| Where do I begin? |
[Nov. 27th, 2007|12:13 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  complacent | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Hold on Tight" - Electric Light Orchestra | ] |
I wonder if I should stop feeling guilty about not posting here more often. However, I imagine that actually posting here right now probably won't resolve those feelings of guilt.
I finally took my comprehensive exams the Friday before Thanksgiving. Apparently I passed. I don't know what I was so worried about, but I should have taken them over the Summer. Anyway, now that that obstacle is out of the way, I get to write a dissertation proposal. Hopefully that will take less time than my comps did. I already have a topic, kind of, so I should get underway in a week or so after I return from Notre Dame, where I am headed on Wednesday for two conferences. I actually need to start my paper for their Center for Ethics and Culture conference sometime tomorrow. I was so excited about passing my qualifying exam that I neglected to write my paper for them. ACK! |
|
|
| I know that I have threatened to run away before |
[Mar. 20th, 2007|12:16 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Orphan Girl" - Gillian Welch | ] |
but this time I think I am pretty sure that I am serious. I want to move to the Pacific Northwest and start an organic beet farm. I will also pickle some of my beets and I want to sell fresh beets and the beets I pickle at a roadside stand after harvesting my delicious beets.
Late industrial capitalism isn't just going to end itself, so I might as well take myself out of the system while the getting is good.
In any event who doesn't love pickled beets? Maybe I will also get some free-range chickens and I will pickle their eggs also. |
|
|
| Confessions of a Bedridden Cynic |
[Mar. 10th, 2007|02:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | laying in bed | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sick | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Disappointed" - Morrissey | ] |
I am often reticent to post any of the clever things I think of on any given day because I've usually already shared them with at least one of my friends via AIM; and I may be many things, but I certainly don't want to be a repetitive bore.
However, most of this week, I've been ill with an upper respiratory infection of some sort, and I've been in bed almost all day long, with nothing to do but think of trenchant comments concerning the various perverse things I've read in the news on-line. Unfortunately hardly anyone has been around due to Spring Break or whatever else, so I've had no one with which to share my mildly amusing observations, except maybe my cat. While she is, in my opinion, brilliant by cat standards, she doesn't really have all that well developed of a sense of humor when compared with my human friends at least. |
|
|
| I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply doesn't work |
[Jan. 24th, 2007|12:53 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Bedroom | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | sore | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "What Is This Thing Called love?" - the Bill Evans Trio | ] |
And if anyone ever wanted proof of why, let's refer to this quote in response to the President Bush's State of the Union Address, from Emily Lewis of Fort Bragg, North Carolina that I read on CNN.com last night, http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/23/sotu.reader.feedback/index.html
I must say that speech gave me chills. I thought it was amazing! And I feel so proud to have my husband in the U.S. Army fighting for our freedom! And I am thankful to have a president like this!
Seriously? That was her reaction? This president gives her chills? Maybe she should have that checked into by a health care professional. |
|
|
| A lament |
[Jan. 4th, 2007|04:24 am] |
I used to write miserable, awful poetry. Then one day I stopped and destroyed all the evidence. Sometimes, like now, I wish I still did though, so at least that way I would know how I feel. |
|
|
| "Move yourself, you always live your life never thinking of the future..." |
[Jan. 1st, 2007|10:39 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | In Bed | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | excited | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Owner of a Lonely Heart" - Yes | ] |
After last night's experiment, I have decided that TaB is now my diet beverage of choice. It tastes so much better than Diet Coke. What have I been thinking these past three years? People in the 80s were definitely on to something. I am going to walk to the grocery store to buy more tomorrow.
"Owner of a lonely heart, much better than the owner of a broken heart..." |
|
|
| "One look from you and I would fall from grace..." |
[Dec. 31st, 2006|11:00 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | My bedroom | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  lazy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Heat of the Moment" - Asia | ] |
I don't much care for New Year's celebrations, but at midnight I am going to try a TaB for the first time. I guess I've got to ring in the new year somehow. If it is really good, I'll make a New Year's resolution to drink it instead of Diet Coke from now on. |
|
|
| Boxing Day |
[Dec. 26th, 2006|01:20 pm] |
It is on Boxing Day that I most regret not having servants. Without servants to whom am I supposed to give boxes of presents and food?
"Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even;
Brightly shone the moon that night, tho' the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight gath'ring winter fuel." |
|
|
| Merry Christmas! |
[Dec. 25th, 2006|10:56 am] |
I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderfully Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season. I hope St. Nicholas brought all of you what you wanted (within reason). I haven't opened my presents yet I am still snuggled up underneath an electric blanket wishing it would snow. In any event a few weeks ago I came across a Christmas address by Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, who was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian though Rastafarians mistakenly believe that he is the Messiah and the reincarnation of Jesus, and I thought I would share part of it with you as I found it to be quite eloquent.
"We should be ashamed to call ourselves Christian people when we do not follow in His footsteps. Had we been Christians, had we been worthy of the name, the peoples of the world would no longer be divided into hostile camps. Peace would reign over the face of the earth, and we would have risen to the level of immortal angels who ceaselessly glorify the Eternal God. In very truth, there are no interests or reasons, however, legitimate they may be, that can justify war."
I hope all of you have a lovely and blessed Christmas. |
|
|
| Home Alone and Left Behind? |
[Dec. 16th, 2006|07:59 pm] |
As I am sitting here watching "Home Alone" on TBS, it occurred to me that there should be a parody of "Home Alone" where just as in the original movie little Kevin finds his family missing after wishing that they would disappear before a Christmas trip to Paris, but unlike in the original because he and his family are Evangelical Protestants, he then assumes that they've been raptured and that he has been left behind because he is an insolent child who wanted his family to disappear just because he couldn't get a slice of cheese pizza. I cannot believe that no one else has thought of this idea yet, but it is hilarious and pure genius in my humble opinion. Of course perhaps the only reason I have even had this thought is due to lack of sleep from jet lag. |
|
|
| So very tired... |
[Dec. 12th, 2006|01:29 am] |
As you can tell from the subject line, I am tired. I have been in Hong Kong since Thursday evening, Hong Kong time, and I am exhausted. The conference went well, but seemed to drag on forever. I have virtually no time to myself, always busy with the work for the professor. I have been sick to my stomach the past two days. It is probably all the Chinese food I've been forced to consume. Thankfully I get to leave this "yellow pagan land" in the words of Professor Engelhardt, tomorrow morning. Hopefully I will be able to upgrade myself on the flight tomorrow so I won't be jam packed next to so many people for sixteen hours. I won't go on complaining because it has genuinely been another rich and fascinating experience, but I am a pessimist at heart so of course I see the downside in everything. However, at this moment I see no downside in returning home tomorrow to snuggle my cat. |
|
|
| Brrr... |
[Nov. 30th, 2006|05:38 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Notre Dame | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | cold | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Judy is a Dick Slap" -Belle & Sebastian | ] |
If there is ever a sequel to my life, please, I beg you make sure it is subtitled "Electric Bugaloo" |
|
|
| This kind of thing makes me so mad and so sad... |
[Nov. 22nd, 2006|03:23 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | sad | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Thanksgiving Waltz" - Jay Ungar & Molly Mason | ] |
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/11/22/ethiopia.lions.ap/index.html
I was reading the news as usual this morning and I read this story. It made me very mad and sad. Poor kitties! I hate it when anything bad happens to felines. I would have adopted them if I could afford them, which I guess was the problem in the first place in Ethiopia, but still they could have sold them to another zoo elsewhere for money than they got from having them taxidermied.
Anyway I hope everyone is going to have a good Thanksgiving tomorrow. I am baking a tofu pumpkin pie with a ginger snap crust and I am making King Crab legs. I also bought a bottle of California sparkling wine to make the occasions more festive. I am excited. I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving meals as well. |
|
|
| No I am not dead... |
[Nov. 18th, 2006|07:26 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | On my bed in Houston, TX | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  exhausted | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Greenback Dollar"- Kingston Trio | ] |
It would just be less work for me if I were. I don't know why I haven't posted here in a while, but it is probably because I usually share all my mildly clever comments with a few select people and I don't want to feel like I am repeating myself since they would be the ones most likely to read it in my journal anyway. Everyone hates repeats.
