In the final episode of Battlestar Galactica (2003 series), one of the characters mentions how humanity's brain gets ahead of its soul, referring to high technology. I think it has hit the nail on the head. But what is anyone gonna do about it? We're already getting down to the wire on resources- if everyone abandoned their mass media, we'd have needed more lebenschraum years ago. As crappy as that is, we were lucky to not have hit a major war, a REAL major war, so far.
I wish things were different. I wish we were conscientious, that we thought and felt, instead of purely reacting. Reactionary bullshit is what's gonna kill us all. Who has the all the guns, the most jets, the biggest, newest phallus of planetary destruction. I hate it all. It's short sighted, it's stupid, it's barely sentient. That's the kind of thing that'll bite us in the ass (soon enough, dear reader). How about the pushing that aside in favor of peace, of fraternal love?
Here's one fucking thing I can't stand; religious warring. Every single one prescribes at least one thing-- the unity of mankind in peace. So why do we all hate each other? Who gives a damn what anyone else believes if you're to love them regardless?! And in a modern world, where everyone's heard enough of every side to make their choice, why lecture, argue, hate, or kill over it? That'd be a series of mindless reaction, little better than animals.
I guess that's where the quote unravels. We weren't really better before technology. The souls and sentience we claim to have, the things that separate us from being just animals, seem barely present. I mean, hell, a monkey in a zoo can save up rocks to throw later. So let's move on, eh? Stop collecting stones, agree that we're all people, human beings that need and want the same things, and start working on it!!!!!
Sean
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Raaaawr
One day at a Shell station, I was picking up a Coke and a snack, and I discovered that Mike-Sell's Old Fashioned Salt & Pepper flavored potato chips are AMAZING.
I found out that my goal as set out in my first post is already unattainable. Kinda gave me relief. Even yesterday, before I figured it all out, I was storming around thinking "MUST. GO. NOW." As it turns out, Japanese classes (my primary focus) are only available during full semesters. Each one beyond Beginning Japanese I requires the course before it, so I'll be at OCC for two years. It's for the better. I can ease in, like everyone's telling me to, and won't have to worry about potential 16 credit hour semesters.
If anyone sees Watchmen, lemme know what you think. There are a ton of other movies coming out that I'd like to see. Aliens vs Monsters, Terminator 4, the Star Trek prequel, the Wolverine movie, and something I just learned today-- Where the Wild Things Are. Yeah, the book of ten sentences. It -looks- really good. They'll have to take great liberty with the story, but if it's done well enough, I don't care. My dad told me Tim Burton was doing Alice in Wonderland, too, and that sounds like it'll be good. I saw a cardboard thing at the theater for a 20's or 30's gangster movie with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, but after seeing the trailer, I'm not so sure it looks as interesting.
Where the Wilds Things Are trailer
There are people who could use some source-citing skills. There was someone on facebook shouting about how the unemployment rate in Michigan is 25%... Yeah, uh, 's time to pull our heads out, eh? That was an exaggerated figure of DETROIT'S unemployment according to the Free Press. I'm not trying to demean Detroit's hellish situation by saying that, either, but get your facts straight. It's not even that hard to find! All *I* did was go to Google and type "michigan unemployment rate"! It's -that- easy to fact check. So no, Michigan does NOT have every one of four people out of work. It's more like one out of eight... Yeah, it's 12%. On a national level, that number would be historic levels of bad. Last time it was above 10%, it was around WW2, and before that, the 1890's (although before the 1940's, those numbers are "estimates"-- Bureau of Labor Statistics). Michigan has it bad, but not as bad as people would like to scream about. Just don't look for work in Detroit >_>.
Possibly going to Ypsi today? Hope so...
Sean
I found out that my goal as set out in my first post is already unattainable. Kinda gave me relief. Even yesterday, before I figured it all out, I was storming around thinking "MUST. GO. NOW." As it turns out, Japanese classes (my primary focus) are only available during full semesters. Each one beyond Beginning Japanese I requires the course before it, so I'll be at OCC for two years. It's for the better. I can ease in, like everyone's telling me to, and won't have to worry about potential 16 credit hour semesters.
If anyone sees Watchmen, lemme know what you think. There are a ton of other movies coming out that I'd like to see. Aliens vs Monsters, Terminator 4, the Star Trek prequel, the Wolverine movie, and something I just learned today-- Where the Wild Things Are. Yeah, the book of ten sentences. It -looks- really good. They'll have to take great liberty with the story, but if it's done well enough, I don't care. My dad told me Tim Burton was doing Alice in Wonderland, too, and that sounds like it'll be good. I saw a cardboard thing at the theater for a 20's or 30's gangster movie with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, but after seeing the trailer, I'm not so sure it looks as interesting.
