In a conversation today, I learned that when a person takes qualifying exams for a PhD it is the pinnacle of his/her intellectual world. Apparently, a person will never feel quite as intelligent as during that process.
Many of you know, I'm about to hit that moment of ultimate intelligence (my own little hyperreality--thanks, Baudrillard). So I thought I should share with you some of the deep intellectual musings I've pondered during this two weeks in study mode:
- Is my dorm room really cockroach-free this year, or are they just better at hiding?
- Were my new sandals, which I bought at Kohls for "free" after spending $100 on other miscellaneous items to get the "free" gift certificate, really free?
- Where are all the men at the gym here getting their steroids (and don't try to tell me that creepy cartoon-proportioned upper body is natural)?
- Why do the pictures of me taken during this May seminar usually show me eating
Now I can't be one hundred percent sure, but I think Isocrates, Plato, and Aristotle started out on similar themes.
7 comments:
You are always caught eating in photos because you eat too slowly. Inhale your food; don't savor it. The camera will never catch you. Or continue eating at your current speed and only pose for daguerreotypes.
Along very similar lines, the roaches are still there...
The sandals are only free if you didn't know they were free before you bought them. These types of discounts are like the ages-old physics question: does observation of a thing change it such that observaing a thing in its true, undistrubed state is impossible?
With that in mind, the only path to the real answer is by not observing your sandals.
Becky-
You're a brave and dedicated woman staying in a dorm with the possibility of roaches. I had an apartment in Italy that was overrun with them and I never prepared a meal there if I could help it and pulled the bed out each night and sprayed the legs of my bed frame with insecticide. If we ever move to a climate more hospitable to these loathsome creatures, I will be calling in a lot of favors from Lisa for all those spiders and hornets I dispatched for her.
Matt-
Becky, you were always caught eating in photos because Dad was there taking those pictures...
-Lisa
But Dad's not at the May seminar, or is he???
I promise they are just better at hiding.
Eat away, darling. Anyone who looks as good as you do at your old age after birthing 4 children can eat all they want. Focus on the colas, cookies and chocolate, though as, according to your Uncle Gary (who knows) sugar is all your brain needs to function and more sugar = more brain power. Now is the time you need that power.
Looking forward to adding another Doctor to the family!
Post a Comment