Anyway another semester is nearly over and I be hard pressed to say what I have accomplished. I am trying to write a paper for the conference at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, but I am mired in a hopeless case of writer's block. However, of greater concern is the fact that I am certain that I am behind in my qualifying exam readings. Damn you Edmund Husserl! Couldn't Heidegger just be right about you and let's leave it at that? Not only that, but I've spent the past two days doing work someone else was supposed to have done last month. I hope I get my own work done sometime.
I just wish it were Christmas vacation already so I could be in Reno sipping hot cocoa with my friend Doug, baking Christmas cookies, and trying to dress his cats in elf costumes, but before that I have to go to South Bend, Indiana and Hong Kong for two conferences. I already baked Russian Tea Cakes this weekend and I am going to make a tofu-pumpkin pie with a ginger snap crust for Thanksgiving. I hope I don't get all baked out and I hope I don't continue to avoid all of my work with baking. I just need to remember there will be plenty of time to bake at Christmas.
By the way I added one additional celebrity to my boycott list this week. I am boycotting Elton John because he said that he would ban religion completely. He thinks religion is intolerant of homosexuality so he wants to outlaw it. What an asinine sentiment? Doesn't he see how totalitarian that view is? In any event he is the first non-Scientologist to make the list. Kudos to him!
In case I don't write again before this Thursday, I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. |
|
|
| Descartes...deconstructed... |
[Sep. 21st, 2006|03:01 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | On top of my bed | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Curb Your Enthusiasm | ] |
Bender: "Oof. If that stuff wasn't real, how can I be sure anything is real? Is it not possible, nay, probable that my whole life is just a product of my or someone else's imagination?"
Robot Upgrade Technician: "No, get out. Next!"
Futurama sure put old Rene in his place. |
|
|
| Pluto? Not a planet? |
[Sep. 8th, 2006|11:09 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | At my desk | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Tipperary"- Soviet Army Chorus & Band | ] |
Well a lot has happened since I last wrote. I got my cat Irene spayed and I went to visit my best friend Erich as he took his first public profession of vows in the Dominican Order in Berkeley, CA. Although most monumentally Pluto is no longer considered a planet, which doesn't much bother me, since I understand this is how science works, but apparently it bothered John Gibson of the Fox News Network enough to publish this asinine editorial http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210358,00.html, which prompted me to write the following reply.
Dear Sir:
Pardon the tardiness of my response to your editorial, but when I
stumbled across it I could not help but to respond even if belatedly.
Your argument against the decision by the IAU is an illogical fallacy.
Just because you learned that Pluto was a planet that doesn't make it
so. If you had bothered to read more in depth on the matter, which you
yourself admit you did not even bother reading the new story, you
would understand that many astronomers believe that it was a mistake
to make Pluto a planet in the first place and that if Pluto remained a
planet according to their definition there would be numerous other
recently discovered objects that are even less like the planets we
know and love but which they could not exclude on the basis of the
definition that would include Pluto. Just because Pluto was considered
a planet that doesn't make it so. The Earth was considered flat by
some people, but it turned out to be spherical. Your reasoning in
insisting that Pluto remain a planet would be the same as the
reasoning employed by someone who had grown up believing that the
Earth was flat and continuing to insist that it is flat because they
had always learned it was flat, despite all the evidence to the
contrary. The history of science is a history of change where the
definitions of precise terms shift in light of new evidence. You might
not like that but that is how it is, and anyway you aren't an
astronomer, so why should your admittedly uninformed opinion about
what does or does not constitute a planet matter to anyone. This is a
paradigmatic example of what is wrong with America these days, people
who don't know what the hell they are talking about thinking that
their ignorant opinions matter because they have the constitutionally
protected right to express them. While you and others may have that
right, it does not imply that your opinion should carry any weight
with those who do know what they are talking about.
