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Wednesday, April 19th, 2006
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10:45 pm - I wish my filter worked better
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Our current topic in philosophy class is "the stranger/the strange". And frankly, I'm more than annoyed about it. See, that class is full of dimwits and morons. Our teacher gave us the task to bring something to school that is "strange" to us. One girl brought a book about Italian food and said "I've never been to Italy, so it's strange to me.".
Another girl brought a picture of her best friend modeling and exclaimed: "This is a picture of my best friend. We are very close. Yet, when she wears make-up like this and wears those clothes, I feel like I don't know her AT ALL. SHE IS A COMPLETE STRANGER TO ME WHEN SHE IS MODELING. A COMPLETE STRANGER I TELL YOU! EVEN THOUGH SHE IS MY BEST FRIEND!". Seriously, what the fuck? Last time I checked, I signed up for philosophy classes. Not the deranged ramblings of crazypeople.
Oh, and then we had this theory that tried to simplify the way we/our brains recognize things. Imagine that all the information your senses collect are filtered by some generic "filter" (I say generic because the theory didn't bother explain it at all) and through that filter, the information passes on and leaves "spots" on our personal "map" (yeah, right). The class would then go on and on about that filter, everyone topping a previous theory with one that was even more absurd, and more importantly not to be proven. Since we are neither psychologists nor biologists, I found it was really a moot point discussing this any further, but guess what, our teacher just threw it out there: "Now what to do with your map if our souls are eternally reborn, which I myself am a firm believer in?". "Yeah, well, than that would bring down that whole fucking theory, wouldn't it?".
The sad thing is, I remember a time when class was actually fun. Mostly because we had a different teacher and due to the fact that there were only 3 people actually participating.
current music: Dead Can Dance - [Aion] - Saltarello
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| Monday, April 17th, 2006
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8:52 pm
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I find it amusing how I always tend to come back to LJ after about 6 months, knowing that I won't stay for more than 2-3 entries. So much for being consequential.
A couple of days ago Nils and I were driving through Kaltenkirchen (I almost wrote 'the city', but that'd be somewhat of an overstatement) when a biker (one of the kind that seems to be spawned on the roads as soon as it's springtime) kept sticking to our bumper although Nils was already going too fast by about 10km/h. His comment "Fahr endlich schneller, du Penner!", obviously prompted Nils to abide the law and lower his speed accordingly. Infuriated, the biker passed us. This would not be worth mentioning if he had not pulled right into the wrong side of a one way. Moron.
current music: The Shins - Mine's Not A High Horse
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(comment on this)
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| Thursday, August 25th, 2005
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9:35 pm
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| Monday, August 22nd, 2005
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8:05 pm - Poetry
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Yes, we will be focusing on poetry this semester. Finally. Our first task was to write an acrostic. Our teacher gave us the phrase "WRITING POETRY" as the first letters, so here is what I made of it:
Writing poetry while being forced is kicking
Rad.
I feel pure eloquence flowing
Through my veins.
It is hard to be so articulate,
Nothing left unexpressed.
Groundshaking,
Poetry flows
Out of me.
Eternally damned to do the weirdest
Tasks, sanity at stake, mind
Reeling, I am coming for
You
I thought that was so awful that it couldn't be kept from the public. MY teacher was actually very thrilled and demanded that we keep "exceptionally good work, like we just heard" in a special folder. My sides were splitting.
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| Thursday, February 10th, 2005
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7:57 pm
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Alright, here goes something different. I will translate a philosophical essay - that scored me 14 points - simply for practice.
"Adaption and Resistance"
To support my thoughts regarding this topic, I'd like to refer to Ervin Goffman's thesis which says that there are two - opposing - identities inherent to man;
there is the social identity, virtually a product of demands and rules the social environment imposes upon the individual. The personal identity however resembles the uniqueness of the individual as it would occur without said social influences.
The balance between those two identities, says Goffmann, is what leads to the actual [for lack of an appropiate English term :] "Ich-Identitaet". Furthermore he claims the ability to bear this balance to be a requirement for the "Ich-Identitaet" itself.
This leads me to the actual problem as announced by the title.
Bearing and keeping this balance comes not without its troubles; there are situations where one is bound to ask oneself whether a compromise between the demands of the environment and those of the individual are even possible - or desirable. For lack of a more eloquent example, it might be helpful if we imagine a soldier. There is but one thing asked of him: obedience - even if that means harming and/or killing another person. However, our soldier deems it morally and ethically wrong to kill. No balance, no compromise is to be found there. Either he is obedient and betrays himself [the individual] or he stays true to himself and (knowingly or unknowingly) disregards the social identity.
Once we look at it detached from the example given, we might find that the result of multiple failed such "balancing acts" can only be a disturbed "Ich-Identitaet".
The conclusion can only be:
One who wholly adapts can only lose. Yet one who only resists has nothing to gain.
Feel free to correct mistakes, suggest changes - I can only learn from it.
About the essay itself I can only say that I wrote it in a hurry and didn't think much about (and of) it, yet my teacher deemed it worthy of 14 out of 15 points.
My eternal gratitude goes out to Katherine for the pointers she has given.
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| Monday, May 10th, 2004
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9:35 pm - My English and weightlifting bears rock
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This is my English exam. Hell, I should get a prize or something. The bear stamp was a good start, anyway.
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| Wednesday, May 5th, 2004
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9:22 pm
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Well.. Yesterday it happened. I was reading Nietzsche's "Also sprach Zarathustra". Suddenly it all became clear. I fully understood what the hell he was talking about. Then I watched TV and it was all GONE!
