A) Someone (Ethan) suggested to get a Tumblr. It seems like a great blogging site as well as giving "seamless" integration with facebook and things that I use (as well as a plethora of other crap I don't need). Well that poses a problem for a dozen reasons, among others, I've already posted a dozen things here (all of which have stellar literary quality) and I refuse to TUMBLR them down the drain.
B) I think these posts will be a lot more streamlined from now on. A lot more "Here's what I thought about today" and less "Dear Diary, Here's what I did today."
So Dear Diary... Here's what I...
Haha...
But really, sitting in Acting 2 made me think a lot about sitting in Acting 1 (surprise, surprise) and the moment I got inspired to with a legitimate idea for my first novel. In order to help me write it, I think I'm finally ready to reveal the idea here (minus a few details so I still maintain artistic license, suspense, and so no one will steal my idea). World premiere.
So here's the concept. In one way or another about a dozen unique characters came out of my Acting 1 class. In presenting each of these characters, another student from the class was used in conjunction making it seem like Character A is best friends with Character B while later Character B was all the while talking to Character F. Know what I mean? So in my head I wrote down every characteristic that I observed and in a notebook I have about a dozen named characters with full biographies, personality traits, relationships, and mannerisms (even a few hobbies and occupations). I put them in a city and I have ideas for how they will interact but I guess what's really holding up the whole project is a few key plot points... you know... the beginning... the middle... the end. I mean, I've got individual scenes all mapped out but I can't for the life of my figure out how to start the chain. I think once I get going I can really put some shape to the beast.
Anyway, point is, if anyone wants to help or has any ideas, they can get acknowledgments, co-authorship, or even money. Yeah, I'm THAT confident in what this could turn into. It's too legit to quit.
And really, that's what this whole thing has been about. Trying to get myself to think everyday about putting words to paper... or at least keys to a word document. I figured if I thought, "Hey that's a good thing to blog about," I could finally say, "Hey that's a great thing to WRITE A STORY about" because I know when I finally get down to it I can just keep going and going.
Movies have been giving me good plot inspiration (for better or worse since people will read it and say, "Wait a second, didn't they do that in that one movie?") for other ideas I have (to be revealed later). Obviously, that doesn't help me now.
So... whose in on
The project?
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Animalistic Musings
Three in one day?!
Well... I already told my professor I wasn't going to class (see previous post) and thus I am taking a pity day for myself to think. Plus, he said if I just kept up with the reading, I'll be fine. And thus, I am reading the book and will just go to class from now on (seeing as how there will be zero conflicts in the future).
Anyway, I wouldn't be much of a philosophy student if I didn't posit some questions every now and then.
I would like to go back to something I talk about a while ago concerning human evolution and our place on the earth, in the universe, etc. What with all that's going on with the theater fiasco it makes me think a lot about why we do these things, why I feel the way I do, and about life in general. If you think about how a lion carries out his day, he eats, sleeps, defecates, and that's pretty much the extent of it. Instinctively, lions know how to hunt and how to take care of their young. What intrigues me is how lions perceive their environment. They obviously recognize a particular patch of land as their own and recognize a certain shape of animal that they like to eat. They have some degree of learning. That brings me to an interesting quote we read in Hume about how animals do in fact have some sort of elementary reasoning abilities. Typically, when we say, "What's the difference between animals and humans?" we say, "the ability to reason." Personally, I don't think we have any rational ability to say that's true. Animals certainly reason and biological psychologists and behavioral psychologists can tell you that their behavior can certainly adapt and change.
I guess the point that I'm trying to make thus far is that animals and humans, on the most basic levels, are not so different. We have basic adaptation and reasoning skills and we have a short degree of instinctual skills, what we might otherwise call a "gut reaction." Our brains are not even so different since scientists are able to identify pleasure and pain receptors in the brains of rats, an animal far removed from the primate line. It could certainly be reasoned that humans have some sort of basic relation and similarities to all mammals. In some ways, all animals (but mostly mammals).
