Standard Procedure

For the last week I have concentrated all my writing energy on my research paper for history of psychology. To make up for this poor excuse I will make this entry a bit lengthier than normal because I have had plenty of time to think about what I wish to complain about (kidding). My first few days I was very proactive in conducting excursions but after I started to run short on ideas I spent more time being unproductive. Purpose is essential in the continuity of self-progression. We cannot make a better world if we do not define what “better” is. The relativistic argument on this is “everyone has a different definition”, well there can be no progress if this is really true and I find the common mind to be quite agreeable on specific definitions such as what is sweet, sour, salty, and bitter or even pain and pleasure on a nominal scale. Applying Utilitarian Calculus would at least be a step forward.
There is a great disservice being done to our country by embracing the idealism of virtue ethics, most greatly expressed through the current high school/college generation. We have the brightest, best educated, most technologically advanced young adults ever recorded yet they have no idea what their purpose is. What is the point of a remote without a television, or a light without electricity? Many ideas are being fashioned and considered accepted by the culture most of them have been created by capitalist media empires. My question is, what is the meaning of your life?

A man who continues to think two ways at once will eventually tear his mind in half.

A Misologist’s statement “I don’t have any authority on the subject but the facts are the translation is a correct interpretation.”

Welcome back from the beach, isn’t life academic?

For Those about to Rock

It has come to my attention that I am involved in too many different activities and have far too many peers to possibly dispute everything they say that I find to be faulty logic. This has brought me to the decision I will not dispute anyone unless it is directly influencing my life and/or the attaining of my personal goals. This is quite egotistical of me, but when people start figuring out in college what was pristine to me in elementary I find myself “put off” by them even talking. I don’t presuppose I am better than them I am simply tired of seeing the same play for the twentieth time and consider it “original”.

Have you ever tried jumping from one point to another in the rain? Well, unless you are crazy don’t try it. I was vaulting around campus to get back to my dorm and I attempted a precision (a jump from one point such as a sidewalk ledge to another similar point) from the side walk curb to a two by six that was pretty far away, I landed it but because I had to use so much force to jump it with my backpack on I slipped after landing it and landed on my butt and back with two cars watching me. All I could do was laugh.

I am breaking form to write, GASP, a third paragraph because I have been feeling funny the last three days. I realized I don’t like emotional highs, because they are always followed by lows. Over the past few months I have been able to maintain incredible levels of contentment because I avoided major emotional investments. Often I would have “contentment highs” where I smile soberly over the many, many small positives in my life that make it so fulfilling. Unfortunately this weekend I was thrown a little off my rocker with unexpected fortunes and it put my mood through the roof. I am still contemplating if I have been too emotionally distant from things I enjoy or if I had the coke classic formula right.

Thoughts of the Day:

If we are all striving for happiness and happiness is nothing more that no want to change, than why should I change my life at all if I am comfortable?

Blood and sweat are two key ingredients for making a man.

Tears and stress are for making a woman.

Judgment Call

Have you ever covered information that you can understand so fast that it gave you a headache? That is what some of my history of psychology classes are like. Facts required a very low amount of brain power to comprehend but when you are bombarded by a century of information it tends to cause the same feeling as being hit in the head with a mallet. There are so many concepts, dates, philosophies, and experiences that unless I live forever I have no chance of realizing them all. I have to choose what information is worth collecting and then what I want to do with it. Right now I am slowly easing into a homework-loaded week that will be filled with scheduling, time optimizing, and copious amounts of caffeine. I am excited.

Friday’s are my most laid back class day. I only have one class which if it was a free lecture I would probably still go to because I find the evolution of thought so fascinating. I am currently sitting in my robe contemplating what I want to study first. This is essence of my idealized college life. When I was in high school and pictured going to college I dreamt of a world focused on philosophy, where everyone hungered for knowledge and saw utilitarianism as more that an a nice idea. Even if this is stepping on the side of optimism, I believe if everyone understood the benefit of knowledge we would all be scholars.

Thoughts of the Day:

If positivism was applied to attractiveness do you think I could be a judge?

