Greetings from student-land! How is life out there in the free world? Lol. Just kidding. ;P
I really am having fun, but it's easy to remember the bygone days of summer (aka: two weeks ago) and wish I were able to knit and watch TV all day like I did then. I suppose in the long, overarching scheme of things, I'm going to school so I can work a job that can afford me time off to be able to knit and watch TV all day, so... that's something to look forward to, right? Lol.
These are my books for the semester. I'm already behind, believe it or not. I was planning to read as I went along... and then the "real" assignments were assigned (meaning those that the teachers collect so they have to be done on time), so reading got shoved to the back burner.
I made it the top priority on my "To Do" list for the weekend to finish last week's reading, start (and hopefully finish) next week's reading, and try to get a little further ahead than that if I could.
What actually happened was this...
Yes, that is the game, Civilization (Civilization IV: Colonization, to be exact). See... I was reading about art/design history and the inventions of writing, laws, map-making... if you've played these Civilization games at all, you'll know that that's exactly where they start. So my homework made me do it!! I started remembering bygone days of exploring new maps, setting up civilizations, and discovering how to get to the moon before the other countries could figure it out...
And I ended up playing Civilization for like 8 hours yesterday. I wonder if my teachers would count that as extra-credit? I'm learning about art history... sort of.
Okay, so then today I sat down to be really productive... my computer in the other room so I couldn't start another game of Civilization... and then I started reading about the Code of Hammurabi. This made me really curious what the Code actually said (in case you haven't studied it in an art or ancient history class... the Code of Hammurabi was the first known written set of laws). So... I grabbed my iPhone and looked up a translation of this code (which was fascinating by the way).
Long story short, I only read for about a half hour (and barely scratched the surface - it's a loooooong list of laws!), but it was still very fascinating. From my very quick review of this Code, it seems to me to be over-erringly just... in the sense that wrong is always punished and right is always rewarded... but the punishment is usually death (for stealing... for kidnapping... for wrongly accusing someone of stealing or kidnapping...). I would've loved to keep reading actually, but my guilt from playing Civilization all day yesterday kicked in, so... I came over here to tell you about my procrastination instead. ;P
Seriously though... I do have an Art History paper that I have to do this term that I could totally do on the Code of Hammurabi if I wanted to. We can pick anything up to around 300 BCE to write about, so long as it includes some reference to art, craft, sculpture, etc. So... basically the door's wide open (in fact, the teacher's chief requirement was that we don't bore ourselves). I could write about anything from the search for the Garden of Eden to the history of knitting, so long as I can find some way to tie it back into art (which isn't that difficult, since most fascinating subjects have been painted about or are themselves an artform).
And here I am rambling on again instead of doing my homework. I just wanted to say hello to everyone out there, and hopefully I'll get in another blog post before next weekend! I miss you all!!
*****
What's your favorite thing about Fall?
I really am having fun, but it's easy to remember the bygone days of summer (aka: two weeks ago) and wish I were able to knit and watch TV all day like I did then. I suppose in the long, overarching scheme of things, I'm going to school so I can work a job that can afford me time off to be able to knit and watch TV all day, so... that's something to look forward to, right? Lol.
These are my books for the semester. I'm already behind, believe it or not. I was planning to read as I went along... and then the "real" assignments were assigned (meaning those that the teachers collect so they have to be done on time), so reading got shoved to the back burner.
I made it the top priority on my "To Do" list for the weekend to finish last week's reading, start (and hopefully finish) next week's reading, and try to get a little further ahead than that if I could.
What actually happened was this...
Yes, that is the game, Civilization (Civilization IV: Colonization, to be exact). See... I was reading about art/design history and the inventions of writing, laws, map-making... if you've played these Civilization games at all, you'll know that that's exactly where they start. So my homework made me do it!! I started remembering bygone days of exploring new maps, setting up civilizations, and discovering how to get to the moon before the other countries could figure it out...
And I ended up playing Civilization for like 8 hours yesterday. I wonder if my teachers would count that as extra-credit? I'm learning about art history... sort of.
Okay, so then today I sat down to be really productive... my computer in the other room so I couldn't start another game of Civilization... and then I started reading about the Code of Hammurabi. This made me really curious what the Code actually said (in case you haven't studied it in an art or ancient history class... the Code of Hammurabi was the first known written set of laws). So... I grabbed my iPhone and looked up a translation of this code (which was fascinating by the way).
 |
| via: Wikipedia |
Long story short, I only read for about a half hour (and barely scratched the surface - it's a loooooong list of laws!), but it was still very fascinating. From my very quick review of this Code, it seems to me to be over-erringly just... in the sense that wrong is always punished and right is always rewarded... but the punishment is usually death (for stealing... for kidnapping... for wrongly accusing someone of stealing or kidnapping...). I would've loved to keep reading actually, but my guilt from playing Civilization all day yesterday kicked in, so... I came over here to tell you about my procrastination instead. ;P
Seriously though... I do have an Art History paper that I have to do this term that I could totally do on the Code of Hammurabi if I wanted to. We can pick anything up to around 300 BCE to write about, so long as it includes some reference to art, craft, sculpture, etc. So... basically the door's wide open (in fact, the teacher's chief requirement was that we don't bore ourselves). I could write about anything from the search for the Garden of Eden to the history of knitting, so long as I can find some way to tie it back into art (which isn't that difficult, since most fascinating subjects have been painted about or are themselves an artform).
And here I am rambling on again instead of doing my homework. I just wanted to say hello to everyone out there, and hopefully I'll get in another blog post before next weekend! I miss you all!!
*****
What's your favorite thing about Fall?
You goofball. Go read your books! (lol) Miss you. Glad you're having fun learning about so much stuff. :D
ReplyDeleteHahaha, this cracked me up. You sound JUST like me. I'm such a bad procrastinator. Both the game and the Code looks interesting. I'm pretty sure I've seen the series of games on Steam so I may just have to see if they have a demo available to try out. And I'll for sure be reading the wiki article on the Code when I get home(unless you have a better link up your sleeve to read?)
ReplyDeleteHaha, at least I'm not the only student that gets distracted. Also, I don't think I've ever gotten 8 hours worth of distracted ;) Your reading seems interesting, mine is just case after case after case.
ReplyDeleteIn old British common law death was pretty much the punishment for every crime, basically because it was cheaper than keeping prisoners. Some of the cases are pretty sad, we occasionally will see an old case referred to. Like, there was a guy accused someone of killing his 10 year old so the guy was hung, then the kid showed up & there were just like...well, oopsy. Pretty scary stuff.
Also, for lesser crimes, the penalty was also death, but there was an out if you were a member of the clergy. How did you prove you were a member of the clergy? By passing a literacy test. Therefore, the literate walked away free, the illiterate were hung. Interesting set of rules...
Okay so now I'm going to go back to MY reading, Constitutional law is the subject tonight... [I just finished literally 4 hours of financial institutions & corporations, ugh!!]
Linda