Chance Meetings and Satisfaction

Being awake at 4:45 am never fails to be a bizarre experience. Since I usually conk out around 11, being forced to be a night owl is particularly strange. I got kicked out of the library at 3:45, when the learning commons closes. Other than myself, there were, if I remember correctly (I probably don't) about 4 other stragglers. I struck up a conversation with one, an older woman, probably in continuing studies, wearing a long black dress and burgundy hijab, who'd fallen asleep in one of those irresistibly squishy black armchairs arrayed in the basement lounge area, underneath the stairs. I asked her if she'd gotten a nice nap, and she laughed and said she had, that she just couldn't keep her eyes open after a certain point. I told her I knew exactly what she meant. We ended up walking to PJs together, and joined the three others already in residence. It was a long night. My pillow never felt as good as it did at 5 am, this morning.

too tiredtiredtiredtiredtired for punctuation

Dear Imaginary Reader,
Yesterday was a bit of a fail, I'll admit, but I'm back on the ball today, and might even come in under the wire in my own time zone. Overall, it could be worse.

Today was mostly defined by
1) Stress. Today, I had to finish the resume I was up until 2 writing last night, and then write a cover letter...all of which took way more of my time and sanity than I'd expected it to. No idea what my "desired salary" is, since quite honestly I'd just be happy to be paid, period. Oh, online employment applications and your endless potential tripwires

2) Lack of Sleep. I've been running on empty the past few days, and it's starting to catch up with me. Unfortunately, this looks like it'll be a recurring theme for the next 4-5 days. This should be interesting.

3) Trying to be creative under the strain of 1) and 2). As you can see, this was not overly successful.


Yours, from the world of BEDA!fail
Cody

Playing Fast and Loose With the Time Zones

Yes, yes, I know, Imaginary Reader, it's only the SECOND day of blogging and I've already fallen behind. Yes. Very aware. That said, for the time being, my spirit lives in California. So there.

For the most part, I spent my day
1) Waking up
2) Falling back asleep
3) Attempting to wake up periodically over about an hour and a half until it finally took
4) Working out
5) Reading the Great Gatsby

Admittedly, only 5 is at all interesting to anyone - myself included. Though I wasn't able to plow through the novel quite as quickly as before, that's probably a good thing, all told, because I picked up on sparkling little details I skimmed over entirely last time, and (much though I'd balk at labeling myself anything close to a New Critic), all the same I enjoy seeing details fit into the tapestry of larger ideas and narratives and neuroses that run deep through the novel.

Then, I was unproductive for about 5 hours, and went to see the Vagina Monologues. I really enjoyed the experience, even though some of that experience was more uncomfortable than enjoyable, simply because I understood going in that my feeling uncomfortable talking about all this (sexuality, pleasure, physicality) was in and of itself a way in which society is caging us - all of us, men included - from talking about sex as something more than a punch line or dirty and subversive. I want to feel less uncomfortable talking about sex, because I feel uncomfortable with the notion of being brainwashed into feeling uncomfortable to begin with.

Hope that you weren't uncomfortable enough to stop reading, O Imaginary Reader (though I suppose if I go to the trouble of imagining myself a reader, she or he would be diligent enough to finish what they started) and that all that disjointed ramble made more sense to you than it did me.

I feel like I've done my BEDA duty, so now I'm going to get to BED, right after I write my schedule of alllllllllll the things I laughably think I'm going to be able to accomplish tomorrow.

Until then, Imaginary Reader, I say adieu!

Inconsistent and Arrogant...Does It Matter?

*walks in, swipes an index finger along some furniture and picks up dust, raises an eyebrow at an infiltrating ant colony*

Well, it's been awhile, hasn't it, O Imaginary Reader? I say Imaginary because, in all likelihood, this blog will pile up, unread, part of the huge glut of material the internet churns out on a daily basis, and no one (except a few friends in the interest of humoring me) will ever read it. Even more so, since I'm a notorious internet raven (I like something until something shinier comes along) this blog goes through periods where I post 4-5 times, and then abandon it for anywhere from 6 months to a year before I slink back, shamefaced, and give it another go. As a record of my day to day life (trust me: not really blog material) this has pretty clearly failed. So...why am I back, and why am I writing? Well, the direct answer to that is that I've agreed to be involved in BEDA, which, for those not hip to the world of Internet Memes, is an acronym (not an initialism, since this IS pronounceable!) that stands for Blog Every Day in April. The reason I'm committing myself to this project is more or less the same reason I put myself through what was simultaneously the most grueling and most rewarding experience of my life thus far: writing a novel in 30 days (well, technically 45 days, because I went over-wordcount, but minor detail, that), spurred by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

Also, I saw something today that formalized an intuition I'd had for awhile. For the last 3 years, a musician named Jonathan Mann has been writing a song a day, about whatever he feels like: politics, general geekery, nonsense, viral videos, etc. The theory behind it all, for him, is what he calls the 70-20-10 hypothesis. It goes as follows: out of everything you write (sing, create, compose, etc, same holds true) 70% will be cringe-worthy, 20% will be mediocre, and 10% will be truly good. That may seem like pretty dreary odds, but the more you write, the bigger that 10% is going to end up being. So, in the hopes of producing at least 3 blogs (out of 30) that might possibly be worth reading, here goes. Right now, as far as people I know, Scarlett, my fantastic and peerless twin, is joining me in BEDA, but YOU SHOULD TOO. Yes, you. Comment on this post if you're willing to give it a shot, and we can team up; mutually reading and encouraging and all that jazz.

Now, on to your regularly scheduled 70% drivel.

Since this is a project centered around the blog - a totally (or relatively) new phenomenon - I wanted to talk a little bit about aspects of this Blog thing that interest me. The foremost is...why the hell do any of us do it? Sure, there are some people for whom blogging is more of a formal, every day, living-earning business, but for the vast, vast, vast majority, it's just sending scribbles out into this vast aggregate of text we produce every day, work published in a completely public forum, but usually published with next to no expectation of dissemination or a widespread audience. My first inclination is just to label the blog the dysfunctional, kooky, slightly more arrogant cousin of the journal, but I'm not sure that's true. Traditionally, there was a huge and rigid industry that acted as gatekeepers of the written word: if you didn't please them, you were sunk. Now, even if the overall readership is the same (next to zero), we FEEL as if our words MIGHT matter to SOMEONE, and it's always possible that someone might stumble on our post. Unlikely as hell, but possible. Anyway, this is a longwinded way of saying why I'm still a little uncomfortable making this blog about ME -- because I'm next to certain my life isn't interesting enough right now to warrant a play-by-play. My goal is going to be to talk about my day, sure, if anything interesting happened, but more broadly try to tie it to something I personally find interesting.

I'm running out of steam, but one last quick thing.

Has anyone ever heard of/read Francis Fukuyama? BRILLIANT political development theorist who came to speak at Tulane and totally blew my mind. According to his theories, what was the main catalyst that drove Europe out of the tribalist funk that every civilization had to pass through and towards what he defined as a more modern, impersonal, non kin-centric state? The Catholic Church. By establishing a divine code which was commonly accepted to supersede the rule and the whims of any given leader or any given government, it gave Europe a strong concept of the Rule of Law. Additionally (I'll admit, I found this the most fascinating) part of the reason that the proscription against priests marrying and having children came about because the church, wanting to "purify" the church, didn't want priests to appoint their family members or to pass on the parishes to their children, and in so doing broke the tribalist pattern within that institution...since tribalism relies on family ties.

I'm buying his book as soon as it comes out April 12, and if that was interesting to anyone other than me...they should buy it too.

Peace, Love, and Happiness
Cody