T minus 2 days:

Playlist:

Gimme Some Lovin' - The Toasters

Teardrop - Massive Attack

I Want You Back - The Jackson 5

Crazy On You - Heart (this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgFMy0bHqVQ)

Come On A My House - Nasty Tales

Rockin' Horse - The Allman Brothers

Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Hokay, so...

As we enter the red zone of the remaining time before my academic suicide (examen final de "las religiones de antiguedad"), I feel it necessary to share a completely unrelated quote found in a completely unrelated academic article I read a couple weeks ago...while evitando estudiar for a different final.

Some of you out there have already seen this; however, seeing as it has passed the mandatory period of personal subconscious contemplation, os presento a portion of the article "Heidegger on the Connection between Nihilism, Art, Technology and Politics" by Hubert Dreyfus.

"If you can commit yourself unconditionally - in love for instance - then that becomes a focus for your whole sense of reality. Things stand out or recede into insignificance on the basis of that ultimate concern. One does not discover a significance that is already there. there is no basis for this commitment in the cosmos. Indeed, such a commitment is exactly the opposite of belief in an objective truth. You are called by some concrete concern - either a person or a cause - and when you define yourself by your dedication to that concern, your world acquires seriousness and significance."

To give you a little context, Dreyfus was attempting here to explain the thinking of Kierkegaard to a semi-modern academically philosophical audience. Por eso, he does kind of dance around the God factor - which is kind of a necessary element en el pensamiento de Kierkegaard...

Nevertheless, the content of the passage is not necessarily what drew me to it (seeing as Kierkegaard's explanations of his own ideas would be the ideal here...); but rather the form. In the midst of an otherwise dry, verbose discourse on nihilism through the eyes of Heidegger (cue projectile vomiting), Dreyfus seems to channel a completely different speaker - one whose manner of thinking hasn't been rendered completely robotic and mundane by years of academic meandering.

Not saying that Dreyfus is by any means the epitome of prosaic academia - but he certainly has his moments. We all do.

This form coupled with the basic description of a beautiful Kierkegaardian idea definitely took me by surprise while reading the article.

::Please keep in mind that when I read this article I was wandering around in the darkest depths of nihilism for an exam on the topic later that week::

Anyway...one of the many surprises one encounters while hopelessly avoiding the necessary evils.

Sit on this for a while and let me know what you think.

Hope someone else out there enjoyed this as much as I did.

beccaniles

Acabo de darme cuenta de que...

Playlist:

Funk Soul Brother - Fat Boy Slim

Praise You - Fat Boy Slim

Rock That Body -Black Eyed Peas

Steal My Sunshine - Len

Mensajes del agua - Macaco

Paper Planes - M.I.A.

The Downfall of Us All - A Day to Remember

Does the Lion City Still Roar? - Less Than Jake

Kiss Me Deadly - Reel Big Fish

Boss D.J. - Reel Big Fish version

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

...de que solo me quedan 11 dias en e'paña.

Can I please get a collective WTF!?

...WTF?!

Also, solo me quedan 3 dias hasta el examen de las religiones de antiguedad.

Religiones de antiguedad.

Religiones de...

Ok. Let's discuss this.

Beccaniles (apathetic linguistics major) + 11 days left in espain + WORLD CUP + really awesome weather = religions of antiquity FAIL

The wise of the world would have us believe that we learn from our failures.

That may or may not be rendered completely erroneous in this situation.

I'm really not sure, so let's talk it out:

If I fail the test/class, I really will not have learned anything about religions of antiquity.

...Though I do vaguely remember (from the classes I attended) every puta cosa about "ludi."

(As much as I would like very much to forget the topic and free up some brain space.)

As for the "failing experience:" I've never received anything below a B+...so...I suppose eventually I could benefit from the experience...since life is all about...experiences...? Now I'm just justifying my own laziness.

And really, in my current apathetic state, I'm not sure I'd really learn anything...

Not to mention I could potentially take some other "social and historical" credit back in Bloomington and cross out that little F on the transcript...

This is not helping my ganas de estudiar - or lack there of.

Neither is the guitarra, sitting there in the corner.

Yeah. I'mo just go ahead and coger la guitarra and see what happens.

Saludos from the land of BURNT OUT,

beccaniles

on a scale of 1 to completely irrelevant...

Playlist:

Salina - The Avett Bros.

Pretty Girl from Chile - The Avett Bros.

Tunnel of Love - The Dire Straits

Prologue - Catch 22

Opportunity - Catch 22

Soulchaser - Caesars

Teardrop - Massive Attack

eh, why not, Walk of Life- The Dire Straits

Munchlist: Pan tomaca, un piti y la cerveza preferida

So.

Junio.

Porque has venido tan pronto?

Julio better just back it on up.

This homie's not quite ready yet.

Ha, certainly not ready for the final exams.

Let's do a run through of the remaining exams:

14 de junio: el problema de metodo en marx

...right.

17 de junio: nihilismo y la metafisica

...

no.

29 de junio: religiones de antiguedad

not a damn chance.

good thing that one's pass/fail.

nevertheless, as a friend so bluntly reminded me, pass/fail still leaves FAIL as an option.

so we'll see what happens with those.

at the moment, i'm "studying" for the marx jazz.

i really do find the topic interesting on some level.

however, at the moment, i feel that it simply doesn't matter.

whether social science spontaneously arose from the proletariat masses or was handed down to them by a bored bourgeoisie really has no place in my current life.

i've always been a personal fan of distractions; nonetheless, my current existential state requires a certain amount of focus so as to not fall into basket-caseland.

which brings us to the next final, nihilismo y la metafisica.

this one i find a bit more pertinent to my life - though not because i am a nihilist.

(so you can call off the suicide watch)

sin embargo, regardless of its pertinence and my understanding of the topic, there is a ridiculous amount of memorization to knock out before the 17th.

que Dios me bendiga with that one.

speaking of Dios - religiones de antiguedad.

if there is one topic completely irrelevant and useless to a linguistics and spanish major, this is it.

it's kind of fun to be thrown into the world of latin terms which now have different meanings...

however,

HOWEVER,

the layout of various religious institutions of the roman empire, as well as the various titles and responsibilities of every puto ciudadano is about as relevant to my existence as the invention of the yo-yo.

no.

i have never owned one.

list of things relevant to my life at the moment (and possibly to yours):

playing lots of guitar

really nice weather

really cold beer

really good friends

really amazing books

really awesome music

bastante superb food

the yoosah kicking culo britanico in the copa mundial (june 12 at 20:30 spain-time, for those of you unaware...TOMAAA, INGLATERRA. AMURKAH!)

attempting to aprovechar de todo antes de que me vaya en julio

the magical world of linguistics

constructing a complete thought without losing it

becoming extremely excited about seeing friends, family and the new miniNiles

ponerme melancolica al pensar en separarme de la gente aqui

planificar la vuelta a madrid

reteaching myself how to spell english words (i.e. 'caulk,' 'wholly,' anything borrowed from french, anything ending in -tion or -tial, and anything with diphthongs - it took more attempts than i'd care to mention to spell "bourgeoisie" above.)

questioning the cosmos as to why mark knopfler must come to madrid AFTER i leave

i will see that man in concert before one of us dies.

os lo juro.

oi. that's all i've got for the moment.

the big debate now is:

continue studying until the wee hours vs. sleep soon and wake up at a respectable hour to get a head start

i'll pine over that one a while.

have a wonderful thursday.

beccaniles