Serenading by Sparty

I went to listen to the "Spartan Dischords," the male a cappela group on campus. Sparty (our mascot) was, of course, there. He saw my laptop and came over to check out my progress on my chemistry lab report. The boys in that moment broke into a love song. So I have now had the glorious experience of being serenaded by Sparty. What could be more wonderful? A picture will be coming when my friend loads it off his phone. Sparty also wore my cute white hat. It didn't fit him all that well, but watching him insist he wanted to wear it was funny.

PUNishment

Courtesy of Aunt Catherine:
1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
3. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
13. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here, I'll go on a-head.'
14. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
15. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
16. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, 'No change yet.'
17. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
18. It's not that the man did not know how to juggle, he just didn't have the balls to do it.
19. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium, at large.
20. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
21. A backward poet writes in-verse.
22. In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.
23. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

Schrodinger's Equation

We have reached wave functions in chemistry. It's really fun, because this is what we looked at in my mathematical physics class at Central Michigan University last year. But my chem prof likes to gloss over math...
But I am happy knowing that I know. Math is pretty!

Dare I say

That I'm glad the House turned down the bailout plan? This is likely to be controversial, even among members of the same party. So come on, folks, give me your thoughts.

Arabic Today

Was cancelled....it was sad. So I have a lot of time now, but I don't get to go to Arabic. Tragedy. I suppose I shall go write my formal lab and then do some extra Arabic to take care of my deficiency.

Maximus of Tyre vs. the Bush Doctrine

“if doing wrong is bad, then so too is doing wrong in return...What limit will there then be to the harm done? If the victims of wrongdoing take their revenge, the harm will for ever be transferred from one to the other and perpetuate itself, and one act of wrongdoing will follow another. The same justification by which you allow the victim to take his revenge is equally effective in allowing the right of retaliation to pass back from him to the original offender; the justification is open to both of them equally. For God’s sake, look at what you have brought about! Justice compounded of wrongs! How far will the mischief go? Where will it come to rest? Don’t you realize that this is an inexhaustible source of wickedness that you are opening up, that you are laying down a law that will lead the whole earth into harm? It was just this principle that brought men the great misfortunes of days gone by, armed expeditions of foreigners and Greeks crossing to attack each other, robbing and warring and plundering, and making the preceding wrong their excuse for each new one. The Phoenicians kidnap a royal princess fro Argos; the Greeks kidnap a foreign girl from Colchis; then the Phrygians strike again, taking a Spartan woman from the Peloponnese. It is obvious how ill succeeds ill, how pretexts for war arise, how wrongs multiply. This same process brought Greece into destructive conflict with herself too – self-styled victims of wrongs attacking their neighbours, in inexhaustible rage and undying anger and lust for revenge and moral ignorance.”

MSU Gardens

For those of you who have never been on MSU's campus, its beauty was a major reason for choosing it. It's gorgeous here. There are beautiful gardens everywhere. It's simply a very pretty campus. The Children's Garden has been there forever and I have many fond memories of it. Several years ago, parking there was free, so we would park in the garden before shows at the Wharton, walk around in the garden for a bit, and then stroll over to the theater. There are huge chimes on the ground that you make sound by jumping on top of them, ponds with frogs and fish, things to climb on, water fountains to squirt...it's a glorious place to be a kid. Or a grown-up who wishes he or she was a kid. They added a lot of bricking at one point, and people were able to purchase bricks. We have one for Granna from the grandkids. We can never remember where it is in the garden, though, so we have to hunt everytime.

Gondola, Anyone?

This weekend was the first outdoor Wesley@CMU event...we went canoeing on the Chippewa River and stayed the night outside in a tent! It was very exciting. This morning, canoeing back into town, I discovered that I was capable of canoeing while standing up. And the idea was apparently contagious...

"Batman and Robin"

Fantastic movie. George Clooney!! We thoroughly enjoyed mocking this one...Uma Thurman and Arnold Schwarzenegger with some incredibly awful lines. ("It's like witty banter...without the wit!") Then we all went to the cafeteria late at night and laughed a lot. Life is good.

