Friday, May 30, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Strawberries
I suppose I said I was going to re-address my last post, but I don't really feel like it. Instead, I want to let everyone know something about me that absolutely makes me happy.
I lead into it like that because initially, I never thought too much about this particular thing, or about how much I truly love it, but the more I get, the more I want, the more I love. I thought that maybe it was because I told people I loved it that it happened... but it's true, on a different level.
I love strawberries. Freshly picked and cut strawberries are perhaps my favorite food, ever. My mom makes sure that there are a bowl of fresh strawberries waiting for me when I get home, and I forget about it every time until I get home and look at the counter and voilà, there they are!
So if you ever want to make me happy on a bad day, or want to give me a snack that I will love you for, make it strawberries. It can be chocolate covered, strawberries with coolwhip, strawberries with vanilla yogurt, strawberries with all of those combined, strawberries in Cheerios... so many things, I love it all.
That's the extent of this post because I've learned that people dislike reading long posts.
Bye-Bey
(i meant to put the typo in, for rizzle)
~$34|\|
I lead into it like that because initially, I never thought too much about this particular thing, or about how much I truly love it, but the more I get, the more I want, the more I love. I thought that maybe it was because I told people I loved it that it happened... but it's true, on a different level.
I love strawberries. Freshly picked and cut strawberries are perhaps my favorite food, ever. My mom makes sure that there are a bowl of fresh strawberries waiting for me when I get home, and I forget about it every time until I get home and look at the counter and voilà, there they are!
So if you ever want to make me happy on a bad day, or want to give me a snack that I will love you for, make it strawberries. It can be chocolate covered, strawberries with coolwhip, strawberries with vanilla yogurt, strawberries with all of those combined, strawberries in Cheerios... so many things, I love it all.
That's the extent of this post because I've learned that people dislike reading long posts.
Bye-Bey
(i meant to put the typo in, for rizzle)
~$34|\|
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The idea of carpe diem
sort've infuriates me sometimes, although it's a fun mantra to have. I want to see the person who says and lives by the "live each day as if it were your last" quote. I mean, think about it... if you were to live each day like it were your last, you'd be doing things out of sure pleasure or reflection or things that you value most. Which means you more than likely would be bankrupt, live in a sub-par situation, and neglect some responsibilities that you normally don't like attending to but are good for long-term life.
Thanks.
I'd prefer to live my life each day to ensure that my ensuing days were better than each day before it. Sure that's harder to say, and doesn't quite fit into a mantra, but there it is. Long-term goals meet short-term goals.
Ciao
~Sea n
Thanks.
I'd prefer to live my life each day to ensure that my ensuing days were better than each day before it. Sure that's harder to say, and doesn't quite fit into a mantra, but there it is. Long-term goals meet short-term goals.
Ciao
~Sea n
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Love
There is something so pure in the feeling of Love that it cannot be replicated, cannot be described, unless that description rings true with the one listening. No, that person cannot experience love that has not yet been experienced, but they can remember, and retain, and forgive, and live, and enjoy, and savor, and laugh, and cry, and embrace, and let it course through them like liquid fire, like nothing else that can do the same.
It's like embracing God. Letting Him come into your life, your body, your very being, and accepting, and not holding back. And believing where there is no cause to believe.
I've got it. And I have gotten it before. but I've let it go, and I've ruined it a bit. Love, I'm talking about. And God, per se. We'll see.
Okay, good-night/morning. I just finished watching the movie Gladiator.
Again. for the Xth time.
There's something pure in love.
Bye
~Sean
It's like embracing God. Letting Him come into your life, your body, your very being, and accepting, and not holding back. And believing where there is no cause to believe.
I've got it. And I have gotten it before. but I've let it go, and I've ruined it a bit. Love, I'm talking about. And God, per se. We'll see.
Okay, good-night/morning. I just finished watching the movie Gladiator.
Again. for the Xth time.
There's something pure in love.
Bye
~Sean
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Yay Mark Twain
As the title suggests, I found a lovely Mark Twain quote. Sweet.
"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." ("Old Times on the Mississippi", Atlantic Monthly, 1874).
I don't need to say anything else. Enjoy it as I did.
~Seamus
"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." ("Old Times on the Mississippi", Atlantic Monthly, 1874).
I don't need to say anything else. Enjoy it as I did.
~Seamus
Interesting, I found
So I was getting coffee at BNG the other day with Jenn Spitzer, and we were discussing the Bible, psychology, the idea of a "conscience", and history... and my mind flashed back to something I had read that talked about how the human brain has been evolving over the centuries to what it is today.
