The present is a strange collision between a past filled with certainty and a future with uncertainty. For as temporal perspective changes, so does everything else, except certainty. There’s nothing left to debate, so everything becomes debatable. The past has ended. The future will arrive. There is nothing that can be said that changes either.

Listen and learn.

Irresistable.
(put it in my mouth again)

I follow not eating for 24 hours with eating twice at Steak & Shake twice in the same evening.

Part cocktail party, part reunion.

Fast approaching.

It’s obviously Bigfoot.
“What? How is that casual?”
Have you ever seen Bigfoot… in a tuxedo?

Loser : 2003 :: Reality Bites : 2007

The meaning of Christmas is sharing leftover Chinese food.

Finding a counterexample for “knowing where something is implies knowing how to find it”.

“It’s like Jenga, only on a donkey.”

Restacking.

“Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow…”

Fedorable.

It comes with the territorial, and batteries.

Stress what to avoid; what to avoid: stress.

i can has cat
sh

Dessert is hard. Lunch is easy. Pie is good.

It’s all downhill from here.

(Art Hill, enjoying the pleasantly wintry Forest Park by the kindness of others.)

“These boots were made for walking…”

Gratuitously working my feet off, for:
80% guilt
15% shameless pride
5% jealousy

Worth it and $5, provided I’m still standing.

I might need a doormat for Christmas. Because I apparently needed one for Chanukkah.

Not going to talk about this past week. Ever.

All-nighters cause lower GPAs, usually through a lack of understanding of logic.

Merely existing.

Secret Santa FAQ
Q1: I haven't received a name yet!
A1: Check your facebook message Inbox. If it's not there, let me know, and I'll have the name sent to you again.

Q2: I received myself!
A2: You're a sick freak.

Q4: Can I make my own gift?
A4: Sure! The idea is to have fun and not get arrested.

Q5: Can I shoplift my gift from the campus bookstore?
A5: No. I'm not bailing you out this time, L[].

Q8: How can you have a cognitional and personal synthesis in the articulated unity of a field conception of time in which the future has primacy?
A8: oh look at the time gotta go

Lox : salmon :: prosciutto : pepperoni

Deny everything, without shame.

“Tell me again, you moaning myrtles of midnight, you mothers and fathers of aborted bananas and wombat whittling! Tell me truthfully.”

The Gaze: free improv tonight at 8pm in the Gargoyle.
See it.

Fatuous.

There is a 41% chance that drinking diet soda causes being overweight rather than being overweight causes drinking diet soda.

“What kind of music do you like?”
Not country.
“I said music.”
That's the best retort I've ever heard to my standard answer.

Apparently I’m an adult. Be all mature and straightforward. Ew. How did that happen? Nevermind, I know the answer: 5 months ago.

Intention: May.

It’s stuff like this that makes me sad the Daily Show is on strike.

Whatever I Can Get -> Networking captures perfectly the way in which facebook has sold out.

With Whatever I Can Get no longer being an option, there is a lack of the implicit inverse. Thus it is no longer shown that I’m not looking for what I can't get.

“P[] left his facebook logged on.”
“Leave it. <pause> Open, not alone.”

“And I guess that's why they call it the blues…”

Got talked into seeing a hockey game, completing a mild desire intended since the 2002 Olympics instead of doing work. While compared to other sports, the relative increase in entertainment value between watching live and watching on TV seemed low, it was definitely correct to not reject a seat at a game. Winning against Chicago, it was a good night: 3-1 victory.

Thanks, but as a male I cannot in good conscience turn down a hockey game for a sorority pre-rush banquet.

Poetry in motion.

“Oh, this night is too long…”

Figure out the logistics.
Bet $10 on it.
Follow the bouncing ball.
Hear the music.
Swing and pull and spin around.
Treasure the past.
Get your picture taken for the first time.
And again.
And again.
Take out your phone and make the call.
Wire money to Mexico.
Sneak in.
Get spotted.
Run for your life.
Don’t look down.
Don’t ask questions.
Ignore what they’re doing.
Wear someone else’s hat and coat.
Eat pie.
Miss you most of all.
Scarecrow.

“…In the end it's worthwhile…”

You’ll feel better in the morning.

"I ran away from X because I need to be Y and X wasn't very Y and now I'm kicking myself in the Z."

If I weren't going to not start something, I wouldn't have not done it by now.

“You guys talked about sex without me?”
Yes. We also talked, without you, about sex.

Why do you *tell* me,
Godzilla stomping Bambi?
Because I'm not cruel.

“Touched” is the right word.

Worshipped by pagan rites, to Great Lunar Diana of Nemi
Lollygaggers come! Druids, invoke Forasté!

“There once were some peeps in a traveling cult.
Not getting why their signs always caused a tumult.
They entreated Diana of moon-ruling powers
With Nazi swastikas and wee pot o’ flowers.
Since Nemi, however, after finding no peace,
They settled in Elea with real shrines like Greece!
Love, The Druids <3”

Tape Side Tape Side Tape
Side Tape Side Tape Side Tape Side
Tape Side Tape Side Tape

As pain remains, to see
Identity
Escape the fate of being free
From passion, so will we.

“That reminds me of a Thanksgiving tradition…”
<sigh> Going around the table and saying what we're thankful for.
“No…”“But that is a good idea! I had completely forgotten. Why don't you start?”
Sorry, everyone.
Thanks.

Gobble gobble gobble squawk splat

“…and finally I'm thankful for rediscovering my best friend.”
“Oh? Online?”
“No. <points to husband> Him.”

Hitman is gratuitous, but in neither an artistic nor a crude manner. It is almost bland, offering what it does with merely mediocre cursory attention to the rest. In some ways this simple world of the stoic savior is alluring. So many questions aren’t answered, but, not having an answer, they aren’t even asked.

I’d forgotten how much I miss MD autumns.

The Deception of Easiness
For easiness is desired. Education is pursued for it, balancing present rigor against future leisure. Yet puzzles get solved, boredom gets resisted, challenges get sought. One strives. One loves the one who one’s not with, even with a choice and a sigh. Elections get determined by front-runners, with problems and questions ignored for issues and stances. Those with the ability to lead are chosen over those who do lead. Hillary climbed because it was there; but so too is the anonymous molehill, which becomes mounted without acclaim.

In every potential there is an Erin and there is a Monica. One is easier than the other; the tricky part is that the other is also easier than the one.

I cannot start this.

“Do you want to take this back with you?”
Well, it seems a little too bulky; how often am I going to use it?
“The portable airplane power supply, not the car battery.”

Having a father who went to MIT is sometimes a very good thing.

“She has very red hair.”
“<scoffs>”

Allow me to be a Classics dork for a second, but omg they found the Lupercale.
“Allow me to be the pinnacle of a HP dork and just go squee at the name Remus.”

Registering what I already should have been finished with.

I know who I am.
I need to stop forgetting that.

Either with the competition or the hangover, good luck tomorrow.
“Perhaps both.”

