Hey, Brian — good to hear you got back alright. This is my new e-mail, too. Don’t really check the yahoo one anymore. So black fungus, huh? Sounds gross.
I’ve been spending some time at the University fanagling my transfer report to get the courses I feel I deserve and learning the politiking ways of academia. I’ve also been reading a lot of books by academic scientists and there seems to be the general feeling of competitiveness and creative strangulation. This is no suprise to me and I haven’t decided how I will deal with the competitive nature of school. Will I play along and try to climb the top, or will I be satisfied working on the fringes, which is fraught with perils of failure and closed doors? It seems to be the old Ayn Rand question of, “Is it better to die alone and poor, yet personally fullfilled, or successful but morally compromised?” As I’ve thought about these things I came across a passage in some physics book about an early student going through the same sort of thinking and was advised that the system did have its problems, but — if one really wants to study something and is good at it, then other people will not try too hard to stop you.
Alright, good luck with the apartment. Oh yeah, I haven’t seen any invites from Alexis yet on facebook!
David Curry. 2008-09-15 04:02 UTC.