SO EXCITED!!!

The Thai movie "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" finally got to town! I hear it's a weird and trippy story about a dying man floating between worlds, and I can't wait to see it.

Hating on the Dutch - A provocation to memories.

The other day during a meeting my one (Dutch) colleague made some comment about his "Dutch bluntness", which is something I've heard a lot of (Dutch) people say, both over there and here.

For example, if they say something really terse and bitchy to you and you object, I noticed they always are like, "That is how we Dutch are."

This could include after they gave me an unsolicited opinion about the U.S.

So, when I was over in the Netherlands, I tried an experiment.

"So what do you think of our country?", someone would say.

"Oh," I'd be like, "People are unfriendly, self-righteous, and kind of racist."

At that, they'd usually be silent.

Then, I'd be like, "But women seem to be more equal here, and you have nice bar food."

At that, more silence.

"What?!?", I'd be like, "I thought you guys valued bluntness! Or is that just for you, and not for others?"

Need to stop snacking.

When I've been home lately, I've been snacking a lot.

The other day, I had 2 pots full of homemade popcorn popped in a pot with olive oil.

The next day, I had 2 bowls of (light) Rocky Road ice cream along with some coffee.

Boy, you should have seen my shit the next day. Dark moist brown and blorting out in small turds that really really stank with a rich, full smell. The worst part was that one didn't flush, and it was waiting for me when I got home, again!

Ideas for a new project.

So for a new project, I've been thinking of a couple things:

- find a fun Latin text to read when I'm bored (e.g. life of Thais or Paphnutius, or the Rule of Benedict).

- find a facsimile of the Voynich manuscript and attempt to decode it (because if I do puzzles anyhow, why not try to solve a really really hard one that other people care about?).

- start learning Demotic to see if the Egyptologists f-ck-d -p the script on that stage of the language too.

Evenings, and ideas.

After a long day at home writing, sometimes I don't know what to do to get rid of the mental tiredness.

Like last week, one day I walked to a grocery store 15minutes away to stock up on sugar-free jello, but it was more for the walk then anything.

The next day, I walked up 40minutes to clear my head and meet my one friend who used to deliver singing telegrams for a drink after she got out of work.

I would think about joining a volleyball team or a kickball team or something, but practice teams would be restraining, I think.

I'd join a gym to lift weights, but that costs a lot of money, and I don't need a membership for the summer so much.

I think I'm just going to stick to my walk/bike regimen.

But, even then, I've felt like I need some new project...

Kids nowadays.

The other day I was at the student bar having a drink with a colleague and catching up, and I waited around a little bit for the Catalan to show up... He said he'd be there at 10pm, and he showed up around 10:50pm.

We were talking and catching up, and I asked him how one of his friends was doing, who had gotten a masters in religious studies and was now teaching religion at a local Catholic school.

"Well, you know," the Catalan was like, "He is actually very disappointed. He wants the kids to be interested in religion, but they are not interested. Why are they to be interested in religion? Hey, they are not even interested in Catalan. Kids of that age, they are only interested in sex."

New foods.

I'm getting a little tired of the same cheap foods I usually eat, so I'm branching out into other cheap foods:

1) I've started to make JELL-O regularly (orange flavor, my favorite).

2) I bought a bag of popcorn and even tried making it in a pot on my stove the other day (just poured some olive oil in the bottom of the pot, poured in kernels to a one-kernel heighth as the package directions recommended, and then shook the pan occasionally; every single kernel popped!).

Though, eating all that popcorn made me feel a little queasy, like I had to take some sort of gigantic shit, only it never happened.