Individual Justice

There are times in our lives when we must choose between following our morals and leaving things to justice, or acting out of anger and taking matters into our own hands. Sometimes it's just so hard to sit back and let "the system" take care of things (or not), when you yourself feel that the system isn't enough. Socrates said that you should follow your moral convictions above those of the land when they conflict. I don't think that Socrates was advocating martial law; I think that he felt that sometimes one individual can have a clearer understanding than the masses. There are times when I envy a concept like Batman. A normal human being, who took it upon himself to bring to justice criminals who could escape the notice of the authorities. Cast as a vigilante by the authorities, yet he got the job done. One man made a difference in a city of very many. Granted, Batman is a fictional character in a fictional Gotham City, but it's something that could really happen; it's the principle of it. It's so tempting to take the law into your own hands, and enact justice on those who think they can get away with things that harm other people emotionally, if not physically. The law can't really do much in the realm of emotions. But the people that are close to the people affected, we feel their pain, and cry for justice. We long to right wrongs, and see the people on the wrong side get what they deserve. It's hard to leave that in someone else's hands, when we feel that we can get things done so much more quickly and more effectively ourselves. Someone should NEVER have to feel like they need to be constantly looking over their shoulder. No one should live in fear of someone else. People prey on other people because of their own insecurities. It makes them feel powerful, and it makes them feel better about themselves. Power and manipulation are things that go hand-in-hand, power being something that is easy to abuse. People who manipulate and prey on those they feel are weaker than themselves should be held accountable. But what happens when the law does nothing for what goes on in a person's head? Emotions aren't exactly empirical. But the people close-by can see these things. And that's what moves us to anger. It isn't wise to act out of anger. But sometimes you just can't help it. Those who make other people afraid should be made afraid themselves. They should reap what they sow. Morality and justice are such a tangled-web. If only evil was always punished and good was always rewarded. What a simple world this would be. Sadly, this is a broken and corrupt world. One where not everyone gets what they deserves. Sometimes it takes all that we have to hold ourselves back, and hope and pray for the outcome that is deserved. All we can do, is hope that somewhere, sometime, justice will prevail. 

Well, class-scheduling and registration is upon us, so I did what any good student would do, and figured out what classes I needed to take. Turns out that I'm not able to take some of the classes that I want (namely Astronomy and Greek Philosophy, though I've done some study into both of those fields independently) because of scheduling conflicts. I like the schedule that I should come up with (I don't register until Friday, so nothing is set in stone yet), so I suppose that I have no complaints. The only problem that I have right now is that two classes that I have to take this semester are at the same time, so that has to get resolved sometime soon. Otherwise I like my schedule for next semester, mainly because I got to choose what I wanted to take, and even the classes that I have to take are interesting. So far my schedule looks like this: Linguistic Anthropology, which I'm really excited about, because I'm very interested in languages, hence the fact that I've had 3 so far, and have one more on the way; Archaeology Senior Seminar which I'm not sure how this class will go, just that I have to take it and supposedly they are opening up the subject matter because 3 different majors can take this as a senior seminar (the obvious archaeology, classical studies, and history, I believe), so that it's not so focused on just archaeology; Archaeology Field Methods, which is where we dug up trenches right here in our own UE backyard, studying the remains of dormitories built to house the massive influx of soldier-students after the GI Bill was passed after World War II; Engineering for Archaeology Majors, which I'm not too excited about, but it shouldn't be too bad; the 4th language that I'm adding to my repertoire is German, as I'm taking 2 semesters of it in preparation for Grad school; and lst but not least I am continuing to take Greek, and this class will be Greek Poetry. Now that might sound boring to some, but in this class we will read the works of Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey, in their original language; sounds pretty good to me. Well, that is all for now. I will write more at another time if I can think of anything.

