I could do with less humidity.
I sorta have to skim my old posts to make sure I don't repeat myself. In the one where I mentioned my scholastic spreadsheet, I laid out my upcoming semesters. It's already derailed. Nothing bad happened, it just turned out that a lot of things conflicted, so I swapped things around. Starting in the fall, I will be taking;
Beginning Japanese I
Introduction to Logic
Psychology of Organizational Behavior
A lot of the classes I had in mind were all 10 or 11 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is Japanese, and that's one class I'm not sacrificing for others. I'm not able to take Experimental Psych yet because I need to pass Intro to Psych with at least a B, which won't happen until registration for the Fall is over. This is the final line up, since I've registered for them already. I haven't paid yet, but that's because either Sallie Mae or OCC's financial aid department is slacking. I should be getting $1750 in loans (for this semester), like Sallie Mae told me they were sending over, but OCC is still asking for the full amount of my classes, so I dunno what the malfunction is. I'll be sure to kick some ass if nothing's resolved in the next couple weeks. It sounds like I'm putting it off, but payment isn't due for three more weeks, and Sallie Mae said there was no further action needed on my part for whatever step in the loan process I'm at. It is my fervent hope this is true, but I'll be watching nonetheless.
I really hope Logic won't be full of assholes. I've heard horror stories about philosophy classes before (and that's what that class is listed as). I think Fall and Winter classes will be smaller, or at least a different make-up, because almost everyone in the summer classes are just filling in credits for their regular school, or are continuing education people. My wish for my full, 15 week classes, is that my classmates are more involved. Everyone's a little vacant in the summer stuff, as far as I've experienced. I want to be in a place where other people care as much as I do, and maybe selfishly, about the same things. My Psych prof is okay, but he talks about tons of shit I don't even care about. Politics, mostly. Not just because I sometimes disagree (although that's a factor, no doubt), but because I'm genuinely interested in psychology, and we're not talking about it!! Argh.
Tomorrow I'm going out to, uh... a friend's house. I forgot where it is, but I have directions somewhere. My friend Aaron got back from basic training in the Army recently, and his family's throwing him a welcome back party. I was gonna go over early with Heidi and Jesse (Heidi is Aaron's sister, Jesse is Heidi's husband, and we all play D&D together), like noonish, but I had made plans around that time with Adam... And now that I think about it, possibly Mark Kane. I'll show up somewhere between 3 and 4 for the party, just to give myself some wiggle room.
Sunday, back down to Gross Ile for church, then back home for a bit, then Ken's graduation. His school, MIAT, is holding a graduation now, but Ken won't be done there for another couple of months. It's weird. They're gonna have a lunch thing, then the ceremony, and then, I dunno, maybe I'll come home and watch Ghostbusters or something.
I oughta do some reading for Psych, actually.
Sean
Friday, July 24, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
More future musings
I can't help but daydream. I justify it, because at the end of the line, it's a real concern. It's fun to think about, but the question remains: what am I gonna do?
I break it up into steps because it's easier to think in small chunks. So first thing's first, what could I do with an Associate's degree of Liberal Arts? Jack. That's a pretty easy one to sum up. I'm doing it first because it's cheap.
What could I do with a Bachelor's degree? Regardless of what it's in, I could go teach English in Japan. That's the only requirement to do that-- you don't need any sort of teaching degree or experience, or any relevant field of study. Just a Bachelor's. In my case, I know what my degree will be in (say it with me, you should all know it well by now)-- Japanese/Linguistics double major, Psych minor. I don't know that I've said it straight out in this blog or not, but I'm set on that Psych minor now. With this whole thing, I'm seeing a lot of low-level research stuff (such as "research assistant") on the Linguistics side and "Windows System Administrator" on the Japanese.
Other options at this level of education included governmental or military work. In the Army or the Marines, I'd be doing "cryptologic linguistics". Gov't side? FBI, baby. Contract Linguist/Monitor/Tester, or even Special Agent Linguist. I think the FBI jobs sound the most exciting, even the contract jobs. That would be such an interesting experience. Some contract linguists are offered full-time positions as Specialists, which actually only require a high school diploma. I think the Special Agent positions are where the Bachelor's requirement comes in, but I threw it all together here anyway.
