I have decided I like getting older:

1. Getting older means I’ve done more things and I’m better at the things I’ve done.
2. I’ve had one year of teaching under my belt, so it means I’ve had a considerable increase in pay going into this next job. I could pay off my car loan with the difference.
3. My insurance payments have dropped about about ten bucks each time I’ve renewed by contract, and it will only go down again next year.
4. I have gotten better at talking to people (which is a real fear of mine sometimes) so I was able to talk to the people I needed to to have them consider me for my new job.
5. I am calming down a bit, and am able to focus a bit more on tasks and think things through a little better. For years now, part of my problem with logic and things entailing logic has been that I can’t get my head to proceed all the way through the steps of the conclusions of so many people I want to understand.
6. More distance in age from the age groups I teach means better ability to maintain professional distance.
7. I’ve also done more things longer, so I’m able to take better benefit from them.
8. Soon, I’ll get to say I’m a quarter of a century old. How cool is that?!
9. The people I look at as my peers are less fickle and more concerned with real problems that can break down a friendship, not the frivolities of our youth.
10. I can buy a CD from the 90s and feel nostalgic while people more in the target marketing groups are revisiting the 80s with fervor. I’m thinking for myself!

I’m a liar, but an efficient one. I decided to leave town early. After scrambling around yesterday, putting things in order, taking things apart, stacking boxes in the corner, I took one look around and decided I had done everything I needed to do. So I left. I know I said I had two more days left, but I had already packed my XBox and other systems, and could only sit at the computer and refresh the page so many times.

So here I sit, at Hat Boy’s, playing video games and waiting for him to get off work so we can do things. Training session tomorrow with the new job, dinner with a guy I used to see, and counting the days till band camp. Can you tell I’m excited about band camp? Band camp!

I’ve decided to hunker down with The Darkness, a first person shooter. I’m borrowing it from a friend. Normally, I get very squeamish during games that have lots of shock moments, or lots of suspense (or dark colors, or violence, or loud noises…I’m such a wuss), but I’ve been up since about 8am, and its 2.20pm now…haven’t exactly taken a break. So I guess I like it.

I’ve always admired people who can play “scary” games. I usually have to be touching a living human and hiding my face. I’ve only freaked out once so far, but I didn’t even throw the controller through the window or wet myself or anything. I’m gonna get to be a real boy after all.

I just spackled all the nail holes in my apartment with toothpaste.

Before, when I went to see my landlady about getting my apartment ready for move-out, she informed me of what I had to do. I had to get a professional carpet cleaning done, replace burned out light bulbs, and fill any nail holes in the wall. “It should look like you would want it to when you moved in,” she told me.

The carpet cleaning: fine. It’s in the lease, I knew I had to do it. No big. The light bulbs: well, I suppose I did use them a little over the last year. It’s only fair that I replace what’s burned out. The nail holes?

When I moved in, it looked like whoever had been there last had not bothered with trying to find wall studs or trying to figure out where they would hang things before putting nails in the wall. Pock-marked is a generous description. In my bedroom, I put one dreamcatcher, one picture, two wall tapestries and a mirror on the walls. I found over thirty holes beyond what I had used. I imagine the self-conversation going like this.

*singing* “Nailing nails! Nailing nails!…Ooh, that’s not what I wanted to do”
*rip out the nail* “I love banging things with a hammer!”
*rips them out again* “Gosh, I just can’t make up my mind about how many nails I should carelessly puncture this dry wall with.”
Ad nauseum.

Landlady (if that) tells me to spackle over the holes, so I do it, just so I can get my deposit back. I already have to pay for the carpet cleaning out of my own pocket, and I can’t just let her deduct it from my deposit because then I’m in breach of contract.

Hopefully, the minty smell in here will die down over the next couple weeks. I also hope the new inhabitants enjoy their cavity- and tartar-free apartment!

Today is a day for organization. I will pack the rest of my things, prepare my luggage for the next two weeks, clean out my car, and then move boxes and furniture into nice little piles and packs so we can easily move around them. I’ll probably take things apart too. I have a dresser with a mirror on the back that will have to come down.

Tomorrow, I’ll be going out of town for band camp and all that. As usually happens when life is going to move forward, I get this natural tendency to pull back like a billy goat on a halter. I know that life is improving, but sometimes, life changes are still scary. Of course, all told, it is likely I just don’t want to go through the moving process again. The hard part happens when we go to load stuff on the truck in two weeks. But at least I’ll have help. It is usually not so.

