*passing person in hallway* HihowyadoingwhyImdoingfinethanksforaskingokayyouhaveagooddaytoo! *person gone*

*Sees you* Oh hey! I've been meaning to talk to you....

Yesterday on my way to class I passed a 35 mph speed limit sign, and then 100 meters later passed a 45 mph speed limit sign.  Usually speed limit signs are a significant distance apart along the road, but apparently it was extremely important that people drive 35 mph in that 100 meter stretch.

Recently my friend and I went to Waffle House, and we both ordered coffee along with our food.  What I found out is that when you sit at the main counter the waitresses are like coffee hawks, always flying by to refill your mug when you aren't looking, even when you have only had a sip or two.  Once I realized why my coffee cup didn't seem to be emptying as I drank it, I imagined the scenario where a guy is shaking from all the coffee he's drank and his friend asks him severely, "How many cups did you have??" The friend, jittery and eyes wide, could then dramatically respond, "Just one!! It just wouldn't empty! It was an eternal cup of coffee." 

As I mentioned last post, I went to a symphony on this previous weekend.  Two pieces were featured by composers from the Romantic Period, which occupied the first half of the 1800s.  One might have wondered going in how seeing the symphony has changed since the 1800s.  Your question would have been answered in-between the two pieces when the maestro walked on stage to polite applause, then stopped on the conducting platform, faced the audience, and ensued to announce the score of the in-progress Buckeye football game ("Ohio State 17, Penn State 7"), which was greeted with rapturous applause.  He then turned around, and conducted a masterful piece of dramatic music. Announcing the score was nothing less than hilariously out of place.

Geese are just like teenagers.  Surrounded by their friends, they slowly cross the street, irrespective of what cars may be speeding at them; which thus shows how they flagrantly ignore authority, unrightfully think the universe revolves around them, and that they think they can just do whatever they want whenever they want.

Well, hey, it was great bumping into you.  See ya around?

What makes every human a unique person?  I'm sure that there are many different answers that will satisfy different people, and I think the commenters from last post all give good responses.  It's an interesting question because virtually everyone assumes that they are in some way fundamentally different from everyone else.  But why is that so?

One reason you are ultimately separated from being even remotely like any other person is that no one has ever lived your specific life.  This was the point missdebster made quite well.  The fact is, when you wake up tomorrow, you will be living a day that no one in humanity has ever seen before, in the context of your own current thoughts, and with a past few days and mood that no one else has ever had.  You will have conversations with people that no one else has ever had.  Every view you have as you look around you will be completely unexperienced by any other person ever.  Nearly every aspect of your daily life, your thoughts, words, views, and moods, framed within your personal story and history, is utterly unique.  Actually, the more thought I give it, the more unique everyone's life seems to be.  All the words, facial expressions, and every intricate detail of every given day makes it an illusion that life is ever the same as it was before. 

But this perhaps only treats one side of the problem.  Establishing that every human life is different because of their subjective circumstances doesn't in fact establish that every human has a unique essence that no one else has ever had. 

My friend Matt answered the problem like this: in medieval theology there is a hierarchy of beings that ranks the intelligibility of things.  From lowest intelligibility to highest it runs like this: inanimate objects, plants, animals, humans, angels, God. 

Another word for intelligibility is 'knowability.'  So the idea is that the higher you go in the hierarchy the more there is to know about that thing.  And of course this makes perfect sense; how much do you, or can you, even know another person?  No person is really ever known in their entirety by another person.  No matter how well you know someone, there is always at least just a little bit left to know or understand.  And that little bit never decreases in amount, which is truly the essence of every person being an individual.  In one lifetime, you may perhaps come to know one other person extremely well, but you will only approach truly knowing who they are as a limit. 

