16 November: Pleasantries
I love Seinfeld. The thing about it, though, is that I don't really care for Seinfeld himself: he's easily the least likeable character. Smug. That's what he is. Smug. But I still like the show. (I know this one girl who's so much like Elaine Benes it's scary. But I digress.)
I've always been a pessimist, and perhaps I'll always continue to be. I used to think our lives didn't really have meaning. I mean, everything we do will eventually be forgotten, and everyone we know will eventually die. But I've decided - recently, actually - that it does matter what we do. Even if the results of all of our actions are only temporary, the world is better if we make a positive difference on the people around us. We're all in search of something (except the atheists, perhaps), and if we help each other along the way, all the better. It's immensely satisfying to see how I've affected others positively. (Or, at least, immensely satisfying to think I've affected others - one can never be sure.)
13 November: Groceries, hurrah
I don't go grocery-shopping often. Today I did (with my mother, actually), and now I remember why I don't go often. In a word: tedious. (Ooh, note to self: write a clever piece of poetry with the words "tedium" and "Te Deum" - ooh, that would be clever if used properly...) I'm tired as it is of American commercialism, and a visit to the grocery store did not help matters. There are so many different brands; how am I supposed to be able to choose based on packaging alone? It's so bewildering! Where do my loyalties as a consumer lie? Why do I even have loyalties as a consumer? Why should one brand command my attention while another sits dejectedly on the shelf? And how much am I actually saving by buying the shoddy store brand? - Is the lack of fulfillment I find in it worth the few cents I save? Why should anyone be so particular in the first place? What if we were living under Communism? What then? Would Big Brother decide what brands we bought? In giving up our freedom to choose whatever sort of cereal we want, are we really gaining power as a "proletariat"? How can the individual disregard his own desires to the betterment of society? Doesn't the economy work better when every man does what's best for himself? (According to Nash, no: the economy works best when individuals do what's best for themselves and society as a whole. [Well, perhaps he only meant it in regards to game theory... but I think it's reasonable to extrapolate, don't you?] But then, what if there is a conflict? Is such a conflict possible when considering the ultimate goal? So, would the ends justify the means? The moral implications of such a conclusion are questionable.)
Béla Bartók is underrated, if you ask me. The stuff he was able to do within the confines of traditional music was remarkable; no, he didn't have to resort to weird things like twelve-tone technique, like that quitter Schoenberg. (You'll notice I spell the name with "oe" instead of "ö"; that's because Schoenberg actually anglicized the spelling when he moved to the U.S. But I digress.) I disagree with Schoenberg on aesthetic grounds. If music were in the same plane as mathematics... bah, it isn't. That would be silly. There is something intangible in music, something beyond those mathematicians and their horribly concrete numbers. The weltanschauung that posits that everything can be reduced to numbers is a very sorry one indeed.
My, this was a rather wordy entry, wasn't it?
7 November: He Weeps over Rahoon
Went to see a performance of The Importance of Being Earnest yesterday. It was delightful: I feel very fortunate that the first performance of it that I saw was so good; if it had been bad perhaps the play would be ruined for me forever. It was so clever. I don't know if I enjoyed the script or the performance of the actors more - I suppose both are very important.
I've been observing people relentlessly this term at college. It's remarkable how much people act a certain way because other people expect it. I dislike stereotyping, so it's distressing to see how often people encourage others to stereotype them. I guess it's easier for everyone if they merely conform to what's expected of them, but this encourages everyone to label each other as one-dimensional. It's a pity. In my Liberal Studies class we've been discussing religion; I've noticed an awful lot of my classmates seem to just blindly accept the religion they were raised with. These two things have convinced me that the majority of people would rather not think. Thinking - constantly challenging and evaluating one's beliefs - requires discomfort. People prefer to be comfortable. It's too bad.
Cranberry juice is just terrible. Why would anyone want to drink cranberry juice? Worse, why would anyone want to mix cranberry juice with a good juice like grape juice, thereby ruining the grape juice? It doesn't make sense. The cranberry growers must have an awful lot of power in Washington.
5 November: Existentialist Angst?
I've been thinking about this blog lately. Particularly, what is the psychology of one who blogs? Is this merely an outlet for my frustration? Is it an ego trip? Is it perhaps comforting as the one place where I can state what I think without having to discuss other people's opinions? (That seems rather narrow-minded, if it's true; one should always be willing to listen to others' opinions. Well, almost always. Not when the other person is some dullard who won't accept that they're wrong...) I don't know.
For one thing, I don't even know how many people read the durned thing. Am I just speaking into the ether, listening to my own echo?
That reminds me; bad poetry is a good thing. Certainly not for reading, and certainly not to be published. But poetry, however bad, is a good vehicle for expression. There is something cathartic about it. All art, good or bad, can be like that. If this blog were art it would be a limerick; clever, perhaps, but not profound. That doesn't bother me; if I wanted profundity I'd read philosophy.
What is originality? Is it simply being different from everyone else, or is it something inherent in a person that is what it is, regardless of what anyone else is?
"In particular it is what might be called 'comparative originality' that is so awful. If a man were to look over the fence on one side of his garden and observe that the neighbor on his left had laid his garden path round a central lawn; and were to look over the fence on the other side of his garden and observe that the neighbor on his right had laid his path down the middle of the lawn, and were then to lay his own garden diagonally from one corner to the other, that man's soul would be lost. Originality is only to be praised when not prefaced by the look to right and left."
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Then again, people are mostly crackpots. (Look here.)
