thoughts[,] I think

I really should be revising my paper for my Honors Colloquium class on the comparison between modern man, animals, and machines based on the philosophies of Karl Marx right now, but I'm not in the mood.

I know I've told at least a few people, and I suspect the only people that will ever read this are among those I have told. If not, I welcome you to one of my internet homes.

Anyway, on to the point of this post. The Flaming Lips made me consider dropping out of college. Not because they preach laziness or that education is overpriced or anything, but rather because I wanted to really, truly experience life. After seeing the Lips in Columbus, for awhile I was thoroughly convinced that following them would be the best decision to fulfill that experience. Whether it strengthens or demerits this writing, I'm not sure, but I wasn't even a huge fan of them before the show. Granted, I had listened to them a fair amount and liked a good bit of what I had heard, I was no diehard. However, that show in Columbus was probably one of the happiest single events of my life, and I wouldn't doubt that many others who've attended their shows would agree about that effect. During and after this, I seriously thought that I would be a much happier and simply better person if I followed Wayne Coyne and friends on tour. I think that I might've been right about that idea. There aren't too many out there that seem, to me, to be able to do have such an overwhelmingly positive effect on people. We really need more Flaming Lips, or, rather, people who can have the same sort of effect on so many people's lives, in the world.

In hindsight, I'm even more certain that college, at least from my perspective and situation, is not the best way to really LIVE your life. Maybe I'm not considering the importance of formal education, etc., but besides a relatively small number of people I've met that have admittedly significantly changed my life (though, really, what encounter doesn't change your life in some way?), social experiences with said people, and occasional interesting philosophical/political discussions, I feel largely unfulfilled by the college experience itself. I may have met interesting people in any other endeavor I could have chosen besides college. Likely, they wouldn't have been the same people, but they may have been equally interesting (probably not, though), and as such, college gains very few points for being the social buffer that acquainted me with the aforementioned friends.

In the non-social part of my college career, I have spent way too many hours working on assignments relative to my received grades and personal satisfaction. Maybe I'm not good at school anymore. Maybe it has something to do with the issues I outlined in one of my recent posts. In any case, I guess the point of this post is this: be selective about how you spend your life and, if you haven't, do whatever you have to in order to attend a Flaming Lips show.

Also, watch these:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4SzWtkMVBRI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=aT0qENSrDO4