The Mold

Here's an excerpt from a discussion at work today. It followed a question by PB to which I have a rather ingenious solution.

Phil: Wow...you're a genius, dude. I didn't know they still made people like you.
JBP: Yeah, well, you can't really blame them for haulting production for a couple millenia. I mean, look at what you all did to the last one they sent down...

This was followed by PB telling me I was going to hell.

Later that day...

Crystal: Goddamnit! I can't stand this fucking table. They're running me all over the place, bitching about the time it takes to bring out 8 waters, and I know they're going to leave me a shitty tip.
JBP: But look on the bright side; God gave us freewill.

Ok, it's true that I'm going straight to hell, but you gotta admit, that's pretty damn funny. I guess I've resigned myself to being the token pagan. And on that note...

Happy all hallow's eve!

Namaste'.

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The Midterm

Well, just as a reason for why I'm not posting this week, I'm 2646 words into my 5000 word midterm. What's troubling is that it is all on one of the two essays, from which I have yet to reject the theory proposed. I imagine it'll end up being 3,000 words by the time I'm done and have widdled it down a bit. That leaves me 2,000 for the second (1st) essay, which will also be cramped. But, at least I'm over half-way done with the project as a whole. I can't explain how easily this stuff comes now. I can remember trying to hash out 5 page papers and now I'm writing 20 in a week. I'm going to have to take a break tonight (yes, on a Friday night) to read an article before I begin the second (1st) essay, but then it's back to work typing away. I'm hoping to get both essays done tonight. They might not be pretty (though the one I'm essentially finished with is damn good) but that'll give me over 24 hours to ignore them before coming back to revise on Sunday afternoon. Anyways, this was a useful break for me and an immense bore for you (I do hope you haven't reached this point). But, mainly, just wanted to give you a reason why I haven't cared to expound philosophically on here...namely that I'm expounding philosophically elsewhere.


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Jack and Coke

This week is going very good.

Bliss

This week has been amazing. Despite having a couple less-than-profitable days at work, things have been working out well again (perhaps the reason I never did finish the "felix felicis" series...maybe yet to come). Amidst catching up with old friends, a great day at work Sunday, a smiley face note, defaulting into the chair position of the "colloquial Committee of the Interdepartmental Graduate Board," writing an amazing paper, and having a shaved head again, I can't complain at all. True, I (kinda) got a take home mid-term today for Epistemology; 5000 words (roughly 20 pages) split between two essays, due in a week. But my last 3,000 word paper was done in 12 hours, so maybe I'll be able to find the time to get that done. Tomorrow I have an outing planned to see "Waiting" with a bunch of people from work, and Thursday I'm having a pumpkin carving party at my place, so there's a bit of a silver lining.

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The First Horn

Is it not strange that ignorance and complaisance are stronger than wisdom.
--Marcus Aurelius

Two horns, ignorance and complaisance. One bull, standing between you and wisdom.

Keeping with the last post, I found this quote by the true philosopher king. It seems to me that this disparity relies on the social conditioning that takes place our entire lives, and hence, is not strange at all. It is, afterall, easier and more familiar to be ignorant and compliant.

(note: the translation leaves a bit to be desired, as gratificatio is both "complaisance" and "compliance" or "obligingness". As compliance puts more ownership of the act in the hands of the individual, I'll prefer to use that term.)

A psychological experiment was done whereby a choice was offered to a subject; very simple, no manipulations, choice A = very good outcome, choice B = good outcome, choice C = pass/choose neither. The subject knew what each choice entailed, and the entirety of the experiment consisted of them simply making a decision and walking away with whatever choice they made. This same experiment was done a second time, only there were 5 options to choose from: A thru C = very good outcomes (A = A from ex.1, B and C are very good though all different outcomes), D = good outcome (same as B in ex.1), and E = pass/choose nothing. So what did they find? In ex.1 there was a 21% pass/choose neither rate. People were given two options to choose from, neither of them were bad, one was even very good. However, one fifth still decided they'd rather not make that decision. Understandable, if for only the need of a baseline. Now, in ex.2 what would you expect? Turns out that 58% of individuals given the choice chose to pass/choose nothing. With the same two options of ex, the only difference being two more very good outcomes to choose from, the subjects opted out of choosing anything. Now, why would an individual choose nothing over two good outcomes? Or worse, choose nothing over three very good outcomes and one good outcome? Perhaps, because by choosing nothing they nullify their responsibility in the matter.