The hardest part of figuring out the future is figuring out the present.

“Don’t think of it as 5am Saturday morning. Think of it as 5am Friday night.”

I actually didn’t hate the cluster system until 1pm yesterday.

Double, check.
Withdraw, the question.
Cluster,

“Social science is a vacuum.”

If anyone has any advice on particularly easy or painless SS courses/clusters among those being offered next semester, let me know.

[This would have been a funnier Away Message if my memory were better.]

“I have completed the first step towards my lifelong goal of becoming a robot.”
Robot teeth are the first step? What’s second?
“A robot circulatory system?”
Why can’t robots just use blood? I mean, the iron thing makes sense.
“Actually, it does make sense. <swears> Now you’ve got me thinking about blood-robots.”

I'm not going to be that kid.
"I'll be that kid."
Don't be that kid.

Porphyry was that kid.

Argh, I should have brought a water bottle. <checks> Argh. Okay, I'm going to run and buy one. Anyone else want anything?
"Can you fill up my water bottle?"
Wow. You so do go camping.

I dreamt. I was surrounded by books.

"Hey, can you bring me back a latte or a cappuccino?"
Wow. You so don't go camping.

Team Arrested Development Season 4 was unfortunately prematurely canceled. Given a series of upsets towards the end, how much the disastrously random seeding effects the results could not be extrapolated. But despite certain irregularities in the tournament structure, some very close games were played.

Let the veterans grumble: it’s not as good as it used to be.

Self-destruct.

This is one of those days when a hand that otherwise should win is going to lose in such a way that nothing can be done about it.

The saddest words in the English language are I can’t do this.

When in doubt, be Machiavellian.

Dear St. Louis Weather,
Be less bipolar.
Yours truly,

Operation Apparation.

Is is = = 1?

(What is, the meaning of this.)

The Illusionist unfortunately forces comparison to “The Prestige”; for the latter is better. While the former tells a story, with plot and characters and setting, the latter transcends to be a spectacle, a thing to be seen. And yet this probably depends on perspective. Seen as an in-flight film while leaving the country hours after reconcluding a relationship begun with lies and deceit, I liked it.

Half of the fun of seeing The Prestige is being amazed. The other half is turning to the other stunned audience members afterwards to discuss awedly how it was done.

Make stuff up

(Suspicious of Whistlers, Gargoyle, tonight, 8pm, free, improv comedy)

“I've been toying with the idea of getting a moped and using it to get around longer suburban distances, and even more serious interstate travel. I think I probably won't do it because of the getting killed part, and also how easy they are to steal. But I've been having fun poking things into google and checking the 'avoid highways' box to see how it would go.”

Dreams and European buses are the best ways to travel.

“It would be easier if google maps had an 'avoid the ghetto' box.”

Not enough time to see myself.
Not enough time to be seen as myself.

(Half half-finished.)

Does anyone have a pair of black gloves I could borrow? (Or alternatively, some time and ambition?)

It seems that everytime I buy a loaf of bread this year, the back half disintegrates into mold.

Scripted.

“Stop this nonsense! Look at you two gentlemen! Acting like children! Shame on you. Both. Both crybabies. Stop this nonsense. Immediately.”

Enter Enter/Exeunt

Quite the spectacle, to be sure, yet disappointly reduced. Certainly humorous, but surprisingly the writing too obviously dated. The original was better.

Author is inspired to novels which become fanfic which become slashfic which become confirmed by the author.

"Someone came into the store today and bought a wizard cape, a wizard hat, and a giant plastic pink wand that was obviously for little girls. I asked him if it was all for one costume. He replied, ‘Dumbledore.’."

Damn it. Put on real pants and go.

“I don’t understand why zombies eat brains.”
It makes perfect sense.
“How?”
For the same reason that humans eat muscles.
“That actually does make a lot of sense.”

It may take 30 minutes, but the common loon is clearly deadly.

“Drove to Chicago…”

Singled with a win after a long SI hiatus, with the following chain. [Ask if any connection needs explaining.]

George W. Bush
Jenna Bush
Jena 6
James VI
Stuart Little
Mr. Big
God
Chuck Norris
Chuck Taylors
Keds
K-Fed
Britney Spears
William the Conqueror
Norman Mailer
Neil Postman
Will Wright
SimCity
Phil Simms
Disney World
Orlando Bloom
Legolas
Jenna Elfman
the Dharma Initiative
"Lost"
George W. Bush

It’s a good time to reassociate.

“…All things go, all things go / To recreate us…”

I could use a few days to breathe and sleep. Actually, I could likewise use a few minutes, hours, weeks, months, or years. But I’ll take what I can get.

Only a matter of time.

I have a silly superstitition whereby I let my graded exams and assignments cool off for a certain number of hours before I look at them. I think it’s because I believe that the result is determined by how well a day I’m having then, not by how well a day I’m having when the test is taken.

Only a matter of time.

This is the part of the midterm where my handwriting gets very bad and my logic loses focus and omg I’m out of time

“We need to travel back in time and make you go to Hopkins so that you help us build me a time machine.”
Except I got into Hopkins because I couldn’t have a time machine.
“There are 2^n parallel universes, in one of which all of us are at Hopkins. It is the responsibility of us in the other universes to bring our parallel selves together. Because I really need a time machine.”
I empathize. Fine, I’m in- but only to morally enforce a no-diverging-timelines policy.

Only a matter of time.

Jewish race : clown :: drunk David Spade : time machine

“You have 3 12-hours clocks. One gains a minute every day, one loses a minute every day, and one doesn’t work. Which is most accurate?”

Only a matter of time.

Can I meta the question?
“Can you meta the question?”
Ooh please ooh please let me.
“<sigh>”
Taking the first derivative of the first 2 clocks’ accuracy with respect to time shows them to be equal. Therefore, since the question implies a single answer, it must be the third clock.

Only a matter of time.

I’m starting a number-of-days-without-walking-into-a-refrigerator count.

“Frankly, I prefer emoticons to the written word, and if you disagree :( “

I’m not sure whose cleverness I more appreciate.

Switch.

“Do not think of bringing your parents to class. I warn you. That would be a mistake.”

I have to keep the lies I’m telling straight and the lies I’m not telling straight. When would I have time to be honest?

Sometimes you’ve just got to call an ex-best friend an egotistic whore.
(Still not about you.)

“You’re so vain…”

Life is full of drama; find the chorus and make it a comedy. Keep on dancing. Keep on laughing.

“Carry on, carry on dancing…”

Long-form : pizza :: short-form : half-eaten pizziola sandwich in a trash can

“That’s racist, and sexist, and 4-bit graphics.”

Wrong on so many levels.

It’s so funny how much none of it matters. It’s just, well, *funny*.

Since when did you become an optimist?
“I’m an optimist? That sucks. <pause> Actually, it’s not so bad.”

Free improv show tonight, 8pm, Brown 100. If you made it through the week, be there.

I've had better days and worse weeks.

Live your life like a bad interview.

