This is a list of things that are currently taking up space in my brain. Most of them should NOT be there at this moment in time, so I am trying to empty my mind and regain some focus.

• 17th century Venetian opera.
• Let Me Down Easy and how it might compare to a historical theatre that existed pre-1850.
• Edward Albee.
• The degree to which my poetry sucks.
• How the way words sound affects the way we react to them.
• Why music is the one of the most universal art forms.
• The effects of blogging on the publishing industry, and in turn on the flow of [good] art into the public sphere.
• To what extent my GPA this semester will affect my cumulative GPA.
• What makes a given style of anything popular at a given time?
• "Appearance vs. reality," and not as a theme in Shakespeare - to what extent is everything appearance? If everything is relative, based on our perspective, is there a base reality to everything, a sole and inherent truth that is above all else?
• Existentially speaking, does one make a conscious decision in assigning meaning? Or is it something instinctively felt, not something given thought to? If the the latter is true, then is the meaning compromised the moment thought is given to it?
• How there is a distinct possibility that all the chemicals in diet soda will one day give me cancer.
• How bad of an idea it is for me to consider making macaroni & cheese right now when I ate gross amounts of Chinese food today.
• How things are named. I.e. bands, song names, books, eras of history, ice cream flavors, cars.
• How everything, including images, can be boiled down to a chemical reaction.
• How advertising often does not sell a product - it sells an image.
• My obsession with images, their creation, their meanings, and the ways they affect people.
• Art as a way of using imagery to convey a truth.
• The various ways people try to stop feeling empty, including but not limited to drugs, alcohol, food, meaningless sex, material objects, personal appearance.
• The implications of recreational drug use vs. the use of recreational drugs for the purpose of productivity.
• Hedonism.
• The process of discovery.
• The way we ascribe value to physical objects based on the feelings of nostalgia they evoke.
• The way geographic regions and cities become personalities with their own characteristics.
• The power of black and white vs. the power of color, and the contrasting values of both.
• Narcissism and obsession with one's own image, the ways in which interest in self image contradicts the hippie ideology, and the difficulty in navigating this in an age of digital social networking. The degree to which people now form connections through social networking.
• What it means not to care.
• Typography, and the use of different fonts and typefaces to manipulate an audience's perspective.
• The negative connotation of the word "manipulate," the magnitude of the power one has when they can manipulate something successfully.
• An artist's intention when creating, and to what extent his goal affects the overall impact and quality of his work.
• The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility. Photography as a reproducible art with no inherent authenticity.
• Authenticity vs. originality in the creation of art.
• The differences between dignity and self-respect, and between them and pride, and pride and independence.
• Academic integrity.
• Christmas.
• Grad school. Gag.
• Personal style.
• How pissed I am that I missed the Vermeer exhibit at the Met this fall.
• Money. I'm broke.
• Self-destructive habits.
• How to stop thinking.
• Reality television and how it is demeaning to the whole art of television programming.
• What "home" is and how it changes.
• Giving, what it means to give, what it means to receive, ways of giving.
• Other people.
• Death.

Aside from those first 3 items, none of that has any business being on my mind right now.

Oh, and as is typical for lately:

• What am I doing. What the hell am I doing.