I don't really think there is much of a purpose to this assignment. Granted, I realize its purpose but do not find it to be entirely essential to this course. I do realize, however, that this   experiment   is to be able to tap into the minds of students for a multitude of reasons. One, assuming the student submitted factual personal information (i. e. name and social security number), then certain concerned faculty members can tap into the minds of students they, a) don't like, or b) about which they are concerned. Of course, this can be helpful to understand a student better, or should that student be suicidal, intervene in a timely manner. Unfortunately, if these submissions are not read when they are first processed, then the suicide could take place without due intervention. Of course now, whoever is reading this is probably evaluating my deep psychological reasons for even mentioning suicide. I am sure that this is being analyzed as my subconcious admitting to facts that my cognizant mind would never release. This, however, is not true. While one must accept the fact the subconscious and conscious directly interact, rarely does one prevail over the other. Granted, we have absolute control of the conscious--or at least, more control than that of the subconscious. I am sure, that by now, for a 17 year old college student, I have begun to come across as some sort of pyschological analyst who has put entirely too much thought into this essay and that, for the most part, this is a typical essay and those who submit similar writings are merely trying to impress the reader with their psychological knowledge prior to and INTRODUCTORY course. This is rediculous. As an instructor, s/he probably does not care how much one particular student knows or what their analytical take on this assignment is. And thus, I shall switch from this entirely too practical frame of mind to a more entertaining frame of mind. Why don't we (yes,   we.  As in, the poker players inside my head. Actually, I'm not a fan of poker, so we'll say that we're playing four-man Chickenfoot (dominoes). Please note that the use of   four-man   was not a sexual comment, but the use of   man   was simply to imply that there are four /participants/ in the game of Chickenfoot in my mind. As long as we're discussing dominoes, how about a little trivial information?  Afterall, one does not know when s/he will appear on a radio quiz or a game show. The dots of dominoes and die are known as   pips.   You may recognize   pips   from the rock-n-roll band   blah-blah-blah and the Pips.   This, obviously, as my age has already been discussed, was before my time, and thus, I cannot recall the name of the lead singer, but merely   the Pips. ) discuss my roommate. What to say about Patrick?  Well, I should not attempt to sum him up in words because it would do him no justice. Not that he deserves justice for his unsanitary, habitually lazy style of living, but he is human and our Declaration (let us be patriotic on Sept. 11th) so demands that every   man   (please revert to prior parenthetical insertion upon the proper intent of the usage of   man  ) be allowed the same just (the root of   justice) opportunities. Patrick has found that his calling to life is to frighten or shock people by the way he dresses. I assume that this is a phase, though its onset was around three years ago. He likes to present himself as a very demonic, Gothic rocker. Upon conversing with his girlfriend (aside from her abhorance of this behavior) he does it merely to get a reaction from people. His sole intentions are to be noticed. In fact, that later branches into his very strong desire to be famous some day in life. According to Erin, his girlfriend, he won't make it because he doesn't have the personality. She said he's too submissive. I can completely agree with this as he has wrapped himself (by his own will, mind you) around Erin's stubby little finger. Inside of him, somewhere, he has the need to feel wanted and maybe to a degree where he needs to feel submissive. Who knows?  Let's not talk about Patrick. We're going by fives. 2+3+5+10 = 20 points. I'm kicking butt. Reverting back (as I like to keep my segways under control) to the comment of   let us be patriotic on Sept. 11th,   when will this day be commemorated as a national holiday?  Do not you think it will be soon?  Afterall, if we have D-Day (whenever it falls) why shouldn't we have a day to observe the day when international terrorism (or so we assume it was) attacked America?  It will happen--soon. This is my prediction. I don't think that the day should be so sad. Afterall, people die every day. We don't celebrate all of their lives. Granted, this is on a broader spectrum and affects the patriotism of this nation, but there is no need to mourn eternally. Ahh. Bah. My 20 minutes is up. More on this later. rux at mail. utexas. edu for more thoughts and opinions.