Wikipedia is god. That's all I'm saying.
today, I got the notion into my head to find out what the commonality is called between humans and the rest of the animals in the world. Like, the scientific term for it. After reading a lovely long article about what makes a mammal a mammal, I found that all animals are connected by a 'kingdom' which in our case is 'Animalia'. And then! If you are a mammal, then you are connected to us homo sapiens by way of your class, which is 'Mammalia'. Then it gets into different orders and families and species and sub-species, and a bunch of other stuff I can't even pronounce, let alone understand.
but what a lovely way to spend a few hours, yes?
and the other day I was researching directions, and why they are named what they are, and stumbled upon another amazing article entitled 'Cardinal Directions'
I mean, really! All the information one could want, neatly supplied in one website, and written by normal people! You don't have to be a scientist! It's like the ultimate unschooling info site, ever.
well maybe not. imho, shall we say.
in other news, my ears are TEH SPARKLEH. I got them drilled through with wee metal studs by a guy I've never met. Aren't humans wonderfully insane?
no, seriously though. My ears now have earrings embedded in them. For six weeks. And I'm not allowed to touch/play with them, except to keep them clean. I may die.
in other other news, I'm going to a play tonight! a musical, technically, but it's going to be awesome. It's called the 'Totally Awesome 80's Revue'. Mom's thrilled to be going. (she hates 80's music). It's going to be put on by the Jump Company. I once wanted to do that, but I had a few disagreements with the set up of it. For example. it costs like $50 a year to participate, and I'm not even guaranteed a part, AND it said on the website that you HAD TO BE enrolled in a grade. I emailed them and railed a bit about how they are being segregational towards home/free schoolers, because some of us free thinking folk don't put much salt in a grade, and thus don't keep track of them. I also said that it was ridiculous that a grade level instead of an age should matter. AND I told them right out that I preferred being homeschooled, and I don't feel that I would benefit from being subjected to eight hours of 'canned education', so if they wanted to keep their company solely to people who keep track of grades, then WHATEV. (that was paraphrased incorrectly, btw).
well, turns out my wee little rant made it all the way to the president of Jump Co., because that is who emailed me back. He explained why they charge per year, which I understand. Then he told me that they use the term grade instead of age because that's what most people use, and that they don't exclude homeschoolers. He said that the passion in my email was indicative of a great actress hidden in me, and he hopes that I become a part of their company.
yes. I was flattered, so sue me.
I never did join up, because soon after that, my acting zest sort of kicked the bucket. it was a bucket of water, which also dowsed my desire to really do anything performance-wise, besides be a lead singer of a band, and to sing in general..
I still wonder if the president actually responded personally, or if they just stuck that name on there to make it look more important.
and in all other news, whatever.
I need to sign up for my college classes. I'm going to be taking seven credit hours this term, so that should be cool. I'm taking japanese and psychology, which is kick-ass.
I've found that I have the most deep seated satisfaction when I am in a 'structured' learning enviroment, like college, or when I'm in belly dance or voice. I enjoy taking lessons. But I do think that if I had gone through public school, it would have killed that love of learning, because of the redundancy. In college, they tell you whatever they want you to know once, and expect you to get it. and in public school, they tell it to you twelve thousand times, test you on it, then cram other useless facts engineered only for regurgitation in your head.
so, does that make me an intellectual? or just someone who loves to learn, I guess.
anywhoo.
I can write in greek letters. not actually *in* greek words, but hey. I've memorized the greek alphabet. yay!
and now I must be off. to work, seeing as I'm there (or is it here?) right now.
I will give you a philosophical dilemma before I take my leave.
Is a human an animal? Not in a scientific sense, but in a consciousness sense. Is your brother the same as the neighborhood stray cat? If so, why do you place a higher value on him?
think on that over your daily porridge.
I lift my bowler to you if you have an answer you can live by.
ta-dizzles.
