Saturday, July 30

Jacket

Again, let me apologize for the lack of posts. The dial-up connection my parents have, plus the overload of crap they keep running in the background of their PC the entire time, make this a difficult computer to communicate with.

Outside of painting my parents house and getting a couple odds completed (fixing my bike, buying some cold weather gear, catching up with Graham et al.) I really don't have much to say. What I have been doing will bore you (though painting is surprisingly keeping my interest).

However, I did want to pop on-line to praise the movie The Jacket, staring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley. I was hesitant to pick up the film since it's been out on DVD, though I do remember wanting to go see it in the theatres. It falls into that genre that's normally hokey with jump out of the shadow scare tactics. This one was truly a psychological game, though. As a disclaimer, this isn't the movie you have to spend all your energy following the story line or thinking of possible outs. For those who get turned off to movies that don't allow you to be absorbed into them due to their required engagement level, you'll still love this movie. It's psychological because it requires you to at least be aware of during the film and realize after the film that you just might not know. But there are definitely some key lines in there worth the price of the rental. True, I did just finish watching it, so I'm still on that post-coital high. However, if I'm still enjoying the ideas from the movie when I get settled up North, I intend to purchase it. Take it for what you will...


Post Scripts...

Friday, July 22

Springfield

After packing up my alarm clock and failing to notice my cell phones calendar alert, I finally got up this morning at 10am. Made for a late start, but at least I made it here before midnight. I saw ASH and TJG before I left town, too, though I never did catch up with CJB last night.

Since I'll be mainly using dial-up, I don't know that I have the patients to update this as frequently as I had been. Just wanted to let everyone know that I made it back to Springfield safely.

"Good evening. I pulled you over because I clocked you going 80 in a 65."

Packed up...and gone...

I'll be leaving town this morning for the long haul home. It will be a pretty easy, quick drive. The time of calling this place home is over (though, to give respect, NRZ will be that last one at the party). The ending, though, had a point to it.

The guys, ASH and TJG, threw me a "surprise" going away party. It really did kick ass. It didn't go as planned, but the negatives only consisted of things that have always occurred in the four years I've been here. As such, it was a good ending. Afterall, I wouldn't want a false sense of nostalgia, right?

Anyways, props to the guys for putting it together, regardless of the end result. I'm probably going to see them on my way out of town in the morning. My car is all packed and I'll be headed out in the morning just as soon as I feel like it. I wish there was some sense of catharsis before I go but, again, it's somewhat fitting that there's not.

Here's to you and the memories.


Post Scripts...

Wednesday, July 20

One Last View

As you walk out, you turn back and realize what it is you're leaving. It's at that point, when you're the last one at the party, that you truely realize it's over. It's that realization that's hitting me now. One day left here...

To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the seasons of mist; may we continually be covered in dust, love, and sweat. And during the tough times, blood.


Post Scripts...

Dust and Love and Sweat

"Beneath the dust and love and sweat that hangs on everybody is a dead man trying to get out."

I've received a couple curious, and a few concerned, comments about this quote. MBB pointed it out to me in a Counting Crows song, and it's stuck with me every since (from Perfect Blue Buildings). Contrary to first appearances, it's a good thing. To ignore that we're all going to die is foolish. That's a given. But similar to my post about putting down mile-markers to slow down time, what makes you feel alive is being covered by sweat, love, and dust. So I put this away message up when I go to work-out, because I enjoy the feeling of doing my cool-down with a drenched shirt on my back. To be mindful of the pain of lactic acid or torn muscles, there are few things that make you feel that alive. So, it applies to the love that surrounds us and the dust we kick up when we play, and as I use it, when we're pushing ourselves for no other reason than to see what lies at the end of that next lap.


Post Scripts...

A Brief Aside...

I wanted to postpone my future explanations and additions to where I wanted to take my writing to briefly mention how much I care about my friends. I had my "going away" party tonight. I had friends there such and Troy and Heintz, Foster, Jen, Rosie, Nick, Glenn, Mer, Sean, "K-Factor" (long story) and others. While I was very glad all these individuals who've shaped my undergraduate career came out (or just so happened to be out) at Bruno's tonight, I wanted to mention how hard it is to find out you're leaving town when a lot of your friends aren't going to be back till August or have already left for good.

I wrote an e-mail to Steph tonight describing this. I know I'll be back for a long weekend in the Fall, and for the 25th of February, but it just feels wrong not being able to give a proper goodbye to a few choice individuals who aren't around. I know I'll see a lot of those not coming back next year over Shopping Cart Day, and the rest I'll be sure to catch up with next time I'm in town, but I still feel like something is missing from this exodus.

