Sunday, February 29th. Leap year. LEAP year.

Back at the Uni, same comp as last week. I signed up to a 1 year membership at Popeyes Gym, and I have an appointment tomorrow with a personnal trainer. I'm really looking forward to this. The good thing about the membership is that I can put it on hold for the time I'm away in Europe. The price is quite reasonable as well, $39/month. By the time I head off to Europe though, I'm hoping to be in much better shape than I have been lately. Work has helped, but hitting a serious gym 4 or 5 times a week is just what I need.

In other news, Man U has managed to drop a full 9 points back of Arsenal. Colin will never let me live it down, especially after the verbal mashing I dished out last year. The Reds still have 11 premiership games left to make up that difference, but it could be tough, Arsenal has somehow managed to go all 27 games thus far without a single loss. I say their day is coming soon though, and that day just may be March 28th. Now I'd love to have tickets for that game. But alas, I won't even be in the UK yet by that time. I'm still holding out hope to somehow get into Old Trafford for a game while I'm visiting. Chances are slim though, very slim...

Work this past week has been pretty much the same, but starting tomorrow I'm no longer working 5pm - 1:30am. The evening shift has been revised to 3pm - 11:30pm. Cool. This is good because Frank and I had planned on doing most of our gym visits after work (Because Popeyes is open 24hrs), as such, I wouldn't be getting home until likely 5 am every night. This way, I can get home at 2 or 3 am - the same as right now, actually. A bonus is that Friday nights won't be ruined (completely) anymore, now there's enough time to get home, quickly change, and hit a club for some fun.

Lastly, I have a philosophical question for everyone.

The human race. I asked myself (and others) what makes us different from other mammals. Responses include (but are not limited to); reason, introspectiveness, ability to work with tools. For my purposes here, I'd like to focus on introspectiveness.

Ok, so our ability to see inwardly, to consciously analyze the inner being is one of these primary traits of humanity. Now, what do YOU think: Do we humans, on the average, utilize this trait often enough?

By this I mean, Is it possible that in today's society people are so completely absorbed with things such as: money, work, clothes, cars, sports, etc, that we neglect to analyze the inner being?

Many would perhaps say that such thoughts are frivolous, and pointless. Our capitalist society has no time for time consuming introspection as it won't benefit the economy. Some philosophers would argue that everything else is superfluous, and contemplation is the only worthwhile pursuit.

So what is it, are we caught up in the 'machine'? Have we forgotten how to reach within and attempt to see ourselves and everything around us for what it truly is? I ask you, where have all the philosophers gone?

I'm not saying that we need to have a revolution and install a Philosopher King as our leader, this isn't The Republic, after all.

Now, I think a problem with this, is the potential misinterpretation of self-analysis being self-centeredness. We aren't talking here about thinking about yourself to the exclusion of all else. Instead, the idea here is to analyze yourself in relation to everything, leading to a better understanding of yourself and your surroundings.

Another potential cause, is the abuse and misuse of self analysis. Perhaps a problem is that people have looked at themselves, or tried to, and didn't like what they saw. Why? Is it because society has managed to project so many images of how people should be, or how people shouldn't be, that we've lost the ability to reason through the morass and come to a judgement of ourselves, by ourselves?

Finally, I'd just like to ask everyone to email me at either ks_world_blog@hotmail.com or khalas_6@hotmail.com with their thoughts and opinions. Or for those bloggers out there, feel free to post your own thoughts. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's ideas and opinions on this matter.

INotD: We have a German entry today! Courtesy of Heidi. Schwanzlutscher. (Means Cock Sucker, and is pronounced shvantslutcher.)

Btw: Tomorrow marks the commencement of the month of March. Bell said our internet will be ready "sometime in March". Anyone care to place your bets if/when?

~K