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2005 8 December :: 3.20pm
So the line for the computer lab has been unusually long for the last three weeks. So I'm sitting in an empty classroom.
I am extremely hesitant about the future right now. None of the classes I need fit together for next semester, not to mentioned the severely strained financial state that another semester's tution payment would put me in right now. I think I'm going to have to wait until the spring/summer semester to get the classes I need.
That puts me in a difficult position at work. Mostly because I know if I am not going to school that they are going to expect me to work full time. Despite the fact that a tution payment would set me back a good bit, I really am not in dire financial straits. I really would prefer to keep working around thrity hours a week and find something useful to do with my time and maintain the status I have now, which is essentially that I get any time I ask for off. Plus, when it comes to softball season, I'm going to need that extra time.
To refrain from getting too sappy in my entry, but I love her so much. Mica, I knw that no one else reads your journal on a regular basis but me, but people do read mine. And I want them to know that I have never been happier in a relationship in my entire life. I love you and I looked forward to waking up in the morning knowing that you are mine.
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2005 23 November :: 3.06pm
:: Music: The theme from "Rent"
I just realized that I am in a society that was created just for me. Everywhere I go I see people like me. I go to school, people like me. I go anywhere and that is all I see. I turn on the television and there are more people like me. No news channel that has a black anchor, no lasting television show with Asian characters. Everywhere I go, this society was created for me. Then why am I so restless? So angry?
I'm angry at society for having put us in this place. A place where I don't feel like I could stop and help someone on the street. A society that tells me that all this was created for me and I should be happy for it. I should enjoy the things I've been handed in life. A job, a car, a college education. Yes, I worked for those things, so did my parents. But how did that produce someone like me. Someone who is lazy and does what has to be done just to get by. Individualism. I am an individual, but does that mean that I need to isolate myself from others. To become uncaring, unfeeling. We don't yet understand. We don't yet know that consequences of what is about to happen.
I doubt things can keep going on like this for much longer though. So focused on us, on what we want, we neglect what others want. Society is about sublimating your desires for the greater good. But somehow we've changed that. We've changed the greater good into something that can be bought or sold. Something that has material value. The greater good of society is not for everyone to possess iPod. The greater good of society is not to all eat at McDonalds. The greater good of society is not to "Be like Mike." But we've tricked ourselves into believing that. We believe that money will buy happiness. It might, but only for awhile. The only thing that can truly bring happiness is love.
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2005 22 November :: 12.59am
I don't usually do quizes, but this one interested me. I'm not sure if all that can be determined from a few questions, or if I even agree with their scale.
You fit in with:
Taoism
Your ideals mostly resemble those of the Taoist faith. Spirituality is the most important thing in your life. You strive to live by all of your ideals, and live a very intellectually focused life.
40% spiritual.
20% reason-oriented.
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Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com
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2005 17 November :: 5.02pm
So I'm not going to bore you all by posting the gigantic paper that I just finished writing. It feels so good, it really does. To have something that large and unwieldly out of the way is just a great relief. I am majorly looking forward to this weekend. Nothing to do but work and spend time with Mica.
If any of you want me to post my 15.5 page paper, with 2 pages of endnotes, just let me know and I would be more than willing to torture you all.
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2005 4 November :: 9.12pm
This is a letter that I just sent to one of my Latin American history profs. Read it and see if you agree with my assessment, or just read it and learn about something you didn't know about.
Professor Aragon,
I have been monitoring today's events and I cannot help but feel that this may be a watershed event for US-Latin American relations.
The Summit of the Americas has stirred up so much controversy both in Latin America and here. On some of the talk shows on cable news the hosts wee asking so-called experts (which were mostly former defense department or administration officials) why the protesters were protesting. They asked if it was just because they don't like President Bush, or if they really had that big of a problem with Iraq. It seemed kind of strange because it suggested that those were the only two reasons that people would protest against the US.
What really got to me was a reairing of an address that Hugo Chavez gave at the protest rally. While steeped in blatantly socialist rhetoric (the downfall of capitalism and whatnot), he might have been making sense. He talked about an alternative to the American led trade agreements (FTAA I think was what he was talking about). He wanted to form something called ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Latin America). He said that this was losely based on the agreement that Venezuela already had with Cuba. He called it an alliance in the political, social and economic realms. His outline seemed quite convincing. He talked about Venezuela's generosity with oil. Such as new agreements that they have with Argentina and Uruguay to provide oil to them at a 40% discount, a three year grace period on payment with a 25 year payment period at 1% interest. Another thing that seemed to be a revision on American led programs was that he advocated for payment in the form of goods and services. Instead of paying with money, he said, Argentina could pay with pregnant heifers.
No matter what he actually says he seems to be pushing all the right buttons. He mentioned just about everything that would seem important in Latin American politics today. He talked about religion and his strong belief in Christianity. He spoke of most of the great independence leaders of Latin America (Bolivar, San Martin, O'Higgins, de Miranda, Marti, even Eva Peron). And about native peoples (and the working class, but that is also par for the course for socialism). I know that he is trying to orchestrate a very real alternative to the US role in the region. It is also of no doubt that he sees Venezuela, and himself as the leader of that movement. It just seems like it may be very well possible. Or am I just wrong? I would appreciate your insight on this issue.
Your student,
Charlie Campbell
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