Appollonian vs. Dionysian

I’m a pretty balanced person; therefore, there are both Apollo and Dionysus traits to my personality. Being Apollo, my life is pretty structured during the week: I wake up, go to school, go to work, complete school work, and go to sleep. My room is very simple and usually organized and everything I have has a designated spot so I do not lose it (because nothing annoys me more than when I lose something, even if it’s nothing significant). I don’t go a day without text messaging, and I try to attend all my classes. Being Dionysius, my life can vary during the weekend: I usually sleep all day and stay up all night (and do activities that are planned last minute). I also love the outdoors, especially taking midnight walks on the beach, and I always have my ipod in hand. Though I have both Apollonian and Dionysian traits, I believe that I, and everyone else, are not simultaneously these two traits in a given day. There are times when someone is completely Apollonian, such as a Monday evening after classes when someone is eating dinner and finishing their paper due the following day. However, there are times when someone is completely Dionysian, such as one in the morning on a Sunday when someone is completely wasted and dancing foolishly and without a care with their friends. To be both these traits simultaneously would be impossible, and to only exhibit one trait and never the other would lead someone to be unsuccessful and labeled an outsider by society.

Apollonian vs Dionysian

I find this prompt very ironic, seeing as how I was just contemplating whether to stay in tonight and finish my homework or go to LA and finish it tomorrow. I guess you could say that my Apollonian side won this time, which is why I am doing the prompt right now. If this question was asked to one of my friends about me, I am certain they would without hesitation say that I am completely Dionysian. However, If you asked one of my closest friends, they would say a little of both.
People who know me on the surface always refer to me as extremely spontaneous and outgoing, mostly because I am very chatty and loud. In fact, one of my favorite things to say in any situation is “I’m down,” which always leads people to think of me as a crazy party girl who loves to have fun. I’m not saying this isn’t true; I absolutely love having a good time whenever/ wherever, but those who know me on a deeper level definitely know I have an extreme Apollonian side as well.
When I was younger, I was convinced that I absolutely hated nature and the outdoors in general. The thought of camping and sleeping in tents was too much for me to handle. However, now that I am older, I see nature in a different way. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not crazy about the thought of sleeping among bugs and animals, but throw in my friends and a good time, I would do just about anything. I love nature’s beauty and the calming feeling one gets from it… the feeling that nothing else in the world matters at that moment. One of my favorite things to do anytime of the year is to lie on the beach and watch the sunset. When it comes to the beauty of nature, friends, music, and fun, my Dionysian half completely takes over.
However, despite what most people think, I have a very strong Apollonian side as well. I have always found it odd that even though I enjoy social life and spontaneity so much, I am still extremely organized as well. I can’t stand clutter or mess and I actually love to clean because I find it therapeutic and relaxing. I also tend to drive myself crazy thinking about things I need to do, until they are finished, for example this assignment right now. I can’t work in unorganized situations and because of this I usually tend to take charge by nature. Let me also just throw in the fact that I would die if I didn’t have my cell phone/ texting. ☺
Overall, I don’t think I am an extreme of one or the other, but my Dionysian side tends to show more. Life would be extremely difficult through a one sided view because I believe you need to have both in order to really live life to its fullest.

Apollonian vs Dionysian

Overall, I would have to say that I am more Apollonian than Dionysian. I tend to be an organized person. Even when my room is at its worst, it is nowhere near as bad as my roommate’s room. I try to get assignments done in a timely manner, and hate myself for falling behind. I avoid alcohol, not only because I don’t like the taste of it, but also because I don’t like the idea of getting drunk or the side effects of having gotten drunk. I also have the tendency to err on the side of caution, and to be a creature of habit. When I was a kid I used to be crazy and dangerous when it came to playing, until I fell out of a tree and had to get 57 stitches in my arm…I pretty much calmed down after that.
On the other hand, I do have a Dionysian side to me. I’m all for wasting a day watching television and having an impromptu get-together with my friends. Since my old friends and I all go to different schools and don’t get to see each other often, we usually do silly, random things when we get together, and I’m usually the first to get out there and make a fool of myself. My sister is probably one of the only people in the world that is almost entirely Dionysian, and when I’m with her, she rubs off on me. When we’re together we’re silly, stupid, care-free, and we have tons of fun. It’s after all of my Dionysian-like fun that my Apollonian side gets the best of me, telling me I should have probably been reading some boring book for school instead of wasting five hours watching television. So overall, I’d say I’m more Apollonian than Dionysian.

