Neko's Absurdist Theatre

Socrates

2009-07-09T01:38:04Z

This is to jot down some intriguing quotes i found in Plato's Apology.

The unexamined life isn't worth living for a human being. (Stephanus 38 a)

You see, if you imagine that by killing people you'll prevent anyone from reproaching you for not living in the right way, you're not thinking straight. (Stephanus 39 d)

I can envision some nice fantasy novels incorporating these ideas and Terry Prachett's character Rincewind. teehee.

Pantalones

2009-05-25T18:39:32Z

After three days of working at howies, my pants fit again. The bad news is they're coated in a perpetual layer of cat hair. =)
It's crazy how my lifestyle changes depending on whether i live in norcal or socal.
"socal is where my mind states, but its not my state of mind"

Slam, by Pendulum

2009-05-09T18:54:33Z

God I love Daft Punk, Pendulum, Armin van Buuren.
God I love Neil Gaiman, Anne Bishop, Tamora Pierce.
God I love Ariel, Colin, Ted, Adithi.

Went to my first hunger banquet yesterday. Some chick started gabbing about how people have the right to food and how they deserve to have things given to them. About how WE- because we a born more wealthy- are OBLIGATED to give to the needy, expecting nothing in return, for one reason: their need.

...Has anyone read Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand? Read it. SHE should read it. I guarantee you she'd stop spewing that.

1) Wealth is not born. It is produced. Wealth generates infrastructure, which creates jobs, which allows those who need food to get it themselves. *sigh* I told this to her and her eyes glazed over. Luckily everyone else started talking about microlending.

Oh, what are your thoughts on microlending? I love it. I want to learn more about it. If you still read this journal, make yourself known! lol

Productivity

2009-04-23T22:54:51Z

"Once you have this list, the problem becomes remembering to look at it." -anon

SO TRUE.

my favorite song right now

2009-04-18T02:02:33Z

armin van buuren
this world is watching me

damn i wish i could dance to it live.

doh!

2009-04-13T06:02:09Z

I just realized that I sometimes use people for a dumping ground for all my stress.
Sorry people >.

Writer's Block: Grab and Go

2009-04-07T03:49:00Z

Scenario: For exactly 1 minute, you get access to all the databases of all the intelligence agencies in the world (CIA, FBI, KGB, MI-5, etc). What do you want to find out before time is up and you're caught and jailed forever?

View 503 Answers

who killed my father.

also- info on all the ways we might be causing ourselves to get cancer and their liklihood.

Day 8, Emerald Moon, Cycle of the Lobster

2009-04-02T07:40:20Z

Today I successfully executed the first task in my training. I must now master the task.

I feel important

2009-03-31T00:52:29Z

Lesson One: An audience is always necessary.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/28/MNMK16J4BI.DTL
(i was there!)

Day 1, Emerald Moon, Cycle of the Lobster

2009-03-26T21:26:05Z

I shall train, for I am squishy.

Peacemaking

2009-03-24T07:24:02Z

I'm proud of myself.
But I am squishy. I must train.

I fucking love buttermilk bread.

sciurus_amatus @ 2009-03-20T22:15:00

2009-03-21T05:17:04Z

im still in love with a part of my past.

sciurus_amatus @ 2009-03-20T03:56:00

2009-03-20T10:56:47Z

I'm awake!!!
I don't know what to do!

sciurus_amatus @ 2009-03-16T18:09:00

2009-03-17T01:10:39Z

I'm happy right now.

My Day

2009-03-15T02:16:03Z

I watched Across the Universe today, dipped strawberries in chocolate, bought thin mints and lucky charms, hiked, met up with an old friend from CTY, made a young girl smile, spilled CAL secrets to the enemy (a future Stanfordian), made a guy fall in love with me for the second time, put a month's payment down on an apartment, and woke up. Not in that order.

Oh lordy, what am I going to do for the next year?

Fantastic.

2009-03-10T07:01:56Z

First time a grad student asked me for help on a logic problem set. Woot. I totally made up for the previous F by setting the curve on this week's problem set: 97% + 7pts EC.

Brag rights. I has them.

Sarcasm

2009-03-08T22:05:06Z

To take the "school is your job" metaphor further, I've started posting monthly goals on my wall to boost worker motivation.

This month's goal: LEARN $1060.00! You're almost there!!! (thats appx. my semester's tuition divided by 5).

