Hi, everyone. (Me again.) Guess
what? That's right! I stole yet another idea from my friend Angela. One of
these days she may really get upset with me for it, although she hasn't tried to
bite me in a really long time. (This is a happy thing, trust me.) She has a
file (not on the WWW) of personal reflections which she recorded, one per day,
over a period of time in 1994. Well, say I, I can do this, too. On this page
you will find a statement from each day of classes from the 1996 Spring Semester
here at UIUC. (That way I can be sure I can get to a computer every day I need
to.)
- 11 January 1996 (Thursday): Category: Mental Note
When sitting at an occupied table in the cafeteria, check to see exactly who is
occupying the table; you may find someone you know (and wish to avoid).
- 12 January 1996 (Friday): Category: Advertising
MATH_ 302: Never the same class twice!
- 16 January 1996 (Tuesday): Category: Mental Note
Il faut que je me souvienne que the expression il faut que
requires the subjunctive, not the indicative.
- 17 January 1996 (Wednesday): Category: Philosophy
Beware the status quo; it can change right before your eyes.
- 18 January 1996 (Thursday): Category: Philosophy
If the weather outside is frightful, don't worry; it's bound to get worse.
- 19 January 1996 (Friday): Category: Philosophy
Talk. Be truthful. You might hear what you say and learn something.
- 22 January 1996 (Monday): Category: Mental Note
Roll over, open your eyes, and look at the clock. If you can do this,
you are not in class!
- 23 January 1996 (Tuesday): Category: Philosophy
Sometimes fire is a necessary evil. So is rain. So is facing reality.
- 24 January 1996 (Wednesday): Category: Philosophy
If something interests you, but you think it couldn't possibly interest anyone
else, you are wrong.
- 25 January 1996 (Thursday): Category: Reflections
I have no perception.
- 26 January 1996 (Friday): Category: Advertising
ATMOS 120: Where they tell you it's raining, then open the door to check.
- 29 January 1996 (Monday): Category: Philosophy
Apathy is dangerous. Very, very dangerous.
- 30 January 1996 (Tuesday): Category: Philosophy
Sometimes it can be a problem when one does not kow enough to know what one is
supposed to think.
- 31 January 1996 (Wednesday): Category: Philosophy
Every human being in society knows every other human being in society through a
finite number of human beings. This is called the "Circuit of Connaissance".
It is therefore important to be careful what you do to other people, because
someone may short the circuit, which means that suddenly two people you know for
completely different reasons get to have a friendly little chat about you. Then
that which you have done comes back around and clubs you on the side of the
head, and you have to take a nap and wonder "Why me?"
- 01 February 1996 (Thursday): Category: Philosophy
Love is a Great Pumpkin. It can be too close, too far away, too frequent, too
infrequent, too long in coming, there before you know it, or never even there
at all, and all at the same time. It is also one of life's most wonderful
emotions, even at the price of sheer sanity.
- 02 February 1996 (Friday): Category: Philosophy
Be wary of nostalgia. It can make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It can
make you long for times gone by. It can make you very angry. (Y'all're on
your own to figure out why.)
- 05 February 1996 (Monday): Category: Mental Note/Philosophy
(MN) My Weejuns get no traction on the tile floors in ISR if they are wet. (P)
If that is the biggest problem I have today, I am one fortunate person.
- 06 February 1996 (Tuesday): Category: Philosophy
Determining that which is important to oneself is difficult. Discerning that
which is important to someone else is impossible.
- 07 February 1996 (Wednesday): Category: Philosophy
Sometimes an entire 168-hour week boils down to as little as two hours. Then
again, an entire year can come down to 35 seconds for a swimmer, four years to
19 seconds for an Olympic 200m sprinter, and for a college hockey player, an
entire lifetime can come down to just 11 seconds.
- 08 February 1996 (Thursday): Category: Mental Note
Mara once gave me a description of a voicemail message. I think I need to ask
her to help me if I ever need to describe one, since her description allowed me
to conclusively decide that I was listening to the right one.
- 09 February 1996 (Friday): Category: Philosophy
Weather has a profound influence on mood. A dreary, foggy day can lead to
listless, bored people, sometimes without them noticing. Today's weather
(sunny, unseasonably warm; typical mid-April weather without the rain), however,
can put people in inexplicably fantastic moods; this is impossible not to be
cognizant of, and it is a wonderful thing when it happens.
- 12 February 1996 (Monday): Category: Philosophy
Calling people on the phone when they are asleep can be a fun experience.
