Spelunking the Universe
Posts tagged personal
The Me in the Mirror
9 months ago
by Rico Penguin
in General
So I went back for my follow up check at the Oral Surgeon. We momentarily discussed the amazing potency of their “light” form of local anesthesia. I went from answering the question “Do you like playing games?” or was it “Do you play games?” Something like that, I just recall the last words I said was “It’s hard to enjoy games when your job…” I immediately woke up in a totally different room, as I’ve mentioned before.
He told me that when you are under you can answer simple commands, that in fact I had walked into the other room of my other volition. He didn’t tell me if he had told me to which does elicit some level of funny visuals in my head. It got me wondering, during this whole period of time while I was in a subconscious state was I feeling pain? Was there a form of me in agony as teeth were removed from my head? I was coherent enough to respond to his commands and I was obviously there for the entire procedure.
I have a complete Amnesia of the entire event, something I’ve been trying to write about for quite some time properly. So I suppose it is a blessing in disguise. But it makes me wonder about that other me, the one that is localized to that small piece of the timeline of my life. What was he thinking at the time? Did the drugged state he was in change his feelings on anything in particular? Was this me for all intents and purposes except that I couldn’t remember anything or feel pain?
I feel somewhat like for a moment I was no longer within my own timeline. Not in the literal sense but in the emotional one. That there is this small sliver of my life that was replaced by another me entirely. It doesn’t feel quite like sleeping, even though they are the same processes. When I go to rest I can feel myself getting tired and I feel a gradual progression of events. Likewise I wake up in nearly the exact position I went to sleep.
I am a million times thankful that I wasn’t awake for the procedure. This is by no means a complaint, as mentioned before the Doctor did a job so amazing I don’t believe it could be done better. I’ve just been pondering about that other me. The one that went through the procedure, following simple commands like a drone. What thought, however simple, was floating along in his brain. I do not remember any dreams during the procedure, which may just be the reach of the drugs.
It’s probably one of my favorite and most perplexing life experiences. It is one thing to be asleep, but to think for a time I was a semi conscious zombie is fascinating. If not for the fact I’d not like to see myself butchered I would have loved to see a video.
I imagine this is not nearly as interesting to anyone out there who has never been anesthetized. I’m also told (by the surgeon) that if I haven’t drank before the feelings I felt would be alien to me. Is this perhaps what total inebriation feels like? Waking up the next day not remembering a moment of the past night. It isn’t the least bit motivating in getting me to drink but I wonder if the processes were the same.
It’s hard to shake the overwhelming feeling of seemingly traveling through space and time in a way far outside the norm.
Utter Silence
1 year ago
by Rico Penguin
in General
Few times in my life do I find myself in a place of total and utter silence. Even now I am somewhat disingenuous, as I write this I can hear each word being read out in my mind. These words are each read in my ideal voice even, not that voice I hear in recordings but the one I hear when I speak.
Everyone in the office where I work has gone out for lunch. My wife left with “The Ladies”, the other men all left in their respective Cliques. I may have damned myself as I noticed the last man remaining hinted towards taking me out with him, I had however already toasted some sandwiches.
They are honestly tasty sandwiches. So perhaps that was not a loss. But the discussions of my dietary habits are not what interest me at this moment (it was Whole Wheat if you were curious).
I can really think at the moment. I can hear the stories I’ve wanted to write unraveling in my mind, this silence almost euphoric to the cerebellum. Even at home I find myself amidst an endless parade of noises, computer fans, beeps, creeks, wind, planes, and various automatic washing devices. But here the only PC’s on are dead silent, their fans running low for no device within them generates heat (IE. These PC’s are weaker than any metaphor I can muster).
It makes me wonder how much we miss because of all the noise. How many wonderful thoughts die beneath the waves of endless sensory molestation. How much of our lives is lost amidst an endless repeating of impulses that we rarely even recognize. Commercials, television, the internet, the highway, all these places where we are forced to constantly absorb information. The time given to process it has become increasingly foreshortened and I think the repercussions are obvious at times…or perhaps their obviousness is just another illusion.
