Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse.

[trenchkamen]

I have an amazing ability to get hooked on things precisely when I least need it. I had given up on finishing Persona 3 before starting Persona 4 (grinding in Tartarus was getting really fucking repetitive and starting to feel like a chore), and, lo and behold, I am utterly hooked on Persona 4. I knew this was going to happen. More than anything right now I want to Fuck All This, go back to the apartment, and play, but I'm in the lab, and after this I need to go to the gym and study for my Japanese exam. Oh, and finals start in three weeks.

I desperately need to make a Naoto costume. fabula_umbrae, I'm looking in your direction for help. That or I could just get a boy's school uniform off eBay. The only thing that really distinguishes the jackets is the white stitching and embroidered emblem, and I need to make that hat. Would you guys disown me if I considered eBay? And when were we planning on doing the P4 group again?

I'm also considering making a costume for a bishounen version of the Prince of All Cosmos, but that would be easy to make. At least one Goodwill in the valley has to have a pair of obscenely bright purple pants.

I'm getting no effing BLAST or BLAT results for my peptides. That's really helpful.


Ravenclaws represent.


The bronze looks canary yellow in this picture for some reason. The lower picture is a more accurate color scheme.


Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.


I realize that I forgot to mention this to the Internet at Large, but if you have not been following the drama, President Obama is speaking at ASU's graduation ceremony in a month. But, he's not getting an honorary degree. Of course, there has been a huge outcry over this, and most of it ends in the editorial writers insulting ASU (worthless party school, have you forgotten that Playboy voted you the top party school?, various jabs at Greek co-eds, a school known for the low scholastic achievements of its athletes, etc, oh by the way you're a useless party school and a diploma mill).

I do also find it insulting that some have said that a degree from ASU is not even worth the paper it is printed on anyway. Crow and the Board of Directors made their decision for their own reasons--whatever the hell they may be--and most ASU honorary degrees are given to financial benefactors anyway. Yeah, an honorary degree from ASU might not mean jack, but that does not mean that there are no intelligent and dedicated students here who could compete with the best the Ivy League has to offer. Fuck you. We students had nothing to do with this decision. God knows ASU has problems, and many of your jabs are based in half-truth, but fuck you. We're not all racist, ungrateful, vapid, intellectually-crippled yokels and Daddy's money co-eds as some people seem to think we are now. Fuck. You.

For what it's worth, I don't know what the hell Crow was thinking. How could he not know this would result in a PR nightmare? Isn't he trying to enhance ASU's reputation as the Harvard of the Desert? (I'm serious; that is an official tagline.)

Personally, I do not see why this is such a big deal, but everybody else seems to think this is a huge personal slight against President Obama, and that it signifies far more than anybody ever intended it to. A degree is just a social construct. It signifies what we want it to. In this case, it signifies either that you went through ASU's class mill, or that you gave ASU a lot of money. Given those definitions, Obama did neither. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Or maybe I'm just endlessly naive.

What do you guys think about all of this?

Comments

[hiraku536.livejournal.com]

I'm not understanding this "Honorary Degree". Actually, I don't even know such a thing existed until I read this LJ (Wow, I'm deprived)

I don't know if I would give Obama an honorary degree. I probably won't, even though I do like the guy, so, so much more than McCain, and I'm certain he's charming and charismatic and nice guy and all that, but I probably still won't give him a degree.

You know, this reminds me of that incident where Oprah got a degree. I think that was a couple years back.

I really think getting a degree should mean that you did something in a particular field, and that by graduating, you would be able to make good use of what you mastered during those 4 (or 3 or 5, depending on your pace. I'm graduating in 5 years b/c I just switched majors) Of course, I'm idealizing the situation. The odds of someone making good use of what was learned in college is another challenge and another story that will take place in the real world, but I digress.

You're right in the sense that a degree is just a social construct. But, remember. We're in an age where if you don't have something solid and tangible, it doesn't exist no matter what you say. (Quantitative science is partly to blame for this mentality in my opinion)

Does that make you naive because you don't think that it is a big deal?

Hm... I don't think your naivete is the issue here.

But, other people's values are equally, if not more, important as yours. You might not have given the degree a meaning like someone else has, and... majority believe that a degree has meaning. Big meaning. And... what sucks is that the majority usually rules, right or not. (And, people wonder why we have mob violence)

Do you get what I'm trying to say? Because I'm rambling, and I think I've stopped making sense 2 paragraphs ago.

Before I close, I just want to say, I also think that the value of the university, all "schools", actually, is determined by the student body in the end. We are what made the schools what they are. I've seen it in my middle school and high school, too. Students do well mostly because they themselves have high ambitions and work hard toward that goal, and the school, in turn, will be recognized for the efforts contributed by the students.

I have no doubt that you work hard, and I think it will be because of you and people like you that your school will be appreciated in the future despite what people say now. Just keep doing what you do.

[hiraku536.livejournal.com]

Almost forgot to say...

Love the scarf. I wish I have a Ravenclaw (Or Slytherin) scarf

[trenchkamen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, again, agreed. As I said above, the honorary degrees have been cheapened to the point that it is assumed if somebody is not offered one, he or she has not hit the lowest common denominator of the nominee pool. And yes, I like Obama, but I'm not a fan of giving out honorary degrees just because somebody is cool or smart. But some people are treating this like the highest offense ASU could commit. Some people think it's a racist or McCain-pandering conspiracy. WTF.

And thanks. You can make a scarf--it's not hard, just time-consuming.