“The problem with going to the Career Center for career advice is that you’re getting career advice from people whose career is working in the Career Center.”

Classics.

“PDFs are more secure. With a PDF I can’t just change your answers to lower your grade.”

Ambiguously vague.

“If you need to write more than 250 words, take out the prepositions.”
“Is that syntactically allowed?”
“This isn’t syntax.”

Cameras steal Lupe Fiasco’s soul.

Will wake for food.

If you have an offcampus mealplan, you should not be using points to eat breakfast.

“That’s right, when I put my foot down…”
It takes a while for it to hit the ground.

This is why I’m kept around.

“I’m not sure whether to start right now or to treasure the pristine collection.”
Choose what the 6 most memorable occasions of your life will be, and save them for them.
“The revolution and the first 5 purges.”
But what’s the 6th?
“Good! Although I was thinking along the lines of ‘Shame to use them all within 2 days.’.”

“Bacon is a vegetable.”
“Is that a reference to Francis Bacon?”

“You can’t say there are 4 mutton walking across the lawn. Because they wouldn’t be mutton.”

“Every time I eat salad I feel myself get a little bit stupider.”

Hungry for linguistics.

Any Tuesday with only minor surgery is a good Tuesday.

Every time it gets recorded you’ll hope, and every time it has been recorded you’ll wonder, if just one time a 9 gets recorded as a spare.

Scruffy came back and it’s only September.

Lamb is good.
Kreplah is good.
Good things are good.

“I remember when / I remember…”

Reroute: In the same place someplace else.

“…And I hope that you are having the time of your life / But think twice…”

“This mood of yours is temporary…”

Again I Go / Unnoticed

“…’cause if it's more than that, I fear that I might break…”

Don’t do anything you wouldn’t do.

“You will soon witness a miracle.”

Martyr’s μαρτυρ.

“You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily.”

Heard those words before.

“Chomsky is the Chuck Norris of linguistics.”

You move, remove my hand,
Turn from me, stand,
Replace embrace with distance and
I don’t quite understand.

Exit, pursued by a Wolf.

I got thirsty on my way to class, so I stopped for a glass of water, and then I saw you talking, and I considered dumping it on you. But I wasn’t sure how you’d take it. So, for the future: when should I not?
“If it’s cold. Or windy. Or if I’m wearing something nice, though you probably don’t need to worry about that.”
Okay.
<waits 4 seconds>
<throws water in face>
<runs>

        
           

Replace.

“If I had it all again…”

Nothing left.
Everything inside.
Nothing right.

“…Breathe in / Breathe out / Breathe in / Breathe out…”

Friday Freakout.

Callback to an earlier scene.

A garden tries to take something perfect and show it perfectly; the resulting hyperreality is ruinously imperfect. The untamed chaos of nature is presented as if it were order. Mystery is hidden with species and genus labeled. Beauty is kept in stasis; ugliness is seen. And with order disrupted, there is chaos: planned paths and aesthetic arrangement are misleading and aimless. Eve was right. Lilith was wrong. Life doesn’t begin in a garden; death does.

“I will buy you a garden…”

“Washing machines can be tiresome.”

Semantics and dirty laundry.

“Only 2 things exist, and 1 of them doesn’t.”

It’s not complicated.

a) Dinner on the loop
b) Listening to blues
c) Watching Firefly
d) All of the above

Yogurt + smoked salmon + whipped cream + shredded cheese + chocolate shavings - dill

“<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <customErrors mode="Off"/>
    </system.web>
</configuration>”

I want to go to a place where things are how they were and nothing I do will make them change.

That's about what I'd expect a bear hugging a dog would look like.

“Please try again at a later time or right now.”

I want to go to a place where things are how they were and nothing I do will make them change.

“I want you to lead me…”

I want to go to a place where things are how they were and nothing I do will make them change.

“…Take me somewhere…”

Needing a lot of things. Time is either all of them or none of them.

Somehow, there’s always laundry to be done.

The problem with happiness is that it’s never satisfied: once you have it, you want more of it.

It thinks it’s a comedy. It’s not.

“Let's give them something to talk about…”

read.me

“…A little mystery to figure out…”

Have a seat.

I see the world in orange.

The worst thing about packing is that it leads to unpacking.

In an earlier Away Message I claimed: I am a big believer in Free Stuff.
Yet I hate packing, which is bad because it consists of being Free and having Stuff.
I’m not sure which the problem is: believe, or I am.

It has taken me 3 years for me to realize that this is just like junior year, last year was just like sophomore year, and 2 years ago was just like freshman year.

Indianapolis until Sunday. Free stuff, stuff, free. Then let everything make sense.

“Margin of error is not my fish.”

Please tell everyone your name, where you’re from, your favorite color, and a 7-10 minute summary of your ideal dissertation topic.

(And which stairwell of the Chase Park Plaza.)

A Game of 20 Rhetorical Questions
“1) What has the world come to?
2) How could you?
3) Are you crazy?
4) Why, Frank, why?
5) Can you blame him?
6) Why not?
7) Is that what you want?
8) Can’t you read?
9) That’s it?
10) What do you care?
11) Are you kidding?
12) Isn’t that nice?
13) Aren’t you the clever one?
14) Is that so?
15) You?
16) Me?
17) Her?
18) Wendy?
19) Her?
20) You call that a horse?

(Answer: a pony)”

“A[], where y’at? I wish you pick up the phone.
‘Cause I need my money straight up. I mean,
Do I got to come up to Pizza Hut?
Or do I need to meet you and my sister
Down there so we go to your babysitter?
Which one is it? I mean, call me back.
Let me know something. ‘Cause the way I feel,
I feel like you just trying to dupe me
Now. You and that little a-rab. So…
I ain’t gonna let that ride, though, you dig?
You need to call me back. <long pause>
That’s 50 bucks you owe me. Fuck, I know you.
I don’t want that. I want my money, man.”

[An audio version is available. Let me know if interested.]

If you need someone to tell you to not be a fool and give it a try: don’t be a fool and give it a try.

Disco ball, and dancing about it.

(Retro, active, raised.)

“I can’t do this all on my own…”

Scrubs is a strange mix of comedic and dramatic that I feel I perceived unintendedly. The reality of it beats down so unceasingly that it is impossible to not at least appreciate.

“Aw, damn. I missed the annual sleepover, didn't I? That wonderful time of year when you two crazy kids throw caution to the wind and make sweet elbowy love to each other."

I need a raise, a shower, and a nap.

Absolutely, naught.
On again, ‘off.
Blackjack, some other time.

“Let it be noted that even when no one else has class, G[] has class.”

I want a fake ID for my 21st birthday.

(Seriously.)

“I'm not going to be civil…”
Not happy.
“…I’m so gone…”
Keep coming back.
“…Did you hear about Vegas…”
Not this year.
“…A grey is starting to plague us / And it won’t be long…”
Almost over.
“…You just do what you do just to survive…”
Be lucky.
“…Holding out for something I can’t feel…”
Be independent.
“…Yes, and I’m so gone…”
A place where I can live.
“…My feet just drag me home…”

50 Euros : 50 Gyros :: Gyro House : Our House.

“Basically, whoever gets there first should order 3 gyros.”
That’s a good idea on principle.