Where the differences in humans lie is our ability to utilize our higher brain functions. That is, our ability for abstract reasoning, to make complicated choices, and complicated emotions like love, jealously, remorse, and so on. From a purely biological perspective (which I admit I'm no expert), humans, by reason, must have SOME extra glands or synapses that cause different hormones to flow in our brains, causing these feelings of love and genuine emotion. What else could explain the reason that we can build civilizations and learn and feel complex things? Sure, you could argue that lions can't build things because they don't have thumbs. In fact, you could say that the only reason humans, at whatever point in history, ascended to greatness because of our thumbs--that is, our ability to pick things up. And maybe that's true. But then I must posit the ultimate question: Why? Why do we have thumbs? Accident? You would say "evolution" but now we're just arguing semantics. I do believe in a kind of evolution but I don't believe in astronomical chances. If I did, I would play the lottery more often since you have a better chance of winning that then evolving into a creature with thumbs.
So maybe thumbs is the reason humans evolved to having success in the primitive world and maybe that's the reason human brains have evolved to such a level such as being able to love another human unconditionally. Maybe when the first batch of humans that had thumbs conquered the non-thumbed batch, they were able to flourish and write epic poetry and worship gods. They were able to sing and to love. I suppose that's possible. But then by reason, you would say that all animals should be able to choreograph elaborate dance numbers and solve complicated ethical dilemmas. I mean, there are a lot of species on this planet that are as old as us, that have been evolving with us. If all brains develop at a constant and predictable rate (which I don't know if they do), then theoretically we shouldn't be too much farther ahead of anyone else. Unless someone's ancestor ate the only genius lion.
It can be said that from abstract thinking, all knowledge is born.
We would know nothing unless someone did some exploring or hypothesizing. No math, no reading, no engineering, no nothing. And in this vein, all knowledge started off as PHILOSOPHY.
So there.
Anyways, it still perplexes me to think about the differences between us and the rest of living creatures. Why are we designed the way we are? Through endless mistakes made by mother nature we have two eyes positioned above a nose and a mouth in front of our heads which is settled on a spinal column which runs the length of our back which holds complicated nerve systems that allows us to move our appendages. Again, I don't believe in that kind of luck. That's like throwing a bowling ball into a dark china shop and truly believing you won't break something. I'm not saying I don't think it happened, I'm just saying it stands to my reason that it was guided by someone/something that knows a lot better than we do.
And thus we have the modern human that emerges a long, long time ago. We have the Greeks who posited philosophical theories on math, astronomy, physics, and life. We have the Egyptians that made amazing and complicated structures. There's also the Mesopotamian civilization that contains the earliest recorded religion. (That obviously was NOT in chronological order.) It just amazes me how all of a sudden there is a species on the earth that is flourishing at an exponential rate and all the while developing its knowledge of the known world and most importantly, its self-awareness and even more amazingly, still developing its paradigm of its role in the universe.
Let us think for a minute about how language was born. Obviously language means nothing without more than one person. Even in the most comical fashion, how did one caveman start talking to another caveman in such a way that they both understood? Even for one to draw pictures that made sense to the other involved the first one processing in his primitive mind the idea of a picture being a symbol for something else. And in the second one, he had to associate that picture and connect the symbol and determine the meaning all on his own. Then they both agreed on a sound to make that would tie it all together? We see an apple and we immediately hear the word apple and see in our heads maybe a taste, smell, and a feeling of an apple and we associate all of these things simultaneously and at some point, that had to happen on more than just an individual level. Sure caveman #1 could associate these things in his mind by himself, but he then had to communicate those ideas to his cave-mate. Wow.
And the first lie? Once communication was established in the community, someone came up with the first lie. And this is another amazing feat. Think about it. What goes into a lie? You see a disadvantage to telling someone how something really is because in your mind, you can abstract the consequences of certain communication in your head in an instant. You then decide on a new, equally plausible story and decide to tell that instead, despite knowing its not true.
Then perhaps you feel remorse? Knowing the consequences of the lie and being able to abstract in your head the consequences of someone else believing a falsehood. Or knowing that the consequences of something you did would hurt someone.
And theater? Song? Philosophy? To be able to abstract your feelings and communicate them in a form that is pleasing as well as thoughtful is another amazing human invention. To rationalize in a systematic and convincing fashion? This furthers our understandings of things and allows us to look at things beneath the surface. The lion sees the sun setting in the west, but we can understand it to mean that this side the earth has turned away from the sun. We then associate night with different things, and even feel inspired to communicate those associations. The lion sees his dead prey and all he can think about his food. We see a dead human or something and we feel remorseful or sad. Or we feel alive and happy (if you're psychotic). We associate primal things with ourselves and in the grand scheme of things, beyond what any other creature can do.