No more TV. Ever.
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| Monday, April 19th, 2004
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2:47 pm - Our English teacher is stupid
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Well, so my essay was the best thing mankind has ever seen. My teacher actually asked me if I was secretly native (even though my prounuciation is not even close to that) or if I had been living in an English speaking country etc.. I rule. Rico doesn't, as seen in this picture:
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Now look at that. In the beginning she wrote a 6, but it looks like she changed her mind and made a 3 out of it. Then she turned it into a 5. Last but not least, she just wrote a 4 beneath that "thing".
Damn, I want more readers. More people to admire me.
current music: Einherjer - Dragons of the North
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| Monday, April 5th, 2004
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2:50 pm - Bus rides are fun
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| Sunday, January 11th, 2004
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9:25 pm
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This weekend was just completly awesome. When I was waiting for Katherine at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, I actually started talking to this woman I thought to be Katherine, but all of a sudden I realized she looked like one of those poor animals they use for testing makeup, so I knew that wasn't her. When we had found each other, she gave me this little Dutch house made of porcelain, which actually had very tasty liquor in it. On the car, I actually had to translate a lot of English into German and German into English, just like I did throughout the whole weekend.
Katherine's German was a lot better than my mom's English, though. I am actually too lazy to write a real entry now, plus Katherine already posted about it. But take my advice: don't watch Band of Brothers (in Dolby Digital, because of my awesome home-cinema system) in 10 straight hours. Afterwards I felt like I was one of those soldiers in WWII. But the calming, continous sound of a MG42 actually worked better than a lullaby on me.
I'll just stop here and conclude this was awesome, even though I sometimes missed the "CynicalWaffle" in front of what Katherine said.
Hopefully I can visit her in Berlin.
current mood: full of withdrawal
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| Sunday, December 28th, 2003
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10:39 pm
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| Monday, December 8th, 2003
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9:28 pm
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So, I am bored. Nothing ever happens. Today we had a blackout. No shower, no nothing before school. I was very happy. In school, English class pissed me off, because we're reading a book and in two classes we managed to progress to page 3. Fuck that. "When the author wrote 'It was raining.', did he mean rain? What kind of rain? What does rain stand for? Do I deserve death?". Now I have a terrible headache, but at least I'm on skype with Katherine. That kind of saved my day. Except I'm hungry. Not on skype with Katherine anymore. [insert random rant here]. People suck. Humanity sucks. [another rant]. Blah, blah.
current mood:  recumbent
current music: The Crown - Death Metal Holocaust
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| Monday, November 24th, 2003
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2:20 pm
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Today was the day of the math exam. Wow. I wrote for exactly 45 minutes and I thought I was doing OK. So in the break, we talked about it and I realized I wasn't doing that well. I was somehow mad and disappointed, because for the first time in years I had the hope of getting something better than '5'. The fucking Eroerterung in German was a 3. Well, I can live with it. I'll get my English exam back on Monday, probably as early as Friday, but I screwed that up, too.
current mood: krushed
current music: The Crown - Blitzkrieg Witchcraft
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| Tuesday, November 18th, 2003
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7:49 pm
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Today was a very strange day. I can't tell why, all day I felt like I was only spectator. Does anyone of you know that feeling? Wait, let me be more realistic. Katherine, do you know that feeling? Other than that, Madleine made muffins for me. Well, not exactly. They were supposed to be for her family, but they didn't like them. So who gets them? Me. I'm the perfect trash can. Hit my foot and shove it down my throat (except that won't work when I'm wearing my boots).
Did I mention the English exam? I fucked up. No glory in this one. I'm hungry.
current music: Twisted Sister - Stay hungry
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| Sunday, November 16th, 2003
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9:28 pm - A promise to myself
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On Saturday, I bought 2 DVDs. That makes a total of 3 in my collection. I have "Grave Digger - Tunes of Wacken", "Natural Born Killers" and "Reservoir Dogs". And a few hundred SVCDs & DiVX movies. But from now on, I will spent all my spare money on DVDs and CDs. No more downloading (well, maybe for previewing purposes :p). Now it may be 3 DVDs, in 2 months, it'll be 300 !!!
current mood:  morose
current music: The Black Dahlia Murder - Closed Casket Requiem
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| Thursday, November 13th, 2003
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8:50 pm
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Being on skype with Katherine is just plain awesome, so that's about all I have done for a few days now.
current mood:  ditzy
current music: Katherine
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| Monday, November 3rd, 2003
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9:01 pm
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Another day of boredom draws towards an end. Today in school I had my head hammered with bullshit. Guess what I've learned from it? Nothing. Now I'm watching "POPSTARS - The Finals". What do I learn from that? The mass is easy to manipulate. Give them some either a) "good looking" females dressed like barbies, who dance to computermade sounds like they had spasms, or b) some badass ghetto looking gangstaz, whose pants look like they were wearing (filled) diapers, and they'll buy the records like there's no tomorrow. Damn, I could go on and on about this. It fascinates me.
I feel sick, drank too much water in too not enough time. Also I'm listening to that POPSTARS crap. Save me.
current mood: flirty
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| Sunday, November 2nd, 2003
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9:26 pm
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Today I ate fleisch. It was delicous, just like real fleisch. It was awesome. Then I played Diablo 2. It was awesome, too. They I talked on skype with some old friends from my clan. Now I'm on skype with Katherine. This is awesome, too. Conclusion, this day was just a standard Sunday, and I hate Sundays. Goodbye!
current mood: quixotic
current music: the beatiful, wonderfull, melodic voice of Katherine
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