We are so thoroughly programmed to submit to the will or intent of others. Skeptical? Mark it; in the next conversation you have, get outside yourself for a moment to see how often you check to make sure you're entertaining/pleasing/agreeing with/turning on/whatever the other person. I admit that I do it all the time. Anytime I make a joke or an intelligent comment, I find myself checking the faces of those I'm around to see wrinkling in the corners of the eyes or the brow into a peaked crease. However, this pleasing is just another form of submitting to the wills of others. It's a manner by which we socially nullify our responsibility. This process is the backbone of "group think" and probably plays an important role in many of the troubles plaguing this backwards country. But, hey, nevermind all that. Just turn the dial up to "11" and give your partner another electrical shock.

And that's just the compliant horn of the quote above. Perhaps purposefully, I haven't even touched the ignorance topic.

Namaste'.

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This Moment

I've been somewhat lost in the absurdities for the past week or so. But then I saw the moon passed through to this side of the clouds tonight.

The mindfulness of in and out breathing, of body contemplation, of keeping consciousness of the moment, is a noble occupation and a sublime way, leading to independence of mind and to wisdom.
-Samyutta Nikaya

There are subtle ways of dependence. In awareness of our breath we renounce them all.

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Like Son, Like Father

In a phone call to my parents, my dad tells my mom to ask me if I've ever had "Golden Pheasant" beer. I haven't, nor heard of it. Then he asks her to ask me (kind of the way it's done in my family) if I've ever had "Brutio Ferretti Ale," to which I reply I have not. Then I found out my dad bought a "beers of the world" 8-pack and has gone through 3 this weekend. He's really enjoying them, as he hasn't drank in probably 12 years. Got started when I made him try a Magic Hat #9 that a good friend gave me a 6-pack of as a going away present when I left NOLA. This is from a guy who never drank anything but Coors light, who now is liking golden's, wheats, ales, and I think he had a Belgium Ale, too. My mom tells me that he left the bottle of that Golden Pheasant on top of the refrigerator, to which she told him, "Now, don't think you're going to have a beer collection like Jeff does." Anyways, I thought that was pretty funny.

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That

That people are unknowing does not mean that they are unknowing like cows or goats. Even ignorant people look for a pathway to reality. But, searching for it, they often misunderstand what they encounter. They pursue names and categories instead of going beyond that name to that which is real.

-Digha Nikaya

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Which OS are You?

November 3rd...

Scorpio You are very dominant in bed, and you like to control your relationship in general. You are so intense in the sack that none of your partners will ever forget you. You are an amazing lover, because you like to have an equal amount of give and take. Sex matches: Cancer, Capricorn, Pisces

Come on...you know you want to leave a comment

The Slat

Well, the good news is that I sanded down and stained one of the bottom slats. It was for practice (as it's on the bottom side of the bottom slat), as much as just to see how it looked. The verdict: it looks really, really good. This is going to be a very nice looking table by the time I'm done with it.

The bad news is that "the time I'm done with it" may be a bit longer than expected. It took quite a bit of work to sand down one slat (of 9) not to mention the maid sides, runs, and tops. I'm going to take a trip to our friendly hardware store again tonight to see what I can do about that. I bought one 3-pack of sandpaper sheets, and went through two of them just to get that small section down to naked wood. It was 80 grit, so maybe if I can bump it down to 60 or 45, with another pack of the 80 to smooth it all out. But, in the meantime, it's at least a motivating factor to see how good it will look once the job is done.