"Harry Potter" and Economics

We were all very zoned-out in economics; it's exam week. We were talking about manufacturing and production. The professor had a comment on the board about how nice it would be if we could pull a "Harry Potter" and conjure a car rather than creating one. And then, adorable idiot that he is, he accused us of not liking "Harry Potter" any more. And we all woke up, very suddenly. We then spent a good amount of time all having individual conversations about the books, who has and hasn't read the seventh one, why the movie release date was pushed back (that even has something to do with economics). Then we had to educate the professor about the rules and laws of magic. "It's a transformational magic, not a creational magic." I liked that explanation; it made me feel technical.

Paying Bills

This morning I biked over to the Lansing Board of Water and Light and then to Comcast to pay bills. Got them both done in time for a 9:30 meeting, so all was well. This is the end of biking for bills; everything else should go through online now.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a good day. Chem lecture mostly involved reviewing for the exam and we got out early; we're learning more and more letters in Arabic every day. We're nearly done with the alphabet, scarily enough. (I'm scared because who knows what happens once we're expected to actually know something...)
Philosophy went as usual...we talked (shocking, I know).
I biked to the condo to pick up bills and the printer...that was a joy. Printers are heavy.
Homework and bed!
And tada...'twas Tuesday.

My First Exam

I have just had my first exam. It went very well...I think. Any panic moments of "I don't know this" were taken care of before I turned in the exam. I wouldn't say everything was perfect, but we're looking at a good grade at least. This was an economics exam...fun!
Coming up on Thursday is my first chem exam; I think I also have an Arabic quiz Thursday. But, as we have seen previously, Arabic quizzes make me extremely happy.

I'm Very Proud of Myself

I have been artistic/creative-ish...
The justice theater group for the Honors College needed a name. And I was struck by creativity. This doesn't happen very often. "Act for Justice." Oh yeah. And then, when we have a show..."The students of 'Act for Justice' present an act of justice." Oh yeah. So then we needed a logo. Ladies and gentlemen, I present for your viewing pleasure...the one and only visual triumph of my life.

Church Today

Got to sing in choir! It was fun. I sit on the upper edge, so I had to lead in and then lead the choral recession out...fun. I am transferring membership next week, so I attended the "Inquirers" Sunday school to chat about UUMC and Methodism. The others in the class were previous Methodists as well, so we didn't do any absurd "what is the Church" stuff. But we chatted a lot about the make-up of UUMC and John Ross made me talk about General Conference.
Next week I'm on nursery duty but will have to sneak down after the sermon to be received into the Church. I'll be in Church service the week after that, then gone for two weeks for other Church meetings. Oh well; I'm there when I can.
Also had a meeting with Chris, the youth director. Chris Heffner (friend from dorm) helped with the middle school youth group and is looking to continue that; UUMC is just starting to have separate groups, so Chris came on at the right time. It's going to be very confusing having two young male Chrises in leadership, though.

Oh, Good GLORY!

Apparently, tailgating is a big deal. I had my first experience today with actual tailgating, as I had to bike to the church to meet Tim for the West Michigan Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry meeting. On the way, I had to stop by Wilson Hall to get something from Katie. Campus is INSANE on a Saturday morning of a football game. You can't move. People drive down the sidewalks. I got to Wilson safely...to find out that you can't enter without a valid resident ID on game days. Haha. So Katie was supposed to come sign me in, but I had no idea of her phone number and could barely remember her room number. I eventually got in, I just had to leave my bag. Since I was up there for all of five minutes, I didn't mind. Just another fun adventure...anyways, I wouldn't suggest "downtown" campus on game days. And thank God I chose to live in Snyder-Phillips...

Arabic Test

I shouldn't announce this on my blog, because my father becomes overjoyed and begins telling the entire world (for example, Jana Lynn Almeida) that I've made mistakes. Seriously, I was at the bishop's reception and Jana Lynn sees me. "Apparently you're screwing up on the board in class." WHAT?!? You are so busted, Pop.
But we got our Arabic tests back. And I put a hamza where there was not one...so my Arabic test was not perfect. There ya go, Daddy.