Humans are capable of a many great and wonderful things. We are also capable of terrible things. We are the only creature that is self-reflective and able to think outside of itself. So, why us?
Now I understand that someone might read this and say, "Dylan you're retarded." That's great. Thales of Miletus posited in the 5th century BC that everything is, in some way, made of water. Obviously he was wrong but he made an observation based on what was known at the time (at least to him) and made a rational argument for it. If I am similarly at fault, I would be happy to chat. I am always happy to admit not knowing something.
And maybe I can make someone think. Or maybe these are just
Animalistic Musingings.
Well... I already told my professor I wasn't going to class (see previous post) and thus I am taking a pity day for myself to think. Plus, he said if I just kept up with the reading, I'll be fine. And thus, I am reading the book and will just go to class from now on (seeing as how there will be zero conflicts in the future).
Anyway, I wouldn't be much of a philosophy student if I didn't posit some questions every now and then.
I would like to go back to something I talk about a while ago concerning human evolution and our place on the earth, in the universe, etc. What with all that's going on with the theater fiasco it makes me think a lot about why we do these things, why I feel the way I do, and about life in general. If you think about how a lion carries out his day, he eats, sleeps, defecates, and that's pretty much the extent of it. Instinctively, lions know how to hunt and how to take care of their young. What intrigues me is how lions perceive their environment. They obviously recognize a particular patch of land as their own and recognize a certain shape of animal that they like to eat. They have some degree of learning. That brings me to an interesting quote we read in Hume about how animals do in fact have some sort of elementary reasoning abilities. Typically, when we say, "What's the difference between animals and humans?" we say, "the ability to reason." Personally, I don't think we have any rational ability to say that's true. Animals certainly reason and biological psychologists and behavioral psychologists can tell you that their behavior can certainly adapt and change.
I guess the point that I'm trying to make thus far is that animals and humans, on the most basic levels, are not so different. We have basic adaptation and reasoning skills and we have a short degree of instinctual skills, what we might otherwise call a "gut reaction." Our brains are not even so different since scientists are able to identify pleasure and pain receptors in the brains of rats, an animal far removed from the primate line. It could certainly be reasoned that humans have some sort of basic relation and similarities to all mammals. In some ways, all animals (but mostly mammals).
Where the differences in humans lie is our ability to utilize our higher brain functions. That is, our ability for abstract reasoning, to make complicated choices, and complicated emotions like love, jealously, remorse, and so on. From a purely biological perspective (which I admit I'm no expert), humans, by reason, must have SOME extra glands or synapses that cause different hormones to flow in our brains, causing these feelings of love and genuine emotion. What else could explain the reason that we can build civilizations and learn and feel complex things? Sure, you could argue that lions can't build things because they don't have thumbs. In fact, you could say that the only reason humans, at whatever point in history, ascended to greatness because of our thumbs--that is, our ability to pick things up. And maybe that's true. But then I must posit the ultimate question: Why? Why do we have thumbs? Accident? You would say "evolution" but now we're just arguing semantics. I do believe in a kind of evolution but I don't believe in astronomical chances. If I did, I would play the lottery more often since you have a better chance of winning that then evolving into a creature with thumbs.
So maybe thumbs is the reason humans evolved to having success in the primitive world and maybe that's the reason human brains have evolved to such a level such as being able to love another human unconditionally. Maybe when the first batch of humans that had thumbs conquered the non-thumbed batch, they were able to flourish and write epic poetry and worship gods. They were able to sing and to love. I suppose that's possible. But then by reason, you would say that all animals should be able to choreograph elaborate dance numbers and solve complicated ethical dilemmas. I mean, there are a lot of species on this planet that are as old as us, that have been evolving with us. If all brains develop at a constant and predictable rate (which I don't know if they do), then theoretically we shouldn't be too much farther ahead of anyone else. Unless someone's ancestor ate the only genius lion.
It can be said that from abstract thinking, all knowledge is born.
We would know nothing unless someone did some exploring or hypothesizing. No math, no reading, no engineering, no nothing. And in this vein, all knowledge started off as PHILOSOPHY.
So there.
