update

I haven't updated in a while, and to tell the truth, I'm not sure when another full-length entry will be written, but here is a small something for now.

I'm reading about how to pour wine. "Fill each glass to no more than two-thirds full. This allows room for the guest to swirl it, if they choose." -source

Also, I don't know the exact reason I haven't updated as much, but I think it might have to do with my new work schedule. I work overnights now, 10pm-6am. It's not bad, but for some reason I feel like time is lost.

-Leo

Sleep Process

When I go to sleep, there are all these little characters in my mind. At the end of a long day, they are tired, and ready to rest, and that is when they start shutting down lights, and other devices. They clean up the desks, file the papers, store the memories, and do all sorts of clean up work.

Sometimes one of them will disrupt the process. Like anger, he got mad today because of some things that I went through today, and he started making a fuss. That is when he started choking another character. But luckily there was a character who knew karate, and he kicked him in the head and knocked anger out.

I’m not sure who this karate character was, but he seemed pretty rational, and like a good leader. He then said they all should sit down and think about the day’s events, but another character said that they need rest, because they can’t function well while they’re tired. So the karate guy agreed, and they continued shutting the lights down. Then he opened the head of anger, and shut down his switch, and they all shut down their switches, with karate guy being the only one left. He then went to a different room, where there was a character waiting.

I’m not sure about this guy. He seems like an overseer. He was just sitting tapping his fingers on a desk. Either that, or he’s a night shift worker, just like them.

Either way, he keeps the body running at night, like the breathing and stuff, and he also is in charge of the dreams. He has to look over all the files and stuff, and he decides what files are worth dreaming over. He’s a mysterious fellow. The other characters don’t see much of him.

Anyways, he opened the head of the karate guy and shut him down, and the night process began.

-Leo

simple

This stew I just made turned out tasty and hearty. I'm pretty proud of myself because I don't cook very much. I was kind of worried while I was making it, worrying if I put in the potatoes too soon, or if I put too much noodles, or too little water. Well, it could have used a little more water, but besides that, it was good. Next time I'll improve on it. And it wasn't even that difficult to make! That was the best part. I should have taken a picture of how good it looked.

Ingredients: 1 potato, half a bag of baby carrots, 2 squashes, about two handfuls of green beans (not chopped up, the one's that look like peas in a pod somewhat), 2 vegetable bouillon cubes, half of a bag of noodles, and water.

Directions: boil the water. then add everything and cook until the potatoes are soft and the noodles are too.

simple, right? and it made more than enough for two people. My brother and I got full, and there's some left over sitting on the stove right now.

For dessert, pieces of dark chocolate.

-Leo

p.s. I'm reading The Omnivore's Dilemma right now, and I'm at the beginning right now, where he's talking about how a lot of what we eat contains corn. I'm curious what food that I ate today contains corn. Because even vegetables that one would not think have corn have corn. Whatever gives cucumbers their gloss- corn. Soft drinks- corn syrup. Butter, eggs, twinkies, even boxes, all have something that corn is a part of. I'm not sure if all this corn the average American eats is bad though. We'll see.

depression+pills= paradise?

If a person was in a depressed state of mind, would making them angry be a good thing? Because if the person is angry, then they are not depressed anymore, or at least not as much as they were. I had in mind that if a person was depressed, then what if another person just slapped them. Those first few seconds after the slap would be met with confusion, like "wtf just happend?" And then what would that confusion turn into?

I mean there is no slap that would make a person instantly happy, is there? Giving someone delicious food would be like a temporary pleasure. So she would be feeling physical pleasure, but feeling mental pain. Hmm...

I'm going to read this article now, and research more.

I began thinking about slapping a depressed person, then I started thinking about drugs, and whether it would be a good thing to take drugs in order to get rid of depression. There's something dystopian about taking drugs that make one instantly feel better, but I can't find the underlying problem with it. I'll keep on reading.

thoughts on healthcare and critical thought (lolcats included)

I’m in a good mood right now, and I don’t know why. I don’t think I should be, because of my past due student loan bills, and the upcoming ones that I won’t be able to pay soon. Well, I might be able to pay some off in about 2 weeks, and that’s just a maybe. I found a job, which I’m anxious about. I already started, it’s a Mexican restaurant, and I’m sure I’ll get used to it like any other job. It’s just those first few weeks of being in a new environment, with new faces, and a whole menu to learn, and having all that responsibility. It’s a combination of all these things that brings about anxiety.

