Monday 6 April
Well, the Badgers lost the NCAA championship, but bless the world of sports because I can truly embrace my actual personality as a grumpy 60-year-old man and fall asleep watching The Master's Tournament this week. I love golf.
Anyway. Began the day tardily (as per usual) and headed out to Quantum Mechanics bright and early (by which I mean 9 AM; my life isn't actually that hard). Walked behind a lot of seniors on the way to class, which can only mean that Conference on World Affairs is in town. In class, we finished off Morse Potentials and moved onto rigid rotor motion, which ALSO would have been helpful in the seven hours of calculations that Randall and I did last Tuesday. Whatever.
Then I went to Water and Soil Chemistry, where we actually discussed atmospheric chemistry in the form of the ozone hole over Antarctica. This meant we got to talk about the Montreal Protocol (the agreement that helped to stabilize decreasing ozone levels), which had me fucking STOKED, because I am the Montreal Protocol's Biggest Fan. It is literally the PERFECT fusion of science, international politics and environmental policy. I aspire to the greatness of that treaty every day, and tbh if anyone is ever involved in something half as fucking wonderful then you've done something totally right with your life. Anyway. A good day in Water and Soil Chemistry.
Then I bought some caffeine on my break because I was going to die if I didn't. I also got some crackers because I adult well. Living large with House Rose.
After a fairly unproductive break, I went to a panel discussion in Conference on World Affairs, which Joe was moderating and we had to attend. It was called "The Rise of European Ultra-Nationalism" which was about the rise of nationalist right-wing parties in Europe. Nationalism is my second favorite thing in all of political science (the first being dispute settlement mechanisms in preferential trade agreements #honorsthesis2k16), and so I had a damn good time at that panel. Mostly, I just love Americans because usually panelists all just get into a debate about what exactly the Tea Party is or isn't. Most of the panelists thought the fault lay in policymakers not integrating the immigrant population of Europe, whereas I had a point of disagreement in that the immigrant population doesn't have the political space to actively engage in their new homes and they aren't thought of as a priority by like anyone. I've also written a lot of papers about how nationalism is a backlash against regionalism and globalization, which the panelists also agreed with and I was like "hey my Dothraki-cited paper I wrote on a Red Bull binge last semester at 4 AM was RIGHT!"so that was pretty exciting.
Like I said. I get too invested in the fates of people halfway around the world and too concerned about diatoms for my own good.
Walked home behind more seniors (I love this week, I love this week) and went to the store, where I bought real fruit (don't worry, Mom! I'm eating well! Ish!) and also pizza because that's what I do with my life. I also managed to sneak in a couple of episodes of 30 Rock, which was rad (Sidebar: I need a Kenneth in my life).
Boulder Property Management also put a fucking raccoon trap outside of MY DOOR so YOU KNOW WHO IS FREAKING OUT A LITLE BIT? SPOILER ALERT IT'S ME, IT'S NOT A RACCOON TRAP THEY'RE TOO CLEVER FOR THAT. THEY WILL ESCAPE AND PLOT REVENGE. IF THE RESIDENTS OF THE SHIRE SUFFER DAMAGES BECAUSE OF RACCOONS I WILL FLIP SHIT.
I'm fine, really.
Anyway, spent the rest of the evening in the library writing up a presentation on Ed Snowden and totally not actually just watching the NCAA championship (it's by far the most scandalous thing I've done in the Norlin stacks—watching basketball instead of studying. I'm super cool all the time, I know). Finished the presentation a whole four days early, which is nothing short of miraculous. Went home, read for class, and fell asleep reading about ISIS (which is not the weirdest thing I've ever read before bed tbh).
Mondays can occasionally get me down, but I've been oddly motivated to actually get shit done. Maybe it's because I genuinely enjoy school 93% of the time, but it's not a Herculean task for me to get out and go learn shit. This is why I'm good at writing theses and being a scholar—it's never been a job, it's always been a lot of fun, to get out and satiate some aspect of my endless curiosity. I'm good at it, too, which, for someone who has a genuinely limited skill set, is encouraging.
Anyway. I'm off to go to class yet again.
Thanks for reading :)
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