So I've been reading Aristophanes' Clouds, and no, I don't have to for a class. I am officially a philosophy junky now. This being said, everyone should read Clouds, because it's hilarious (and there's a surprisingly large number of fart jokes in it; apparently the ancient Greeks were into a little toilet humor now and then) and, in its own way, instructive, despite bashing on poor Socrates all the time. In short, it's a play (comedy, obviously) about a guy whose reckless son has run him into debt. To try and escape his creditors, this guy goes to Socrates to learn rhetoric and sophistry, thinking he can then outwit everyone he owes money to. The results are pretty hilarious.

I take extensive notes on this stuff, because it seems to help a lot with my understanding of the material. The funny part is that I rarely actually look back at the notes themselves...and this is true for my classes, as well as the stuff I study on my own. It's weird, but just the act of writing it all down commits it to memory much better for me than reviewing the notes. The irony is I'm left with piles of crammed college-ruled notebooks that I never really crack open once they're filled.

Also, the Cotillion is coming up (next Friday, I believe: the 11th of April). For those readers who are considering Saint Vincent, the Cotillion is a formal dance that's basically the social event of the season here. This semester it's being held in Pittsburgh, at the Carnegie Music Hall, and while I haven't been to one yet (missed the one in the fall), I've been told it's quite an event.

Normally I don't go in for these kinds of things, honestly. First and foremost, I rarely have the time, what with the full-time job nonsense and all that; furthermore, I'm not much for all the dress-up and such, possibly because, in a tuxedo, I look less like James Bond and more like something from March of the Penguins. Still, after some thought, I've decided it would be a shame to just let these kinds of things pass by...as President Towey said during orientation, you're only in college once, and it goes by very swiftly (this is enormously true; I can't believe my first year's almost up). Accordingly, the wise make the most of it, while the unwise deal with regret. Anyone reading this who is, like me, somewhat tilted toward introversion would do well to heed those words.

So here I am, trying to find a date for this social event. You may be amused at some of the excuses I've heard thus far, and it is for precisely this reason that I will not be repeating any of them, heh. I am, as has been noted, something of a glutton for punishment; but perhaps not for public humiliation. In a way, this is related to my next blog, which I am already quasi-writing somewhere in my head...tune in soon for an expose on Emersonian embarrassment.