on each for those who, like myself, were uneducated on the topics.
Environmental:
- The meat based diet that most citizens of the United States have is not sustainable.
- We cycle 80% of our corn, 95% of our oats, 90% of our protein, 99% of our carbohydrates, and 100% of our dietary fiber through livestock
- In the end, eating meat wastes a significant amount of calories (or energy) absorbed by plants from the sun
- 60,000,000 people starve to death each year
- 60,000,000 people could be fed each year if Americans reduced their meat intake by 10%
- 16lbs of grain and soybeans are needed to produce 1lb of feedlot beef
- 5lbs of protein are fed to chickens to produce 1lb of protein as chicken flesh
- Number of pure vegetarians who can be fed on the amount of land needed to feed 1 person consuming meat-based diet: 20
This website compiled the statics from John Robbins' (former heir to the Baskin-Robbins fortune who gave it all away because his father's company was unethical and a problem to American health) book Diet for a New America.
Ethical:
You've all seen or at least heard of the PETA advertisements. While these did not play a very heavy role in my decision, I do understand and support their message. I believe you all have read the book Into the Wild about a young man named Chris McCandless who gave away $24,000, abandoned his family, hitchhiked across the country, did odd jobs, and eventually died in the Alaska wilderness. The book had a passage which affected me deeply detailing Chris' response to killing a moose. In short, he was unable to sufficiently preserve the animal's meat and it rotted. After this incident, he was unable to kill for a while and underwent emotional turmoil. If I had to hunt for my own dinner, I suspect that I would feel the same way. I can no longer blindly eat another living being without thinking because I feel that all life has value and animals should be eaten if and only if there is no alternative. Luckily, we live in a society which has an abundant number of dietary choices. Furthermore, I believe, as PETA does, that livestock in the United States are treated unethically and are usually tortured before their deaths.
As for the topic of eating dairy or eggs, I was able to sufficiently defend myself from my family's questions using a mix of ethical and environmental arguments. First, my brother, among others, argued that cows, for example, need to be milked and that it is natural and healthy for humans to drink cow's milk. I would like to point out that cows are force bred in our country to fulfill the demand for milk. They are then force fed corn, grains, and oats (which happens to NOT be their natural diet) in order to produce milk in a factory like setting. How is this natural? If we were doing cows a favor, then we would not encourage their population to explode the way it has in our country. Furthermore, we would not shoot them up growth hormones to produce more milk (Monsanto comes to mind... http://youtube.com/watch?v=fzu9M6dUCac) and antibiotics to fight the myriad of diseases cows pick up in such an industrial setting. Also, we drink milk from cows and think it's natural but, who would drink milk from apes or other creatures? Cow's milk is produced by cows for calves with 4 stomachs so that calves can grow to ~300lbs in one year. I use this argument against eating eggs too.
Health:
Anyone else remember studying trichinosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis) in Mr. Dupre's biology class? Yeah, imagine a foot long worm burrowing through your flesh. Also, meat and dairy contains an enormous amount of hazardous fat which is linked to heart disease. As for my protein and B12 vitamin intake, I eat fortified cereal, hummus / chickpeas, and drink fortified soy milk daily. I have several friends who've been vegan for years, including one who I rock climb with, that have had no dietary deficiencies.
There seems to be a reason why other countries, most notably eastern countries as well as European countries, have a much healthier populace even though they don't consume vast amounts of meat products. In America, we look at our meat as the main part of a meal and are disappointed to be lacking it in every meal. This is so, so wrong.
And that's about all I gotta say about that.
Next time on Chris' blog post, the ethics of gardening and why humans are weeds.
Chris
Wednesday, 4 April 2007
Proteins and soluble hats
What a day. Alack, ye, yo, or something; yippie-i-yay! Physics is dropped.
Additionally, Jay Brannon from the movie "Shortbus" is coming to campus to perform. This is an awesome thing.
The grade on my first Linear Algebra test was 96. Second test, 88. Third test, 84. Model an initial-value linear differential equation that will predict what grade I will get on the final exam. Hint: The solution is x(t) = 100%. Or at least it better be or I will punch you in the face. That's right, harbinger of mathematical fate, bring it on!
So I feel kind of empty and not so much happy this semester. Well, I guess the way things are is like that. I'm moderately happy, at least. I get the feeling I should be getting completely wasted at Saturday affirmations of the right to free, private assembly but I'm not.
More linear algebrizing to do. God, I can't wait until this class is over.
Additionally, Jay Brannon from the movie "Shortbus" is coming to campus to perform. This is an awesome thing.
The grade on my first Linear Algebra test was 96. Second test, 88. Third test, 84. Model an initial-value linear differential equation that will predict what grade I will get on the final exam. Hint: The solution is x(t) = 100%. Or at least it better be or I will punch you in the face. That's right, harbinger of mathematical fate, bring it on!
So I feel kind of empty and not so much happy this semester. Well, I guess the way things are is like that. I'm moderately happy, at least. I get the feeling I should be getting completely wasted at Saturday affirmations of the right to free, private assembly but I'm not.
More linear algebrizing to do. God, I can't wait until this class is over.
Monday, 2 April 2007
The Differential Equations-Linear Algebra Asinine Comparison
A comparison, a remark.
I've noticed this year that it's much more difficult for me to tear my homework out of my Differential Equations notebook than it is to tear it out of my Linear Algebra notebook. That's ironic because the former class is the one for which I'm more confident in and proud of my work. As far as LA goes, well, I'm much less likely to get full credit on that homework. Or has that changed around? Have I "adapted"? Because I got full credit on each LA homework since the last test...
This is basically symbolic of how this semester has been. The classes which I don't want to give myself up to are grabbing onto me and throwing me for a loop. Japanese 2 and Differentials? Yay. Linear Algebra, General Physics, and French Lit 2? Not as interesting, but the ones that are making me do more.
Either that or that's just the way it feels.
I've noticed this year that it's much more difficult for me to tear my homework out of my Differential Equations notebook than it is to tear it out of my Linear Algebra notebook. That's ironic because the former class is the one for which I'm more confident in and proud of my work. As far as LA goes, well, I'm much less likely to get full credit on that homework. Or has that changed around? Have I "adapted"? Because I got full credit on each LA homework since the last test...
This is basically symbolic of how this semester has been. The classes which I don't want to give myself up to are grabbing onto me and throwing me for a loop. Japanese 2 and Differentials? Yay. Linear Algebra, General Physics, and French Lit 2? Not as interesting, but the ones that are making me do more.
Either that or that's just the way it feels.
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