[Alistair's Scrapbook] Grinding your Gears

[Alistair deGrey]

I desperately wanted to get a last look at Britain before we departed, so I headed to the uppermost catwalk. But on my way, I passed the dingiest building of them all. It was the boiler room. But instead of a massive, pulsating heart, I found an ash covered shack with a dull red tank in it. I found the whole scene anti-climactic. The room had numerous pipes stemming off it, and two men worked tirelessly to supply said pipes with heat for the ship. I did not like the look of the two men, they looked like the niggers, and their eyes shifted around as if in search of intruders. I decided against stepping into the shack for a closer look, favoring the continuance of my sky bound quest . Countdown had begun, our overly cheerful captain had announced that we would launch in twenty five minutes. Oh how we would soar through the skies much like a sick pigeon. I decided that I had time to go to the observing platform up near the captain’s cabin. I navigated my way up the steep metal stairs and along the ramshackle catwalks, climbing ever upwards. After about ten minutes of mindlessly moving up innumerable flights of stairs, I finally burst through the iron jungle and onto an open metal platform. Even though this was made for groups of people, it was no sturdier than the rest. As I walked near the open edge, I could feel the platform rocking like a diving board. Deciding that death was against my immediate wishes, I traversed carefully back to the center, up the tottering stair to the captain’s cabin. Nobody was there though. There were many levers and buttons scattered throughout the covered area, none of which I knew the use for; but dust seemed to blanket much of the panel, only a select few mechanisms were clean. Disregarding them, I stuck my head out the open window. Looking down, I saw what must have been half of Britain laid out before me. I felt like a king, a grotesque king of equally misshapen subjects, but a king nevertheless. Now I knew why people had created such a self-destructive outrage. I imagined myself piloting the craft, dominion over all I saw. But I had no time for fantasizing, for the captain came on the intercom for the last time.

[Alistair deGrey]

Our captain piped, “Hello passengers of Britain’s own R102. Today we will be making the voyage over the English Channel, through Europe, and then onwards to India. Lift off will begin shortly, and do not forget to purchase a return ticket upon your arrival if you have not already done so.” The man's voice boomed across the proximal skies. I scurried down the array of ladders and walkways, deciding I did not want to meet the captain. Soon I reached one of the lower observation decks. A propeller serenely spun to the left of me, and an array of chains hung limply to the right, growing from origins unknown. I looked out at the British countryside for what seemed like would be the last time as the entirety of the ship started to tremor violently. Ropes were cut and coal was burned and my stomach dropped into my feet. I gripped the metal bars until my knuckles turned white and I felt sick. Our pilot came back on, “Were underway folks! And please enjoy your flight on the zeppelin R102. If you would now please take to your bolted seats in the living qua-“his voice faded as I turned around. There was a dismal looking man standing besides one of the many hydrogen releases. He pulled on his Palmal and glanced at me. A dull roar filled my ears and my throat dried as he tapped off the ash and tossed his cigarette upwards, throwing many small fireflies up into the balloon. If rebuke had a sound, this would be it.

[Ashivirsthargon]

On the issue of time, I wrote a series of papers for my Metaphysics class pursuing that exact thesis - that time is a faculty of perception rather than some objective "thing" or force.

So, it doesn't sound silly to me at all.

[Alistair deGrey]

You should send me one or two or three!

EDIT: My email is Morrissette.Jacob@gmail.com

No that is not my name.

[Alistair deGrey]

[Ashivirsthargon]

Some excerpts for you:

Nicolas Berdyaev, a Christian existentialist born in Russia in 1874, was one of the larger proponents of the idea that Time was how we perceived experience. A phrase which occurs often in analyses of his thought is, "Time is in man, not man in Time" (Slaatte 3). Another way of saying this is, "Time is not merely something we observe but something in which we are involved" (Slaatte 7). Berdyaev points out that past and present are not things that have an existence independently of a conscious subject. The past exists only as memory and the future exists only as potentiality. This is the only real grounding for the reality of a past and future; since these "areas" are no longer present before us, they obviously only exist in the subject's mind. In this way, eternity is always present; the endless expanse of ages in both directions are this moment, and this sort of paradoxical identity/distinction coheres in the consciousness. Richard Niebuhr echoes a very Berdyaev-like idea: "Time in our history is not another dimension of the external space world in which we live, but a dimension of our life and our community's being. We are not in this Time but it is in us. It is not associated with space in a unity of space-Time but it is inseparable from life in the continuity of life-Time" (Niebuhr 69). All this Continental esotericism amounts to the idea that it is difficult to find some ontological grounding for Time outside of consciousness. It is only in consciousness that Time is perceived and only in consciousness that the various aspects of Time cohere. Time is a way we perceive the world; it is not an aspect of the world in which we operate.

