Saturday, January 24, 2009
Great last name.
Forgot - this morning I checked in a kid to the exam who had a last name of "Kapustka" (="little cabbage" in something Slavic).
A word I said last night.
Last night I went out for a drink with a friend and ran into a lot of people at the bar and ended up staying a long time and catching up, and someone mentioned they hadn't seen me in a while.
"That's because I've been secloistered studying for exams," I was like, unthinkingly (with 'secloistered' being a combination of 'secluded' and 'cloistered', I guess).
"That's because I've been secloistered studying for exams," I was like, unthinkingly (with 'secloistered' being a combination of 'secluded' and 'cloistered', I guess).
Proctored another standardized test today.
I proctored another standardized test today.
I went out on another coffee run at one point, and I convinced the countergirl to pour my coffee directly in my thermos, since company policy forbade her to do that. She poured it a little full, so I stood by the exit sipping it off before heading it out, and the (later middle-aged black) greeter for the bookstore (the coffee place was in the bookstore) said hello to me, and we started to chit-chat. Of course I started to mention the inauguration, and I said that I was comforted that Obama was in charge, and when she said it was time that the world started respecting us again, I mentioned Guantanamo, and she said that that's true, but what are you going to do with all the prisoners if there are terrorists among them, and that it was on the news last night that two guys released from Guantanamo later were arrested again in attacks against the U.S.
"It's a tough issue, what you do," she was like.
"Yeah," I was like, "But it's nice not to have the secrecy like with Bush, and to have someone opposed to torture, even if they're not sure what they're going to do with all the prisoners yet."
"Mmmm-hmmm, that's right," she was like.
"Yeah," I was like, "It's so nice to have someone professorial in charge, who is smart and has a good moral compass. Bush just didn't have that."
"Ya think?", she was like. "Duh."
I started to say something again, but she interrupted immediately and mugged a face and was like "Duh" again, and then I started to say something a second time, and again she jumped in and mugged a face again and immediately was like, "Duh."
She then was done with that and started talking about how some of Bush's advisors advised against Iraq but had to toe the line and tell him what he wanted to hear, and now that they're out they're writing books and saying this.
I then told her about Bush's half-ass and poorly-planned farewell party and how it was the same level of foresight shown with Iraq, and she was like, "Now that is fitting. Well, retribution is, you know, a bad word, and it may be a bad word, but it's true nonetheless, retribution is that."
Later I brought the coffee back. Earlier some high school kids hadn't come back from break in time even though they were warned they only would have 5 minutes and they were responsible for being back on time, and this time they streamed back in at like four minutes and thirty seconds.
"Damn right," my co-proctor said.
Later when I was double-checking the exam books to make sure that they were in order, my co-proctor was like, "You don't have to do that."
"But this job doesn't make you do much, so I want to make sure what I have to do, I do right," I told her.
"Well, they could pay you for just looking pretty," she said.
I went out on another coffee run at one point, and I convinced the countergirl to pour my coffee directly in my thermos, since company policy forbade her to do that. She poured it a little full, so I stood by the exit sipping it off before heading it out, and the (later middle-aged black) greeter for the bookstore (the coffee place was in the bookstore) said hello to me, and we started to chit-chat. Of course I started to mention the inauguration, and I said that I was comforted that Obama was in charge, and when she said it was time that the world started respecting us again, I mentioned Guantanamo, and she said that that's true, but what are you going to do with all the prisoners if there are terrorists among them, and that it was on the news last night that two guys released from Guantanamo later were arrested again in attacks against the U.S.
"It's a tough issue, what you do," she was like.
"Yeah," I was like, "But it's nice not to have the secrecy like with Bush, and to have someone opposed to torture, even if they're not sure what they're going to do with all the prisoners yet."
"Mmmm-hmmm, that's right," she was like.
"Yeah," I was like, "It's so nice to have someone professorial in charge, who is smart and has a good moral compass. Bush just didn't have that."
"Ya think?", she was like. "Duh."
I started to say something again, but she interrupted immediately and mugged a face and was like "Duh" again, and then I started to say something a second time, and again she jumped in and mugged a face again and immediately was like, "Duh."
She then was done with that and started talking about how some of Bush's advisors advised against Iraq but had to toe the line and tell him what he wanted to hear, and now that they're out they're writing books and saying this.