I think I might try to get some quiet time for myself more often. A time to reflect on my thoughts, perhaps bring little more than a pencil and some paper. Something nice and quiet. See if I can slow the ticking of the clock and maybe enjoy those long days I had as a child.
I have a theory of sorts about time. As children we fantasize about being adults and we continually try to race towards the future. We overcompensate and days that used to feel like weeks end up feeling like hours or even minutes. As we reach the middle of our life we find ourselves hurtling onwards towards death, we then begin to try and slow life down. Just as we did in our childhood we overcompensate and find ourselves living within eternal days. Hours feel like months and we move ever slower. Inevitably we die, but those moments before death are slow…endlessly slow.
I imagine then you hear the mightiest of silences and perhaps, though I’m doubtful, that’s when the true introspection can begin. At the very least until your brain shuts down entirely.
The tea is warm, a little bit bitter, but overall not bad. It is topped with a unique Brazilian Honey that tastes…a bit flowery.
A Once Great Beast…
1 year ago
by Rico Penguin
in General
It, as the always erroneous phrase begins, may only be me but the internet has utterly died for me. My interest in it has waned to the point of nonexistence. I find myself only opening it up out of shear habit and then just as quickly closing it. This once mighty beast, a hydra with countless heads has devolved into something of an unnecessary thing. Fears of internet censorship do not strike the smallest of fears inside of me and even as I post this to the very place that I now bore of I can’t help but do so.
Like a lone man stranded on an island I call out to the sea hoping for a voice to return in kind. Yet all I hear are the echoes of my own rasping song. It began, I think, with the fall of the news. The NYT was once a very important staple of my news gathering and it has now devolved into a paper so devoid of critical information it might as well be a magazine alongside the Enquirer. Places such as Newsvine harbor little more than the sludge of the universe, a pestilent bile that serves no purpose in this nor any other of the infinite possible universes, and all such news forums like it are equally devoid of nutrition.
Video game forums are a boom and bust location. With the beginning of a game they start with joy and hope and after a few months of limited connection to the company they all, no matter how positive in the beginning, devolve into the same trolling and hopelessness. These things too are created only out of habit these days, never earnestly read by their creators nor populated by actual players.
Places such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook all lose their shimmer. Videos become rehashes, ‘tweets’ all become formulaic, and Facebook though never truly necessary routinely unwinds itself into the next great MySpace. A relic of bygone eras to be replaced by the next modestly interesting idea.
The only thing these days that one can find routinely on the internet is confirmation bias, we search for what we agree with and we find it. The only great exception to this that I currently experience is Wikipedia but even that has it’s limits. I cannot search for what I do not know I do not know, and thusly I cannot be genuinely surprised by all that I find (I am aware there is a random function but it usually lands on stubs).
So with this realization that the internet has died for me, once the greatest time sink of my life, I have decided that I will use this habit for good. Each time I find myself lusting to open the internet for something other than an online game I will merely read whatever book I have on my computer desk till the urge subsides. I will continue doing this until I am so empty of the “interwebs” that I actually find interest in it again.
I think if that time never comes I will be all the better for it. I finish with the obvious hypocritical clause, that political tool for making any law bend to my will, I will continue to use the internet to service my own website. While few may ever read these words I do find it a good exercise in introspection to discuss my thoughts and feelings. Speaking to that voice within my own person, a curious child wishing only to know that he is not alone.
Update:
Case in point about the news being a dead husk. This sort of thing is common:
Yes I can see how the Iphone is related.
“pubit!” by Barnes and Noble
1 year ago
by Rico Penguin
in General
I’ve been looking into this service and I think that I may begin publishing my short stories with it. I was working on a price point and figured that 3.99 for a short story shouldn’t be too bad. We’ll see if anyone bites and hopefully I’ll get some good word of mouth.