A second objection might be that, even though Time is invisible, it has empirical effects on the world around us -- effects that could not be explained if Time was merely how we perceived events, such as entropy. This is a misunderstanding as well, not of the theory, but of entropy. Time itself does not cause entropy. Events cause entropy, whether it be physical erosion due to wind and water, decay due to bacteria, or wear and tear due to use. These things all occur "in" Time, but none of these things "are" Time or a direct result of Time, in and of itself. In theory, if an object could be preserved in a perfect void and no other object were to act upon it, it would remain in pristine condition for eternity. Were it removed from the void two million years later, it would be just as new as the day it was put in. The things we carelessly attribute to Time in language are not due to Time in and of itself in reality. Therefore, Time as perception is by no means refuted by the existence of entropy.

[Alistair deGrey]

*claps hands enthusiastically* That is excellent Ash, I love it. In other news... Why do we get so embarrassed by things? I don't know why, but whenever somebody shares my success, I get extremely embarrassed. For example, today for my English 104 class we read aloud a paper we had written. Mine was, deemed by my friends (>>;), the best in the class. I had by far the strangest paper in the class as well. So when my friend read this paper aloud, I became so red I could feel literally the heat emanating from my cheeks. Not only was my friend throwing everything he had into it (because he thought it was awesome or something), but my teacher seems to love morbid stories. So my teacher was impressed, and my friends were in love with it. The entire class clapped etc.. But I got the feeling that nobody except the professor and my friends understood it. I couldn't actually bring myself to look around though... I actually measured the length of time it took for my face to return to its normal state. It took that rest of that class (20 minutes) and then the drive home (Approximately 25 minutes). So yeah, pretty embarrassing for me. I suppose some people just don't like being called to the spotlight. What sort of things embarrass you?

[Aneira Haimati]

It's a lot of attention to have put on you, and on something you likely put a ton of thought and effort into. It can be like having your heart and soul cut out and lain open for everyone to peer into. Whenever I've been a part of poetry and creative writing workshops, that's exactly what it's like... at least, at first.

You know what embarrasses me? I don't normally blush, but having "Happy Birthday" sung to me always makes me blush. Especially if it's in the middle of a restaurant and all that.

[Alistair deGrey]

Alright my lascivious ladies and grimly garnished gentlemen, the time has come. Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 10:00 am USA Pacific Time. I will be leaving for DECA State until Tuesday. This means a 3 day absence for me, which may force me to leave a few things to the last minute. At DECA I will be competing in Business Services Marketing and Financial Analysis. So wish me a few beneficial coincidences, unless you want me to fail (Hunter and Strider). In which case your house will ignite in forty three minutes. Anyway, before I leave, here is a to do list! - Enter Mathematics into the wiki - Begin another article - Finish up the last 4-5 posts for my crafting thread - Finish up "A Matter of Thought" as soon as Kadurro and Karrin finish up "Redemption and Invention" - Finish (Or probably grandfather -.-) "An Acquisition" - After finishing/grandfathering "An Acquisition", finish/grandfather the invention for Jaquise Emiterre. - Fill the gaps of my Journal. Hurray! Au revoir for now my lovelies, may your ladies be lascivious and your gentlemen be grimly garnished (literally if you are a Myrian).

[Alistair deGrey]

And I return. I bombed Business Services Marketing, getting I think 19th overall. However, that is to be expected because it is one of the hardest events and I didn't study. Most people choose one hard event and one easy event, I accidentally chose two hard events. The second hard event (and the one I studied for) was Financial Analysis. My team got 3rd place overall in Financial Analysis. We lost second place by .008 points, and first place by 1 point. Fourth place was 5 points behind us. So that was pretty amazing. Anyway, that means my partner and I qualify for ICDC (International Career Development Conference) which is pretty much 10,000 DECA students crammed into a city for a while. ICDC for this year is in Louisville too, which isn't as bad as last year which was in Atlanta. This means for a LOT of studying, because there will be 150+ students competing against me (3 for every state, 50 states, plus students from other nations). I doubt this will severely impact my Mizahar activity though, because most of it will be during school time (I don't have a 7th period, so it'll occur then). That and I'll be taking another short absence sometime in April (for ICDC itself).