resurrection

wow - i just slept the whole night through. i've even done "not much" this morning, as the guy i was supposed to be meeting with isn't feeling well.

i just resurrected my new year's post from 2006/2007 - i don't know how it turned into a "draft"...

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first order of business: i noticed that my posters advertising anime nights were covered by telemarketing advertisements, so i covered those in turn with the following announcement:

sell your soul for a handful of dollars per hour?
telemarketers are tools of satan!

i'm contemplating printing that out, possibly adding "and by 'tool', i mean 'penis that satan interrupts our dinners to rape our ears with'. don't be more of a giant penis than you need to be."

two amusing notes on the above:

first, a girl in my third class asking if it was me. when i answered in the affirmative, she was really pleased: "i *KNEW* it was you! it's so your style!"
i think that's the first time we've ever spoken, so i seem to be making a good impression :)

second: the poor woman who called me up later to ask me if i was interested in a new landline from netvision. she didn't see me coming, i guarantee :P

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i ran into mmf's wife on my way to first class, as she was heading to hers... she's taking a course that i *really* wanted to sign up for: "from grimm to disney", and we discussed that for the few minutes that we had before the day began. children don't need morals in every story, and most certainly not disney's. if you do want to discuss values, then children DO need to learn that stupid choices lead to horrible consequences; there's no woodsman coming to save little red riding hood.

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we learned about godwin, and i think his ideas were great! especially his concept of "law": our western legal systems are pathetic, and the idea of a judge treating each case on its individual merit is far superior and more naturally ethical than simply going according to precedent.

creating laws to deal with particular cases, laws which affect everyone equally, is dumb.

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there's nothing like trying to use a urinal when there's a guy in the toilet stall behind you humming loudly to himself.

after class our lecturer (the italian dude is beginning to grate my cheese) informed me that i should be able to do a work for extra credit; i really don't want to have to redo his course. in fact, as much as i appreciate his enthusiasm and attitude i will never sign up for another of his classes again.

one of my fellow classmonkeys caught up with me afterwards and requested context free philosophy: asking someone like me "what's the first thing that pops into your head when i say..." and then throwing out a really complex philosophical paradigm is meaningless. the specific question, regarding man's power relation with nature, is something i hold two or three opposing views about. we discussed it for about fifteen minutes, and didn't get anywhere useful.

lunchtime was movie time, although i had to stop one of the girls from participating because she demonstrated the inability to suspend disbelief. seriously, that's an important and mandatory skill when watching movies!

i was putting up my posters when i bumped into one of the student union heads putting up his - we had a little chat, and he seems to like some of my ideas...

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the second class: mind rape. not only is our italian giving us his own books to read (not a problem, in my opinion) but he's making us read them in class and discuss points we find interesting. that's pushing it. it's as disconnected from the topic of our seminar as can be...

... our lecturer is really sensitive, and very defensive...

... i wasn't letting him get away with it. and i had a couple of others as support. we ripped into his work and argued the entire second half of the class. that wasn't enough - i even followed him back to his office. i eventually wrangled a slight concession before heading off to the last class of the day.

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we studied america, and i'm convinced that if i could get hold of a copy of the time magazine dated january 16, 1956, we could trace the poem through its articles...

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on leaving the class, my union connection and i discussed whores and strippers - i don't want to go to a lecture discussing it, my younger sister's been in the industry, and i find the whole topic distressing. norah vincent says it better than i can.

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i was caught by one of our managers as i walked into work and dragged along to buy liquor for the floor party - saying goodbye to our previous offices. i made a remark about him catching me with the norton anthology in my bag and it being really heavy...

"it's... like... a giant book... of knowledge. it's not the number of pages, but the wisdom contained within that makes it weigh so much"

from the anthology: ‎"we must continue to hope because, by keeping open the possibility of a better future, hope releases the imaginative and creative powers that are the only means of achieving that end"

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i spent a couple of frustrated hours trying to figure out ssh through php. i don't like it. around 10pm i went downstairs for the party... and was surprised at how seriously everyone was taking it! the decorations, the outfits, the attitude...

aside from an inspiring moment, a few drinks and jumping into an interesting debate on how we were fitter, stronger and happier prior to inventing "society", it was a chilled and amusing evening. i did have to go home relatively early, though, because i was broken before things got going and i knew i needed to crash.

i slept late, and am now about ready to get out of my pjs and make my way to work.