Why five days on to two days offish?

[silveradept]

Because in college I have days with no class and days with class. Days off are not really in the budget, are they? Which is such a pain. Perhaps in the working world, the weekends will actually be returned to us as a way of taking time off. (Of course, with kids and significant others, that's not entirely true or possible, but one would hope that the office is kind enough to give someone a complete day or two off to recharge after a week's worth of work-time.

Oh, well. After this year, only one more of this kind of schedule before I start dealing with a different method of trying to stress me out. I think I missed that part where I'm supposed to take my years off and go touring - or are those expected to happen after college, you know - a year or two in Europe, just doing stuff carefree, somehow with the funds to keep going, just experiencing life, that sort of thing. I think those parts are going away - mostly because the debts won't wait for me to find myself before they demand I make them money. There's the real problem - I have to start working to pay off the debts, and while those debts are paid off, more are incurred, and it's a vicious cycle. Maybe that's why we value retirement so much - it's theoretically the only time where we don't have to worry about debt and can do all the stuff we've been putting off. So much for having my childhood or college years as carefree times, I guess. (Although that could be argued that it's a matter of attitude, rather than anything else, and I just took it too seriously.)

Comet dust has returned to earth, so we'll get to see what's inside. Happy fun stuff, I'm sure.

From the "jaw agape, they didn't, did they?" department, two entries: The first is a bloke who got his bits caught not once, but twice in a mousetrap (although at some time apart). Can't give him but an honorable mention because he's still able to breed, I'm sure. Second item is a proposed assignment on porn, which included potentially exposing the high schoolers to porn. My first reaction to this is "Nothing they haven't seen already by that age", but that might be a tad on the cynical side.

Male stripping for fun and profit? Probably not, say guys in the industry. The profit part may e good, but the fun, maybe not so much. Conditions seem a little different for the two, as well. Apparently it's not quite as easy for a guy to strip his way through college as the perception of how girls can.

It's art, still, right? And it'll probably be in demand in one way or another, in sculpture or otherwise. Some might even say that aesthetics behaves in a Darwinish way. It's possible that some part of art is hardwired to us, and then culture helps us determine which parts of art we identify with more strongly than others. It's a bit of a nature-nurture argument, turned sideways just a bit. An interesting thought, and it plays into the greater debate of just how much of our selves can be described using scientific principle. One might call it an attack on the concept of soul.

And rest is good for my soul (as is dinner with family members). Also, I have a scarf now, and am actually quite unsure of how I'm supposed to wear it, if there is some etiquette to it. Someone who's scarf-inclined, help?

Comments

[greyweirdo.livejournal.com]

Generally, one puts the scarf around one's neck. If you find you've stuffed it into your sock, you are doing it wrong.

[greyweirdo.livejournal.com]

On a different note, I'd have to agree wiht the Darwinian aesthetics view, at least partially. There is a universal view on facial beauty that has been tested over and over again. I've got a documentary you might like to borrow on the subject in fact.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) (Tie it around neck, generally cross it over itself a few timesand/or tuck (at least) one end in via pulling it through somewhere near the centre? *hasn't worn a scarf yet; is hypothesising*)

[wanderingbhikkh.livejournal.com]

That Darwinian aesthetics article is mighty interesting, speaking both as an artist and an anthropologist. Just imagine...scientific prediction of public taste.

[silveradept]

Well, that's what advertising is trying to do already, so there's at least some weight to the argument. Although total scientific prediction of the new fads would be kind of irritating. Maybe it's one of those sciences that you have, but for it to be effective, the people can't think that it's being used on them.

[silveradept]

Save it for now - I'm still having that much trouble finding free time and convincing myself to actually use it, rather than to try and get further ahead. I haven't touched the Firefly you lent me.

[rimspace.livejournal.com]

Psychohistory, in fact ;)

[silveradept]

I was going to make a Seldon joke because of how this sounded a lot like the beginnings of psychohistory, but I wasn't sure everyone would follow me through.

[fred-smith.livejournal.com]

Shame about porn, but frankly, at 15 I wouldn't have wanted to write something like that. Maybe I was a late developer in many ways but at that stage my whole view of sexuality was kind of in flux and entering maturity. Actually writing about it may have blown my tiny mind.

Actually, I still find porn confusing on an intellectual level. But by now I could probably write a decent essay on it from an intellectual or magical point of view if asked.

[silveradept]

Writing about porn at fifteen probably wouldn't have passed muster with the parents, but at that time, I was curious enough to make a study on it (and perhaps enjoy some of the fruits of labour and claim it was for research) - I suspect more that the average 15-year-old wouldn't be able to get his mind off what was going on enough to analyze what was going on.

What about porn confuses you still, though? There's probably a very intersting discussion lying down this road...

[fred-smith.livejournal.com]

For a long time, dancing confused me. Its some kind of weird sexual ritual and I could only understand it through more normal things I had experience of, like esotericism and biology. Even now, I tend to see dance in a religious context than in the normal context, which I cannot relate to.

In the same way, porn, to me, is a form of literature and a magical tool. I very rarely read it outside of ritual circumstances. For this reason, I tend towards porn that has an intellectual point, that I can discuss at great length. I also expect porn to stretch me on some emotional level, like any other kind of art. Obviously, I am constantly dissappointed in what this culture has managed to produce, though I've come up with some interesting ideas through it.

There's so many factors. Gender, power, sexuality, personality of the model and photographer, social situation, intended audience, the difference between fantasy and reality and then, beyond that there's all the non-existent factors, like the position of Porn with spirals, psychic experience, the Buddhist Wheel of Life and other reality models.

The end result is that it doesn't really make a lot of sense. But it has a gnostic pay-off related to literary and artistic merit. Which in itself is fascinating to study, given how much of my time I give over to thinking about Joy right now.

[silveradept]

That makes sense. Obviously, you're in the minority in most places who see it as something different, but it's perfectly logical to extend the idea of sacred sex out to other forms and to expect something with quality and intellect.

By the way, I dropped a needle around there yesterday. Maybe you'll find it for me.

[fred-smith.livejournal.com]

I'm always in the minority. But I believe its important that every experience affirms you.

If I find that needle, I'll let you know/.