Skeptic

One thing my college experience has done for me: made me a super suspicious reader. Everything I pick up (and I mean everything), I pick to pieces. I can't just pick up a book and read it anymore.

This has its benefits, but definitely cuts down on the simple enjoyment of reading.

Maybe I should just leave the reading and thinking to the men and continue baking cookies and sewing aprons.

Kidding!

Lesson Learned

Don't feed the dog while baking cookies.

I was happily milling barefoot around the kitchen, throwing together some peanut butter cookies, tasting bits of things as I went. Five o'clock rolled around: time to feed the dog.

I carefully measured out the dry kibble, drizzled the warm water on it, and added a scoop of wet food. The spoon had a bit of stuff on it and (you can probably guess where this is going), I went to put it in my mouth. I all but clamped down on it before I realized what I was doing.

I nearly dropped the spoon, I was so horrified.

Lesson learned.

No more holidays

Things around here are a changin'.

I graduated.

Hopefully now I'll keep up this blog more regularly.

Maybe not.

Who knows?

Not me.

Right

Ever wonder about something that's just huge and seemingly unsolvable? To muddle through it, all of the problematic aspects and promising parts, and get some sort of idea of the correct answer?

With math, you know there's one right answer (possibly with a number of correct expressions). With people, there often is not one right answer. You can't just slap down a solution that contains all of the variables perfectly. Sure, you can get probabilities. The minute details change things. And you can't perfectly account for the minute details without perfectly knowing the persons involved.

This is what makes human relationships so difficult, but so wonderful. It's because you can't predict them. You find friends in unexpected places. You also find that there aren't friends in expected places. You hit it off with one, and are irritated by the other.

I don't like this phenomenon. Sure, it allows for some great surprises. But I don't like not having an answer. I like math and science because I can find an answer. I don't like psychology because it's so... vague.

My dislike directly corresponds to my need to control things, which is not a good thing. Why can't I just let it go? Let things be mysterious. Let people surprise me. It may even be pleasant.

Good things, they say, come to those who wait.

Lazy Day

Eat.

Watch TV.

All day.

And I don't feel all that guilty.

I love Christmas break.


P.S. - senioritis didn't kill my grades. HA! but Mr. L is an enigma. a better grade in junior math than in senior seminar? c'mon now...

Revelations

I went to the Apple Store today. It wasn't my first venture there. I went last year to get new headphones. This time, however, I was fraught with doubt. I had to go to the "Genius Bar" to have my computer inspected. Poor ol' Captain MacCromber... we've been through some tough times together. Lately his mouse-pad has been making disconcerting cracking noises every time I click it. Sometimes he won't turn on again after I've put him to sleep. Since I am going back to school soon and I have a lot riding on a functional computer this semester (read: thesis), I wanted to double check it.

There were two big concerns.

First, as a TACer home from break, I don't feel confident of my ability to fit into society. It always takes some... adjustments. I have to learn to stop talking about potency and actuality and start talking about iPads and politics. Walking into the store was like walking into a nightmare. It was like society overload: everything about it was foreign. There was wi-fi, wireless keyboards, people with earbuds, not enough clothes, and all in a hurry to go places and do things. I backed against a wall and waited for my turn at the Genius Bar. I didn't know what to expect. And I HATE not knowing what to expect.

Second, I was under a bit of a misapprehension. I thought that at a Genius Bar, all people had to be geniuses. You know... like an officer's club on a military base. The patrons are the officers. But I'm not a genius. Especially with Macs. I grew up on PCs. I can explain problems with a PC using moderately technical jargon. Macs make me feel like a blithering idiot.

Thankfully, this issue was clarified for me. They were supposed to be the geniuses. Ooooooooh. It's ok if I'm dumb. That's good. I can deal with being accepted as dumb by the strange, geeky men at the bar.

When my turn came, the man ran some diagnostics and got me all set up.

I didn't say anything dumb, I didn't lose my powers of speech, and I didn't fall off of my stool. I can function in normal society. Score.

The monetary damage was less than I feared and I had my computer back within a couple of hours. Score.

And the employee wasn't a strange, geeky man. Well, maybe on the inside. On the outside he was pretty cute. Score.

I'm baaack

I've thought about posting throughout the semester, but couldn't think of anything to say that would interest you. I mostly write my thesis... which probably wouldn't impress you very much. Not that anything I tell you is very impressive.

Anyway.

It's Christmas!

almost

I'm trying to get into the Christmasy spirit of things. I'm not quite there yet, but we'll work it out eventually. Last year I was ready for Christmas by about mid-February. That didn't work out so well. I started singing Christmas carols when the flowers started blooming again.

I'll get it done this year, though. Right? Of course right :)