Evidence does indeed confirm that people adjust to both positive and negative changes in circumstances with surprising speed, and then promptly forget that they did so…Thus we find ourselves on a hedonic treadmill in which we strive for an imagined happiness that forever slips out of our grasp, beckoning us onward…

tags: clips, pensieve, umich

“…How do I get back to my old self?”

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change” – Carl Rogers.

tags: clips, pensieve, snippet

Scratch Political Psychology. In a rapid series of events, I have dropped it and switched into Pragmatism. I missed three lectures and have a ton of reading to catch up on. I picked up the books today and they look really interesting.

Also interesting: I was reorganizing my books (i.e. fishing out the ones for classes that I have dropped) when I came across “A Small Treatise on Great Virtues.” I am not sure what class I bought this book for. Perhaps Shaping of World Views. It’s not on the syllabus though, so maybe it was just a recommended book. Anyway, on the front of the book I noticed a review:

“A magnificent achievement, a volume full of understanding and imagination from which no reader can fail to profit”
– Charles Larmore, The New Republic

Which was unexpected because that is the name of my professor for Pragmatism. Further inquiry has revealed that he is indeed the same person who reviews philosophy books for The New Republic. Snap.

MAYA is coming to visit next weekend, and Mummy is coming a few weeks after that. Also, Peter is starting to get better. Also I have been spending a lot of quality time with McComas.

I picked up “Welcoming You: A Pre-departure Guide for US Students going to the UK” put out by the British Council. On the back of the booklet it says “[t]he UK means the United Kingdom, and consists of England, Scotland, Wales (Great Britain) and Northern Ireland.” The guide contains helpful advice such as:

* Just keep an open mind, don’t order iced tea and you’ll be fine!
* You will find that if you make the first move to start a conversation, British people are helpful and considerate.
* Layering is the key to being comfortable in the UK.

tags: class, clips, friends, globetrotting

Someone could make a fortune selling leggings, tights and socks with the seams on the outside.

tags: clips, design

The World According to Glass:

Mudd: Why did you decide to transfer to Brown from Northwestern?

Glass: Because I hated Northwestern.

Mudd: Did you like Brown? How did going there influence you?

Glass: I hated Northwestern because the students only seemed to be interested in getting graduate degrees and making money. There weren’t that many people who were obsessively studying for the sake of learning things. At Brown, I found people who were obsessively studying for the sake of learning things.

Mudd: And you could study semiotics.

Glass: Though I’d never heard of it before. It was a choice between Brown and the University of Chicago as a place to transfer to. And the University of Chicago seemed like it was going to be grindingly dustier and hard. And Brown seemed like it might be more fun and lively, which it was.

If only every transfer student from a large private school with a preprofessional-bent who chose Brown over University of Chicago and majored in something utterly impractical was as successful and awesome as Ira Glass, I would be set for life.

tags: brown, clips, evergreen, webloggish

tags: clips, family