At the Master's level, things open up. All of the previous stuff at a marginally higher pay, full-blown research gigs, and teaching at the undergraduate level. After lamenting long enough about how I just wanted to spend my life learning instead of working, the words of my professors started to sink in. At the graduate level, you can start doing real, hardcore research. For a -living-. It often entails working through a university, but hey, if it works, I'd do it.
My mom said "I thought you didn't want to teach." I went into Eastern the first time for Music Education (for the very first of several majors I declared), which would have meant K-12. I never made the distinction between teaching there and teaching at a college. I -like- college. I hated high school. The big difference is the atmosphere. I wasn't in Redford Union schools to learn, I was there because I was legally required to do so, and I only graduated from their high school because employers like diplomas better than GED's. But people at college tend to have more of a drive, more of a reason than just "I have to." I WANT to go. I could work a regular or low-key job, but I want to learn instead.
I've looked into the "where" of my graduate studies, and it's really open. There are so many schools, I wouldn't think I'd have a hard time getting where I wanted. Most of them offer an MA in Linguistics, but there are a couple places that offer an MA in Cognitive Linguistics, which is what I would prefer. Prospective schools include; U of C Berkeley, where one of the major names in cognitive linguistics (George Lakoff) teaches, Case Western Reserve, which is my main pick, since it's close, and the degree is actually Cognitive Linguists (Berkeley is just Linguistics), and tied for distant third are Bangor University (again, Cognitive Linguistics, but it's over the pond) and Brown (just because it's Ivy League). If all else failed, I'd just do what all my other friends are and hit up Eastern for an MA in Linguistics.
I said once that the Master's was purely wishful thinking. But in my mind, I'm formulating everything so that maybe even a doctorate wouldn't be out of the question. In the meantime, I gotta wake up in eight hours and do this fucking Intermediate Algebra class.....
Easy to get wrapped up in theory.
Sean
I break it up into steps because it's easier to think in small chunks. So first thing's first, what could I do with an Associate's degree of Liberal Arts? Jack. That's a pretty easy one to sum up. I'm doing it first because it's cheap.
What could I do with a Bachelor's degree? Regardless of what it's in, I could go teach English in Japan. That's the only requirement to do that-- you don't need any sort of teaching degree or experience, or any relevant field of study. Just a Bachelor's. In my case, I know what my degree will be in (say it with me, you should all know it well by now)-- Japanese/Linguistics double major, Psych minor. I don't know that I've said it straight out in this blog or not, but I'm set on that Psych minor now. With this whole thing, I'm seeing a lot of low-level research stuff (such as "research assistant") on the Linguistics side and "Windows System Administrator" on the Japanese.
Other options at this level of education included governmental or military work. In the Army or the Marines, I'd be doing "cryptologic linguistics". Gov't side? FBI, baby. Contract Linguist/Monitor/Tester, or even Special Agent Linguist. I think the FBI jobs sound the most exciting, even the contract jobs. That would be such an interesting experience. Some contract linguists are offered full-time positions as Specialists, which actually only require a high school diploma. I think the Special Agent positions are where the Bachelor's requirement comes in, but I threw it all together here anyway.
At the Master's level, things open up. All of the previous stuff at a marginally higher pay, full-blown research gigs, and teaching at the undergraduate level. After lamenting long enough about how I just wanted to spend my life learning instead of working, the words of my professors started to sink in. At the graduate level, you can start doing real, hardcore research. For a -living-. It often entails working through a university, but hey, if it works, I'd do it.
My mom said "I thought you didn't want to teach." I went into Eastern the first time for Music Education (for the very first of several majors I declared), which would have meant K-12. I never made the distinction between teaching there and teaching at a college. I -like- college. I hated high school. The big difference is the atmosphere. I wasn't in Redford Union schools to learn, I was there because I was legally required to do so, and I only graduated from their high school because employers like diplomas better than GED's. But people at college tend to have more of a drive, more of a reason than just "I have to." I WANT to go. I could work a regular or low-key job, but I want to learn instead.