Apollonian vs. Dionysian

I believe that everyone, whether they know it or not, has two sides, two different ways of looking at and dealing with situations in life.  As stated in the prompt, this idea is personified through the Greek gods, Apollo and Dionysus.  I enjoyed working with this idea because it gave me the chance to closely examine myself and see which side I sway to more, the personality of an Apollonian or a Dionysian.  Although I try to maintain some sense of order in my life so I may attain a sense of control over my actions, I am not the type to obsess over this order.  The disorganized state of my room, my notebooks, and most of my personal belongings is evidence to this fact.  So, with respect to Apollonian order and organization, my lifestyle does not parallel this aspect.  Yet, in regards to studying and finishing work, I place myself under the category of Apollonian.  I study excessively and always make sure that I get the work that I need to get done, done.  Finishing my papers or any other task required of me is something I take great pride in.  Other than this, most of the other characteristics mentioned in the prompt lead me to lean toward categorizing myself as leading a Dionysian way of life.  I do not fear nature at all, almost the opposite.  I thrive on the beauty of nature and the enjoyment I obtain from it, as I seem to spend the majority of my time in the outdoors.  Additionally, I define myself as a free spirit and I tend to appreciate the enthusiastic atmosphere of parties and social interactions.  I love meeting new people and I truly enjoy the accompaniment of different individuals, listening to where they came from and what they desire to do in their future.  These relations are defined for me as the main source of my strongest emotions and positive feelings.  Ultimately, my different character traits and values illustrate the fact that my personality is more closely paralleled to the Dionysian description.  I don't put too much emphasis on order but more on enjoying the company of others and the positive aspects that life, especially nature, has to offer.  Although I, like everyone else, have a combination of an Apollonian personality with a Dionysian one, the close examination of how I conduct my life illustrates to me that I tend to the ways and values of the latter. 

Apollo and Dionysus

I think, like the prompt said, most people are probably a mix of Apollo and Dionysus. I'm no different, I have a little of both, although I think I'm probably more Apollo than Dionysus.
I never used to be very organized, and as a kid my room was always a mess. I still don't have a natural sense of cleanliness or organization when it comes to my apartment, but I work pretty hard to make myself keep things clean these days. For me having a clean place to live always had a direct correlation with other things, for example I do better in my classes and do my homework more consistently when my place is clean. I think seeing order and cleanliness around me makes me want to keep other aspects of my life in order. Sometimes I'll have a random need to organize my closet by color or organize all my books( not often enough, though). So when it comes to neatness I'm a pretty equal mix. When it comes to schoolwork, I've always been very disorganized. I was always the kid in high school who had to search around in my backpack for 15 minutes to find my homework, and I was always losing papers. I guess I'm the same way now, a little more organized though and generally less forgetful.
A part of me that has always been very Appollonian is my sense of time. I hate being late and I hate when other people are late. I usually get to wherever I'm going 5 or 10 minutes early, because I'm really paranoid about being late. I've always had a really organized sleep pattern, too, and I don't usually stay up very late and I'm always up early. My roommate last year drove me crazy with her sleeping patterns, which were exactly the opposite. She was literally nocturnal, and went to sleep when I woke up.
As far as parties go I really am not a fan. I don't drink, pretty much because I've never seen someone's life get better from getting in the habit of drinking, but I've seen a lot of people's lived get worse. And since that's the main thing that you do at parties, I think I would be pretty out of place. I also don't like the disorganized and aimless nature of parties, which is pretty Apollonian.
I'm not a huge fan of nature. I've got nothing against it, except that I think of it as dangerous and sometimes scary ( which might be because of the vast amount of scary movies I watch). Or it could be because I almost drowned at Venice beach when I was younger. I like to see nature from afar. I love music, as I think most people do. So overall I'm pretty Apollonian.

LIFE

Like all beings, I definitely possess both Apollonian and Dionysian characteristics. The Apollonian part of me is the trait that motivates me to study, complete my homework, and do well in school. I also often feel the need to keep order and stay organized. Neglecting homework and studying makes me feel guilty. Not only does the Apollonian aspect relate to work and studies, but also my social life outside of school. It is also the Apollonian characteristic that causes pet peeves to bother me to a certain extent and it is also that little voice in my head that urges me to consistently work out at the gym a couple days out of the week. I cannot stand sleeping in my bed with the sheets in disarray nor can I stand a few days with the same dirty dishes in the sink. Although the Apollonian may sound like a negative trait, it allows me to live my life in routine and will help me have a better future.