Recently I had been thinking about how severe the limits to knowing other people are anyway.  Friday night I slept for sixteen hours, and during this slumber I dreamt.  But to say I merely dreamt is inaccurate; it seemed like I spent years and years away in a world ruled by different physical and social laws because of how strange it was, and then woke up and was revisiting our planet by doing so.  How can anyone else ever really know or visualize what I am talking about?   Whenever I have extravegantly unexplainable dreams, I always wake up and think, "Dang. And no one else will ever really know."

Saturday night my friend Alex and I went to see the symphony.  I realized while we were waiting for the show to begin, perhaps listening to a symphony is like getting a glimpse into the composer's mind, and that maybe a symphony is the best representation for what sort of thing goes on in any person's mind.  All day swarming thoughts and moods form a unique sounding symphony, and no two minds are playing the same song.

Ok enough of these posts, I mean you're unique and blah blah blah.  We all knew it anyways. 

Sometimes, when I feel like my life hasn't changed in years, I start to think about the unoriginality of every human. 

During my normal stream of life, that which is undisturbed by reflective thoughts, I subconsciously accept the idea that I have a fundamentally unique identity.  To an extent, we all assume the same thing.  After all, in the relative framework of my life I am, for the most part, generally unlike the people around me.  We all have different personalities and quirks, so it seems natural to assume that we are each, in a way, our own unique idea of a person.

But somewhere along the way I got lost in a thought.  The immensity of humanity stretches much further geographically and chronologically than the mere dot and moment I have been exposed to.  And within this thought the foundation for my belief in the uniqueness of humans began to break down.  

We think of people as more than clumps of matter that eat, sleep, and breathe.  We think of people in terms of their personalities.  And what is a personality?  When you analyze it, a personality is an assemblage of different qualities that come from a finite set of adjectives.  Thus a person could be funny, spontaneous, irascible, or any number of other qualities, that when consolidated form their personality, in other words, who that person is. 

Here is what confounded me concerning the individuality of me or any other human.  In history, I thought, all these things have surely been done.  Every single quality a person can have, like the ones I mentioned or any you can think of, has in all probability already been exemplified in greater degree by persons in history than in persons I see around me today.  Think of a quality that one can possess, and then think about whether or not another person has already had this quality.  It seems as if there is no exception to the result of this thought experiment.

Suddenly, as this thought occurred to me, I felt the confidence I once had in the idea of human uniqueness vanish.  My existence is made of qualities, and there are no original qualities.  Everything has been done.  Any emotion, interest, or defining feature I have has already been had.  Human beings seemed like sticks on a forest floor; certainly the sticks are different slightly in size and color, but nothing makes them ultimately unique.

This thought troubled me greatly for some time, and perhaps you can see why (I'm not assuming everyone will be as anxious as I was about this thought).  But in time two thoughts arrived that remedied this contradiction between the appearance of human individuality and people being the sum of unoriginal qualities, but seeing as this post already has the height of a doddering skyscraper, I'll save them for next post. 

Do you see any solutions to the problem? Or is there even a problem?

I'm bringing sexy ba...KRRwrrrtchhh...Nancy Pelosi had this to say, "The President has giv...HhhrschrrrKkirfff...That's right, the seventh caller will get both the...CCHuhhhrkkk...Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to this edition of Stroke of Thought...

When I was younger I was very confused whenever I looked at a statistical analysis in a newspaper or magazine.  If it said something like "46% of Americans do so and so" I would always immediately think, "But they never asked me!" 

I like to look up the definitions of words that I already know and use as a way of "fingerprinting" them. That way I know exactly what they mean so I can understand and use them better. It's like my head is a camp for words, and I don't want just anybody showing up and frolicking around on the playground of my brain.  At the very least, I need to know who's here and who's not.  *over megaphone*  Every word is expected to sign in, and get a name tag.  Thank you.

Be happy when you see the meaningless passions of others that you don't share.  People invest their emotions in certain activities that are good for nothing in the end, and if for no single reason you just so happen to not share an investment in that activity, be content knowing you are free. 