“Someday we'll find it…”

Connections made, missed, found, lost, and broken.

“…And what do we think we might see…”

NYC until Monday. Taking suggestions for next week’s adventuire.

Wanderlusting on.

Shrinkwrapped, cubbyholed, databased

“Did you know that…”

“If you could…”

Scatterbrained.
Say something.
Saying something.

…finish other people’s sentences, would you use that power for good or evil?

Filling the rest in, and closing my eyes to all else.

“The two men…navy blue robes…all was well.”

“I guess nothing can last forever…”

Senior year is not merely a culmination, not merely a goal: It is the horizon upon which prior years looks towards, gradually getting a clearer idea of what that period will consist of, yet is characterized predominantly by the fact that whatever lies beyond will be drastically different than it and what have gone before. For it does not merely culminate the prior 3 years, but all that have come before. Once time has elapsed and the mystery of what the future might hold has been pierced, the magic can never be recaptured. Anything left to happen must happen or be left undone. Senior year is the last gasp of the innocence of familiarity.

“…And if I had the choice / Yeah, I'd always wanna be there…”

City Museum 6pm-10pm tonight? Cell me if interested.

Pirates gratuitously use the subjunctive.

Walgreens: one stop shopping for all your piracy needs.

Riding shotgun with a shotgun and a jar of pickles.

We need a How’s my How’s my driving? hotline? hotline.

“i am in your X, Ying your Zs.”

X = bathroom

lol

Wandi here, wand’ring ends.
(Temporarily.)

I’m stationary.
She’s in reverse.

Cupcakes, Random Thai, sorceresses, glucose, HP5, jar of pickles, and over a dozen u-turns- and STL hasn’t been left yet.Traveling East until Saturday. If in Boston, NYC, or somewhere in between, give me a call.

Harry Potter 5 is easily the best in the series to date. While it is not without the usual divergences from the novels, the first half flows remarkably smoothly; the only disappointing ones occur at the end. Most of the movie felt like a movie, not merely the film version of a book. Still, some scenes make one wonder if the film producers truly understand the magic of the story.

Book 6, which I found disappointing compared to the other novels, might ironically be the best of the films; it seems it would capture the movies’ strengths while having the least expectation to overcome.

Needing a Delilah.

Schrödinger’s books: simultaneously marked up and marked down. They do not have a fixed price until they are scanned at the register.

Bonded.
Got paid.
Went bowling.
Got extra day off.
Had the fan repaired.
Got offered a promotion.
Laid on the grass on a nice summer evening, watching stars through the clouds, eating butterscotch frozen custard and talking with friends.

Sevenfold drought yields sevenfold prosperity.

Ratatouille is solid enough to seem like it should not need the ending monologue directed at critics. The main character has no romantic interest, and he also lacks the usual anthropomorphized sidekick; he instead is accompanied by an imaginary figment of his own mind, living in his own solitary world. Oddly, though without my disputing, the heir to French cooking is Italian.

“Rocketman, burning out his fuse up here alone…”

Birthmarks and bottle rockets, but other things are just as psychotic as they seem.

Instead of going to see “Transformers” last night, they went to see Chicago.
The musical?
No.
The city? For what?
Breakfast.

“Sometimes I feel I've got to / Run away…”

What better way to celebrate independence than to take a trip halfway across the country heedless of the return route.

“…For I toss and turn / I can't sleep at night…”
---
ETA 1 week, to somewhere in the Upper East Coast.

“You were talk, talk, talk, talking in circles that day…”

Some days start stupid, some days achieve stupidity, and some days have stupidity thrust upon them.

“…When you get to the point make sure that I'm still awake…”

Plural memories.

“I’m not American. I don't get paranoid.”
I am American. I get paranoid of non-Americans.

Just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

“...I'm not sick, but I'm not well...”

Ocean’s 13, having seen the 11th but not the 12th, is enjoyable like the first, for again it offers a simply pure plot. The pacing of the plot does feel a little uneven, like it suffers from too much momentum: things fail and succeed as if set by a strict linear relationship. Oddly, though, it is the absence of characterization which makes it feel empty. The first film handled this component neutrally, as if the plot were let to unfold without regard to character. But here, characterization seems almost deliberately checked for an established plot. In a way, this reflected in the title: 11 were 11 people, but 13 is 2 sequels past an established number.

Left/Right
Male/Female
Red/Bravman

At first it seems obvious that cats would use the subjunctive: “I would claw at your leg, if I could do so without having to move.” But then one realizes that they probably don’t even need the indicative. To a cat, the imperative is sufficient: “Move.”

At least by switching to business I’ll be able to balance my checkbook. Whereas if I did engineering, I’d be able to fix my car. Which is also a useful skill, I suppose.

Getting to work.

I missed the 2. I missed the 44.

Why don’t they have a copier that also holepunches?
They do.

There should be a system to deal with incompetent underpaid apathetic central officers misfiling German dictionaries in the science-fiction fantasy section.

Should we use our 400 Schnucks napkins or our 600 Vanity Fair napkins?
I should be all we should use our whatever napkins in case we have a blah-de-blah, but I don’t care right now.

So I was wondering, if I were to be all- OMG where are the DVDs?-...
<panics despite holding said DVDs>
...how you would react. And now I know.
<recovers and narrows eyes>

“A secret to be told, a gold chest to be bold, / And blasting forth with three-part harmony...”

There is something about seeing happy people being happy that makes people happy.

“...How about the power to move you...”

Everyone of the show has slept with at least 2 other cast members.
I think you mean characters.

It’s a movie I like, just not to watch.

I’d forgotten how passive-aggressive she could be.

I’d never hated Hermione Granger before.

And now finally some awkwardness that isn’t you or me.

It’s growing on me.

Still don’t know what that smell is or why the fire isn’t spreading.

I hate it when someone is annoying but doesn’t realize they’re annoying.
This is totally one of those ironic moments when I’m an annoying person who doesn’t realize I’m annoying, isn’t it?

Special Topics in Calamity Physics is exactly like a certain movie, which if named would irrevocably spoil a book much undeserving of spoiling. Overly rich in directly cited allusions, the story manages to be both extremely alien and completely familiar simultaneously. The questions raised are not left unanswered; nevertheless I’m still not sure I know which of those answers are correct.

I have a suspicion, and should probably reread.

Knocked Up is an oddly good movie, because it is so subtly good. It doesn’t seem like it should be; in fact, it seems like it should be utterly mediocre. And yet, it consists of nearly pure quality. The acting is weak at times, but somehow nevertheless the characters, themes, and symbolism seem too plausibly real.

The problem with objectivity and subjectivity is that indecision trumps them both. Is that one good? Is this one better?