30 October: In Which Ross Bemoans the General Dumbing-down of Society
Stock phrases are trite clichés. Yet people expect to hear them, regardless of the fact that they have no meaning. This shouldn't be. Worse, for many people, certain sayings must be said be thought "cool", to the extent that people who most definitely aren't cool start saying them, revealing how stupid they sound when said by just anyone. I support language originality. Anyone who relies on these canned phrases to augment their vocabulary shouldn't. (The same goes for profanity; I could understand the use of swear words if there are extreme circumstances - like, say you accidentally leave the gas on and a chance spark explodes your house - then you could, nay, perhaps should swear. But unless you have a good reason there's really no reason to use such language. It cheapens the effectiveness of swearing.)
The thing about pop culture is that it panders to the lowest common denominator. That's why I tend to avoid television and most movies. Even newspapers are dumbed-down - the New York Times is written at a seventh-grade level. And still people don't read the news! Agh! It makes me wonder how PBS ever got started; who is there to watch it? Furthermore, who really cares about journalistic integrity, when we can just have sound-bites and shock value?
The same problems with the media apply to politics nowadays. The winners of political races are the ones who can best manipulate the electorate by painting the most black-and-white picture of things. This should not be. Life is far more complex than many people want to accept. And perhaps if our media and government didn't treat us all like simpletons people would realize that.
26 October: Una rosa por cualquier nombre
Have you ever thought about the words we use? Particularly, our slang. Just think how outdated it will sound to future generations. One of my fears is that some word I use often (perhaps even my name) will acquire unfortunate connotations in the future. Wouldn't that be awkward? Consider how many words mean something inappropriate now, even though in the past they were completely kosher. (That's the thing about words with multiple meanings; over time, the dirty connotations tend to dominate. Human nature, I guess.) You see, this is the kind of thing I worry about. That, and losing my keys.
Spanish 301 is going quite well. It turns out all my worries about my not being qualified were not really realistic. (Or, rather, it's just that so many other people are even less qualified than I am. It's comforting to notice that.) Next term I will take a class on Spanish literature; hopefully we'll read an awful lot of Borges.
You know, the ancient Pompeiians had filthy minds. But it's history! So it's educational!
21 October: Imposters!
Online, when frequenting forums and Wikipedia and such, I use the name "Adso de Fimnu". I picked this because it's not likely to be common, right? Well, a quick search on Yahoo reveals that all of the results for Adso de Fimnu are related to me, fortunately. Searching for just Adso reveals me at result #9, which is somewhat comforting. However, it turns out there are other people on the internet going by the name. Let us examine:
- The first result that comes up is on a certain Adso, the Abbot of Moutier-en-Der in the tenth century. "His writings include hymns, lives of saints, among them a life of St. Mansuetus, Bishop of Toul (485-509), a metrical rendering of the second book of the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, and a tractate De Antichristo in the form of a letter to Queen Gerberga, wife of Louis IV (d Outremer)."
- On Epinions.com is a user by the name of Adso. Apparently he wrote a review on an Epson C80 printer; it "died right after warranty expired". Poor chap.
- Interestingly, the first result on the Adso whose name I stole is #13 - I outrank him!
- Coming in at #14 is another Adso, at some forum catchily titled "Head-Fi" (it's about headphones and audio equipment, I gather). This may actually be the same guy whose printer died so unfortunately.
- It turns out it's the name of some sort of computer code editor. Huh.
- For some reason the four letters ADSO keep appearing on Spanish-language sites. I wonder if it's some sort of company or something. I hope it doesn't sell anything embarassing...
- Another Adso can be found at the "SereneScreen Forum", which might be about either screensavers, saltwater aquariums, or both.
So there you have it: a small sampling of people or things who shouldn't be using the name "Adso" because it's mine. Mine, I tell you!
Strange thing about the internet: though it brings us into contact with people we'd never ever otherwise know existed, it can be strangely off-putting. I was brought up to distrust anyone I met over the internet, and it has stuck. Though I've conversed with some awfully pleasant people at forums, I find the idea of actually meeting them repellent. Likewise, on Facebook I can learn all about other students at my college, but to start chatting with them about their interests that I learned about online would be just creepy of me. For all the information about others we can encounter online, it's also quite distancing. I wonder why.
I need a haircut.
18 October: Let It Be
I think that, in the past, this blog has tread a fine line between being an interesting blog and being a ho-hum, mediocre, rather dull and uninteresting student's blog. You know, one of those blogs that simply lists what CD the blogger is listening to, perhaps with some general complaining about how his/her stupid friends are being frustrating, how their dull life is so dull... etc. Like nearly every Xanga blog, for example. (Ooh! That reminds me; such blogs never use proper grammar or punctuation. I'd like to give them bloggers a kadoches, is what I'd like to give them...)
In an effort to avoid such resemblances between my blog and a "bad" blog, there are several options I could enact:
- Stop writing so many entries: only write when there's actually something worth saying. Huh.
- Start another blog in order to use up all the waste material I might be tempted to put on this "good" one.
- Sell my computer and move to an island in the South Pacific.
Bali Ha'i may call you...
I haven't decided what I should do. So instead I wrote this entry. You'll notice the clever, satirical way in which I make it resemble such a "bad" blog entry. For example, there's really no content. So, is the author serious? Has he given up trying to write interesting entries? Is he simply fooling the reader? Nobody knows! How 
I was never very good at Christmas shopping. I find it repugnant to rush to stores on the day after Thanksgiving, clawing other shoppers in an attempt to get particular gifts for my loved ones. But then, I also find it repugnant to be one of the last-minute shoppers, clawing and biting others to get whatever's left on the shelves. You can see the conundrum I'm in. Last year I made several purchases online, and that was a good idea. I wonder why I forgot to do that this year.
I recently got 
My sister recently bought a 
I've been listening to lots of Mozart lately. In particular, his 
The wikipedia article of today is actually somewhat useful: