I love your twisted point of view, Mike

Can't write much now, and possibly for the rest of the day. Such is the life of the day before a brief is due. Then paired with a fundraising event tonight -- oy!

BUT I did not catch up with Le___ last night though I did go see Richard Buckner with La___ and had an excellent time. I want to get into his stuff more.

And in other news, I look even more dapper today, weaing my charcoal grey pinstrip suit with a black silk tie.

And in even more other news, I'm feeling a bit more like myself these days. Still a little weird, possibly fragile even. But overalll better.

no more prisons

So I've been thinking about re-reading Upski's book that came out a couple years ago, No More Prisons. at the time, I didn't like it as much as Bomb the Suburbs, which is an unfair comparison but typical with sophomore works. In NMP, he talks about forgoing grad school and homeschooling yourself and how much money you save and how to help make it happen. Now, obviously I don't think you can just homeschool yourself on anything -- it's not like I'm opposed to trade schools or professional schools or actually any grad schools in general. It's more that for me and where I'm at right now, it's a perfect plan. I don't have the money to commit to specific program that I'm not even sure about. Part of me would almost just get a 2nd bachelor's degree, because I like the ability to take multiple subjects. But that would be waste of time and money, since I'd have to take boring req's too. I've considered just taking some evening classes for the sake of learning a topic, but that's how I came to my original idea of teaching myself (since classes at colleges are really expensive).

Homeschool gradschool. I think the idea started percolating this past weekend when I bought a text book on film criticism and then I ordered online the sound recording textbook. I love textbooks -- I love the ideas of large bodies of knowledge being condensed into structure that can be digested, learned, and built upon. I often buy used textbooks that are a couple years old for a few bucks -- it makes me happy to think that if I ever need to brush up on the Sumerians and cuneiform, I can go to my bookshelf and pull down that Civilization textbook.

The only thing missing is the element of discussion. I do miss having the occasional talks with peers, TA's and teachers about something. But when I think about my actual schooling experience, I was often so disgusted with my peers, I usually kept to myself and did all the studying alone. So it's not like I'm incapable of learning by myself. I think I'd just like to occasionally stretch my brain by hearing others opinion, interpretations, etc.

One suggestion Upski makes about continued learning is to make tons of lists of books you want to read, even if the list is too long to ever finish. For keeping track and having visual reminders and possible goals. Also for maintaining or remember interest in specific topics. I've always done this in the past, but only sporadically. I should try to be more consistent -- perhaps with my red book that I carry around. So whenever I'm at a library or used book sale or lecture or record shop, I'll remember about what I wanted to learn.