Oh, What to do; and TV Woes

I am very bored. See, in all of my classes I don't have all that much work. I was just figuring today that I only have 3 papers left to write in all of my classes. This means that I have a lot of time on my hands. I get all of the work that is current done, and then I have nothing to do. So then I sit around and am bored. Of course you ask why don't I just do something with my friends? Well, the problem is that everyone else seems to have a lot of work to do. Thus everyone is busy, and I am not. So I end up sitting around wasting time on the computer or what not. I suppose that I could get more involved on campus, but there isn't much to do with that either. I'm not sure what the solution may be. Also, right now I do not have a TV, so I can't even watch movies or the Comedy Central that I so crave. I got my TV for Christmas, but rather than checking out different models and investigating what problems they may have (as I usually would with anything else), I looked in a Circuity City ad a little before Christmas and saw what looked like a good deal. We then bought the TV, and everything seemed fine. My first mistake was to not test it while I was at home. I watched a few minutes of some DVDs on it, but I didn't actually hook it up to get a signal. If I would've done that then, I wouldn't have had all of these problems. When I did get to Evansville, I noticed that the TV would make loud popping noises when bright flashes of light were on the screen, especially during commercials. I didn't think much of it, perhaps it was a faulty cable or something. However I tried a different cable and still the same thing. I got on Circuit City's website and looked at the customer reviews on the product, and it seems that I wasn't the only one that was having these problems. I got a crappy TV. I waited for longer than I should've, and finally took it in to see about fixing the problem. They told me that the TV was now discontinued (go figure) and that they only had the display model. But they looked around and found that a store in Indy had a boxed one that they could get shipped down to Evansville. So we did that, and a few days later when I got this other TV, I brought it home with the help of my friend Nathan (who graciously helped me get the first TV to Circuit City), and when I tried this TV the same thing happened again: more pops. So just a few days ago I took this second TV back (again, thanks to Nathan), and they said that they would have to send it to "the technicians" (they make make it sound so ominous), and that if the technicians couldn't fix it, that I could put the money I paid for towards another TV. So really what this long drawn-out story amounts to is this: research a product before you buy it if it is a piece of technology! You can find reviews on countless websites (lots of reputable ones even), and then you can also see what other people are saying, average consumers like you and me. Only you can prevent crappy technology purchases; don't be the victim. And knowing is half the battle. GI Joe!    

Blogger.com Blows Right Now

So here's the deal. Every time that I try to write a post that is longer than about 2 paragraphs, Blogger can't connect anymore, and I lose my post. It's very frustrating! I even tried doing the same thing in both Internet Explorer and Firefox (I always use Firefox, but sometimes when something doesn't work on one, you try the other), but the same thing happens both ways. So now it's come to this: I figured out that I can post to my blog by writing it in an e-mail and sending it that way. Pretty convenient, but we'll see if it works. After spring break I'm having a hard time being motivated to do anything back here at school. I have homework and reading to do, and I just don't feel like doing it. The thing is, I have to do it, so I sit down and do a little, and then I waste a lot of time messing around on my computer. I actually look for ways to waste time, and so then something that should only take a few hours gets strung out over a whole day. Oh, college, how I loathe thee. So yeah, this is short, but we'll see how the post-by-e-mail goes. I'm hoping it'll work, because then I can post my long, ponderous, thought-provoking philosophical works once again on Blogger.com. I know that you're waiting for it, but you won't have to hold your breath much longer.

Tyler Returns......to Blogger.com

So here I am, blogging when I should be doing something productive. I haven't been on here in a while, pretty much because it's been so long that I almost forgot that I had this account. I doubt that I'll use it on a weekly basis, though I may, if I find the time for it. As per the usual format of my blogs I will continue to use no indentation, so you'll have to follow along intently to find out what I'm saying. No skipping ahead. I will also always throw in the occasional humor, as I don't like to take life very seriously, and I enjoy joking around, as my readers will say (or maybe it's just me that thinks it's funny, that very well could be). Life is different coming back from Harlaxton. In some ways I miss it, being there and everything. In other ways, I don't miss it. Now I can see my family and friends on a regular basis (more regular basis, anyway), and I really like being an RA here at Evansville. I've met new friends and kept up the relationships that I left here. It's nice to be back. A lot of things have been on my mind lately, and so this blog may revert to it's original purpose, given in the title. I'll start writing about what what I'm thinking about at the time. These things may or may not pertain to anyone else in the world at all, but at least I can record them so that I can get them off my chest. It's a nice way to vent, without getting angry or anything. Not that venting always has to be about anger, it can also be just clearing your mind, and using your thoughts to start a fire, or turn yourself into a dinosaur at will. I mean, these things happen, read a comic book. Well, that's enough for now, but I may be back at some point to put forth some exciting new theories and revelations. I know that you're all anxiously awaiting my wisdom. Well never fear, I always deliver. Until then.........

