I stayed up until 3 am in the morning last night studying for my symbolic logic exam. I got up at 6 am this morning to continue studying, and went to office hours at 9 am to clarify any questions. The content of this class is REALLY effing hard and I've been kicking my own ass trying to keep up. Imagine my happiness when, after all my hard work, I perused the exam when it was handed to me at 10 am to find that I knew the answers to all the questions.

I was diligently working through truth tables, valuations, and equivalency proofs when, half an hour into the exam, the fire alarm goes off. The GSI groaned and looked at the ceiling pleadingly. Everyone froze. Finally, after letting the alarm go off for a minute or two, the GSI said, "Well, I guess we better go. Bring everything."

So we were all standing outside with the exams in hand. Some people were fraternizing. Some people were working on the problems, even though the GSI had told us to stop working on them. Some people were helping other people work on the problems. I was standing with a group of friends bitching in indignant shock about the unfairness of the world.

It wasn't a fire drill, because we were outside for 30 minutes before the alarm shut off, so some fucker must have pulled the alarm. They best pray I never find them. I can't believe I studied last night for nothing.

At the end of the class period, the GSI collected our half-finished exams with the assurance that he would, "figure something out."

All of the options here look bad to me. I don't want to re-take the exam with slightly different problems. I don't want THIS exam to count for anything because that would be blatantly unfair (if the professor tries to make it this way, I will throw a giant hissy at the dean of students). I don't want the next two exams to count for double, or for this exam's points to be completely thrown away so the next two exams are worth a larger percentage of the grade. I don't want more homework to be assigned to make up for the points lost in the exam.

Fuck.


When I went to the bathroom in Angell Hall this morning after I'd been studying for an hour or so, there was a philosophic debate written on the wall of the stall. 

"God is nothing but man's greatest imaginary friend," read the first assertion.
"Well, it'd sure suck not to have a friend!" read the second, complete with a heart and a cross drawn at the bottom.
"I agree, God's the better option," read the third.
"I pity those who don't believe, they are missing out on life's greatest truths," read the fourth.

This has led me to draw several conclusions:
1. People who write on bathroom walls are fucking idiots (Especially the first person- You really think a bathroom stall is the appropriate place to make that assertion? Way to go making your argument seem more reputable).
2. Just because you go to U of M doesn't mean you're capable of creating a valid argument.
3. It scares me how much most people don't need anything more than fear of the alternative to believe in something.

It's not valid for you to believe in God because you think that there being no God would be worse.
People who DO believe are believing based on faith- which per definition has nothing to do with "truth" let alone life's greatest truths, because faith is not something that can be logically asserted or proven, and neither is the existence of God.

People are sheep. Is it so scary to you to think that maybe there isn't some set meaning to your life, that you aren't special? Have the balls to stand up and create your own meaning and your own worth instead of relying on some omnipresent being in the sky (sounds plausible, right? XD) to give it to you. And don't you dare be so condescending as to pity the people who have had the reason and the courage to have faith in themselves, who have decided to believe something because it makes sense to them, not simply because their mommy and daddy and church told them so or they were too scared to think there might not be a heaven. Don't think that you have the monopoly on truth, and don't assume so casually that you're right (That goes to everyone, atheists like myself included). That sort of self-righteous thought really bugs me.

If it makes you feel better or gives you purpose to believe in God, go ahead and do it. But please have some reason behind it other than, "The alternative is too scary," or "People who don't believe what I believe are dumb," or "I feel in my gut that there's a God."

Would it be too much to ask for people to actually think about what they believe before they feel justified in believing it?