Where the Wilds Things Are trailer
There are people who could use some source-citing skills. There was someone on facebook shouting about how the unemployment rate in Michigan is 25%... Yeah, uh, 's time to pull our heads out, eh? That was an exaggerated figure of DETROIT'S unemployment according to the Free Press. I'm not trying to demean Detroit's hellish situation by saying that, either, but get your facts straight. It's not even that hard to find! All *I* did was go to Google and type "michigan unemployment rate"! It's -that- easy to fact check. So no, Michigan does NOT have every one of four people out of work. It's more like one out of eight... Yeah, it's 12%. On a national level, that number would be historic levels of bad. Last time it was above 10%, it was around WW2, and before that, the 1890's (although before the 1940's, those numbers are "estimates"-- Bureau of Labor Statistics). Michigan has it bad, but not as bad as people would like to scream about. Just don't look for work in Detroit >_>.
Possibly going to Ypsi today? Hope so...
Sean
Sunday, March 22, 2009
SO!
I'm writing this for those of you who have the internet, don't have MySpace, and are related to me. Posts will be occasional, but I'll try and respond to comments as soon as I can, so I'll be watching O_O.
Right now, things are slow. I'll be going to school May 19th, but until then, my schedule's looking pretty blank. Not for lack of trying, though. My friend Jonathan was trying to get me a job at Lowe's, where he works. He intended for me to replace him so that he could work outside in Gardening or something. We'd sort of joked about me working there, but around the last week of January, he said "Wait, seriously, do you wanna work?" Sure, I said, it'd be cool working with one of my friends! Went in, applied, and for five weeks, heard Jon telling me in an unnecessarily apologetic tone that he did all he could. I understood that, I wasn't blaming him, so whatever, Lowe's wasn't interested in me. Life wasn't about to end or anything. But then, about two weeks ago, I got a call from the HR lady, to set an interview. Hey, not bad! First intended interview was a bust due to some car troubles I had, so we rescheduled for Tuesday the 17th. Finally, over a month and a half, something was happening.
But then it DIDN'T happen. I had what I thought was a good interview, and the HR lady TRIED to have me meet up with the next manager in line right away (it was a three-interview process- HR, the department manager I'd work under, then the store manager), but they were short one manager that day, and were busy or something. I should hear from them by Thursday, I was told. A form letter came in on Friday instead, letting me know that they appreciated that I applied.
I *think* I know what was wrong, but you can never really be sure. In my opinion, it was the stupid Unicru personality thing, because that's what happened to me with Home Depot. My mom knew a lady who was a manager there, so I had an in, and the HR woman I spoke with was really trying to get me a job based on this manager's story of me, but apparently I had "failed" the computerized personality shit, and it's the same program-- Unicru. Right before the interview with the HR lady at Lowe's, she had me do the Unicru thing, but it was up to the next manager to look at those results, I guess. The test is bullshit anyway-- the only right answers, I've discovered just now through online sources, are the Strongly Agree or Strongly Disagree ones. You can't have mixed feelings. "I am somewhat of a thrill seeker." You know that one? That's a Strongly Agree. I "somewhat disagreed," because I am *not* somewhat of a thrill seeker, but that is the "wrong personality" for some brain dead job that has no educational or experiential requirements.
I'm more miffed about why I wasn't hired than just not being hired. It's behind me, though, and I'm glad, because now I can focus on something way more exciting! School, yay! It's f'real this time. I've decided to stop counting Schoolcraft as a school I "tried", since all I did was walk in, get the stink-eye from the entire Financial Aid office, and walk out. That'll make OCC the first physical school since Eastern. I'll have one class for the Summer 1 "semester" (it's only 7 1/2 weeks as opposed to a full semester of 15), although seeing that it was a "lecture" course, which means tests over homework, I am very tempted to toss another one in my schedule, especially considering I have more time without a job at Lowe's.
I *really* wanna get going with school. I know people who took three and four years to finish an Associate's degree-- I am not going to do that. I want to be done in a year and a half, before I'm 24. Sounds like two years, but a year and a half from May. So I plan on having an Associate's degree in Liberal Arts by January 2011. That is my goal. To accomplish this, I need to be going full time without summer breaks, where "full time" is at least 6 credit hours (two classes) each summer block, and 12 credit hours each real semester. And that's fine with me. I don't get real financial aid unless I go full time. Here's how the degree pans out;
AT LEAST 62 CREDIT HOURS:
37 credits of required Boring Crap That I Don't Care About (General Education stuff)
25 credits of Whatever the Hell I Feel Like Doing
My game plan goes something like this- take as much Boring Crap in the summers as I can so that my fuller semesters are more of Whatever the Hell I Feel Like Doing. And between four summer blocks alone (starting in May), I should have 21 Boring Crap credit hours fulfilled.
... I REALLY wanna start school.
I wanted to do this interview, since it's what got me to do this blog. It's from Marian's, and I asked her to ask me.
1. What is one thing that you really like about yourself?
I like my brow. Sure, it's caveman-brow, but it makes it incredibly easy to REALLY ANGRY, which I consider an asset.
2. You're stuck on a desert island and have only 2 objects with you - what are they?
A beach umbrella and a liter of Coke.
3. Is there anything in your life you'd like to redo?
I would not have gone to Eastern and wasted time and money.
