Time to get serious

After receiving 3 of the worst grades I've ever received in my life for a collective failure of a semester grade report I've started to become more serious about my classes. This means I actually prepare for class. So far I've been doing better than last semester, but there have been no tests - no means of measuring my actual increased determination. If determination necessarily pays off in good grades...

Sitting in my human mind, brain, and behavior class taught by Steven Pinker I am anything but determined.

Pinker: talking about fMRI scans How do you know what the patient is thinking about, if all you can see is where all his blood goes?
K: pause to think heeehhhehehheheheh
C: Looks at K hopelessly Oh.. really, K?

Sometimes I am so determined to be "artistic" that I miss the mark entirely. Everyone does this.
For example, with photography everyone takes macro shots because this is "what's in" and it looks artistic. But in reality, the merit of a macro shot is so little. It doesn't tell a story, it doesn't convey an emotion, it just looks cool. Only through context can a picture really be worth something.

Chris Killip, my photography professor imparted us with a bit of morbid wisdom, "if I were to take a photograph of each of you at this moment, what would I know about all of you from these pictures? I would know that, you're all going to die. And I have captured you in this moment that you will never get back. It's kind of taunting, these pictures. You can see the picture but it's just an illusion." Now reread that with a British accent, it's immeasurably more wise!

My contact cracked and I tried to put it back in my eye.