I’m sitting her, staring at the recliner that is position across from the table I’m sitting at. On the recliner is a pair of wings made of nylon hose and wire hangers. The Girl made these for me when we went to the Renaissance Festival last year. They are gorgeous, but there is not a vessel created that can hold these things. They are delicate and precious, and I don’t have the heart to toss them out. I think Girl would actually probably kill me. She put a lot of effort into them. I will have to take a picture of them and put them on here.

I think the boxes I’m using to pack my things are emitting heat. I can be freezing just sitting here in the apartment, but as soon as I put a box together and start filling it, I start to sweat. Or maybe I’m just fat.

I don’t know where I came up with all the stuff I have. Actually, I don’t even know how I ended up with more stuff than I had when I got here a year ago. The only thing I’ve purchased in quantity that has been packed so far is books, and even those aren’t that numerous, are they? I purposely saved all the boxes I used to get here so that I didn’t have to go track down a ton of boxes, but today I brought home ten more boxes. I think I’ll have extra, but some of that will be because they don’t make big enough boxes for some of my things, paintings and the like.

But I’m taking a break again, trying not to drip on the keyboard, and hoping I can get everything done I need to before its time to move.

The world is full of evidence for the non-existence of god. The world is also full of personal stories of god experiences, but they are not consistent from person to person, nor are they provable beyond the personal, and thus, I find there is no god.

Supernatural phenomena are not able to be tested in a scientific method that would prove their veracity, and thus, are either all personal experience or hoax.

Discovering evidence of god and supernatural phenomena depends on being predisposed to looking for such evidence. If you don’t believe in one or the other, you will not see an event as containing those possibilities. Likewise, one predisposed to see things from a supernatural bent will not have a problem giving supernaturalism as an explanation.

Religious practice, while still serving a psychological function, is not necessary to finding wonder in the world.

Community is an important function in religion for me, and I find it important enough to consider as the only reason for religion, but it is not the only way to community.

Pseudo-science and alternative medicines are not usable if their results can’t be reproduced in testable and fallible circumstances. Regardless of what my friends say or do, I will not be participating in any activity involving these practices, partly out of respect for them.

My wall decorations are not a reflection of the person I was, the person I am, or the person I will be. Sometimes, religious icons are just pretty. Same can be said for religious music.

The Pagan Wheel of the Year, and all its celebrations, can be summed up as being a model for psycho-social growth and, to a less extent, as the agricultural model. While the second doesn’t always apply as stated, these cycles contain generation or birth, growth, maturity, death or removal, and reinvention or continuation of life.

I think I may have finally come to terms with the last three or four years of mental rambling.

(from SMBC Comics.)

An article at Reason.com details the argument both for and against for-profit universities like the University of Phoenix, currently the largest higher education institution in the country. Generally, the core of the article is that the UOP is charging less and requiring less of students with less time or funds on their hands. There is lots of assistance offered to their students, but most of their students drop out in the end anyway. Many students join the UOP to get degrees that can improve pay, and employers are looking to improve their employees with accredited higher education.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to what you want to spend your money on. We should be grateful that people out there are willing to work and learn in order to better their personal lives and their economic standing, if not just having a couple certificates to hang on the wall showing they learned something. Katherine Mangu-Ward, states, “Phoenix students know they’re not getting the best education money can buy. But they might be getting the best education their money can buy.” It’s education, at its root.

One downside I can see is that rising tides lift all ships. If more people are receiving degrees, than it will be more acceptable to see more degrees in industries not usually requiring them of entry level positions. That trickles up to areas are degrees are required, and thus raising the requirements. Of course, that is speculation given that current educational legislation requires master’s degrees and “highly qualified” status to entry level teachers.

What is more important: maintaining the traditional approach to higher education that is stalwarted by institutions around the country; or opening educational opportunities to people who normally can’t afford to participate?

I’ve been listening to The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe as of late, and they do this segment called “Name the Logical Fallacy,” where they present an argument or factoid and pick apart what is wrong with the stance itself, not its content. So, give the podcast as listen, its fun. Below is your cheat sheet for that little game.

___
(from Logical Fallacies: A Beginner’s Guide)

Ad Hominem Attack: This is the best logical fallacy, and if you disagree with me, well, you’re an idiot.

