T.L.

"Now the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal." - Fool

The fool tells Orsino that his mind is always changing with the way he feels and thinks of things. He hopes the "god of sadness" will be there to protect him during this time, because I think the fool feels sympathy for Orsino in this tragic love story of this. Shakespeare clearly really likes this character and he puts a lot of the wisdom of the play out through him. I think here the fool is wishing Orsino well, but at the same time telling him that he needs more commitment and consistency in his life. He advises him to focus more on the things that matter in his life, as for the mind is "opal" meaning it changes. A wise 'fool' indeed.

Allnightersbeforepapernightsarebad.

For me, writing the small object/large subject essay was … tiresome. Though that was my fault for saving it for the last minute. Also, I had pulled an all nighter Wednesday night, and then did not even start writing the paper till late Thursday night. I was awake for 39 hours (with four hours of sleep mixed in there) before I finally got to sleep after finishing the paper. Unfortunately, this caused me to turn my alarm clock off in my sleep and miss Friday’s class. To top that off, I’ve been sick since last Tuesday. Let me grab a tissue before I continue writing. Though, blowing my nose barely helps, unfortunately. Anyway, back to the paper. Although it was tiresome, it was at least interesting. I just wish I had not put it off till the last minute. It’s hard getting my work done in a normal fashion because I live with all my friends. I live in the Netherlands complex in the Hague house and all my best friends at Hofstra live in the Hague. So, while I love it, it is frustrating because I never get any work done. Well, this is not true considering my first semester GPA was a 3.74, but this semester I’m finding it increasingly more difficult. If I continue free-writing, my mind will stray farther and farther from academics.

5 questions about Twelth Night

What good does Olivia think seven years will do? Why seven?
Why does Viola need to appear as a man?
Who was Toby trying to set up Olivia with?
How did Viola suddenly get accepted into the court?
Why is everyone so melodramatic?

I Like to Procrastinate

Q: When you revise, what do you actually do? What kinds of changes do you make? (Do you revise your writing? Or, is revision an after thought)

A: I rarely revise my papers. When I write a paper, the first thing I write is usually what I'm going to hand in. I might read over it once and make a FEW minor changes, but that's it. Though, this probably explains why it takes me so long to write a paper. I usually wait till the last minute to write a paper, and thus stay up all night writing it. Some would say this is a problem, but I have the grades to show it is not. If it works, it works, right?

Mother Nature "Do What She Want"

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2966/

As long as there is life on this planet, and I do not just mean human life, species will come and species will go. Extinction occurs for all species at one point, and at this moment, the Torreya taxifolia, a type of tree, is facing this problem. Scientists differ in opinion on how this phenomena should be handled. Some are suggesting relocating the species to a different location. However, I do not think this is a good idea. There have always been species that become extinct, and why should now be different than before? If this particular species of tree is meant to die out, then let it be so. Humans feel the need to interfere with everything that has to do with nature. Perhaps they should let this one go.

Abstract for Virtual Iraq

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/19/080519fa_fact_halpern

In her article, "Virtual Iraq," Sue Halpern addresses not only how the Iraq War has effected soldiers, but how virtual reality is being used to treat PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. By using virtual reality exposure therapy, those who suffer from PTSD are experiencing less symptoms thanks to their increased exposure to the virtual reality that reminds them of their past experiences. These studies on virtual reality as a form of therapy are not just for the short term. Accoding to Albert Rizzo, "'The last one hundred years, we've studied psychology in the real world [...] In the next hundred, we're going to study it in the virtual world.'" Due to the evidence the article gave that this new therapy technique appears to be working, I think it should continued to be employed. As Paul Rieckhoff states in the article, "We’re a video-game generation. It’s what we grew up on. So maybe we’ll respond to it".

Keep the planet clean.

While industrial pollution is something we need to worry about, it is not the only thing. As the amount of electronic waste, or e-waste, increases, the risk of ruining our planet is taking on new forms. Because technology is changing so fast, electronic machines, such as computers, are barely lasting on the market before something bigger and better (or as we should say now, smaller and better) comes forth to take over. E-waste is not being handled properly, and this is putting not only our planet, but also our health at risk. Every time someone upgrades their computer or other electronic device, they need to realize that they are adding to the already high amount of e-waste.

Is a camera on my cell phone really necessary?

With the popularity of Facebook and image sharing websites, people feel the need to take and post pictures of everything they do. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t guilty of this. This need to record every single event in our lives is made obvious by the presence of a camera on most cell phones.
A few months ago, I flushed my phone down the toilet in my friend’s dorm room and had to get a new one. Because I was paying for it myself, I had to buy the cheapest cell phone, which happened to come without a camera. When I explained to people how much I hated my cell phone, I would say, “It doesn’t even have a camera!” It’s not as if it is necessary to have a camera on a cell phone, I never even use the camera when I have one on my phone, but for some reason, it feels necessary to have because you never know when the need to take a picture will arise.
My feelings that my phone was inadequate without a camera did not come out of nowhere. All cell phones advertised on television include cameras. The cell phone industry itself is showing how ‘necessary’ a camera is on a cell phone, yet I am surprised that they still even make cell phones without cameras.
I feel that the presence of cameras on cell phones speaks to a much larger issue within society, which is the fact that people can no longer just enjoy a special event or occasion. They are so obsessed with recording this event that they are not living within the moment. Cell phone creators understand this trend in behavior and are doing what they can to accommodate it.