It Is Better To Be Thought A Fool in Silence . . .

     I was occasioned to remember a quote that I heard when I was a child.  It has been reworked many times but, essentially, the passage is, "It is better t be thought a fool in silence, then to speak and remove all doubt."(Abraham Lincoln or Socrates).  The reason why this is the subject of my post, today is that, during my college career and in life, I have come to the realization that I don't know ANYTHING.  This is true for most people.  Now, I don't mean that people are stupid, it is just that we don't seek information that could be detrimental to our world view.

     An example of this is a person who I have become recently acquainted with who lives in my dorm.  This comes from a very sheltered home life and has a very limited view of the world.  Anytime that you try to introduce a new side of an argument/statement/discussion with him, he tries to make it fit his view of things, even if he is wrong.  You could tell him something that is a fact, a verifiable fact, and he will get upset and say that you are calling him ignorant and being dismissive.  I told him that I wasn't criticizing him, I was just letting him know that he was misinformed and pointing him to the truth.

     Another example of this is someone who makes up facts just to fit their argument.  I get furious when someone is making an argument and you can just see them making up the "fact" just to make their point.  Instead of admitting they may not have the full answer, they will just plow through, trying to justify themselves.

     However, more directly, I see this in my classes.  I see this a great deal.  Especially with the younger kiddos.  The will argue with people with PhDs over things that are a settled fact/theory just because it doesn't go with the "thing my brother's best friend's sister who worked as a secretary for so-and-so said".  It is funny how they want to be right in the face of being wrong.

      In these cases, you have people who are trying to make an argument with incomplete/missing information.  Many of us have been guilty of this, myself included.  The difference is, if you don't know, say you don't know.  Because, when everything comes out, you end up just looking stupid if you don't have your facts right.  And even when we are wrong, we should be able to admit it.  It makes you look more intelligent by acknowledging that you were not correct and that you are open to changing.

     That's my take.

The First Days of School

     School started on Thursday.

     WHAT?  Why not on Monday or a Wednesday?  What kinda sense does that make?  Who knows.  All I know is that I was there.  Coming back, getting into the swing of things is really cool.  Now that I am in my second semester of University, I feel that I have everything under control and I am all Kool-n-the-Gang.  Now, for some simple observations.

     1.) I moved back into the dorms (which I am not in love with) but, since I didn't have a job, I gotta go with what I can afford.  However, this will probably be my last semester in the dorms, for two reasons.  the first is, I don't care for it here.  It's small and I share it with another dude.  We sleep  a foot away from each other.  My dorm room is the size of a hotel room because, it USED to be a hotel room.  My dorm is a converted Motel 6/Super 8/fill-in-the-blank.  I also have a good amount of things.  And you can't have people over. Especially, if you want female company (not THAT kind of company, perverts).  Just sayin'.  Plus, I didn't get my old roommate and it takes patience to put up with me at times.  He "got" me.  And that is saying a lot when you live  *that* close together.
    
     Second reason:  The dorms are cool, but I will be looking for a "real" job or internship soon and I need to start establishing for the future.  A more space with furniture and cooking facilities future.  The grown-up look future.  The, "Hey, let's get together at my place." future.  See where I am going?

     2.) People keep asking my stuff like I know things.  This is cool because it means I look like I belong.  SWEET!

     3.)  The college bookstore is a racket.  Every time I go there, I feel my wallet screaming from getting ass-raped.  I am taking a statistics class. $100+ for the book and $175 for a F'ING GRAPHING CALCULATOR?!?!?!  Another $175 and I would have a netbook and I could do the calculations while surfing the web through this boring class.

     4.)  I am going to my first college football game.  I am really excited for that.

     5.)  I GOT A JOB!!!  I start the paperwork tomorrow.  It is working for the Catering department at my University.  It wasn't the job I was really looking for, but hell, I need money sooo, yea.  Back to skills that pay the bill.

The End of Summer, New School Year and this blog.

     WOW!!!!

     So, it has been a full month since I have posted anything.  Truth be told, I haven't had anything worthwhile to post.  But, to get this thing rebooted and get the creative juices flowing, I will recap the summer as best as I can. I think the best way to do this is to set out the goals that I had for myself and tell you how everything shook out.  Vamanos!

Goal #1:  Work and save money
     Yeah  A lot of the former, none of the latter.  I ended up not working my old job as a tour guide and worked in a restaurant.  It was cool, but in a down economy in a tourist destination, not that profitable.  Which means I worked a lot of hours.  For not that much money. Yep.

Goal #2:  Hang out with my friends:
     I did very little of that.  See #1.

Goal #3:  Go toobing, A LOT:
     I went three times.  See #1.

Goal #4:  Have fun:
     As much as possible.  Yet again, I refer you to #1.

Goal #5:  Decide on the direction of my blog:
    That, I did do.  I am going to post once a month, minimum, something that has to do with International Studies/Relations.  That will be a schedule, promise.  I just haven't decided the day to pick.  I am leaning towards the 1st (cheesy), the fifteenth (because it is mid-month payday) or just pick some random date for utterly ridiculous reasons.  The other stuff I post will just be stuff that happens to me as a student (mainly) and random observations.  That is what you can expect.  I promise. 

     Yeah.  Like I haven't said that before.