Is a possible symptom of a food allergy getting a nosebleed while eating that food?  Twice on Saturday I ate a frozen turkey dinner that you warm up in the microwave, and both times my nose starting bleeding right in the middle of eating!  I'm sure you can imagine the surreal bewilderment this caused. 

That's all for today, thanks for tuning in folks! And have a good day!

FFRRidddicchhhhh...The Red Sox are going to get stampeded by the Rocki...GRRhhrrkk....

Why do spiders bite people in their sleep?  I sleep in our house's basement, and currently have a spider bite on the back of my neck.  And I am completely at a loss as to what thought process could have possibly preceded the spider's seemingly gatuitious action.  What logic can account for it?  Do spiders dare one another to bite humans in their sleep?  Is it the spider equivalent of cow-tipping? 

*scuttle, scuttle*

Dum da dum dum dum, what time is it? Hmm, circa two A.M.  I think I'll go for a walk.  Let's see here, down down down the wall we go.  Ah, there we are.  Ooooh, look, a giant rectangle! It's wall-climbing time!  And what's this?  A giant rising and sinking mountain; I'm feeling adventurous, why not climb it?  *sidles on up mountain*  Why, look at this!  It's a fleshly body 5,000 times my size, and it's lying here unconscious!  I feel threatened.  I had better bite it.  That just makes sense.  How else will I deter this imposing beast?  *BITE*

*scuttle, scuttle*

But given that I have seen statistics that say we eat anywhere from five to ten spiders in our sleep during a lifetime, I suppose their tendencies aren't generally ruled by reason.

Have a good sleep!

Are all my past thoughts assumed in my present moment of existence; or must I rethink them?  Certainly I have been changed by many thoughts and occurrences in my past, but at any given moment I am not thinking of them.  Thus, is how I am in the present moment, the way I think, what I think, and my mood about life, simply a general addition of all that has already come to pass in my life?  Is it true that I am constantly changing into a slightly different person in every moment?  And is it further true that this change is predicated upon what I am consciously pursuing mentally or physically at any given time?  

So my present state of being is what has been carved by thoughts and actions, day by day over the period of my past leading up to this moment, so that I do not have to be in perpetual perception of things I have thought.  But instead a thought came to me at one time, and whatever thought it was chipped the sculpture of my mind, so it was slightly affected.  When many similar thoughts, or thoughts of the same mood, were chipped, my mind gradually formed more into the state of those thoughts.  The ultimate state of those type of thoughts is whatever they look like when they are all massed together; or put simply, the genre or quiddity of those thoughts.  So how I presently am is a summation of all that I have been doing and been thinking; and every day I am being further crafted by my own will in what I think and do.

The thought that started this meditation was that I am not constantly consciously thinking all that has created who I presently am, and yet I am still presently who those thoughts have created; but where it led me made me vaguely remember a quote from C.S. Lewis that I eventually found after a long time of searching: 

"[E]very time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before.  And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature." 

What can we conclude from this grand realization that we gradually become what we habitually think and do?

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."  [Philippians 4:7-9]

