Liquered up Logic!

So I decided to finally change my blog title and link. It used to be dadcanihavesomecrackerjacks.blogspot.com and called The Caffeinated Philosophy Experiment. Now it is Liquered up Logic! I chose this title because not only do I love alcohol and logic/philosophy but I think it is pretty funny as well, since most of the time drunk people are not very logical.

I just want to give a quick update on my summer, basically I have had one month down and three more to go until back to school. I am so pumped for next year because I am taking more philosophy courses than usual, it is about half philosophy and half psychology, since I am doing a double-major. I considered dropping my psychology major because I enjoy philosophy a lot more than psych, but my school is pretty much rundown so it may not even be possible to complete a philosophy major... actually I know it would be possible, literally JUST possible to complete it, but I don't want to risk more courses being cut next year.

My school is not the smartest around, but I love my professors. It is just the admit/finances that are thrown off. It still offers a major in philosophy and for first year students entering this year: there are not even enough courses available for this major unless they add more philosophy courses in later years for them.

Anyways. One month down, and three to go. I am not in a hurry at all, but I am looking forward to August. I get my inheritance then (oh my I sound so fancy and rich but I am really not). I need the money so badly. I am only getting 12-20 hours at my job currently. I got a second job recently but I haven't started yet. I am waiting for my police background check to go through. Which I think is ridiculous that I had to do one, but I understand why. That job is only 12 hours a week, but at least thats more than what I was getting before. Either way, I need the hours badly right now. Nick and I both need more money, and he is working full time and earning more than minimum wage right now.

My favourite thing with people my age is being excited when "earning more than minimum wage". Full-time work and earning minimum wage is $22,880 a year, which is nothing. In Ontario minimum wage right now is $11.00 an hour, which is way more than when I started work. The thing with minimum wage is that people are trying to raise it... and it does raise in October up to $11.25 an hour. That brings yearly earnings up to $23,400. Sure, every little bit helps but come on. I pay $4500 in rent (and I have low rent) and I do not even have full-time hours... you are LUCKY to find full-time, especially living in a student city. I applied for 3 jobs that I am 100% qualified for, sales which I have over a year of experience in, barista work which I have experience in and library work which I have 4 years of experience in. I got the job at the library but I didn't even get the best highest paying job out of the three jobs offered. It's rough out there.

Anyways. I am looking forward to August. I am also looking forward to September 3rd... which is when I might be getting married... (but you didn't hear that from me). So Nick and I have been engaged for maybe 10 months now, and I have been trying to plan the wedding the whole time. The problem is that we don't want to spend more than $5000, and are even trying to keep it under $2500 and we were booking too early at first for a wedding next year and then we decided we wanted to get married this year and it was too late to book. I finally found a place I like and is priced reasonably and I am working on booking it for September 3rd, a thursday. Just before back to school. But for those who know me, don't be surprised if that date changes. It has changed about 10 times already. We are either going to have 20 guests or 40 guests, depending on how cheap we can find food. The 20 guests we are having are basically our 5 closest family members and 5 closest friends each. The extra 20 include coworkers, people's partners and distant family, if we choose to invite them.

Everything depends on cost all of the time in our lives and it is driving Nick and I crazy. We are going to be in so much debt forever. If things pan out in our lives education and job wise, we will be fine, but the likelihood of that happening is slim. If Nick gets into law school and gets the perfect jobs and whatnot along the way, we will be fine. If I get into a masters and Phd program in philosophy and get into a university teaching and get tenure, things will be fine. But these two things happening are not super likely to happen. I will probably end up with some kind of office job in a school earning a good $50,000 a year while he will probably end up becoming a computer tech of some kind because that seems to be where he is heading, despite his law-school career that he aims for.

Life, eh?

If you told me 4 years ago that this would be my life right now I would've laughed you away. In the best terms possible without putting myself down too much... I was basically assuming I was going to be a single slut all through university. I didn't want to settle down... ever, and now look what I am doing? I met a guy a few days before school started and now we are getting married.

