Feb. 2 !

[Ignius]

...My new life begins (tomorrow). While getting drunk, etc... I decided to visit a local bookstore, and I purchased the following book titles:

-"The Story of Philosophy - A Concise Introduction to the World's Greatest Thinkers and Their Ideas" By: Bryan Magee

-"Paradoxes From A to Z (2nd Edition)" By Michael Clark

-"Thus Spoke Zarathustra" By: - of course - Friedrich Nietzsche

-"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - An Inquiry into Values" By: Robert M. Pirsig

-"The Perfect Crime" By: Jean Baudrillard

-"Basic Writings of Nietzsche"

-"History of Madness" By: Michel Foucault

-"Hacking - The Art of Exploitation (2nd Edition)" By: Jon Erickson

...And that's it, for now. I tried reading a little, but because of the 3wk long drinking binge, I can barely see straight - I feel dyslexic. This will be tough, but as long as I stick to it - I'll be reading everyday, all day, until I've read everything - it'll improve and I'll be speed-reading in no time (I hope)!

Anyway, you might want to check out some of those. Some of those books were highly recommended.

[Shahrazad]

Ignius, make sure you don't have any access to alcohol, or to money with which to buy alcohol. After a whole month of drinking non-stop, it may not be so easy to come clean.

And why didn't you just buy those books one by one? You can't possibly read them all at once.

[Ignius]

Yeah, that's going to be a toughy - cold sweats, trouble sleeping, nervousness, cravings (oh, just 1 beer a day, etc? - never worked in the past!), etc - but I think that 3yrs of wasted study-time has been enough, and I'm sure that I cannot waste anymore - time, braincells, etc... I will not have any large cash around me, but I do have a lot of money in the bank (plus, a debit card). Oh-uh. Joking! :)

I plan to start a month-long fast, tomorrow - it's called the lemonade diet (mineral water, squeezed lemon juice, cayenne pepper, maple syrup, peppermint tea (nights) + detox tea (nights) + laxative tea (mornings) + salt water flush (~in the mornings) ... and that's about it, for 30 days! I've done this before, and I lost a total of 25-30lbs + I quit smoking and didn't feel like smoking afterwards - this fast, if you stick with it, will give you a ton of energy... Seriously, do some research... It's worth it!

As for reading the books: I think it'll take me about a month or 2, though, it'll take much longer with the computer hacking book (for good reason). But, of course, I plan on reading each book at least 2 times, so it'll probably take much longer! ;)

Anyway, good luck to me.

[vicdan]

Free advice: Pirsig is an idiot, in that special way in which some very smart people can be totally bonkers.

[Elizabeth Isabelle]

Philosophy is not for speed reading.

I tried the lemonade diet, too. Yeah, I felt healthier.

Yes, good luck.

[Ataraxia]

Free advice: Pirsig is an idiot, in that special way in which some very smart people can be totally bonkers.

And Foucault is worse!

[vicdan]

Free advice: Pirsig is an idiot, in that special way in which some very smart people can be totally bonkers.

And Foucault is worse!

Well... Focault is a nut, but not an idiot.

See, there is a fine arts to classifying various sorts of smart-people stupidity.

There are nuts, who are totally off their rocker, but have something useful to say.

Then there are idiots, who should have something useful to say, but instead stick their head up their ass.

Then there are morons, who are head and shoulders above (up, up, and above) idiots.

Then there are cretins, who might seem smart but really don't pull their weight.

Then there are imbeciles, who are just like cretins, but you just need that one additional noun or adjective to describe them.

etc.

In short, you are insulting the taxonomy of smart stupidity by conflating nuts like Focault with idiots like Pirsig. :)

[Shahrazad]

I was tempted to ask something, but reconsidered the wisdom thereof.