Unlike my Apollonian characteristics, I fall very much into Dionysian characteristics. I love nature, music, and people. I have always lived next to the beach and I always appreciate the warm sun, the sand, and the salty water. Music definitely moves me, especially since I used to be a dancer where I learned to be one with the music notes. I would be a lonely and sad person if it were not for my friends and family as well as complete strangers that fill in the blanks in my life. I enjoy going to parties and meeting new people. I sometimes need the disarray of things in my life that Dionysian qualities give me. Dionysian traits are not necessarily guilty pleasures but necessities one needs to function and get away from total organization.

It is the combination of both Apollonian and Dionysian qualities that make up our complex selves and allow us to live our life with spontaneity, love, and appreciation. Without both, we could have personalities on opposite sides of the scale. With both, we are able to make educated decisions as well as enjoy the pleasures of life simultaneously.

About Me!

Hello! I’m Michelle, a third-year, Public Health major and Environmental Analysis and Design minor. I was originally an EAD major, but then realized it would be a good idea to a stronger foundation for jobs later on, so changed to Public Health. I’m from Belmont, California, a suburb of the San Francisco bay area. I grew up in the same house my whole life with both parents and my younger sister, who’s a first year at UCLA now. I grew up without watching much television and therefore know very little about 80’s and 90’s culture, unlike many of my friends. I’ve always liked art, but never dabbled too much in it, but watch a lot of movies, I am a big fan of Wes Anderson and Michele Gondry films. Amy Sedaris is my role model.

I had a period of time in high school where I read a lot of books, and then I kind of stopped. I have been trying to get back into reading, and I am really enjoying The Botany of Desire, so that is exciting. It’s just up my alley actually, and I can relate to the writing, or thinking, style of Michael Pollan. I listened to a lot of hardcore in high school, but gravitated towards more folk and hip hop as of late. I’m listening to a lot of Comeback Kid, Blacklisted, MF Doom, Jurassic 5, Maria Taylor. A huge part of my UCI experience was being a SPOP (Student Parent Orientation Program) staffer this past summer. It really changed my life and opened my eyes in many ways, so this is a shameless plug, because applications are out for the staff for Summer 2008. J

I have never really been directly exposed to organized religion, so never really understood what it was all about. So in that respects I don’t like to see religion playing a part of politics. I am more liberal about most political topics, and for forward movement.

About me

Hi guys, first off my names Jeff(rey) Cha, second year psychology major. I went to South Torrance High School for a year and then graduated from Irvine High, making it a pretty smooth transition for me from high school to college. Im the middle of three children, and i've been living with my older brother since high school. My parents live in Korea, where my dad is a professor at. This helped me be independent/reckless since i was in high school, since there was almost no restrictions on what i did. I enjoy diverse music, from some rock to rap, pretty much anything other than country songs (i tried to like it, but just can't!). I enjoy listening to what others may call mainstream hip hop/ club bangers, but my favorite artists are Dr.Dre and Eminem, so im not all about club music..I dont read...much...or at all. The last book i read because i wanted to was Harry Potter, when i was...in high school? Ever since then i've fallen away from reading a bit. I only have couple close friends that i see almost everyday, and not many acquaintainces. If i could have a super power, i'd go with teleportation in a heartbeat. Thats why im excited for the movie "Jumper" to come out!
Politically, im not involved at all. Although i believe in the power of votes, etc., i just grew up not paying much attention and not involved in politics. Now i try to pay more attention to politics, since it has, and will continue to increasingly impact me. However, for the moment, i am not politically active.

The Auto Biography of Eun Bin Park up 2007

My name is Eun Bin Park and I am a second year art history major. I just changed my major from Biology because more I think about why I was put on this world; I realize that my purpose is to play music. I loved biology in high school and my father being a third generation medical doctor, biology came natural to me. When I came to college and started to take Biology courses I felt like I wasn’t learning anything and college seemed like a complete waste of time. I only learned new material from my art history classes because I never knew what art history was. It was so refreshing to learn new things that I ended up taking all the lower division art history classes my freshmen year and I lost all my interest in biology. I love art history because it helped me to see the world with open mind and it allowed me to involve critical thinking more.

I was always associated with music ever since I was little. I started to play the Piano when I was four years old. I was born and raised in Korea and it was very common for Koreans to take up musical instruments at a young age because it was the trend back then (Koreans believe that all their children are prodigies and picking up musical instruments will help them to achieve their full potential). Many Koreans learn how to play musical instruments until they reach high school and they just quit afterwards because they need to focus on school. When I first played the piano I remembered my friends in the kindergarten telling me piano isn’t cool and I would definitely hate it. At first I didn’t mind playing the piano but they were right. I didn’t enjoy playing the Piano very much. There were too many rules in the classical music and they require players to articulate within a boundary. I didn’t like my piano teachers telling me that I can’t play music pieces the way I wanted.