In the meantime, suffice it to say that, despite all the faults with the actual place, I'm going to miss the people that made this place a home for me the past four years.

Post Scripts...

Sunday, July 17

Through the Trees

"The forest knows where you are. You must let it find you."

Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who's PhD from MIT lies in molecular biology, used this statement during his guided meditation which took place during a symposium amongst his peers. This isn't some meditation work shop, though he has conducted many of those. It's a medical conference for psychotherapy, working with individuals ranging from cancer patients dealing with the pain and nausea of treatment to borderline personality disorders trying to manage their anger and irrational outbursts. The main treatment, which used empirical, peer-reviewed studies to grow from a small clinic at UMASS to a system 200 hospitals strong, is simply mindfulness. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to be exact.

While this article is an exceptional example of how science and spirituality are becoming fast friends, the part that interests my more consciousness-minded side is the idea that moments slow down time. Don't get this confused with the old adage, "Time flies when you're having fun." The article briefly mentions Ray Kurzweil, who's new theory states how "our internal sense of time is calibrated by new and unpredictable events that we perceive to be noteworthy. The more of these novel events in our lives, the slower time seems to pass." Apparent in everyday life, this idea has consumed western culture to malevolous ends. I have no illusions keeping me from saying I'm addicted to these milestones. But then again, isn't everybody? Look around at all the drama, fighting, lusting, etc. that exist in our day-to-day lives. I would spend this entire post (and subsequent, follow-up posts) analyzing the disease, but what about the cure?

This is why Dr. Kabat-Zinn is such a celebrity amongst the medical circles (and not simply psychology, either). Imagine taking all the aspects of these noteworthy events, the concentration of the situation, the focus on the details, the attitude and intrigue of the individual, the mindfulness, and applying them to every day moments. Here. Now. No, seriously, right now. I'm not saying that reading my blog should be reason enough to place down one of your own milestones of mindfulness (of which you have an unending supply), but I am saying that every moment should be reason enough. Ram Dass said "Meditation is watching the itch instead of scratching it." Image what an itch feels like? Who would scratch away such a "new and unpredictable event?" This is very similar to the quoted statement from Dr. Kabat-Zinn: "When you pay attention to boredom, it gets unbelievably interesting."

To sum things up, Dr. Kabat-Zinn prescribed a rigorous (imagine that...sitting and being mindful described as rigorous) plan in which his patients meditated for 45 minutes a day for eight weeks. You don't have to go overboard with it, though. Simply practice being mindful on the way down the elevator (nobody's talking anyway, right? Feel the play with gravity) or while you brush your teeth. Soon, moments of mindfulness will find their way in more and more. Eventually your entire life slows down while allowing you to experience the big stuff more profoundly, and keeping you from sleeping through the more "boring" stuff, too.

"Why meditate? To live in the moment. To dwell in the harmony of things. To awaken." - Ram Dass

Post Scripts...

Wednesday, July 13

Focused

CJB just started his own blog. He and I talked about what direction we wanted our "journals" to go in, which I think added to the comment below in giving me a little bit more focus. Also, the conversation brought up a lot of modification issues and what I'd done to my template, so for the aesthetes in the audience, I've added some new borders. Hopefully they're better than the previous black hole that was Divergent World.

But the point of this post is that I've added a section in the sidebar under "...Minded." I don't want to intrude on anyone else's space, but if you've got a blog you think I'd be interested in reading, I'd be happy to link you up over there. I know there are all these "blog rings," etc., but I'm more interested in having some good, intelligent, opinionated, and, most importantly, original writing to read and share. Just let me know. In the meantime, I'm going to get back to reading Cognitive World.

Daily Comics


Cause you should always start your day off in the humor of the situation.

Tuesday, July 12

Beliefnet.com

This is an amazing website. "People of many different faith backgrounds share this space and all are welcome. Attempts to change anyone'’s beliefs are not appropriate." You can check out the home page and search around, but I've linked the title of this post to their quiz. They've linked up to basically any spiritual text that exists, from earth based to main-stream Christianity. They also divide up their main categories between "religious materials" and "spiritual materials," which I find an excellent distinction. Anyways, it's kept my attention for awhile, so I thought maybe you'd like to check it out.

