Hello,
I am tired in the thinking of no one particular thing way. I don't know if you know that feeling. This is why I write to organize my mind. I am also very warm.
I just got back from spring break but this isn't to say I went any where except home. It was nice. I just sat around and relaxed and did the little homework that was given. I watched a lot of T.V. at home, mainly because it was there and I was bored. I don't watch any T.V. here. No one really does. I watch movies online and I surf the web, but I mainly do homework and clean. I even work out some days.
Here I make to do lists and stick to them religiously. I have a calender on my computer that reminds me when things are due. At home I never feel I have to do anything and thus I just go on my whims. I like both ways of life. I love structure and setting small goals and accomplishing them, but I also love doing what I want when I want with the people I want to do things with.
Here I don't leave campus because it is such a self contained community. At home I drive everywhere because nothing is close. I love driving. It is one of my true joys, but I appreciate the convenience of every thing on campus.
This comparison could go on for days, but none of this is really what is in my head and that is worrying about having to make a decision and hurting peoples feelings. I want the let the chips fall as they may attitude but I don't think I can really adopt that for myself.
Ta Ta
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Huzzah for Aca Dec and Driving!
Hello,
So today I was driving back from Madison and thus I had a lot of time to think. My mind was wondering all over the place as it normally does, but seeing as I was coming from the State Academic Decathlon competition I was thinking about knowledge in general and this lead to religion (a place where my mind always seems to come back to).
Today there was a rare occurrence. It really only happens once a year in Wisconsin and for the past three years I have gone and this years was going to be no different. The Wisconsin Academic Decathlon State Tournament Super Quiz Relay was this afternoon. It really is amazing. I will try and explain it but I won't do it a hint of justice. Imagine if you will a theatre that seats close to a thousand people. The main floor seats (aka the seats the are flat on the ground) are gone except for a few rows at the back and 9 tables are set up. The teams are identified mainly by the fact that they are sitting together wearing the same shirts. The rest of the seats are filled with a few parents but mostly fans. Yes fans for a schools academic team. Large sections of people wearing shirts in support of their Academic Decathlon team, armed with large signs and even a few scattered instruments are lead by their mascots. They are extremely loud and the very enclosed space wasn't built for loud noises. The crowds are doing chants and songs and interact (negative by and large) with other schools crowds. The mascots take to fighting with one another. The place is packed and on the stage is one small podium and a large screen where the questions will be placed one at a time. The teams are sitting in reverse order of team rank, and it is easy to spot the new kids to the teams because they are for the most part extremely afraid of this whole spectacle. Soon the crowd is called to order by the director at the small podium and the whole place is introduced to the M.C. The M.C. reads off the rules and the 9th member of a 9 member team ascends the steps to the main floor and takes their seat at the designated spot. They are to answer five questions. They are only showed one at a time and are only given a few seconds to think it over mark their scantron and a separate piece of paper. The whole crowd is silent as they do this. A little bell goes off signaling the end of the time and all the students on the floor hold their pencils in the air, showing that they aren't cheating. The answer is revealed and the students who got the question right raise their hand in the air signaling to their crowd that they got it right. This sets of a shock wave of cheering that no basketball player has ever heard. It is so deafening that the newbies jump in their seats. This is repeated for all five of the 9th team members questions and then the team member leaves and all of his team have moved down a seat and he takes his place, thankful to be done. The 8th member goes down and this whole thing is repeated, and then the 7th and then the 6th etc.
Maybe it is because I was on one of those teams, maybe because I was also in sports, but I can't help but love that their is this recognition of geeks. I remember the panicked feeling of knowing your turn to answer questions in front of that huge crowd was coming up. I remember the difficulty of the questions even though you have been studying for months. I remember hearing the crowd cheer for those around you and not for you when you got one wrong, and I remember hearing them cheer when you go one right. I loved all of it and to be a spectator this time was weird. I watched my old teammates go up and answer. I thought as they got to their last question how it would be the last question in Decathlon that they will ever answer. Then I selfishly thought of my last question and how I hadn't thought about it at the time. I was simply glad to be done and watching my teammates. I wished for that last question back so I could savor all of it. It made me almost want to cry.
