I just don't learn, do I

'Hope springs eternal from the human breast' that something might change and I might find enjoyment or entertainment at one of the dances held her at GCC. Being slow to comprehend that I do not enjoy myself at any of these 'extremely interesting' events, I went tonight with the rest of my hall to the Homecoming Dance. The funniest part was getting ready, actually. All the guys on the hall spruced themselves up real nice, myself included, for this event. Ties, Jackets, Shirts...we all looked pretty spiffy. Of course, we were practically the only people who had bothered to do so, but it was still interesting. The dance itself was like all of the other dances to date - except that it was a bit colder. I was glad that I had on my long-sleeved shirt rather than a short-sleeved. They did bring in a large supply of pizza, however, so at least there was food to keep me there for a time. This time, I wandered aimlessly about the outskirts of the crowd for over an hour before deciding that the time wasted there could be used more profitably elsewhere. This dance was marginally better then the others - the noise was not quite so overpoweringly loud (or I am getting used to the noise), and there weren't quite so many people. Of course, while wandering, I found many things to ponder, one of which was, "why do I keep coming to these events when I know that I will not enjoy myself or bring enjoyment to others?" Probably because my sociology class has a test coming on monday, I began thinking in terms of the 'social construction and actions of individuals.' According to George Homans and his idea of humans as Rational Actors, I was attending the event BECAUSE I disliked it. Rational choice theory assumes that all human actions are motivated rationally for achieving a reward. This reward is different for various people - for most of the people at the dance, their reward could have been fun, friends, relaxation, food, etc. His 5th principle, the Aggression/Approval Proposition, states that at times, when the desired reward cannot be received, the anger and frustration itself can serve as the reward for human actions. Therefore, According to this theory, because I do not have fun, I am attending the event. This may or may not be true: Homan's theory is excellent at predicting what people will do, but makes no attempt to examine the reasons behind the movement, or what exactly the reward for a particular person may be. It is useful, but not full truth. I am not very sure that that is the reason that I attend, but it does provide one possible answer to the reason for my behavior.

Its 11:30 - I'm tired - Saturday's a rugby day! - I need a shower - I'm going to stop typing now and let you people out there read this magnificent, elegant, wonderful, and grammatically perfect (these adjectives all subject to liberal interpretation) post. Signing off,

Jeremy Turpin