I've looked into the "where" of my graduate studies, and it's really open. There are so many schools, I wouldn't think I'd have a hard time getting where I wanted. Most of them offer an MA in Linguistics, but there are a couple places that offer an MA in Cognitive Linguistics, which is what I would prefer. Prospective schools include; U of C Berkeley, where one of the major names in cognitive linguistics (George Lakoff) teaches, Case Western Reserve, which is my main pick, since it's close, and the degree is actually Cognitive Linguists (Berkeley is just Linguistics), and tied for distant third are Bangor University (again, Cognitive Linguistics, but it's over the pond) and Brown (just because it's Ivy League). If all else failed, I'd just do what all my other friends are and hit up Eastern for an MA in Linguistics.
I said once that the Master's was purely wishful thinking. But in my mind, I'm formulating everything so that maybe even a doctorate wouldn't be out of the question. In the meantime, I gotta wake up in eight hours and do this fucking Intermediate Algebra class.....
Easy to get wrapped up in theory.
Sean
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
do not like Kings of Leon
It's week two of classes. I meant to write sooner, but I've been pretty tired.
I don't know how I've managed to make such a fool of myself in Intro to Psych, but I like the class anyway. The prof spent a lot of time the first day (which I inadvertently left an hour early because my analog clock-reading skillz fail) going on about how abrasive he could be, and how we could argue with him if we wanted. We did not want to. I still like the class anyway. The subject itself is very interesting, and I like reading, but the homework (about 65 definitions every two days) is pretty dull and ball breaking.
Math is frustrating. I have to be there for four hours each session, it's really boring, and I'm not particularly motivated to try, although it's looking more and more like I don't have to, after those evil word problems.
Spent most of Sunday doing church stuff. Went down to see dad at Grosse Isle, then, when I got home, Mark Kane invited me to the Japanese church he occasionally preaches at. So in the ten minutes I had at home, I wolfed down some food and went to more church. There, I was invited to a bible study, which I found out was really Singles bible study. Hrm. It was a new experience. Including dinner, it took four hours. It was a little difficult, since out of the six of us, I was one of two who couldn't speak Japanese, but most of them spoke English. And poor Tomohiro, he barely spoke English. The actual bible study was reeeeeaaaally basic. I dunno if I'd go to one of these again. I like the socialization, but the bible study parts were not challenging enough to have taken so long. I might keep going to Japanese church, though, to supplement my Japanese (and because of the fact that I haven't settled at a new church yet). At dinner, each of us was supposed to explain "how the days" since we'd last spoken, had "treated us." It's some sort of Japanese thing, but it was neat.
I saw a scene from Once Upon a Time in the West, and now I feel I must see it. I still have to watch The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, too. I never thought I would enjoy Westerns. I know my grandpa Hannan had a lot of that stuff, but it was Hollywood stuff, lotsa John Wayne (though I've never seen any of that, so I can't comment on it). But these spaghetti Westerns have sucked me right in. I was pleasantly surprised. I might check some of the big name stuff out to keep broading that experience. The only other real Western film I've seen is Tombstone, and it is not like the Sergio Leone movies. Is Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven any good??
Very tired.
Sean
I don't know how I've managed to make such a fool of myself in Intro to Psych, but I like the class anyway. The prof spent a lot of time the first day (which I inadvertently left an hour early because my analog clock-reading skillz fail) going on about how abrasive he could be, and how we could argue with him if we wanted. We did not want to. I still like the class anyway. The subject itself is very interesting, and I like reading, but the homework (about 65 definitions every two days) is pretty dull and ball breaking.
Math is frustrating. I have to be there for four hours each session, it's really boring, and I'm not particularly motivated to try, although it's looking more and more like I don't have to, after those evil word problems.
Spent most of Sunday doing church stuff. Went down to see dad at Grosse Isle, then, when I got home, Mark Kane invited me to the Japanese church he occasionally preaches at. So in the ten minutes I had at home, I wolfed down some food and went to more church. There, I was invited to a bible study, which I found out was really Singles bible study. Hrm. It was a new experience. Including dinner, it took four hours. It was a little difficult, since out of the six of us, I was one of two who couldn't speak Japanese, but most of them spoke English. And poor Tomohiro, he barely spoke English. The actual bible study was reeeeeaaaally basic. I dunno if I'd go to one of these again. I like the socialization, but the bible study parts were not challenging enough to have taken so long. I might keep going to Japanese church, though, to supplement my Japanese (and because of the fact that I haven't settled at a new church yet). At dinner, each of us was supposed to explain "how the days" since we'd last spoken, had "treated us." It's some sort of Japanese thing, but it was neat.
