The End of the Semester

Wow.

I finished my fifth semester of college last night. I feel a little guilty that I'm writing this in the computer lab with students around me working furiously to finish their final papers by the end of the year... but all in all, I feel pretty damn good.

It's been quite an amazing semester--the happiest I have had. I learned how to be productive. I got stuff done. I took good notes. I was interested in my courses all year long. I met new professors, and formed relationships with some of them. I met new students in the philosophy department who will share my pain next year as we write theses together. I was captain of the ultimate team again and we saw successes that Reed has never seen from ultimate. I took the violin up again--I actually practiced--and enjoyed it! Christine and I are better than ever.

Life is Good.

That's the summary--the long story short. The unbearable full story (the one that only my grandparents and parents will want to read) will follow soon.

Where to start?

"We Love Sluts"

I found this scrawled across a bathroom wall today. In any other bathroom, at any other school, this message would stand alone. At Reed, the author had more to say:

"i.e. informed exploration of the limits of promiscuity ultimately pushing the boundaries of sexual satisfaction"

These are the sorts of little things that I love about Reed. Now I know there's nothing honorable about writing on a bathroom wall and "We Love Sluts" is far from poetic. But in my time at Reed, I've come to enjoy these sorts of little idiosyncracies... the things that make Reed different from any place I've been. Where else but Reed can you find a running dialogue on physics or the transcendental signified while using the bathroom?

Where else will someone take the time to elaborate on why he likes sluts? Especially in such an eloquent way? The idea is oxymoronic.

Of course, these messages are still juvenile at heart, but that doesn't mean I can't love them and the fact that people take the time to write them.

Am I Just Asking to be Emo?

So I've decided to start a blog. It will give me something more constructive to do in the time that I procrastinate (anything is better than the facebook or myspace), and maybe I can clue in some family and friends on all the interesting things I'm doing with my life.

Blogs are the cutting edge of blatant self-promotion and I'm more than happy to hop on the bandwagon (who ever knew me to pass up on a chance for gratuitous self-involvement?). For now, however, I've got a paper to finish writing.

I hope to have a long post up by the end of the year (i.e. before I head back to Arizona for winter break).