Always; In Perpetuum

Well, hopefully you're surrounded by family, meeting up with old high school friends, and/or drinking yourself into oblivious with the obligatory bloody mary. But whatever your poison, I figured I would shoot out an post to grumble, complain, yadda yadda, about the regular, run-'o-the-mill, "applications are the bane of my existence" sort of thing. If it's not two papers in the same weekend, it's a wrench thrown into an otherwise well oiled machine.

Everything was ready to roll. All I needed was an hour and a half and all my hard copy materials and online applications and fees would be completed for my first official school in GradApp'06 (catchy title? we'll give it a couple more test runs before this post is over).

Unfortunately, I stopped to check-in with all my letter writers, just to make sure they still had in mind to get my first recommendation sent off to Princeton by Dec. 1st. Well, in talking with Mylan, he pointed out a couple things I hadn't considered. Most importantly, my writing same, the paper I turned in for his Epistemology course last year, then presented at the MidSouth, the most time-tested and polished paper I have, might not be my best official writing sample. The issue breaks down thusly;

• The paper is on a '79 article, which was later revised (I just didn't have the revised copy when originally writing the piece...and an update would be very difficult and, hence, destroy the polished feel I've worked into it).
• The paper is on a coherence theory of justification, one of the least utilized methods of epistemic justification and, hence, not a "hot topic" paper.
• It is also an incredibly probability and statistically laden paper, which causes a bit of a hindrance in working through the examples for many people and may prevent an admissions board from actually giving my paper due consideration.
• Finally, it's the same paper I presented at the MidSouth Conference. If I send off the same paper as my writing sample, 1) it may appear I'm resting on the laurels of one decent paper and 2) it will discount putting the MidSouth conference on my CV.

Mylan was suggesting that I might try to revise and send off the paper I'm currently working on for his Contextualism course. It's responding to a 2004 paper, Contextualism is a very hot topic, it's on freedom, which is one my foci in a graduate school, and it contrasts nicely with my epistemic justification paper on my CV. The problem is that, although I presented this paper at the Contextualism conference this past weekend, it's nowhere near as polished as my previous work. I could do it, but it would take the next week's worth of heavy work to get it done by Dec. 1st. Luckily, everything for Princeton is online, letting me up-load the files for my personal statement, CV, and writing sample directly through their electronic application. So, it could take me a full 7 days, and I'd still be able to get GradApp'06 officially started before the first deadline (hrm...maybe it'd be best to use that title sparingly). On the flip-side, I've also got a paper for Metaphysics due and studying for the GRE (again) which is on the 11th. But, as it would be in my best interest to have this as my writing sample, we'll see if I can't do something more with it. Dangit...and I was really looking forward to having a couple days break, too.

Anyways, sorry, as this wasn't intended to be a rant. More of a "Let me clear my head and argue out in the world" sort of thing. Well, comments would be appreciated. As for me, I'm taking tonight off, at least. Peace.

Stupid Reality

The Extension

Right now I'm working on a 20 page research proposal for my Psych of Language course. It's deadline is 3pm today. I'm not going to make it.

Fortunately, I e-mailed the professor Saturday night and got a 24 hour extension. So maybe I'm a little bit of a procrastinator, but this semester I've actually been on top of my game. The reason I needed an extension was due to a conference I had to attend this weekend for my Contextualism course. 15 hours, split between two days, where I not only had to have my 3,000 word term paper ready for presentation, I also needed to have a useful handout for my presentation, a 1,200 word commentary on one of the other students papers ready for presentation, and a corresponding relevant handout for that commentary. It took up a lot of time that, quite honestly, I didn't have at this point in the semester. So, I'm behind on my Psych proposal, which in turn puts me behind on getting a few last things done for my apps and my trip home in a couple days.

