Things I Just Don't Understand

• Why Google AdSense offers Life Insurance on this blog.

Seriously, why? Are my posts that dangerous that Google needs to offer the people that read them life insurance? What word could have possibly set off the robots to say, "we really think that the readers of this blog are interested in buying life insurance." If anything, it should think my readers are possibly religious, political, or into music - not life insurance. Of course now that I've mentioned life insurance in this post five times already, that will just cement the life insurance ads.

• Why more people don't make money with their blogs if they already blog.

There really is nothing simpler. Sure, you don't make much unless you're actively marketing yourself, but it's still money that you wouldn't have otherwise. And here's the beauty of it all: once you set up the account with your information and import the code into your site (a matter of what, fifteen minutes?), you never have to touch the account ever again. You go about your daily business as you always have and maybe in a couple of months (depending on how many people read your blog) a paycheck will arrive in the mail for you from Google for $100+.

• Why the Romance HelpDesk still gets so many hits a day.

This one, I understand a bit more. My articles on attempts to achieve an hour long orgasm in a woman generates quite a bit of interest. However, I don't think that accounts for the 10-20 hits a day I get on that website in comparison to the 2-5 hits (if I'm lucky) that I get on this blog and The Screaming Eye. Okay, so I'm not talking about hour long orgasms, but I would like to imagine that my content is somewhat interesting sometimes. Besides, I have over thirty posts on this blog and over fifty on The Screaming Eye. That should count for something compared to the eight I have on the Romance HelpDesk. Stupid sex-driven public.

• Why my English 441 Teacher Can't Teach a Goddamn Thing to Save his Life

I'm doing something about this one. I am paying to much to this University to not be taught anything in one of my classes. He can take all of his uh's and um's and shove them up his wirey little ass. And if he doesn't, I'm probably going to shove the Caliph's Design up there. The books we read probably wouldn't be half as idiotic if he bothered to teach us things about them such as the context that they were written in, clarifications on what they were written about, or anything at all. We are left floundering in his class, gasping for whatever it is that he intends to teach us and I'm fucking tired of it.

Those were some things that just perplex me and have been on my mind for the past few days. Now I'm going to go to English and try not to punch my teacher in the face.

Pointless

I think I've discovered part of the reason that I keep not doing my homework like I should. I was just reading the Caliph's Design for my British Modernism class and the more I read it, the angrier I got - not because of the content, but because of the class. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be learning in that class what so ever. The teacher doesn't teach so much as ask us questions that are abstract and sit around letting us figure out an intelligible answer while he just tells us that we're wrong or almost right. Quite often, he will let us travel down the discussion path of a conclusion that he considers wrong for fifteen minutes and then tell us that the truth is the complete opposite. Everything we're doing in class, I could do sitting at home in my living room if I was told what books to read and given time to think about them. I can't stand this. I think I'm going to bring this up with the teacher today because I think he's full of shit and I'm not paying so much goddamn money to be taught shit.

At least all of my other classes actually objectively teach me something, even if I have a problem with them as well.

Senior Year Charm

I really think that there's something mystical about the last year in an institution that causes amazing things to happen. Either that or my luck just has a thing about storing itself up until it overflows. Either way, I've got a pretty great feeling about this year.

After fighting for every last inch of social turf over the past three years, it feels incredibly odd to be handed three feet of it within the last week. I've been respected more, I've got my own little group, I'm navigating the social iceflows easily, and for once I actually know what to say when talking with people. If that wasn't amazing enough, I've also been inspired to write and it came easily to me instead of being fraught with suffering.

Of course, things aren't all turning up roses, but that is how life goes and it would be unfair otherwise. It's torture to have Renny so far away from me, especially when I know that she could use a hug from me, leaving me powerless to do anything about it. Besides that, working so much between school and my job is rough, but on the upside I'm hearing rumors of significant raises in the future, not to mention a possible promotion. On top of that, talking to Jon revealed that my efforts have been noticed and I've been marked as a possible caree man. Jon also leaked hints as to just how comfy a salary position at CITES could be. It may sound stupid to some of you, but I'm starting to think more and more that this might be something that I'm interested in doing. We'll just have to see where things lead, I guess.

Anyway, it's been a rough and long day, so I'm considering going to bed in the near future.

Inspired

I'm sitting in the English Lab this morning, buzzed out of my head on an Extra Large can of Monster Khaos, listening to Machine Head on Pandora and I am feeling so amazingly inspired. I really think that the concert this weekend had lingering effects of awesomeness. I feel so freaking blitzed and have a million different images floating through my head. I might even write some of them down.

Took four quizzes on Compass this morning for FSHN 120 without having read any of the material for them. Still got 37/40 on them. Go figure. That class is the best Biology replacement class that I could imagine. Told Ryon about it and I think he might take it next semester, so I'm going to save the book for him. He won't need it, but if you can get it for free, why not, right?

Dude, I just saw that Titus Andronicus is this weekend! I so wanted to be in it because John was directing it, but he dropped that for Okfest, so I didn't worry about it. I should still go see it though, I love that play. Anyone want to come with at 7:30 on Saturday?