I use my shotglass for mouthwash.
I use my mouthwash bottle for alcohol.

Summertime Mixer. Whether in the group that likes it or the group that doesn’t, drink up.

Did you know that they used to treat narcolepsy with meth? In addition, Hitler.

Apartmentwarming Party tonight, in honor of 6252 S. Rosebury, Apt. 1. All welcome. Stop by tonight for as much or as little as able.

The cure for gelato withdrawal is Ted Drewes.
---
Because it’s great to be back in STL: Apartmentwarming Party Friday evening.

Surf’s Up has 3 excellent qualities: it is short and simple and full of penguins.
---
Apartmentwarming Party this Friday evening. If you’re in STL, you’re invited.

Page by page, on the same.
(Seeing double.)

Futons are good things.

We would have much less furniture if we were living on the second floor.

“Look forward to great fortune and a new lease on life.”

If you can’t stand the heat, don’t sit near the furnish.

“Every person is the architect of his or her own future.”

“Sister’s sighing in her sleep / Brother’s got a date to keep…”

6252 S. Rosebury, Apt.1

“…Our house…”

All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power. And maybe not even the kind word or the unlimited power.

Long delay for food.
Rolls falling apart.
Persistently asking for cash payment.
Cockroach.

There are reasons why sushi shouldn’t be eaten.
There are reasons why a tip shouldn’t be left.

Once bitten, twice shy.
I want to be doing something fun tonight.

All normal people are alike; every crazy person is crazy in their own way.

“Moo.”

Pizza and accordians and waking up at 7:15am: The more found, the more missed.

“Ribbit.”

“Make me a pizza.”

I can’t go to a bar to not drink because I don’t have a fake ID. This takes absurdity past the level of soulless parasol wielding Japanese tourists.

We have 3 copies of this book: one is marked at $14.95, one at $15.95, and one at $16.95. And the one marked at $15.95 is preprinted at $14.95 and in the computer at $16.95.

"Don't you just love when you get blindsided by something you never ever saw coming?"

Taken aback. I’m still not sure.

Countdown.

Everything should have a penguin easteregged in it somewhere.

I need a pancake.

“I’ve grown accustommed to your face...”

After the first listening, the liked songs are kept, and those that are hopelessly irredeemable are discarded. But there are inevitably some indeterminate songs. Some may have uncertain melodic, thematic, or lyric quality; others may be positive in one category but negative in another, with uncertain net. These are borderline music.

All music deserves one listening, for the purpose of evaluation, except country.

Inverse Ninja Theorem
The total power of ninja in a location does not depend on the number of ninja.

Saw Pirates 3. Better than the second, with more plot but less action; but worse than the first.

“Oh.”
Everyone was thinking it, but someone had to say it.

To know about the game is to play the game.
To think about the game is to lose the game.
If you lose the game, you must announce it; then there is a 30 minute period during which the game cannot be lost.

I managed to remember the game while forgetting to lose it. Is it possible to win the game?

Tell me something.
“I just lost the game.”

Rome to home.

I must, I trust, eschew
Blindsided view
With respect to perspective, to
See without eye ‘pon you.
---
Today’s words: Ciao bella

All things have mass.
Paris is worth a mass.
Therefore, we’ll always have Paris.

Gerald Ford : Richard Nixon :: Arnold Schwarzenegger : Paris Hilton
---
Today’s word: Sempre

“UoV egw genomhn agapwmenou wme migeisa…”
I have become beloved of swine.
---
Today’s word: Cripta

Vae victis.

“‘It’s like the Roman Empire. Wasn’t everybody running around just covered with syphilis? And then it was destroyed by the volcano.’ Do you think she was right? Why or why not?”
I can provide no better answer than to quote Suetonius’s completely accurate account of Aeneas’s final words to C. Mussolini Caesar, which were inscribed on the Aswan granite wall dividing the temples of Fortuna and Mater Matuta: “You lolligag to first. You lolligag to second. You lolligag to third. What does that make you? A heffalump.”

(-50 for not including a solution to the Corner Triglyph Problem)
---
Today’s word: Rovina

“What’s the difference between grad school and hell?”
“You’d never tell anyone to go to grad school”.

“How much sleep did you get the first year?”
“Don’t answer that.”

“A classics PhD is a guarantee that you’re somewhat literate.”
---
Today’s word: Lavoro

Gilette’s Razor
All things being equal, the simplest solution works, but a multi-blade approach works better.
---
Today’s word: Lavoro

Sitting in one place for days on end and letting the bowling balls crash upon my head, my record is 75.
---
Today’s word: Lavoro

If I don’t get free time, no one gets free time.
---
Today’s word: Lavoro

“Poetry is the space between whispering breath that words on a page don't have.”

One of the hardest things to do is to read bad poetry.

“…and you are glad, too, the Ukrainian masseuse you see every Wednesday / is not in love with you, and has no plans to be…”
---
Today’s word: Lavoro

What I know about opera:
They sing.
It means work in Latin.
---
Today’s word: Lavoro

Mayday.
---
Today’s word: Lavoro

What do you call the mini Greek dictionary?
“The Little Liddell.”
So what’s the intermediate one called?
“The Middle Liddell.”
So that makes the big one the Big Liddell?
“No: the Great Scott.”

Anything that can’t be found in LSJ deserves a note.
---
Today’s words: Cravatta a farfalla

Kleptomania: the gift that keeps on giving.
---
Today’s word: Prego

“I can't see much of the future…”
Past/Present.
“…Spurn my natural emotions…”
Thinking/Feeling
“…We won't be together much longer…
Dream/Reality
“…Ever fallen in love / In love with someone / You shouldn't have fallen in love with?”
No/Yes
---
Today’s words: Ho perso

7 1/2 bowls of pasta e fagioli is not an accomplishment, but merely lunch.
---
Today’s word: Zuppa

“Which is worse: wikipedia or sorcery?”
I have no idea what you’re talking about, but that was an amazing thing to walk in on.

Done talking.

“In putting together this report, we opted for expediency rather than research.”
---
Today’s word: Veloce

Time out.
---
Today’s word: Intervallo

Sanity, mortality, and historical accuracy are overrated.
(Caligula, roughly speaking.)
---
Today’s word: Pazzia

“4 days is too long to go without.”
Hasn’t it been 5?
<counting>
“No, it is 4.”
Well, to the Romans, that would have been 5: inclusive counting.
“It can still be 5.”
Well, to the Romans, that would have been sex.
---
Today’s word: Senza

Ab urbe condita.
---
Today’s word: Compleanno

Oh my god it’s 4:20

8pm, LabSci 300. Free. See me there.
---
Today’s word: Improvvisazione

“How ridiculous is this? We only have the volumes from A to O! What kind of alphabet ends with O?”

It’s all Greek to me.
---
Today’s word: Greco

What’s your number?
“8. We good?”
We good.
“Oh wait. Add 3 to that. We still good?”
Slut.
<shocked look>
Sorry, double digits.
“I need to consult J[] about this.”

