The Rat Race

The Rat Race, Aptly Named

2006-12-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

Very recently I discovered that one of my favorite novelists, John Knowles, was gay. Initially, this bothered me. However, I knew in my mind that if I were to discuss my annoyance with some of the people on the floor, that they would criticize me for selectively endorsing some social deviances, and not others. For instance, I knew that if I were to discuss this with Evan, he would call me out for a personal deviance, or something akin to this, of choosing to avoid a relationship with a woman, while being interested in women. Furthermore, who would I be to judge the meritoriousness of sexual preferences? At first, I thought that the (figment of my imagination) Evan had a point. Why would I weigh one social deviance heavier than another? However, I don't think that this touches upon the fundamental issue at stake. Me being bothered by John Knowles's sexuality derives from my disagreement with his underlying beliefs system, not the manifestation of those beliefs. Thus, I don't dislike gayness, I dislike the values underlying gayness. That is all.

And Life Goes On...

2006-11-02T09:33:00.000-08:00

Recently, I did something terribly stupid. I know that Michael will think that's in no uncertain way unprecedented, but I profess to being an idiot. I've been close to a friend of mine from Pendleton for years, and I just botched that... His girlfriend, who I've had interests for in the past, unnecessarily confided in me. The extent of my confusion couldn't really be qualified. She told me that she was not relating well to my good friend, felt like the spark was being lost, told me that I was the only male she could truly relate to, complimented my appearance (again and again), and called me crying because she felt that she needed to talk to me; she felt her life was in a shambles. Based upon what she said, I stepped out on a limb, and didn't make it to far before I killed myself (this limb was relatively high up, you see). I told her my feelings for her, asked her to not tell korey (I made my first mistake there), and stated that if she didn't reciprocate the feelings, then I could no longer associate with her because I didn't want to be a cohort to infedility. Regardless of what she felt for me, she was in a rage. She accused me of betraying both my good friend (mind you, this was after she said herself that she wouldn't tell my good friend) and the friendship I had with her (the night before, she told me that what I was doing was understandable). She leaked the conversation I'd had with her (word for word, it took place via AIM) to my good friend, and he went ballistic. Now they're both at my throats and I don't have a neck brace. What a shame.

Helluva Weak

2006-09-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

Whoo... I've been swamped recently. Last Friday, I had to take my first differential equations test. Thankfully, that came back positively (like the way an HIV test comes back positively; jk). Today (being Wednesday) I had my second probabilty test. There's never a way of knowing how those things go. Hopefully it went slightly better than last test, which I got a 90% on. Ahs well. Also, I have to turn in a paper for Plato's Middle Dialogues at 6:00 today. I think that went well. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter too much what I think. This liberal arts academic system doesn't permit me to give myself a grade. For tomorrow, I have to finish a lab report, which apparently takes awhile. Also, I have chapter problems to do for the class as well. Oh no's!!! We'll see if this ol' brain can putter through the task or not... However!!! Fall Break is impending, and not impeding. I look forward to that. Also, yay for weekends!!!

Morton/Brentano (Manipulation Station)

