Exhaustion

I am so tired.

Grad school has proven to be quite an involving task. I knew it was going to be a lot of work. I had no idea it was going to be quite like this, though. I feel completely drained, like all my mental and physical faculties have been sapped dry.

I had my first test today. We had to recall over 100 structures of the brain by rote, plus have detailed knowledge of the primary sentory and motor pathways (medial lemniscal, spinothalamic, corticospinal, extrapyramidal, optic, acoustic) plus whatever knoweldge we could spare about various methodological techniques, including but not limited to radioimmunoassay, in vivo and in vitro autoradiography, and the proper stereotaxic implantation of a push-pull canulla.

After that, I had to proctor a test in a methodology class, administer a quiz on the areas of the brain in an intro to psych class, gather all of the above for grading this weekend, attend a meeting about an in-class debate coming up next week (which I have to write a paper for this weekend as I study for a big stats test coming up on Monday) and then sit through a three hour ethics class.

All today.

And I just got home about an hour ago.

It's 10:00. At night.

I left this morning at 8:00.

Yup, Grad school is rough.

And I honestly love every minute of it.

Thank you Lord for this amazing opportunity.

Weather

I sure hope my friends in Houston made it out all right. I am not looking forward to the state of the union once Rita hits. I can hear it all now... people will start looking for some other excuse to blame Bush for screwing up somewhere somehow along the line in his response to Rita. This time, I anticipate much ado will be made over the very messy exodus from Houston, which from what I have been hearing from a friend down there, was nothing short of a 2 million person mad dash to Dallas.

And from what I hear from my brother in Dallas, things don't get better the further north you go. The highways are jammed, the heat peaks well above 100 degrees Farenheit, and gas stations keep running out of gas, leaving motorists stranded.

After the storm has passed and the waters have receeded, it will be a matter of time before the oil refineries can reopen and get oil processing back to acceptable levels. In the meantime, gas prices are only going to get worse.

Let's not forget the cleanup dollars that will be inevitably funneled into the relief effort.

Dang.

Whenever I get into a conversation and I don't know what to talk about, I, like everyone else, resort to the default conversation topic that everyone can somewhat relate to and not have any strong or dividing opinions about: The weather. You know, it's the "safe," "boring," and "polite" conversation topic that we throw around when we either don't really want to talk to the person or just have no clue what else to say.

It isn't such a "safe" and "boring" conversation topic any more.

Now, the names of these two storms will be forever associated with not only memories of disaster relief and lives shattered, but they will also bring to mind deep political divisions, far reaching economic problems, and the ugliest parts of human nature that were exhibited in the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans (and who knows what else that will happen in Houston). No longer will the weather be a "safe" topic just to toss around carelessly in a sterile conversation.

To everyone in the path of Rita; God be with you and protect you.

To everyone in the United States once Rita has hit; God help us all that we may not devour ourselves.

"...and the little door is for Muffin to go out and piddle."

One of the fascinating things about the Matrix movies is that they lend themselves to constant re-interpretation. Originally, I despised the last two installments to the movie series, but after thinking about them and watching them again, I absolutely love them.

Why?

To be sure, there are parts where I can't help but laugh out loud at Keanu Reeves' horrible acting job. Oh, and there's always that unwarranted "Neo, I believe!" line uttered by the clingy 16 year old buffoon as he shoots open the gate with his APU. Or the fact that at the end of Revolutions, it would have been completely feasible for everyone to break out guitars and start singing "We are the world."

But seriously, the positive aspects of the films have finally proven to me that they're worth watching AND enjoying. The deep symbolism, amusing plotline, and well crafted mythology help keep the films fresh and unique, and their thorough survey of philosophical thought lend a credibility to the overall movie project as a substantial intellectual endeavor. I was completing the requirements for my bachelors in philosophy at the University of Kansas when Revolutions opened, and after walking out I couldn't help but feel that I had just sat through a two and a half hour debate between Analytical and Continental philosophy. When I watched them again this weekend, I saw an argument between determinism and free will during Reloaded and scientific materialistic reductionism and religious thought during Revolutions. And as I thought about them again earlier today, all I could think about is how cool it was to have a bunch of octopus-like machines fight with little dudes in armored suits with guns. Freaking awesome.

Ahhh, the levels at which the human mind operates. ;)

Katrina

What a name.


Anyway, I'm not going to waste your time with trite whinings about how the federal government is moving too slowly or whatever bullcrap other blogs are posting about right now. As a matter of fact, I would be flabbergasted if they weren't moving slowly to get to certain places right now. After all, the area affected by the devastation is the SIZE OF THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OF ENGLAND. Oh, and that whole little bit about how relief workers are getting shot at. Yeah. Gee. I wonder why things are "taking so long."

The Point: Ease off. If you don't like how "slowly" things are going, stop blogging, get off your lazy fat butt, put on some clothes for a change, and find something useful to do with yourself. A person who complains in the face of a disaster like this is absolutely useless. Do something first. Help fix the problem. THEN you can complain after we're all finished.

Furthermore, let's be thankful that things didn't turn out WORSE. Yes, that's right. There is something POSITIVE in all of this even if it is a bit hard to see right now. And no, I do not believe that it is difficult to see simply because of the magnitude of the disaster itself. Instead, I believe it is hard to see because of the poison spilling out of people's hearts through their mouths and their actions.

A mob of armed men tried to violently seize a children's hospital today.

The human response to the problem is the worst disaster of all in Katrina's wake.

Period.

Excuses of desperation be damned. Sick kids? Come on, people.

The good news is that there ARE a lot of things being done to help. Some may say that it's too early for any optimism in this situation, especially since we still don't have a complete survey of the damaged areas yet (and, of course, no final body count), but in the end things will be ok. They always are, after all. Homes can be rebuilt. The dead can be buried. Flooded cities can be drained. All it takes is for us to remember our humanity for a split second. You know, that beautiful part in all of us that is capable of doing some good? The Image of God we stole from Him in the garden? Yeah, that's the one. Whip it out. Be compassionate. Oh, and have a little hope. This too shall pass.

Until then, my thoughts and prayers with all the survivors, and I'm going to go and see what I can do to help (I am not immune from my own criticisms, after all).