(mouseover: I should add a student of the month plaque, with me winning each time.)

sciurus_amatus @ 2009-03-07T22:36:00

2009-03-08T06:50:16Z

Life needs a damn good search engine.

While I was volunteering today cleaning classrooms for Emerson Elementary, I met a woman (forget the name now) who started talking to me about micro lending. The way she explained it, a nonprofit organization functions as a bank to the destitute in "developing" countries. The nonprofit will typically lend $30-$50 to a barefoot person to start up a specialized small business. Basically, the nonprofit gives some poor person who can't feed her family enough money to buy a goat or a couple chickens. Then the person (typically female) can sell the eggs from the chicken, or the milk from the goat, and make a profit. Another person will get enough money to purchase a cell phone, and then he would charge members of his middle-of-no-where village a small fee to make calls. Theoretically the poor people would make a profit, and once they can actually feed their families, they might start investing in the nonprofit and treating it as a bank. The lady I was talking to loved the fact that an increase in the amount of children going to schools is directly correlated to the nonprofit's starting a branch in a particular area.

this is GENIUS. this is creating a middle class, a bourgeoisie. the advent of the middle class, of the Small business, is why england was so successful during the industrial revolution. no one copied them correctly. russia failed. russia tried to use centralized gov't, not small business. developing countries (japan excepted) failed. they relied on large banks or corporations, which profited while the populace did not. blah blah take a comparative political science course to get all the historical facts blah.

this is copying england correctly. the nonprofit is essentially a Medici. this is super interesting stuff, and i will most def look into the process- and the risks- further.

sciurus_amatus @ 2009-03-06T17:37:00

2009-03-07T01:38:38Z

Life is so dirty up close.

carpe diem not carpe noctem

2009-03-04T06:22:36Z

Most things happen during the day. If I want to make the most of my life, maximize my life, whatever, it is going to happen during the day and not the night. I am a social creature, and being nocturnal will not help me survive.

That said, I have discovered my favorite place to study, and it closes at 6pm. Howison Library.

My goals were all wrong for college: stay up late, procrastinate on everything, do the precise amount of work that will get you an 89.5%, learn just enough to get the grade. My goal was a degree. This would have been accomplished. But what would this have been? An empty degree. A talking head. A puff of fluff, not a puff of logic.

Now I have new goals, and I am busy. Events from 9am until 10 at night. I am so spent I pass out on my books at 9pm instead of at 3am. We'll see where this new approach takes me. My new goal is to learn enough to further a field. I now desire to learn beyond the scope of the class!

Oh, and some friends asked if I would like to share an apartment with them. It would be $400 a month, and I'm paying $1100 right now. I will probably say yes, even though its near the engineering buildings. (Adi cooks =D)

I will post what I got from George Lakoff's lecture (cognitive linguistics) and Elan Journo's lecture (moral defense of Israel from an objectivist perspective) when I have time.

Fantastic.

2009-03-02T04:35:36Z

First F in college: 54/100 on a problem set for Logic that i pulled an all nighter for. Woot. Hard class. Grad students are in it. I was getting As up until now... That assignment was worth 2.5% of my grade.

I'm surprised, but I had such a great day that it will take more than that to ruin it.

sciurus_amatus @ 2009-03-01T15:28:00

2009-03-01T23:33:20Z

Brag moment: Adi taught me how to make chocolate fondue. She had the strawberries and i had the chocolate. we combined them and it was amazing.

Putting off the Inevitable

2009-03-01T20:01:40Z

It feels good to help people, even if it's just putting off the need to help myself.
I helped a church cook lasagna and feed the homeless. I helped Jessica, an engineer about to graduate, make a business connection. She won't get the job because the company works with hydro power and she didn't take the right classes (she took electrical power classes) but still-- it's a connection. Adi's roommate, Colleen, had her boyfriend over last night, and Adi gave them some space by offering to stay somewhere else. I saved her from the couch by offering up my room. Best decision evarr! sleepovers ftw.

Sooner or later I'll have to remember that I'm not a good person and I'll have to better myself, but that can wait a bit longer. Acting good and being good are so different. Maybe it's even impossible [to be] good. Maybe for my purposes, whatever those may be, it doesn't matter whether I am good, only that I am thought of as good. Hm. I doubt that is the case.

sciurus_amatus @ 2009-02-26T02:30:00

2009-02-26T10:31:19Z

Alea iacta est.

sciurus_amatus @ 2009-02-23T00:20:00

2009-02-23T08:20:59Z

I am a free spirit.