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Name: Eric Birthday: 7/11/1988 Gender: Male
Interests: judo, scuba, reading, running, debate, old movies and books, music (esp. broadway, country, and oldies) Expertise: admiring everyone else's expertises Occupation: Student Industry: Education/Research
Message: message me Website: visit my website
Member Since:
2/18/2004
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| I love the summer, please don't misunderstand. But its that feeling that gets to me, the feeling that I don't need to do anything. In fairness to the feeling, I agree that often it is justified - often there is nothing to do during the summer. But if you give into the feeling for long enough then "stuff" begins to pile up. Unfortunatley, during holidays there is so little to do that you often get used to the feeling. Then, suddenly and without warning, the "stuff" has grown to the point where it is impossible to put off any longer. "Now!" you cry in desperation as the realization of your laziness dawns, "It must be done now!" But there is a problem. Yes, you guessed it, it is the feeling.
Its not easy to fight the feeling once it has overcome you. At first you make weak, half-hearted attempts to fight back, to show the feeling that you are the one running your life. But the harder you fight, the quicker you learn how naive you have become. "Who do you think you are?!" thunders the feeling. "I control you now, and I dictate that you do nothing unless I command it!" Flustered and slightly unsure of yourself, you respond that such a command certainly sounds reasonable. Why argue with someone - or is it something? - that is stronger than you? So you give in and wait for a command from the feeling. But, of course, the feeling never commands that you do anything, and the "stuff" looms more ominous. You try to muster the will to do something - anything - but the feeling forbids it.
It is around this time you realize that the feeling has so fully permeated your life that you are now forgetting to do essential daily chores. At first, the feeling only strikes at small, unnoticable tasks. You don't want to hang up your suit, or you are tired of folding your clothes neatly before stuffing them into the drawer. They can wait, you tell yourself, until after you watch the news or check facebook. And so the pile grows, slowly, steadily, until one day you find yourself moving your clothes onto your bed during the day and onto the floor during the night. (Editor's note: The author of this article wishes to inform you that the feeling has never overcome him to this point... really.) But, of course, you don't realize what you are doing because the feeling has completely dullened your ability to recognize disorder. At this point, everyone reacts differently to the feeling depending on how resistant their soul is to being overpowered. Some people don't realize that the feeling controls them, and they pine away slowly, blissfully unaware that they are but a naive marionette controlled by a diabolical puppeteer. Others, however, fight back against the feeling, desparately desiring to regain control of their derailed lives. Unfortunately, I can tell you from personal experience that for those poor souls in the latter category, results often vary. Although it shames me to tell you this, I once was an embarassed victim of the feeling. Day and night it controlled me, ruled over me, and demanded that I do nothing. I could only stand it so long before I decided to overthrow the feeling and reclaim my misdirected life. Given the above facts, you may be surprised to learn that today I am proud to tell you that my majestic effort to overthrow the feeling failed. I will repeat, I failed and I am proud of failing. Please understand that it is not that I didn't try; in fact I tried with great vigor. Yet every night of my coup attempt my soul rebeled against the industriousness I had exhibited during the day. "What are you doing?" one half of myself demanded of the other half. "Are you not aware that it is impossible to avenge normalcy once the feeling has rooted out your last vestiges of sanity? Are you not aware that the life you always wanted begins with the feeling? Are you not aware that living a life of the feeling is living a life of freedom?" How could I respond but to agree? How could I respond to but to throw myself into the welcoming embrace of the feeling? How could I respond but to throw away sanity, accept mediocrity, and live my life devoid of influence from outside pressures and judgments? And so it was that I gladly accepted the feeling, accepted freedom. Perhaps the only downside to living a life with the feeling is that its hard for me to reason clearly. But I'm reasonable enough to know that going back to school this Fall is not going to feel very good. | | |
| The Future is Riding on MetroI
hardly glanced at the big, flashy banner as I surged forward with the
sea of people, my eyes listlessly focusing and refocusing on a million
moving objects. As I stumbled blindly forward my mind tried to
pull itself from the hazy half-sleep I had harshly endured for the last
forty-five minutes as I sat immovable between an impressively oversized
human specimen and a chipped and soiled metro window. I paid no
attention to the pushing of the frantic crowd around me. I
ignored the moth that was beginning to enjoy the first hints of
evening. I mentally blocked out the hurried words spoken into
cell phones and ear pieces. I hardly noticed the laughing and
joking of the metro guards as I passed by. And then it hit me.
