I think my latin final went well today, for whatever values of well and latin are possible for me. The paper finished out nicely at 10 pages. I'll post it later on today. Now I just have some contract work and some real work between me and South Carolina. I still don't get a ton of sleep before then, but that's what flying's for.
So I'm back. And yes, it was amazing. And yes, the dwarf was on fire. Now to decide whether to sleep now, then wake up, finish and study, or to finish now, sleep, wake up, and then study. Hmmm... The bed beckons.
So #{node "5"}D4#{/node} just talked me into going to see the Lord of the Rings... in an hour. I have a paper due at 10, and a final at 11, and I'm going to see a movie at 12:01am. Ahhh... college. On the plus side, I'm on page 9 of 10 for my paper, so it might as well be done. Hey whatever, I'm happy. And it's a fandango theater! I love fandango ads.
It's a little past four, and I've got five full pages. I'm in the second of three major sections in my outline, so I've feeling good about page length right now. I see this ending up around 10 pages, though I could probably flesh it to 12 if I wanted to. I think I'm going to end up citing well over a dozen sources. I've already cited from three books, three journal articles, and a web source.
One final and one paper left to go. Today I had a final (that I felt good about) and worked on my paper for the rest of the day. I read a book (115 or so pages), typed an outline (a full page), and wrote 3 pages of the final paper (of 10 - 15). Tomorrow I work 8 hours and then get to finish the paper and attempt to study for my latin final. All that while still finding time to sleep a little, hopefully...
I've got a final tomorrow, and a final and a paper due Wednesday. It's going to be a long couple days before I fly down to South Carolina on Friday.
So right now I can see the beacon from my apartment. I haven't been able to find out anything about when it's lit, and I know I can't have just not noticed it before. I mean, if I can see it from the couch, and it's on at the same time as the Simpsons, I would have to have noticed it before. Weird...
Last night when I was driving back I also saw the Lindbergh Beacon lit up on City Hall. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen it lit up before, so I'm really curious to know if I'm just oblivious other times, or if there was some occasion.
So I've been working for a couple weeks now, and I've thought of various things I wanted to post various times, only to forget to post them when I actually could have. Last night, though, I was driving back and decided that Tricky's song Bury the Evidence is my perfect soundtrack for the 110 from Pasadena to downtown when it's dark out and you can go fast. I love the 110 up there... Then you hit the 4-level and everything goes downhill.
So I saw Drew Barrymore the other day. They were having the premiere for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind in Westwood on Wednesday, and #{node "6"}Magilla#{/node}, #{node "5"}D4#{/node}, and I happened to be heading that direction in search of a little goodness from Diddy Reese. People were lined along the sidewalk, pushed back along the walls by security, and definitely felt compelled to yell at Magilla and I when we happened to walk up at the exact moment Drew was getting out of her limo directly in front of Diddy. All we wanted were cookies, not trouble...
So... ummm... I haven't died. In fact, there's been a lot going on, and I've just been pretty slack in getting it up here. Instead of posting one big entry, I'm going to post several rapid-fire...
In 1996 Todd Collins, Toby McKeehan (of DC Talk), and Joey Elwood put out an album called ERACE. As has happened with several albums I bought back then, I pulled this one back out a while back and dusted it off to give it a spin. I love it. Definitely worth picking up, especially since you're likely to find it extremely cheap these days.
I've posted my paper, "On Moral Luck," in verbal intercourse. It's a shorter paper, but I think it came out with a strong argument.
I think this is one of the best I've crafted...
Every small child has an inherent knowledge of the concept of moral luck. Even Homer Simpson, the dull-witted star of animated TV, has mastered practical application of the concept. When his car's rear bumper falls off, causing mayhem for the cars behind him, Homer appeals for an analysis of his intentions, not of the result that happened to occur. "Not my fault!" he yells out the window at the chaos, "Act of God! Act of God!" Thomas Nagel deals with this issue of how moral responsibility is influenced by circumstances outside a person's control in his essay entitled "Moral Luck." Nagel's work is strong in its presentation of the internal paradox this issue presents, but falls short when it fails to differentiate between moral responsibility and criminal culpability.
For the second time in my college career, I've gone to write a paper the night before it was due and absolutely failed to do so. I tried to read, and my eyes just wouldn't assent to staying open. So my philosophy paper that was due today didn't get done. It's not a real big deal... 1/3 of a letter grade. And I guarantee writing it today will make it better enough to more than make that up.
But anyway... I'm now faced with the same question I normally am, namely, do I put in a Simpsons quote? It's not a question of whether it relates, because obviously, being the Simpsons, it does. The question is really, is my dry philosophy professor going to appreciate The Simpsons, or think I'm not worthy of writing in the confusing style philosophers seem to so prefer? I think I have to go for it, and make it as academic as possible.
Next Saturday night Trio is showing every episode of the show-lived but brilliant series Action!. I loved this show. FX showed it for a while after Fox cancelled it (two weeks or so into the season), and I was absolutely addicted. Jay Mohr is hilarious. I want them to come out with an Action! DVD set. I'd buy it in a second.
If I make it through the next 36 hours I'll be golden. But in between now and then I've got much, much to do. I've made it this far, I might as well tough it out for another day and a half...
I have a bit more writing to do before tomorrow. I'm not exactly tired, but I really don't feel like writing right now. So what do I do? I go to bed, setting my alarm to wake me up in a little under 4 1/2 hours... I am getting a semester's worth of work done in one day, though, so I guess I expect this.
So November was a slow month for me as far as posting here goes. That's nothing really new, though; it's a pretty hectic month. But now it's December, Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we have one more week of classes before finals start. It's time to lay my schedule out and grind out the last two weeks or so. Lots of writing lies between me and Christmas. And yet, we sent Notre Dame's "Return to Glory" packing, so all is right in the world. The Trojans once again own LA.