Anyways, I am rambling on. Thanks for reading this if you did. This is an atypical post for me, usually I talk about other things, I just figured that I would give a life-update type post with my blog-update post.

Money is bogus, am I right?

Bored and Seeking Adventure

Bored and broke: The Student's guide to summer.

Yeah, really? Really life? I have all of this time on my hands and no extra spending money. I don't go back to school until September. I would take summer courses but, they cost $750 and I don't have that kind of money.

I am looking for a full-time job but this town has nothing. It is a college town. Everyone is looking for work. I had an interview on Monday and I was supposed to hear back yesterday. It sounded extremely promising: here's to hoping the guy is just lazy and hasn't called me back. I called him back today and left a message.

I live with my boyfriend and he is busier than I am. He just got a full-time job and he is working at his parents' over the summer as well. So I am a fucking apartment-girlfriend (not house-wife because this is an apartment and we are not married). 

I am bored. This is boring. I hate this. I love being here, but I need a job. Desperately. I need to fill my time. 

I was talking to a girl from my part-time job which is not giving me any new hours... (ugh), and she was just like "So what are you doing during your time? You sound like you're not doing anything?". After explaining my past day to her, waking up at 10am, watching TV and eating, going to the gym, coming back and watching more TV and eating more food until 5:15 when I worked... that's not what I want. 

I don't want this blog post to be me just complaining about being bored and broke, I am trying to work through it as I type to find a solution.

I have some hobbies, like writing, sewing, reading, and drawing that I could do. I have been doing them. I've been watching a lot of TV and my boyfriend got me playing Okami on his PS3. 

What do I want other than a job? Time. That makes no sense. I am bored, I want less time. But I want a full-time job and then time to take road trips. That would be nice. Realistically, I want more friends in North Bay. All I have is my boyfriend, essentially. I didn't make too many friends in university outside of my roommates and they've all gone home for the summer. My friends from high school are all back home for the summer too.

I am visiting my mom's this weekend until Wednesday, and as much as I am going to miss my boyfriend, I am going to be glad to see my friends and have some variety in my life. I'm craving an adventure. I am going to seek one out once I get there. Meet up with some friends, talk to my mom, visit my old high school. Get some perspective from other people on my life. 

So... it's time to stop being boring and start being adventurous, Sarah.

I will write 2 blog posts by Wednesday focusing on my adventures in the most boring cities on earth: where I live now and Belleville. Fuck. 

New Years Resolutions + Tips on How to Stick to your Goal (and why I hate them)

I hate new years resolutions so much. I love making goals it is just the idea that we have to make goals at the end of the year for the beginning of the new year is just arbitrary and let's face it--- just setting the goal doesn't work.

It never works. You can't just say "I am going to do ______" and then do it, you need to create measurable, actual steps towards that goal. Not many people realize this and therefore their goals are not completed.

Goals are amazing. Nothing is really ever completed without a goal, unless it was a fluke or opportunity. But you aren't going to lose 50lbs by fluke, I'm sorry to break it to you. I love goals. But too many goals created around this time are left unfulfilled and it drives me crazy. The idea of only being able to create goals around this time is also not the best because you can create goals at any time in your life, not just at the end of a year.

Although, I have been procrastinating actually writing out my own goals so I am doing that now and here. I am taking advantage of the mob of people writing resolutions to write my own.

So here are my tips to complete your goals:

1) Write it down.
As unoriginal as this sounds, your goal becomes more real when written on paper. Put it somewhere you will constantly see it and be reminded of it.

2) Create reasonable and timely steps.
Do you remember "SMART" goals from school or work? Yes, yes they are fucking annoying. But guess what? They work. If you do not know what "SMART goals" are, click here for a good resource.