I realized on the way back that Decathlon wasn't just an after school activity but a way of life. Your team members became part of your family and you knew a lot about them. You were encouraged to study and were part of a group that enjoyed it so their wasn't a fear of being a geek but more of a revelation in that fact. You were expected to go to college and do well because you had the skills to far exceed the colleges standards. You were closely watched so any slip up was noticed and addressed. You spent time out of practice with your teammates and they never really got annoying. Basically everyday from September to March you went to practice after school and from March to June you didn't know what to do with yourself after school and ended up just returning to the practice room even for a few minutes so that you felt normal.
Knowledge is so loved by the teams and the fans that it really does impress me. I love it too much right along with them. There are days when I would rather study than anything just because that is the mind set I am in. This is slightly reminiscent of a pin that I picked up at the feminist book store in Madison that reads "Reading is Sexy!". There were some other pins I picked up but I left the ones attacking religion alone. Maybe this is because of the people I was with but more than likely it was because I don't like people who bash or criticize others religion.
This got me thinking about my religion which really doesn't exist. I have been asked in the past if that doesn't make the entire world seem grim. After thinking about it I think most human made things are miracles in one way or another. Think about it. Think about a light bulb, something that we use everyday. It took years to figure that out, hundreds of failed attempts, and now they are mass produced by machines that we have figured out how to make. The light bulb seems so simple to most of us and after thinking on it the idea of how long it took to conceive and get right boggles my mind. Then I thought on why this boggles me, and I have decided it is because knowledge is the ultimate gift, though life is nice too. We pass down knowledge from one generation to the next. The new generation picks it part, weeds out the wrong and no longer useful things, adds their own research, ties it up in a nice bundle and hands it off to the next generation. We have had the light bulb explained, we didn't have to conceive it. We have simply been building from there, just adding on. It is rare that a completely new idea comes around that isn't built off of something else, and that is because we have passed on knowledge and each generation has more than the one before and can do more. I love knowledge. Maybe I am just a Knowledgeist.
That was a lot of writing and I have more to say but I will save it. Thanks for reading.
Ta Ta
So today I was driving back from Madison and thus I had a lot of time to think. My mind was wondering all over the place as it normally does, but seeing as I was coming from the State Academic Decathlon competition I was thinking about knowledge in general and this lead to religion (a place where my mind always seems to come back to).
Today there was a rare occurrence. It really only happens once a year in Wisconsin and for the past three years I have gone and this years was going to be no different. The Wisconsin Academic Decathlon State Tournament Super Quiz Relay was this afternoon. It really is amazing. I will try and explain it but I won't do it a hint of justice. Imagine if you will a theatre that seats close to a thousand people. The main floor seats (aka the seats the are flat on the ground) are gone except for a few rows at the back and 9 tables are set up. The teams are identified mainly by the fact that they are sitting together wearing the same shirts. The rest of the seats are filled with a few parents but mostly fans. Yes fans for a schools academic team. Large sections of people wearing shirts in support of their Academic Decathlon team, armed with large signs and even a few scattered instruments are lead by their mascots. They are extremely loud and the very enclosed space wasn't built for loud noises. The crowds are doing chants and songs and interact (negative by and large) with other schools crowds. The mascots take to fighting with one another. The place is packed and on the stage is one small podium and a large screen where the questions will be placed one at a time. The teams are sitting in reverse order of team rank, and it is easy to spot the new kids to the teams because they are for the most part extremely afraid of this whole spectacle. Soon the crowd is called to order by the director at the small podium and the whole place is introduced to the M.C. The M.C. reads off the rules and the 9th member of a 9 member team ascends the steps to the main floor and takes their seat at the designated spot. They are to answer five questions. They are only showed one at a time and are only given a few seconds to think it over mark their scantron and a separate piece of paper. The whole crowd is silent as they do this. A little bell goes off signaling the end of the time and all the students on the floor hold their pencils in the air, showing that they aren't cheating. The answer is revealed and the students who got the question right raise their hand in the air signaling to their crowd that they got it right. This sets of a shock wave of cheering that no basketball player has ever heard. It is so deafening that the newbies jump in their seats. This is repeated for all five of the 9th team members questions and then the team member leaves and all of his team have moved down a seat and he takes his place, thankful to be done. The 8th member goes down and this whole thing is repeated, and then the 7th and then the 6th etc.