"Aha!"
I exclaimed triumphantly. I was fully awake now, marveling at the
sudden discovery I had stumbled upon somwhat unexpectantly. I
stood, staring at the banner. It was new, perhaps that was what
had caused me to glance at it a few moments earlier. But there
was something else about the banner I hadn't noticed initially.
"It's a pun!" I shouted in glee, ignoring the strange looks cast my
way. I studied it a moment more before remarking in surprise,
"But there's more than one pun... In fact, its a triple
pun. Not every day you see one of those." I looked around
eagerly, hoping to find someone to share my landmark discovery with,
but the incoming tide of people had ebbed somewhat and few remained to
share my joy. "Ah well," I remarked to myself, hardly
disappointed, "at least I got to see it."
As
I walked towards the parking garage with a spring in my step, I thought
about the banner again. "Actually," I chatted happily to myself,
"that is a pretty impressive thing to realize. I mean, I'm sure
not everyone realized that it is actually a triple pun! Few
people probably even noticed the pun in the first place. It's
just a pity that no one else could share in the joy," I remarked again
to myself, grimmacing at the popping sound my suit made as I tried to
awkwardly pat myself on the back.
I had reached the parking
garage by now and began climbing the stairs in deep thought, my eyes
absentmindedly playing over the scuffs and scars left by years of
hurrying wingtips and high heels. "I wonder," I mused, "if the
Metro people realize that it is a triple pun. I mean, that takes
quite a bit of genius. And... how should I put this? Well,
its generally known that the Metro folks aren't the brightest bulb in
the chandelier. So do they know?" I paused for a moment,
temporarily paralyzed by the great question I had posed to
myself. And then I began climbing faster, with more vigor.
"Which one is more likely?" I barked at my bobbing knees. I was
still pondering the question when reached the right level of the
parking deck and started towards my car.
"I would be quite
impressed if the Metro folks thought of it," I said again. "But
in reality, they probably didn't. A real pity, I am sure they
would enjoy it if they just realized it. Should I tell them about
it, enlighten them a little to the Mona Lisa they inadvertently hung on
their crumbling wall? No!" I suddenly exclaimed as I charged on
through the parking lot, ignoring the bearded, scowling face of an
angry motorist. "I will keep the secret to myself, and every day
I will walk through the metro station and marvel at my find, at my
incredible genius."
I sighed with satisfaction as I stopped in
front of my car. Or, at least where my car was supposed to be
parked. But this Porsche turbo coupe was definitely not my car, I
told myself ruefully. I glanced around. I was sure I had
parked it on this level, and it had been in this
spot. I eyed the Porsche suspiciously, demanding what it had done
to my car. It didn't take long to see that this was going to be a
very one-sided conversation, so I stormed off angrily, my hauteur
evident to all those around me. My legs were growing rather tired
of stomping before I finally found my car a good five minutes
later. It was parked on the opposite side of the parking garage,
a two or three minute walk from the Porsche. Disgusted at the
delay, I jumped into my car, slamming the door shut before speeding
towards the exit.
I was angered by the delay, but it wasn't my fault, of course. I blamed Metro for building a confusing parking lot.
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| | Currently Watching Blood Diamond By Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly, Kagiso Kuypers, Arnold Vosloo, Antony Coleman, Benu Mabhena, Anointing Lukola, David Harewood, Basil Wallace, Jimi Mistry, Michael Sheen, Marius Weyers, Stephen Collins, Ntare Mwine, Bouba Badiane, Ato Essandoh, Percy Matsemela, Ronnie Nyakale, Tony Kgoroge see related | | | |
| The Price of Knowledge
Professors' favorite past time is to tell tales of those who gave their lives in the pursuit of the knowledge. We can learn from their example, they say, and become better people for what we have learned. Unfortunately, college life is so stressful I only hope I will have time to enjoy the knowledge I gain. Say hello to Grandpa Green.