I saw a scene from Once Upon a Time in the West, and now I feel I must see it. I still have to watch The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, too. I never thought I would enjoy Westerns. I know my grandpa Hannan had a lot of that stuff, but it was Hollywood stuff, lotsa John Wayne (though I've never seen any of that, so I can't comment on it). But these spaghetti Westerns have sucked me right in. I was pleasantly surprised. I might check some of the big name stuff out to keep broading that experience. The only other real Western film I've seen is Tombstone, and it is not like the Sergio Leone movies. Is Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven any good??
Very tired.
Sean
Monday, July 6, 2009
Intermediate Algebra
Just got back. I recall being quite cocky about it ever since I registered for the class. I am now humbly downgrading the level of ease from "Booyah Super Easy" to "May Require Effort." Most of that is because I'm getting ahead of myself and over thinking problems in ways we haven't gone over yet in class. A small portion was actual re-learning. And one section was an actual problem. What was it?
Word problems.
I have never encountered difficult word problems before, or at least I don't remember. But I could not get one of these examples right. I don't understand the way she's setting up her rubric to deal with these problems, either. I put everything in the wrong spot. It's not that they're crazy puzzles or anything, they don't SOUND hard, I'm just not processing what is happening. So I'll have to cobble some sort of patchwork understanding of this stuff before the quiz.
Today was also the fullest day of math, according to the syllabus. That's fine by me, we did a lot. The most we'll end up doing in a day from here on out is five sections on a non-test, non-quiz day. Four on said days. The MOST. So it's usually three or four. We did seven on the first day. The sunny side of that is that I only really have to review one section to be test-ready. And I imagine that's as much as I'll ever have to review in any given chunk. Good stuff!
Psych starts tomorrow. I really hope it's not boring, I would be so disappointed. I haven't looked in that book yet, but maybe tonight after I do some math...
I can't believe I'm doing homework.
Sean
Word problems.
I have never encountered difficult word problems before, or at least I don't remember. But I could not get one of these examples right. I don't understand the way she's setting up her rubric to deal with these problems, either. I put everything in the wrong spot. It's not that they're crazy puzzles or anything, they don't SOUND hard, I'm just not processing what is happening. So I'll have to cobble some sort of patchwork understanding of this stuff before the quiz.
Today was also the fullest day of math, according to the syllabus. That's fine by me, we did a lot. The most we'll end up doing in a day from here on out is five sections on a non-test, non-quiz day. Four on said days. The MOST. So it's usually three or four. We did seven on the first day. The sunny side of that is that I only really have to review one section to be test-ready. And I imagine that's as much as I'll ever have to review in any given chunk. Good stuff!
Psych starts tomorrow. I really hope it's not boring, I would be so disappointed. I haven't looked in that book yet, but maybe tonight after I do some math...
I can't believe I'm doing homework.
Sean
Saturday, July 4, 2009
rawr, heartburn and nausea
Two of several reasons I'm still awake despite desperately wanting sleep.
Looking over my class schedule, I'm actually starting Monday, the sixth. That is the beginning of my math class. My Psych class is the one starting on the seventh.
Erwin McManus bothers me. Here's a little blurb I stared at on Facebook;
There's a problem with McManus' goal of "re catalyzing" the movement of Jesus while simultaneously destroying the Christian religion. It mostly lies in definitions, so let's do this. I won't go far, just hitting up dictionary.com (picking and choosing the relevant ones, ie, the ones not about monks and nuns).
religion, noun
1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects
3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices
4. something one believes in and follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or conscience
5. strict faithfulness; devotion
6. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
See the issue here? Of course, if I voiced this, I'd be met with things like "Well, you see, Sean, Jesus preached against religion." No. No he didn't. No matter how you strip it down, he still advocated to an adherence to the ten commandments and the God of Israel. Sorry folks, that's religion.
I can see why they would want to distance themselves from the word, though. "Religion" carries negative connotations nowadays, although it varies depending on who you are. In America, from an atheist or general non-Christian, it usually means all the ugliest bits of Christianity. I don't usually hear the word used by Christian speakers, I generally hear them talk about Muslims (although never just "Islam"). "Religion" in Europe I think may carry more equally for Islam than just Christianity, because of the giant rise in the "religion of peace" over that way, but I don't know, I only heard one angry old Brit complaining about all sides.