LAsym21: dude i just wrote my congressman
LAsym21: write yours too
gRichter88: about what
gRichter88: we have the same congressman
gRichter88: i thought it was a women
gRichter88: woman*
LAsym21: passing a bill that will aid developing nations get on their financial feet
LAsym21: well, i don't know which one it is
LAsym21: we have 2
LAsym21: 2 in the senate
LAsym21: pryce was for house of reps
LAsym21: our senators are dudes
LAsym21: brown and voinovich
gRichter88: they don't need me to do it
LAsym21: don't be a free rider
LAsym21: free riders assume everyone else will do it
gRichter88: and they always do
LAsym21: tell that to the 1000 people in florida who didn't bother to vote for gore
gRichter88: okay
gRichter88: exepct other people tell them alot i'm sure
LAsym21: well you see the point
LAsym21: individual people do matter
LAsym21: no one is the crowd
LAsym21: the crowd is just made up of people like you and me
gRichter88: right
gRichter88: but at the same time indivdual people don't matter
LAsym21: and on the other side of the coin, they're all that matter
LAsym21: lol
LAsym21: so pick your side
gRichter88: alright
LAsym21: i think mine's right
gRichter88: too bad you're wrong
LAsym21: lol
LAsym21: not true
gRichter88: for you
LAsym21: 1. Whatever can make a difference matters.
2. Large groups of people can make a difference.
3. Large groups of people are made up of individuals.
4. Without individuals, there is no large group. 
5. You are an individual.
6. You are all that matters.
LAsym21: ehh?
gRichter88: no
gRichter88: if 1000 people show up to vote
gRichter88: My showing up has no outcome either way
gRichter88: as the crowed gets larger, my impact gets smaller
gRichter88: expand it 6 billion, and it is miniscule
gRichter88: compact it to me and you, and i'm almost half of the importance
LAsym21: no, in any case, you are the only thing that's important
LAsym21: because everyone is subjective in viewing the crowd as well
LAsym21: and thus when they think they aren't significant, they don't show up
LAsym21: and many people think this way
LAsym21: and thus the impact occurs through many people
LAsym21: but if you change your mind and decide to go
LAsym21: you become one of the group of people that decided they were all that matters
LAsym21: and thus through collective -- yet still subjective to you -- thinking, things get done
LAsym21: and ultimately you are all that matters, because everyone is the exact same as you in their contemplation about going. you project the eventual thinking of the crowd you're in
gRichter88: execpt that only my thinking matters to me, i don't care or control about what other people think.
gRichter88: I'm going from me alone
LAsym21: but if you assume the reasoning is correct -- that crowds are individuals, thus you must go -- then you will assume that everyone else will think it as well
gRichter88: no why would i assume that
LAsym21: because by assuming it you make it true
gRichter88: now i'm confused, why would i make a generalization about everyone
LAsym21: because you are a part of the crowd to someone who is just like you thinking about the same exact issue somewhere else.  so in assuming that if you go to it will matter because everyone else is thinking the same thing, you make it true for others who assume the same.  it's a self-validating assumption
gRichter88: i think you're overthinking it, i need a subject change
LAsym21: i think you are underthinking it
LAsym21: lol
LAsym21: you are the crowd grant, because the crowd is just individuals
gRichter88: everyone is different
LAsym21: so in assuming you matter, and hoping you assume everyone else assumes they matter because they are hoping you assume you matter, you are acting in this mental process as a responsible citizen of the crowd, and your assumption works because others hold the same assumption -- that they need to be proactive, or no one will, since they are all there is
gRichter88: execpt when they don't think the same thing as you,
but yeah i understand what you're saying
LAsym21: well yeah, they don't think the same thing as well, which is what you are doing right now, which evades a mental responsibility to understand that as an individual your decision makes up the crowd, and then there's an exponential increase in those who aren't in the crowd, and those people should think like they are all the crowd is, because then they would show up
LAsym21: see?
gRichter88: no and i'm not in the mood to at this moment, because i'm doing too many things at once
gRichter88: but maybe someday i will
LAsym21: lol ok
gRichter88: and then i'll go vote

...

Free riding is such a problem, because there are so many things in which we could make a difference if each of us would just realize, I am the crowd. 

Edit: I ended up drinking eight free cappuccinos on Monday.  I was a *bit* jittery in my next class.

Have things ever happened exactly when you needed them to, like a blizzard on the morning of a difficult exam in school?  Well, in a similar fashion, my fortunes today have arrived perfectly, like hitting every possible green light on a day you're late. 

Last night I stayed up far too late for a person with the need of a daily working brain.  After a bare amount of sleep, I trudged out the door for the long car ride to college to make it in time for my first class.  Listening to long pieces of soporific classical music (over twelve minutes long) in my morning class dealt my hopes of fighting through the drowsiness a serious blow. 