Appeal To Emotion: See, my mom, she had to work three jobs on account of my dad leaving and refusing to support us, and me with my elephantitis and all, all our money went to doctor’s bills so I never was able to get proper schooling. So really, if you look deep down inside yourself, you’ll see that my fallacy here is the best.

Appeal To False Authority: Your logical fallacies aren’t logical fallacies at all because Einstein said so. Einstein also said that this one is better.

Appeal to Fear: If you don’t accept Appeal to Fear as the greatest fallacy, then THE TERRORISTS WILL HAVE WON. Do you want that on your conscience, that THE TERRORISTS WILL HAVE WON because you were a pansy who didn’t really think that Appeal to Fear was worth voting for, and you wanted to vote for something else? Of course not, and neither would the people you let die because THE TERRORISTS WILL HAVE WON.

Appeal to Flattery: If you agree with me that Appeal to Flattery is the greatest fallacy, it shows that you are intelligent and good looking and a snappy dresser.

Appeal To Force: If you don’t agree that Appeal to Force is the greatest logical fallacy, my two buddies and will simply beat the stuffing out of you.

Appeal To Majority: Most people think that this fallacy is the best, so clearly it is.

Appeal To Novelty: The Appeal to Novelty’s a new fallacy, and it blows all your crappy old fallacies out the water! All the cool kids are using it: it’s OBVIOUSLY the best.

Appeal To Numbers: Millions think that this fallacy is the best, so clearly it is.

Appeal to Pity: If you don’t agree that Appeal to Pity is the greatest fallacy, think how it will hurt the feelings of me and the others who like it!

Appeal To Tradition: We’ve used Appeal to Tradition for centuries: how can it possibly be wrong?

Argumentum Ad Nauseam: Argumentum ad nauseam is the best logical fallacy. Argumentum ad nauseam is the best logical fallacy. Argumentum ad nauseam is the best logical fallacy. Argumentum ad nauseam is the best logical fallacy. Argumentum ad nauseam is the best logical fallacy. Argumentum ad nauseam is the best logical fallacy. Argumentum ad nauseam is the best logical fallacy.

Bandwagon: It’s obvious that Bandwagon is going to win as the greatest fallacy. You wouldn’t want to be one of the losers who choose something else, would you?

Begging The Question: Circular reasoning is the best fallacy and is capable of proving anything. Since it can prove anything, it can obviously prove the above statement. Since it can prove the first statement, it must be true. Therefore, circular reasoning is the best fallacy and is capable of proving anything.

Biased Sample: I just did a poll of all the people in the “Biased Sample Fan Club” and 95% of them agree that Biased Sample the best fallacy. Obviously it’s going to win.

Burden Of Proof: Can you prove that Burden of Proof isn’t the best logical fallacy?

Complex Question: Have you stopped beating your wife and saying Complex Question isn’t the best fallacy?

False Dilemma: I’ve found that either you think False Dilemma is the best fallacy, or you’re a terrorist.

False Premise: All of the other fallacies are decent, but clearly not the best as they didn’t come from my incredibly large and sexy brain.

Gambler’s Fallacy: In all the previous talks about this subject, Gambler’s Fallacy lost, so I just know the Gambler’s Fallacy is going to win this time because it’s the Gambler’s Fallacy’s turn to win!

Guilt By Association: You know who else preferred those other logical fallacies? *(insert pictures of Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot here)*

Non Sequitur: Non Sequitur is the best fallacy because none of my meals so far today have involved asparagus.

Post Hoc/False Cause: Since I’ve started presuming that correlation equals causation, violent crime has gone down 54%.

Red Herring: They say that to prove your fallacy is the best requires extraordinary evidence, because it’s an extraordinary claim. Well, I’d like to note that “Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence” is itself an extraordinary claim.

Relativism: Well maybe all those other fallacies are the best for you, but to me, the relativist fallacy is the greatest logical fallacy ever.

Slippery Slope: If you don’t like Slippery Slope arguments, you will do poorly in class, drop out of school, commit crimes, go to prison, and die of AIDS.

Special Pleading: I know that everyone is posting about their favorite fallacies, but Special Pleading is out-and-out the best, so it should just win with no contest.

Today, for the first time that I know of, my blog was found when someone searched for someone else. That’s right! Mrs. Chili (also here) was a search item that lead to my website. Thanks, Chili. How helpful you are! *wink*