Being called on the phone by someone when she is asleep is usually an
annoying experience.
- 13 February 1996 (Tuesday): Category: Philosophy
Everyone has to take health class in high school (at least in Illinois).
Everyone learns something in health class. Most of what we learn, though, may
seem not to apply to our own lives. Maybe it doesn't, at the time, but it may
well be relevant in the future. Health class tries to prepare everyone for
everything in just one semester. It does a pretty good job, I think, when I can
look back nine semesters later and notice things I learned then gaining
relevance to me now.
- 14 February 1996 (Wednesday): Category: Philosophy
Valentine's Day has never been one of my favorite days. It ranks lately right
up there with 11 November, 12 November, and 11-17 January as my least-favorite
calendar positions. 14 February is the only one, though, that does not have a
specificincidental cause relevant to my life. Quack. 14 February, to me, is a
day of lamentation, a day to remember what friends I don't have, and a day to
remember how far away the friends that I do have are. It's depressing.
- 15 February 1996 (Thursday): Category: Philosophy
When you start finding happiness in other people's misfortunes, you're having a
bad week.
- 16 February 1996 (Friday): Category: Philosophy
I don't want to think any more. Thinking is unsettling.
- 19 February 1996 (Monday): Category: Philosophy
Each of us is very important to our friends. Sometimes we do not realize just
how important. This is not necessarily a bad thing; it keeps us from
cracking under the pressure.
- 20 February 1996 (Tuesday): Category: Mental Note
I am my friend.
- 21 February 1996 (Wednesday): Category: Philosophy
In any given situation, a person feels either comfortable or not comfortable.
The reasons for a lack of comfort can be several, but sometimes they can be
divided and dealt with, if not conquered. The advice is this: if in one
situation you feel intimidated by someone, talk to her who most intimidates you
in a different setting. You may be in a better mood when you get to lunch.
- 22 February 1996 (Thursday): Category: Philosophy
Motivation: a state of having been provided with something that
causes a person to act. Motivation is found in many odd places; it can be
incurred via a competitive spirit, a sense of ethics, responsibility, or duty, a
desire to make an impression upon another (or eradicate a previous one), or many
other things. Some people have the great fortune to be well self-motivated;
their greatest drive is their own self-satisfaction. For the rest of us, we
look for something over and above that. It is important for us to be able to
act on our motivations when we get them, no matter how strange or unlikely they
may seem, because we may not get them back later to accomplish a task. Besides,
there is more self-satisfaction to be found in completing a task when the
motivation is greater.
- 23 February 1996 (Friday): Category: Advertising
SPCOM 101: Where you get to make the class learn something (and if they learn
the wrong thing, they won't fail the test)
- 26 February 1996 (Monday): Category: Mental Note
Never alienate a member of your audience in the first three seconds of a speech
(e.g., by saying, "I'm sure all of you have at one time had a boyfriend or
girlfriend," as your opening sentence).
- 27 February 1996 (Tuesday): Category: Mental Note
When I go into a store and remember a friend of mine is working there, I
could go find her and say, "Hi." However, I will likely have more fun
hiding in the next department.
- 28 February 1996 (Wednesday): Category: Philosophy
Beware of expectations. They can be helpful, if you choose to rise to them.
They can be detrimental, if you choose not to rise above them. They can be
crushing if they are set too high, and restrictive if set too low.
- 29 February 1996 (Thursday): Category: Philosophy
Every four years, there exists an aberration in the calendar. Today is found
that aberration. It's just another day, but it's a day that shouldn't be here.
It's very unsettling, and I'll be glad when it's over.
- 01 March 1996 (Friday): Category: Mental Note
Never, ever, ever go north of Green during EOH. Ever.
This includes riding a 21 QUAD bus on its full route--it goes north of
Green.
- 04 March 1996 (Monday): Category: Philosophy
State holidays (and yes this was one) have their fair share of pointlessness.
For UIUC, it is a day to parade people through ISR and make the residents feel
like they are in the way.
- 18 March 1996 (Monday): Category: Philosophy
It is not truly necessary, although the powers that be deem it to be, that a
posing from McKinley Health Center regarding summer birth control prescriptions
be placed on the bulletin board on Blaisdell One. Exactly zero residents of
this floor take oral contraceptives.
- 27 March 1996 (Wednesday): Category: Mental Note
Do not send Print Sentry more than 25 dot jobs at once, or it will not like you.
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