Anyways, it still perplexes me to think about the differences between us and the rest of living creatures. Why are we designed the way we are? Through endless mistakes made by mother nature we have two eyes positioned above a nose and a mouth in front of our heads which is settled on a spinal column which runs the length of our back which holds complicated nerve systems that allows us to move our appendages. Again, I don't believe in that kind of luck. That's like throwing a bowling ball into a dark china shop and truly believing you won't break something. I'm not saying I don't think it happened, I'm just saying it stands to my reason that it was guided by someone/something that knows a lot better than we do.
And thus we have the modern human that emerges a long, long time ago. We have the Greeks who posited philosophical theories on math, astronomy, physics, and life. We have the Egyptians that made amazing and complicated structures. There's also the Mesopotamian civilization that contains the earliest recorded religion. (That obviously was NOT in chronological order.) It just amazes me how all of a sudden there is a species on the earth that is flourishing at an exponential rate and all the while developing its knowledge of the known world and most importantly, its self-awareness and even more amazingly, still developing its paradigm of its role in the universe.
Let us think for a minute about how language was born. Obviously language means nothing without more than one person. Even in the most comical fashion, how did one caveman start talking to another caveman in such a way that they both understood? Even for one to draw pictures that made sense to the other involved the first one processing in his primitive mind the idea of a picture being a symbol for something else. And in the second one, he had to associate that picture and connect the symbol and determine the meaning all on his own. Then they both agreed on a sound to make that would tie it all together? We see an apple and we immediately hear the word apple and see in our heads maybe a taste, smell, and a feeling of an apple and we associate all of these things simultaneously and at some point, that had to happen on more than just an individual level. Sure caveman #1 could associate these things in his mind by himself, but he then had to communicate those ideas to his cave-mate. Wow.
And the first lie? Once communication was established in the community, someone came up with the first lie. And this is another amazing feat. Think about it. What goes into a lie? You see a disadvantage to telling someone how something really is because in your mind, you can abstract the consequences of certain communication in your head in an instant. You then decide on a new, equally plausible story and decide to tell that instead, despite knowing its not true.
Then perhaps you feel remorse? Knowing the consequences of the lie and being able to abstract in your head the consequences of someone else believing a falsehood. Or knowing that the consequences of something you did would hurt someone.
And theater? Song? Philosophy? To be able to abstract your feelings and communicate them in a form that is pleasing as well as thoughtful is another amazing human invention. To rationalize in a systematic and convincing fashion? This furthers our understandings of things and allows us to look at things beneath the surface. The lion sees the sun setting in the west, but we can understand it to mean that this side the earth has turned away from the sun. We then associate night with different things, and even feel inspired to communicate those associations. The lion sees his dead prey and all he can think about his food. We see a dead human or something and we feel remorseful or sad. Or we feel alive and happy (if you're psychotic). We associate primal things with ourselves and in the grand scheme of things, beyond what any other creature can do.
Humans are capable of a many great and wonderful things. We are also capable of terrible things. We are the only creature that is self-reflective and able to think outside of itself. So, why us?
Now I understand that someone might read this and say, "Dylan you're retarded." That's great. Thales of Miletus posited in the 5th century BC that everything is, in some way, made of water. Obviously he was wrong but he made an observation based on what was known at the time (at least to him) and made a rational argument for it. If I am similarly at fault, I would be happy to chat. I am always happy to admit not knowing something.
And maybe I can make someone think. Or maybe these are just
Animalistic Musingings.
Counting Chickens
Well... the results are in and out of the 101 people who auditioned, maybe about 40 or so got called back. Yours truly... was not one of them. Yes, I know, I know I was confident--even going as far to say, "I'll let you know how call-backs go." But that obviously won't be happening and now I don't have a good reason to skip my awful personality theory class, much less drop it.
I think I didn't make call-backs (and here is not the time for me to be self-deprecating or insecure) because for the FIVE male roles (for the entire semester) that I was going to be going for, I don't fit the description for any of them in the slightest. One was a sixteen year old boy which I haven't been able to pull off since Freshman year, and the other four were men 30+ which I won't be able to pull of til after I graduate. I won't say that I didn't get called back because I'm not good or the monologue was a bad choice or the directors just don't like me (which is still highly possible), but I will say that maybe they didn't want to bother calling me back because I just don't fit the descriptions of the characters.
I think that's fair, right? Sure, I would have at least liked the chance to read for the characters and maybe change their mind. But hey, you win some, you lose some.
And no, I would never work backstage. I've never aspired to do work behind-the-scenes and I won't start now.
