Re: Open Bar: RECOMMENDABLE

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

From what I have observed, the barriers to graduating are, in order:

1.  A family (this is what got me).
2.  Money.
3.  Beer.

For me, it was money, ignorance, men, and having kids, in that order.

Started out with no money, and my mom withdrew support.
Due to lack of parental support I was ignorant of how to navigate the system (and at 20, the year my mom cut me off, couldn't qualify for financial aid anyway).
Got married to an ass who had no interest in me going to school.
Got divorced, and LIKE AN IDIOT, promptly remarried to another ass who had no interest in me going to school.
Had kids.

For me, it was:
1) Not being ready/not knowing what I wanted to do
2) Being prompted by a girlfriend to go to school, each time, which predictably increased my chances of dropping out once the relationship ended
3) Laziness in registering for FAFSA (and therefore money) and for classes (in reverse chronological order).
4) Beer
5) Not being frustrated enough with my lack of progress in life to give me the momentum to keep going regardless of the previous 4. I really had to get to the point where I was like, "Fuck all of this shit, including dropping out only to go back to school again" to make it happen.

I still haven't managed to graduate after 6 years because I totally suck. Also art school made me hate art. I think I will graduate next spring tho finally...I hope

I didn't graduate either after being in school for 5-6 years.

I hate art schools now, but not art. In fact, I hate them so much that I refused to take the 3 remaining classes required to graduate from their crony-corporatist shit-show of a school. I'm going to cash those credits in on a worthwhile degree.

When I'm able to go back to school it's going to be in the hard sciences....possibly math. Pure fucking math. Shit where it's undeniable you've got the RIGHT answer and can fucking PROVE it. No more of this design bullshit that no one gives a shit about unless they're a rich, overeducated pisshole.

SUU WAS RIGHT, GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN, IT'S A FUCKIN SCAM!

Math is beautiful and perfect. I was lured toward math for a while, but I decided in the end that I actually want the messy, complicated, ugly realities of biology and human behavior.

But math. Math! So lovely. So perfect. So CLEAN.

I'm, so far at least, better at math than I am at science, probably for this exact reason. I can get frustrated with it sometimes but I think that's probably due to the fact that I either do it at night when I'm tired or do it during the days on the weekend for several hours at a time and burn out. I'm getting better at recognizing the latter.

I like how the shit actually makes sense, for the most part, to me, as opposed to high school when I thought it the most bewildering thing in the world. I just couldn't get it.


I got real fidgety in Gen Bio II today. I might have to reconsider going to work for the 5 hours with additional commute in between classes. Like, had to stand up and sit down like a Catholic fidgety. Fortunately I prefer sitting at the back of the class.

It might be not that you're "better" at math than you are at science, so much as that the math you're doing is way easier than the science you're doing. Gen chem and intro bio are both far more complicated than anything you'll be doing with math for at least a few more terms. In fact, they're more complicated than any math anyone other than a math major is likely to take. Consider that the only people who typically take the gen chem and intro bio series are science majors and premed, whereas all science majors and premeds and pretty much everybody but humanities and art majors are expected to take math at least through stats II or calc II. Math majors don't take the big-kid science classes, they take the science classes for non-science majors. Likewise, science majors don't take the big-kid math classes.

[LMNO]

Fish sauce, et al is a condiment. From what I can tell, the Rotten Shark is a full dish.  Imagine, if you will, an entire patty made of Thai fermented shrimp paste, or a pint of Nam Pla.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Fish sauce, et al is a condiment. From what I can tell, the Rotten Shark is a full dish.  Imagine, if you will, an entire patty made of Thai fermented shrimp paste, or a pint of Nam Pla.

There are quite a few fermented fish dishes, though. Rakfisk, surstromming, stinkheads, hakari, etc.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'm just saying it's not that weird and is probably mostly more a matter of familiarity than anything else. I mean, the Japanese think that cheese is disgusting, and that Natto is delicious.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Also, as I understand it, the hakarl is usually consumed much like a strong cheese would be, in small cubes on a toothpick, chased with spirits.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

And of course, there are the mildly-fermented fish we love to eat, like anchovies.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Have I posted this here yet? http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_sapolsky_the_uniqueness_of_humans.html

I think that Roger in particular would appreciate this, particularly for reasons that start around 25 minutes in.

Also, probably because almost everything we know about the primate nature of human behavior, we know because of this guy.

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

i tried anchovy pizza once, they were super salty and i wanna say...hairy? are they supposed to be hairy?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Nooo they really shouldn't be hairy.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Salty, chewy, and tangy, though; yes.

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

maybe it was just my pizza place, i suspect i was the first person to order an anchovy pizza there in some time.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

You should prevomit all aquatically based sustenance.

Doktor Blight,
hates seafood and you do too.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Seafood is at the base of my food pyramid.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I just now found that a very old friend whom I may have mentioned here or there (I know I have, at least once) is currently back in Boston. His Foster Mother is dying.

I don't know what to say to him.

I offered to meet up with him, for cheap ass burgers in Southie, and I think that's the best I can do right now.

I confirmed that he knows my cell number and gave him my class schedule.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

(he's from Southie, or South Boston, obviously, but currently lives in Hawaii)