Dreme...Imagene...Acheive

A thought for you for summer:

I love CakeWrecks.blogspot.com for things like this. I am so inspierd.

Philosophy on Friendship

So, as you all know, I philosophize a lot more in person than I do online, but I do have an interesting philosophy for you tonight. It is a little more serious than we are used to, here on thedormroomphilosopher.blogspot.com, so bear with me.

For the last few days I've been seriously contemplating friendship and what it means to be a good friend, supportive friend. Is it someone you can tell anything to? Is it someone you are always happy with? Is it someone you can sit with and not say anything to and they understand what you are feeling?

This is my philosophy on friendship.

Friendship doesn't just happen on it's own, you have to work towards building the types of friendships that you want. So, whatever you put into it, you get out of it. Yes, some friendships begin on accident, but they all stay because of your commitment level.

True friendships are not always perfect, they have their ups and their downs...some skyrocketing highs, and sometimes unbearable lows, but true friends make it through.

Two of my most wonderful friendships have seen their fair share of lows, and I'm just happy to say that things are looking up. I don't know what I would do without them, and getting through such hard times with them has shown me that nothing beats a best friend.

Today, a trusted advisor told me that when you find the one person you can tell EVERYTHING to and they'll still love you, keep them around because you'll only find one. Well I found two, and I'm sure not letting them go!!!! They can try to get rid of me but I'll just keep coming back. Mwahahaha.

So think about the people closest to you, and think of the people you can't live without...remember those people, and work towards keeping those friendships alive. Nothing is more important than a best friend.

And that's my new philosophy!

Ps. I love my biggie Jess and my little Deanna. You guys are amazing and I am better because of both of you :)

Leggings are not pants.

Celebrities do it...college kids do it...soon children will be doing it...what is America coming to?

So now that it is getting warmer out, people have been wearing a lot less clothing around campus. This is unacceptable, people. COVER UP!

Tights are also unacceptable pant alternatives. If you are going to cover your legs, really commit.

Skirts with leggings or tights...okay. I can handle that. You got a lot of junk in your trunk...gotta cover up...okay. I'll accept.

Wearing little booty shorts with tights...NOT ACCEPTABLE! I've seen this way too much to attribute this to one girls terrible taste in clothing. I've now seen 4 different girls around my campus and it's just so trife.

Also, long shirts plus leggings don't count as wearing a dress. If you sit down and your butt is covered only by the leggings, you have a problem and you should consider wearing a) shirts that fit plus b) real pants.

Celebrities can afford pants. So for Mary-Kate Olsen to be participating in such a trend is beyond me. Are these leggings made of gold? Well some are. But not hers.

Not okay, Mary-Kate. It's never a good idea to make your legs look like toothpicks...even black toothpicks.

Yeah yeah you won American Idol, so you should know better than to do such a thing.

Um...too much junk in this trunk for these poor leggings to handle. It's completely unflattering and just...so...sad.

The leggings made of gold...what a travesty. Who needs a butt highlighter when it's that large?!

Do they want me to BUY this outfit?! She just escaped from fashion prison...GET HER BACK IN THERE!!!

So much wrong with her, leggings are the least of her worries.

Beware the shiny butt!!!

In conclusion...don't wear leggings as pants. I don't want to see your butt in that much detail. Ever. It's never ever ever ever okay.

And that's my new philosophy!

Learning about how to operate computers is silly. I obviously know how to turn a computer on and use the commands (duh I have this blog) so why am I taking an entire 3 credit class on how to use computers?!

Yes, the part about excel sheets was kinda useful for my future career as a teacher for grade sheets and such, but two weeks on it is just out of control.

Did you know that Jessica Simpson's song "A Little Bit" is 3 minutes and 47 seconds long which makes it 320, 342,400 bits? Cooooool. I didn't need to know that. Why is that even a question in here?! This is absurd.

Since I have no choice but to finish this class, I might as well get a good grade, right? Unfortunately, the tests are timed and that is probably the most stressful thing to put me through...a timed test. So I always manage to speed through it and do poorly on all these little quizzes. So I am studying now. Here are some little nuggest of knowledge for you all:

• When all of the RGB color settings are set to 0, the color is BLACK! No way!