Bro Jed

Brother Jed was on campus again today and yesterday. If you don't know who Brother Jed is, he's one of the most well known street preachers still out on streets today. He's often seen with a huge crowd heckling him as his extremist views often ruffle feathers. How extreme? Well, here's one example:

Besides the regular "every college student will burn in hell" views, he also spouts anti-gay, sexist, racist, anti-muslim, radically right wing sentiments. Yes folks, this guy is a real nutjob.

What I don't understand is why he keeps coming to our campus when he obviously only makes a spectacle of himself. He has maybe only one or two supporters and those are very reluctant. Judging by that fact, I find it very difficult to believe that he has actually converted anyone here within the last few years. What a waste of effort.

I told my mother that he was out on campus and she asked me to describe him to her. He was very aptly described as looking identical to the father in American Pie, but instead of giving my mom that reference to look up, I just sent her a picture from off of his website. Apparently, she recognized him as he often stood on the street corner across from where she worked while she was in college at Indiana State. She also said that when he preached there, he wasn't heckled like he was here, he was just blatantly ignored. It sounds as though he was even less effective there than he is here today. Can you imagine that? Working for 20-30 years, preaching the "word of God" and only getting a literal handful of followers? I couldn't abide such a depressing existence.

The way he preaches, you're certain that there is actually something missing in his life, not ours. I've heard that he actually has two daughters, one of which is in college, both of which are incredibly ashamed of him. It makes you wonder what he's actually trying to say when he preaches that all women who go to college are loose whores and prostitutes. This is the guy that preaches that all of our homes are broken. Yeah, I'm sure that he has a perfectly functional home. If his religion really offers such peace, what went wrong with his?

However, what he preaches on the street is nothing compared to the abomination of his website and forum. First off, as a Web Designer hobbyist, the design of his website and forum makes me just vomit. However, I can push past that. The forums are filled with a whole bunch of right-wing nutjobs who can't even agree with themselves. They are hypocritical bigots who can't stand logical reasoning and thinking. Trust me guys, if the Christian God is the God of reason, he is not your God. Needless to say, I've been banned violently from his forums for life.

Apparently, a guy known as acidman to Brother Jed has made several Youtube videos from the past four years of visits that Bro Jed has had to our campus. I haven't looked them up yet, but I plan to as they sound amazing.

Edit: I just went to the brojed.org website for kicks and realized that his bulletin boards are even more fail than I thought. Try reading his boards in Firefox 3. You'll get a kick out of what happens.

8-15-2008 in Review

Man, I really didn't want to wake up. I was having some really great dreams with some of my favorite people ever - Renny, Jimmy, Toshi, and Jenn (Sams). Now I wake up all alone. Oh well, I need to get started with this day.

1. 13/13 pts.

2. Done, though the third meal was a thing of French fries that Spencer bought for me. Not so proud of eating French fries as a meal. The Curry Ketchup was pretty good though.

3. Did a few more pages of homework and wrote in my personal journal, but work was so busy that I really got nothing done. After work, I decided to go on an adventure to Appeteasers with Ryon, Jenn, Mike, Spencer, and Jess then I came home and went on a much different adventure with Bobby. Needless to say, I got less writing done in the evening than I planned.

4. So close to finishing Chapter 1 of my Contemporary Nutrition book. Learned some interesting and useful things about how to lose weight. Did you know that you need a deficit of 3500 kcal in order to lose a single pound? That's equivalent to not eating for a day if you do moderate activity. No wonder you can't lose more than 2-3 pounds a week safely.

5. Showed a little bit in the last answer. Discussed some of the things I learned with Spencer and I'm putting others into practice.

6. I ate out at Legends for Appeteasers on social business. However, I only spent $1.50 on a Cherry Coke. Spencer bought the food I ate. Still not as healthy as it could have been, but at least I'm keeping my budget in order.

7. Spent $1.50 on that Cherry Coke. Will deposit $8.50 into Paypal. As of today, I've put $28.50 into PayPal from the money I've saved from eating out less and making my own meals. (Speaking of which, I need to go get breakfast and consider making chili.)

Early Start

Last semester, I was pretty close to getting Dean's list. I feel that if I applied myself just a little more, I might have made it. This semester, it's going to be tougher. Fifteen hours of classes and Nineteen hours of work doesn't leave a lot of slack.

I decided to take my problems into my own hands today. The two biggest problems that I have with school is procrastination and studying. In order to conquer these problems, I decided to buy two of my books early and use this week and a half of freedom to read through the beginnings of them and take notes. That way, I will have a little easier time when it comes down to crunch time and there will be less that I can actually procrastinate on. I can't drop my guard though, this isn't a permanent solution; it still takes a lot of work from me.

One of the biggest things that kept me procrastinating before was the fact that I didn't allow myself to enjoy my classes. Now, I've realized that problem and I'm trying to always find something to enjoy in what I read. By doing that, I should want to read more and homework becomes less of a chore and more of an exploration of knowledge.

The first book I have been reading is the main textbook for my Food Science and Human Nutrition class. The first chapter is all pretty basic and acts as more of a review for me than anything, but it's really enjoyable. It's a nice feeling to feel like you have a handle on things and already know some of the content for once.

The other book I bought is the textbook for my Philosophy class. It promises to be really interesting, but I didn't want to start on it until I had a lot of paper and a lot of time on my hands. I know that I'm not going to want to put the book down, but I'll have a bunch of notes to jot down.

Well, so far, so good. I can only hope my history book is this good.