Still, I would be lying to say I wasn't hurt and mildly devastated since I had the impression that I would be in good favor for these parts. Regardless, the six year-old thing to do would be to cut off all friendships I've made in the theater department as a public protest of the unfair treatment I've received and a demonstration that I don't really care about any of this.
But I'm not six and that's not right so I guess the grown-up thing to do is to say, "It's fine, they didn't want to waste their time or mine on characters that I wouldn't even look like," and to remain friends with everyone and a familiar face around the department so everyone is constantly reminded of me and hope to the Lord and all his grace that somehow I'll catch a break.
So for those keeping score, that's 1/4 failures for this semester and 1/4 successes. The Radio Show (name pending) is still quite up in the air. I received an email from the director saying I should come to his office on Thursday to discuss the equipment and answer and questions I might have. So... it's highly possible that this could be happening by next week. I'm going for Wednesday at 5pm or sometime Monday-Friday before 2pm. We'll see.
And the other potential success? Not looking great, but we'll see. The semester is young but I think it might be aiming a little high on this one.
But I'll try to hold future speculations and/or predictions about my future lest I be...
counting chickens prior to emerging from their eggs.
I think I didn't make call-backs (and here is not the time for me to be self-deprecating or insecure) because for the FIVE male roles (for the entire semester) that I was going to be going for, I don't fit the description for any of them in the slightest. One was a sixteen year old boy which I haven't been able to pull off since Freshman year, and the other four were men 30+ which I won't be able to pull of til after I graduate. I won't say that I didn't get called back because I'm not good or the monologue was a bad choice or the directors just don't like me (which is still highly possible), but I will say that maybe they didn't want to bother calling me back because I just don't fit the descriptions of the characters.
I think that's fair, right? Sure, I would have at least liked the chance to read for the characters and maybe change their mind. But hey, you win some, you lose some.
And no, I would never work backstage. I've never aspired to do work behind-the-scenes and I won't start now.
Still, I would be lying to say I wasn't hurt and mildly devastated since I had the impression that I would be in good favor for these parts. Regardless, the six year-old thing to do would be to cut off all friendships I've made in the theater department as a public protest of the unfair treatment I've received and a demonstration that I don't really care about any of this.
But I'm not six and that's not right so I guess the grown-up thing to do is to say, "It's fine, they didn't want to waste their time or mine on characters that I wouldn't even look like," and to remain friends with everyone and a familiar face around the department so everyone is constantly reminded of me and hope to the Lord and all his grace that somehow I'll catch a break.
So for those keeping score, that's 1/4 failures for this semester and 1/4 successes. The Radio Show (name pending) is still quite up in the air. I received an email from the director saying I should come to his office on Thursday to discuss the equipment and answer and questions I might have. So... it's highly possible that this could be happening by next week. I'm going for Wednesday at 5pm or sometime Monday-Friday before 2pm. We'll see.
And the other potential success? Not looking great, but we'll see. The semester is young but I think it might be aiming a little high on this one.
But I'll try to hold future speculations and/or predictions about my future lest I be...
counting chickens prior to emerging from their eggs.
Terrible
I've been awful at keeping this up, sincerely. I mean, the last post was WEDNESDAY of LAST WEEK? Where have I been? Okay I had a night class Wednesday night so that might be it.. But i didn't even talk about Acting 2... it's not like Thursday was a trying night. Anyway, let me backtrack and cover some ground.
Acting 2 was last Thursday morning, preceding the ever-awful philosophy/lit and social psych. It wasn't bad. Mary Lechter is our modestly famous acting teacher who really knows what she is doing. We did some pantomiming and went over the syllabus which is very, very work intensive. But so far, so good. I think it will be a fun class, maybe. Either way, if I don't get casted in a play, I will be doing some sort of acting.
Ugh the problem with retrospective posts is that I'm not always 100% on what I did in a day. So I completely don't know what I did Thursday night or Friday. I can't imagine it was too exciting. Well Thursday was Theater convocation where all the teachers, officers of the Mason Players, and interested students gathered to discuss the upcoming year... wooo.... boring. And Friday was a preliminary sit-down reading of the two upcoming studio shows this semester. So I guess that was that.
