Category: Uncategorized

Vacation plans

& only 6.5 vacations days to spread around the summer. Any thoughts on these plans? =)

Previously arranged:

Jun 21-23rd (boston, for ms bikeathon)
Jun 28-30th (chicago, for cgmc concert)

Desired destinations:

DC: Aaron & various ljers 😉 $260 via direct flight, $110 from Canton, by way of pittsburgh (???), plus about $30 for bus to Canton. $116 (before AAA discount via train)

Toronto: Chris, and the fact that I never saw all that much of it while I was out there for pride, lo those many years ago.

Minneapolis: Seth, whom I haven’t seen in years, and a variety of ljers. Plus a desire to see the town minus the feet-thick layers of snow =)

San Fran: Check out berkeley‘s ITS, see Ken, all my cmu & sf-irc homies.

Portland & Seattle: Never been & have friends there too.

The times.

Jun 7-9: Too close to get good tickets anywhere (except toronto evidentally), pride weekend in dc.

Jul 12-14: Mid July, Aaron becomes available in DC to hang out. Or is this the weekend he’s in sf checking stuff out?

Jul 26-28: Last weekend free before the vacation time freeze surrounding Fresh Start sets in.

Relationships, definitions & stuff

When [redacted] and I started dating, I said something pretty stupid. Well, I said alot of pretty stupid things, which is only natural for one has virtually no romantic experience. But one of the things I said was “well, we’re sleeping together, and we spend alot of time together, so I guess we’re boyfriends by observation.” This particularly peculiar and somewhat insensitive comment fell out of my mouth, because a) I really liked [redacted] and wanted to keep him around b) He had just asked me if we were boyfriends c) I didn’t feel ‘ready’ for that yet d) I was afraid he would go byebye if I said we weren’t.

Years later, when not on the spot, I came up with a much better, much simpler response. “Not yet” . But the history lesson really isn’t the point.

The point is, what distinguishes a boyfriend from a friend? From a fbuddy? Since it matters so much to me to have someone there, what does it mean to have someone there?

I couldn’t & still can’t come up with good answers. A point to ponder. Hrm.

My philosophical affiliations

Another virtualexile inspired post.

I’m not a fan of religion. Faith and belief, I admire. An internally directed search for belief also admirable. Since I had my profound break with christianity, I’ve assembled my framework from bits and pieces of the philosophical raw materials of unitarian universalism, taoism, and secular humanism. The Rede of Wicca works its way in there too.

I believe that the origins of the universe, like the existence of an omnipotent entity, are entirely unknowable. (SH) I believe that expression and interpretation are two fundamental acts involved in communication and that it is impossible to express any sentiment such that anyone with intelligence but without shared communicational schemas can understand it, which should hardly be controversial. I expand from that point to claim that no communication is perfect or entirely reliable, but I’ll try not to be any more pedantic about it than I already have been. (da big T or D, or whatever).

Ethically speaking, I believe that we all ought to contribute to the public good, while maintaining a relatively laisez-faire attitude towards how others lead their lives, to the extent that they do not detract from public life, or others private lives. We should strive for efficient and moderate consumption of natural resources. We should value both harmony and freedom as the competing principles that they are, in service to the welfare of society and the individual. I strongly believe in egalitarianism. And investing in the future. I _think_ that we all ought to do our best to enjoy ourselves, but as was noted in an earlier comment [in virtualexile‘s journal], that may not be my strongest suit 😉

I reject fundamentalism, much like a strict constitutional interpretation. It is a devotion symbols rather than what the symbols represent. Any articulation of values is subject to fundamentalism, but that does not mean that the articulation is at fault. This is what I love most about Taoism. Their canon starts off saying that some things cannot be known, cannot be expressed with perfection. The point of this is to suggest that we ought not trust symbols unconditionally. Symbols often obscure or misrepresent. =)

Eating Alone & day in brief.