3) Be REALISTIC.
In the word "SMART" the "R" stands for realistic. I think this is a very important step to be taken seriously. Don't set a goal you can't attain. Maybe you want to run a marathon by the end of the year but then you think 1) Marathons in the winter are cold and I don't think I'll be ready by fall, 2) I need to lose weight first and 3) My eating patterns need to change, then you are probably setting something currently unattainable. If you change the time limit to a further date and make baby steps and create smaller goals like losing 10 pounds in 6 weeks, then you can work towards a larger goal.

4) SMALLER GOALS
Even if you think it is hard to come up with smaller goals to complete for apart of your larger goal do it! Write a minimum for 15 small goals to do your big goal and write one of those small goals to be completed immediately. For example, if you want to eat healthy in the new year, a first immediate step could be to research what your body needs in the way of fruits, veggies, calories, carbs, etc. A lot of people's problems are that they don't follow through with these goals. You may have decided to get in shape by getting a gym membership, but as a gym member I can't tell you how it pains me to see people pile into the gym for the first few weeks and then disappear. Force yourself to do personal training, write in advance for the whole year what days you will go to the gym.

5) Don't rush
Don't rush through your goal and make a lot of progress in January to be forgotten about the rest of the year. This goes along with the creating of smaller goals.

6) & Don't forget!
Keep your goal fresh in your mind. Write it everywhere. Put reminders on your phone. Tell your friends to remind you. Do whatever it takes to not forget to complete your small goals in order to achieve your larger goal.

7) KNOW WHY!
Why are you even completing your goal? For example, many people just decide to lose weight because they should and it's been on their mind but then they forget the reason. Is it to be healthy? To run a marathon? Write the significance at the end of your goals and remind yourself of it daily.

I really encourage everyone creating goals to follow these steps and the steps of "SMART" goals. Do what it takes to get what you want.

Anyways, so here are my goals. You can use my goals as sort of a template to write your own as well.

1) I will run my marathon in under 4hrs 30 mins. I have signed up for a marathon for early May and it is my first marathon. I hope to run it in under 4hrs and 30 mins. I am going to complete this goal by running a minimum of twice a week. I will also be able to run 32km by the end of March. I will stretch after every run to avoid injury. I will eat properly by getting the right amount of carbs and I will hydrate properly as well. I want to complete this marathon because I want to know that I can run 42.2km and I want to be healthy.

2) I will have an average over 70% in university. I will accomplish this task by completing the majority if not all of my readings, leaving enough time to study before each exam and test, fully editing my papers, participating in class discussions, visiting profs when I am having issues, prioritizing what needs to get done and completing all tasks. I want to accomplish this goal because I want an honours BA.

3) I will get a job before the summer. I will accomplish this goal by applying to places, not giving up and looking twice a week online for new openings. I want to get a job so I can earn money to not deplete my education fund too much.

4) I will manage my money and not overspend. I will create a budget and I will stay in my budget by tracking my spending and prioritizing my needs and not buying things that are unnecessary too often. I want to do this so I can come out of university with no debt and without needing a loan other than OSAP.

Good luck on the creation of your own goals! Let me know your goals in the comments.

Panhandling Confrontation

Today I was leaving the mall after purchasing a few random items from the Dollar Store and I was walking out to my car. A tall skinny girl with a neck tattoo in her early twenties came up to me and told me a story about how she is stuck and needs like $20 for gas and things and that she has 2 kids in her car and she is stranded and blah blah and then repeatedly said "I am not a panhandler".

I told her that I didn't have a lot of money and that I am a student but I'll give her some change and I gave her $3.

I have no idea what the hell she actually needed the money for, maybe she did need gas and had 2 kids in her car, who knows!

I am not a charitable person and I feel like I just gave her the $3 just for her to leave me alone. I honestly don't care if she's going to buy drugs or whatever, she asked for the money and I gave her $3, it's as simple as that.

I probably did get "scammed" but is it really scamming if you don't care what happens with the money? Essentially I see the transaction as me giving her $3 and that's all. I don't care what happens to that money.