• The first digit of any binary number is always ONE!


• The accuracy of digitized sound is determined by the sampling rate.


• Raymond Kurtzweil is known as the inventor of text-to-speech recongition.


• MP3 is the sound information of MPEG movies.


• A digital-to-analog converter changes digital information to analog waves. What else would it do?


• GIF = graphics interchange format.


• Using ALL CAPS for an email message conveys anger. [Why is this in the book?]


• The best way to end a flame war is is to cool down before you reply [thank you for anger management techniques.]

Yeah so we'll see about this nonsense. My philosophy: studying for a lame class is lame and is not work my time.

And that's my new philosophy!

Observation on the Male Population

I've taken some time to observe and think on the male population lately, and I'd like to talk about one of the things I've seen and taken note of.

The Bro Hug

As a woman, I didn't understand the rules to the bro hug immediately. I had to observe this over a period of time and talk to some bro hug professionals in order to understand the structure. Urban Dictionary gives a great definition of the bro hug:

A bro hug is executed my first initiating a mid-five/handshake, in which the bros then pull into eachother from hand contact. Then, each bro swings one arm around the back of the other bro, and gives 1-3 open palmed slaps on the opposing bro's shoulder, all while the mid-five/handshake is still interlocked, effectively sandwiching the arms between the bros.

The bro hug to me is a little silly. Are the rules really necessary? Are boys really this uncomfortable with their sexuality they need to show that they don't mean any funny business through their 5 second hug? Oh odd it seems to have such boundaries even with their closest "bros". I think the funniest thing about it is that it's so common. Everyone knows the rules...is that what the boys talk about when we split up in 5th grade into separate "family life" / "sex ed" classes? Girls talk about blossoming into a beautiful flower and boys talk about rules of man to man communication. How else would every male in America understand these rules and be able to explain them so clearly? It makes me laugh.

*Just to clarify, I am not here to bash the bro hug, it just entertains me.

I'll be back soon with another observation on the male population another day. Stay tuned. Leave comments. What are YOUR thoughts about the bro hug or other actions performed by the male gender that perplex and confuse you?

And that's my new philosophy!

An interesting philosophy...

I have been going about my daily life, and I realized there are a lot of modern day uses for light sabers other than use against your enemies.

- Hair removal: for a clean shave, every time. If we tinkered with the technology a little bit and made some small versions, then we could use them for making quick and easy hair styles in a flash! I mostly thought of this for guys who need to sculpt their beards to the perfect shape, and I had the inspiration from Zenon, Girl of the 21st century when I saw a guy shaving with a laser thingy.

- Landscaping: for a prize winning lawn in a flash. Weed whackers and lawn mowers use so much gas and can really be a pain to push around all day long. BUT if you had a light saber, you could just trim the grass really quickly and save yourself the energy. We may need to make some flat models to accomodates for large lawns and extensive grass trimming, but the idea is still pretty solid.

- Fashion: the fastest way to move from your winter wardrobe to your summer wardrobe. Don't need all that bulky fleece or long pants? Make a pair of shorts with just a swipe of your light saber, and you're good to go to the beach or to the park! Also, for those in between times, make yourself a vest from your favorite winter coat by slicing off those pesky sleeves. Or do you have the same problem as Philosopher #1 (the good philosopher aka Lisa) where pants and skirts are just TOO LONG because you are a normal height and stores make clothes for giant people. Just trim a few inches off those pants/dress/skirt to save yourself a trip to the tailor!

- Crafting: don't you just hate it when you cut fabric and you accidently cut it wrong and then you get those annoying strands coming apart from the fabric? WELL NOT ANYMORE! Just use your lightsaber for a clean cut everytime. Save yourself the frustration and precision of trying to cut with a pair of scissors that may or may not have a sharp blade...you can always count on your lightsaber.

- Music: is someone playing a little out of tune? Just take your lightsaber through their instrument and they won't ever be out of tune again. Not advised with vocalists.