"Batman Forever"

My floormates and I have officially become "Batman" freaks. To be more accurate, we're "make fun of 'Batman' movies" freaks. "Batman Forever" introduces Robin, who's quite fantastic. Jim Carrey is in it as one of the villains; he was hysterical. Because even though he was all painted up, you're like, "Oh look. It's Jim Carrey being Jim Carrey." Nicole Kidman was our sexy blond this time, and without an 80s hairdo.
We particularly enjoyed making fun of Val Kilmer's complete lack of acting...we redelivered most of the lines in a deadpan robot voice.
Best moments of show: Val Kilmer does this TERRIFYING smile after Nicole Kidman tells Batman that she doesn't want him anymore because she's in love with someone else. That someone else is, of course, Bruce Wayne. So Val Kilmer turns away and then shows the only emotion he shows in the entire film...in the form of a completely freakish smile. We had to rewatch it on my computer the next day, the smile was so scary.
And the line that takes the cake..."Holy rusted metal, Batman!" Fantastic.

Yay, Drugs!

I have this huge thing with ear infections. They're like my body's favorite thing to do. So I got to experience one of my three pre-paid visits to Olin Health Center at MSU today to have somebody look at my ear. They irrigated it (yes, you can irrigate ears); that felt heavenly. Then the doc looked at it again and said there was still some swelling. So...yay Amoxicillin!!! (Penicillin.) Even more yay! is Meijer's free distribution of said drug. What's the only thing better than drugs? Free drugs. Most definitely. Good heavens, I sound like a junkie.

Catch-Up

I've been slowing down quite a bit on blog posting lately...life got crazy all of the sudden. Hopefully I'll be able to give some details on the weekend. Bear with me, though, if there are times when things don't go up so quickly.

Laundry

I've just had my first college laundry experience...just thought everyone would like to know. All is well thus far. Nothing has blown up. (This is more of a concern than you would think.)

Happy Dinner

Today's dinner was themed to our "One Book, One Community" project, so we had Sudanese food. Very yummy split corn and other wonderful entrees. Mango ice cream, which was okay. And the winner is...FLAN! Ha! Yummy, yummy, VERY yummy flan.

Wall-E and the Church

The ministry intern at Wesley preached today for the first time...she used "Wall-E" as the basis for her message; claiming the movie as an allegory for the "old" and "new" church. The sermon was very good, and I thought Granna might enjoy hearing about the many ways that "Wall-E" is such a fantastic movie.

HA!

I ran nearly four miles today. And I feel GOOD. The Red Cedar flooded for the first time since I've been here...and I usually run on the path by it. But the path had a good two to four inches of standing water sitting on it (yes, I know I just said that standing water was sitting), and I absolutely hate wet tennis shoes. So I decided to run on the road. And I was heading in the direction of the church...and just kinda kept going. I guess I've hit the threshold where I can just go for as long as I feel like. And furthermore, I did it in a good forty minutes or thereabouts. So I'm doing ten-minutes relaxing miles. Ha! I'm going to be so annoying in chemistry lecture because I feel SO good.

I'm Feeling very Green and White...

I just went into the Wharton Center for something and it suddenly dawned on me that this was no longer the place I came with my grandmother for shows...this was my HOME! And I was filled with a rush of happy Spartan-y feelings.
It's a very happy child currently on campus, ladies and gents.

Chautauqua

We have at MSU a Traveling Chautauqua...a group of people who gather to dialogue and learn about issues of the day. This semester's topic is equality and justice. I am a part of the Chautauqua, though I am late each week because of Chem Lab. The Honors College has decided to create a Chautauqua Theater Group...and I have the joy of being the student leader. I'm really not sure how that happened...lol. The risk of responding to emails...it will get you every time. We had our first meeting yesterday; I'm really very excited about where it could go.

Nursery Duty

I've been drafted...happily so. I'll be volunteering in the Church nursery every once in a while when the paid folks are unable to do so. We've got a young lady coming on board who's from near Thailand and has been here for two and a half years. She loves children but hasn't had a lot of experience with infants, so I'm helping to train her. But yesterday we didn't have any babies...sadness.
I did, however, go to the Welcome Back Reception for Bishop Keaton, and Kennetha brought the baby. So I got to hold Kamden for a solid hour and he fell asleep in my arms. Happy Becca!