4. Name one thing you'd really like to do if money and time weren't an issue.
I'd like to visit all of my friends in their various hometowns.
5. Do you have a hero, and if so who and why?
Yeah, Admiral William Adama, as portrayed by Edward James Olmos. It's hard to explain. The character has a legendary quality to him. I'm convinced the writers had to do everything in their power to keep Adama from destroying all the cylons himself. With his bare hands. Watch the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica to see what I mean.
Sean
Right now, things are slow. I'll be going to school May 19th, but until then, my schedule's looking pretty blank. Not for lack of trying, though. My friend Jonathan was trying to get me a job at Lowe's, where he works. He intended for me to replace him so that he could work outside in Gardening or something. We'd sort of joked about me working there, but around the last week of January, he said "Wait, seriously, do you wanna work?" Sure, I said, it'd be cool working with one of my friends! Went in, applied, and for five weeks, heard Jon telling me in an unnecessarily apologetic tone that he did all he could. I understood that, I wasn't blaming him, so whatever, Lowe's wasn't interested in me. Life wasn't about to end or anything. But then, about two weeks ago, I got a call from the HR lady, to set an interview. Hey, not bad! First intended interview was a bust due to some car troubles I had, so we rescheduled for Tuesday the 17th. Finally, over a month and a half, something was happening.
But then it DIDN'T happen. I had what I thought was a good interview, and the HR lady TRIED to have me meet up with the next manager in line right away (it was a three-interview process- HR, the department manager I'd work under, then the store manager), but they were short one manager that day, and were busy or something. I should hear from them by Thursday, I was told. A form letter came in on Friday instead, letting me know that they appreciated that I applied.
I *think* I know what was wrong, but you can never really be sure. In my opinion, it was the stupid Unicru personality thing, because that's what happened to me with Home Depot. My mom knew a lady who was a manager there, so I had an in, and the HR woman I spoke with was really trying to get me a job based on this manager's story of me, but apparently I had "failed" the computerized personality shit, and it's the same program-- Unicru. Right before the interview with the HR lady at Lowe's, she had me do the Unicru thing, but it was up to the next manager to look at those results, I guess. The test is bullshit anyway-- the only right answers, I've discovered just now through online sources, are the Strongly Agree or Strongly Disagree ones. You can't have mixed feelings. "I am somewhat of a thrill seeker." You know that one? That's a Strongly Agree. I "somewhat disagreed," because I am *not* somewhat of a thrill seeker, but that is the "wrong personality" for some brain dead job that has no educational or experiential requirements.
I'm more miffed about why I wasn't hired than just not being hired. It's behind me, though, and I'm glad, because now I can focus on something way more exciting! School, yay! It's f'real this time. I've decided to stop counting Schoolcraft as a school I "tried", since all I did was walk in, get the stink-eye from the entire Financial Aid office, and walk out. That'll make OCC the first physical school since Eastern. I'll have one class for the Summer 1 "semester" (it's only 7 1/2 weeks as opposed to a full semester of 15), although seeing that it was a "lecture" course, which means tests over homework, I am very tempted to toss another one in my schedule, especially considering I have more time without a job at Lowe's.
I *really* wanna get going with school. I know people who took three and four years to finish an Associate's degree-- I am not going to do that. I want to be done in a year and a half, before I'm 24. Sounds like two years, but a year and a half from May. So I plan on having an Associate's degree in Liberal Arts by January 2011. That is my goal. To accomplish this, I need to be going full time without summer breaks, where "full time" is at least 6 credit hours (two classes) each summer block, and 12 credit hours each real semester. And that's fine with me. I don't get real financial aid unless I go full time. Here's how the degree pans out;
AT LEAST 62 CREDIT HOURS:
37 credits of required Boring Crap That I Don't Care About (General Education stuff)
25 credits of Whatever the Hell I Feel Like Doing
My game plan goes something like this- take as much Boring Crap in the summers as I can so that my fuller semesters are more of Whatever the Hell I Feel Like Doing. And between four summer blocks alone (starting in May), I should have 21 Boring Crap credit hours fulfilled.
... I REALLY wanna start school.
I wanted to do this interview, since it's what got me to do this blog. It's from Marian's, and I asked her to ask me.
1. What is one thing that you really like about yourself?
I like my brow. Sure, it's caveman-brow, but it makes it incredibly easy to REALLY ANGRY, which I consider an asset.
2. You're stuck on a desert island and have only 2 objects with you - what are they?
A beach umbrella and a liter of Coke.
3. Is there anything in your life you'd like to redo?
I would not have gone to Eastern and wasted time and money.
4. Name one thing you'd really like to do if money and time weren't an issue.
I'd like to visit all of my friends in their various hometowns.
5. Do you have a hero, and if so who and why?
Yeah, Admiral William Adama, as portrayed by Edward James Olmos. It's hard to explain. The character has a legendary quality to him. I'm convinced the writers had to do everything in their power to keep Adama from destroying all the cylons himself. With his bare hands. Watch the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica to see what I mean.
Sean
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