However, the capricious winds of fortune soon changed.  Today of all days, a day in which I have six hours of classes and a five page paper to write, just so happens to be free cappuccinno day!! To my elated surprise, the vending machine spit my money back out and announced "Free" on its digital screen after I pushed the cappuccino button.  It's like Han Solo and Co. just took out the shield generator and I am now free to destroy the Death Star.  I am currently sitting twenty feet away from the vending machine working on my fifth cappuccino. 

It has been fun sharing my secret knowledge with others and feeling together like we are criminals or something.  I feel like I have discovered a flaw in reality, a vending machine that defies the laws of nature.  It can't be a dream, however, because I've consumed so much caffeine in said dream that I would have woken up by now.  Although, I must admit, I am a bit suspicious of being asleep because I did doze off in music class, so I might be waking up from this paradisal state of perpetual free cappuccinos at my desk anytime now.  But until then, I will enjoy this rare kindhearted vending machine.  

Does anyone else have any reverse Twilight Zone stories?         

I think the guy who invented mapquest was bitter because someone once gave him wrong directions.  As it slowly dawned on him that the directions given him would not successfully lead him to where he wanted to go, the rage grew inside of him.  Enfuriated by every random turn he took next, knowing it was futile for him to find his destination now, he sped back to his home.  While recklessly driving home, an evil smile crept across the man's face.  Upon arriving at his house he scurried inside and began desiging his masterful revenge plot.  Within weeks his website, mapquest.com, was up and running.  Not only would his friend who had given him faulty directions be duped into using his intentionally deceptive website that claimed to give accurate directions, but every other miserable soul as well!  His hatred ran so deep, was so inexorably malicious, that not a person less than everyone must pay for his suffering. 

All of this is of course suggested by self-experience using mapquest; it truly seems to be the only possible explanation.  Why else would a seemingly legitimate website fail so many times in simply producing the quickest route to a destination?  It cannot simply be an error lying in the calculation program that is to blame for such innaccurate results; no, such consistency implies a deeper, human cause.  Only hatred and malice could concoct such an invention as mapquest. And I cannot escape the image whenever I am wandering down unfamiliar streets hopelessly in search of my destination using mapquest directions, someone, somewhere is laughing fiendishly in satisfaction that they have repaid the injustice brought upon them to millions of travelers across America.     

Long live google maps! Everyone have a terrific day! 

Today was the first markedly chilly day of the year.  For the first time walking to class included a spring in my step to work the heart and to find the heated indoors more quickly. Finally the leaves swirling in the air and eventually finding their way to the ground made sense because the cooling fall weather was there to match it. 

It is odd how the human mind works, like how it subconsciously believes ideas it knows aren't true.  Every season rolls around and soon enough it will be in the very heart of it, and day in and day out all the same characteristics of that season will be in full form.  Steadily the brute truth of the season's presence will inculcate into my mind the way life is during that season.  Eventually the drag of the days wears so much on my mind that I will unwillingly believe that the current season is an unchangeable reality that lasts forever. 

But just as this feeling is at its highest, when we are so sure of the way things are, a day like today will happen, and a new season will break in upon the human mind.  Right when the gods of summer had finally hoped that the brainwash was complete, that our minds were hardwired for summer to continue indefinitely, the whole scenery of daily life changed with a night's rest. 

Was it not just yesterday that the trees and grass glowed with the summer sun?  Did not birds accompany us on our daily routes?  Was not the very essence of summer in the bushes, on people's faces, in the feeling of my skin?  Had I not been greeted from the front door with a canvas of the summer world?

But today the taste of the air has been newly imagined.  A gelid breeze greets the cheeks of me and my fellow students as we scurry into classes.  As I look around, every object in sight assumes a new feel in my mind, one that tells my mind what it would say to my skin should I touch it.  The colors have lost their summer intensity, for just as the world has been turned upside down, so the clouds cover us as an upside-down ocean of grey ceiling. 

Ah, once again I am reminded that the seasons do change, time will carry us to fresh sights, and never will our minds fully grip the thrilling tale of life as we turn each corner.