Equilibrium is the key to the door of successful living.

ra ra ah ah ahhhh roma rommmaaa…

The Divorce of Logic and Knowledge

Ever have one of those days where you feel exhausted by thought? I came in contact with several questions today that frustrated me enough that they did not even elicit a response. Here I am, trying to understand the intricacies of sexual paradigms(that is something you can get a pair of for ten cents) and there are people asking questions on “who was the guy who said that thing about Sartrian idealisms?” While I am all for discussing who Sartre thought he was and find it ironic that he being an existentialist, excuse me, THE existentialist it is a fun fantasy to picture him describing himself, I wonder if we should create a new system for allowing questions. I have long been a fan of the “you can say as many words a minute as your IQ score” I am also willing to settle for a “you can ask as many questions as answers you got right on the last test, times 33%.” Yes, yes I appreciate the quantitative weakness of this statement but you get the general idea.
Nearly everyone in class today, myself included, was having a difficult time understanding the definition of a “within subject design” on a factorial level. Some of us were over analyzing it, some hadn’t read the material, and then others simply could not materialize their ideas. When it comes to scientific methods it is manifest that you understand it is a collaboration of empirical observations… with rational assumptions thrown into the mix. Personally, I excellent in empirical observations, I say about myself “I can just watch someone else set themselves on fire to know it burns”. However, when it comes to rationality or cognitive jumps, I sometimes have an issue with verbally stating why I believe something or not. The lecture today was completely rationally based. I knew what he was saying, but I simply couldn’t say it back to him. By the end of class he actually said we may hold off on the test because enough people were flabbergasted by the conceptualization of higher level factorial within subjects design(try saying that three times fast). I thought almost everyone in my class was the crème de la crème of the school, but upon further retrospection I realize that they just think exactly like me, (says a lot for my ego-centralism right?) empirical disciples. This force me to move from traditional IQ views to the more modern/post-modern idea of “different kinds of intelligences”. I know, those of us who still live in 1879 are retching at the idea, but it is something I am making more common place in my thought daily.
Thoughts of the Day:
True genius is not just inspiration but aspiration…and a few dozen bottles of Advil along the way.
You have to love a teacher who tells you not to read the chapter on ethics so you can spend more time on studying experimentation.
Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we dye our perceptions of reality and turn what was once white into yellow, then green, then red, then black.
~Fin~

Blues in Even Time

Ah, the midday blues. Sometimes I get to a point in my day where I have done most of my tasks but there still lays before me the abnormal assignments: research projects, midterm studying, chapter reviews. So I raise my weary head and say “where is the coffee!?” Being in college is a paradoxical condition of being always busy but almost as often having vacuoles of time in our days that we are given the freedom to do whatever we want with. I think this feeling of purposelessness is how we end up jumping off of buildings and scaling walls. These are the choices we make to deal with the Greek tragedy of “boredom”. So like Camus says we strive to rebel against boredom through acts of desperation, even stupidity. Let us use our time wisely and rebel through acts of virtue and prudence.

It is about two pm right now (for my facebook followers you will probably be able to read this about 12 am) and I am contemplating how I wish to spend the rest of my day. The only serious problem I have with quantifying how I spend my time is that I have trouble accounting for extraneous variables, like flying monkeys or super ninjas, which impact my daily routine. Time investment is like a fine balancing act atop a tight wire with a chance that there may be a gust of wind.

Thoughts of the Day:

Latin should be required for science majors.

The problem with Utilitarianism is it isn’t all about me.

Self awareness is a scary conception.

“I want a girl in a short skirt and a long jacket”- Cake

It is important to realize that you simply cannot have everything you want because everything you want at some point will start to contradict itself. I have been moving considerably toward Utilitarian policies inside of a Christian perspective and it has made me search for the efficient reasons for my actions. I think that the puritans had the right idea with simplicity, as soon as you introduce another variable into your life you must now account for it.

Today was a slacker’s reprieve for me. I had several free hours that I don’t even know what I did with. I am rather ashamed of this, but realize the necessity of relaxing and so I will take it in stride. Dragons have become the subject of interest for the last few days. I have not quite decided what kind of dragon I want to draw but I am leaning towards one with a more horse-like build vs a wyvern body type. Kickboxing was egg-cell-ant, I really enjoy the change of pace in the class compared what I am use to doing in the gym.

Thoughts of the Day:

If you’ve got to be cruel to be kind, aren’t you just being kind of cruel?

Should bacon be made into its own food group?

All that matters is mind, but only mind that which matters.