Saturday went with some friends to the Kennedy Center to see a Mister Paul Laudiero (remember that name because he's going to be famous in some capacity) perform in a page-to-stage of "Still Beating Hearts" which he and his cast-mates were fantastic in. Then traveled to 14th St. in DC to watch him do an improv show. I always feel so classy and hip when I go to these things. Like one of those quintessential art guys.
Sunday was chill. Nothing to report.
Labor day I did some work with Paul on our monologues for today's audition as well as did some homework for phil/lit.
Today was a big day though. Got up, went to work with Paul some more (since he changed his monologue last minute), and went to my two classes for the day. Then I sat around a bit and went to my very first Krav Maga class. Seriously, from Day 1 the instructor was kicking my butt. Warm ups alternating between strafing and running backwards, stance work, punching form, and how to get out of a frontal choke-hold (as well as counter-attacks) was certainly more intense than I ever imagined. I feel that this will be a lot of fun and will be beneficial if I can learn it and practice it and internalize it. The worst workout was the non-stop punching, push-ups, punching exercise during which I literally thought I was going to die.
Afterwards I quickly showered and went off to audition for the GMU Players Fall 2010 lineup. My monologue was, as it turns out, a compilation from Mark Twain's Excerpts from Adam's Diary which is actually a hilarious bit of literature. The actual audition went wonderful. I hopefully made the judges laugh for potentially the first time all night and overall felt good. Callbacks are all night tomorrow night and so I'll definitely be missing my Personality Psych class.
The rub is that for all of the shows, they want to practice wednesday night while i have this class so I potentially have to drop it and pick up something else... ugh. What a pain. Hopefully keeping that class won't affect my chances of getting casted. I guess I could always ask.
I'll be sure to update on how call-backs go and, of course, how the final cast posting goes.
Oh and a few nights ago I had a slight inkling to work some on my novels. And plus with my beginning Krav Maga training, I might have more inspiration to do so. Maybe this thing is working after all?
Either way, when it comes to posting, I'll try not to be too
terrible.
Acting 2 was last Thursday morning, preceding the ever-awful philosophy/lit and social psych. It wasn't bad. Mary Lechter is our modestly famous acting teacher who really knows what she is doing. We did some pantomiming and went over the syllabus which is very, very work intensive. But so far, so good. I think it will be a fun class, maybe. Either way, if I don't get casted in a play, I will be doing some sort of acting.
Ugh the problem with retrospective posts is that I'm not always 100% on what I did in a day. So I completely don't know what I did Thursday night or Friday. I can't imagine it was too exciting. Well Thursday was Theater convocation where all the teachers, officers of the Mason Players, and interested students gathered to discuss the upcoming year... wooo.... boring. And Friday was a preliminary sit-down reading of the two upcoming studio shows this semester. So I guess that was that.
Saturday went with some friends to the Kennedy Center to see a Mister Paul Laudiero (remember that name because he's going to be famous in some capacity) perform in a page-to-stage of "Still Beating Hearts" which he and his cast-mates were fantastic in. Then traveled to 14th St. in DC to watch him do an improv show. I always feel so classy and hip when I go to these things. Like one of those quintessential art guys.
Sunday was chill. Nothing to report.
Labor day I did some work with Paul on our monologues for today's audition as well as did some homework for phil/lit.
Today was a big day though. Got up, went to work with Paul some more (since he changed his monologue last minute), and went to my two classes for the day. Then I sat around a bit and went to my very first Krav Maga class. Seriously, from Day 1 the instructor was kicking my butt. Warm ups alternating between strafing and running backwards, stance work, punching form, and how to get out of a frontal choke-hold (as well as counter-attacks) was certainly more intense than I ever imagined. I feel that this will be a lot of fun and will be beneficial if I can learn it and practice it and internalize it. The worst workout was the non-stop punching, push-ups, punching exercise during which I literally thought I was going to die.
Afterwards I quickly showered and went off to audition for the GMU Players Fall 2010 lineup. My monologue was, as it turns out, a compilation from Mark Twain's Excerpts from Adam's Diary which is actually a hilarious bit of literature. The actual audition went wonderful. I hopefully made the judges laugh for potentially the first time all night and overall felt good. Callbacks are all night tomorrow night and so I'll definitely be missing my Personality Psych class.
The rub is that for all of the shows, they want to practice wednesday night while i have this class so I potentially have to drop it and pick up something else... ugh. What a pain. Hopefully keeping that class won't affect my chances of getting casted. I guess I could always ask.
