Logic, Prelude to Montauk

In a recent conversation the other day, I noticed something. I was talking to my friend's younger brother (I believe he's 14), and i realized how much I take logic for granted. I was baffled by the fact that the kid not only could not form a logical argument, but he couldn't understand one either.In his mind, something was simply because it was. He didn't wonder why it was that way, or why it wasn't another way, or even the fact that just because something is doesn't mean it's right. The more I thought about it though, the more i realized that it wasn't completely his fault. Logic is an acquired skill (maybe skill isn't the right word?), and you can't really teach it to someone without them figuring out some degree of it for themselves. 

Someone without a logical basis may do something that does not seem logical to everyone else simply because they feel like it or because they wanted to, without rationalizing whether the act is beneficial or harmful to anyone else. Unfortunately though, trying to explain that to them is near impossible, because the simple idea of 'this + this = that' just does not compute for them.

In other news, I'm leaving for Montauk Tuesday morning and will be back briefly on Friday night, and then back permanently on Sunday night. I'm looking forward to it, as Montauk just embodies relaxation and serenity for me. Seafood is good too. I don't even mind the two hour drive, because that's time for massive amounts of music listening. Just one more day of work, and then a week of relaxation. Woo!

Transformers, Justification, and a Small Social Connection

I saw Transformers last night. To sum it up, it was a good action movie, and a terrible Transformers movie. There were some great fight scenes, explosions, and death, but for a true Transformers fan, the amount of sheer idiotic garbage that was packed into it in order to make it appeal to the public was just horrifying. Several examples include a mobster-esque transformer, two twin transformers that were personified to act very much like stereotypical black people, and a horny dog. There was just so many unecessary things that were added, it makes me sad that they couldn't just focus more on the actual Transformers plotline. For further review on this, check out John Miller's blog. 

On a different note, I haven't really done any musing on a deep topic in a while. Today while I was driving to work, I started thinking about the concept of justification. It has such a loose definition, I was (and still am) pretty stumped as how to accurately define it. From what I could come up with, justification is basically any reason given for performing an act. Is there a difference between a justification and a reason, though? A reason seems to me like it's something that's usually accepted as a motive for performing an act, but a justification seems more like an attempt at a reason. It's more common to say that someone is 'trying to justify' something, not that someone 'is justifying' or 'justified' something. That is, unless you're talking about the Justin Timberlake album. Wow that was a pretty bad joke.

I got a Facebook friend request today from someone I haven't spoken to in a few years, and who I barely knew when I did speak to them. It took me by surprise a bit, and I probably read too far into it, but I thought it was nice that someone who I didn't know that much actually remembered me, and took the initiative to make a (albeit small) social connection. 

New Jersey

As I said previously, I got home yesterday from a weekend trip to New Jersey to visit a friend. While I was excited to go, I really had no idea what to expect in terms of what we'd all be doing for the weekend. 

Even though I was only there for the weekend, I had a really great time on multiple levels. I not only got to relax and take a break from work, but I also got to spend time with good people, and I had some really good bonding time with them. Corny? Maybe. True? Definitely.

After having to go through a lot of friend evaluations, some of which happened fairly recently, it's good to know that there are people who I can legitmately say I value as friends and feel that they would say the same. Thanks guys.

*Cue "awwww"*

Brad Pitt.

Radiohead.

GONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.

Prelude: New Jersey

I got home today from an awesome weekend in New Jersey. I'll elaborate sometime soon, but I'll just say now that I had a great time with some really great people, and I look foward to future times with them. More to come soon.

Swell

Everything is just swell. I mean that in all seriousness. I'm looking forward to my two trips more and more as they approach, as well as the rest of the summer. Work, band, friends, girlfriend, and free time. That's my life right now, and I'm damn happy about it.

Birds Elope the Sun

Maybe I'll start changing the titles of my posts so that the aren't simply stating what I'm going to talk about it. That way it'll be more of a surprise to everyone who doesn't read it (and to the few who do).

One thing I really enjoy about summer is the lack of responsibility. I have to show up for work on time, and do what is requested of me for eight hours, four days a week. That's it. Any other responsibilities are ones that I've chosen, or are just altogether very simple. Being able to just do whatever I choose when I'm not at work is something that I feel like I'm savoring even more this summer than a normally do. This is probably because my first year of college was a big change from high school. High school was almost a joke in senior year, and I had a lot of free time anyway. Since it became more scarce as a college freshman, I value it a lot more now.

My vacations start next week. First to New Jersey for a weekend, and then a little over a week after that, I'll be going out to Montauk. I honestly don't NEED a vacation, but contrarily, these two trips should add some excitement to my relitively quiet summer so far. I'm not saying that I hate quiet (it's quite the opposite) but my activities so far this summer have been the normal rounds of hanging out with people at this place or that place, and some new scenery is a good thing. The time will also be spent with good people, so that's definitely a plus.

Cockyness makes me laugh, especially when the person has nothing to be cocky about. 

I own the Battle Hall and the Battle Arcade.

The only thing better than Arizona Iced Tea is an Arnold Palmer.

Mind Leak

I'm feeling very odd lately. It's even more odd that I cannot tell whether it's good or bad. If I had to guess, I would say good, but there's no definite at the moment. I don't actually have very much to say at the moment, but there's a lot going on in my head. After Sunday, things should seem more clear. This last week or so has gone well, but it has also caused me to think about many different things. I also have a lot ahead of me this summer, and I'm looking forward to it. I find it funny that this little paragraph is probably the most personal thing I've written on here, albeit extremely general. 

Have you ever noticed a poorly placed emergency water valve?