Thursday, October 31, 2013

I GOT TO POST ON HALLOOOOOOWEEEEENN

My roommate and I have developed a playlist for our working party.  Here it is, so you know what I'm listening to while I write this.

  • Breaking the Law
  • Enter Sandman
  • TNT
  • Boulevard of Broken Dreams
  • Vagabond
  • Hotel California
  • Wild Horses
  • Renegade
  • Immigrant Song
  • Skyfall
  • Oops!...I Did It Again
  • Dashboard
  • Baba O'Riley
Guess which ones Varchas chose!  Let's get this blog started, it's way too late. (Edited)

Hello gentles and ladymen!  I don't know what I'm going to talk about.

I got my midterms back this week (Last week was my fall break, did I mention that?).  They went so well!  My Hum paper was the worst of the lot--the word "prosaic" may have been used in the comments.  You know what?  If the prompt is "Imagine Mary Wollstonecraft was sent forward in time to Reed College.  Interview her!" then the paper is gonna be dumb.  Next worst was my history midterm, which was well written and clear, but too narrowly focused.  I accept that.  My biochem midterm went well (above the mean, I'd guess within 1 SD).  I was 2 SDs ABOVE THE MEAN on my dev bio midterm, which I thought I would do the worst on!  High five, Rich of the Past!

The stuff I've been reading for history has been pretty interesting.  It's about how inquisitors (not the spanish inquisitors, these guys, specifically the ones going after the Cathars) managed to so successfully get rid of all the heretics with limited resources and, in some diocese, limited local support.  Looking like it's mostly the performative aspects of the punishment and their immense record-taking operations.  The devil's in the details!

I don't like that Blogger breaks the line before the spaces.  I put two spaces after a period, so some of my lines are messed up.  I should call Larry Page.

BREAKING THE LAW, BREAKING THE LAW

There was a fire-show for halloween!  It was super cool.  Bunch of cool people dancing with stuff that's on fire.  Some arial acrobatics.

For my independent project for dev bio I'm going to be looking at how ethanol causes fetal alcohol syndrome.  I'M GOING TO HAVE TO LOOK AT 300 FISH UNDER A MICROSCOPE!

All of you should come visit me!  Nicole commented saying she'd want to, and I know there were vague plans with Jason.  EVERYONE'S INVITED TO THE PARTY!

Wow I am really scatterbrained right now.

I've been thinking more about what I will do as a future human being.  It's interesting to me how the things I believe philosophically about work/labor (everyone read Hannah Arendt's Human Condition) aren't really factoring into my decision.  Probably something I should think about when I have leftover brain power.

Does anyone here play Go?  It's really fun, really hard, and one of the few remaining strategy games (the only one I know of) that computers can't beat professional humans at.  I suck though, computers stomp all over me.  So does Ted, the only other person who'll play with me.  We should play over break!

Speaking of which, who's home for Thanksgiving?  I'm super excited.  Right now we only have 10 pies for 10 people though.

Okay I feel like I need to go to bed now.  If I think of anything in the morning I will add it in an edit clearly marked "EDIT:"

I love you all.

-Rich

EDIT: I've been thinking more.  This seems like the first time in my life I've actually had to make a choice.  Sure, I chose to focus on science in high school or go to Reed or become a biochem major, but all of those were basically the only choice considering my interests, talents, and other external factors.  Now I have two major choices both of which suit information I have perfectly, and require me to extrapolate from basically nothing/anecdotal evidence.  You guys have any thoughts along these lines?

4 comments:

  1. I'll be home for Thanskgiving! I also have not played Go but will look into it. Also yay fish and fetuses.

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  2. You already know what choice you want to make -- you're trying to rationalize your way into the other.

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  3. I will not be back for Thanksgiving. See y'all in December.
    I kinda thought I was going to be a history major when I first got here, but that was probably because I didn't know the geography major existed here until almost a year in.
    If both of your options suit the information you have perfectly, you should probably try to figure out the one you enjoy more, regardless of other stuff, because you'll be successful in either of them. Maybe. I don't know. I'm just some guy.

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  4. My thoughts, since you asked:

    1) People who go to med school unsure about being a doctor do not finish med school.
    2) No matter what, you don't have to decide today.
    3) Don't be a doctor, because if you're "meh" about being a doctor today, the chances of you having an epiphany earth-shattering enough to carry you through 8 more years of schooling are microscopic.
    4) There are a myriad of science career options that neither of us have ever heard of. I've been saying since high school that we're only presented with the "doctor-teacher-lawyer" triumverate (of which you are considering two, ironically). I think you need to start consulting professors, job websites, and your adviser if you have a competent one (mine are AWFUL). I don't know exactly what direction you're thinking of going in, but if I've learned anything from working with NOAA, it's that the number of sciencey jobs available are almost infinite.

    That said, when I look at internship opportunities that include the word "benthic," my eyes glaze over. Maybe you're smart/determined enough, though. The world needs people to work with benthic things.

    Good luck. Better to be having an existential crisis now than in, say, three years.

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