The End of All Things

This will probably be my last blog entry from Europe. It's hard to wrap my mind around that. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in the airport terminal in Indy with my mom and dad, being nervous about flying for the first time. Yet now, here I am almost 4 months later, and it seems like no time has passed between the two events, coming and going home. However on the other hand it feels like I've been gone from home for about a thousand years. Funny how that works. Well, Barcelona was very fun. It was a very short trip, but it was well worth it. The weather in Spain was great, not hot, but definitely not cold. It was in the mid to low 60's during the day. We got to see a lot of things in Barcelona, and basically we were doing things the whole day. The first day that we were there we saw 2 cathedrals, the Barcelona Cathedral and the Cathedral of St. Mary. Both were beautiful, and we were able to go up to the roof on the Barcelona Cathedral and get an amazing view of the city. Unfortunately the batteries on my camera died while we were still in the cathedral, so I wasn't able to get any pictures from the roof. The next day we had an intricately planned trek across the city to see all of the sites that we wanted to see. We started out exploring the main park in the city, which was very pretty. Then we went to the zoo, because we all said that we hadn't gone to a zoo in Europe, and that we should have that experience. It was mostly a joke, but we went with it anyway. The zoo was neat, because it had been a long time since I had been to a zoo even in the States. We even got to see some animals from home, which was somewhat comforting, in a weird "these-animals-are-as-far-away-from-home-as-me" kind of way. After the zoo we went to see the bull-ring of the city. Unfortunately it wasn't open, but we did get to see the outside, which was at least something. We then went to one of Barcelona's main attractions, La Sagrada Familia. Started in the early 1900's, it looks like the architect used some questionable mind-altering substances while listening to Pink Floyd (or maybe the grandfathers of Pink Floyd, given the time) and set to work designing this cathedral. It looks like the cathedral used to be a giant candle and it was half-burned, and then lots of religious figures were shaped in the melty-wax. It was weird and pretty at the same time. The other weird thing was that the cathedral was only about 1/3 built, just the front and back, with the middle still under construction even today. They hope to have it completed within the next 10 or 20 years. After that we went to a park that was up on a hill and offered a great view of the city. It was a long walk, but the view was worth it. We then walked to the Archaeological Museum of Barcelona. It was pretty interesting, although there weren’t a whole lot of artifacts. Most of the museum was full of Roman artifacts, as the Romans did colonize Spain right around the big BC/AD switch. After that we made a long trek to the Olympic Stadium, as the Olympics were held there in 1992. By this time it was dark, so we just snapped a few pictures and left. The last thing we were going to do was to see a musical lighted fountain show in the main plaza, but we found out that they only do that in the summer/fall time. So that was Barcelona. I really enjoyed it, and I would go back in a heartbeat if I had a chance. Here at the manor things have been winding down. I got word about a week ago that I got the job as an RA back at Evansville, so come January I will be living in Hughes Hall with a single room in charge of about 20 or so guys. I was really excited about that, because it means that I can spend more time on campus and maybe actually be involved a little more. It also means that I have more freedom to go home when I want to and also to visit Olivia, so that’s good. I’m done with both of my independent studies, Greek and Latin, except that sometime over break I have to take my Latin final by e-mail. We didn’t have enough time to get it set up here, so it was pushed back. I have my British Studies final tomorrow, and then I’m done with school here altogether. I’ve been packing little by little, so I’m about halfway done or so. Thursday my friends and I are going to leave on our trip to Italy and Greece, and then we will leave for home from London the following Thursday. I’m very much looking forward to Italy and Greece, because now I’m actually going to see the places that we’ve talked about in my classes and such. It will be amazing. However it’s kinda depressing to think about leaving, but it’s also a happy time because I get to go home to all of the people that I care about. Not that there aren’t people that I care about here; I have my friends that I came here with, and I’ve made lots of new friends, both from other schools and from my own, and I’m really glad that I’ve met these people. I will miss the people from other schools a lot, and I hope that I will get to see them at some point in the future. It’s nice that I have a wider friend-base at Evansville also. But I’m really glad to go back to the familiarity of home. I’ve missed my family and friends a lot, and I guess I sort-of missed my girlfriend. Ok, so I missed her a lot, and I’m really glad that I will get to see her again :). All in all coming home will be a great thing, especially being back for Christmas, when I can see all of my family at once. I’m really thankful for the time that I had here, the people that I met, and just the overall experience. It will be bittersweet going back home, but there are definite pros to make up for the cons.