"Dinner" with Whitney

Whitney (friend from church in Mount Pleasant) and I are planning to eat dinner one day. I had to move it from Thursday because there were four other meetings I was supposed to be at...so then we decided we'd do it Friday. But Mom invited me to go the Bohls', so we switched it again, even though I didn't actually go with Mum and Dad. And tonight...I went to eat with my friends, got back in time for Whitney to get me (cause I'd totally forgotten...oops. But it wasn't an actual problem.) And then Whitney didn't have her ID. So we didn't eat. We sat in the lounge and chatted for an hour plus, but we have yet to actually eat dinner. Some day, though...some day.

Life is Fantastic

It's Saturdays. Saturdays are good days. I always have tons of homework I get to do but I don't have to go anywhere. So I lounge in bed and read philosophical works and answer economics questions and translate Arabic and draw Lewis structures. And it's good. End of random happy thoughts...

That Felt REALLY Good

I've been reading a philosophical work on justice in Plato's "Republic" for many hours. And I love the work I do, but there are moments when you need to stop. So I went running. Late at night. And it felt WONDERFUL! Pardon my capitals and exclamation marks, but endorphins are very happy things...

What a Sweetheart

I have this awful habit of unlocking my door and then not taking the key out of the lock...someone just knocked on the door to let me know. Yay random acts of kindness! It made me happy.

She's Got it Bad, Folks

Just had an Arabic test. I'm currently on top of the moon. Seriously, I'm in love. Madly, deeply, passionately. This is bad. Really bad.

Church Fun

Went to church yesterday to steal candles for the Peace Vigil Students for Peace and Justice are hosting today at "the Rock." Also had a meeting with the children's ministry supervisor, choir practice, and Wesley worship.
So they need a new pair childcare worker for Sunday mornings. I would love to do it, but also love church...someone else has expressed interest but has virtually no experience with infants. So I'm going to be with her the rest of September in the nursery to help her learn to work with them.
Went to choir practice, though I won't be able to sing until October.
Wesley worship was good. Saw some new people there, always a plus.

Sleeping in feels good...

I slept today; I didn't get home until 9:30 from church last night and needed to do some homework. So then I didn't get up and run...and it felt good. Running probably would have felt good too, but I'm now happily awake and without exhaustion headache in chem lecture.

That was nearly disastrous...

I apparently don't do chemical calculations well under pressure. Had our first actual lab today...and I was amazingly bad at it. The actual lab went really well, but I hadn't bothered to figure out ahead of time exactly how we'd need to do the equations. Clearly should have. So we got out of class late and it still wasn't correct...
Good news: The second I got home and started working on it, I saw exactly what needed to happen. So all is now well.
Lesson Learned: Prep all equations and calculations in prelab.

Econ

Economics quiz was bad today because I didn't memorize things well so spent too much time figuring things out instead of spitting out answers.
The lecture was very good today...we're into individual consumer demand and dealing with cardinal utility...MATH AND CALCULUS! YAY!

Congressional Call Numbers

I've been spending some time in the library finding books for my PA...so today I finally decided that it would make sense to understand the Library of Congress' Call System. I have now explored much of it...they're pretty specific.
For example:
B Philosophy (General)
69-99..........General works
108-5802.......By period (including individual philosophers and schools of philosophy)
108-708.......Ancient
720-765.......Medieval
770-785.......Renaissance
790-5802......Modern
808-849........Special topics and schools of philosophy
850-5739......By region or country
5800-5802....By religion

Too many numbers and letters on each...but when you're dealing with that many books, I suppose you must. Good bye, Dewey Decimal System.

Calculus

Yay! My roommate's elder sister, who's working on her master's in engineering, needed some help with her calculus...so I got to do calc this morning. I miss it. Doing some was fantastic.