But for now, all that is in the back of my mind. I just finished watching half of season 4 of Weeds, which was really good. Earlier I watched Adventureland, which was better than I thought. And now I’m listening to some good music, typing away on this laptop.

There is a march in Oklahoma City next Sunday which I plan to attend; it’s a march for healthcare. I’m not sure what I can say about this that hasn’t already been said. I would think it’s pretty obvious that healthcare should be a right. Services like the police force, education, and firefighters are already provided by the government. These things protect life and improve life. I don’t see how healthcare is any different. Veterans, the elderly, and members of Congress receive healthcare from the government, why shouldn’t we?

I’ll take a guess. Republicans/ conservatives are so afraid that this will somehow lead to communism. And big insurance companies are not helping at all. I’m sure that their money is paying for the advertisements that run on Fox news and other major news media. So they get paid to run these advertisements, and to put on air people who spread ideas about death panels and abortion being covered by government healthcare. It’s simple really.

Forgive me for being so cynical, but the reason, I suspect, people believe everything they hear on the television is because they do not know any better. They have been raised to believe what they hear on the news. MSM has done such a good job of brainwashing people to believe their lies, that all it takes is an “expert” or an “analyst” or a mouthpiece like Glenn Beck for people to believe what they hear. Or maybe it’s a bigger problem than just the media. Maybe the problem lies with society at large. Maybe it’s a combination of religiosity and consumerism.

This is either really complex, or really simple. It could be that the problem lies in one idea; that idea being “capitalism.” I believe the problem is more complex. I don’t even know where to start. Well, I started with healthcare, and how I believe it should be universalized. The reason one person opposes healthcare is different from the reason another person opposes it. One person could oppose it because she actually has a substantive ideology behind her opposition, like libertarianism. Another person could oppose it because of what I said earlier, maybe she believes everything Glenn Beck says without question. Ok, well there is the answer. There is no single right answer. Either that or the question I asked was not asked correctly. Instead of asking “Why do people oppose universal healthcare?” I should ask “Why does person A oppose universal healthcare?” I would get a more specific answer out of this.

Is there a word for the type of thinking I am currently engaging in? Critical analysis? Well, it could get much more critical than this. I could break down more of these ideas and questions, but that’d take too long. I’m satisfied with the current answer. If I become unsatisfied with it later, I’ll analyze it. Now I’m curious as to how many people engage in critical analysis. I’m thinking that the world would be a much better place if more people just thought about what is going on, about their previous, current, and future actions, and about the ideas that they receive from various sources. But that seems idealistic to me. For one, there are some people who actively oppose critical thinking because they are afraid of what they will find. I have actually heard this reason before, that someone does not like to think deeply because he is afraid of what he will find, or he doesn’t want to know because the truth might be ugly. There are others who have gotten too comfortable with their present state, so they don’t see a reason to think deeply. And there is a third group that cannot think deeply. They have been raised to just believe what they see and hear, and ignore other points of view. Maybe this could be changed.

Of course there is the epistemological possibility that the form of thinking I’m engaging in is wrong. But what is “wrong” anyways? Wrong in the sense that it won’t get me closer to the truth? I better stop myself. I’d have to go into truth, right and wrong, epistemology (oh god I’m having college flashbacks), and a whole set of issues on which there are volumes and volumes of books.

I’ll go back to what I started this about; my good feeling state. I know it won’t last forever, but while it’s here, I might as well try to spread it. Does critical thinking make you feel good? Does it make you feel good that I’m addressing you as “you,” making it more personal? Well, it’s a deception. I don’t really know who is reading this. Hmm... that doesn’t sound very happy. How do I go about spreading this good feeling? How do I go about spreading this good feeling when I’m tired? I’ll sleep on it. Maybe I’ll come up with an answer overnight.

For now, I’ll leave you with lolcats, and hope that will suffice.

-Leo