I'll be sure to update on how call-backs go and, of course, how the final cast posting goes.
Oh and a few nights ago I had a slight inkling to work some on my novels. And plus with my beginning Krav Maga training, I might have more inspiration to do so. Maybe this thing is working after all?
Either way, when it comes to posting, I'll try not to be too
terrible.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
RE: blog project
In last night's post I mentioned that this thing doesn't seem to be working out too well.
Well I would like to qualify that by saying that like taking medicine, it takes time to work.
Hah! Self-justification!
Well I would like to qualify that by saying that like taking medicine, it takes time to work.
Hah! Self-justification!
New class and radio show
Today was a standard day. One that will probably serve as the epitome of a productive day at college and what is potentially a routine for wednesday.
Got up, went to the gym, went go get food, ate food, reviewed some cds, went to the Broadside office, worked on a story, didn't talk to my editor about my lack of power, reviewed my monologue, co-hosted Martin's radio show, went to class, ate, now typing.
And that's about that.
Tonight's class was Psychology 324: Personality Theory. It was... painful; so painful I started doodling. Well it's not that the class will be boring as much as it will be awkward and slow. I think the material will be interesting but the professor is way too into things and borderline oblivious. He had the audacity to split us into groups to figure out what personality was. Not only do I not like group work in college (since we're above that, right?), but it's mainly that I don't like sitting around talking about what we will be talking about. And yes, I recognize that the entire first week of classes is pretty much talking about what we will be talking about, but it's just so boring and I really just want to get into. This guy dragged the whole class [metaphorically] kicking and screaming through a boring lesson that was mainly just a preview of what we will actually be covering next class. Suffice it to say, there was no reason for us to be there even two hours of the potential two hours and forty minutes of the allotted class time.
Tomorrow: Acting 2! Which I'm legitimately excited about because it will be a fun class and hopefully not be an excruciating 3 hours of note taking.
So tomorrow: New class. Hopefully within two weeks: a radio show.
Got up, went to the gym, went go get food, ate food, reviewed some cds, went to the Broadside office, worked on a story, didn't talk to my editor about my lack of power, reviewed my monologue, co-hosted Martin's radio show, went to class, ate, now typing.
And that's about that.
Tonight's class was Psychology 324: Personality Theory. It was... painful; so painful I started doodling. Well it's not that the class will be boring as much as it will be awkward and slow. I think the material will be interesting but the professor is way too into things and borderline oblivious. He had the audacity to split us into groups to figure out what personality was. Not only do I not like group work in college (since we're above that, right?), but it's mainly that I don't like sitting around talking about what we will be talking about. And yes, I recognize that the entire first week of classes is pretty much talking about what we will be talking about, but it's just so boring and I really just want to get into. This guy dragged the whole class [metaphorically] kicking and screaming through a boring lesson that was mainly just a preview of what we will actually be covering next class. Suffice it to say, there was no reason for us to be there even two hours of the potential two hours and forty minutes of the allotted class time.
Tomorrow: Acting 2! Which I'm legitimately excited about because it will be a fun class and hopefully not be an excruciating 3 hours of note taking.
So tomorrow: New class. Hopefully within two weeks: a radio show.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Dropping the Ball
Wow, so I missed a day. Oh no...
Well I guess it's just something not to make a habit. Plus that will just mean today's is extra long...
So on top of still feeling like an awful, awful person (for additional reasons than the previous due to misunderstandings), I've been having my first two days of class. It's so hot so walking to class from my far-off apartment building hasn't been much of a joy.
Monday was Philosophy 421 whose name is now Moral Considerability and Animal Science. As Professor Light explained it, we won't be talking as much about fetuses and machines because those issues are either very well drawn out or far from being drawn out, respectively. So he decided that we should talk about more considerability of animals because it represents to him what is generally considered a "moral blindspot" for the majority of people. The way he explained it was a lot better and made it sound less like a class about how animals have feelings. And it doesn't help that he is a pescatarian, who in his words, won't eat anything more neurologically complex than a fish. Regardless, I am confident he will be fair to all sides and we will be taking serious ethical and moral looks at animals in relation to human-like intelligence.
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:30 is Philosophy two-hundred-something: Philosophy and Literature. Should be decent, I hope. A ton of reading but easy essays and hopefully what seems to be no exams. I'm guessing we will just be taking a hard look at the issues, or something. I'm not a fan of the professor who seems to not be that great at public speaking... but hopefully it at least turns out to be an easy class.