Ooh...almost forgot

Have to tell you...fun lecture in chemistry today. The prof did a demonstration that involved poisonous gas, fire, and a stepstool. Things went "boom" and flared very impressively. Then he used balloons to show atomic geometry in the VSEPR model...it was quite fantastic.

That was fast

I got very busy very quickly...I didn't have all that much homework over the weekend, because there wasn't much I could do until certain things happened in class. And now they've all happened...and I have a lot of work to do. So forgive me if I'm a bit AWOL for a while.

Best Facebook Status Ever

Devin Mauney, one of my buddies from big Church work who's into legislation and whatnot, currently has a fantastic status on Facebook. "Devin says, 'Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a Governor.'"
Fantastic. I stole it.

Magnificent Monday

Sensing a theme? Classes today...busy but fantastic. Got quite a lot of homework done but also had fun with friends over all three meals! The salad today with a cherry walnut with chicken...fantastic.
We did a scavenger hunt with RING (student group) around our complex that showed me where a few things are I didn't know about.
It rained very hard...got a bit damp, but I didn't mind.
A special note to Mum and Granna...I haven't taken drugs in at least five days; ran today; felt great all day and had no problems. Yay!!

Super Sunday

Today was just fantastic. Church in the morning - I was liturgist. The passage was Romans 13:8-14, so I got to say "debauchery" and "licentiousness" from the lecturn on my third Sunday at a new church. Fun...
There was a brunch after Church; had several wonderful conversations. Turns out a friend I met on the Boys' Honors Floor has started singing with the UUMC Choir. Guess I'm getting to know him better in the future...
Home to my philosophy research.
Went to dinner with the gang, then went to my Students for Peace and Justice meeting.
And now I'm watching "Dogma" with my floormates. Fantastic movie.

Ugandan Malaria and HIV

Went to a lunchtime presentation yesterday about a Fulbright scholar's research in Uganda with victims of cerebral malaria and HIV. He and his team tested victims and non-victims for memory and motor skills to see how the diseases affected life up to two years after the illness. They then brought in computers and did training sessions (learning games) to see how much they helped. The presentation was very interesting, though not as focused on the actual malaria, etc. as I had hoped. What it mostly did was make me want to go to med school really badly again...

The No-Bake Saga

I was asked to make some no-bakes for a friend...no problem. Do it all the time. Asked Mom to email me the reciple just to make sure I remembered everything. So I biked over to the grocery store right next to church, went shopping, and headed to the church kitchen. And started my no-bake making. And here's the thing...when you make peanut butter krispies, you use a cup of peanut butter. When you make no-bakes, you use half a cup. I was making a double batch...so I put in two cups from memory instead of reading recipe very carefully. The only solution was to make another batch of non-peanut butter goo and combine them. It worked. The no-bakes turned out just fine. But I ended up with enough to feed the entire population of New York...

That was absolutely fantastic!

I have just completed my first completely insane college student experience. A bunch of friends and I dressed up in totally crazy hippy clothes and went to "Mamma Mia." We then went shopping...and a 50-year-old woman in a car honked at us and called out the window: "I just wanted to let you know how awesome you guys were. I was sitting behind you and I was so inspired I'm going to get a group of friends together and do that same thing next week." It was fantastic.
We were incorrect about what time the bus left on the way back, so we spent too much time shopping and then had to wait for a while. But this turned out to be a very good thing. One the bus back, we met a PhD student from Togo. We were chatting quite a bit; we tried to help him back to his apartment. But we had the wrong apartment complex in our heads. So we had to walk him back and get him on another bus...turns out he's a Fulbright scholar! Great conversation...he got one of our phone numbers, so hopefully we'll be able to show him around campus a bit more. He's only been in the US for a month and is having trouble mostly with finding the right kinds of food to eat that he'll like. He got orange drink instead of orange juice...
Anyways, the evening was quite wonderful. Love to all!