Maybe it is because I was on one of those teams, maybe because I was also in sports, but I can't help but love that their is this recognition of geeks. I remember the panicked feeling of knowing your turn to answer questions in front of that huge crowd was coming up. I remember the difficulty of the questions even though you have been studying for months. I remember hearing the crowd cheer for those around you and not for you when you got one wrong, and I remember hearing them cheer when you go one right. I loved all of it and to be a spectator this time was weird. I watched my old teammates go up and answer. I thought as they got to their last question how it would be the last question in Decathlon that they will ever answer. Then I selfishly thought of my last question and how I hadn't thought about it at the time. I was simply glad to be done and watching my teammates. I wished for that last question back so I could savor all of it. It made me almost want to cry.
I realized on the way back that Decathlon wasn't just an after school activity but a way of life. Your team members became part of your family and you knew a lot about them. You were encouraged to study and were part of a group that enjoyed it so their wasn't a fear of being a geek but more of a revelation in that fact. You were expected to go to college and do well because you had the skills to far exceed the colleges standards. You were closely watched so any slip up was noticed and addressed. You spent time out of practice with your teammates and they never really got annoying. Basically everyday from September to March you went to practice after school and from March to June you didn't know what to do with yourself after school and ended up just returning to the practice room even for a few minutes so that you felt normal.
Knowledge is so loved by the teams and the fans that it really does impress me. I love it too much right along with them. There are days when I would rather study than anything just because that is the mind set I am in. This is slightly reminiscent of a pin that I picked up at the feminist book store in Madison that reads "Reading is Sexy!". There were some other pins I picked up but I left the ones attacking religion alone. Maybe this is because of the people I was with but more than likely it was because I don't like people who bash or criticize others religion.
This got me thinking about my religion which really doesn't exist. I have been asked in the past if that doesn't make the entire world seem grim. After thinking about it I think most human made things are miracles in one way or another. Think about it. Think about a light bulb, something that we use everyday. It took years to figure that out, hundreds of failed attempts, and now they are mass produced by machines that we have figured out how to make. The light bulb seems so simple to most of us and after thinking on it the idea of how long it took to conceive and get right boggles my mind. Then I thought on why this boggles me, and I have decided it is because knowledge is the ultimate gift, though life is nice too. We pass down knowledge from one generation to the next. The new generation picks it part, weeds out the wrong and no longer useful things, adds their own research, ties it up in a nice bundle and hands it off to the next generation. We have had the light bulb explained, we didn't have to conceive it. We have simply been building from there, just adding on. It is rare that a completely new idea comes around that isn't built off of something else, and that is because we have passed on knowledge and each generation has more than the one before and can do more. I love knowledge. Maybe I am just a Knowledgeist.
That was a lot of writing and I have more to say but I will save it. Thanks for reading.
Ta Ta
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The Headlines
Hello,
Today I woke up seemingly unaffected by all of the events of yesterday. Two very important things happened there was the ever so important announcement that my beloved Brett Favre is retiring, and that pesky little primary thing. This is the order. The newspapers even had it correct. Large pictures of Brett and long stories on the front pages and then a little bit on the side about the primaries.
