jackofallgeeks | Conglomeration

This post is meant to be a cobbling together of different, unrelated ideas.
About half an hour ago, I knew what I was going to write.
Let's see how far I get.

First off, I just took a test in Discrete. i'm afraid I rather bombed it, as I'm afraid I don't quite understand how to apply Permutations and Combinations yet, and the first question didn't work out, regardless of what she said. Yes, if N is 0, it works. Yes, if you manipulate the variables in the equation, you might be able to get the numbers to say what you want them to say. But that's not the point - the equation doesn't work. Plug in 4 or 5, or hell, even 1, and move the numbers around all you like, but 6.25 will NEVER equal 18. It just won't happen.
Anyways, I'm kinda beating myself up over the foul grade I know I'm going to get on that test, and as such I'm going to bury myself in that book for an hour or two this afternoon.

There are a number of things that get under my skin. Of them, I think the most prevelant is Ignorance. By ignorance, I don't mean the simple lack of knowlege, but more than that... a sophomoric ignorance, perhaps - ignorance which claims to be wisdom, in a philosophic light. It is this Ignorance, I think, which is what bothers me the most about Trevor. Much of what has occured previously could be attributed, in part, to ignorance. This morning compounded all of that.

First of all, when I told him I was going on the Retreat this weekend, he asked why I would go to anything that Tim or Christina supported. This comment makes no sense. It's given that trevor doesn't like either of them for whatever reason, but I think each of them are rather cool (Tim maybe more so than Christina). But aside from that (unfounded?) dislike, neither of them 'supports' it - Tim, as our Class president has endorsed it, and Christina is going on it, but I don't see how that can be construed in a way like it's 'their' Retreat. And even if It WAS 'their' Retreat, that's not the point of it - the fact remains that it's more than likely I would get more of an experience out of ANY retreat than another weekend spent in my room. He went further (I suppose to cover his back) by saying that he doesn't agree with anyone wo goes to the 9:00pm mass at St. Vincent's.

Now, to understand this, you must understand the 9:00 Mass, which is simply a mass given at St. Vincents (the building itself used to be a Baptist Church, and had years ago been converted, but Trevor quotes it's history as some grounds for distaste). As far as the mass itself goes - it's a mass, just like any other, except that they have more of a band (meaning drums, guitar, piano, etc) and they sing more contemporary hymns, which tend to me a bit more upbeat. That's it. However, Trevor thinks the fact that it's not just "piano music" or "traditional hymns" detracts from the mass and, further, that the fact the Priest aims his Homily towards College Students (since, you know, that's WHO GOES THERE) - because of these points, the mass itself is distasteful (maybe even invalid?) and the people who go there (which does include Yours Truely) are somehow less Catholic than he.
None of which makes any sense, and when confronted with the fact that I don't follow how he gets from point A to point B, he takes it as some sort of an attack on his person - not like Rachel who says "Let's agree to disagree" but more like "Oh yes, I must be wrong. Just call it opinion [and stop talking to me]." As though I'd done something more than ask him to explain himself.

BUT WAIT! The ignorance continues. Trevor is in a Religion Class right now, and can't stand his TA. the guy doesn't teach well, brushes aside questions with "My office hours are..." and the like, and Trevor has reason to believe he's "full of shit." That is to say, Trevor has arguments he could bring to contradict the guy. But he doesn't, and why not - because then the TA would start to dislike him. Why does he care? Because the TA is the one who does his grades, and if he stands up for what he believes, he'll get marked down. That's SO juvenile. "OK, kiddies, let's all regurgitate exactly what the teacher wants to hear. No thinking here, just spit the facts back out."

And as a final point, which totally collapses his "I'm holier than thou who goes to 9pm Mass" thing, the guy's a boarderline agnostic. He's SAID so. He's said that this religion class has crushed what faith he did have (simply because the TA's a bad teacher, is seems), but additionally, they guy doesn't do anything religious. I've never seen him pray (pertinent only cause I live with him), he seems patently against retreats (and not just the one Tim and Christina are doing), and I don't even think he goes to Mass on Sundays (though he concievably could go while I'm at work). He just seems so ignorant and hypocritical about EVERYTHING. ::Shakes head:: I donno...

Speaking of ignorance, there was an occurence a while back I wanted to make note of, but never found the opportunity. We all know Austin (presumably through my Journal if no other way) who is in China at the moment. He thought, a while ago, to send around an E-mail to all his associates a letter containing a cetain picture of Pres. Bush holding a children's book upside down ('appropriatly' titles "Shrub back to school") . I'd recently found (thanks to Kincaid, actually) the refutation of this given picture, pointing out the flaws in the picture that give away the PhotoShop editing. I pointed this out, and as I found the general tone of the letter to be 'ignorant' in the sense of "Oooo, look how stupid bush is" I ended with the line "Fighting Ignorance in my Own way."

Almost understanably, Austin took this last line, in conjunction with my defence of Bush, to be an indication of Blind Nationalism. In a very condecending tone, he told me how there was a difference between Intelligence and Wisdom, and how he was afraid I might be slipping in the Wisdom category. He thought an essay a friend of his did on Blind Nationalism might help me see the error of my ways.
This ticked me off because, first of all, I didn't mean Ignorance in the Propaganda-twisted way he seemed to take it, but in the fact that i can't stand people immaturely pointing fingers and saying "Oooo, look at THAT freak." Secondly, it was quite an insult to my intelligence the way he worded his reply and the way he talked down to me. And lastly, it ALL had the feel of "If you don't agree with us, you must not be thinking for yourself." It's like, if I believe Bush is doing even a decent Job of running the country - if I have reason to believew this that or the other is true or false, than I'm a Blind Nationalist, an unthinking drone - or else I would agree with everyone else!

I've rather lost my train of thought, as I was afraid I would, and I fear my point has subsequently been lost in my passions. With any luck, maybe I made a little sense, and with further luck, maybe some of you out there would share your thoughts or insights on the subject.
><* I feel mentally drained.