Revolting Rhymes

You might think you’ve peeped the scene,
You haven’t. The real one’s far too mean.
The watered down one, the one you know;
Was made up centuries ago.
It made it sound all whack and corny,
Yes it’s awful, blasted boring.
Twisted fiction, sick addiction,
Well gather ’round children, zip it LISTEN!

Nicki Minaj’s re-interpretation of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes about “Cinderella” is ingenious. I recommend giving Revolting Rhymes a read. The satire of the poems reminds me a great deal of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

We have to start somewhere, right?

Oscar Wilde once said: Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. Before jumping to conclusions, we must first ask ourselves: what exactly is worth knowing? Knowledge encompasses everything we learn through experience and education, and depending upon our philosophical bent, we may have different opinions about what constitutes experience and education. Education is, in and of itself, an experience. Our lives are made up of experiences and our experiences shape who we are and influence what we do and how we act, which in turn affect our choices in life. The choices we make are based on the knowledge we acquire whether through education or experience. This knowledge ultimately provides the basis for our thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Consequently, the more knowledge we possess, the better we will be at expressing these thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

Now, think back on your education and your experiences: Are there things that are not worth knowing? The following video is an RSA Animate of the talk by Sir Ken Robinson on “Changing Education Paradigms”.

Think about it.

Saint Valentinus

Seeing as Saint Valentinus, or Saint Valentine if you prefer, was imprisoned and beheaded for marrying Christians in the late 15th century, shouldn’t we have headless teddy bears to commemorate him? Besides, shouldn’t Valentine’s Day be every day if we really love someone? If we really want to show someone that we care for them, why not transcend the materialistic world and simply BE with them? There’s no need to waste time and money on cards and chocolate and roses and whatever else you buy on this so-called Valentine’s Day because they don’t really mean anything. Sure, I get that chocolate is sweet and cards are convenient, but shouldn’t we simply say what we feel instead of giving words to loved ones that were written by greeting card companies? People get paid TONS to come up with those words and phrases, so please, be original and write your own. It isn’t hard if you really mean what you say. Happy Valentine’s Day, I guess.

The end is in sight!

I cannot believe my last post here was over 3 months ago…I just haven’t had the time nor have I been in the right mood. At any rate, if everything goes as planned, I will graduate this summer with my Master’s Degree. Not that I am not enjoying graduate school, in fact, I am really starting to like what I have learned and probably will learn. The problem is that I need to get out of here, as in get out of the US and start teaching and traveling again. I am getting bored with being in California. The last time I was out of the country on my own was more than a year ago. One year in the same place is way too long for me. I need to keep moving. I constantly need new and interesting things to keep my mind engaged, hence, I do not have a planner or calendar of any kind. I just remember things.

The past week or so has been fun, intriguing, and stimulating. The classes I am taking are challenging and I have pretty much been reading a great deal of academic materials, even in my dreams. I was reading about a bunch of research and theories one late night for my Applied Linguistic Research class and I fell asleep. Subsequently, my mind continued reading about the research and I saw the texts clearly and I knew I was asleep, to an extent. I couldn’t completely control what I was doing (Lucid dreaming) but it was definitely the closest I have been. Anyway, I recommend this site for those who seek to keep their mind sharp. Peace.

All Hallows Eve

Happy Halloween, I guess. Do people even know what Halloween is? Where did it come from? Why is it celebrated? Most people do, I hope. History has it that Halloween falls on the night before ‘All Hallows Day’ which is Nov. 1st. It originated from the Roman’s ancient ‘festival of the dead’. A close relative to it would be the Celtic’s celebration of ‘Samhain’. In any case, the purpose of Halloween is to honor the dead (for the Romans). The Celts, however, believe that on All Hallows Eve, the boundaries between our world and the world of the dead overlap, and the dead would come back to life to, well, basically fuck our world up. Dressing up and disguising using costumes is one of the ways to keep oneself out of ‘harm’s’ way. Scary pumpkins and bonfires are also used to keep the ‘spirits of the dead’ away. Nowadays, most people don’t even think about the history or the meaning behind holidays and festivals because they’re all so commercialized and conventionalized. Ask any college student what they’re doing for Halloween and nine out of ten will tell you that they’re dressing up and getting trashed. Chicks would dress up as slutty as possible and dudes would wear as little cloth as possible (given that they’re in shape). This might not apply to you in which case, good for you! If it does, no offense.

Quoting Forrest Gump, “And that’s all I have to say about that”.

Happy Halloween.

I don’t know what I want anymore.

Taking 6 classes for a total of 17 units is definitely taking its toll. This past month was a little bit of a blur in a way that I don’t know where all the time went. It was mainly class, homework, reading, sleep, and doing it all over. I am content though I’ll admit that. I did and do still have some doubts but that’s normal really. Anyway, I have to “vent” somewhere so this might as well be the place. Myriad thoughts always drift through my mind when I go to bed and I never fall asleep until 2 or 3 hours later. My brain has even been working every night because I haven’t had a dreamless night (which is a good thing) since…I don’t remember when.

I’m also starting to have doubts about Peace Corps and I haven’t the faintest idea why. I wish I could have the compass in the Pirates of the Caribbean that tells me what I want most…that would make things so much easier. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if I’m doing what my heart wants or if I’m doing what I think my heart wants or even if I’m doing what I think I’m expected to do. Feelings are associated with the heart, true, but the brain is the instrument that interprets these feelings. The brain is logical and rational but feelings aren’t. So, what I’m left with are more unanswered questions. Great.

It might seem that I’m pouring my heart out, but I’m really not, not on here anyway.

First day of school…tomorrow

It’s been more than two years since I finished my last final exam and I thought then I’d be done with school forever. Life, however, has a way of maneuvering down strange roads that eventually led me back to…school. It’s the same in that it’s different. I’ve had a long enough break to take this on as something new. I’ve learned plenty during this long break, things that aren’t taught in school. I’m sure I’m well prepared and yet, I feel a sense of unfamiliarity. Something’s amiss. I can’t put it in words. It’s weird. In any case, I am excited and nervous about grad school. I shall see what it really is like tomorrow.

**8/31 – Tuesday

Well, at least I survived the first day. It’s only going to get harder from here on out. LOTS of reading and homework. I took too long of a break and got out of the habit of preparing for class and all that. Now I have to get back into it. It’s going to be fun though because my linguistic classes are right up my alley and so interesting. The professor has a good sense of humor and that helps. To feel better and get “everything” out of my system, I’m going to scream: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Game on.