2006-09-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well, Friday I played Capture the Flag (I'm not entirely sure why I capitalized the name of the game, but it feels appropriate...)!!! Not only was I able to run around the campus glaring at the sorority girls dressed up in their ridiculous drag, but I was able to coerce people into my bidding. Let me backtrack just a bit... We played three games. The neutral territory for each team was the line extending in the east/west directions from memorial plaza. There was a time limit of approximately 30 minutes for each game. During the first game, Evan and I paired up to find the flag; invariably, we were separated. After running around the campus for a bit, I found the flag between Harpers and the smallest segment in the 'H' created by the Morton/Brentano buildings. There were three girls guarding the flag. They ran after me for a bit, but (to my surprise) I was able to convince them that running after me was a bad thing; it would allow me to "thin the herds". Ha! Finally, Evan and Jason Tate(-Han) joined up with me. I got another "bright" idea. If someone tags you, they are forced to take you to jail. Why not simultaneously tag two people of the opposing team, forcing them both to take the offender to jail? Well, the defenders didn't like my logic (no surprise), but I was able to get them to run away from me because they didn't want to take me to jail. To my joy, that ploy opened up some space between them and the flag!!! Nevertheless, I wasn't quick enough to take advantage of that. Instead, Evan and I tagged the defenders, forcing them to take us to jail, which left Jason with the sole defender. In the end, all of us were captured. All three of them took us to jail. You may have guessed it by this point in the sentence, but another idea occurred to me. Why not pretend that 30 minutes had elapsed and run toward their flag when they expected me to return to the memorial plaza? That was fun!!! The first game ended with little ado. Before the start of the second game, we made a rule that the defenders couldn't be within 20 feet of the flag. I used this to my advantage. As with the first game, the defenders had three people around their flag. However, the rule I previously mentioned made no exception for the case when an offender gets with the radius of that 20 ft. radius circle!!! I ran within the circle and was safe (it took alot of convincing on my part to get the defenders to recognize the legitimacy of my actions). I bid my time until I thought I could feasibly escape, and ran for it!!! Yay!!! Score for the South Team!!! After that, the players all had fun teasing me about my very semantic play style. The third game was even more eventful; after being bored with flag defense, I ran to where I knew the opposing team's flag was (for the record, I was on the North Team for this game). Jason Tate(-Han), who was again on my team, was apparently concealed. I ran for the defending team's flag, created a disturbance, which Jason took advantage of, and we scored!!! F-n A! Dom, I hope that you read this...

oops...

2006-05-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

well, i didn't realize till today that the post that i (pseudo) put up 4 days ago didn't actually go up... sorry dom. well, the euphoria of returning home has worn off, and i long for the college grind (hah!) again. it has been nice to see friends, but the slower-paced lifestyle is killer. i'm occupying myself with some layman's physics (faster than the speed of light and the elegant universe). however, the staple of this summer will be a continued trek for feminine companionship... any takers? asi... el capitan quiere ver nacho libre este verano! (pronto!) anyway, keep in touch, dom...

Rushed...

2006-04-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well, this is a Dom appeasement post. I have to be with the Bible study group in about 5 minutes. However, masterpieces have been created in less time! Well, ok, the only one I can really think about that was created in less time is probably God's creation of the universe. (really, for all we know, it could be a multiverse. i think that's what we're living in; besides, it's cooler...) today is going to be *busy*. there is room cleanage, spanish studyage, and calculus doage. oh, and Dom, Y Jizzle (hehe), and I need to hit the library... in the academic sense of the word, not like a meth-user, or like the taliban. by the way, is it really called the tali-ban? i think the word was abbreviated so that george bush would have an easier time during his public speeches.

Hey, Checkit!!!

2006-04-22T17:17:00.000-07:00

So, I decided that every time i want to express excitement with this blog, I will use 3, count 'em, 3 exclamation marks. I added some links, changed the template, and posted. Your turn, Dom!!!

Dee Ol' Funky

2006-04-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

I was in a dreamworld. Within this dreamworld, there existed two opposing forces. The first force was akin to the gravitational force. This first force, like the force of gravity, was easily perceptible. Just as in the "real" world, beings could intrinsically see this force's effect upon the interaction between themselves and their environment. Everything about their movement seemed related to the interaction between themselves and the world. They called it the Worldly Force. It felt so "natural".
However, when some of the beings saw one seemingly indivisible object separate into two distinct pieces of material, they began to ponder. These beings began to see objects differently; they realized their conception of objects was entirely dependent upon this new force. What force could this be, they asked, that kept objects whole? They had always taken their single Worldly Force for granted. Could it be that they, in fact, had been neglecting the indespinsable nature to this Unifying Force? Furthermore, what did this mean of their Worldly Force? What would this force be without the Unifying Force to allow objects to coalesce?
Am I awake?

The Rat Race Begins!!!

2006-04-15T00:02:00.000-07:00

Well, my first blog is up and running! I am not yet sure what I'd like to do with this, though I'm sure that simply by having it I am already a better person. Classes are winding down for my first year of college. I still don't know what to think about the college gig. The title of the blog feels especially appropriate right now. I'm going to work at the White River Club over the summer. Grand!!! Ideally, I would be able to work somewhere that would provide me with a solid computer knowledge base. However, I think that this will pay the bills. I'm still working on trying to find a girlfriend, though I think that she will come in time... Adios, amigos!!!