No Use For A Title

Not much to say this time, just wanted to preserve a few things.

You know, for posterity.

Today I bit my tongue, really hard.* Drew a little blood, even. (It was coppery, like always.)

I don't know what made this happen, but I have a pretty good hypothesis: I think some part of me that hates the rest of me (almost a plurality, depending on how the winds blow, but most of it is just passive-aggressive posturing; only the most hardcore members of the disbanded internal Senate** really want to get me) temporarily hijacked control somehow. The obvious solution is to close all the airports and limit freedoms.

Also, I hate February.

That is all.


*Literally, I wouldn't do that figuratively. (Though I do hold back on saying things, biting one's tongue implies - to me at least - that whatever it is wasn't said because of some potential consequences.)

**I use an internal Supreme Court now instead (less arms to twist).

[Note: Blogger found no spelling errors for once. I always check even though I don't make any because it doesn't have a very large vocabulary, but...I don't know where I'm going with this.]

I'm glad I only have one Friday class; I'd probably be more dead than I am if I had to be in class before 2:00 regularly.*

I qualify with "regularly" because I went in early to participate in another one of those economic experiments. My expectations regarding the outcome weren't very high; it was run by the same guy who made me wait until November to cash a check he gave me in May. This time I got a gift debit card that was activated 2 hours ago. I consider myself lucky; some of the possible outcomes (outcomes were based on chance) would have had me wait until April. Considering that April is almost May, I would really start thinking the guy had it in for me.

Speaking of cards, the bank sent me a new debit card today with one of those chips in it that lets you just tap it on that thing to pay instead of swiping it. This is where I would say that I initially thought it was a stupid idea and now think it's actually pretty cool, except I still think it's a stupid idea. It's supposed to be more convenient and get people to use their cards for smaller purchases they would normally pay for with cash. Most of the time when I'm buying something cheap, it's just to get change (my $1 bills don't last long) to use in a vending machine (and that's why). If they spread vending machines that take credit/debit cards, I really could stop carrying money completely.

Of course, the vending machine people already know that wouldn't increase their sales by enough to offset the effect of having to pay interchange fees, but hey, we all occasionally do things that are not in our own economic self-interest, like bothering with a link and then explaining how you didn't want to put the idea in your own words when coming up with your own words in the first place would have been quicker and easier overall.**

*I've got nothing to put here.

**Though it would have deprived me of an example.

First week of classes is over. (Last Monday didn't count because there was no class).

None of the five classes seem like such a big deal; there will be some work involved, but not too much critical thinking.*

A nice change of pace is the way every class had a detailed syllabus listing what we're supposed to do for every day of the semester. Of course, half of it is probably crap, but at least it sets the pace for the semester.

Even though I only have two classes today, I'm tired. This is probably because I've been fighting going to sleep like it's some kind of monster out to get me. No real reason for it, I just get that way sometimes.

The Labor Economics professor reminds me of New York Senator Chuck Schumer. It's not so much his face, or his name, or his ethnicity, or his accent...I don't know, just the way he carries himself, I guess.**

The Philosophy class shouldn't be too bad, just some writing and discussion. I fully expect to be convinced that I don't exist at least twice this semester.

My "Senior Capstone Project" class isn't that hard either, though it's the most labor-intensive class I have this semester. We have to evaluate the Cuyahoga area's valuation for a project downtown that may or may not be funded. They come up with a different project for the capstone each year (though this is only the second year, I think), and this year it's not already a sure thing that the project will go through, so we may actually have an effect*** on the end product, or if there even is an end product. It could be mildly interesting.

Nothing to note for the other classes, except that I left way too much time between the classes after all. I didn't want a repeat of the whole "10 minutes to get across campus" thing, so I gave myself a comfortable 2 hours or more between each class. I need to find something to do during that time; I almost get bored.

Maybe I'll sleep. Sleep is easier during the day anyway.

*Then again, my normal mode is critical thinking, so my critical mode is so critical, it's...I don't know. Pretty critical.

**If I understood how my thought process worked, that would be too easy.

***I almost used "affect" there. This would shame me more than I can describe. Even more than having one of my arms ripped off and being beaten with it in front of a crowd of my friends and family while being broadcast on live television.

I am tired.

Today was the first day of the new semester, and I'm always tired at the beginning of the semester because I spend the preceding week in a lethargic state. (A couple of days, I didn't get out of bed until around 6:00. Or maybe it was 8:00. I don't know.) Even though Tuesday/Thursday are typically my worst days energy for class-wise, I chose a schedule with three such classes.***

I decided to buy all my books online this semester, because I like getting boxes in the mail (makes people think I was serious about my plan to...er...never mind, I may be tapped).

The first site I decided to browse was Amazon.com. The first time I logged on that day, it worked ok. The second, it told me there was no account associated with my email address. It also said to try a different login page if I had trouble, but that one told me the same thing.

Undaunted*, I went to the "Forget your password?" link and put in the exact same email address I'd tried to use twice before that. Amazon emailed me a link that allowed me to change the password for the account I had but never had.** Right after that, I used the new password to log in and buy a book. All of my information was still there, saved as part of that account. Good thing no one has my email password.

...

Yeah, no one has it.

*Well, maybe slightly daunted; depends on your interpretation.

**The second-easiest sort of thing to change. The first? Things you never had but pretend to have.

***Why are those my worst days? Not because of any special significance of the days themselves, but because the classes are 75 minutes long. Regular Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes meet three days a week for 50 minutes per day. To get the same number of minutes, Tuesday/Thursday classes have 75 minutes each. There are also some one-day-a-week 150 minute classes. Even though I can handle 50-minute classes easily, 75 minutes just seems to irk me for some reason (maybe because it's uneven? I just thought of that). I make it to the 40 or 60 minute mark and start to get tired sometimes, especially the last class of the day. It probably has to do with the way I pace myself: I have a short-term mode that can get me through about an hour, and a long-term mode that gives me a second wind at about the 90-minute mark. After that, I could theoretically go indefinitely.

But anyway, yeah, 75-minute classes kick my ass. Why are 4 of my 5 classes like that, then? Because I'm a jackass.

I'm done with that whole miner thing they've been showing on TV, at least until someone at any news network learns for certain exactly what the hell they're talking about.

Not that it's their fault, though: "Oh, you thought we said 12 alive? We meant 12 dead. Whoops. Sorry about that." The funny thing is that it took the company 3 hours to correct the information. Their main stated reason is that they didn't want to upset anyone. I'm sure being told that your husband/father/grandfather/whatever was alive when they didn't know either way (or knew otherwise) really goes over well among the masses.

What else? Oh, something I noticed about seeing the locals on TV. They're from a part of WV somewhat close to the PA border, so the dialect is similar. Though I'm certain I could understand them easily in person, it was harder to do so on TV. (The missing syllables and all) Maybe it's atmospheric differences.

In me-centric news, I've decided to give myself until the 7th to come up with a 2006 resolution.* I'm already as awesome as I feel like being, so maybe I'll resolve to become worse, so I can become better again next year.

I'm also giving myself until May to determine what personality I feel like using for the year. This will also determine what kind of metaphor I use to describe my decision-making process as it relates to this.**

I guess that's it.

*Which means I won't be picking "Stop procrastinating". Like I'd do that anyway.

**Same "this"; no grammar troubles here.