Conference proposal

So, my school is holding an undergraduate humanities conference where little know-it-alls get to present their thoughts, and I'm hoping to be on of them!
Without further adieu, here is an abstract for my paper

The explicit theme of Plato’s Symposium is a dialogue in praise of and on the nature of Eros, the god of love and desire, however, the implicit theme that Plato hides is his love for philosophy and The Philosopher: Socrates. In Plato’s dialogues there is little left to coincidence, so with this in mind we can see his underlying attempts to argue for the cause of philosophy, defend Socrates, and present a challenge to pretenders of loving wisdom: the poets.

Feeling the after-effects of Socrates’ trial, Plato saw the dangers that philosophy presented to himself and his like-minded friends. Instead of open ended discussion in the agora, Plato moved his philosophy to a school where he undertook the manifestation of Socrates’ dialogues in written form. At the Academy Plato was able to create a barrier from the masses, the likes of which prosecuted Socrates. Furthermore, by using the medium of written work, Plato was able to be selective about who took part in his ‘dialogues,’ and just in case, it afforded him the leisure of being ironic. In using irony, Plato was able to say what he wanted to without actually saying it. In the written format, Philosophy became safe. Protected from potential accusers, Plato went to work on his legacy of Socrates’ life compiling western philosophy’s most important texts. In the Symposium dealing with Eros we find what is probably Plato’s most personal effort, implicitly showing his love for philosophy and Socrates while aggrandizing them over poetry.

Now, I just have to go about proving my statements!
wish me luck ;)

The new year

Well, I apologize for my prolonged absence. I suppose life has been busy lately.
It's a new year, but you knew that already, right? Not that the changing of the calendar matters to me, I suppose its a nice thing to do, so without further adieu, happy new year!
So, with the festive cheer out of the way, its back to the old grind.
School has opened her sweet arms to embrace me this year, and I am thoroughly enjoying myself this semester. Philosophy of Buddhism, love and sex, and ethics, coupled with an old passion of mine - the roman empire are going to keep me busy with a lifted heart. Have I ever mentioned that I love knowledge? It's a shame its hard for me to go about collecting that treasure on my own. It's hard to convince myself in retrospect, but I do love knowledge and learning - epiphanies instigate goosebumps and a racing heart like no other experience I've had. The sudden burst of knowledge is so exhilarating - why its not my kind of drug is beyond me. On the depressing side, lethargy is my drug, and video games are my dealers. Speaking of which, the frequency of which I have been playing has increased since the winter break. I guess I got a bit of time granted to me, and I filled it up with living in a post-apocalyptic world in Fallout 3, flooding underground tunnels in gears of war 2, and buying downloadable content in littlebigplanet. Ah, what more can be said, I just hope a balance can be found between what I ought to spend my time doing and what I actually spend my time doing. This is my ongoing struggle - its a shame to know your struggle, but I suppose all hope is contained in that knowledge.

In any event, I think I've complained enough for today - my written thoughts only want to come out as negative reflections of myself today, so I won't burden you with my weight.

'til next time I blog, which may not be so seperated form this one, take it easy

The snow cometh

Well, blogging has been low on the necessity scale as of late. I've been rather busy if I don't say so myself. Between working 4 times a week, soccer on sundays, school, and of course all-the-while moving, I think I can confidently say I am actually busy.
Things aren't looking to settle down anytime soon either; 'one more paper' bears no meaning when final exams distinctly follow. For now, I've got a decent amount of time to finish this paper, and this blog, this allowance of time, is like a sigh before I have to take it all back in again.
It's funny when I look at the amount of days until this paper is due, and I say, "6 days, that's plenty of time," but I of course fail to mention in those days I have two concerts, 3 work shifts, school, moving out, and it's snowing.
The snow is surely a sign of things to come. A light sprinkling of disorder that is enticing before the shit storm that is car accidents, slippery slopes, and a total exacerbation of all life's problems. Sure, the snow looks pretty now, but wait until you're knee-high in an morally-neutral disruptive substance. That's what life will be like very shortly for me: morally-neutral, yet always disruptive. Such is the life of seasons I suppose; those of the earth, and those of me. It's no wonder that school comes to a 'yearly' end with the spring an summer. Can you imagine your last taste of school being in the dead of a Canadian winter? It's enough to keep you locked in your house for ages. Outside is stress and total chaos. The house, your bed, your kitchen, your living rooms are homages to order and comfort and they welcome you back with open arms comforting you from the harshness that is winter, and they only let you back out with understanding and promises of a bright spring to come. Ending in the winter is a bitter taste left in your mouth, that repels you from reaching to the outside world for some time. Colloquially, this must be why 'snowboarders' tend to be, or were at some point chaos-loving douche-bags.