IVAC

The International Volunteer Action Corps! They sponsor trips and whatnot, but it's also a great place to hang out at MSU with international students and other folks interested in globalization and cross-cultural connection. Met a very cool grad student from India and we chatted for quite a while. It was a longer meeting than I'd anticipated, but the time was filled with games and ice breakers and whatnot, so I enjoyed it very much.
Today: Mostly work. Going to see "Mamma Mia"...yes, I'm seeing it again. But this time my friends will actually be there. Have to make some no-bake cookies for a friend (why do I do these things? I'm busy enough!). There's a presentation at noon about some research on malaria and HIV in Ugandan children; it's mostly about the psychological effects and mapping those with computer software, but I might go to that. And now I shall get to work! Have a lovely day!

More Arabic Mistakes

I had a rough day in Arabic today. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, but I screwed up both words I was called on to say outloud. Did my writing on the board perfectly though. You win some, you lose some. Fair enough. Looking forward to completing Unit 3 this weekend!

Go Spartan Bookstore!

I'm really rough on headphones...this might have something to do with the fact that I use them constantly. So I needed new headphones and a lab notebook with carbons. I checked headphones at MSU's Computer Store...they had only one brand whose shape I didn't like much and were fairly expensive. Then I visit the handy dandy Spartan Bookstore to get my labbook and figure I'll check headphone prices for a comparison. And I got a 2-pack for $15. With a carrying case. Looky there. Quick, easy, and not very expensive. They may not be the fanciest headgear in existence (i.e., they'd drive my brother crazy because they're not sophisticated enough), but they do the job I need them to do beautifully. And they're Spartan-decorated! So now I will feel loving of my school whenever I run.

Wesley Worship

Had worship for the first time at Wesley. Enjoyed myself thoroughly...good service, good music (with just the right blend of music that I knew and didn't know). Saw the church choir practicing immediately before that; I need to make sure I talk to the music director this Sunday and check out exact times and commitments. Met a lot of knew people, always a plus. One in particular was fun to meet..."I just figured out who you were. I had suspicions about who you were, but I wasn't sure...Well, I know you're not Charlie. So I won't treat you like you are. But I like Charlie a lot...you're taller than I expected." Entertaining. But I look forward to getting to know him better.

More Wednesday

Life is still good...and there's still nothing immensely entertaining to share. I managed to eat all three meals with friends, which doesn't happen very much, due to scheduling. There was "Buckeye Bliss" ice cream - essentially moose tracks, but with more goodies and better ice cream. Fantastic. "Death by Chocolate" too. Must be careful of ice cream...And I finally got my doughnut! (This sounds like I'm eating nothing but junk - not true. Had salad for both main meals today.)
I'm off to worship at MSU's Wesley for the first time! Meanwhile, worship at Dad's Wesley at CMU should be starting in about twenty minutes...

Wednesday

Today is a happy day. There's nothing too extraordinary to talk about...so forgive my lack of entertainment...

Study Buddy

I have a study buddy, everyone! An honors junior in my economics class borrowed my book this weekend to do her homework, and then wanted to go over the problems. So I went to her room (she's an RA in my building on the ASL floor!) and we talked through our economics homework. It was very fun. We made it through all the problems, but we definitely chatted a lot about other stuff. She's the lead in the first play of this year and is a huge theater geek. She has Broadway posters all over her room, so we talked about that. She knows Sutton Foster...is a FRIEND of Sutton Foster. She's on the ASL floor. (That's American Sign Language, by the way.) She's a reformed Jew who plans on becoming a rabbi. It was really fun...look forward to getting to know her better.

Well, that's fun

Apparently MSU's Payroll Office codes PAs as grad students...so I'm apparently a grad student at Michigan State University. That's fun.

Red Cedar Running

I can run again! Life is fantastic. I don't go too hard yet, I have to take tylenol immediately afterwards, and I have to bike a lot or the knee starts to hurt again, but for the most part, life is good! I've missed it a lot...it's good to be back.

"Mamma Mia"

We were all going to go to "Mamma Mia" today. I wanted to bike; the rest of the gang was going to ride the bus. So they took off for the bus station and I took off on my bike. I got there...and no friends. I watched the movie...and still no friends. Turns out the bus service doesn't run on Labor Day. So they never made. So I saw "Mamma Mia" again while wishing my friends were there to dance with...

This is AWESOME!