Maybe I gave her the money because I really don't see the value in money. Well, I understand the value in money, but I really don't care about money that much. I am not a communist, I just think there are better things in life than money.

Part of the reason I bought my car was because I value time over money. Sure, I might spend $50 a week on gas and have to pay upkeep and whatnot, but now I have the ability to save time by driving places than waiting on a bus. I am saving time by spending money. I value time over money. It is as simple as that. (and yes, this was really the main contributing factor to me buying a car). Although I supposed another person could see this as useless because you have to spend time to earn money to spend money to earn time, but the money that I used to buy the car wasn't even mine, I got it from an inheritance. I did work and so that money will go towards gas, so I guess really I am just forming a stupid circle.

I could not ever work and just walk everywhere. That would actually be such a wonderful life and a terrible life. You would need money or something to trade to get some things like food.

I think it's weird you have to pay for food because food is natural and so are humans so denying humans the free things of the earth is weird. Although groups of people (companies) have claimed this natural source and combined several of these sources to make several unnatural ones and then sold it back to us.

Humans are real suckers. Squirrels don't have to fucking pay for their goddam food. Society has fucked up all natural things of the world and I HATE it. This is going back to my technology post from yesterday.

Sorry, I got sidetracked. I guess the main reason why I gave that girl the $3 was just to get her to stop bugging me and also because I really don't care. I had like $70 in my wallet at the time, it's not like I gave her all of my gas or food money.

I honestly don't give a shit about the less fortunate, about philanthropy, charity, etc. As I said, I am not a charitable person.

The 4 favourite lessons of mine I didn't learn in high school (Ideas for HS teachers!)

There were many great life lessons, not just subject-related lessons I learned in high school. I found I had learned many things outside of high school that I felt should be taught in high school.

This is a compilation of those lessons:

1. To Question Everything
None of my teachers ever told me to question things.  I am not sure where I picked up this lesson but I think it is extremely necessary to be taught. It should be taught not to accept everything as is, to question the books you read, the people you meet, the lessons you learn, everything.

By questioning things you start to learn. You broaden your mind and you are able to get an open-minded perspective on the world.

"The important thing is to not stop questioning" - Albert Einstein


2. The importance of health and physical activity
Sure, the importance of health and physical activity was discussed a little in some of my classes, specifically grade 9 gym (and gym only has to be taken once in high school). Since you only need 1 gym credit, you don't need to keep taking it. You don't even really learn about eating healthy or how much exercise you really need.

There is no doubt to how important being healthy is for the mind and for the body.

To the best of the ability of the instructor, lessons on being healthy should be offered. Obviously not all courses are tapered to display traits of healthy eating or how to work out, but some courses like Biology, Gym, Foods, etc., can be altered.

3. Money Management
I used to be horrible at managing my money. I am slowly becoming better because I have been learning how to organize my money and budget it out so I don't overspend and I can afford the things I need. This was never taught in high school. I still don't know how to do taxes! Nothing about money is ever taught in school, except how to count it. Some people don't even know this! When I used to work at a Cafe many customers informed me I am the only one who could count back change in my head.

If I had it my way, there would be a half credit mandatory course on money management in high school.

4. Reading Skills/Active reading
Sure, we all know how to read (at least where I went to school). We know how to turn pages, look at the words and then we know how to use chart paper to display our knowledge of the book. But never once did a single teacher mention the words "Active Reading" to me. Active reading needs to be taught. This is a big issue, especially since in university/college everyone has to go learn on their own without a teacher holding their hand and most of this reading is from a textbook. Active reading shouldn't just be taught in an english classroom with a fiction book, it should be taught in all classrooms with non-fiction textbooks.

To those who do not know what Active Reading is, check out this link.

I hope this can help some high school teachers and curriculum creators to gain some wisdom into the eyes of what really needs to be taught in our high schools.



Are there any lessons you wish you learned in high school?