there's no place like home

i've spent the last couple of weeks sitting in on an ethics seminar. as boring as it sounds, for me it was a very refreshing change of pace. for one thing, all i had to do was sit there and listen. i was also free from the oppressive thumb(s) of my countless bosses. i guess i also learned some stuff...
but the most exciting thing about the whole experience was the people watching. these people were not part of my usual entourage, and while i found most of them to be friendly and insightful, there were a couple who definitely cought my attention.

in third place was a very high strung young lady who is in my line of work at a parallel institution accross town. her research mentor (who also happens to be my research mentor- ok, i guess there was a little bit of an oppressive thumb factor) sent me her way, thinking that we had similar research interests, not knowing that he was sending me into a land mine of, "look, i just can't deal with having to help anyone or keep any appointments. i don't think i have the time or energy to deal with you!" from this is i drew the conclusion that there are those of us who are filterless, and those of us who are neurotic and rude.

coming in second was a rather charming, very metro-sexual canadian guy of some exotic-looking ethnicity that i couldn't put my finger on. in casual conversation i actually found him to be pretty charismatic, but man did i get tired of hearing him say, "that's ridiculous! that would never happen in canada!" he lost his cool every single day about the various and sundry stupid and/or nasty things that americans do driving everyone crazy (and this was a pretty mild mannered bunch). but while i found his approach a little off-putting, i do have to ask myself, "why in the world do i not live in montreal?"

finally, there was little miss philosophy. little miss philosophy was a very intense, very put-together platinum blond who was so stylish it was kind of ridiculous (i didn't know cole hann made flip-flops), and was either very pretty, or kind of scary looking (i couldn't decide). little miss philosophy is finishing up her PhD in philosophy while sitting on various important sounding boards and committees and was really really really passionate (more like aggressive) in her arguments with everyone about everything. she was always going on about things like personhood, and had a special way of throwing around lofty words that don't actually mean anything. my personal favorite was, "how can you say that? it's counterfactual!" i've done alot of thinking about the possible meanings of "counterfactual," and have come to the following translations:
1) you're wrong
2) that doesn't make any sense
3) i don't get it

so as much i've enjoyed my little sojourn back into the world of academics, i'm looking forward to being a droid again.