I have been captured into the world of philosophy and justice studies. I'm researching the causes/nature of violence for my professor...and getting to write about my own opinion in the process. I got totally geeked about it just now. So here's a sample of the annotated bibliography I get to turn into him...

Nichols, James H. Nichols Jr., trans. “Gorgias” by Plato. Ithaca: Cornell University, 1998. The “Gorgias” itself is one of the greatest sources of our knowledge about Gorgias’ views on justice and violence and also includes some views of Callicles. Socrates is a character in the dialogue, so we lose a bit of the “pre-Socratic” side of Gorgias; nonetheless, we have decided to include it in this portion of research.
pp. 42; 460b. “So then according to this argument, is also the one who has learned the just things just?” This follows a discussion about how one who learns music is musical, one who learns carpentry is a carpenter, etc. This is Socrates’ response to Gorgias’ statement that the teacher is not responsible if a student of rhetoric uses it unjustly. Gorgias has claimed to teach his students not only rhetoric, but also justice. Socrates corners Gorgias into admitting that one who has been taught justice is necessarily just. At this point, Socrates doesn’t push much farther. But we want to: If one who has been taught justice is just, and Gorgias has taught his students justice, why then have some of them used rhetoric for unjust means? This leads us to one of two possible conclusions: either Gorgias did not teach justice properly or justice can be unlearned. If we extend this argument to violence: Isn’t one who has been taught non-violence, by necessity, non-violent? Why then, have children who have grown up hearing of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. not non-violent? We find a simple explanation: Society (and Gorgias) may teach students non-violence and justice. But society also teaches violence and injustice. And mustn’t he who has been taught violence be violent? So now we have a student who has been taught both violence and non-violence and is therefore both violent and non-violent. Circumstances will influence which of these characteristics wins out. But from this argument, if we can find a way to teach only non-violence to a child, won’t that child be only non-violent? Socrates and Gorgias are implying rather heavily that justice can be taught. Can virtue? Can non-violence? Is violence human nature or are we taught it? The answer to this question will greatly influence how today’s philosophers are able to look at the concept of peace and justice.

This is absurd

The fire alarm went off. AGAIN! Oh well. We were all dressed this time, shock of shocks.
And now, I am actually going to do something USEFUL and do my Professorial Assistantship philosophical research.

The Gallery is AWESOME

The Gallery is the cafeteria in my dorm...today for lunch they served a STRAWBERRY CHICKEN SALAD!!! It was flipping FANTASTIC! I have just had the most wonderful lunch ever to be had in a dorm cafeteria.

Yay Fire Alarms!

Yesterday we had a fire alarm...and they're not supposed to happen on Sundays. So that was fine. We all left; it wasn't much of a problem. It was "early" for a Sunday, so a lot of people were in pajamas, but Chris and I had just gotten back from church and hadn't really settled down in studying yet, so it wasn't much of a problem.
But then today at 7:30, the alarm went off. And that time it was a problem. Because while I usually would be awake, it's Labor Day. And I decided yesterday that I woulld let myself sleep in, so I stayed up late watching "Batman." And there I was at 7:30, forced out of bed. I woke up at 7, but was going for the "laze around in bed" technique. So much for that. I had this huge headache, though, due to being abruptlyn forced to full conciousness. So I had to get more sleep. And then at 9:35...again! Yay! Not. So out we went one more time. We were let back into the building, but the fire alarm is still going off. It's designed to force lazy college students out of bed...so it's seriously painful and obnoxious. And I still feel like I've had no sleep...
Thank you, fire system. The dorm is now trained to ignore fire warnings. Real fire=death to us all. And I'm going to be much more unproductive today, now, because I am in complete "bleh" mode now.

Michael Keaton as Batman...

After doing a lot of work today, I decided to spoil myself with a movie...so I grabbed "Batman" off Bailey's shelf and she, Chris, and I watched it. It was amazing. We made fun of it...a lot. One of those movies that's good and bad at the same time and you love it for it...
So then we had to watch "Batman Returns." I didn't know the story of "Catwoman" at all, so I was totally lost. That one was creepier...so now it will be a question of what my dreams are like tonight.