In any event, like the snow, life is coming and it's going to get hectic; hectic of course, but more cautiosly for me, important! I should not be looking at the storm of things to come as troublesome, specially when it's for my own good. Life is what I love, and I should be thankful for a blizzard of it - overwhelmed or not, I'm going to brave the storm and with a hopeful heart withstand it and overcome that which obstructs me. Wish me luck, and if you have any thoughts on Balibar's article "Althusser's Object," let me know, 'cause I'll be needing the help where I can get it - especially since I've been told by my professor, "No more C work Tim!"
Ah, my proffesor, Old Man Winter.

Re: "Ok. I'm going."

Oh A, I don't know what's worse, the fact you're having procrastinating issues, or the fact it makes me feel a better about myself.
I must say, this post is much like the superhero who dashes in at the last second to save the lady from the collapse of a burning building. I've been running around a lot in my head about my life, and its direction. School, in particular. Not going to lie, dropping out has been on my mind for the last few days. It's been on my mind a lot that what I'm putting out is not good enough; in short, I haven't felt committed enough. A quick gander at my grades will reflect this sentiment. When I told you today I wasn't motivated to come to class, I was really trying to say I wasn't motivated to come to school again.
In my days of self loathing, I have found solace in you, in particular this post. I can't imagine you intended it, but realistically, the expression of your thoughts have come at the right time to give me a new perspective on myself. For some strange reason (well maybe not that strange, but still, random) I am quoting in my head, 300 the movie, in that 'even a god-king can bleed.' Because of you, because you struggle in ways I do, I have hope. I can look to you in complete admiration, and know that its not by some divine gift you've received that I feel this way. This type of reflection is exactly what I need to enforce the notion that your status (to me anyways) takes work. Hard, painful work. Thanks to you, I no longer want to give up. I feel elevated again; I feel human.
Once again, thank you.

moving in

So, I've been to the house a few times now, had a chance to run through where things go (not to mention where I'll have to repair the wall - oops).
The house is very nice and my excitement is building to move in. It's a whole new living space for me to get used to; to make it my own; a part of me.
I don't get attached to a lot of things, especially that easily, but making this house a part of me and vice versa is going to be different. What can I do to this house, where I feel like I've produced the feeling of a 'home,' beyond the walls and roof? In the Lockian sense I've just got to mix my labour with the house to make it mine. Sounds simple enough. Repair the wall, move some furniture, and the house becomes my property (well, some of it).
In the Althusserian sense, it gets tricky. I don't know if its possible for me to label this 'housey feeling' as a crystallized object yet. 'In the last instance,' I say to myself, 'is not possible to put a finger on.' Thankfully, Balibar is a smart person. These epistemological breaks, that is points in between the crystallization of objects are in themselves objects. This epistemological (house) break, this one heading towards 'the last instance' is in itself an object. My house, my 'home,' is going to be my object of personal ownership.
How strange that the crystallization, the last instance, is only possible in the eradication of the objectifying - as in me. That will probably not be the desired 'house' feeling I am looking for, lest I die young!

moving out

So, my girlfriend and friend get possession of their (our) house tomorrow. Call me crazy, but I'm not really affected by this at all quite yet.
Perhaps its the fact that I have never stepped foot into the house as of yet - tomorrow may be a different story. I could be jumping for joy at the possession of a new house. I do have a passion for setting up things. Maybe once I start moving things into the house where I can place them logically my excitement will raise. Until then, the movement phases me not.
One part of the change that has me excited is to justify abusing my staff discount - electronics shall be aplenty if I have it my way. Speakers are the first on the list.
I'll have to show them off as soon as I get them - for now the large t.v. will have to make due with the puny bookshelf speakers I'm running - my receiver yearns to be used to it's intended capacity.
In the meantime, I shall spend some more time packing and organizing, cleaning and dusting, packing and garbaging.
It's been very interesting to sort through the years that I have lugged around - kept my hands on lives long forgotten. Found memories of people I used to confide in and watched as I took my stance on keeping those memories or not years later and an entirely different mind set. It's hard to argue that things are not in flux, and I'm made curious as to what this will look like years down the road. What will be worth keeping in another 5 years? What memories will obtain through the new ones about to be made? Time looks to unveil a number of truths and surprises ahead, and it will always be interesting to see what happens.
Moving out is certainly interesting - I hope what moves-in creates worthwhile memories.
Cheers to those memories past and those not yet realized!

Work . . .

is like this!