<-- is quite excited... UNFORTUNATELY, after the dissertation/Ph.D., I will not open a book that has an iq lvl over 130 for the next... oh... 5 years or so. I will need a lot of brain candy for my graduation :)
well, from what i can tell from your site, you like call of cthulu, knitting, you are a gamer and are interested in religion and have had a shaved head. you have a rockin' username and you speak irreverantly. therefore you must be cool.:) tell me a little about yourself? do you still have a shaved head?do you miss it if you don't? what religion were you brought up and what religions have you explored? if you could wake up and do anything you wanted to tomorrow, what would it be?
Let's see, My hair has grown out quite a bit, but I did get a tattoo on my head to commemorate the occasion. I miss not having to shampoo and style, but I got cold very easily, and I look better with hair.
I wasn't brought up in any religion, I went to church with my mom for a year or two, but she was sort of Southern Baptist by habit, and didn't keep going when we moved from that community. My dad has been an athiest most of his life. I took an interest in fringe religions very early, maybe 11 or 12 I started reading about shamanism, druidism, wicca, etc. I considered myself an eclectic witch. Then I moved to Las Vegas, and got caught up in a pentecostal church. I attended and was a hardcore 'jesus freak' for most of my high school years. But I was always questioning, always wanting to know more, and eventually I arrived at a set of answers that didn't jibe. Since then I've sort of bounced around noncommitally between paganism (I like the holidays), buddhism (I like compassion and meditation) and agnosticism/athiesm (there's just no useful evidence to support any supernatural truth claims). If you want to discuss all that in more detail some time, I'd be delighted. I'd also like to know your view. If I could wake up and do anything, I'd catch a flight to Prague and begin a tour of Europe.
i shaved my head when i was in college...about seven years ago. i loved it. i really miss it. i thought it was terribly sexy. i would do it again in a heartbeat except that my husband loves my long hair and i live in minnesota. i lived in maryland and virginia when i had a shaved head and i thought _that_ was cold. i still love women with shaved heads. it shows a fierceness that i like. i'd love to talk about religion with you - but after next week. i imagine that sort of conversation could get long and i am trying to motivate to finish my master's thesis. i am a christian of the united methodist flavor, but i haven't always been. i got heavily into wicca in high school and my best friend who explored with me is still a solitary practitioner. i'm big into interfaith dialogue (i worked at the interfaith conference of metropolitan washington for a summer, a group that brought together 9 different faiths on the subjects wher common ground is shared) and i've studied other religions a lot. i think if i had to be something else i'd be hindu. i think it is an amazingly beautiful and complex religion that boils down to some pretty simple principles. it is also very accepting. i admire that in a religion. i'm also big into religion as it pertains to social justice issues and the kind of faith that doesn't make you fake. i've heard prague is wonderful, but never been there.
That's so great, I just about had the inverse of your conversion experience. Feel free to aim me whenever you like (same sn), and good luck with your thesis! (Just finishing my undergrad thesis seemed an epic struggle.) What was your undergraduate work in? What are your plans post-master's degree?
cool! my aim username is sarnait, but i'm not on very much. i can waste whole days like that and i try not to.:) what was your undergrad thesis on? the answer to your first question is a long one. i went to st. john's college in annapolis, md. it is a teeny-tiny liberal arts college that most nobody has heard of. less than 500 students including the grad program. it is a great books program. for everything you study, you read the original writings (and if possible, replicate the original experiment with the origional equipment), and then discuss the results. all classes are discussion based. no written tests. only papers, class discussion and oral exams twice a year (until your senior year when you only get one). the placement office at my school would tell you it is a dual major in philosophy and history of math with dual minors in sciences and comparative language with emphases in attic greek and french. we do NOT take enough credits to equal all that, but we do study all those things. winds up being 4 years of math, 2 years of music, 3 years of science, 4 years of friday night lectures, 4 years of seminar (where the bulk of the program is processed, it's kind of a cross between philosophy, literature and history), and 4 years of language (year and a half of greek, semester of poetry, year and a half of french, semester of poetry). i loved it. my masters is going to be in theological studies. i hope to go into social justice work. unfortunately, i seem to be overqualified or underqualified for most positions. i have an interview wednesday for a job doing admin work for some nuns who run a retreat center and do social justice work. yeah, someone with their masters has no business being an admin, but it's in my field. i think i could be happy doing anything as long as it is in my field. wish me luck!
My undergrad thesis was on ethical issues in psychotherapy. Given another chance, I would choose a more specific topic. I struggled with it for a year, and finally turned in an unfinished product, a detailed outline and references that was around 30 pages. I actually considered attending St. Johns, so I'm familiar with their unique curriculum. I think I would have enjoyed it more than the traditional course of study, but I was persuaded by all-too-practical adults to get a degree with more obvious career path opportunities. I'm looking at options in a similar field to yours. I'd like to get a master's in Public Service Administration (to write grants and advise NPOs) if I can do so without going further into debt. And I wish you vast amounts of luck.
sorry i made you wade through that description, then. i don't often meet people who know about st. johns. they usually think i mean the baskeball school in NY or the st. john's college that is here in minnesota. a lot of people there do drop out because they figure out what they want to do and decide to go do it. st. john's is not a very good background for say, criminal justice. but it is very good for anything that requires grad school and several things that do not. is there a specific problem you want to be fixing?
