The construction on my building is almost finished. It's taken a long time, and I'll be glad to see it all wrapped up and the construction workers gone.

The worst part of this whole experience is that, despite the fact that the management said that work would start at 9am each day, the workers actually start closer to 7. Furthermore, for some strange reason, all the loud clanging-banging work is only done in the morning, and by 10 it gets very quiet.

As you can imagine, it is very much not appreciated that they start work so early. Some of us are trying to sleep, for only in sleep can we escape the existential questions that plague our waking hours. Others are just tired. It was particularly annoying then they were working on my side of the building: I would be woken up by men outside my window, and panic because I was severely under-clothed for the occasion.

However, today I feel a great deal of warmth for the workers. They have won my heart with a single highly incongruous act.

One usually imagines construction workers as being very tough, rugged man's men. They like their beer cold, their women pregnant, and so on. This morning, I was suddenly brought into consciousness at 7:15 by very loud music playing. This isn't unusual, they often play music, though usually they manage to keep it quiet. Not only was it very, very loud, but the burly men were listening to... Enya.

When I fully woke myself up, I told myself it was a dream... After all, it didn't make any sense. Then, they started playing in again. They had the same song on loop, and I heard Wild Child about ten times this morning.

Capitalism, Abstract Buddhist Philosophy and the Phenomenon of Religion

I turn my back for one second, and Adnan goes and posts two more pages of Eid pics. As punishment, my Photo of the Day features the young Mr. Shamsuzzoha engaging in what we around here call "big pimpin'."

Now that that's out of the way...

The Phenomenon of Religion
The above title refers to a course I'm taking, RLG211. Yesterday I got back a test I had written in the course: I got 85%. That, boys and girls, is what we call an "A." Boo yah.

Abstract Buddhist Philosophy
Yet still on the topic of school, in RLG206 we're now doing a chapter on Buddhist philosophy in India. After the course in Complex Variables, this is the most exciting and stimulating thing I've studied at University so far.
A week or so ago I was starting to wonder, "we've covered all of the fundamentals of Buddhism, what more is there to learn for the next semester-and-a-half?" The answer to my question is: Lots.
I'm reading about all the old Abhidharma schools, which differ from each other only in their subtle disagreements on the matter of cognition. It's a fascinating discussion, and I am looking forward to going upstairs (to the 3rd floor of Robarts) and reading more.
I am tantalized.

Capitalism
I borrowed Adnan's copy of Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser the other day, and am completely engrossed in it.
Mr. Schlosser takes a look at the fast food industry, not from a health perspective, but from every other one. He looks at business practices of the fast food restaurants, their origins chronologically, their advertising tools, how they grow and process the food, and how they treat their employees.
For the most part, none is it is new or contrary to what you may have already suspected. But being hit by this information over and over really makes a deep impact.
It very disheartening to see what a farce capitalism has become. Free enterprise my ass.