Springbok

Daylight saving's time has come and gone, and has brought with it more evidence toward my furthering assertion of "all people are idiots." Myself included.

In the glorious days of heaven, when wheat was plentiful and men were men, it became necessary (in the minds of all those not Arizona, Hawaii, and Indiana) to be able to work longer even when the days got shorter. Therefore, we imposed a system upon ourselves, dictated by no natural or outside force, that stipulated we would change our clocks twice a year in order to fool ourselves into thinking the actual daylight was lasting an hour longer than it should have been for half the year. That was that, we had our daylight to farm in, and everything was fantastic. In fact, the principle still largely stands to this day, giving us the aided benefit of being able to drive home from work while it's still light out.

The fact that we're the ones changing our own clocks does not stop us, however, from the very next day screaming, "Oh man, I can't believe it's so light out!"

Yeah, the sun's still out. You set the clock back.

I feel like an Aztec during a solar eclipse every time Daylight Savings Time rolls around. We're absolutely fascinated, delighted by how much more light there is. "Oh, I love that it's still light out at seven!" Of course you do! We all do! THAT'S WHY WE DO IT! IT'S BY CHOICE. Anyway, attributing so much attention to the sun without remotely discussing solar flares and/or the possibility of our own atmosphere suffocating us... well... it doesn't seem productive. In a nutshell: I'm not interested unless it concerns my immediate demise.

I took some time out of my day recently to go over to one of my more favorite and distinguished (academically, it's no manner-judgement) professors this week to discuss with him how I might become a Teaching Assistant, but more to the point, how I could become a Masters student. We talked for a good long while about it and basically what came out of the conversation was this: I should get my MA in the same place I'm going to get my Doctorate. He got his MA at the University of East Anglia (a place I know only as where the phony bishop in an episode of Monty Python was probably not from) and had already chosen the professor he wanted to get his Doctorate under, so it might be a good idea for me to do the same, as I'll be dealing with a professor on a one-on-one basis for my doctorate and will benefit from having chosen them and having become familiar with them during my Masters work.

He mentioned that, in the course of our discussion, an MA from NYU (which I attended briefly over the summer) would secure me a position as a doctorate student anywhere, what with their formidable reputation. Of course, having earned the MA there, I might have met a professor I'd like to study under for my PhD... or indeed might even dislike leaving, having become comfortable with it. This is all well and good... and a year ago would have been fine by me... but now there's the Mrs., and that's a complication.

Getting a Masters, getting a Doctorate, would take four years, at least. Four years to be away from home, and four years to be away from her... and I know myself well enough to know I don't want to do that. That I can't do that. I need to be with her... and no amount of waiting for each other or constant visits home during the holidays or letters or calls or 3-d generated facsimiles is going to help. Four years is just too long. So... perhaps two?

Perhaps my Masters at NYU, then my PhD wherever I want (reasonably)? Perhaps a long-distance PhD, as I'm sure I don't need to actually be there, as long as my ideas and experience are taking place. Perhaps the whole shebang, MA and PhD, at UCLA? That'd be a long-overdue victory, to be sure, and definitely much closer. I need a graph of some kind. Maybe I'll get lucky, start making movies in earnest, become rich and lose interest in education.

Maybe.

In the meantime, I have NetFlix, now, to keep me company. It's great. I've only had it for about a week, and already it's pretty much paid for itself. I don't know how Blockbuster is hoping to compete with them, but it's awesome. I get all the movies I can handle, and I can handle a ton of movies. The only downside is that, as far as I can see, the service is solely serving me, as the family doesn't really get to make the list like I do. I've told them to tell me whatever movies they want and I'd put them in the list, but I have no requests so far. Weak. I'm the only one with any passion around here for film. With this subscription and my PS2 hooked up in my room, these people may never see me again.

There's a lot of that going around.

He's not here... and so this goes... in my sack.