 (The Mr. Rogers-style clothes are part of my new look.) | | |
| News Flash! Is Blogging Going the Way of the Bison?
At 0003, the following message was delivered to the world from a mysterious overseas source via untraceable electronic means:
Julia Green (Ph.D
in psychology at the Warsaw University of Psychology, Degree in
Reminding People to Update from the University of Blogging), "When to Update?" The Official Updating Your Blog Webpage, December 12th, 2006.
"And it is a well-known fact that
sometimes there is something called updating -- where a person signs in
to their personal account, presses that little 'New Weblog'
button, and types out something about their life to their fan club
eagerly awaiting. Sadly, things have taken a change for the worst in
recent months. Neglectivity has taken over the lives of many new and old college students, leaving them with a website called Facebook.com. This has proven very inconvenient for those who do not have Facebook
themselves, as they cannot see posts or updates from it unless they
sign in to somebody's personal account. This proves even more
inconvenient, and is therefore frowned upon. That was why the website Xanga.com was created --
so people could update and allow everybody to read it. Therefore, I
urge you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity and make a
difference in the world. Don't neglect your friends on Xanga.com! Don't let Facebook.com slowly take over your life and pull you away from the sweet life of which you once knew so well."
www.xanga.com, Accessed 12/12/06
Only one hour later, the following response was delivered. This is an exclusive, brought to the world for this first time through this blog:
Eric Green (BA Candidate, University
of Virginia), "Why Has Updating Stopped?" The How to Not Fail College
Foundation, December 12th, 2006
"Psychologist Julia Green has recently noticed a disturbing trend among
college bloggers. Green says that data just collected from the Blog
for a Better America Foundation shows that college-age bloggers have
slowed and, in some cases, even stopped updating their xanga sites.
After analyzing the data, Green writes that she believes the cause of
this trend is a phenomenon known to psychologists as "neglectivity."
According to Green, college age students are giving up their old
friends and old sites in favor of newer and more exciting pseudo-blogs,
such as Facebook. These blogs are more exclusive and often require
hard to aquire membership, restricting the number of viewers that can
see college students' updates. This has led to a general dissonance
among the junior high and high school age population who believes that
those in college have left them behind. Green finds this trend
troublesome and believes drastic action should be taken to make
college-age students update their blogs.
However, in her analysis Green fails to take into account the strains
placed upon new college students. Ernest Hemmings, VIII, a second-year
here at the University of Virginia, writes, "I never could have
imagined the workload that I would face in college. Not only is the
work more difficult, the extracurricular and social demands far
outweigh everything experienced in high school. I just think that its
been a little too long since Green was placed in this situation."
Another student, David Dickens Copperfield, Jr., says, "The demand
especially is high during exams. These exams are occuring now, and the
expectations of professors are practically egregious."
Furthermore, the assertion that college-age students are spending more
time on pseudo-blogs such as Facebook is absurd, most students claim.
Says Frank Conrad, "I actually check xanga more than Facebook. I see
my friends at college every day, but I hardly ever see my high school
friends. Why would I check Facebook frequently when I will see that
friend face-to-face in five minutes?" Joseph Kafka, a third-year
student who has had some time to settle into his new life at the
University, agrees with Conrad and also adds another point, "Frankly,
even if I did check Facebook more, why is that not justifiable?
Facebook only requires that I check to see how many comments I have or
pound out a two or three line comment myself. A xanga update requires
half an hour or more of hard work if it is decent update."
It appears, then, that Green's analysis, although well intended, needs
more empirical evidence to support its conclusions. Until then,
psychologists who disagree with Green's analysis urge friends of
college-age students to be understanding. Says Tom Grisham, "Remember
that they want to please you and that they would if they could."
www.thehowtonotfailcollegefoundation.com, accessed 12/13/06
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