Also on Tuesdays and Thursdays is my Psych 231 class at 3:00: Social Psychology. I'm pretty excited about that class since it's going to deal with a lot of what I'm interested in Psychology: how people act based on a perceived situation. It's funny because the professor (who is so boring to listen to) said that Psychology is based on early Philosophy, which I already knew. So basically when talking about Psychology and themes of perception, we're intermingling the science of the brain and Psychology with Philosophy, my minor and major, respectively. So I think it's pretty neat that what I'm doing in school is related to each other. He also talked about fundamental attribution error being people attributing how people act to their personality instead of the social situations they are in which is cool because I'm going to Personality Theory tomorrow! It's like ALL MY CLASSES ARE RELATED! Which is weird. And hopefully not as confusing as it could be.
As far as this blog project is concerned, I don't think I've really produced a lot that has to do with my professional writing career. Additionally, it hasn't motivated me to do any writing that I actually want to do.
And as far as my new job at the Broadside is concerned, I kind of regret it since it seems like my editor is purposefully pigeon-holing me into doing his dirty work like coming up with stories and taking credit for them. I mean all this really does for me is making me a professional story idea creator who gets to write the stories he comes up with. Wow... I was thinking (and was told) that I would be put into contact with people who run the Center for the Arts and local booking agents and nightclubs and being able to have some content control. Apparently not.
Well, I might see if I can wrestle some of that control from my editor via the Editor-in-chief. It will be a slow usurpation.
Else I'll be
Dropping the ball.
Well I guess it's just something not to make a habit. Plus that will just mean today's is extra long...
So on top of still feeling like an awful, awful person (for additional reasons than the previous due to misunderstandings), I've been having my first two days of class. It's so hot so walking to class from my far-off apartment building hasn't been much of a joy.
Monday was Philosophy 421 whose name is now Moral Considerability and Animal Science. As Professor Light explained it, we won't be talking as much about fetuses and machines because those issues are either very well drawn out or far from being drawn out, respectively. So he decided that we should talk about more considerability of animals because it represents to him what is generally considered a "moral blindspot" for the majority of people. The way he explained it was a lot better and made it sound less like a class about how animals have feelings. And it doesn't help that he is a pescatarian, who in his words, won't eat anything more neurologically complex than a fish. Regardless, I am confident he will be fair to all sides and we will be taking serious ethical and moral looks at animals in relation to human-like intelligence.
Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:30 is Philosophy two-hundred-something: Philosophy and Literature. Should be decent, I hope. A ton of reading but easy essays and hopefully what seems to be no exams. I'm guessing we will just be taking a hard look at the issues, or something. I'm not a fan of the professor who seems to not be that great at public speaking... but hopefully it at least turns out to be an easy class.
Also on Tuesdays and Thursdays is my Psych 231 class at 3:00: Social Psychology. I'm pretty excited about that class since it's going to deal with a lot of what I'm interested in Psychology: how people act based on a perceived situation. It's funny because the professor (who is so boring to listen to) said that Psychology is based on early Philosophy, which I already knew. So basically when talking about Psychology and themes of perception, we're intermingling the science of the brain and Psychology with Philosophy, my minor and major, respectively. So I think it's pretty neat that what I'm doing in school is related to each other. He also talked about fundamental attribution error being people attributing how people act to their personality instead of the social situations they are in which is cool because I'm going to Personality Theory tomorrow! It's like ALL MY CLASSES ARE RELATED! Which is weird. And hopefully not as confusing as it could be.
As far as this blog project is concerned, I don't think I've really produced a lot that has to do with my professional writing career. Additionally, it hasn't motivated me to do any writing that I actually want to do.
And as far as my new job at the Broadside is concerned, I kind of regret it since it seems like my editor is purposefully pigeon-holing me into doing his dirty work like coming up with stories and taking credit for them. I mean all this really does for me is making me a professional story idea creator who gets to write the stories he comes up with. Wow... I was thinking (and was told) that I would be put into contact with people who run the Center for the Arts and local booking agents and nightclubs and being able to have some content control. Apparently not.
Well, I might see if I can wrestle some of that control from my editor via the Editor-in-chief. It will be a slow usurpation.
Else I'll be
Dropping the ball.
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