And I'm talking about when people start their rants using the words "religion" or "religious people". "Religious people" don't all go to churches. Some go to mosques and synagogues. Others go to kingdom halls, but they don't like it when you call them religious, since they're not a religion (right). So it becomes easier for McManus to say he wants to destroy "religion"-- that is, the ugliest bits of Christianity, for those of us in America-- and replace it with the much more palatable "movement of Jesus Christ".
It's good marketing, but that's about it.
Jesus preached against EXCLUSIVE religion. Everything he did was about inclusion of people to the kingdom of God. He brought the Jewish faith, however radical a rendering, to the Gentiles. He spent his time with the dregs of society-- tax collectors, lepers, prostitutes-- and treated them like people, which I'm sure was a change for them. The point was to make God accessible to everyone, not just the guys who could jump through the flaming hoops without any of the hair on their ass singed (excuse me, the high priests).
Okay, fine, it's a way for some people to get going in the right direction, but... the way McManus puts it seems very fallacious to me.
I hope this Pepcid holds out.
Sean
Looking over my class schedule, I'm actually starting Monday, the sixth. That is the beginning of my math class. My Psych class is the one starting on the seventh.
Erwin McManus bothers me. Here's a little blurb I stared at on Facebook;
"My goal is to destroy Christianity as a world religion and be a recatalyst for the movement of Jesus Christ," McManus, author of a new book called The Barbarian Way, said in a telephone interview. "Some people are upset with me because it sounds like I'm anti-Christian. I think they might be right."
It bothers me because of how sensationalistic the guy is. But he has a book to push, so I spose it makes sense. Mike Taylor posted it. He's one of two guys I know who are sort of tuning into the Emergent church thing. I dig the emerging church "movement". In a nutshell, it's (typically younger) people getting fed up with perceived passivity in modern Christian churches and culture, and their aims at "restoring" an active community. I thought it was largely evangelical, conservative types, but theologically and politically (because, despite what we say and think, they'll always be stuck together), it's very much based in the center. I'm curious to see how it pans out in the end.
There's a problem with McManus' goal of "re catalyzing" the movement of Jesus while simultaneously destroying the Christian religion. It mostly lies in definitions, so let's do this. I won't go far, just hitting up dictionary.com (picking and choosing the relevant ones, ie, the ones not about monks and nuns).
religion, noun
1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects
3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices
4. something one believes in and follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or conscience
5. strict faithfulness; devotion
6. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
See the issue here? Of course, if I voiced this, I'd be met with things like "Well, you see, Sean, Jesus preached against religion." No. No he didn't. No matter how you strip it down, he still advocated to an adherence to the ten commandments and the God of Israel. Sorry folks, that's religion.
I can see why they would want to distance themselves from the word, though. "Religion" carries negative connotations nowadays, although it varies depending on who you are. In America, from an atheist or general non-Christian, it usually means all the ugliest bits of Christianity. I don't usually hear the word used by Christian speakers, I generally hear them talk about Muslims (although never just "Islam"). "Religion" in Europe I think may carry more equally for Islam than just Christianity, because of the giant rise in the "religion of peace" over that way, but I don't know, I only heard one angry old Brit complaining about all sides.
And I'm talking about when people start their rants using the words "religion" or "religious people". "Religious people" don't all go to churches. Some go to mosques and synagogues. Others go to kingdom halls, but they don't like it when you call them religious, since they're not a religion (right). So it becomes easier for McManus to say he wants to destroy "religion"-- that is, the ugliest bits of Christianity, for those of us in America-- and replace it with the much more palatable "movement of Jesus Christ".
It's good marketing, but that's about it.
Jesus preached against EXCLUSIVE religion. Everything he did was about inclusion of people to the kingdom of God. He brought the Jewish faith, however radical a rendering, to the Gentiles. He spent his time with the dregs of society-- tax collectors, lepers, prostitutes-- and treated them like people, which I'm sure was a change for them. The point was to make God accessible to everyone, not just the guys who could jump through the flaming hoops without any of the hair on their ass singed (excuse me, the high priests).
Okay, fine, it's a way for some people to get going in the right direction, but... the way McManus puts it seems very fallacious to me.
I hope this Pepcid holds out.
Sean
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