<cough>

“So once you hit 10, that’s it for life?”
You could hit triple digits.
“Then you get a triumph!”
“An obelisk might be more appropriate."
But the arch may be more symbolic.
---
Today’s word: Tosse

Executor.

Jenny- Italian jewelry, Le Glay
Kevin- Heffalump (Noah and Bucher get visitation rights)
Amy- 69 sweatshirt
Elizabeth- chocolate stash, computer
Mother- hair straightener
Dad- Notebooks
Ms. Levin- paper notes
Laura- bus card, umbrella
---
Today’s word: Testamento

"The evening was as uneventful as a spin of Left Foot Red when your left foot is already on red."

Epilogue
U[]C[] and D[] never worked out. I suspect after he found out about her sexuality, that was that.

H[] and I are good friends, and it definitely wouldn't have worked out between us.

S[]Gu[] is slowly progressing with R[]. They've definitely had obstacles, but things look hopeful.

I have to meet with F[]W[] in a few minutes to talk about next week.

The Pope is still Catholic.
---
Today’s word: Ancora

“How’s the Italian coming?”
Let’s not talk about how much I’ve forgotten.
“Oh, I thought that the daily word in your Away Messages was indicating that you were picking it back up?"
It’s indicating that I know how to use the Internet and an Italian-English dictionary.

It’s official.
---
Today’s word: Italiano

The Best Restaurant Ever is Il Pino at Via delle Terme Romani 71, Bacoli (near Baia). Not only were they open on Easter Sunday, but they put up with my awful half-forgotten/near-hypoglycemic ally faint Italian, and rushed out a plate of gnocchi to go, and gave me free water and free coffee while waiting, and even gave me one of their forks to take with me. Which I returned, for as awesome a souvenir as it would have been, they deserved it back, along with a huge tip.

(This would have been the first time I ordered or paid for coffee if it weren’t that I didn’t do either.)
---
Today’s word: Forchetta

[may retroactively add an account of Campania here]

Campania for a week; buried for all time.
---
Today’s word: Orologia

Putting things in orders.
---
Today’s word: Pulire

Voracious; put it in my mouth.

Can you feel the fascism?
---
Today’s word: Fragola

“Cum meis poni statuam perennem
Nerva Traianus titulis videret,
inter auctores utriusque fixam
bybliothecae…”

Hitting the stacks.

“…Nil totum prodest adiectum laudibus illud
Ulpia quod rutilat porticus aere meo…”
---
Today’s word: Biblioteca

Cute Diet
Only eat cute things.

This may be impossible to uphold when in Italy during Passover.
---
Today’s word: Carina

Nothing better.

A man rushed into the doctor's office and shouted, "Doctor! I think I'm shrinking!" The doctor calmly responded, "I'm busy… you'll just have to be a little patient."
---
Today’s word: Cattivo

Now let’s do it right, without the stupidity.

She’s my brother. I’m her sister.
---
Today’s word: Basta

The entrance to Hell is a barricaded abandoned inoperative escalator descending into an opaque abyss. It is located along the way to a 75 bus.

“An escalator can never break; it can only become stairs. You would never see an ‘Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order.’ sign, just ‘Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.’.”

I don’t know why I get such enjoyment from descending up escalators and vice versa.
---
Today’s word: Inferno

“Can we pretend none of that happened?”
Can we pretend that none of today happened?

I have trust issues. I wouldn’t want to live with anyone who couldn’t be bought.
---
Today’s word: Casa

Let the pronoun they serve as an indefinite 3rd person singular pronoun. At the most basic level, this allows the he/she conundrum to be circumvented. However, this more generally allows deliberate vagueness, by allowing description without detail. Even gender and number can be obfuscated.

No idea on a solution, pronoun based or otherwise, for distinguishing between the 1st person plurals formed by 1st + 2nd from those formed by 1st + 3rd.

We are so awesome. We-GFWBAFB2P, that is.
---
Today’s word: Insieme

“There are 7 rules about the uses of the subjunctive, and one is that the uses of the subjunctive are infinite and you’ll spend the rest of your life learning the uses of the subjunctive.”

There is a magic in someone who has not touched the language in years having their eyes glaze over as if entering some mystic trance and pouring out from the restraints of forgotten strands of memory the simple rhythm of do, dare, dedi, datum. The language has spoken to me.
---
Today’s word: Latino

[My @wustl account seems to not be working. If anyone e-mailed me in the past week, especially about housing, please resend by IM.]

What’s it called when you kidnap an inanimate object?
“Stealing?”
No, but if you also hold it for ransom.
“Thingnapping?”
---
Today’s word: Biscotti

[My @wustl account seems to not be working. If anyone e-mailed me in the past week, especially about housing, please resend by IM.]

There are better hours to have lost.
---
Today’s word: Ora

[My @wustl account seems to not be working. If anyone e-mailed me in the past week, especially about housing, please resend by IM.]

The 300 is gratifyingly enjoyable despite it being an epic and overhyped, although divergence from historical details, even if artistic, still must incur some minimal level of wincing. The most incongruous moment, however, is when suddenly the Spartan numbers drop from 297 to 2; although the sudden abandonment of unity for individuality feels just as dissonant. There is certainly an allegorical theme, although that is much an issue of current modern geopolitics as much as one of historical accuracy.
---
Today’s word: Teatro

[My @wustl account seems to not be working. If anyone e-mailed me in the past week, especially about housing, please resend by IM.]

Some days need 2 rolls.

When they’re this wrong and you’re this right, it’s worth remembering that *you* don’t have to justify yourself to *them*.
---
Today’s word: Simpatico

One has to feel bad for Mussolini: no matter how hard he tried, he just could never be Hitler.
---
Today’s word: Ave

William Henry Harrison Principle
Brevity is either elegant or awkward.

Much has been done/needs doing.
---
Today’s word: Sei

I went on Spring Break and all I saw were some corner triglyphs. (And some lousy obelisks. They were limestone. I don't want to talk about it.)

[may retroactively add an account of London here]

[may retroactively add an account of Sicily here]

Spring Break:
Sicily 3/2-10
England 3/11-18

Some vacations I would pay to take.

"What did you do on your vacation, grandpa?"
"Killed a mugger."
---
Today’s word: Vacanza

Giving up self-sacrifice for Lent.

This is not a good week to be one of my appliances.
---
Today’s word: Pantaloni della notte

“Et fortasse cupressum scis simulare...”
I wish no one knew how well I draw a cypress.
“...Quid hoc...”
---
Today’s word: Albero

“Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean...”

Returning back from Verona, I discover that I do not have my camera, though I know the exact location on the train where it must have fallen out. However, I am stonewalled by the Tiburtina customer assistance attendant, who refused to respond to my Italian or to what I had someone write out lest my pronunciation mangled the conditional. Despite the ticket office, the luggage department, the station’s bookstore, the Ostiense ticket office, and the trenitalia help line all sending me exactly to him, and despite him working in customer assistance, he would not take my request, nor even give me the office’s phone number.