In 1998 my family moved to the United States because my father’s work wasn’t possible to be successful in Korea back then. My father’s PhD thesis was on slice tissue culture system and he derived his patented knowledge to invent a bio Artificial Liver System. His work required massive amount of money to develop and Koreans back in 1998 thought my father was crazy or he was a scam artist and nobody supported him. Even though this seemed like a major set back at the time, my father took a risk and moved to America and set up a company. To make long story short, my father went through many hardships and relied on faith (yeah we’re Christians) and his company is the only functioning artificial liver company in the world today. It took my father 20 years to develop and he is close to be in production.

I don’t come from an ordinary background not because our family is so awesome. Some may call it coincidence or lucky but as a person who witnessed my parent’s unusualness for their whole life; I can’t call it anything but God’s plan. I am very fortunate to grow up in this environment and I don’t think it is an accident that I was put there. I didn’t grow up rich but I am put in a situation today that I don’t have to worry about financial hardships ever again. The American dreams as people call it, my family is the golden example of that. We came here with nothing, and now we live in an affluent neighborhood driving our fancy cars. My father left Korea called con artist by his colleagues and now he is one of the most respected scientists amongst his colleagues. As much as I would like to glorify my parents for their achievements, I can’t do that because they really didn’t do all that. Only thing they did was to be obedient to God’s calling and things worked themselves out. My friends and people around me call me crazy, for coming into a conclusion like that but if they were put in my shoes they couldn’t agree more.

Going back to music, coming to America was a life changing experience for me. I continued to play the piano until I was 12 years old until I decided I had enough. American piano lessons were a little better than the Korean lessons because I was introduced to more contemporary music like Jazz and Blues but it wasn’t that much better. Playing Jazz and Blues in a classical music environment just plainly sucked. I thought I was done with music but I realized eight years of learning music is a waste and I gave guitar a try. I didn’t take classical guitar lessons. I picked up electrical guitar and learned contemporary music. Thanks to my classical piano background, transition was very smooth. I learned how to improvise and I loved the freedom I had. Playing my guitar was my favorite thing to do but I didn’t really look at it as my future.

When I entered college I naturally chose biology as my major because that was what I liked in school and I was very good at it. But as I mentioned before, I didn’t learn anything new and it got me to seriously consider not coming back to college. I made a lot of friends and got to see little beyond my comfortable life in college, but it just seemed like it was waste of time to be going to school for three more years doing the same thing. When I took art history and the role of art and artists in society, I began to see life with more open mind. I believe that is what you take from college education and I am once again motivated to attend school again.

With much more open mind I took from my art history class, I realized I don’t belong in a lab or anything that my father’s been doing. I finally realized that my purpose in this world is to play music and take up responsibility as an artist with talent given to me. I was always afraid to even think about being a musician because it’s a hard life to be a musician, but when I look at my parents, their walk in life is even rougher and unusual compared to musicians. With my faith in God, I can comfortably say that as long as I remain faithful to God’s calling, things will work themselves out just as my parents did. It seems reckless to many but to me, that is the only way I know how to go.

Rest to be continued.

About Myself

My name is Kevin Ruzics, and I am a second year transfer student. I transferred from Cal Poly Pomona because I am a biology major, and I wanted to go to a school that has better classes and research opportunities. I started college as a music major, but I wasn't sure if I really wanted to pursue a career in music. It seemed like being forced to take too many music classes would make me lose interest in it completely, and the career choices seemed limited. Science classes were more straight forward for me, and I always did better in them. After the first quarter of taking music and science classes, I changed my major to biology.
I try to get outdoors as much as possible, mostly to go rock climbing. I don't watch tv too much, but when I do I'll usually watch a movie on dvd because the tv commercials are too obnoxious for my liking. Some movies I like are Ed Wood, Rumble Fish, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Science of Sleep. I listen to a variety of music, but find myself mostly listening to folk music. I also like to read books by authors from the beat generation, such as William Burroughs or Jack Kerouac. I once tried to read James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, but didn't get to far into it or enjoy or understand very much of it.
As far as politics go, I do not have any strong beliefs about specific issues. Although I am aware of world events and political issues, I do not have any particular position on very many things. I am interested in observing the political process, and I always listen carefully to the arguments from both sides of an issue. I am also not easily offended, so there's not much that can be said to bother me.