- Home Remodeling: Sometimes you just DIDN'T measure those tiles right and it's too late to buy the smaller ones now. Just take your handy dandy lightsaber and cut them down the the desired size. No extra tools required, no dusty mess to clean up. If your tiles are too small, then your lightsaber cannot help you. Just do it right the first time. Also, if your doors are too large for the frame...cut them down. You wanna remove that ceiling fan? Lightsaber. Need to replace those old cabinets? Take out the old ones with your light saber. Your refrigerator running? Your lightsaber can see to it that it no longer runs.

- Prank callers: Are you being awaken in the middle of the night by someone who wants to ask you about a survey AGAIN?! Lightsaber to phone. No more prank calls.

- Coupons: Hate cutting out those dang things all day long to save $.23 cents on your toilet paper? Your mini-lightsaber can help you cut them out in half the time.

- Chip bags: I can never open those dang things the first time. Either my hands are not gripping the bag or the bag is just sealed way too tight for the average person to open. Use your lightsaber on the top of the bag, no more frustration.

- New Electronic Purchases: I hate those plastic packaging things they all come in...you know where the electronic is in the inside and the outside is a thick plastic and the ends are all krimped together so you need to use heavy duty scissors or a strong man to help you open them?! Take your lightsaber to the packaging ONLY (not to your new electronic purchase...) and save yourself 15 minutes of anger and perhaps sore hands from trying to open it yourself.

- Room Entry: Forgot your key? Use your lightsaber to cut through the door (think Episode 1)

- Escape routes: I learned on mythbusters that shooting into the floor to try and make it fall through to the next level DOES NOT WORK. But your lightsaber will work. Also, if your master or padawan is in jail, just take your lightsaber to the bars of the jail cell or padlock keeping them in, and POOF they are free! However, this technique will not work on laser bars since we all know that lightsabers repel other lightsabers...so if they used lightsaber technology to keep the person there, you need to improvise with other methods of escape.

- Self-defense/Vanquishing enemies: Now, this use has two parts because there are always two sides to consider. The dark side and the other side (that we will call the light side even though they never call it that in any of the movies). The dark side of the force will use their lightsabers for evil instead of good, so instead of trimming grass, they trim arms and legs. And sometimes abdomen removal. The light side uses it for self defense: repeling laser bullets, blocking other light sabers, and defeating the dark side. Hopefully you'll all use your lightsabers for good, since the dark side never wins anyway (and there's only really room for two of you...). Good light sabers come in many colors, the most common being green and blue, but the pink, purple and teal editions are also acceptable. The dark side only has one option: red. Not a good choice for you creative types who want to express yourselves through your lightsaber.

Your lightsaber is not recommended for many uses on the body. If you are trying to trim your hair with a normal lightsaber, please be careful not to decapitate yourself. Please don't try to remove finger nails or toe nails with your lightsaber, unless you are extremely skilled. Lightsabers are best used with all fingers to keep the balance and precision of the instrument. Missing fingers or toes can hindure the user of the lightsaber and accidents are more likely to happen and cause further damage to digits and limbs.

Please be responsible, and keep checking for more updates on common uses for your lightsaber.

And that's my new philosophy

-Philosopher #1

A start of a new school year...

Your two favorite philosophers are getting down to business again with a start of a new school year.

As some of you may not know, Ben and Lisa are both RAs at CNU - they have been training for the year since last thursday (Aug 6th). It's pretty amazing. Harry Potter themed training is way better than you'd think.

Some of the sessions include:

- Care of Magical Creatures

- Taming Dragons

- Going to the Chamber of Secrets

- All meals in the Great H. H. Hall

- RCFs with Filch!

- Muggle Studies

- Out and About in Hogsmeade

- Planning the Yule Ball

- Learning about Butter Beer and Fire Whiskey

- Wizengamot aka CHECS

- Rooms of Requirement

Isn't it awesome?! Who knew training to be an RA would coincide with being a wizard so well!?!? Someone thought it through. Maybe they are wizards in disguise...and us muggles don't know about it...

