Fancy New Age

I'm 25! Sunday was my birthday and I couldn't be happier! I'm on top of the world. The sun is totally shining and I'm wearing my dancin' shoes. But seriously...

Age is such a bizarre thing to me. I've tried ever so hard to wrap my mind around it. Don't get me wrong, it's nifty to say you're a "quarter century", just like it's nifty to say, "excuse me sir, we don't allow lemurs in the restaurant." I don't equate age with anything other than a random number. I might as well be 8,305.

Why? Here's why. Allow me to preface this by saying that Robin and I got into a rather intense discussion on this topic, because it is intensly interesting to me. By the way, I am not ripping this off of any philosopher I've studied. I'm sure such arguments have occurred, but I'm not aware of them.

STATEMENT: Time does not exist.
WHA?!: The most basic definition of the word is that it is a measurement between "points"; say, now and then, always and never. However, it is impossible to say there is a now, a then, or a future. This is because when one thinks of a moment, the moment has already passed. There is no quantifiable way to find a moment in its pure form. Even if you apply seconds, nanoseconds, googleseconds, whatever, they keep getting smaller and smaller for infinity seconds. When a moment occurs, it is simultaneously becoming a moment past and reflecting what it is, and is showing what it will eventually be by said change. I cannot see any way to break apart "now" from "then", because they were and are connected. Now, this should not mean that events have occurred and that we can plainly see change throughout our lives. Change, however, is not dependent on time. Change and variance happen because they happen. The fact that we see events as separate from one another is based entirely on our desire to organize.

On the same hand, I use time on a daily basis and find it very convenient. I waited until I was 24 to apply for financial aid. I could drink when I was 21. I'll (hopefully) get to retire when I'm in my 60's. My lunch hour is from 11:30-12:30. However, I do not delude myself by thinking these arbitrary quantifications of life have anything to do with our actual situation. All "time" does is give us a useful system of organization, in order that we may have a measurement of our existence.

Trouble Blogging

Not so surprisingly, I haven't updated my blog in quite some time. I guess I should have posted a little something about my leg. It's still attached, by the way. I fully recovered and things are peachy in my southern hemisphere.

My friends are much better at blogging than I. Personally, I have trouble finding interesting topics to blog on, because my friends always think up good stuff. I'm a prolific commenter, but a terrible author. Apologies to my thousands of fans ;)

As the school year is drawing to a close (until July 10th when I begin summer term), I wish to reflect upon things learned and things questioned this year:

1. Philosophy is only useful if you like it. Otherwise, it just sounds like a bunch of non-interesting blah blah.

2. That's okay, because I think philosophy is working through me in mysterious ways. Like God would if it weren't nonexistent.

3. Proofs for the existence of God are interesting and pointless. Eating ice cream can give you more meaning than studying a being who may or may not exist but in any case is beyond your realm of understanding. I understand sugar, cream and chocolate. They're here now for me to experience. Mmmmmmmmm.

4. Sociology is something everyone must take during college, but get prepared for endless depression through eye-opening experiences of inequality. You may or may not want to still be an American after taking Sociology.

5. Japanese art has become some of my most favorite to learn about and look at. In western culture, we're so used to having everything splashed in vivid color all over the canvas, leaving little room for interpretation (well, up until the late 1800s anyway). But there ain't nothin' like the simplicity and humility of a Zen master painting. Look at Sesshu's "Landscape in the Haboku technique" if you don't believe me.

6. Math sucks

7. Homosexuals are as boring as heterosexuals. Spending too much money on clothes and having nice furniture doesn't set us apart on any meaningful level. Neither does loving the person of our choice. Therefore, we should be able to marry.

8. What does it mean to Be?