French

I am writing a paper for my Business French class about the constitutionality of racial statistics in France, and I wanted to say "As Louis Schweitzer claims..."
I had to look in the dictionary to find that the French word for "claim" was "prétendre," whereas just a few months ago I would have known that. It's not a big deal, but it is disappointing how fast languages can be forgotten. How am I supposed to keep up my Mandarin, my French, and yes, even my English (in the literary sense), and try to learn German [so I can get a rotation in Frankfurt] while I'm working?

College might suck in a lot of ways, but at least it shoves "academic opportunities" in your face. Without this framework, it's up to you to do the work in seeking them out, and considering my laziness, I don't know if I will.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE" (5 points if you know what I'm referencing here)

When I exclaimed, "Happiness is complicated" to a professor, he replied, "Maybe happiness is just being."

I'm not usually one for the psychoanalytical stuff (I never did take AP Psych in high school and I have no idea about anything really), so I actually don't have a clue what he means. I think, though, that part of being happy is just not thinking about being happy. John Stuart Mill puts it this way:

"But I now thought that this end [one's happiness] was only to be attained by not making it the direct end. Those only are happy (I thought) who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness[....] Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness along the way[....] Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so."

Or, in a way, "Ignorance is bliss." Maybe thinking too much is precisely what's causing my moods to be so spastic these days. How's that for an excuse to be exempt from my final exams/papers?

actually posted by somebody as an online comment:

"everybody knows that the male is the stronger species"

immediate reply:

"i didn't realize that 'male' was a species"

...

pwned.

happiness is the most complex thing in the world.

EDIT:

walking back from the gym, i saw an eagle flying onto the lamppost by seelye hall. maybe it's a sign.

Vinyl Records -- curiosity

What's the difference between vinyl records and CDs (obviously beyond the purely aesthetic)? This might be a stupid question, but I'm young enough to not have had much experience with record players. So what are the advantages of owning records vs. CDs or even computer music files?

And does the width/size of the record (i.e. 7'') tell you something about how many songs can be played on it?

Weightless

I can't wait to see All Time Low in concert in April.

Their new song, Weightless:
Listen! (it's not emo!)

Manage me,
I'm a mess,
turn a page,
I'm a book half unread,
I want to be laughed at,
laughed with,
just because,
I want to feel weightless,
and that should be enough,
but I'm stuck in this fucking rut,
waiting on a second hand pick-me-up,
and I'm over getting older,
If I could just find the time,
then I would never let another day go by,
I'm over getting old,
Maybe its not my weekend,
but its gonna be my year,
I'm so sick of,
watching while the minutes pass,
as I go nowhere,
and this is my reaction,
to everything I fear,
'cause I've been going crazy,
I don't want to waste another minute here,
Make believe,
that I impress,
that every word,
by design turns a head,
I wanna feel reckless,
wanna live it up,
just because,
I want to feel weightless,
'cause that would be enough,
If I could just find the time,
then I would never let another day go by,
I'm over getting old,
Maybe its not my weekend,
but its gonna be my year,
I'm so sick of,
watching while the minutes pass,
as I go nowhere,
this is my reaction,
to everything I fear,
'cause I've been going crazy,
I don't want to waste another minute here,
This could be all I've waited for,
this could be everything and I don't want to dream anymore,
Maybe its not my weekend,
but its gonna be my year
and I've been going crazy,
I'm stuck in here...
Maybe its not my weekend,
but its gonna be my year,
I'm so sick of,
watching while the minutes pass,
as I go nowhere,
this is my reaction,
to everything I fear,
'cause I've been going crazy,
I don't want to waste another minute here

Summer songs are so upbeat, even if the lyrics aren't. They have this kind of reflective quality that I like a lot.

watching movies on a big screen tv = fun stuff

over the past two days i've watched catwoman and hitch and some corny olsen twins movie set in rome. in short, i really love my lethargic spring break.

things i've noticed:

1) halle berry is kind of scary in catwoman. i love cats, but wow. freaky s&m stuff going on there. and the storyline doesn't really make sense. not to mention her half-nakedness doesn't really do it for my self-esteem... clearly i am not the target audience.

2) i <3 albert in hitch. accountants are cool.

3) italian accents are hot.