This is exciting for me, I’ll see what I can do about a cover image and converting it to a non-PDF format since that is not acceptable apparently.
For those curious about the lack of updates I’ve merely been a little busy. I’m many books ahead of schedule with Project 52, so I’ll update that as soon as I can. As of now I’m reading a half of a half dozen books, or 3, for those of you who appreciate things not being mischievously described.
I am truly interested in seeing if I could strike a profit from my writing, if it were to start taking off I could certainly see motivation driving more forward into a career that would make me quite happy. But lest not I begin counting my chickens before they’ve hatched, or before the eggs have even been laid. I’ll merely smile and hope that with a few tweaks my first complete short story (short enough to fit fully within 15 pages) will garner some approval and perhaps an inquiry or two from readers.
Very exciting indeed.
I’m also wondering if I want to have DRM on the stuff or not, I think I’ll go with no because the spreading of my writing could help get more people interested in my work and maybe net me some more readers. That’s always a positive!
Math Note: At 3.99 I’d be charging people just over a quarter a page, I would hope that the quality of the writing would be deemed worthy of that. Since I’ve spent 4 times that much on a rocket launcher in a game or far more than 4 times that much on a single magic card, I’m going to be cross my fingers.
Rico’s Guides – Wedding Etiquette for Hosts and Guests
1 year ago
by Rico Penguin
in General
Some of my advice forth coming will be tongue-in-cheek. Mostly joking about mistakes that I made before and during our wedding. Though some of it will be quite serious, there are some things that I think people are entirely ignorant of and unknowingly spit upon their now married friend or relative.
So without further adieu I will provide you with some advice that will make your wedding go smooth and make those attending your wedding less likely to sour the occasion. Likewise I’ll try and make it more structured than I usually do.
The Day Before
The day before is a big day. Mainly because it is the last chance you have to spend money wantonly without possibly putting someone else in harms way. Ok, not necessarily true, but there are some very important things to do this day and some of them start at the beginning of the day.
Is there anything that hasn’t gotten done yet? It really all should have been done a week ago but think, think really hard, is there anything you haven’t finished. Do CD’s need burning, do people need calling, is there some sort of silly “man-date” or “ladies night out” that needs to be accomplished? These things need to be known so that everything can get done long before the end of the day. Which is for a very good reason.
Eat healthy food. – This may seem like a life choice but the day before you desperately need to not eat anything that normally destroys your insides. Indian Food, Authentic Cajun, or Fast Food are likely to utterly obliterate the inside of your being in ways that once were thought exclusive to Prisoners of War. Try something soft, salads, fruits, and vegetables may not be the most “awesome last day” food to eat but you’ll be thanking me when you don’t wake up the next morning vomitting because of the combination of grease, fat, and nerves…also one final ingredient.
Get plenty of Rest. – Huge! This is utterly huge! If you forget to eat healthy the day before and you get little rest you are going to be a big pile of fleshy discomfort the following day. The vast majority of your morning will be spent wondering “Am I going to die on my wedding day?” Which is hyperbolic, melodramatic, and likely wrong. If you do die I apologize, I should have warned you better, we’ll talk later.
But these are things for the actual Bride and Groom. What can guests do? Preparation is key here.
Hire a babysitter. – Now I know most folks don’t realize this, and I can say with much certainty that when I have kids I’ll be no better, not because I don’t have confidence in myself but because if this many people don’t see it then it must be a biological thing. Regardless, few people want wild and crazy kids at their wedding, at least for the ceremony. You may be saying to yourself “My children are Angels.” But chances are far against you that they are not, in fact, angels. They have their moments, I’m sure that’s why you love them, but most of the time they make many people around you want to go home early. This isn’t targeted to anyone in particular, but advice that will help stop the internal grumblings that every living person you know at the Wedding will be having towards you. Also don’t be offended if people want your kids to go away, I realize you are stuck with them, but everyone else shouldn’t have to suffer.
