Wednesday, December 17, 2008

What I Learned This Semester, Part Deuce

(Another round of brutal introspection, plus more reinforcements of previously existent notions)

1. America. This is obvious - America is always number one. Amurica is 1A.

2. Car beats pedestrian. I've gotten cocky recently, crossing the street at dangerous moments and zipping through red lights when out for runs, telling myself that pedestrians have the right of way. Fair enough, we'll accept this in a vacuum. Yet as evidenced by the jackass turning right on a red light as I attempted to cross Huron and Main last week, car still beats pedestrian in reality. Theory vs. Application.

3. All of my beliefs regarding the sketchy quality of items purchased over the internet, shattered.

4. Dorothy was an idiot. I'm going home to Kansas over winter break, but wishing for courage, heart, or a brain would all be preferable. I'll brag here and say I've got a bit of brain (no sexual puns, please); courage and heart would still be better requests than going home to Kansas. Wizard should've bitch-slapped her.

5. This software does not recognize the word 'bitchslapped,' and suggests 'bitch-slapped' instead. Just learned that one.

6. My taste in music is actually declining. This is interesting because you would've thought I hit rock bottom around the second time I attended the Warped Tour. I was under the impression you were supposed to develop a finer palate as you aged, but I swear to god that at this rate, in two years I'll consider a good live concert a collection of four howler monkeys banging on trashcans.

7. I'm still very much driven by fear. It's principally counterproductive. In fact, extremely so.

8. I find amusement in peculiar endeavors that ultimately come back to bite me in the ass. There's no deeper explanation for these actions than a desire to be contrarian. For example, I'm constantly giving Pandora random feedback to fuck with its algorithms. The result is the occasional song selection that does not sound like howler monkeys banging on trash cans - an unfortunate ramification.

9. I support biofuels. Too complicated to explain in a paragraph. Suffice to say, this is an about-face from past beliefs (in spite of my agricultural background), but demands a caveat: current corn ethanol policy still blows.

10. Thank god my house has cooks. Left to my devices over finals week, I just kinda quit eating. This is one of those 'reinforcements of preexisting notions.' I quit eating regularly after moving out of the dorms four years ago. I don't think apathy and/or forgetting to eat meets the definition of eating disorder - I just have a lazy disorder.

11. Dropped into new surroundings with no associations, I will associate people with others I know and treat them thusly. I don't think it's a problem to treat others similarly based on who they remind you of based on actions. Greg Holman is a total Marcus Schultz-Bergin, and I interact with both in a similar manner. But Matt Schaar does not act like Kyle Brown. They still bear a striking resemblance in appearance, and my reaction's to Schaar's comments were influenced by how I would talk to Brown. Jaylon McCoy and Jason Arredondo - another great example.

This was never actually a problem, but I can see how it would be. If we remember back to List First, one of my points was that Dave is a tool. Knowing someone tells me how best to suck up to them. Yet in the future, this could cause me to totally take the wrong approach if I treat people based on their resemblance to someone I know.

This never happened before. I mean, I'm really shallow and judge people based on appearances, but that's different. I think moving to a new place, I got lonely and forced familiarity onto something foreign. What're really interesting are the potentially broader implications for this. What if I got a new dog in a new city, and it looked like my old dog. Would I still treat here like Flower? Scary, I know.

12. Captain Morgan Private Stock rum, space heater, layers

13. Much as I despise the piss beer that is Keystone, the region's refusal to carry it has left me pining for a pack of 30 stones. This is a promise to my friends back home.

14. I'm older than I think I am, and much older than I look. Basketball and broomball have destroyed my knees, and threaten my quest for Boston. I've also drank, smoked, and missed sleep more this semester than any other time in my life. Just trying to kill myself off before I get too old.

15. When you go to the Arb at night, the light from the city is just bright enough to find your way around the running paths. I could run all night, just alone and one with nature. When everything else in the world seems wrong, it's a beautiful solace to experience.