Hopefully Philosopher #2 will get on the ball about talking and philosophizing about his training experiences, but until then you'll only get to hear what I think about it.

I lurve Harry Potter

A. lot.

So this is a pretty fun two weeks for me :) I can't wait til the residents finally move in because that's why we are all here and I wanna get things started!!! :D I get impatient when they give us all these wonderful things we can do with our residents then they say "oh yeah just kidding wait two weeks til you get to do any of it." Dang.

But I'll have more to philosophize about once things have been moving for an entire week.

However learning to be a magical RA is a lot of work and it takes a lot out of you. I hope to philosophize soon, but in the mean time...philosophize in the comment section.

And that's my new philosophy.

That's right...

Sorry, Ben. Points, like hips, don't lie.

And that's my new philosophy. -- Philosopher #1

Who would really be the winner?

Who should really be the winner here? A themed restaurant with an inviting exterior... (and great ceiling lights!) (and an outdoor seating area!)

...with customers who flock to eat wonderful delicious food? (and a dart board!)

Or a silly plain restaurant with a big roof?

And no customers?! And no dart board?!

I feel like we all know who the winner should be. GO DUELING WIZARDS!!!! WOOO!!!!

Our only other picture together:

P.S. The ratings are bubkis.

And that's my new philosophy!!

Before you know it you're eating fish flavored wang.

At one time or another we all run into something in the grocery store that just isn't right.

I have had one of those times.

Anchovy flavored rice noodles. By Wang. Only $2.49!!!

Summer summer summer time!

As you all know, school is out for the college kids so your two favorite philosophers have gone their seperate ways for the break.  

But don't fret!  I have updates!

Ben spent two weeks running around the mountains!  Sounds...fun?  I mean, from a philosophical standpoint, I don't see any fun in running around with all your junk on your back in the woods...with no plan!  Perhaps he had a plan and I didn't know about it...perhaps Ben will have to write down a few of the philosophical visions he had while he was gone in the woods playing with squirrels and bugs.

Lisa, however, hasn't been doing anything quite worth documenting in our blog...I've read all the twilight books (for the second time), had a twilight party with my friends Maddie and Emily (they know a lot more about it than I do...), I started reading the Harry Potter series again so that I can be prepared for the WONDERFUL movie premire in July (can't wait!).  Other than that I've really just been hanging out with friends, catching up,  making plans to drive around VA to visit college friends and such.  A great relaxing summer is ahead.

Now on to philosophy.

Cats are wonderful little creatures.  I happen to have two lovely kitty cats (Pumpkin and Buttons) who are friendly and playful.  Now, I realize that not all cats are like this...some can be distant, snappy, "snobby", and even sluggish.  Not OUR cats!  Buttons in particular loves to just run around the house, chasing your feet and racing you to wherever they point, and even creating mini-forts for himself and his captured prey.  His favorite fort?  My mesh hamper I use to carry dirty clothes from school in.  He jumps inside and grabs at things outside his "fort"...unfortunately he loses the element of surprise considering we can SEE THROUGH THE MESH!  But he doesn't seem to mind (or realize...).  He also likes to "hide" under the large rugs we have in the living room.  It doesn't feel like home until you see a huge lump in the rug that claws at anything that walks by.  Today my mom was walking by to sit on the couch and Buttons tried to drag her feet under the rug...like her feet were his prey.  It ended up not working out in his favor but he did put up a good fight.  Too bad his prey happened to be 10 times his size.  And the rug really isn't a great hiding place.  He is our family speed bump.

Pumpkin is not as playful during the day, since Buttons pretty much attacks him whenever he sees Pumpkin getting attention (when we brush him, let him sit on our lap, pet him, etc.)  But at night Pumpkin waits outside my bedroom door waiting for it to open so he can RUN inside and sniff everything in the room.  Then, if I try to go to sleep, he jumps on the bed and stares at my face...probably asking himself "why isn't she petting me?  this is not okay!!"  and rubs his face on my face, leaving cat hair all over me and my pillow, until I pet him.  Pumpkin is much older than Buttons, a lot more relaxed, doesn't meow or hiss or scratch anyone...he is such a great little pet.  Pumpkin likes people once they let him smell them.  No one can pet him til he gets a good wif of who you are.  Buttons will let anyone pet him since it won't matter after he eats their fingers.

