Instead of spending my Saturday at the 5th NWA con, where I was supposed to speak at a forum on science fiction, I was at home recovering from my trip to Los Banos. Despite my declaration that I was not going to the SPP congress this year, I ended up accompanying (read: tagging along behind) […]

by Mia on 2:14 am, October 30, 2007 in academics (2) spoke

If I ever sound angry when I talk about physics, it’s because I am.
Because I gave up a dream. Because I miss it like people miss amputated limbs. Because the lack of it is a thorn in my side, a sword through my heart. Because I’ve never forgiven myself for leaving. Because I’ve never forgiven […]

by Mia on 11:27 am, October 16, 2007 in academics (2) spoke

I’m trying to fit my brain into an economist’s mindset and it’s hurting. I don’t know whether I was made for this, honestly. I can do very well with quantum mechanics and still be on the verge of failing elementary statistics. I understand the calculus of complex variables more than the simple principles of inflation […]

by Mia on 10:02 pm, October 2, 2007 in academics none spoke

Final exam for Social Science 2, very rough draft. Being a contrary person, I chose one of the more difficult topics (Roszak’s A Dead Man’s Eyes from Where the Wasteland Ends, Habermas, Nietszche) instead of the relatively straightforward topic — one I could certainly relate to — on identity and the internet.
I loved writing every […]

by Mia on 2:43 pm, June 7, 2007 in academics, writing none spoke

One-night paper on Beauvoir, Calvin, Augustine, freedom, predestination, and more existentialist ethics than I wanted to handle.
I wanted to make it a proper critique (of Beauvoir in terms of Augustine and Calvin; the other way around wouldn’t be as interesting). Unfortunately, considering how little research I could do — and, let’s face it, the […]

by Mia on 7:49 am, May 2, 2007 in academics, writing none spoke

I dislike summer classes. There is always a feeling of suffocation, of being crammed into a cage and then force-fed; as if you’re drowning in information or too much air — all this taking place at break-neck speed, so that not only are you deprived of intellectual breathing space, you don’t have time to think.
This […]

by Mia on 12:18 am, April 30, 2007 in academics (1) spoke

(title inspired by Taylor & Wheeler’s Parable of the Surveyors, Spacetime Physics)
Imagine a room of students waiting for an exam to start. They talk in hushed tones about concepts and equations none of them really understand, reciting formulae like mantras. The room is cold with excess air conditioning and barely stifled dread.
The proctor — a […]

by Mia on 12:06 am, March 30, 2007 in academics none spoke

For Econ 102, Microeconomics, we were required to write a 2-3 page “memorandum” addressed to our professor regarding a microeconomic problem. The memo was supposed to contain a discussion on the background of the problem, issues related to it, possible solutions, etc. Since I’m working (trying; it’s not going too smoothly right now) on a […]

by Mia on 11:58 pm, March 8, 2007 in academics none spoke