Get plenty of Rest. – Same reasons as above. Plus this way you don’t wake up 5 hours after the wedding started.
Practice smiling. – I realize I’m a grumpy nerd, but be prepared to smile. I don’t think, in my entire life, I’ve ever smiled that much at a wedding. This goes for both the guests and the grooms I suppose. Many of your smiles will be authentic, but there are going to be some you’ll have to hold for record durations for pictures.
The Day Of
This is a pretty big day for the bride and groom, theoretically you both know each other and are of the psychological construct that you actually function in a long relationship. Marriage, or pairing of any kind (legally bound or otherwise) is not something for everyone. I >still< don’t get the whole fuss, but considering it changes nothing of the reality (as I loved her before and I still love her now) I had nothing against doing it. But I am digressing.
Leave for the location early. – This might not matter if you are getting married at a 15 room Vila that overlooks the Bahamas or something…I’m bad at rich metaphors…or is that an analogy? You know what? I don’t care for now, we’ll worry about all that some other day. At any rate it’s at LEAST an example. Or is it…Oh dear.
Don’t forget comfy shoes! – Regardless of if you are a man or a woman you will be wearing uncomfortable shoes. Heels are a nightmare for most women but those black shoes that men get aren’t much better. They pommel your ankles, absorb none of the shock of pavement or other hard surfaces, and give about as much breathing room as a vacuum chamber. Bring comfy shoes so that after the ceremony you can feel comfortable and enjoy the rest of the day.
Enjoy the Mistakes. – There will be something at the wedding that’ll happen not entirely as planned. Enjoy those moments as they are the ones that make your particular wedding wholly unique from every other one in the world. Your own personal snowflake (oh corny).
The Do’s of the Wedding
This is pretty simple. Have fun, if you are the Bride and Groom, remember that nothing really changes. You get fancy rings, now you probably have the same last name, and you get some tax goodies from the state. However as a whole you are the same two people who walked in and are walking out. It’s largely a fun ceremony that is just there to provide you with amazing Cake and a great excuse to gather tons of friends and family together. For some there will be a deep spiritual meaning, for me it seems more like a reminder of what should be happening all the time, gatherings of those we know and love to talk and eat and laugh.
I’m sure this could be longer. Perhaps another big suggestion is to use all the social networking sites that you have, assuming you actually populate them with friends, and announce your wedding. Likewise give out a public invitation, see who would like to RSVP and gather up as many people as you can. This is more than just a grab for possible goodies it is also a chance to see people that otherwise you might not see for years (if ever) again.
Now don’t be alarmed as the do not of the wedding will be quite large. This is not to say there is much that shouldn’t be done but merely that there are a few things with profound implications that shouldn’t be done. Otherwise the reality is that your wedding, whoever you be, will likely be wonderful and fun. Just smile, breath, and remember good food and cake comes after.
The do not of the wedding
Again this is super simple. For the Bride and Groom just be sure to have fun, check out the above tips I’ve provided and use your own common sense. Common sense will fail you during the wedding, constantly, so don’t feel bad and scold it later for evacuating the premises. If the DJ plays the wrong song at a certain point just go with the flow, most people won’t notice and there may be a chance that that new song will give you new inspiration for what to do during that part of the wedding.
For guests. Do not RSVP if you are not going to come, just as an example it cost my mother-in-law 30 dollars a person for every person who did not show. So that becomes the gift of that guest, you tell the bride and the groom “Well good luck on being married here is a bill for 30 dollars.” It’s insanely rude, I’m not sure of any other situation where people would think that is fine. Sending people a bill on their birthday or on Christmas? Would these people find folks wanting to talk to them much longer. Our wedding used a nice place with somewhat reasonable prices, at other wedding your absence could cost the couple a hundred dollars or more.