Czech-ing Out Prague and Other-Type Catch-Up Things

I've been pretty busy lately, and so I haven't had a lot of time to keep this up for a week or two. I apologize to my faithful readers, this was a long time coming, so now we have it. As I said in my previous post, I was going to Prague on one of my last trips. Well, we went, and Prague was Prague. We really didn't do all that much. Prague was only about an hour and 20 minutes away flying there with the wind with us, and then an hour and 40 minutes on the way back with the wind against us. We got there, and the exchange rate feels like you're getting rich, even though we really aren't. In their currency, 20 koruna are equal to about $1. So when you have 1000 koruna in your wallet you feel pretty loaded, but then you realize that it's really only $50, and you're brought back to reality. Prague is a very pretty city, where almost all of the buildings have some sort of decoration. The sights we saw were a museum of Communism in Prague, the castle, a church dedicated to baby Jesus, and the National Museum. The museum of Communism was interesting, but it was mostly reading plaques on the wall, and looking at a few items from the time periods. The castle was a bit misleading, because the actual castle was destroyed in the early 1900's, and so more modern structures have been built in it's place. Those buildings form a circle, and then on the inside there are some older buildings, one of them being an old cathedral which was very beautiful. The church dedicated to baby Jesus was interesting, and pretty funny. Ricky Bobby jokes were flying the entire time, describing what we liked to think of baby Jesus as. It turned out that baby Jesus was a doll that had quite an extensive wardrobe. Mary really knew how to dress our Lord and Savior. The National Museum was a fairly quick run-through. We got there an hour before it was going to close, because we didn't know the times. They didn't have all that much of interest though, so it was alright that we didn't have much time there. They had some neat anthropology stuff, but that was about it. We were going to see some sites in the Jewish-quarter of the city, but we didn't think about it and went on a Saturday. We got there, and to our surprise nothing was open. When we stopped to think about it, the Jewish Sabbath is on Saturday. Duh. I suppose we were a bit religiously-ignorant. Lots of shopping went on, which I didn't take much part in. It was a good trip, not great, but I can say that I've been to an Eastern European country. A few new things have happened here around Harlaxton. First of all, I got my second British Studies Exam back, and it was a B, which is what I got on the first exam. I'll take it, although I felt like I had done better on this one. Friday was our Costume Ball/Date Auction. It was really fun, and I think everyone had a good time. I went as Walker Texas Ranger, I'm pretty proud of such a brilliant idea. I ended up being auctioned off (it was a silent auction, so no yelling and getting embarrassed) for 40 pounds, or about $80, to my roommate Chris, his girlfriend Kirsten, my neighbor Drew, and his girlfriend Katie. They all pooled their money, so now I have to take them out sometime. Luckily the rules are that I only have to pay for one of them, so I thought that I would just spread it out with something little for each of them. On Saturday a group of us went into town to see Casino Royale, the new James Bond movie. It was really good, and I would recommend seeing it. It's somewhat of a reboot of the series, showing Bond's first real mission. It wasn't just a good action movie, but a good all-around movie. Monday night was our Lord and Lady of the Manor competition. It ended up being really fun, even though I was in front of lots of people. First we had to sing a song with 5 mandatory words in it. I did mine to the tune of Afternoon Delight from Anchorman fame. I was nervous because I don't usually sing in front of people, but people laughed, so it was ok. We then had to dress up like a British character, and then be interviewed. I came out in my black suit with a white-shirt on under it, and a bow-tie. They asked me who I was, and in my best Sean Connerery accent I said "The name's Bond. James Bond." The audience erupted in cheers and applause, so that was fun. One of my questions ended up being an impromptu discussion of how would win in a fight between Chuck Norris and James Bond. I had to think fast, and after a drawn-out story I declared Chuck Norris to be the winner. We then had a short intermission, and then a dance number. The guys and girls were split, and the girls went first, then the guys. We had been taught this dance number in about 10 minutes, an hour before the event. Therefore it was a little sketchy. The girls did pretty well. Us guys got out there, did about one move, and then completely forgot the whole thing. So we just free-styled it, it was basically amazing. After that, two guys and two girls were eliminated. I was in the final 3 guys. We then had to do a mystery event, which was different for everyone. I got to play Pictionary, and tried to explain the concept of a nursing home to some members of the audience through the use of drawing. I thought I did a pretty good job, considering I did my best to draw a diagram of a bed-pan being used as one of the pictures. Someone said retirement home, but my time ran out before I could get them to actually say nursing home. That was the last event, and then we found out who had won. Sadly I did not, but my friend Josh won for the guys, so I was ok with that. Overall it was really fun, a lot more fun than I thought it would be. There are pictures of it all, so maybe you all will see them sometime. I've fallen horribly behind on my photo album, and I apologize for that. I've got all of the pictures on my computer, and so I could just upload them, but I want to have time to give them captions if they are needed. So eventually I will have my album up-to-date, but whether that happens before I come home, I don't know. Time is dwindling down here, and I'm just now realizing that I'm not going to see the people from other schools on a regular basis anymore. It's sad. But I will be glad to be home. It's hard to be away from my family and friends at home for so long. It'll be bittersweet. This weekend me and two friends, Shannon and Bethany, are going to Barcelona Spain. I'm pretty excited about it, because Spain is one of the places I really wanted to see while I was here. Well, there's your update, thanks for reading.