A couple weeks ago I went to student health's Learning Needs and Evaluations Center (LNEC) to talk to them about how I am terrible at studying. I spoke to a psychologist and went through this insane two hour testing procedure. Official diagnosis...
ADHD.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Why New York's government sucks (among a million other reasons)
This article below epitomizes the utter moronitude of New York legislation:
I'm outraged at this man's sheer idiocy; more, it is unutterably ridiculous to me that people elected him to represent them in any kind of government. Mr. Ortiz should be doing a job that requires absolutely no thought whatsoever -- as long as it isn't in food services, I suppose -- because he's certainly not qualified for anything else.
The worst part is that I would actually be reasonably unsurprised if this bill passed. Dear New York: elect smarter folks next time around, and maybe you won't have such a disaster of a government.
The Hurt Locker
Having grown up in the cultural context in which I did, I have an instinctive jingoistic tendency which I try to resist as much as possible. I seem to have been born under a nationalistic moon. My default response is to blindly trust and support our armed forces, and I still get a little jazzed up whenever I hear the national anthem.
Still, I aspire to be a person who reacts to the world rationally. I have an intellectual suspicion of purely emotional responses. So when I read left-leaning articles about the American military, I try to keep an open mind to the core of the argument, no matter how distasteful I might find the rhetoric.
Every now and then, though, I read an article which I cannot stomach. The following is one such article.
alternet.org/module/feed/mobile/?storyID=145984&type=story
This article offended me on two levels. The first was the derision of and outright scorn for the troops who fought in Iraq. The second was the lack of understanding of narrative storytelling. He believes that the film is somehow racist because it depicts American soldiers in detail but doesn't deeply explore the Iraqi characters. In making this accusation, he is criticizing the genre of the film rather than its content. The film is a "character piece", so by definition is has a very narrow focus and concentrates on the personal experiences of a small group of central characters. The artist has no obligation whatsoever to introduce a sympathetic Iraqi character. That is completely outside the scope of the piece. She might choose to do so if she feels it would somehow further the plot or deepen the exploration of her central characters, but to insist that she do so in the name of political correctness is to infringe upon her artistic prerogatives in a blind and unintelligent way.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Still, I aspire to be a person who reacts to the world rationally. I have an intellectual suspicion of purely emotional responses. So when I read left-leaning articles about the American military, I try to keep an open mind to the core of the argument, no matter how distasteful I might find the rhetoric.
Every now and then, though, I read an article which I cannot stomach. The following is one such article.
alternet.org/module/feed/mobile/?storyID=145984&type=story
This article offended me on two levels. The first was the derision of and outright scorn for the troops who fought in Iraq. The second was the lack of understanding of narrative storytelling. He believes that the film is somehow racist because it depicts American soldiers in detail but doesn't deeply explore the Iraqi characters. In making this accusation, he is criticizing the genre of the film rather than its content. The film is a "character piece", so by definition is has a very narrow focus and concentrates on the personal experiences of a small group of central characters. The artist has no obligation whatsoever to introduce a sympathetic Iraqi character. That is completely outside the scope of the piece. She might choose to do so if she feels it would somehow further the plot or deepen the exploration of her central characters, but to insist that she do so in the name of political correctness is to infringe upon her artistic prerogatives in a blind and unintelligent way.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Monday, March 8, 2010
I am the worst student ever
Quick post, just to try and help amend the situation - I'm still in college, apparently. Or I still have not learned how to study. I've been trying to cram for last 12-16 hrs before my cumulative pharmacology exam. Not healthy. Seriously, I can't learn every detail of EVERY drug in half a day. I'm a complete idiot. I am actually scared of failing one of my classes this semester and being forced to retake 2nd year. And this isn't like a "oh yeah, smart kid is 'scared' of 'failing' his test," it's honestly a question of whether I will pass. I already took my Microbiology exam and it might be the one that will fuck me. All because I didn't start studying virology until around midnight for the 8am test. What is my problem? Is this how I'll learn that I need to fucking study, by getting held back? Cause that SUCKS.
This is the first time in my life that I have freaked out over a test or school. I can't even think of anything else that I may have ever freaked out about. This may be the first time that I have ever freaked out.
I told Eunice about all this and god bless her. I don't know if this was the right thing to say to any other med student, but for a little bit I felt pretty calmed. She said "It's okay. Worst case scenario, I still love you even if you aren't a doctor."
This is the first time in my life that I have freaked out over a test or school. I can't even think of anything else that I may have ever freaked out about. This may be the first time that I have ever freaked out.
I told Eunice about all this and god bless her. I don't know if this was the right thing to say to any other med student, but for a little bit I felt pretty calmed. She said "It's okay. Worst case scenario, I still love you even if you aren't a doctor."
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife.
The following is an excerpt from a wonderful book which I am reading entitled Wittgenstein's Poker.
"In the year 2000, a Chinese academic, Liu Junning, was evicted from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences after delivering a lecture on The Open Society.*"
This is the type of occurrence which I am always tempted to call "ironic," but which I think is more accurately described as "tragicomic."
* The Open Society was a philosophical work by the Jewish-Austrian thinker Karl Popper, written during WWII. He had left Austria for a teaching post in New Zealand shortly before the Nazis took power, narrowly escaping the persecution which befell the rest of his family. He considered The Open Society his contribution to the war effort. It is a lengthy polemic against fascism, but is a relevant critique against totalitarian governments of all kinds. As such, it remains an influential work to this day. It is considered to be a particularly devastating argument against Soviet and Chinese communism because of its arguments for the necessity of political freedom and freedom of expression.
"In the year 2000, a Chinese academic, Liu Junning, was evicted from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences after delivering a lecture on The Open Society.*"
This is the type of occurrence which I am always tempted to call "ironic," but which I think is more accurately described as "tragicomic."
* The Open Society was a philosophical work by the Jewish-Austrian thinker Karl Popper, written during WWII. He had left Austria for a teaching post in New Zealand shortly before the Nazis took power, narrowly escaping the persecution which befell the rest of his family. He considered The Open Society his contribution to the war effort. It is a lengthy polemic against fascism, but is a relevant critique against totalitarian governments of all kinds. As such, it remains an influential work to this day. It is considered to be a particularly devastating argument against Soviet and Chinese communism because of its arguments for the necessity of political freedom and freedom of expression.
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