I also had ASH pick up a book for me at the library today (as I cannot check out books anymore...). It's called Reconstructing the Cognitive World by Michael Wheeler. It was the one I found in the library a yesterday, and I'm pretty excited to keep reading it. There's a lot of great stuff in here correlating a lot of reductionist, quasi-psychological philosophies and those more idealistic (and sometimes flawed in the case of Cartesian duelists) thoughts. Anyways, I'll comment more on that as I get into the meat of it.

I customized my google news site to include two other categories; "philosophy consciousness" and "psychology neurobiology." Anyways, yesterday, under the philosophy heading, I came across an article on Andrew Cohen (posted on beliefnet.com, in fact). It comments on his life and one of his books, Living Enlightenment, which has an introduction by Ken Wilber. Anyways, to sum up and refrain from using any more of others' writing to entertain, he makes a good case, at least extremely close, to what I believe. Even though he denies affiliation with any of the "New Age" stuff, I still saw a few of the "everyone feel better" flaws in his responses. However, it's a quick, interesting read regardless of your beliefs.

Finally, a friend of mine really pissed me off yesterday. She was joking around, but over IM I didn't realize that. However, her comments did have validity, joking or not. I don't really write for others, so like I said in my first post, if my life or my blog bores you, you're more than welcome not to return (I mean this in the nice way as I honestly won't be offended). However, taking Divergent World into a more divergent path isn't such a bad idea, either. Hopefully a little focus will start showing up here and, if not entertaining, at least it'll be more useful for myself. So, in retrospect, thanks for pissing me off (again, in the nice way).

May peace be unto you.

How We Are Hungry

Excellent response. Leave it to Shelbs to actually answer a quote with another quote from the original author. I enjoyed that. Thank you.

Monday, July 11

AHWOSG

I couldn't decide if I wanted this confrontation, if I wanted to leap from it, to make something explosive and open-ended...where would it end? I could ratchet this to true conflict and find some kind of deliverance...half of me was boiling, had been boiling for weeks or months or more...

They're not my words, they're Dave Eggars. According to the New York Times, they're even entertaining enough for the masses...

Post N-Day

Today was an entirely too productive day. I got up, played a game of Sudoku, thought about going to the gym, made breakfast instead, then got about my day. I stopped by Reily and talked with Heather. It was a matter of respect that I wanted to give my two weeks in person. It was quick and to the point. I then stopped by to help out Marty with a couple things at HRL. I even got an AMC gift card (he was giving one to all the summer employees, but since I'm not a summer employee, it was nice of him). I stopped by Dave's office to see when he'd be available for 15 minutes, which turned out to be at 4:30. So during the time in between I tried to work out a couple things with financial aid, followed by a long sojourne in the library. I read an interesting article about physicalisation of mental states into brain states, the inability to quantify qualia, and the identity/corrolative problem. Actually pretty interesting for both the philosophical and neurobiological models. Needless to say, that took up any remaining time before I met with Dave.

The meeting with Dave went really well. I told him I had really good news with some not so great consequences. He was very happy for me and supportive of the decision I had to make. He was also very complementary and assured me that if I ever need a recommendation for future employment, they would be happy to supply that for me. So all the hesitancy I had wasn't necessary. The funny thing is that as I walk into Dave's office I close the door. As I was exiting Dave's office, in Dan's office there's Dan, Marty, and Ericka. In front of them all he says, "Well, we've definately enjoyed having you work with us and appriciate all the work you've done this past year and prior to that." In my pariphial vision I see all three sets of eyes in the other room look up, to which I simply thank Dave and walk away. I can't imagine how fast that information is going to be spreading through the office. Anyways, that's that.

Now comes the count-down until I leave. Right now I'm planning on taking off on Thursday or Friday of next week. It'll likely be Friday by the time I get everything done, but so it goes. And for those who are sick of the NIU/Tulane situation, at least it's over. Hopefully I can slip out of my realities again, soon. I know it causes trouble, but it's been a long time and I do miss the clearity it brings on certain topics.

N-Day

Today is notification day. It's a bit later than originally planned, but today I'm going to be talking with Reily, HRL, and the Graduate School here at Tulane. I'll be leaving around the 20th or 21st of this month, so that gives me two work weeks left to get things done. In turn, it's also a two weeks notice to everyone. For those reading this, assume I haven't told anyone until after 5pm today. After that point, it's fair game.

Sunday, July 10

The Non-Philosopher's Glossary

One of the funniest websites I've seen in a long time.

Saturday, July 9

For Love of Sea and Sails



My pirate name is:


Captain Jack Read



Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. Even through many pirates have a reputation for not being the brightest souls on earth, you defy the sterotypes. You've got taste and education. Arr!



Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Just Shrug

...it's not that I don't suffer, it's that I know the unimportance of suffering, I know that pain is to be fought and thrown aside, not to be accepted as part of one's soul and as a permanent scar across one's view of existence.

Atlas Shrugged

Found at the right time on MMS's away message...

Ubiquitous Guy in Rain Gear

I don't know how closely you may have been watching this cone-of-doom, but since about 5 o'clock yesterday New Orleans has been outside the path of destruction (ok, on the very edge of the path of destruction). The only thing that's really changed is that they're decreasing the potential area to the East of Mobile. Thus, from the layman assessment available to those in positions of decision-making, the probability that Dennis may be enter the mouth of the Mississippi would look to be increasing. However (comma)...

Given this assessment, they have closed Reily as an evac site and refrained from kicking me out of my room. That works well for me. They'll be coming back with a revised plan as of 3:30pm. This is a little troublesome, since there's a bus sitting outside of Willow B, but I'm fairly sure it's just for show and "precaution." However, given this turn of events, it is fairly idiotic that they cancel/shut down everything on campus, then a day before the hurricane hits (with us still right on the rim of the destruction) they say nevermind. Oh well...I guess I'll ride this one like I did Cindy.

Friday, July 8

Outside the Light Cone

Well, Dennis was looking a little further West earlier today. In fact, Tulane closed down their offices at noon today so the "essential personel" (note the drop in tone of voice when saying this phrase) could evacuate the city. Reily, in turn, closed their doors at 6pm...but not for long. No, they'll re-open at Noon o'clock tomorrow to welcome their first guest for Hurricane Dennis; none other than President Cowen himself (with wife, and no doubt the PR dog, too). As the most essential of the "essential personel" (still with the dropping of the voice) he will lead the way for all of Tulane's employees and on-campus residents to duck and cover...er...take shelter in the Reily Center Fortress.

Come 2pm, after sufficient time has passed to check off all the "essential personel," the residents of Summer Housing will be taking their personal effects (pillow, blanket, personal higene items) to check in to the Reily Center, for a potentially extended stay of up to 72 hours.

Naturally, I was having none of this. At the time, with the projected light-cone-of-doom looming over New Orleans, I was thinking to myself, "Self, if you need to leave, you should leave." (hint: "leave" and "leave" have different extensions) So I did plan/clean/"organize" accordingly. I hadn't checked back on the cone since around 3:30, so I hadn't noticed the slide East, but it did set me ahead of schedule on the things I need to get done. But, alas, I will be staying in New Orleans (but not in the Reily Center). They may very well decide they don't need to confine individuals tomorrow, but if they kick me out of my room, I'm planning on crashing at the fraternity house (easy access to a balcony for the show).

Tuesday, July 5

Certum est quia impossibile est.

"Is Eris true?"
"Everything is true."
"Even false things?"
"Even false things are true."
"But how can that be?"
"I don't know, man, I didn't do it."

Principia Discordia

Sunday, July 3

T-Shirt = $300

Tonight I finished my second Toure De Bulldog, earning me another name plate on the wall and T-shirt. The somewhat alcoholic part about all this is that there is currently not a single beer at the Bulldog I haven't tried (click the title of this post, then click on the sidebar where it says "Beer"...scroll down...keep scrolling...once you've hit Vietnam's Hue you'll have the visual). True, I haven't had all those beers at the Bulldog. We subbed out things like Budweiser and Abita. But having gone through two times and spent many a night in front of their cooler trying to find a bottle we hadn't tried, well, it gets expensive. ASH brought up a good point when we were talking about that earlier, though. Knowing that Sunday nights we went to the Bulldog kept us from spending the same amount at Happy Hour or Bruno's. In fact, I think overall I probably spent less this past semester by going to the Bulldog than I would have otherwise. And I got a T-shirt!

Anyways, tomorrow is a BBQ and watching some fireworks. I baked a cake that could not have come out any better. I'll ice it tomorrow and then off to have a good day with some friends. Anyways, I won't ramble, so I won't keep you. A good friend of mine had a quote I said a couple months back on her away message last night, so I think I'll add that to end this post as I head to bed.

jbpretti: just remember, when you're asleep and you notice that you can't read words cause they're all jumbled, you're dreaming
jbpretti: once you realize your dreaming, it's your world to play with as you will

The Elegant Universe

The Elegant Universe is a book by Brian Greene, which NOVA turned into a film for PBS. Here you can get it in quicktime or realvideo. Takes away some boredom from your day and is also pretty fun. Sure, a lot of what I've seen thus far is fairly elementry (I'm only about halfway through the Einstein's Dream) but I'm thinking it will get further into the String aspects.