What that means is that our frontal lobes, the part we associate with "high intelligence", have been growing and become more interconnected. As I understand it, the right side of the brain is where a lot of our language understanding and speech recognition comes from, and the left is a lot of memory storage and subconcious thought. Now obviously each side does a lot, lot more, but those are the important parts for this discussion.
Way back when, in ancient times, it's theorized that the left and right side of the brain were not connected by nearly as many synapses and neurons as there are now, which means the communication between the two was much more distant. This led to two phenomenons that seem to be recorded in ancient texts: one being that people "heard" voices in their heads and recorded them as out-of-body voices (be it God, gods, devil, an actual separate conscience, etc.) and thus wrote about them. The other being that people were less aware of themselves.
Well, I found out where I had read it, and I'm going to type it out for you to read as well. It's from my Personality Psychology book, written by one of the UNH professors. Cool shtuff.
"It is not entirely clear when the concept of consciousness first emerged in the West. Early biblical and Greek writings appear to ignore the concept of consciousness... Julian Jaynes (1976) suggested the radical hypothesis that people were not fully conscious, in the modern sense of the word, until consciousness evolved some time between the eigth and second centuries B.C.E. Before that there was little sense of identity, and people often mistook their inner voices for other people, or even gods. For example, Amos is one of the earliest books of biblical literature, dating to the eighth century BCE. The book of Amos includes no mention ofa mind, or of thinking or thoughts, or of feeling, or of understanding. Amos describes himself minimally, as a shepherd, a "gatherer of sycamore fruit." Nor, in a sense, does Amos even speak. He pronounces, and after each prounouncement announces, "Thus speaks the Lord!" Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, reported that Amos was raising a conspiracy against Israel. Amaziah tells Amos directly to leave the land: "Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah." In response, Amos answers in third person, saying he is acting on the basis of another's commands:
I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of
sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, "Go,
prophesy to my people Israel." Now then, hear the word of the LORD. (Amos 7:10-12)
There is little sense of personal awareness in this passage and others like it. By contrast, in the book of Ecclesiastes, dating from the second century BCE, we see personality in al of its introspective grandeur. The author of Ecclesiastes wants to share his knowledge and teach it to others:
I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who
has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge."
Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I
learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much
sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.
I thought in my heard, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good."
But that also proved to be meaningless... I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do
under heaven during the few days of their lives. (Ecclesiastes 2:1-3)
The contrast between the eighth-century BCE Amos and the second-century Ecclesiastes could not be more striking. Here, finally, is a modern-seeming personality talking to us. This same transistion to consciousness appears in the literary works of the ancient Greeks, and of other peoples of the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and elsewhere."
I don't know about you, but I found that all to be interesting to think about. Again, it's just a theory, with little way to prove or disprove it. But hey, it certainly seems plausible.
Sorry if this post was too long for you to read. I liked it though.
Buh-bye.
~Sean
What that means is that our frontal lobes, the part we associate with "high intelligence", have been growing and become more interconnected. As I understand it, the right side of the brain is where a lot of our language understanding and speech recognition comes from, and the left is a lot of memory storage and subconcious thought. Now obviously each side does a lot, lot more, but those are the important parts for this discussion.
Way back when, in ancient times, it's theorized that the left and right side of the brain were not connected by nearly as many synapses and neurons as there are now, which means the communication between the two was much more distant. This led to two phenomenons that seem to be recorded in ancient texts: one being that people "heard" voices in their heads and recorded them as out-of-body voices (be it God, gods, devil, an actual separate conscience, etc.) and thus wrote about them. The other being that people were less aware of themselves.
Well, I found out where I had read it, and I'm going to type it out for you to read as well. It's from my Personality Psychology book, written by one of the UNH professors. Cool shtuff.
"It is not entirely clear when the concept of consciousness first emerged in the West. Early biblical and Greek writings appear to ignore the concept of consciousness... Julian Jaynes (1976) suggested the radical hypothesis that people were not fully conscious, in the modern sense of the word, until consciousness evolved some time between the eigth and second centuries B.C.E. Before that there was little sense of identity, and people often mistook their inner voices for other people, or even gods. For example, Amos is one of the earliest books of biblical literature, dating to the eighth century BCE. The book of Amos includes no mention ofa mind, or of thinking or thoughts, or of feeling, or of understanding. Amos describes himself minimally, as a shepherd, a "gatherer of sycamore fruit." Nor, in a sense, does Amos even speak. He pronounces, and after each prounouncement announces, "Thus speaks the Lord!" Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, reported that Amos was raising a conspiracy against Israel. Amaziah tells Amos directly to leave the land: "Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah." In response, Amos answers in third person, saying he is acting on the basis of another's commands:
I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of
sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, "Go,
prophesy to my people Israel." Now then, hear the word of the LORD. (Amos 7:10-12)
There is little sense of personal awareness in this passage and others like it. By contrast, in the book of Ecclesiastes, dating from the second century BCE, we see personality in al of its introspective grandeur. The author of Ecclesiastes wants to share his knowledge and teach it to others:
I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who
has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge."
Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I
learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much
sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.
I thought in my heard, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good."
But that also proved to be meaningless... I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do
under heaven during the few days of their lives. (Ecclesiastes 2:1-3)
The contrast between the eighth-century BCE Amos and the second-century Ecclesiastes could not be more striking. Here, finally, is a modern-seeming personality talking to us. This same transistion to consciousness appears in the literary works of the ancient Greeks, and of other peoples of the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and elsewhere."
I don't know about you, but I found that all to be interesting to think about. Again, it's just a theory, with little way to prove or disprove it. But hey, it certainly seems plausible.
Sorry if this post was too long for you to read. I liked it though.
Buh-bye.
~Sean
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
He should just fire me for next year
Probably going to be a hard decision, but he should. I can't see there being any other option for him. What can I do to make it easier?
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Blind
So's I was thinkin's today as I was walking from about Hamilton-Smith to HoCo (UNHers know that) of how I would be seeing things if I were blind. That seems to be pretty paradoxical, but really, in my mind's eye, how would things look? I've heard of people who are blind (*) getting corrective surgery, suddenly being able to see (Cornea replacements etc. etc.) and not liking it, in fact being slightly traumatized by the experience, because it's not what they saw in their mind, and they liked that better. I'd imagine, if you'd never seen before, how crazy that'd be as well... depth perception would be thrown off, you'd be overstimulated and the synapses in your brain wouldn't be used to firing in that way. Probably a long time to adjust.
Anyways, I think people who are blind (*) have a distinctly different perspective on the world. Tactile references would be huge (A blind person's touch would register a lot more detail than mine would) and they'd be big on textures. Also, I can imagine how it'd be walking past people as they were talking, not caring about how they look, just how they sound... are they happy? sad? Upset? Calm? High? Not talking?
Then I started thinking that they'd have a lot easier time not dealing with stereotypes.
That's all i have to say for now.
I almost wish I were blind, at least for a little while.
Does a person who is blind (*) throw snowballs?
~Sean
(*) = I had worded it as "blind people". Not being politically correct, per se, but Abby reminded me that using that wording makes it seem the inability to see defines the person. oh words and syntax.
Anyways, I think people who are blind (*) have a distinctly different perspective on the world. Tactile references would be huge (A blind person's touch would register a lot more detail than mine would) and they'd be big on textures. Also, I can imagine how it'd be walking past people as they were talking, not caring about how they look, just how they sound... are they happy? sad? Upset? Calm? High? Not talking?
Then I started thinking that they'd have a lot easier time not dealing with stereotypes.
That's all i have to say for now.
I almost wish I were blind, at least for a little while.
Does a person who is blind (*) throw snowballs?
~Sean
(*) = I had worded it as "blind people". Not being politically correct, per se, but Abby reminded me that using that wording makes it seem the inability to see defines the person. oh words and syntax.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Random but some filler
Hey all (aka myself and anyone else who may pretend to read this... so myself)
I'm just sitting at Panache thinking of things to do while I wait for my Sicilian Chicken Sandwich, and since the computer was free, I got on this, and started typing.
Now that you're updated on my current situation, I can get into everything else.
Just two weeks ago, actually 3 now, my life was completely worked out well, everything was positive, and I had things planned out. Well... things haven't gone to plan, and I haven't taken the brain time to think them through. Pretty soon I'm going to find that everything has caught up with me, and I'll be swamped with more work than I can handle, and more unnecessary issues than I need.
So I'm complaining, or rather talking, about it via blog to start my mind thinking again and trying to get myself into the mood to figure out my... life.
The biggest thing thus far is taking care of papers that I have put off doing work for. Second is trying to..
okay gotta go! Chicken's up.
Time to eat.
Ciao for now.
I'm just sitting at Panache thinking of things to do while I wait for my Sicilian Chicken Sandwich, and since the computer was free, I got on this, and started typing.
Now that you're updated on my current situation, I can get into everything else.
Just two weeks ago, actually 3 now, my life was completely worked out well, everything was positive, and I had things planned out. Well... things haven't gone to plan, and I haven't taken the brain time to think them through. Pretty soon I'm going to find that everything has caught up with me, and I'll be swamped with more work than I can handle, and more unnecessary issues than I need.
So I'm complaining, or rather talking, about it via blog to start my mind thinking again and trying to get myself into the mood to figure out my... life.
The biggest thing thus far is taking care of papers that I have put off doing work for. Second is trying to..
okay gotta go! Chicken's up.
Time to eat.
Ciao for now.
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