Rock, Paper, Paper

Today I found an online rock, paper, scissors game.

I made it all the way to round 7 by choosing scissors all the time. Because, y'know, I'm sharp.

I should be picking paper, but that's assuming that paper is going to beat thesis defence.

It's a strange day, but very nice here. I need a nap. Maybe I'll sleep for a bit before I go to work. Yawn.

Today was a good day.

Patrick, King of BBQ

Someday, we'll all be cool enough to wear t-shirts like that. =)

Test Sail

Hey everybody, I'm just trying out a new blog editor...I'll tell you what I think of it later.  I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I thought I would give it a try now.

 

Nothing really exciting is happening currently, just the usual...theatre, my friends being crazy, and the like.  Overall, it's pretty fun.  Tonight we have a BBQ so that should be nice.  I'm still super tired but I'm making it ok. 

 

I also wrote my De Universa exam yesterday.  For the who aren't in the know, it's sort of like a comp exam, except they don't tell you what material to study, they just tell you they'll pick from three broad areas of philosophy for three very different questions, and then you have to write the exam at 9am on a Saturday morning.  The exam is four hours to write one question.  You then go home and type up two copies of your exam (they stamp and mark it up so you can't cheat in any way) and bring it back to the International Office for Philosophy the next school day.  Woo hoo. 

I did alright, I think, although I made some really embarassing errors while re-typing it...my conclusion was a little weak, and I spelled Wittgenstien as 'Wiggenstien,' mainly because I never know how to spell that dude's name, and also because I was thinking of David Wiggins the analytical philosopher through my whole exam.  I was also trying to think of the name of the philosopher who wrote the book "Intro to Metaphysics" that me and Kristin took waaaaaaaaaay back in undergrad...and I could only remember his first name, which was also David....I can't seem to find him on the net, but I think it's David Lewis??? I don't remember, I'm just kinda mad I that I could visualize the article he wrote and the exact sentence I wanted to use from that article and I had a perfect quote and couldn't remember the name of the guy on my exam.  

We'll see, I think it''s a passable grade, so that's all that really matters.  I invest less and less interest in my grades these days, I think because I know how futile the grading system is here.  And I also don't worry too much because if I want to do something, I'll do it...and I don't need grades to prove how smart I am. 

 

*Big heroic pose*

 

But geez, it helps with the funding.  =)

 

OK, Later friends. 

Easter Hi-jinks

I just thought I would post some Easter pictures for you people! =D







This season, I made easter gift bags for my friends that I live with and Ralph. They turned out rather nicely, I must say. This are the ones I made for my friends. This time I thought I would be very multi-cultural, and say "Happy Easter" in Spanish and Dutch. While Easter is not such a happy time as in the rest of the Western world, Montse really liked it that I put "Pascua feliz" on her card, and Willem and Patrick got "Gelukkige Pasen," or something similar on theirs. I put something different on Willem's card, but I don't remember the exact phrase anymore. Anyways, they turned out really nice, I thought. I'm definitely not Martha Stewart, but it's amazing what you can do with wrapping paper. ;)





Next, I hid everyone's chocolate bunnies around the house. It was fun.











Montse and Patrick are searching for their bunnies.












Oh! Montseratt found hers. It was behind the mircowave. (Too easy???)


















Patrick is still searching for his bunny.















Where could it be?

















Montseratt is laughing to herself because she knows where Patrick's bunny is!









Is it in here???







Yes it is!!






Victory tastes sweet!



Next, Ralph's present I had to do while he was 'not in the room, and I had to be super sneaky about it. I even had time to take a picture. I'm like a SPY, I AM. I didn't wrap this one because I was running out of time. Give a guy a break, eh?









Next, I recieved some AMAZINGLY NEAT STUFF FROM MY PARENTS WHO I LOVE TO DEATH. Honestly, I don't know how they know what I like sometimes.






This is my hippo friend. He doesn't have a name yet. ISN'T HE SO CUTE????? I go into eclectic fits of talking to it when I look at it. Not for the faint of heart to witness.






This is Willem looking like a Greek. He's trying to help me name my hippo friend. He suggested:

Gorbachev (Or maybe that was me)
Joss (Not sure of the spelling, just spelling it like it sounds, a Belgian name)
Mortimer
Vladimir
Vladimir Putin
Raoul (Since he does have a pink bow, after all)
Mao (Which I firmly rejected)
and several other good suggestions which I have since forgotten. (Am taking suggestions)






I also received a wealth of herbal remedies and...er, a fung shei energizing crystal??? OK Mom, I get the hint. I'll get more sleep. Sorry I got sick. Ay-yay-yay. Along with this, of course, I got tons and tons of candy, all of which...was shoved up the hippo's butt. HILARIOUS.