At least I can take pride in bookstore workers internationally being overly nice and helpful.
---
Today’s word: Odio

“In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...”

Between 5:30am yesterday and 5:30am today were the best 24 hours I have yet had in Italy. Gardens of obeliskine trees amid hedges and fountains beneath a hilltops rustic walkway to a breathtaking view at and over the treetops. A circumference of ruins. Balconies, battlegrounds, and battlements; theatrics, theatres, and amphitheatres. Roman jewels, Romeo & Juliet. The Arige makes the Arno look like the Tiber. Verona is a city laden with so much romance that I wish I had not seen it, so that I could experience its wonder on my honeymoon.

I went to be alone and found myself with people; there’s a lesson there.

“...There is no world without Verona walls...”
---
Today’s word: Giardini

“I got one foot on the platform...”
David Carradine, Liam Neeson, George Carlin, and Jon Bon Jovi walk into a bar.
“...The other foot on the train...”
---
Today’s word: Blu

George Washington is an aeteological mythic figure created early on in the republic to explain various customs and eponyms, such as the name of the capital city. In fact, most of the original Presidents of the United States are likely mythological, providing the country with a cosmogonical succession myth that gradually became absorbed into the state religion. Nevertheless, George Washington is historically significant in that he allows us to see how the people viewed an ideal leader. But regretfully, there is no evidence that he ever existed.
---
Today’s word: Mito

It’s a swing-off.
---
Today’s word: Dondolo

Oh, I know she’s not acting. But she’s not acting very well.
---
Today’s word: Puttanesca

The Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle is easier than the Friday one.

Not only does it not make sense, but I don’t care.
---
Today’s word: Cruciverba

Somewhere, someplace, Franco is crying.
---
Today’s word: Endorfina

It’ll be okay. Call me when you’re ready. I understand.

If there is anything to this Vitamin C theory, then the basketful of oranges I could not help but consume at lunch should end this cold. Or at the very least counter the time spent in the rain.
---
Today’s word: Arancia

Truth lies: A sigh will flirt;
Romance is curt.
Interpret the regret and blurt:
I never meant to hurt.
---
Today’s words: Credo che questo sia stato un errore

(Friendship?) I have and make friends just fine.
“Don’t you want somebody to love...”
(Dating?) Well, ideally, but there’s a little distance to overcome.
“...Don’t you need somebody to love...”
(A Relationship?) I want to be someone for someone and someone to be for me.
“...Wouldn’t you love somebody to love...”
(Random Play?) Okay, fine, maybe I am desperate to be held...
“...You better find somebody to love...”
(Whatever I can get?) ...but sorry, I have standards. I get a choice.
---
Today’s word: Malato

I live in the land of Cheap Pizza for Every Meal. It’s like heaven, only with more Catholics.

Abbot & Costello.
---
Today’s word: Fetta

Rome and Italy and Europe are wonderful and good and lovely and all that. But you know what I miss about America? See, I am a big believer in Free Stuff. Which is in a scarce supply here. The side salad. Refills of drinks. Dinner rolls. Ice water in restaurants. Nights & weekends on the cell phone. Bags at the grocery store. Public restrooms. The only thing I’ve gotten free here has been a CD of 10 songs with my Italian SIM card.

Two halves of a different coconut, but I’ll take what I can get.

This is what makes America the greatest country in the world. Land of the Free.
---
Today’s word: Cocco

On a dreary day, the cat sanctuary allows one to duck inside a contained world, away from the stresses outside. One gets to consider what it might be like to be a cat, condescending, independent, with a playful tail and retractable claws, living a life of perfect laziness. But here another side of the animal is seen. Here are abandoned strays, sick and injured, their grace overshadowed by pathetically awkward movements. These animals depend not on the hope of someone finding them beautiful, but pitiful.

I have always wanted to have a cat, and I hope to be able to have one next semester. But it will depend on my living situation, and that lies in the future. For now I live in Rome.
---
Today’s word: Gatto

Once Mars was returning from a victorious battle in Etruria when a great hunger overtook him. Seeing a flock, the son of Jove began eating the sheep. Their shepherd, Perioche, overcome by the sight of the blood-covered god, went to King Tarquin the Flamboyant, who advised him to pray for intervention. Some say that the king advised that votives be offered to Ceres, who, with the ancient procedures having been satisfied, caused an almond tree to spring up by which Mars’s hunger might be sated. From this came the term bread of Mars, or Martis panis. But most hold that the shepherd prayed to Pan, who transformed the sheep into almonds, which were referred to as the almonds of Pan for Mars, or Marti Panis. In accordance with this, the people of Rome prepare, shape, and consume marzipan.
---
Today’s word: Marzapane

Sit tibi terra levis
---
Today’s word: Carcare

The basilica of St. John Lateran contains impressively imposing religious scuptures, in particular a gallery of the 12 apostles each holding an instrument. This clearly should form the basis of a video game in which these characters engage in acts of smiting. It should be called Moral Kombat.
---
Today’s word: Ecumenico

So, those of you who attended any of my parties over the summer should surely recall my hosting technique of offering cans of Sunkist or Pepsi. I won't get into why I like Sunkist; but the Pepsi is because I genuinely like it better than Coca-Cola. I'll drink Coke if I don't have a choice, but I prefer the other taste. So, having said that, curse you, Coca-Cola, for your kudzian proliferation of Fanta throughout the civilized world.

Chinotto is the opposite of fennel. The one seems decent when it is first put in the mouth, only to then have a most bitter lasting aftertaste; the other vice versa. And, chinotto has ties to fascism.

Damn it, I'm in Europe, I want Orangina.
---
Today’s word: Chinotto

Anchorman has its moments, admittedly. Unfortunately, there are better parodies of news shows in modern satire; this one doesn’t try to be good, just funny. And the humor is of people lying badly. It also probably should have been seen prior to viewing Talladega Nights.
---
Today’s word: Sveglia

Despite the bad travel karma starting upon leaving the Centro and continuing to return, I accomplished what I wanted to in Florence: Uffizi Gallery, Duomo, a touch of Wash U, an enchilada, and precedent set. And now I know what not to do for future trips. I will give Florence this: As strongly as I must say the Tiber flows, the Arno could wrestle it.
---
Today’s word: Retardo

[Back, with the weekend's travel karma hopefully finally ended.]

Florence for the weekend, with an Italian SIM cell number: (39) 328-975-3404
---
Today’s word: Treno

There is a television channel in Italy called FoxCrime. It is not intended to be ironic.
---
Today’s word: Ammorbidente

“There’s some weird echoing, and I sound petulant.”

If you ever don’t want to talk to someone, just date them and cheat on them.

