Wish List at 2:30am

My Wish List at 2:30am on Monday, April 18th, 2005
I wish that...

- Emile Durkheim had had a really world class editor while writing his piece on Division of Labour. The man says the same thing six times over before moving on to his next point, which he then also repeats six times, all in very similar terms. It's really very irritating and I think about how any English teacher of mine would have crossed out each repetition with a big X and put "redundant" through those paragraphs.
- Classical Social Theory did not involve reading original texts. I don't care how Marx said that people were alienated from themselves, nature, species-being or their product. I only care that he did say that. Why does no one write things in PLAIN TERMS? Academics (and that, sadly, includes me) need to start using simpler terms to explain various things.
- I didn't have to be familiar with Neitzsche and Tony Soprano for one of my exam questions.
- I didn't have to think about Freud very much for another exam question.
- I had another 24 hours instead of the 16.5 I now have before my exam.
- I had the time to watch The L Word, which I am going to d/l as soon as it shows up on the torrent sites. I may yet still be able to watch it before my exam. But you never know.
- I didn't have to write out my notes by hand. Our teacher is allowing us 6 double-sided sheets of looseleaf notes, but the catch is that they must be handwritten. I looked at him and asked if I could, like, reserve a font or something, and he's like "No, sorry. And penmanship is good for the soul, anyways." I protested at that and said that it was an unfair advantage to anyone who had decent handwriting. He told me to practice.

I like the concepts I'm studying. Really, I do. I swear, I have been an alienated worker in an organic solidarity type of society. I just hate slogging through these people who can't write worth a damn.

Seriously, check out this Durkheim quote:

"Anomie, therefore, is a regular and specific factor in suicide in our modern societies; one of the springs from which the annual contingent feeds."

I mean, hell, he couldn't have said "Anomie, which is the state of deregulation in terms of societal rules, is a reason for suicide in modern society; one of the many reasons why people kill themselves."? Seriously, dude needed a better editor.

Back to it.

(And welcome to Pre-Exam-Posterama!)

A random observation.

I've been re-reading Belgarath the Sorceror over the last couple of days, and it occurs to me that comparing two social theorists is a little bit like comparing the Mrin Codex and the Darine Codex. The Mrin is indecipherable, practically, whereas the Darine is sort of the guide to the Mrin. How did Belgarath deal with that? Simple. He handed both prophecies to the twins, Belkira and Beltira, and they were able to make a lot more sense of them than he was, because their thoughts were so intertwined.

I wish I had a twin to read DuBois while I read Rawls, or to read Nietzsche while I read Mead...

Huh.

My first paper for Social Theory sucked ass. Seriously. I just re-read it. And I still got a 78%. What the hell? My papers are SO much better now, it's insane. Crazy to think what a year of studying social theory will do.

On that note, my grades can be calculated thusly:

Papers: 40%
Midterm: 25%
Final: 30%
Participation: 5%

So far:

Papers: 32.2%
Midterm: 19.5%
Participation (guess): 4%

That equals 55.7% out of a possible 70. Not brilliant, but not bad. That means that in order to actually PASS... well, actually, I've passed the class already. I should probably get between a 75 and an 80 on the final, which means... I should get about 79% for the class, which equals a B+, and that's VERY close to an A-.

Good Lord. I could get an A- in this godawful class. I could get a frickin' A- and this class could bring up my entire GPA!

Oh my God, I'm actually excited now. Why did I not do the math DAYS ago?!

Attention, world.

I am cold, I am tired and I am annoyed that The L Word is not available for download yet.

As such, I am going to wrap my blanket around me, after I make a cup of tea, and go back to working on my exam questions. I swear to God, he better not give us the Nietzsche question, because I will be annoyed.

I swear, I won't be as prolific after my exam. Pinky swear, even.

Hahaha!

The funniest thing that will happen to me all day long, I guarantee it.

I called my grandmother a couple minutes ago (she wakes up at 6am every day) because I'm borrowing a watch of hers at some point today, because my watch has up and died on me. That bastard. Anyways, she's asking me about my exam and stuff, and I told her I was working on Nietzsche, and how he says God is dead, there is no ultimate good, it's all set up by people, etc.

And she's like "who IS this guy?"

"Oh, he's some guy we're studying."

"So he's not the professor. Right?"

I cracked up. "No, grandmother, he's a philosopher/thinker who died 100 years ago."

"Oh, good."

My grandmother thought Nietzsche was my professor. This will make me laugh in the middle of my exam, I guarantee it.

PS: Where the fuck is my L Word download?! Apparently, the universe is not in favour of my even DOWNLOADING IT until I'm done working on these questions. I apologize to anyone else attempting to find the torrent, and will attempt to get on with it, already.

Woo.

Went to bed at noon, after having been awake for 22 hours.

Slept for four and a half hours.

Am now waking up, slowly. I have to leave at about 5:25, which is cool.

What's not cool is how my shoulders ache and how my right hand is complaining from all the writing I did. Sigh.

I did eventually download The L Word while I was working, (thanks anyway, llnaughty. I get it from btefnet, but it's usually out around 2 or 3am my time, and it didn't come out 'till 9ish in my morning) but I'm so not gonna have time to see it before I go. Alas.

And heyyyyyy, the conclave started! That was a cool thing to have on in the background, even if I am utterly disgusted by CNN's lack of ability to properly report on such things. Christiane Amanpour is an idiot who was talking when they gave the order to get out, and then she's like "Let's listen!" and then you could hear her whispering "have they already said it? They have?" and then she says loudly "We have just heard the order for everyone to leave, and it appears that people are, in fact, leaving" or some such bullshit. Stupidity. Bah.

Anyways, they've voted once and there is no new pope. This is pretty darn cool.

Off to have food and then off to write my exam. I'm coming home later tonight and I am CRASHING. Yaysleep. :)

Wow.

Long exam. I am rarely in an exam room longer than 90 minutes. I was there for two hours. My hand is still killing me two hours after I left.

Came home and watched The L Word.

( L Word 2x09 spoilers )

Definitely time for bed.