Thursday, June 24, 2010
Shame
I have gotten nothing done. I plead the internet. I need to go cold turkey, at least sort of. Facebook games are the most addicting and the most unredeeming games in the universe. That needs to stop.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Things to do
I have no job, having applied all over this county. Since I live in the middle of nowhere and can't drive alone, I can scratch out volunteer work, too, I think, since that would require a parent to drive me to places where I don't earn money while burning plenty of gas along the way. After a month at home, having been left to my own devices, I've accomplished basically nothing. That's where YOU, my anonymous (and possibly/probably non-existent) readers come into play! A friend of mine, while she was still in school, made list of things she need to do and posted them on Tumblr. I don't have a Tumblr; I don't have much to say, and what I can say isn't usually worth sharing. Why, then, create yet another point of exposure on the internet just so I can post lists of what I want to do for the day? When I already have two blogs and accounts on Formspring and Facebook?
You may or may not be interested to see what I'm up to; I don't think you will be, but in case you are, please read on. I don't know how I'll structure this--whether I'll plan days in advance or right when I get up. I also don't know how much I can accomplish in one day, and I'll also be working without knowing what the day might bring--if I'll to spend three hours mowing the lawn on Saturday or if Thursday just happens to be clean-out-the-basement day. There's also a contractor redoing the bathroom, and while they just finished sawing the tiles, there's sure to be more drilling, hammering, and barking dogs, noise that might not be conducive to reading. Nevertheless, this list is really for me--if I tell you on Monday morning I'm going to read two journal articles and write three letters, and by Tuesday morning I've only written one letter, it might force me explain myself to you, and maybe motivate me to stop screwing around and doing everything but the things I want to get done.
Ms. H.: Since you still get emails whenever I post anything on this blog, I might end up spamming your inbox with an email or two a day. If you want, I can take your email off, just let me know.
The New York Times is getting rather boring, to be quite honest. The news media in general is not providing enough depth on issues I want to understand. To that end, I though I might read a journal article (or other scholarly source) a day. For example, I have, from my Introduction to Political Science class, an excerpt from Samuel Huntington's The Third Wave, a book on democratization. This is a forty page PDF of scanned pages from the book, totally about eighty book pages I have to read to get through this neglected assignment I never finished. Sounds intimidating? Probably is, except that it's not particularly hard to read, at least in the first few pages. Maybe I'll set aside a bit more time for this one, although, in general, I can read a minimum of ten pages an hour, maybe more. I'll try and read the whole of Huntington tomorrow
I have a pile of books I haven't read--books I've bought, books people have given to me, books on loan from the library, books I was supposed to finish in school--the list goes on and on. I'd like to get back in the habit of reading books on my own, since it's not something I do very often anymore. For starters, I think I'll try and read some fiction. I never finished William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying for AP Language, and I've already had it out from the library for three-six weeks already. I'm going to start over on that, and, without rushing it, I'm going to try to finish it before next Monday.
I enjoy rambling about stuff to my friends and confidants, but I often get lax and forget to write for a while. I'm a bit behind. I hope to do a little letter writing each day, as fits the particular situation. Tomorrow, I have a very good friend to talk to that I haven't spoken to since school. I will email her before the day's end.
I also have a large book of George Orwell's essays I picked up at the beginning of the summer. I've read seventy pages of it altogether, in bits and spurts. I plan on reading at least on essay from Orwell a day. I also have a collection of works by Jonathan Swift and a book of essays by Howard Zinn. I will incorporate them somehow into a reading schedule, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
Finally, I have an idea that could be a project that could turn into a paper that could morph into a proposal for an honors conference. I want to investigate common elements and themes present in New Deal-era government sponsored artwork, particularly those suggestive of propaganda, and do a comparative study of said U.S. art, artwork of the Third Reich, and artwork of the Soviet Union under Stalin. Maybe this will bear fruit; maybe this is unreasonable. We'll see. I have found a few places where I can find New Deal art online, as well a book or two from the county library featuring sections on art of that time period. I plan on exhausting local and online resources first, and then making a pilgrimage down to my college library in Mahwah. Tomorrow, I hope to start collection the online images into an album of sorts on my computer and examine the art books I picked up from the library. Later in the week, I need to stop at the Newton branch of the county library to examine a book they have there and pick up a book on Third Reich art. I'll also start looking into Soviet Union art.
Finally, I want to try my hand at writing. I maintain this blog here, where I post random musings, if they can be called such, and other forms of inanity. Unfortunately, I'm not a very creative writer; in fact, I don't have much in the way of creativity in general. So I don't end up with much worth reading here. I'm going to try to work on that, and if I find something particularly interesting or inspiring, I'm going to try and write it down, and maybe, for once, finish a post. I also have a more "serious" blog I set up last year and since neglected, From the Cloister. I apologize for the obnoxious title. It's supposed to where my contentious side comes out. It's also a place where I intend to throw up what could be shitty, half-baked ideas, even though I might, for the moment, think them the most profound pieces of prose ever written. I have a lot of ideas bouncing around my head, and I'd like to write them down. Maybe there will be a rose among the thorns. Maybe not. I'm going to try to post something on one of the blogs at least once per week and, if you're daring and fearless, you can check it out.
In short form, here's what I plan to do for Monday:
You may or may not be interested to see what I'm up to; I don't think you will be, but in case you are, please read on. I don't know how I'll structure this--whether I'll plan days in advance or right when I get up. I also don't know how much I can accomplish in one day, and I'll also be working without knowing what the day might bring--if I'll to spend three hours mowing the lawn on Saturday or if Thursday just happens to be clean-out-the-basement day. There's also a contractor redoing the bathroom, and while they just finished sawing the tiles, there's sure to be more drilling, hammering, and barking dogs, noise that might not be conducive to reading. Nevertheless, this list is really for me--if I tell you on Monday morning I'm going to read two journal articles and write three letters, and by Tuesday morning I've only written one letter, it might force me explain myself to you, and maybe motivate me to stop screwing around and doing everything but the things I want to get done.
Ms. H.: Since you still get emails whenever I post anything on this blog, I might end up spamming your inbox with an email or two a day. If you want, I can take your email off, just let me know.
The New York Times is getting rather boring, to be quite honest. The news media in general is not providing enough depth on issues I want to understand. To that end, I though I might read a journal article (or other scholarly source) a day. For example, I have, from my Introduction to Political Science class, an excerpt from Samuel Huntington's The Third Wave, a book on democratization. This is a forty page PDF of scanned pages from the book, totally about eighty book pages I have to read to get through this neglected assignment I never finished. Sounds intimidating? Probably is, except that it's not particularly hard to read, at least in the first few pages. Maybe I'll set aside a bit more time for this one, although, in general, I can read a minimum of ten pages an hour, maybe more. I'll try and read the whole of Huntington tomorrow
I have a pile of books I haven't read--books I've bought, books people have given to me, books on loan from the library, books I was supposed to finish in school--the list goes on and on. I'd like to get back in the habit of reading books on my own, since it's not something I do very often anymore. For starters, I think I'll try and read some fiction. I never finished William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying for AP Language, and I've already had it out from the library for three-six weeks already. I'm going to start over on that, and, without rushing it, I'm going to try to finish it before next Monday.
I enjoy rambling about stuff to my friends and confidants, but I often get lax and forget to write for a while. I'm a bit behind. I hope to do a little letter writing each day, as fits the particular situation. Tomorrow, I have a very good friend to talk to that I haven't spoken to since school. I will email her before the day's end.
