dan gulino #12 Zombies

Am I the only person who thinks this zombie madness going on among us is obnoxious? Earlier today I saw a kid climbing a tree by the SAC, holding his hand above his eyes, as if he was trying to see zombies approaching him from afar. As much as I would love to carry a nerf gun with me to class, I have can’t understand how campus allows this game to continue. After the Virginia Tech shootings, which was not very long ago, I feel that campus would urge students to not carry weapon replicas to class, and all over campus grounds.
Sure, one can argue that they are only nerf guns, and no real harm can be done by them. Yes, physically I do agree that a nerf gun is harmless. However, the psychological impact that carrying a “weapon” around campus is very high in my opinion. It puts students into somewhat of a gang mentality, which I feel Stony Brook would usually try get its students to avoid if possible. Also, watching students play this game all over campus makes me somewhat embarrassed to be a student here at Stony Brook. Can’t everyone just grow up, get a girlfriend and put the nerf guns down? Middle School is over people, these are your college days.

Living Zombie

I've been moving through my day like a listless zombie. Barely awake and not interacting or even reacting to my surroundings. My thoughts are becoming foggy and the professor is now tuned out to nothing but a mere muffle. I know the majority of my posts talk about school work, but it's the only thing I know nowadays. My parents have made it very clear to me that my full time occupation is a student.

It's funny how sometimes I think I make more sense when I'm writing as I'm half awake, but I think that's just delirium talking right now. I'm just counting down the minutes 'til I can have my next coffee. I'm not used to this sleep deprivation for the semester, but this week has been jam packed with projects, homework, and midterms to study for. I know that even though I'm tired now, I'll probably get a second wind soon. I hate this because it tricks my body into thinking I don't need to sleep when in reality I am in desperate need of it.

Is this what it's like to be the living dead? Not truly dead, but not truly alive either. Everything is a blur, eyelids are heavy...

This is Madness: Rational Insanity

The subject of madness is something that interests me greatly. I think that in order to be truly brilliant one needs to have just a touch of madness. To me, madness doesn’t mean incompetence. Of course if someone is too far out side social norms of thinking he loses his ability to function in society. But, if one is able to take just one step back from reality, he finds the ability to consider new possibilities for the world. One does not have to look too hard to find examples correlating creativity and madness. Take Van Gogh, considered a genius even after cutting off part of his own ear. This is of course an extreme. In order to create, to invent something new, we need to lose touch somewhat with present reality. If we never step outside our boundaries, all we can do is recycle old ideas. I think it is important for people to question their own sanity. How can we hope to see the world through the eyes of another if we never question the vision of our own? It’s my opinion that sanity and rationality are two separate attributes. One can be so far outside the conventional norms that they are considered insane, but if you follow their thought you might discover that it flows logically. Such a person might even be aware of their own madness and be able to tell you exactly why he is insane. I would give this person a label of rational insanity. Take on the other hand, one who follows society’s standards without waver, but never questions anything, lives the unexamined life, accepts whatever his is told, a sheep, a zombie. Such a person is clearly sane, but question the validity his sanity, ask him why he is sane, he will have no answer. To me, this is irrational sanity, sanity without reason.