I’ve been applying to law school, and thinking weird mangled thoughts lying somewhere in between law and cognitive science. Here are some oversimplified thoughts that I’ve found useful to think with.

Analysis is a way of thinking that takes an idea and breaks it into parts. For instance, “A car includes a chassis, an engine, a transmission, wheels, …, (and optionally a driver, a paintjob, …)”

Analysis:

Synthesis is a way of thinking that describes two or more ideas as members of a category. For example, “red and violent are both colors of the rainbow.” In linguistics, the process of making a syntactic unit out of individual words is called Merge, and Merge is an example of synthesis. An example of a Merge is the process by which our brains create the noun phrase “red pepper” out of the adjective “red” and the noun “pepper.”

Synthesis:

So far, so boring. The clincher is – my LSAT studying and my legal internship have made my thoughts more analytic. Most of the of legal thinking I’ve been doing has been breaking down a problem into parts. This is a fine way to solve a problem, but analysis and synthesis should be complementary. You can’t have one without the other. And furthermore, though I like both ways of thinking, I prefer synthesis.

Why do I like synthesis? My most creative and insightful thoughts are synthetic. The more improbable the induction, the more diverse the components, the better the thought (the more it changes my theories about the world). Of course, my preference for synthesis extends only to useful categories. When the heading under which concepts are synthesized becomes too abstract (for example, categorizing “making nouns out of verbs” and “making verbs out of nouns” under the way-too-abstract heading of “ambiguitization”), this heading ceases to refer to definite things like “shoe” or “lizard” and instead becomes a mental chameleon that can be whatever you want it to be.

I am uncomfortable with legal thinking so far as it does not balance analysis and synthesis. That said, I have too little experience to trust my characterization of legal thinking. The analyst in me says legal thinking is not one, but many, processes.

So I will put my discomfort on hold for now. My ongoing project is figuring out how to maintain creativity and spark within legal thinking, within the legal profession, — if that is what I want to do — and within my life.

Yesterdream, I had this conversation:

Me: What should I do with my life? (approximately)

Paul Bloom: Do what you love. What do you love?

Me: Writing and music, of course!

Of course!

Arabella was a tabby cat who lived in the big forest. She was little and she was grey, and she had a big streak of white on her tail. All the other kittens laughed at Arabella and said her white tail made her look silly, but Arabella didn’t let the other kittens get to her. Arabella was proud of her tail and thought she would grow into it — or so her mother told her. Arabella’s mother told her many things. Her mother told her — always clean your fur after sipping milk in the morning. And Arabella did. Her mother told her — purr quietly when other kittens are nearby. And Arabella did. Her mother told – always look both ways before crossing the street, and never cross the street when you hear a loud GROOM!!!. And that is where Arabella got into a spot of trouble almost as big as the spot on her tail.

You see, Arabella wasn’t the only kitten in the forest…

Explanation for craziness is, friend Josh-the-weird-one came to Moscow for LA for tourist week. With parents, on mission find Jews and interrogate them. So went to Hillel, talk to teenagers who rule world. Er, international Hillel organization. Talked smilingly in Englishy and I translate for them, get invited to next Sunday make-costume-creative-holiday. Learn new English word: flashMob. I did not think, would learn new English word in Moscow. Many interesting things happen in Moscow, like when I nearly fall in hole with barking dog. But nearly, say I. Ha ha! You laugh at my joke.

Think I, this Josh-the-weird-one now off to Turkmeniwhoknowswhereistan, return triumvirately Sat/Sun for more get-to-getherers. Nice to be Moscow go-to guy! Maybe see Romeo/Juliet, or narrate milleniums of russian history as stroll through krelilin. Evertheless, be it good, perkiness infects me.

Freedom of action.
Width of gesture, length of stride.
How strong is your step and the pump in your arms
You breeze through the world’s at your side.

Russian sign language
10 perky Russian Hillellies, a contradiction in terms
No less that I, vegan aesthete, should fly to Motherus’s uranium arms!
The confidence concoction, it’s no secret, it’s on auction,
Just think the cup’s half full runneth over
Walk unstopped, cork unpopped, your pizzazz is the raspberry fiz on top.
Whirl out and whirl back in, metro doors swing on invisible hinges
Levers and fulcrums and invisible gears,
People change days, illuminate weeks, and haunt the years
Of my life. Yes that’s right. This is life. And I’m here.

I got my LSAT score today, and it was not what I had hoped. Thankfully I was skyping my mom at the time, and we had a good laugh about our nerves, and some healthy perspective-taking afterwards.

Then Natasha came home, carrying a the cutest pair of 3-week-old furballs you’ve ever seen. They are two cats, a boy and a girl, uniformly grey and with pleading eyes. One is named “America,” the other – anonymous, for now. (I suggested “Russia,” but I don’t think that will fly.)

Given the choice, I’m gonna focus on the cats. My first act of kindness – I sang for them.

And your cell phone knows. It automatically switches to vibrate, based on google maps information for your cell phone’s gps coordinates. Or you’re at work – you initially tell your cell phone where “work” is — and it does the same for a 50m radius. Just imagine what a useful feature this could be for students hurrying to and fro from classes — they wouldn’t need to keep changing the phone’s volume. Of course, cell phones that broadcast their gps coordinates may put their users’ privacy at risk.

I thought I was being crafty by simmering my oatmeal long enough for the flavors of pears, bananas, raisons, dates, and cardamon to really soak in. Actually this led to a 30-minute job of scraping the pot, in the process of which a chunk of oatmeal slid under my fingernail and refused to wash out. The chunk has now turned blackish; I hope the nail won’t fall off.

All things considered, a nearly ruined pot and a painful nail are worth the knowledge not to overcook oatmeal. And maybe to add the fruit after it’s done? (I think it’s the sugary things like pear pieces that stuck).

Better to learn these things now, when it doesn’t really matter. After all, it’s only a pot.

You’re no longer a child when you start wondering if you are.

At first, I thought that the secret of adulthood was knowing how much violence, especially sexual violence, exists in the world. I thought that this truth was known to all adults but scrupulously hidden from children. I’ve changed my mind not only because children learn about violence early on — from fairy tales, from history, and sometimes from their own experience — but also because I think there is more to being an adult than knowing the world is a violent place. Because they have greater self-awareness, adults inherit a duty to pursue their better self. It’s probably silly to suppose there is some essence of adulthood, but I think that having a clear picture of the world and pursuing one’s self-development are part of being mature.

While I was in my last relationship, I thought that you could accurately think of peoples’ lives as a series of relationships. I thought that knowing if someone was in a relationship, and knowing how it’s going, could tell you a lot about that person. I still think this is true, and I still think that healthy relationships are important for everyone. However, I foresee a day – say, several years into a continuously happy marriage – when what matters is not so much one’s relationship
(that is a bedrock, a foundation, by that time), but helping others: helping family, caring for parents, and standing by one’s friends.

I’m sure these thoughts will evolve in the future.

1. Moscow Metro Racing

In the metro stations here, the escalators down to the platforms are notoriously long. Most Muscovites stand on the right side while descending, chatting or staring deeply into their beloveds’ eye, but some frenzied folk take to the left and gallop. I am one of those. Feet flying, wind whishing, standees overtaken in a blur–there is no more invigorating way to start one’s day. Let the games begin!

2. Blood Test or LSAT?

Sometimes when I am down, I consider if I would rather endure a blood test or the LSAT. Invariably the answer is “No.” This cheers me up.