There are several problems I'd like to fix, but I haven't gravitated to any particular one, which would be a problem for grad school. The most likely candidates would be GLBT advocacy and/or fighting forced prostitution/pornography.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-07 08:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-07 09:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-07 09:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-07 09:30 pm (UTC)if only they would add theology, and mythology...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-07 09:43 pm (UTC)UNFORTUNATELY, after the dissertation/Ph.D., I will not open a book that has an iq lvl over 130 for the next... oh... 5 years or so.
I will need a lot of brain candy for my graduation :)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-08 04:12 pm (UTC)Fun times!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-08 10:09 pm (UTC)PS - you don't know me, I found you by reading the flist of a knitting community. But I'm friending you.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-08 10:41 pm (UTC)therefore you must be cool.:)
tell me a little about yourself? do you still have a shaved head?do you miss it if you don't? what religion were you brought up and what religions have you explored? if you could wake up and do anything you wanted to tomorrow, what would it be?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-08 11:03 pm (UTC)Let's see, My hair has grown out quite a bit, but I did get a tattoo on my head to commemorate the occasion. I miss not having to shampoo and style, but I got cold very easily, and I look better with hair.
I wasn't brought up in any religion, I went to church with my mom for a year or two, but she was sort of Southern Baptist by habit, and didn't keep going when we moved from that community. My dad has been an athiest most of his life. I took an interest in fringe religions very early, maybe 11 or 12 I started reading about shamanism, druidism, wicca, etc. I considered myself an eclectic witch. Then I moved to Las Vegas, and got caught up in a pentecostal church. I attended and was a hardcore 'jesus freak' for most of my high school years. But I was always questioning, always wanting to know more, and eventually I arrived at a set of answers that didn't jibe. Since then I've sort of bounced around noncommitally between paganism (I like the holidays), buddhism (I like compassion and meditation) and agnosticism/athiesm (there's just no useful evidence to support any supernatural truth claims). If you want to discuss all that in more detail some time, I'd be delighted. I'd also like to know your view. If I could wake up and do anything, I'd catch a flight to Prague and begin a tour of Europe.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-08 11:27 pm (UTC)i still love women with shaved heads. it shows a fierceness that i like.
i'd love to talk about religion with you - but after next week. i imagine that sort of conversation could get long and i am trying to motivate to finish my master's thesis.
i am a christian of the united methodist flavor, but i haven't always been. i got heavily into wicca in high school and my best friend who explored with me is still a solitary practitioner. i'm big into interfaith dialogue (i worked at the interfaith conference of metropolitan washington for a summer, a group that brought together 9 different faiths on the subjects wher common ground is shared) and i've studied other religions a lot. i think if i had to be something else i'd be hindu. i think it is an amazingly beautiful and complex religion that boils down to some pretty simple principles. it is also very accepting. i admire that in a religion.
i'm also big into religion as it pertains to social justice issues and the kind of faith that doesn't make you fake.
i've heard prague is wonderful, but never been there.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-08 11:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-09 12:30 am (UTC)my aim username is sarnait, but i'm not on very much. i can waste whole days like that and i try not to.:)
what was your undergrad thesis on?
the answer to your first question is a long one.
i went to st. john's college in annapolis, md. it is a teeny-tiny liberal arts college that most nobody has heard of. less than 500 students including the grad program. it is a great books program. for everything you study, you read the original writings (and if possible, replicate the original experiment with the origional equipment), and then discuss the results. all classes are discussion based. no written tests. only papers, class discussion and oral exams twice a year (until your senior year when you only get one).
the placement office at my school would tell you it is a dual major in philosophy and history of math with dual minors in sciences and comparative language with emphases in attic greek and french.
we do NOT take enough credits to equal all that, but we do study all those things. winds up being 4 years of math, 2 years of music, 3 years of science, 4 years of friday night lectures, 4 years of seminar (where the bulk of the program is processed, it's kind of a cross between philosophy, literature and history), and 4 years of language (year and a half of greek, semester of poetry, year and a half of french, semester of poetry).
i loved it.
my masters is going to be in theological studies. i hope to go into social justice work. unfortunately, i seem to be overqualified or underqualified for most positions. i have an interview wednesday for a job doing admin work for some nuns who run a retreat center and do social justice work. yeah, someone with their masters has no business being an admin, but it's in my field. i think i could be happy doing anything as long as it is in my field. wish me luck!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-09 04:56 pm (UTC)I actually considered attending St. Johns, so I'm familiar with their unique curriculum. I think I would have enjoyed it more than the traditional course of study, but I was persuaded by all-too-practical adults to get a degree with more obvious career path opportunities.
I'm looking at options in a similar field to yours. I'd like to get a master's in Public Service Administration (to write grants and advise NPOs) if I can do so without going further into debt.
And I wish you vast amounts of luck.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-09 05:03 pm (UTC)a lot of people there do drop out because they figure out what they want to do and decide to go do it. st. john's is not a very good background for say, criminal justice. but it is very good for anything that requires grad school and several things that do not.
is there a specific problem you want to be fixing?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-09 05:28 pm (UTC)