Now, for the coup de resistance which is...dun dun dun...







YES!!!!!! AN NES CONTROLLER BELT BUCKLE!!!!!!!! I did cartwheels when I saw this with the belt I got, also as a present. Wow, I just can't believe my parents FOUND this somewhere. Totally amazing...I really like this, and plan to wear it to all my fancy occasions, maybe I'll wear it to my thesis defence...everyone needs a conversation piece. If things are going badly, I could be like, "Hey, you know, I also think I made a fallicious argument, but hey, look at my belt buckle! Shiny AND kitschy!" (You know what they say, if you can't dazzle them figuratively, might as well do it literally.) Willem also learned a new term in english: belt buckle. Crazy, eh? It's so funny because I've been wanting one of these forever and a day, and I can't believe my parent's got one for me. You guys are great.


Well, that's all I have time for, but I just really want to thank my family for all the really great Easter gifts, it really made my week, especially now that I'm sick...again. Yeah. Sad, but true. But, still living it up. So, thanks to my family, I love you guys, happy easter to everyone, yet again. I just love saying that because easter is such a big time of the year for me. I'll update you when something interesting happens.

Terrible, I am

I am still very busy, even though it's a break.

If I take a break, I'll try and update you about Easter. I had a very nice Easter. =)

Something very nice

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Happy Easter

Easter is an interesting time for Christians. It's something that's hard to explain to non-Christians, and something that can only make sense in experience more than in words themselves. For example, here, people debate the truth of the miracle of Holy Fire, which burns without causing pain for prolonged periods of time to Christians who come to witness the miracle of fire that burns without pain in Jerusalem.

For me, this Easter has been a real blessing, and has given me time to rethink my Christian identity, and to really think about what's important in my life, and what has to go and what needs to stay. Personal housecleaning is part of Lent, and Easter is the culmination of all the hard work. The feast comes after all the waiting. All the pain is worth it, in the end. It's not an ends to a means, but a circular journey in the Christian idea of the self.

The Holy Fire might not be real. In fact, science shows that such things exist as 'natural miracles', not exactly divinely inspired. While I'm sure there's something interesting here in a critique of science in reference to miracles, what I would like to stress, especially given my extremely erratic life in these last couple weeks, is that Easter miracles are in the heart for Christians, not in nature. God doesn't need to convert nature...God tries to convert hearts. (And usually succeeds, I might add. Har har.)

I often suspect most of my friends lately have been experiencing this...giving birth to our adult selves, we're still figuring out what it means to be alive, and love and be loved, and love ourselves, and to give in love, even when there's nothing good about what we have. We are good in ourselves. But we don't know how to give that without giving up ourselves. Part of being an adult is taking responsibility for your choices. Molding responsibility with love lets those choices have meaning.

It's probably going to be really erratic for me until I get settled in yet another path truly, but after this Easter, I feel more at peace with God and myself, something that hasn't happened in a long time. For a while now, I really didn't feel like what I did for others and myself meant very much, as the process of me giving too much and not relying on others. Sometimes I realize that I try so hard to be good and manage to end up hating myself for being what I am and who I am and for being less than what I want. Not really positive.

In the process of becoming wise, we have to give up some things, start new dreams, and we sometimes must give up old dreams along the way. The dream of Christianity is the idea of reality matching the goodness in our hearts. Easter is a mystery of the heart, and the mind. Sometimes I'm afraid of what I don't know and what is uncertain in my life. But I think that part of faith is waiting for answers that will surely surface. The flame might not hurt, but to stick your hand in the fire is still a trying experience. The fire might not even be real. But I'm still scared of it now and then.

Happy Easter everybody.

Not Dead, just look that way

Hey there guys,

I'm really busy this week, so maybe this weekend I'll post, maybe early next week. Andrea is here, she seems to be going hard, hopefully she gets what she wants during her time in Europe. It's been fun and tiring, my kinda thing. Work is crazy, everything is crazy, and, as per usual, I'm crazy.

Thankfully that hasn't changed.

Thesis currently in revamp, sleep on hold until Saturday, will try and phone family this week (for that side of the family who I haven't talked to in a veerrrrrrrry long time.) if I can.