I also have a large book of George Orwell's essays I picked up at the beginning of the summer. I've read seventy pages of it altogether, in bits and spurts. I plan on reading at least on essay from Orwell a day. I also have a collection of works by Jonathan Swift and a book of essays by Howard Zinn. I will incorporate them somehow into a reading schedule, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
Finally, I have an idea that could be a project that could turn into a paper that could morph into a proposal for an honors conference. I want to investigate common elements and themes present in New Deal-era government sponsored artwork, particularly those suggestive of propaganda, and do a comparative study of said U.S. art, artwork of the Third Reich, and artwork of the Soviet Union under Stalin. Maybe this will bear fruit; maybe this is unreasonable. We'll see. I have found a few places where I can find New Deal art online, as well a book or two from the county library featuring sections on art of that time period. I plan on exhausting local and online resources first, and then making a pilgrimage down to my college library in Mahwah. Tomorrow, I hope to start collection the online images into an album of sorts on my computer and examine the art books I picked up from the library. Later in the week, I need to stop at the Newton branch of the county library to examine a book they have there and pick up a book on Third Reich art. I'll also start looking into Soviet Union art.
Finally, I want to try my hand at writing. I maintain this blog here, where I post random musings, if they can be called such, and other forms of inanity. Unfortunately, I'm not a very creative writer; in fact, I don't have much in the way of creativity in general. So I don't end up with much worth reading here. I'm going to try to work on that, and if I find something particularly interesting or inspiring, I'm going to try and write it down, and maybe, for once, finish a post. I also have a more "serious" blog I set up last year and since neglected, From the Cloister. I apologize for the obnoxious title. It's supposed to where my contentious side comes out. It's also a place where I intend to throw up what could be shitty, half-baked ideas, even though I might, for the moment, think them the most profound pieces of prose ever written. I have a lot of ideas bouncing around my head, and I'd like to write them down. Maybe there will be a rose among the thorns. Maybe not. I'm going to try to post something on one of the blogs at least once per week and, if you're daring and fearless, you can check it out.
In short form, here's what I plan to do for Monday:
- Huntington - Excerpt from The Third Wave
- Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
- Letter to an old friend
- Orwell - "Notes on the Spanish Militias"
- The Project - Review art books and start on online sources
Let's hope I can get it done. Talk to you again tomorrow night, or Tuesday morning at the latest.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
The State of Collegiate Exploration: Part 2
Yes, I walked through the Birch Mansion tonight. It's dark, scary, and beautiful. I was really creeped out and too afraid to turn on the lights, since, you know, the Public Safety headquarters looks right out on the mansion and they might be concerned if they see the lights on at one in the morning. The doors to the offices I tried were locked (I really, REALLY want to stroll through the president's office, though I didn't have the balls to try the his door). I need a wingman/wingwoman to calm my fears and paranoia, though there's only one person I could think of who MIGHT have the guts and the proper temperament for such an expedition, and she is quite busy at the moment, I'm sure. On a return voyage, we shall take a closer look at the building and attempt to discern the limits of access to other cool places within the building. A full report at that time!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Ha, two posts in one night!
Okay, peoples. So late night JUST closed and I have about four hours of reading and at least two of test prep ahead of me, probably more, and if I don't sleep then I will be zombie-like when I take my test and that will suck. I wanted to get something from the vending machine but I'm out of cash and so I found $1 in quarters, not the $1.50 I need to get bottle of Pepsi. So I bought a bag of pretzels instead. Bad idea, because now I'm really thirsty and I'm going to waste at least 20 minutes walking to the ATM in the student center and emptying my bank account so I can have a $5 bill with which to buy some bag of shit from the vending machine so I can get four dollars back and literally turn around and deposit two singles into the soda machine, because, of course, the soda machine does not take $5 bills.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Sorry State of Collegiate Exploration
There's no place left to explore anyone. I've wandered all over this campus, except in the Village, but there I'm a bit afraid of drunks and of facing the scrutiny of Public Safety. Otherwise I've been in every residence hall and just about every corner of the academic complex. I examined the new Spiritual Center just a few minutes ago. That leaves only the Village and the athletic fields (for those I have to cross Route 202), and neither really inspires my explorer instinct.
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