[ideally]

Q:  Peter Gabriel vs. Phil Collins. Your answer, and why?

A:  Ha!  You're desperately hoping that I'll start quoting "American Psycho", aren't you?  The bit about Phil Collins, and his artistic presence being made more apparent in Genesis during the later albums, right before the split.  How prior to "Duke", they were too artsy and intellectual.

Or you could have been hoping that I would say that Genesis as a whole blasted both of them out of the water, and that, even though each has his merits as a solo artist, neither Gabriel nor Collins is able to best the group's ensemble pieces.  This is a valid argument; I'd be more inclined to listen to "Selling England by the Pound" than almost any other album, by any other band.

Sorry to disappoint, though.  Gabriel's my choice;  Collins is too much of a diva.  Was *really* pissed that I missed his last tour through Texas, actually;  heard Gabriel was fantastic.  "Solsbury Hill" in person would have been unreal.

... Uh, also?  You probably should tone down your expectations a bit.  Gauging by these inane "judgment questions" you're asking, it seems like the only niche of individuals who share your specific tastes would be nerdy males in their early to mid thirties.  Unless you happen to be into that - which is entirely possible, given your infatuations with DDL, Ed Norton, and the Jeffs Tweedy and Mangum.

You're a weird kid, Paige.  But I like you.  Have fun, yo.  I'm going to go read something.

Pajj blathering, as Pajjes tend to do.

Language is a useful medium for communication - so is art, so is music, so are physical demonstrations and body language.  But all of these mechanisms are imperfect.  There is no way to properly express what I see internally, what my brain is imagining at one particularly instant.

What I am thinking about right now, I can attempt to express to you:  a mountain, with an apartment complex in front of it;  trees waving in the breeze, sounds of birds, particular makes of cars driving by, the precise hues of a Colorado sunset - but I can't communicate to you *perfectly*, so that you feel exactly as I do.

A video?  That might come close to giving an accurate representation, physically, but how do you know what I'm -feeling-, what my reaction would be to this environment, emotionally?  Would I be remembering peaceful moments, companionship, or something more unpleasant?  Do I have any connection to this setting at all?  Would I think it beautiful, or feel irritated by having a rugged mountain blocked by a building?  

The more mediums provided describing a particular scene, the more familiar you would become with that idea, and that situation.  I guess that's why I read so much, about physics, about literature, about everything that interests me.  I want to KNOW it.  I want to be so familiar with that particular idea that I can have a chance at explaining it to another person (albeit imperfectly).  When I think of relativity, or quantum electrodynamics, I want to KNOW it, like I know a lover's body - every freckle, every scar, the pigments, how their flesh feels in every sort of temperature.

... This probably doesn't make a lot of sense.

But that's the point, right?  I'm using only one medium - the English language, as written hurriedly in a blog post - to express a multifaceted concept.  It's deliciously impossible to convey what I'm feeling.

But Jesus, I love trying :)

<3s and stars.

Hey, guys! I'm transferring!

Financial reasons.  If you want to belabor me about leaving Rice, please do it privately - I shall direct you to a table showing the cost of tuition at Rice vs. that at UT-Austin.  Then I can point you in the direction of ARWU's international rankings, which places UT higher than Rice in every field I care about (overall, natural sciences, and computer science).  Then I can say "nyah-nyah" and show you the variety of courses offered, and the erratic hours they're scheduled at (which will suit me EXCEPTIONALLY well).

And if you STILL aren't convinced, I can show you the Physics department's T-shirt.

... That's pretty much the definition of a Pajj.  At any rate!

Logistics:

• In order to graduate from UT with a degree in any Natural Sciences division, I need to obtain 60 hours in-residence.  
• Checked with the transfer credit people in Austin, and I'll enter UT with about 90 credit hours (which will cover basically all the CORE classes, and most lower division sciences).  Ironically?  Some of the courses I took at Rice don't apply to UT (good job, Earth Science and Sociology), but ALL of the ones I took in high school and at HCC do. 
• Since I need more hours to graduate than credits for a computational physics degree, I'm getting at least one other degree (in Computer Sciences).  Jeremy and Paul corrupted me;  blame them.
• Also applying for:
• the Turing Scholars program (computer sciences); 
• the Dean of Natural Sciences honors program (for physics);
• and ridiculous quantities of scholarships, though I should be able to get loans for tuition.
• $16,560 per semester vs. $4,100.  Doesn't get more real than that, guys :-\

At any rate?  I still love you.  And I *shall* miss you.  Also?  

HOLY CRAP I BE MOVIN TO AUSTIN BETCHES 

(If I iz accepted, but pretty sure that'll happen.  Top 10% rule.)

<3s and stars,
Pajj