I have no clue what marks we’re going to get (actually … apprehensive), we studied. Here are a few facts for your consideration, presumably proving this. We:
1) didn’t go to bed once without formulae;
2) discussed how possibly could alpha be equal to one-third with the book crushed into the limes someone was making cocktails with on Christmas Eve;
3) on New Year’s Eve, when everyone else was watching Youtube, (I) read about Accumulation of Capital;
4) could only tell Saturday from any other day because the Library closes at 7.30;
5) to the question ‘How was your weekend?’ used to lift our heads from the book, frown and say ‘Eh?..’;
6) insert ‘basically’ in every phrase, and if someone doesn’t, someone else says: ‘You forgot ‘basically’.’
7) etc.
(Not to mention that at some point I suggested opening a candy by backward induction, and when someone offered me some milk with my tea I said I had no incentive to deviate (non-economic degree-holders: disregard).)
So, now we are supposed to fly in the sky, happy and free, but it’s far from that. First of all, I’m sitting down at my dissertation tomorrow. Second, jobs. I was going to apply for a job in one company (received an ad by mail), and realised that my CV… Erm… IS NO GOOD. Third, the exams themselves were greatly disappointing in terms of… performance. I laughed for the two hours in Macro (at my silliness in preparation), and wiped tears in Micro. Classic!
Went to the concert of … Travis (!) on the 17th with my Japanese flatmate Yuki. The concert was quite mediocre and I yawned (don’t tell Yuki), but afterwards we went home together, and had a superb conversation. We were talking about Buddhism, and peace of mind, and the moments one shall never forget. He was telling how he participated in some festive marathons back home, and how tired and empty he would be afterwards, and how hard it would be to come back to routine life; I was telling him how we organised student festivals at University, and how tired and empty I used to be afterwards, and how impossibly hard it was to come back to routine life. The streets were half-empty and well-lit, and the sky was pitch dark, and the awesome church in Vincent Street was like a magnificent ghost hanging over the city and piercing the sky with its sharp tower top.
(In the afternoon of that day Rish and I had attended a talk organised by eSharp (www.sharp.arts.gla.ac.uk) on some issues of academic life. The talk was splendid; and funnily, when I went to Merchant city later on, I bumped into that same guy who was giving the talk! He was shopping apparently.)
I borrowed a video by Travis called ‘closer’ from Yuki, and was amused how shamelessly they stole things from Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees, and how pitiful it looks in terms of quality, content and cheesiness (sorry; it’s just my opinion, I might misunderstand something). I then dusted off and watched Radiohead’s Trees (and Street Spirit to boot – both spectacular), and restored my satisfaction with life.
Just a couple more things. My flatmate Andrea studies Archaeology, and: she goes to ‘dig’ at the sites one of which is 2000 years old, and the other one ‘medieval, nothing special’. I am so impressed. She goes every day, while I’m sitting at my books about allocations… Not that I’m complaining or anything. Just happy for her.
Finally, I was thinking recently about convergence (I see someone reaching for Wikipedia; fine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergence#Social_sciences). The first time I heard this term I shrugged; it made me suspicious. Then while I was absorbed in studying, the suspicions somewhat dissolved; now I’m shrugging again. What does it mean, convergence? Who is catching up with whom and why? What is behind this GDP race? Does it make any sense? In a way, I feel that all the humankind is doing at the moment is just exhausting the Earth’s resources and abusing its benevolence; exhausting ourselves physically, emotionally and spiritually; and all for the sake of catching up with some LIFESTYLE which we regard as desirable. Not everyone, of course, but most of us (myself belonging to the interval with 100% probability). I realise that economic growth MAY provide the freedoms Sen is writing about (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amartya_Sen), but not necessarily (as he also writes), and I’m so not sure about the means… All in all, convergence is a purely econometric, obsolete and useless notion. I think… Anyway, Economics is much more than that, and I believe that there should be more cooperation between Economics, and Psychology, and Sociology, and Philosophy… to make more sense…
