A Little Bit About Costa Rica and Some Musings Inspired by Thoreau

Pro bono: Bono after he ditched his first band, MeAlso.

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These last few weeks I've been in Costa Rica to see my sister and hang out, so I have to apologize for my missed blog entry last week. My mom and dad and I left a week before Thanksgiving break, so I missed a pretty substantial chunk of school hanging out on some beautiful beaches and bummin' around the cloud forests.

One super interesting note: at one of the lodges we stayed at, a tame deer befriended me and acquiesced to a photo op, producing a really awesome picture of her licking me face and me being ever-so-pleased. However, due to the fact that apparently I'm super lazy when I'm home for vacation, I didn't upload any pictures and I'll have to wait to post that picture later on.

As for the Calvin comic, to avoiding beating around the metaphorical bush of hidden meaning, it simply represents a sort of "quiet desperation" that I've been feeling, to obliquely use Thoreau's phrase. I've been struggling to find meaning in struggling, anxious to discover the cause of my anxiety, pretty much just trying to figure out why I'm learning all this academic stuff at Luther and if the academic and social standards of our culture are worth giving a flying hoot about. It seems like a venture based on the idea that knowledge in the academic sense is inherently valuable and that using that knowledge to make a living in society is inherently desirable. But I don't know that it is.

Anyways, tomorrow we start "The Allegory of the Cave" by Plato in Paideia, and from what I've heard, it's a sort of expose on the struggling of man to gain knowledge. Perhaps this will help me gain a little perspective. Or maybe it will just confuse me.

Paying the Gravity Bill

I'm pretty sure Ylvi is remiss on some of their payments.

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I've been working pretty much all weekend on homework. I was up till 3 on Friday night doing Spanish grammar exercises and writing summaries for Mexican soap opera episodes, till 2 on Saturday night preparing an essay for History and trying to read the Paideia book, and now it's 1:45 on Sunday night and I'm hoping for 4 hours of sleep tonight. It's not that I usually have this much homework- I'm just going to be gone this next week of classes through Thanksgiving break, so I'm making up the work I'm going to miss ahead of time.

So my brain's pretty fried right now and I have to apologize if any of my sentences seem illogically organized or completely incomprehensible. Anyways I chose that Calvin and Hobbes comic because I both empathize with Calvin and feel rather jealous of him. Why does he always have the sweetest excuses for not doing his homework? Mine just seem lame; I can't really rationalize not doing homework by explaining to my professors the complex psychological and emotional impacts social network sites have on the adolescent brain (read, Facebook is addicting).

All I've done this weekend is study, except for Saturday morning and afternoon when I went to the cross country meet. That was a lot of fun, though it was absolutely freezing. We drove down in the morning jamming out to an eclectic mix of Simon and Garfunkel, the Backstreet Boys, Hanson and Shaggy. Anyways what I mean to say is that I can't really vouch for the social life of college right now. Pretty much just the academic one. But I can say that Ylvi has nice study lounges (yay, go Luther).

If you had known me before college you would think that my suddenly and radically different behavioral pattern this weekend somewhat resembles a heroin addict donning a Santa suit to snap candid photos with children at the mall. (I'm sorry. Yes I'm dead tired right now but somehow I was going for being in a positive role model situation when one isn't really used to that role. No I've never done heroin.) Ultimately, what I'm trying to convey is that when one really sits down and decides to do something, he can do it. Or she can do it.

Take it easy,

Danny

How Moldy Banana Bread Led to a Discourse on Zen Philosophy

If only it worked that way with Paideia essays...

I've been very steadily pushing back the time I start my homework every night, and I'm beginning to feel it. However, Thanksgiving break isn't too far away and that will be an excellent respite from the college grind. I don't really remember anything I did last week, because, frankly, it was a very boring week and I didn't do much at all. The weekend was much better, filled with more climbing than my fingers and forearms really needed and hanging out with friends. And avoiding homework of course.

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Woh I just got way off track there. One minute you're writing your blog and the next you get pulled away from the computer for like 10 seconds to throw a piece of crumbly, completely green moldy banana bread back at a friend who has just given ten million spores a new nesting place in your hair. Then suddenly its 1:30 in the morning (about 4 hours past that original ten seconds). Actually that's a great segue into something about college that I've noticed. Despite still having a class schedule, basically every other part of my day has become fluid and unplanned. Some days I do homework at 1:00 clock after lunch and again at 4:00, other days I wait till 2 in the morning to start writing a paper due the next day (I blame you and your Paideia-assigned texts, Martin Luther).

I might be sitting on my couch playing guitar or watching a movie or maybe reading Paideia (haha no seriously...), and a friend will stop by and suggest doing something. Just like that I'll be somewhere else doing something else with someone else, all at my whim. Out of all the most enjoyable times I've had here none of them have been planned, from shirtless wrestling on the library lawn in 20 degree weather to holding impromptu shaving cream room assault. The most important attitude to have if you want to have fun, is to be open to change, and to leave yourself free to do whatever random idea comes to mind. Seize upon the most ridiculous idea and do it and I promise you you will never forget it.

Take it easy,

Danny

P.S. On the note of random and unorganized fun, maybe we could take a page from Calvin. His famous Calvinball is an inspiration.

One Big Day After Another

Last week was rather mundane. Calvin's sentiments sum up my feelings about last week and how I'm feeling right now about school in general. Every day is rather the same and it's kind of wearing on me. However, I don't mean to be a downer, I'm just letting that out and now I can move on to other things.

It was a super nice day today and I felt like harkening back to spring of senior year and just skipping class and hanging out outside all day (mom, that actually didn't ever happen... very often). I was diligent, however, and went to all my classes. Partly because of my enterprising and industrious nature (haha sorry not at all ) and mostly because my classes include daily attendance as part of the grading structure. That actually kind of makes me mad, and I'm sorry to use Luther's official blog as a venue through which to vent my dissastisfaction with the school, but I feel like giving potential students an accurate description of the school through my lens is an appropriate discourse.

Part of me longs deeply for the complete responsibility of adulthood (note that I did not say freedom, for yes I do know that getting a job and paying bills is a deeper servitude than college), but I want so desperately to be treated with the attitude that I can manage myself, that I am no longer a kid who needs coddling and gentle directing towards the "right" path. I feel like sometimes, and I want to get to the point here so spare my bluntness and lack of cushy phrasing, Luther treats me like a irresponsible child needing guidance. Simply put, if I don't want to go to class and I feel like I can still learn the material and fulfill my responsibilities to the curriculum, I want to be able to do that and not get punished.

Don't get me wrong, there are many more freedoms at Luther than other colleges, but to any potential student out there, there is a huge difference from a private, small, liberal arts college and a large public institution. The nature of the beast, at least at Luther, is that you will have a more intimate experience with the college, but you won't experience as much self-guided responsibility. Anyways I don't want to rant.

So I started drinking this, I don't know, soda tea thing that I got at the Co-op downtown. It's absolutely amazing; there's a can sitting right by me actually. And it's not to tea-flavory either, but there is a definite subtle tea after taste. It's hard to explain. I recommend trying it if you can find it somewhere. Like the Co-op downtown in Decorah :)



Take it easy,

Danny