There is also no excuse for it. Unless the wedding is happening in a week and everyone was told now, there is absolutely no excuse. This is not a Halloween bash, these things only happen once. If you don’t believe they’ll only happen once then that is your prerogative, however not showing up and implying that you don’t think people will succeed is fairly harsh. Work will always make room for a wedding, which reminds me real quick. If you RSVP for a wedding ask for that day off. The “My work called” excuse is not acceptable. Just be honest “I don’t feel like coming.” will work fine, if your friend can’t take the truth then they aren’t really a friend, but lying to them or intentionally making up a problem by not asking for the day off is foolish and wrong.
Further, if you RSVP you have taken a spot on the wedding list. If you would be honest and explain to the folks you won’t be coming they can give that spot to someone else. There are fire codes in buildings that do not allow more than X people to show, so if the actual number is X-1 that’s a person that could have come but didn’t because that –1 didn’t have the common decency to warn everyone days or weeks early (if ever).
If you plan to leave the wedding, at least say goodnight, tell the hosts or even the parents of the couple that you’ll be going and that you had a good (or bad) time 
. Vanishing like smoke in the wind tends to be hurtful, everyone knows people have places to be and things to do, but when people just vanish the assumptions are almost always bad ones. It produces a level of doubt in the preparations of the hosts and their parents. Nobody expects anyone to stay forever, but generally weddings are long (about an hour longer than your spine and feet wish they were).
Gifts are welcome (again seeing as this is a on time thing), invest what you feel is the legitimacy of the coupling. If you don’t think they’ll make it for very long, drop them a few bucks, if you actually think they’ll last maybe buy them a nice candle holder or some cups. If you are strapped for cash just write them a nice personal card. Gifts don’t always have to be huge sums of money, however a simple personal (non-hallmark) card can mean the world to most people with a soul (I am of course joking, I just know that some people want material goods and would scoff at an empty card).
I personally do this at least, I look at the couple. If I think they’ll make it for 50 years I drop them a hundred dollars (possibly more if they are old friends). It is a lot of money for a middle class person but the theory is that I won’t be doing it again for 50 years minimum. That’s a 50 cent investment in their marriage for every year that I figure it’ll last. I spend more than that on anything I need in a year. If they seem like the couple that’ll just beat each other and eventually break up in a fiery divorce that may leave one destitute I’ll drop 10-20 dollars and include a card with wishes of their success. Maybe I’ll get lucky and the wishes will be granted and they’ll stop hating one another.
Regardless it may not be a persons intent but that does appear to be the message. Invest for what you feel is the likelihood of their success. Raw money isn’t necessary either, goods that last a lifetime are very symbolic and wonderful. At least one person had no cash to speak of to gift us (I mean that darn near literally) and they gave us some candles and candle holders that had been mistakenly mailed to them a long time past. Those candle holders happened to be cherry blossom (if I’m not mistaken) and so it was a nice symbolic “Some mysterious person knew it would happen” moment. Plus the holders themselves should survive with us for years if not decades. This sort of thing means a lot and it cost them nothing, had they bought them we are looking at probably 30 bucks if one got thrifty (could be less).
But it’s the thought. That, I think, is what every couple wants, to know that others at least have a thought for them and believe they’ll succeed. It is hardly necessary at all for their success but it helps to pave ways of even deeper friendship with those they cared about enough to invite. (Never underestimate the power of an honest card, around Christmas I’d prefer a personal note a million times over to a cheap sweater and the note saves the sender a few bucks).
Back by Popular Demand
1 year ago
by Rico Penguin
in General
Well this is one of those unusual days where I’m merely posting to confirm that I have, in fact, not died. I was gone for a week getting married. I know, crazy right? Well at any rate I’ll be discussing this week the things I’ve learned about weddings so that folks in the future can have fancy smancy weddings and not make the same mistakes or have others make the same mistakes that we did 
.