"I don't want him to break up with me. He'll just date another whore."
I think that came out wrong.
---
Today’s word: Fustagazione

“You are flying on a plane with your 2 children, when suddenly the oxygen masks descend. Which child do you save first?”
Assume identical twins, to remove the factor of one being more likely to save/survive independently.
“This is more thought than has ever been put into this question.”
Then... hm. Eh, save the one you like more.
“<laughs>”
This would make a good O. Henry story: A parent who favors one twin over the other, but one day the children trade places, and as a result the parent saves the wrong child.
“Or a movie starring the Olsen twins.”
Who would be the bad one?
“Clearly the anorexic one.”
---
Today’s word: Ragazzi

“Forza Ragazzi...”

Expected soccer to be more culturally exotic, but the experience was rather similar to American football, albeit not unenjoyable. Notable differences were security preventing bottlecaps from being brought into the stadium, “Cipster” potato chips offered by vendors, and painfully overacted injuries.

Out of deference to a taxi driver, if not my region, I will secondarily root for Lazio. But Roma will always be first.
“Veni vidi vici.”
---
Today’s word: Ricordare

Never have I ever said never have I ever played never have I ever playing never have I ever.
---
Today’s word: Partita

“Like a cat in heat stuck...”

All roads lead to Rome- specifically, to the Torre Argentina.

“...What you waiting / What you waiting / What you waiting / What you waiting / What you waiting for...”
---
Today’s word: Via

Pathologica
---
Today’s word: Sacchetto

The silly thing about Top Gun has nothing to do with ironical retrospection of Tom Cruise. It’s that it’s totally a romance and it doesn’t even realize it itself.
---
Today’s word: Obelisco

Ocean’s 11 offers merely a plot, but a detailed one. Indeed, it is remarkable in the absence of other elements; for unlike others of its genre, it does not worry about psychology, betrayal, or mystery, and this focus gives it strength.
---
Today’s word: Ombrello

Euro Trip is silly, but thematically so. It’s Summer Vacation, it’s exotic and foreign, it’s a quick sample of something that shouldn’t last any longer than it takes. It’s more something to see with friends than an actual experience. It’s not real, but it doesn’t try to be.
---
Today’s words: Mi scusi

Zoolander is a movie that is so bad that it bounced off the floor into good, then off the ceiling back into bad, before hitting the floor once more to rebound into some disoriented state of quality. Even with Italian subtitles.
---
Today’s word: Atterra

7, trying to return from the Piazza Navona after an exciting day of not-shopping, chase and catch a bus terminating at a garage, which after being descended through turns out to be outside St. Peter’s. After emerging and plotting to liberate Caesar’s ashes, a huge park bars our way. Wary of venturing into it after dark, we nevertheless decide to brave the crossing, entering through a found gate. A sign on the fences that needed to be jumped for exit informed that we had just trespassed on private property. While going around the Aurelian Wall blocking our further progress, we discover that the “park” was actually part of the Pontific College. Dumpster diving for discarding Masonic insignia, we return in time to hunt for reservationless dinner for 14 on a Saturday night.

A bar and 8 hours later, a great view of the city and the recent adventure are discovered amid religion and crepes.

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
Error: infinite loop.

Corollary: When in Rome, be yourself.

Not only for $10000, but for free pizza as well, Rome was visited by Danny.

I made it to Rome. The same, however, cannot be said for my luggage.

“The advantage of having your luggage lost is that you don’t have to carry it here."

"Palamedes found his bitterest enemies in Odysseus and Homer; for the one laid an ambush against him of people by who he was stoned to death, while the other denied him any place in his epic."

Foremost, I will be beginning to attend the ICCS program in a few days. For that I have obtained a few new things, prominent among which is a laptop, the clever Palamedes. Which, being necessary for traveling, signifies daily Away Messages becoming inefficient and impractical just when I have so many I want to see and speak to. So, appropriately enough, it is time to embark on a new adventure.

Let EmpTyger eternally rule.

Things are changing again.

“Always wanting more...”

I will be missed.
I will miss.

“...A new religion that'll bring you to your knees / Black velvet, if you please...”

Lamb Stew Party, tonight at 8pm at 6625 Wash. Ave. Apt. 1. There will be lamb stew. At least, there will be if you show up early. No guarantees if you’re late.

“Reductio ad absurdum, which Euclid loved so much, is one of a mathematician's finest weapons. It is a far finer gambit than any chess gambit: a chess player may offer the sacrifice of a pawn or even a piece, but a mathematician offers the game.”

Absurd blunders.

Goodbye Goodbye Cakes Cakes.

Check and ‘mate.

το 'εν is the loneliest monad that you'll ever do. τω
δυω can be as bad as το 'εν
It’s the loneliest monad since the Pythagorean.
Noetic is the saddest experience you'll ever know.
Aesthetic, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know.
'Cause το 'εν is the loneliest monad that you'll ever do. το
'εν is the loneliest monad, worse than τω δυω.
It’s just not το αγαθον since it went symbolic.
Now I spend my time in noetic mind, Neo-Platonic.
το 'εν is the loneliest
(αριθμος)
το 'εν is the loneliest
(αριθμος)
το 'εν is the loneliest monad that you'll ever do.

I’m going to ask you, and you don’t have to answer, what you asked me yesterday that I didn’t have to answer.

What strength is is irrelevant to whether one thinks oneself strong.
Whether one thinks oneself strong is irrelevant to whether another thinks one strong.
Whether another thinks one strong is irrelevant to whether the other should say that one is strong.

“I really cannot go on much longer like this; I need to stop being convolutedly philosophical and go to bed.”
Or just go to bed.

Sacred bison may be good for a lot of things, but they do not make good hamburger.

“Who shall measure the hat hate heat and violence of the poet’s heart when caught and tangled in a woman’s body?”

Close enough.

If you can’t trust the back of a box of Schnucks-brand food, who can you?

Sorry, I forgot for a second that you wouldn’t do what I would do.

“I'll be home for Christmas...”

I remember when I wished to have a recording of my entire life: a complete archive of every hour of every day. Which because of obvious recursion would be impossible to ever completely actually view; but it would allow me to never leave any piece of history behind. Sometimes I would explicitly want the recollection to be from a first person perspective, recording the thoughts I was just as curious along with my actions; but mostly third person view would have been sufficient, with the logic being that *I* would be able to recall or recreate my thoughts.

I remember when I knew why I wished to have this.

I remember when I used to be nostalgic.

“...If only in my dreams...”

It is surprisingly difficult to select a link as representative of a year. The crucial sticking point seems to be how to resolve the ambiguity of significant December creations. On one hand, they represent the culmination of the preceding; on the other they resonate and are popularized in the following. The preceding year can be viewed in it, but in the following year can it be viewed. And the very nature of winter break contributes to its being mostly likely for significant candidates to be released then, with study breaks being sought through finals week, and with a period of intermingling as mass migrations mix, connect, and reconnect friends, schoolmates, and family members. It is a time of tinder, with the best chance for a random link to spark a wildfire of interest.

I don’t live here. I just live here.

The best way for me to not do something is to tell someone I’m going to do it.
I live in darkness and my dreams are shadows, but all I want is pannychous.
This year I resolve to have it be mine.