It seemed everyone and their grandmother decided to go to the movies tonight. I sat in the car, listened to the radio, and read Plato’s The Apology of Socrates for World Literature. Not one movie interested me and I pocketed that $8 bucks. I did go in and make sure Randall found his theater and a seat. He was carrying a newspaper clipping of the movie listings and had picked the worst film in the theater. (He has an uncanny knack for doing this.) I had to talk to a manager for them to let me do this but upon hearing Randall speak they realized that I was just being a Good Samaritan and helping out a friend who was disabled. The rest of the evening was uneventful and without any hiccups. We came, we saw, we bought shaving cream, mouthwash, and a talking Elmo doll.
There has been some minor drama this week within my family. They think I am not eating enough as I have lost a tremendous amount of weight the past few months. Mom has been trying to slip me twenty dollars here and there but I refuse. I am adamant that I try to be as independent as possible. I really haven’t been trying to lose weight. It has just been happening. I guess I do need to try and eat better and eat more well rounded meals.
I think maybe I have put myself under too strict of a budget. All my money from work goes into savings and will pay for part of my future car payment. My goal is to have several thousand dollars saved up for emergencies. I want to have enough money in an emergency fund to survive for many months without any income or assistance. I vowed long ago to never fall into that trap of homelessness again. The next time I would be well prepared but maybe I am suffering unduly in the present to stave off this possible future occurrence.
As I sat in the car this evening passing the time after reading my material, I was thinking about how we define mental illness after hearing a short segment on the radio. It is easy to point out a text book case of schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder and cry, “Mental Illness!” I am also starting to form my own definition of mental illness as enveloping people who consistently make bad choices and decisions in life. Some choices I see people make including myself in the past could easily be mistaken or classified as madness; a definite misfiring of sane mental processes.
The recent event of privatization of social security accounts being brought in to the lime light has piqued my interest. I have read countless articles and editorials on the subject and they run the gamut of wild extremes of opinion on this matter. Much of it seems as spin from the left and right camps. I am unsure of what to believe. Some say that SSI will be solvent until 2049 and who knows what will happen with the economy and budget in the mean time. Others portray the situation as if millions of pensioners will be cut off in as short as ten years and the system will collapse. My opinion is that statistics show that Americans are loathsome when it comes to personal savings. Much of our nation is in extreme debt due to credit cards and such. What makes Mr. Bush think that magically our young citizens will turn into dutiful savers and put money into personal savings accounts? I think they will more likely use that money to pay off their current debts and for immediate needs. Don’t we already have 401ks and Roth IRAs for this type of savings for retirement? I once had quite a nice 403b but cashed that sucker in a moment of stupidity and lack of foresight but I was not vested yet.
What is happening with school?
Music Appreciation:
We are studying medieval music and the effect of the early Christian church on music. I find Gregorian chant soothing and the modal scales involved intriguing and have been listening to my text book accompanied CDs quite often. I also found a copy of Hildegard Von Bingen’s Canticles of Ecstasy on the alt.binaries.music.classical newsgroup. If you are unfamiliar with her, she was a German woman that was a true visionary in her time when it came to music. Somehow she escaped any scathing from the early church despite her being a women in a time where women had little rights. The early church recognized her brilliance and left her alone to pursue her creative efforts.
Biology:
Organic Chemistry is the words for biology. We are studying the macromolecules such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. I much more enjoy inorganic chemistry over organic but I have a firm grasp of the material.
Psychology:
As usual not much of note is going on in this class during lecture time. Our instructor mainly talks about “pop” psychology during lecture time and we have yet to really go over any material in the book. I have been neglecting the material the past few days in my textbook and need to get on it tomorrow.
World Literature:
I am enjoying this class but we move at great speed. I have a lot of material to read and keep up with. This week’s readings were:
Plato’s The Apology of Socrates
Virgil’s The Aeneid
Ovid’s Metamorphoses
St. Augustine’s Confessions
Parts of the New Testament
I found the Apology of Socrates to be fascinating reading. Well enough of me rambling on. I have spent 30 minutes on this post and that is time wasted. I am going to crawl into bed with my Psychology book and read chapter 3. Good night.
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