I haven’t eaten with anyone since the wedding last sunday. This sucks. I don’t get alot of purely social contact. I think it was wednesday evening that I played scrabble with jane and roommate. (must convince Jane to join lj. I’m feeling a clay-ark-ian urge to assimilate.) I might also have hung out with Tom briefly last night. Other than that, I haven’t really be face-to-face social with anyone other than coworkers, classmates, my instructor, and James (and then only to have the ‘wanting different things’ conversation).

Argh.

I have a new desk. I’m no longer in direct line of glare from the window, my whiteboard is accessible, and I have shelves for my books.

Intense though brief storm today means power is out for much of shadyside, squirrel hill, and east liberty (and probably other neighborhoods as well). One killed by collapse of a roof at kennywood.

Erk.

Stuff.

Watched “El Mariachi” for spanish class. Sorta a prequel for Desperado. Strange, violent, kinda stylized, but not actively painful to watch.

I _really_ have to practice my vocabulary. Grammar, syntax, irregularities, not a problem. Vocabulary? Muy Grande Problemo. Ugh.

Some people ask interesting questions

Questions for you:
What are your dreams for your life?

What are you doing right now to make those dreams happen?

I have so many… I live my life in the subjunctive voice, the dreams, the maybes, the possible futures, the fantastic unrealities.

The biggest one to change the world for the good of all (hopefully humanity inclusive, but not exclusively so). Hopelessly idealistic (what a strange phrase, why would anyone hope to not be idealistic?), but tres rewarding. I’m accomplishing this in little bits and pieces (aclu volunteering, supporting friends through rough times, blah, blah, blah), but I want to do this in large pieces. I want to support myself by doing it in the long run. To that end, I am working on my education (yay research, yay grad school).

Other dreams include biking across America, becoming fluent in multiple languages (spanish, ASL, and chinese being my top 3 choices in decending order of preference), becoming an expert on human organizational patterns and teaching, finding (a) guy(s) I really connect with, and building a life together. Becoming an expert martial artist. Raising up a little girl, and teaching her how to be an expert martial artist, computer technician, handy w/ tools, etc. Write a novel, preferrably, deep, and involved, expressive of the human condition that is as thought provoking to write as it is to read. Oh yeah, and help colonize mars or the asteroid belt, or something like that.

Are you letting yourself feel happiness right now or do you think you can’t be happy until your dreams come true?

Most likely not all of my dreams will come true, but that’s not what you asked. I feel happiness each time I act in accordance with, or advance towards these goals. Which is probably why they’re my goals =)

The things that make me happy generally fall into one (or more) of a very few somewhat interrelated categories: improving myself (physically, mentally, emotionally), being physically active (climbing, swimming, biking, lifting, etc), interacting/being with people to whom I feel well connected, connecting to people with natures that harmonize with mine, learning something new/exploring a new place, making something for otherns or helping someone else do any of the above. The ‘simple’ pleasures (food, drink, sex, featherbeds, etc) don’t do alot for me in and of themselves. I used to be all about games, (strategy games, Master of Orion 2, Scrabble, rpg’s), but unless they fall under the above, they’re mostly just killing time.

Enh, that’s about it for now. Betchya this is too long for the comment length limitations (I was wrong 😉

pondering the ethics of *-athon fund-raisers

A few ideas to start off with: Giving money to charitable causes is a noble activity. Rewarding successful raisers of funds (as in people, not activities) is certainly on the up and up, so long as the rewarding doesn’t consume a significant proportion of the resources raised by the parties being rewarded. In certain reward events, where there would be a high demand for participation, it makes sense to restrict it to parties who have met certain criteria. A sensible organization does this in such a way as to maximize benefit to the cause.

I know that, neglecting transportational expenditures to get me & my bike to & from the start point, I could afford the bike from boston to ptown for significantly less than my entry fee, even without the economies of scale, and the corporate sponsorship that large crowds can draw. Therefore, it’s pretty clear that I’m not asking others to “fund my vacation” (see previously stated con-artist perspective), but to actually help out with a noble cause.

This, of course, doesn’t help with the actual donations, but it does put me in a far better frame of mind for fundraising.