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Boom

lableuefille: youre in an amusing mood today
jbpretti: yeah...to be honest, I'm just a little tired of the mundane...and although being a little goofy is a poor substitute for things asploding and fireworks that spider across the sky with little blue center lights that pop and everybody goes "Awww!", it's the best I can get

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Last Call

It's kind of odd, but I don't think I've ever heard those words uttered in earnest before tonight. And it's not just because I'm "a young'in" either. I've been out drinking, nearly-legally, since I was 18 down in New Orleans. But tonight it shocked the hell out of me. First, because the night was a lot of fun and I hadn't realized it had gotten so late. And second, because 10 minutes after "last call" they flipped on all the lights. I mean, imagine the humor of the situation:

Take it you've had a couple drinks and your perception is a little blurred. We've all been there. You're dancing close or maybe just talking close with some member of the opposite sex (since that's about all you can tell through your beer-goggles) and last call hits. You decide to solidify the deal by ordering another round of shots, and then ten minutes later the lights flip on. You hadn't expected to see that monstrosity till the morning hit. Instead of trying to decide whether or not to gnaw your arm off rather than wake up the sleeping beast, now you have to face the sight that causes sore eyes then and there.

Luckily, that didn't happen to me. But it still didn't lessen the pain of bright lights and bouncers imitating the mounted police on Bourbon come 12:01 Ash Wednesday.

No, tonight my neighbor dragged me down a block and a half to Starbusters (linked through the title). It's a college meat market, though tonight they seemed to be running low on everything but sausages. My neighbor is friends with a married couple who are in their mid-thirties. I gotta say, I love hanging out with married couples in the mid-thirties. No, seriously. There's something comforting about mid-life, middle class individuals. They have this sense of reality about them that the ivory tower tries to hide behind the tapestries. When they found out what I'm studying, sure, there was a little philosophical talk. But for the most part, they're not caught up with trying to be impressive (a trait we, of the student debt, fail to realize all too often). They have their jobs, their troubles, their hard days at work, and their faults. But they just are, and accept whatever you happen to be.

Anyways, it was a good day, all things considered. Most of those things are too boring or work oriented, so I won't bore myself in rehashing them. But suffice it to say that life is treating me well. I'm going to be sanding and, time permitting, staining my coffee table tomorrow, and I've got an idea for a slate top. We'll see how it turns out. Till then...

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One Man's Trash...

I would make a great bum. Very resourceful. Let me count the ways:

I own (having paid for or otherwise inhereted):
Two lamps, a desk, a bed, a dresser, two bookcases, and a futon.

I possess (having acquired through kinda legal but free means):
Three end tables (two very nice by Lane), a microwave cart, a tv stand, a bookcase, two lamps, a plant stand, a "behind the couch" table, and now a brand "new" coffee table.

As I was taking out the trash today, in the dumpster was a perfectly good coffee table. When I say perfectly good, I mean it was stable. Not that I'm in to dumpster diving, since I only had to barely reach in to get it, but with a couple good squirts of disinfectant, it's now it perfect working order in front of my couch.

Why would I pull a coffee table out of a dumpster instead of paying 10 or 20 bucks at salvation army for a nicely used one? Well, first, because this one is also nicely used. And second, because whatever I would pay for an equal table at salvation army can be spent on a new 51 1/2" by 21 1/2" piece of particle board, some sand paper, a little stick-on formica, and a can of stain. The entertainment value alone is worth any amount of spoiled milk I had to wipe off the thing (not that the milk was actually spoiled). This is at least a one time, 3 hour hobby to keep me busy. And, now I have a coffee table to play games on when game night circles back around to my house. I'll post before and after pictures once I finish the project.

Yeah, I'm boring...but at least now a little less bored.

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Current Mood

It's a feeling I've had many times before;
I can't hold the fort, so don't give me more
I struggle and sweat when I'm wide awake
When I know I'm fine, I'm not used to fine...

A sudden movement and a broken limb,
The patches are there to show where I'm hit.
My fault is it now? Well, that's news to me
Curled and joyless we try once again.

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7.7% Moon Waning

5 days should do it.

"Since then it's been a book you read in reverse
So you understand less as the pages turn"

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