But that, in conjunction with a conversation with DJL, brought back how much I miss the Tulane lifestyle. I remember putting off papers for parties, randomly regular nights out drinking with the guys, and the ubiquitous dork games. I remember working on a paper intermittently between turns at a board game, or worse, the umbilical dork-cord from ADP's room down to JMD's dorm room our freshman year. I didn't mind adding to the stress of a paper by putting it off for a little R&R. I don't even mind, now, having had a lower GPA because of it. My time at Tulane was the perfect balance. It just sucks now that, quite literally, I have to put off a paper for another paper. Oh well, with the extension, and now the paper well underway, I'm not too stressed. I've got 3 good, solid, pages and I only started an hour and a half ago. No offense to those of you in the hard or social sciences, but paper writing is unbelievably easier when you don't have to convey three different and sometimes conflicting thoughts within the same 14 word sentence. Anyways, it's back to work for me. Maybe sometime soon I'll have a couple hours to kill on an adventure. Till then...

Namaste'.

Exclamation Point!

Mardi Gras Mambo or Metaphysical Mumbo

Great news; the Midsouth Conference this year does not corrospond to Shopping Cart Day weekend. The conference is the weekend after, allowing time to get down to New Orleans to see friends and still be all professional and responsible and whatever. Don't worry, my head was in the right place. I would have foresaken another notch on my CV for a trip South, as it's been far too long since I've seen everyone.

I know, not a substantial update, but I might as well keep up on this daily posting I've been doing. And who knows, maybe there'll be a mass of excitement later worthy of posting (like, say, finishing a paper or dusting my apartment [Em - I'll take you up on that someday soon]).

Namaste'.

On Selling Oneself

A humurous anecdote to share from my Psychology of Language course:

We were discussing the metaphor today, and the student presenter put up an example that the professor used all the time;

"Prostituting my dignity for laughs."

When asked what this metaphor of 'prostitution' conveyed, one of the female students was called on and responded;

"Like, selling something special in exchange for something small."

Naturally, there was a slight pause, out of respect, before the class lost it.

Procrastination at its Most Productive

If the barage of recent posts on DW hadn't clued you in yet, let me make it explicitly clear; I am procrastinating to the fullest extent of my potential. I have an increadibly complicated week ahead of me. Let me count the ways:

1. My Contextualism Paper, for presentation, must be completed by Thursday
2. 120 kids in my TA class will be turning in their homework tomorrow, which I'll need to grade by Wednesday.
3. On Thursday, I'll recieve the paper I'll be commenting on for the Contextualism Conference this weekend. Yup, I have a 24 hour turn-around time between when I recieve the paper and when I should get my completed commentary (3-4 pgs) back to the presenter Friday evening.
4. All day Saturday and all day Sunday will be taken up with the Contextualism Conference.
5. My 20-30 page research proposal is due in Psych of Language next Monday. Nope, haven't got a word written...yet
6. thru 41. All the normal stuff; apps, writing sample, mailings, transcripts, general corrospondence, personal statement, GRE studying (yup, taking it again), prepping for my trip home, my Metaphysics paper and discussing said paper with the professor, etc, etc, etc....fortunately, when I get to #42, I'll have the answer to everything.

But I figure, while procrastinating, why not be productive? So, for those of you who thought I couldn't be any more Martha Stewart, I have now proved you wrong. Here's a picture of my Christmas Tree (Holiday Bush, Pegan Alter, whatever)



Next, the newest roomate(s) to my apartment (a re-cap: Relic, my cat; Seppuku; Taiwaz; Avelbane; Rosencranz (or Gildenstern, one of them died); Bristol; and Sham (another new addition, but not worthy of a picture, as he's just an air-plant). I think I got everyone. The cool thing about this picture is that it's actually two new additions -- the fish, naturally, but the plant in there is a living water plant. Cool, eh? I'm thinking "Zephyr" for the fish. And, you know, it wasn't until just now that, thinking about Zephyr (meaning the wind, not the flower, sports team, or hat-making company), I thought of a cool name for the plant. "Coriolis". Nice. Ok, it's decided. Here's Zephyr and Coriolis.



