EPTI won a $10 itunes giftcard I will probably never use at an election event.
I"m taking ethnic studies pass fail because the TA dislikes me, and I'm bad at thinking illogically and in terms of narratives.
Just standard college stuff.
I went to college knowing there would be a lot of people that frankly aren't here to learn. That don't have interests in a variety of academic interests, and don't read a ton on them. But I think it surprised me how few are here for that. In fact, it also surprised me how few are here for drinking. (Well, it is UCSD.)
In fact, I've found a lot of people, especially in Revelle, my College (think Ripoff Queen's College Cambridge) are here so they can be doctors and make money and have prestige. I don't think they really know why they want to be doctors other than that. Although they will tell you dryly they want to help people, I find them to be unwilling to discuss issues, rather closed minded, and at times off-putting. Oh, I'm a premed, they will snootily explain. Much better than you undecided generalist types. Although I'm CS so garner respect from them, I feel bad from the sole econ major in my honors seminar (50%+ "pre-med" if you can call that a term. In fact, the rest are meche/CS, really)
And the people that are here primarily for drinking are at the wrong place. I've found that people drink extremely heavily, then don't do anything. I'm not sure if that's any worse or better societally than getting trashed at a frat party, but it sure doesn't make sense. I think especially at a school like UCSD lowering the drinking age would lower the incidence of reckless drinking. Even at a school that enforces policy more than the vast majority of other institutions, and where a majority of the student body, especially freshmen don't drink, there is in fact a lot of drinking. I'm not against it per se, but I am against hte binge drinking which seems to be so pervasive. Getting drunk on a Friday seems reasonable to me, especially if one accomplishes social things in the process. But drinking for the sake of getting drunk... seems like an exercise in masochism.
In any case, I may not be doing quite as well in Calculus 20B, but I think I have a far wider field of interests. I'm not sure this is either good or bad, but it is somewhat disheartening to see the tunnel vision some of these people have. They may be able to memorize Molecular bio, but when it comes to greater ethical issues regarding the usage of things such as the mapping of the human genome, they are in over their heads. (Paraphrasing of Prof. Immo E. Scheffler) Then again, as Jeremy Paxman says 'the top has stayed high' and perhaps the highest level of academics and renaissance scholarship can be maintained.
![[image loading]](http://troll.me/images/futurama-fry/not-sure-which-is-worse-at-ucsd-socially-dead-or-socially-awkward.jpg)
Awkward bit bugs me more, but it is indeed all about who you associate with.
![[image loading]](http://i.qkme.me/36220h.jpg)
My entire building
San Diego is warm. Seattle is wet and cooler. (lest I say cold and upset people from areas with real winters)
People tend to wear all the same thing. It's sort of weird. You get people wearing stuff you'd see on reddit's oft listened to MFA. Then you get people wearing sweatpants or gym shorts. Then you get people like me who wear jeans and colored tshirts and a hoodie and call it good.
I had an odd conversation with somebody the other day. We were talking about how Europeans are fashionable without being pretentious about it (not sure how qualified that statement is). Peacoats. Flatcaps. Then again, it would be odd to wear stuff like that in San Diego. The weather. Conversation drifted to british fashion, and how it is given more options due to the variety of weather (This may be a positive statement about British weather ^^). Then the question became, well what is contemporary British fashion? The only thing I could think of is:
![[image loading]](http://www.hinterlandtimes.com.au/wp-content/uploads/reviews-fry.jpg)
Which is neither fashionable nor contemporary. But then I was thinking about other pictures I've seen of Fry/others. Sweaters, scarves. Coats during the summer. All without being too pushy. I'm not exactly the most stylish person, but I feel it's something worth emulating, (older British fashion). Then again, I may look like a total idiot/nitwit/whatever you want to call me. And I"m cheap.
Flatcaps, trenchcoats, peacoats, overcoats. Coats are cool. Scarves. More formal casualwear. Suits are cool. Blazers are cool, although I dont think of them being very british. All things I'd sort of like to have. But I think it all has a place, and thats determined by context.
Oh well, maybe I'm a twit.
Then, why is it appropriate in some contexts to wear some things, and some contexts you would be looked at like a fool? Fashion is relative. Its all based on the importance the person who wears the clothing places on it. The guy who sits next to me in discussion with a cableknit patterned maroon and brown ski sweater from 1987 doesn't care. Hence fashion doesn't matter to him, and doesn't effect him.
Maybe if I enjoy that look, I should get a flatcap, cause why not. Maybe I should keep my hair at a longer length (actually sort of similar to that fry photo, I have no idea why I like that length though...). I suppose its all relative.
So life is the sum of all things. All told I have no clue what to major in even though I'm declared CS, but am having formative experiences. I could term my life formative. Heck, everything one does in life is formative. Life is formative for life. OH well, it's irrelevant how we term the experiences. What matters is how they play out for those involved.
![[image loading]](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JRSnyzIP4fM/Tpt8Y2NiO5I/AAAAAAAAMeU/lXTjrqO_itw/s1600/london1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://fashiontrendsmens.com/images/513/1/london-fashion-week-street-style.jpg)