Though don’t get me wrong, the wedding went beautifully, I got to see friends I haven’t seen in ages and I got to be with family that I haven’t got to socialize with in…again ages. It was a fantastic day that ended in a fantastic night (it went till night, don’t read anything suggestive ). I’m now going to receive benefits from the state for merely confirming what Liz and myself have known for 6 years now.
That’s about it, our house no longer has a roommate so I’m going to go spend a nice part of tonight moving things into that now beautifully vacant room .
Weddings and WTF?
1 year ago
by Rico Penguin
in General
For those curious about the last update, I’ve just been really tired with the incredibly up front racism that’s been on a few 24 hour news stations and the internet at large. Even my facebook has its fair share of “Snicker, Muslims==murderers&&rapists&&terrorists.” That sort of stuff is disheartening, you don’t want to think that your friends are retarded, I of course mean that in the willing sense as opposed unwilling handicap from birth and genetic defects. They can be hard to distinguish but I’m making that separation. I try to convince myself that they are just being sarcastic and I missed it, but at this point in the evolution of the internet the [/sarcasm] tag has become standard enough to be expected.
Today is my last day in California for over a week! I leave for Washington to get married and I must say that overall I am getting more pleased by the day. About the only unfortunate thing right now is that I have a nasal voice from that cold, it really put my throat and nose through a harsh loop. Hopefully I’ll be fully vocal and normal by September 4th. I’ll be investigating any sort of “cures” for this issue that don’t involve half a pound of over the counter medication…wish me luck I suppose.
So yes, short update. I hope my last one wasn’t hyper nationalistic sounding, I’m not necessarily saying Americans are the best people ever because that conflicts with many of the psychological and philosophical beliefs that I’ve explained on here. But when you proclaim that you are a people of higher moral standards, of stronger will, and of greater overall stature then you should damn well act like these things or at least one of them. Many of these people involved with the entire anti-middle eastern movement are none of them and yet they don’t get laughed out of the country like the scabs they are.
It’s a darn shame. A shame that I won’t be thinking the least about on the 4th . But until then and possibly after then it will bother me. Only because you would hope that within something like ten thousand years you could get people to at least a 98% “Head not-in-ass” state. Maybe science will invent a cream that you can rub on your temples and it’ll dissolve all the stupid that gunk up for these folks.
Admittedly it is still a very small part of the country, but any percent that is not itself a percent of a percent is too much. The anti-intellectual movement is troublesome and benefits nobody, not even the people pushing it.
Rico the Grumpguin: Weddings and Noses.
1 year ago
by Rico Penguin
in General
I think from time to time, when I’m feeling extra grumpy, feeling a few decades older than I actually am that I’ll post what I like to call a “Rico the Grumpguin” talking about what makes or is making me grumpy. These are basically “rants”. These are extremely loosely written, they’ll likely be written when I’m tired, sick, or sick and tired. So feel free to skip any of these when you see them.
Firstly I’ve had a sore throat for days now. Why? Well quite simply I fell asleep on my back a few nights back and my nose leaked into my throat. My nose is basically a bastard, an added change to my face that does little more than break out and clog. It does these things in no particular order and sometimes likes to do them at the same time en masse. It’s existence is little more than to a blight in my life and I have never had a moment where I thought “Oh thank the heavens…I can breath through my nose.” It is such an unlikely scenario that I feel I merely gave up on the hopes of such a thing long long ago.
So with throat raw, swallowing endless, and head aching I start thinking about part two of what makes me grumpy. Now honestly, Marriage for me will be extremely easy. I have been with the same person, if you can call her such and not be downplaying the awesome that is she, because I can be upset with a person, I can indeed hate a person, I can go so far as to not care if a person ceases to exist. But she is something of wonder and her very existence in my life makes it all survivable and complete. Marrying her is merely putting a legal stamp upon something that I had known from the second I was afraid to say “I love you.” Why afraid you might ask? Every single person I was not related to that I told those simple 3 words left me almost immediately (There is 0 hyperbole in that). The fear of losing her gripped my heart tightly and threatened to kill me outright.
