Twenty-Three years since I was Born

Yesterday, August 9th, was my twenty-third birthday. Roxanna and I celebrated by going out to eat sushi in downtown Berkeley.

I received some wonderful presents. My parents gave me, in word, the upcoming third-generation ipod touch, an instrument which has revealed itself to be extremely useful. I've been using Roxanna's ipod touch while reading, and the ability to look up words and ideas in wikipedia, or the various academic encyclopedias and dictionaries online, has quickened my pace in reading and acquiring new ideas. Next, Roxanna's parents sent me the wonderful collection of essays on Nietzsche's philosophy of mind and action titled Nietzsche on Freedom and Autonomy. (I previously remarked on an essay by Leiter, "Nietzsche's Theory of the Will," which appears in this collection. At present, I'm eager to read what other individuals have also presented in this vein.) Finally, Roxanna gave me Paul Ree's Basic Writings, which contains his Psychological Observations and The Origin of the Moral Sensations, two works which influenced Nietzsche.

My favorite of all my presents was Roxanna's other gift, the preplatonic philosopher, Gorgias the Nihilist! Here is a photograph of him, Gorgias, becoming acquianted with Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, and the rest of the little guys. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to him more after Fall semester's Ancient Greek language class, because at the current moment, Nietzsche is translating all his remarks, and he appears a little shy.