Landmark strikes back November 25, 2006
Posted by Niels in : Links , 2 commentsI recently posted a link to a French documentary that shines a spotlight on some of Landmark’s more disturbing practices. According to The Truth about Human Potential Seminars, Landmark is hunting down the source of the documentary. (There’s 60 million people in France. I’m sure any one of several hundred thousand people have the capability to record a TV show and post it to the internet.)
Your thoughts?Landmark Education subpoenaed the Internet Archive, Google Video and YouTube to reveal the identity of who uploaded the France TV 3 video on the Landmark Forum.
Happy Turkey Day! November 23, 2006
Posted by Niels in : Personal , add a commentI’m thankful to be spending it with friends and family. I’m thankful for my health, and for my health insurance. I’m thankful that I have options to fall back on to pay my bills. I’m thankful that I have a fulfilling social life and that I’m finally in control of my relationships. I’m thankful that I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is coming from. I’m thankful for my natural talents and a supportive family that allowed me to make the most of them. And I’m thankful to have their support as I search for my passions in life.
Your thoughts?Look out DC, here I come! November 22, 2006
Posted by Niels in : Personal , add a commentOn the road again…
I get a free trip home for the holidays, courtesy of the Washington, D.C. Art of Attraction workshop. Totally sweet! I don’t get to have Thanksgiving with my family that often anymore.
Your thoughts?I’m a grad school dropout November 20, 2006
Posted by Niels in : Graduate school, Personal , 11 commentsActually, I was already a grad school dropout. When I took this semester off because my internship ran late, I technically withdrew from Berkeley. If I went back this spring, I would have had to apply for readmission. It would have been a formality, but still a bit of red tape that I would have had to deal with.
But after a great deal of thought, I’ve decided not to come back to school in the spring. I came to grad school in the first place because my job offers coming out of college simply didn’t appeal to me. Once in grad school, I realized that I wasn’t going to end up in academia, leaving research in industry as the obvious choice. But my summer internship made it clear I wasn’t happy there, either. In retrospect, perhaps I should have seen this coming, given how miserable I was at all my previous internships in industry, from Cray to ViaSat to Army Research Labs.
More to the point, I looked at the people around me at work and couldn’t see any role models. There wasn’t anyone with a lifestyle that I could look at and say, “Wow, I hope I end up like him.”
So I had a talk with my advisor today, and he agreed that taking a break from grad school is a good option for me now. He was incredibly supportive and told me that life was too short to finish a Ph.D. just for the sake of finishing a Ph.D. Plus, I’m still young. Life doesn’t have to follow a linear path.
Having such a supportive advisor actually makes me want to stay longer.
But that’s that. I’m done with grad school for the time being. Perhaps I’ll discover what I want to do and realize that I really need a Ph.D. after all. And I’ll come back motivated to finish, which will make the work much more pleasant. Or maybe I’ll find my true calling and learn that I’ve been in the wrong line of work all this time. The next phase of my life is a blank slate and I’m excited.
Your thoughts?I am Charlotte Simmons November 20, 2006
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 2 commentsI am Charlotte Simmons. Or rather, I was. I was the naïve freshman who arrived at college with idealistic delusions, finding an alcohol-soaked bacchanal where I expected the ivory towers of academia. I have also been Adam, the consummate beta male, desexualized and insecure.
“Or was calling it a mercy kiss just another way of kidding herself? The truth was… she wanted to fall in love with Adam! If only she could! How much tidier life would be!”
I’ve even been Hoyt, the confident, charismatic asshole who attracts women with a glance – though that never happened in college.
I don’t read much fiction, but I am Charlotte Simmons
The drunken frat parties he describes are the ones I attended in Australia. He describes the students who never did find their niche and looks into their thoughts. Lost and adrift in a social sea, they cling to each other for survival. And I’d completely forgotten the confusion and depression of that first Christmas vacation. I think I knew a Charlotte Simmons, too. But that bittersweet memory is one I’m keeping to myself.
Your thoughts?