The workspace of a Penguin
2 years ago
by Rico Penguin
in General
For those that have wondered what my workspace looks like here is a brief glimpse into my life. These were all taken with a particularly stubborn 99 dollar camera, I love the little guy but focusing with it is sort of like hitting yourself in the groin with a hammer. So excuse the grains .
You’ll notice it’s relatively clean. This is purely doctored I assure you, took this image while holding my Coffee .
This is where all the mess is hiding. We’ve got rubbing alcohol, a bunch of writeable dvd’s and CD’s, games galore…oh and is that a PSP and a DS laying with one another…the hubris!
You’ll notice the tacky grey and white drives in a black case. Oh and clutter…lots of clutter. Just barely you can make out my sexy headphones on top of the tower. I love those guys. 
This is actually the lightest my action figure collection has ever looked. I may take a picture of all my DnD miniatures sometime. I’ve got a whole bunch of them, once I get a job its going to get grotesque too I’m certain. That’s Daemon in the back there with his hands outstretched, one of my favorite old toys.
About the only thing my SPORE game does anymore is sit inside its exceptionally nice case. I ended up getting that for 10 dollars cheaper than the regular copy. It wasn’t a bad game if you don’t play it. Also that’s Doraemon, the best Japanese kids show character ever.
I have limited space on my shelves. So you’ll see graphic novels stacking on top of one another . 
Another shot of some of my books, I have a pretty large DND collection I might take a shot of sometime as well. Add it to this little series. 
Alien Hominid . Got this from PAX with the game.
One of the Maps on the walls here. I love maps and any game that comes with one gets an automatic thumbs up.
Just another shot of the same map, I dunno, whichever you like best.
This is another map, from the box of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.
A map that came with the expansion, Shivering Isles. Great detail .
So that is it for now. I’m sure that I’ll have a plethora of other images from the various nerd points in the apartment. Need to take them soon before we destruct and move. Obviously none of the images will reveal our location, don’t want any of my ravenous (and entirely fictitious) fans coming here 
.
Future Dreams
2 years ago
by Rico Penguin
in General
Today’s post will be more personal than usual. Partially because I had to walk from my home to the college today (which is a very tiring operation).
I am certain I know what Job I’d like to do. I want to be a teacher and eventually a professor. But why?! You might ask…oh its quite simple!
Well first we look at the schedule. I realize that teachers work extra hours before and after the average school day, likewise I realize that ‘short days’ are not short for teachers. However anytime I think to myself “what days am I working next week?” The answer will be pretty simple “Oh right! Monday through Friday!”
I like that sort of consistency, it provides me with a very manageable life schedule which will make my writing a plausible activity (seeing as I need consistent time frames to keep my mind in check). Likewise I love helping people and I can see few better ways to help people than to help them learn the most that they possibly can. The consistent breaks each year would also be very pleasant. I know most of my professors go to other countries to enjoy things related (and not so related) to their studies.
The pay might not be the greatest in the world but that’s not necessarily a terrible thing. The US is an amazingly interesting place if only for the fact that across our country there are millionaire CEO’s that have more money than they can even figure out what to do with, yet they’ll die in obscurity just like all the people around them. Short of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates (two people who are more famous for what they invented than their finances) I can think of no CEO’s name. However I can name most of my favorite teachers and professors.
The almost entrancing freedom it would give me in terms of my writing also excites me greatly. So I think I’m set. As for what I’ll teach that’s up in the air, but just about anything interests me. Which might be another thing to chock up on the list.
So I suppose that’s it for today. I apologize for the succinctness as well as the somewhat random nature of this post, but my face feels like its swallowing itself (I’m … really … tired) and I don’t think I could manage something much better tonight.
I think for the sake of future sight, there is a great chance you’ll see an article about Determinism on here tomorrow. Mostly because I think it’s an interesting topic…and I hope you will to.