Sad to say that I hear even our second favorite philosopher has a cat that is unfriendly...but no matter how good of friends we become, I want to let the world know that he is not allowed to trade his lame cat for my cool ones.  He has tried to convince me, but I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!
 

My philosophy is that the cat reflects the owner.  It's obvious the owner of such cool and fun cats MUST be a cool and fun person, but it also means that sad lame cats must have learned it from someone...right?  Am I right?  And who do they see more often than their owner?  Right?  Right.

And that's my new philosophy.

Rain rain go away!

So today.

Ben and Lisa (the philosophers) were enjoying a nice day outside while Lisa was enjoying her breakfast. Then Lisa felt a drop of rain and decided it would be a good time to go to Potomac South so she can make her bulliten board. Ben and Lisa go into the library, grab Ben's laptop and study things, then walk back to the door where they find...

A DOWNPOUR!!!!!!

Sigh. Horrible luck. They wait for a moment, decide they have no other choice but to venture out into the rain, and they walk out of the door into the horrible storm waiting for them.

They cross the Trible Plaza....

...run under the overhang of the DSU...

...rush through the openings of the overhang...

...stumble through the muddy grass to the concrete walkway...

...realize the concrete walkway is flooding and walk through the gravel-y part where Lisa gets mud and guck all in her flip flops..

...Lisa realizes that when she takes a step she slips out of her shoes, slowing them both down...

....and finally reach their destination completely SOAKED from the rain.

Deanna, Lisa's little, was working the desk at the time. She saw Lisa and Ben walk in looking horribly pathetic in wet clothes, and thought this was funny.

She was wrong.

Lisa and Ben did NOT find this amusing...except a little bit maybe...but what made it less funny was that the rain let up soon after Ben and Lisa got inside the building.

After some drying off, Ben left to go to Hampton while Lisa stayed in PoSo to make her May bulletin board. By the time Lisa was done with everything, it was raining again..but thankfully Krystal, Lisa's boss next year, was kind enough to drive her to her residence hall where she could change into dry clothes that fit her and did not look like bummy maternity wear.

It was quite the adventure...not a lot of philosophical thought process, but an adventure none the less with two great philosophers.



Here is a philosophy:

What was it that caused this sad sad situation to occur?

Was it bad luck? Were Ben and Lisa just both in the wrong place at the wrong time with no umbrellas just by happenstance?

Was it fate? Were Lisa and Ben meant to have a poopy time walking from the Library to PoSo because the gods decided it was to be so?

Was it karma? Had Ben or Lisa (most likely Ben) done something evil to deserve this to happen?

Something to think over.



And that's my new philosophy!

I ponder

Right now I consider friendship....

When one friend requests the presence of another friend/philosopher and that friend/philosopher chooses work over the ever wonderful company of another how do you treat that relationship in the future?

As Immanuel Kant stated "Do what is right, though the world may perish." What is more right, a draft of a paper or an everlasting friendship?

I choose friendship....

And that's my new philosophy.

Dear Ben.

Please Philosophize.

Always, Philosopher #1.

A philosophers priorities

With only a few weeks left of school, I've been thinking about what is really most important.

Is it the 10-15 page paper?
Is it the SSKB?
Is it the French test?
Is it a Greek Week event?
Is it your friend who is upset?
Is it your sanity?
Is it your sophomore checkpoint?
Is it your 0 credit class that you need 8 semesters of?
Is it the mess collecting in your room?
Is it making sure you catch the latest episode of dorm-life?
Is it reading your favorite blog? (this one...duh)

How do you decide when there are overlapping things? What do you choose to deal with first? Grades? Friends? Personal health? Dorm-life? It's so difficult.

Sigh. Sometimes you have to make tough choices. And the last 3 weeks of the semester is not the time to realize you'd rather read Twilight than do work. Not a good time to develop a book addiction.

And that's my new philosophy.