As for me, I think it's time I get back to work...Namaste'.

On Fatherhood

This morning's trip to Panera was very strange. In addition to this little girl who was possessed (quite close to speaking Aramaic in a demonic tone), there were three little blonde children of the corn. Of course, such odd encounters give rise to thoughts of one's own (future) kids. So, thinking about how children are the product of not only their parents genes but also the environment of their homelife, I made the offhanded remark, "My kids are going to be so messed up."

BRL's reply from across the table, after a moment's pause, "Am I supposed to jump in and disagree here?"

Comments?

And now, for a little light blogging...

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

International Philosophy

Archimedes out to Socrates, Socrates back to Archimedes, Archimedes out to Heraclites, he beats Hegel, Heraclites with a little flick...here he comes, on the far post, Socrates is there...Socrates Scores! The Greeks are going mad!

And the Germans are disputing it: Hegel is arguing that reality is merely an a priori adjunct if non-politic ethics; Kant, by the categorical imperative, is holding that ontologies exist only in the imagination, and Marx came with off-sides.

Philosophy

He is rising into that high dome of thought
where loose pages of Shelley float on the air,
where all the formulas of calculus unravel,
tumbling in the radiance of a round Platonic sun --

that zone just below the one where angels accelerate
and the amphitheatrical rose of Dante unfolds.

excerpt from "Philosophy"
by Billy Collins

The gist of it is that I've been pretty busy as of late. I had two breaks scheduled into this semester; my NOLA trip and when my parents would be coming up to see me. I scheduled my parents visit so that it fell right between two crucial time periods, between my PhD application crunch and my procrastinated coursework crunch. The unfortunate aspect was that, as the only free weekend I had, it was then taken up through hosting my parents. Don't get me wrong, I love them and think they're two pretty cool people, but it just took a lot out of me at a time I didn't have a lot left to give. And, yeah, the NOLA trip was cancelled. It sucked and I wished my flight hadn't been grounded. I could have really used a dacquiri on the fraternity roof and a couple well-placed hugs and handshakes amongst old friends. But as it turns out, the Fates were probably watching over me. One does not know the mind of God and his great plan, and I take it someone up there knew better what was in my best interest than I. I ended up wrapping up all of my letter-writer packets that weekend, which was a taxing amount of work when you take into effect I've got 5 letter writers, each with 18 forms of ubiquitous address and title information I needed to fill out (in addition to some last revisions to my personal statement, CV, and writing sample) before I could send those off. But that's done, now. And with the exception of the ever-present slight word changes to my hard-copy information, the only thing that's really left is clerical work. I sent off my "December" transcripts from NIU today. What's nice is that, as the Fates would have it, I happened to register for my Spring courses last night, and when the nice lady at the records office showed me my transcript, those were already on there. So that was pretty cool. I'll send my Tulane transcripts to the same schools next week. And after the online recommendations and fees, my work for the first quarter of my applications will be done. That'll be a good feeling, especially considering I've got about 50 pages of writing to do in the next week or so.

I really feel bad that I don't have something more substantial (adventurous, humorous, odd-Jeff-like realities) to say lately. Life doesn't amount to much more than this these past couple months and for another month to come. But, once this is done, whatever way the decisions come back, my life is set for at least the next year (as, even if I don't get in to any of the 20 or so schools I'm applying to, that path is final until next application period, and I've got some decent fall-back plans). So then I can start living. I'll let you know just as soon as that starts. Till then, thanks for reading this boring laundry list of my past couple weeks. I'll end with only decently interesting development that's occurred: when my parents came up, they brought me the couch they had hidden under piles of fabric in my mom's craft room (previously known as my bedroom) along with one of those leaning bookcases they bought as a birthday present for me when I bought my table this past September. So I've posted a picture of my apartment now. I gotta admit, it looks fairly much like a 24 year-old's place now.

Till next time, namaste'.

Invictus

Invincible.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

-William Ernest Henley