Sincerely,
Aaron E. Hinkley
Houston, Texas |
|
|
| Since I've last written to you... |
[Aug. 19th, 2006|01:42 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | On my bed in Houston, TX | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  awake | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Fortress around Your Heart" - Sting | ] |
I've been to Beijing for the World Congress on Bioethics and back. Beijing may sound exciting, but trust me it is a stinking polluted crowded mess. However, I did get to see the Great Wall of China and Tiananmen Square. Of course the tour guide was little more than a pro-government propagandist who denied that there was any pollution and who defended China's one child policy in its entirety. My return trip was delayed for six hours because of a thunderstorm on the outer edge of a typhoon. So I missed my connection in Newark and had to spend the night in the airport waiting in a state of cat like readiness to get into the check-in line when it formed. Of course this was last Friday just after the liquid terrorism scare and when all the flights from Europe were delayed so the check-in area was quite crowded by 3 am. Thankfully I managed to return home by noon, only fourteen hours later than I was originally schedule to get back. By the time I made it home, I had been awake for nearly two days. The return trip realized most of my worst fears about traveling. I never thought I would be so glad to be back in Houston in my life. However, since returning I have remained jetlagged and have developed a bizarre sleeping schedule that involves sleeping from 6 pm until 1 am. So far it hasn't caused me much trouble yet though it is mildly annoying. |
|
|
| Mel Gibson: An Anti-Semite? |
[Jul. 29th, 2006|05:01 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | bored | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | "Song Sung Blue" - Neil Diamond | ] |
If his heretical Papist film "The Passion of the Christ" was not proof enough of Mel Gibson's anti-Semitism, perhaps his drunken rant during his arrest for DUI where he claims that Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world, not to mention his present arrest.
No, Mel, it is your drinking problem and driving nearly twice the speed limit that caused that. Unless of course all of your father's conspiracy theories are true. |
|
|
| Wow. Since I last posted... |
[Jul. 22nd, 2006|10:30 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | the sounds of my oscillating fan | ] |
I've been to the Orient and back and who knows what else. However, I just have a few thoughts bouncing around in my head that I feel I simply must share.
First of all, I think the Chinese were trying to kill me with their weird food. I was served jellyfish, chicken feet, and tripe while I was in Hong Kong. I regret my decision to try them. My stomach just hasn't been the same since.
I lived like a vampire the week I first got back. It was very hard. Sleep during the day time just isn't the same as sleep at night. Sleep just seems more restful when the sun is down. So with God as my witness I will never let myself be jetlagged again.
I was thinking the other day about how sexualized popular music has become these days. I wondered when a song consisting of nothing but the word "booty" will break into the top forty charts. Then I was thinking about how much I hate that song "Don't Cha'" by the Pussycat Dolls, it may well be the sluttiest song ever recorded (though I am willing to stand corrected), but then I realized another reason I hate that song even more. It misuses the subjunctive case or even worse pretends as though it did not exist. The lyrics "Don't cha' wish your girlfriend was hot like me", etc. etc. should in fact be "Don't cha' wish your girlfriend were hot like me", etc. etc. Also, I am not certain but it may also use the incorrect comparative form for persons, but in any event the impending disappearance of the subjunctive case is a serious matter. People we must save the subjunctive from the Pussycat Dolls and their ilk. For proper usage (in song of course), please refer to "If I WERE a Rich Man" from "Fiddler on the Roof", which is not only a great musical it doesn't butcher the English language.
Lastly, I was reading Yahoo! news today and I came across this story http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060721/ap_on_re_us/nevada_mystery which serves to remind me of why I love my home state. So much so I think I just might sing the state song. "Home means Nevada, home means the hills, home means the sage and the pine..." I forget the rest, but the point remains nothing is normal in Nevada. |
|
|
| "She walked in through the outdoor..." |
[Jun. 14th, 2006|07:13 pm] |
First of all, I'll never understand who made Houston so humid. I don't understand the point of humidity. It makes everything so wet, but not in the pleasant way that one gets wet when one takes a dip in a swimming pool. I had to walk to campus to print out some forms and papers. I needed to get the Visa application form because I have to go to the Chinese Consulate tomorrow to apply for my Visa when I go to Beijing for the World Congress on Bioethics in August. Outside the Chinese Consulate here in Houston there is always some Falun Gong protester doing Falun Gong on a mat on the sidewalk in silent protest. Hopefully the Chinese won't remember the times I may have said sassy things about them in the past and will let me into their country. I must admit I am a little anxious about the whole process of applying to enter a foreign country. I certainly don't want to end up making cheap plastic crap for American children in a Chinese labor camp. Then again that might be less stressful than being a PhD student. However, I don't want to find out.
"She wore a raspberry beret,
the kind you find in a second hand store,
and if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more." |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
philosophynerd's journal
moody
anxious