I am not sure how to feel about Brett leaving. OK so he is almost forty and I didn't expect him to play forever, it is just that he got his second wind so to speak and I thought next year we would see Favre training Rodgers and maybe some more Rodgers playing time and it would be a smooth transition. No, not happening, he is just leaving. This leave more time for him and I to have a tryst, but I still would like to see him play. I happen to love that man. Always have always will. Rodgers has some huge shoes to fill and he will fail if we continue to compare them. So lets give him his own shot shall we?
Now the primary.... What the fuck? I say this not because Huckabee didn't get the hint before McCain got the actual nomination, or because Hillary made a come back, I say this because everyone seems so emotionally attached. Here are my opinions. Huckabee didn't get the hint and that is OK, I mean he was only a thousand electoral votes behind McCain. Leave him alone he is gone and he tried which is more than you can say. Hillary made a push and it worked. We all saw her pushing and trying. This is America people, we saw her as an underdog and we cheer for the underdog. She isn't the underdog as much any more. Obama has charisma but lets face it you can't ride on that forever. Hillary also went for the younger vote by appearing the night before via broadcast on the Daily Show which could have really helped her. It is a tight race and at this point if you are a democrat be glad that all of the focus is on the dems. that is what gets more votes and wins elections. The differences between Hillary and Obama aren't that vast. They both want universal health care. Here is the difference: Hillary wants you to be required to buy it (which is like fixing the homeless problem by requiring everyone to live in a house) and Obama is only giving it to children (which most states already have some form of and is a big fuck you to all the people voting for him that think they will get health care). The problem is that neither are telling you how the government is going to pay for it. This would cost billions upon billions of dollars to do either of these and the fact is we are in tremendous debt and in a recession. Neither of them will lay down clear exit plans but that in my opinion is wrong. The way I really see it is you can't just go on hope without experience because nothing will get done and you can't go on experience without hope because then nothing great will get done. Neither one is a complete package. Neither one is comparable to JFK or Lincoln or Jefferson or Washington. Greatness is not to be projected for the future but to be reflected on after it is achieved. Those are my main thoughts on that. Disagree if you like, you won't change my mind but that doesn't mean my mind is closed.
Ta Ta
Today I woke up seemingly unaffected by all of the events of yesterday. Two very important things happened there was the ever so important announcement that my beloved Brett Favre is retiring, and that pesky little primary thing. This is the order. The newspapers even had it correct. Large pictures of Brett and long stories on the front pages and then a little bit on the side about the primaries.
I am not sure how to feel about Brett leaving. OK so he is almost forty and I didn't expect him to play forever, it is just that he got his second wind so to speak and I thought next year we would see Favre training Rodgers and maybe some more Rodgers playing time and it would be a smooth transition. No, not happening, he is just leaving. This leave more time for him and I to have a tryst, but I still would like to see him play. I happen to love that man. Always have always will. Rodgers has some huge shoes to fill and he will fail if we continue to compare them. So lets give him his own shot shall we?
Now the primary.... What the fuck? I say this not because Huckabee didn't get the hint before McCain got the actual nomination, or because Hillary made a come back, I say this because everyone seems so emotionally attached. Here are my opinions. Huckabee didn't get the hint and that is OK, I mean he was only a thousand electoral votes behind McCain. Leave him alone he is gone and he tried which is more than you can say. Hillary made a push and it worked. We all saw her pushing and trying. This is America people, we saw her as an underdog and we cheer for the underdog. She isn't the underdog as much any more. Obama has charisma but lets face it you can't ride on that forever. Hillary also went for the younger vote by appearing the night before via broadcast on the Daily Show which could have really helped her. It is a tight race and at this point if you are a democrat be glad that all of the focus is on the dems. that is what gets more votes and wins elections. The differences between Hillary and Obama aren't that vast. They both want universal health care. Here is the difference: Hillary wants you to be required to buy it (which is like fixing the homeless problem by requiring everyone to live in a house) and Obama is only giving it to children (which most states already have some form of and is a big fuck you to all the people voting for him that think they will get health care). The problem is that neither are telling you how the government is going to pay for it. This would cost billions upon billions of dollars to do either of these and the fact is we are in tremendous debt and in a recession. Neither of them will lay down clear exit plans but that in my opinion is wrong. The way I really see it is you can't just go on hope without experience because nothing will get done and you can't go on experience without hope because then nothing great will get done. Neither one is a complete package. Neither one is comparable to JFK or Lincoln or Jefferson or Washington. Greatness is not to be projected for the future but to be reflected on after it is achieved. Those are my main thoughts on that. Disagree if you like, you won't change my mind but that doesn't mean my mind is closed.
