"What kind of a culture would value a twinkie."

People always think they're so clever when they pose the question, "If God foresees our actions, how can we have free will?" That question is well over 2000 years old, and, as it turns out, Boethius proposed a pretty good answer to it some 1500 years ago, which, even then, was not all that new. It's interesting how he forms his argument, since he writes it as though he is an absolute skeptic bordering blasphemy, and has 'Philosophy' rebut his argument, but he was obviously writing both. Shame he was executed for treason, he was a righteous dude, silly early Christian Empires*...

Anyway, other than reading early medieval philosophy, my day has been pretty usual. I bought all my books today, that was good, and didn't end up costing as much as i had feared. Also some of these books i can see myself giving back, since i don't think i'll have that much use for "Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy - Fifth Edition" once i'm done with this, who knows though, i like books, and the money i'd get back for them is barely worth it. I've gotten a pretty consistent gym schedule now, which is good. Working out makes me feel like i've accomplished something, even if i spend the rest of the day doing nothing of consequence. I'm pretty set in the routine of college now, and it feels good. It's been wicked cold lately, and that also feels good. I think a decade and a half in mississippi has made winter my favorite season. Go figure.

I had my first real material culture class yesterday, and that was really cool, i think i'm going to enjoy that class a lot. Just another drop in the bucket of deciding to get out of being a math major. I like math a lot, but shy of teaching, i can't see myself enjoying a math profession. People and Animals are much more interesting. So hooray for 60 credit hours and a 4 year scholarship, giving me pretty remarkable freedom. Speaking of remarkable freedom, i looked over my finances yesterday and it looks like there's a good chance that my entire second semester is payed for and i'll have money to spare. That would be glorious. I still need to find a job, but not having to worry about giving The U any more money would be pretty great.

My dad has now met Oprah. He met the president some time ago, and these aren't like how you might meet some celebrity in California, these were meetings, so huzzhah for my dad. Apparently he's in the audience for tomorrows Oprah, so i guess i'm going to watch a full episode for the first, and possibly the last, time ever.

Also, Operation New/No Roommate officially begins tomorrow. Chung's a nice enough guy, but there are a few little things that culminate in big things, amoung them smoking. I worked very hard to find three roommates that didn't smoke. They may do a lot of things of questionable legality, but none of them make my room smell bad, so yeah. Starting tomorrow we're allowed to make room changes so i'm going to go a looking for an open room. I'd prefer not to move out of my room, so we'll see. I could always just talk to Chung i suppose. Like that'll happen. If i can chase off 3 roommates without even meaning to, just think of what i could achieve when i actually put some effort into it.

Mmm, the sweet scent of my room smelling like cigarettes...yeah, something's definitely going to have to change here. At least i have the excuse of my mom not wanting me rooming with someone who smokes. She was surprisingly adamant about that.

Well that's about all that's been going on out here. Stay tuned for important announcements.

~Zak without a C

Oh, it's become almost traditional for me to have a picture somewhere in each entry, so here's one i took when it was snowing really hard between classes.



*I originally said it was the catholic church that executed him when, as it turns out, it was actually theoderic, king of the Ostrogoths who was, at the time, ruling Italy. He was an Arian (not an Aryan) Christian, which was a branch which had some conflict with the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches due to their rejection of the Trinity.

Anyway, all this is to say it was perhaps a bit foolish of me to assume that anyone executed for religious reasons was executed by the Catholic Church. I apologize to all my Catholic readers...