I didn't go to the Freshman Screw yesterday. And while the people I hung out with didn't particularly care for the entire ordeal ordeal, some of them felt "left out" of everyone's grand preparations and dressing up (many tux's and such)and all that. I didn't for some reason. And in fact, I had one of the best nights I've had in a while.
Cards and Games was fun. Beer, chess, and great music. That's all one needs in life really. Oh, not to forget great conversation. Had a lot of that last night too. I was amused to have a conversation with someone about social observations in this place. I was a bit surprised to hear him agreeing with many of my own observations. His own unique observations were very interesting as well. It turned out to be a great conversation about society in general. After that came a different conversation about art and such. And that was great too. Metallica's "Whiskey in the Jar" video was dissected and overanalyzed and it was good.
That's another thing though. While philosophizing and speaking theoretically and analytically is really fun and very interesting, there seems to be a lack of balance. Yesterday, I watched a squirrel eat a nut for two minutes. I rarely find people doing that same thing...pausing and noticing little things and paying attention to beautiful details. One person mentioned that, as I looked up to study the ceiling as we were waiting for someone to get back. He commented at how he doesn't usually think to bother to stop and "look up" or notice the fine details. I think that's kind of sad in a way. Those details seem so great and important. I guess people fail to keep a sense of simplicity and simple beauty when they get so caught up in the productive lifestyle and philosophizing everything to death.
Lately I've been thinking that this balance is also off in that things are very mental but not very physical. With a picture of Machu Picchu on my computer, I can't help but think that being out in such grand nature could make you forget about your philosophizing for a while and to just be aware of yourself and your environment. I looked up at the stars the other night and couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be among them. IF you could see them in space that is. It just seems that sometimes we surround ourselves with ideas and tasks and people so much that we forget about ourselves and our place in nature and the universe. We're so wrapped up in our everyday point of view that we don't bother to step back and "look in" for a bit. It seems to be so vital in the balance of things.
A week until vacation. I really can't wait. After that, three weeks and I'm done the semester. I really need to get all my work done, I have quite a bit of it. But I'm anxious to start my new classes. I want to take a cultural anthropology class and an astrophysics class. I think those will be very interesting. But until then, I should concentrate on getting work done and getting the most out of this semester.