Ta Ta
Snow again????
Hello,
It is snowing here and I hope it isn't there. I just thought about it and I consider March a spring month and not one in which there should be snow falling from the sky. I consider Feb. as a winter month and it is OK for it to snow then. Just not in march. So six days ago this would have been fine by me but now it is just bothering me. This is added to some other issues that I have been trying to avoid but have now come to a head.
According to my Google updater thingy (it is on the side of my desktop and has a note pad, a people magazine updater, a general news updater, and the simple weather does anyone know what this is called?) it is 21 degrees F. Right now. I must admit that this is actually rather warm for up here, seeing as this winter it was -30s. But even though it is starting to warm up it is snowing and I am inclined to think this will never stop. Any time it starts to warm up something like this goes and happens. I need to go someplace warmer.
Speaking of leaving I need to finish my transfer stuff for La Crosse and I am waiting to hear from Madison. Madison is being slow about the whole thing and I wish that they would make up their minds one way or another. I hate this waiting, this sitting on edge. I also have to fill out and hand in my housing stuff for next year in case I don't get into the other schools. This includes a $200 advance. I am really opposed to giving them this. $200 for a place I don't want to be and that if I get in someplace else I will only get at the most $150 back. So in essence I will have paid them $50 at the least to do nothing. I am really not OK with that seeing as I don't want to be here and it makes me bitter towards them. Don't they know the economy is in a recession? And it is. All economic indicators point to this, so how are people ignoring it. Again this isn't something you can just ignore and have it just go away. Where is Greenspan when you need him?
That's all for now. I promise more on the election later.
Ta Ta
It is snowing here and I hope it isn't there. I just thought about it and I consider March a spring month and not one in which there should be snow falling from the sky. I consider Feb. as a winter month and it is OK for it to snow then. Just not in march. So six days ago this would have been fine by me but now it is just bothering me. This is added to some other issues that I have been trying to avoid but have now come to a head.
According to my Google updater thingy (it is on the side of my desktop and has a note pad, a people magazine updater, a general news updater, and the simple weather does anyone know what this is called?) it is 21 degrees F. Right now. I must admit that this is actually rather warm for up here, seeing as this winter it was -30s. But even though it is starting to warm up it is snowing and I am inclined to think this will never stop. Any time it starts to warm up something like this goes and happens. I need to go someplace warmer.
Speaking of leaving I need to finish my transfer stuff for La Crosse and I am waiting to hear from Madison. Madison is being slow about the whole thing and I wish that they would make up their minds one way or another. I hate this waiting, this sitting on edge. I also have to fill out and hand in my housing stuff for next year in case I don't get into the other schools. This includes a $200 advance. I am really opposed to giving them this. $200 for a place I don't want to be and that if I get in someplace else I will only get at the most $150 back. So in essence I will have paid them $50 at the least to do nothing. I am really not OK with that seeing as I don't want to be here and it makes me bitter towards them. Don't they know the economy is in a recession? And it is. All economic indicators point to this, so how are people ignoring it. Again this isn't something you can just ignore and have it just go away. Where is Greenspan when you need him?
That's all for now. I promise more on the election later.
Ta Ta
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