Christmas Song

In light of the Christmas season, I thought I’d share my favorite Christmas song. I posted it to my video page, along with the lyrics, here.

Christmas is by far my favorite season. Not only does it have both my birthday and Christmas, but it also harbors love between all peoples. I haven’t really felt it this year that much though. A lot of that is probably my own fault. I haven’t played much Christmas music nor do I have a Christmas tree. Maybe I’ll fix that next week. I get my bass back this week too, so maybe I’ll just play my own Christmas music.

Listen to the song. Especially the lyrics. It is amazing.

Degree Change

Because this weekend was so awesome, I was going to write about that. Sitting down to do it though, something else comes to mind. So, until I get the video of our choreographed dance, I’ll just leave it at this. It was one of the best weekends of the year.

I changed my major this morning. Not entirely sure how I feel about it though. It puts me on a much different course, but I think it may be better. So, my major yesterday was Mechanical Engineering. Today, it is Philosophy. I like the idea of both, but I don’t know whether or not I actually like both. Sitting around a hookah with 3 or 4 people discussing philosophy and life is one of my favorite pastimes. Will being a philosophy major detract from the ability to do that? If my companions are not, it may be too much of a difference in thought processes. If that makes sense. Still the idea of learning more about the philosophical points of life is intriguing.

Engineering fits as far as the mechanical aspect. I don’t know that it fits my goals career-wise. I want to be able to travel, I want to have a family, and I want to be happy. Money isn’t really an issue as long as I can support the family. I don’t know that I would have time or the ability to take my family elsewhere on that route.

As far as the military is concerned, it doesn’t matter what degree I have as long as I have a Bachelors. To become a pilot, I don’t even need one.

I should also note that with the philosophy degree, I’d be doing a concurrent major of Poly Sci and a minor in Chinese. That would give me the opportunity to work for any 3-letter-agency. So with the polysci/philosophy/Chinese route, I could do pilot, 3-letter-agency, or get a teachers certificate and go live on an island to teach. There’s always the option of a combination of the 3.

So anyway, I guess I’ll have to wait til after next semester to really say whether or not it will be a good choice. I will be loading up on political science classes and philosophy classes. That will be a better determining factor. I have a friend though that took the logic course that I am in now then took intro to philosophy. Talking with her today made me nervous. She liked the logic class, but very much disliked the philosophy class. Hopefully we think differently.

That’s about it for my ill-phrased argument. I know it’s more lopsided to the Philo/PoliSci degree, but that’s because that’s what’s been on my mind today.

Friendly or Friends?

After getting my morning cup of hot chocolate chai from Cupz, the coffee shop on University and College, I was thinking about writing a blog and how I would refer to the guy that I talk to every morning I go in there. I don't know his name, but we talk more and more as though we are friends. That led me back to an idea I've held onto for a while. What makes someone a friend, best friend, or just friendly?

A friend recently told me about the secret garden on campus. Ironically, there is a small sign on the ground with an arrow pointing inside that says, ‘Secret Garden’. It is such an escape from campus. This is my first time actually coming here to write, but it’s quiet. When I first got here, I was the only one. Since then, a few people have walked through, but there is only one other girl here on her computer. So for those of you who have not seen it, I took a few pictures.

This is what you see when you first walk in.

I’m sure you are dying to know how I define friends. Wait no longer.

Most people I know are in the friendly category. People I see at school, work, church, or coffee shop, are all friendly. Until we both make an effort to hang out outside of our usual place of contact, we will only be friendly. This is important simply because once people know you they are generally nice. It doesn’t mean though that they want to hang out with you in their free time. A friend would.

Being a friend is a two way street. Both people need to be willing to make time and hang out. If there is one person always asking to hang and the other always too busy, something is wrong. I have been on both sides of it, but it really works best when both are mutual friends.

I have 3 best friends. For me, I will do anything for my best friends. None of them live in Arizona, but if they needed me, I’d drop everything and go to either Utah or NC. Come to think of it, I think only one of them knows that. All are guys, which makes sense. In fact, if I move out of AZ, 2 of the 3 have offered and want me to live with them. I think it would be amazing, obviously. So really a best friend is someone you love.

What do ya’ll think? Do you hold your definitions differently? Do you care what you call people, whether it is friend, acquaintance, or best friend?

My rules of debate

Well, originally I was going to write about my argumentativeness, but I got off on a tangent on debates. Not debates like you would see on a debate team. Rather, the kind you would encounter in splendid converstaion. So here are my rules.

#1 The easiest thing is that it has to be a subject that is interesting. Really the only thing that I could imagine falling into this category would be where people are talking way over my head and I can't picture it in my mind. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that I couldn't spin to be an interesting topic of discussion with the right person.

#2 There need to be two sides of an argument. This is a general rule. It can be bypassed, but you have to have a couple people willing to play both sides of the story. When you are debating with someone over the same topic on the same side, you'll have to come up with your own counter arguments. While this works and can still get you new ideas and trains of thought, its not as good as actually having someone with that opinion.

#3 Have at least an idea of what you're talking about. You don't need to be an expert, but you have to be able to challenge the ideas that are being presented to you. Otherwise its a one sided conversation. This is great a lot of times, but more often people talk about superficial things that are not on this same level of deep conversation.

#4 Both parties need to truly be open minded. This is a critical rule. Each person needs to know they are not trying to convert the other to their idea of thinking, but rather convey their own thoughts on the issue in a way the other can understand. Too often, this is the piece that people forget and it becomes a bludgeoning match without any new thoughts.

As a side note, just because someone is liberal, it doesn't mean they are open minded. And just because someone is conservative, it doesn't mean they are close minded. Please remember that.

#5 The last part of a good debate is the structure. You start off with a main argument. It can be as simple as "That guys mullet is awesome." The other side would obviously be the negative of that. From there you will make a point like, "Its a mullet, but he can still get the girls, therefore it must be awesome." The other side will make a counter argument to this. Don't get hung up on the same small points over and over, and don't make lame arguments that have no substance to them. Then repeat this process.

If both of you follow these rules, your conversations will traverse a very wide range of topics. Generally.

So if anyone wants to practice, let me know and we'll go have some good conversations over some chai.