Also, for anyone who knows about my circles, check out how they visualize the strings for string theory (you only have to watch the first 2 minutes of the first clip to see this). Pretty interesting, huh? Or as ACF would say, "Stop messing with my head." Cheers!

Friday, July 1

The Apartment

This is the news about next year.

I finally got the apartment I was wanting. It was a tough sell to the company. For whatever reason, they weren't in the mood to deal with individuals who couldn't sign their lease in person. Though it's a bit unreasonable when you're an apartment complex facilitating a college campus (and nothing else), it's a little understandable from the legal perspective. So I got turned down citing policy the first time I called. I called back the next day, offering to get my signature on the lease notarized (and a couple other ideas that would negate the reason for the policy). Also turned down. In the manner in which I do things, I start asking questions. I ask a couple right questions, get a couple points across, and the guy takes down my number to have his higher-up give me a call. Never actually happened, but that's not he point. The point is that on my third call, things worked out nicely. I'll be moving in to an apartment complex on the very edge of DeKalb...placing me in the middle of a corn field and about a mile away from campus.

It's a single bedroom style with all the stuff that normally comes with apartments. The reason I was so persistent with this company is that every other place I looked at was essentially a shit-hole. Most were right on or neighboring their Greek row. Imagine Broadway street without the residential buffers between all the frats (oh, and double the number of frats). In my drive around the town I just stumbled upon this place. I took a look at the inside of one of their apartments and wondered around their grounds. I pretty much decided then that it was the right place to spend the next two years of my life. It'll be fairly quiet, but it's right on Glidden Rd. which runs through campus. The front of the apartment complex is the stop for the number 1 bus route, which saves me time and money trying to drive and park on campus. And there's nothing stopping me from riding my bike or walking, either. The town is only about a mile and a half radius from the center of campus, so I could put a little work-out into the daily routine.


We're already planning on Thanksgiving at my place next year. ASH will be driving up, picking up MGS in Cape G. MGS doesn't know that's the plan yet, but it is a good plan.


Anyways, that takes out one of the three remaining variables for the NIU move. One of the two remaining is Financial Aid. It'll basically all be in loans, but knowing how depressing my FAFSA turned out, there should be enough to pay for all my tuition, etc. The third variable, which will be a variable until I get up there, is a job. Hopefully I can get a job in the service industry, either serving tables, bouncing, or possibly even bartending. I can pour a draught with the best of them, and on a college campus I wouldn't expect to many Tom Collins to be ordered. Coming from New Orleans couldn't be bad sell either. Anyways, I've rambled longer than planned. Hopefully ASH is done with his Toure De Levy and we can head to Happy Hour.


In the words of the Messiah, "Da Peace!"

A New Class

We need to reach the millions who live in cities, the hundreds of thousands in industrial centers, the tens of thousands in medium-sized towns, the thousands in small towns, and the hundreds in villages--all these at once. Like a volcanic eruption, a spiritual revolution needs to spread through the country, to spur people to crucial decisions. People have to recognize the futility of splitting life up into politics, economics, the humanities, and religion. We must be awakened to a life in which all of these things are completely integrated.

--Eberhard Arnold


My away message tonight was "I drink from the well-spring Mnemosyne..." This was in preparation for a night of drinking with ASH. My normal drinking away message would be "It's when I know that I have to get out because I have been there before. So I gave up my seat at the bar and I head for the door." But that only applies when I feel the need to go drinking where I know it won't be productive. Tonight, on the other hand, I went to the Bulldog with ASH. We had a pretty decent time there, ended up going to Bruno's, then Fat Harry's, but eventually back to the Bulldog. All in all, the Bulldog is one of the few places I'll miss of New Orleans. Anyways, ASH and I left around 3 to get some Rally's and head back to his place. We ended up having a great discussion about society and politics (this coming from the guy who was yelled at by a professor in the middle of "
Political and Social Ethics for being a "Fucking Socialist!"). I did a lot of talking, most of which wouldn't be acceptable in common tongue, but I think the points were valid and, if nothing else, we had a great discussion. That is what drinking from the well-spring Mnemosyne is all about.

I've got some news about next year, but that can wait until I've slept.

May your dreams be filled with your intentions. G'night.