I then told her about Bush's half-ass and poorly-planned farewell party and how it was the same level of foresight shown with Iraq, and she was like, "Now that is fitting. Well, retribution is, you know, a bad word, and it may be a bad word, but it's true nonetheless, retribution is that."
Later I brought the coffee back. Earlier some high school kids hadn't come back from break in time even though they were warned they only would have 5 minutes and they were responsible for being back on time, and this time they streamed back in at like four minutes and thirty seconds.
"Damn right," my co-proctor said.
Later when I was double-checking the exam books to make sure that they were in order, my co-proctor was like, "You don't have to do that."
"But this job doesn't make you do much, so I want to make sure what I have to do, I do right," I told her.
"Well, they could pay you for just looking pretty," she said.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Not a "big exam" dream -- a syllabus dream!
I've never had a dream where I go in to take a big test, and I forget everything, or I realize I never attended a single session of the class ever, or anything like that.
But, the other night I dreamed that I looked at a syllabus for my History of Christian Thought I class that I'm currently taking, and that somehow I didn't realize that there was one more week between us and the midterm, and so I had all next week to do those readings and the 2 readings I didn't get done this week.
But, that was a dream, and the midterm is distributed this upcoming Monday, and I still haven't done those two long readings yet.
But, the other night I dreamed that I looked at a syllabus for my History of Christian Thought I class that I'm currently taking, and that somehow I didn't realize that there was one more week between us and the midterm, and so I had all next week to do those readings and the 2 readings I didn't get done this week.
But, that was a dream, and the midterm is distributed this upcoming Monday, and I still haven't done those two long readings yet.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Got an e-mail from my mom.
I got this e-mail from my mom yesterday, under the subject line "good bio":
My mom was very impressed when I told her I had inauguration day breakfast with BD, even more than BA; she said she really didn't know who BA was till the election season, but she still remembers back when she was a stewardess stepping out of the airport quick and getting the local newspaper and seeing BD's name and picture all across the front page.
"Far out!", she was like, when I told her. "What does she look like?", and I told her pretty much like any other aging hippie -- turquoise sweater, shoulder-length gray hair with white in it, big dangling gold earrings and clunky jewelry.
"Far out!", my mom was like, again.
My mom was very impressed when I told her I had inauguration day breakfast with BD, even more than BA; she said she really didn't know who BA was till the election season, but she still remembers back when she was a stewardess stepping out of the airport quick and getting the local newspaper and seeing BD's name and picture all across the front page.
"Far out!", she was like, when I told her. "What does she look like?", and I told her pretty much like any other aging hippie -- turquoise sweater, shoulder-length gray hair with white in it, big dangling gold earrings and clunky jewelry.
"Far out!", my mom was like, again.
3 things.
1) Yesterday I woke up and had my coffee in my Obama mug. I liked it; it reminded me that it was the first full day of his presidency.
2) Flashback from when I was at school watching the inauguration ceremony --
Everyone laughed when Dick Cheney was wheeled out, and this visiting German pastor who I knew who was sitting the row behind me and my neighbor who I had volunteered in Indiana with was like, "I do not like Dick Cheney either, but I do not like how people laugh, it is very, very..." -- "Mean?", I was like -- and he was like, "Yes, mean," and then my one neighbor's law prof broke in to our conversation and was like, "I don't care what you think, Dick Cheney can go fuck himself!"
3) This one evangelical kid I know was telling me how over Christmas when he was at his wife's family's house in Syracuse he went with her brother and her dad to go rent movies for the family for Christmas Eve, and they always watch one movie for kids first and then the kids go to bed and then the adults rent a movie, so the three of them were standing around talking about if anyone had any ideas for the adult movie they were going to rent, and he all of a sudden realized how they sounded and was like, "Uh, guys, I really don't think we should be saying 'adult movie' so much, or so loudly."
2) Flashback from when I was at school watching the inauguration ceremony --
Everyone laughed when Dick Cheney was wheeled out, and this visiting German pastor who I knew who was sitting the row behind me and my neighbor who I had volunteered in Indiana with was like, "I do not like Dick Cheney either, but I do not like how people laugh, it is very, very..." -- "Mean?", I was like -- and he was like, "Yes, mean," and then my one neighbor's law prof broke in to our conversation and was like, "I don't care what you think, Dick Cheney can go fuck himself!"
3) This one evangelical kid I know was telling me how over Christmas when he was at his wife's family's house in Syracuse he went with her brother and her dad to go rent movies for the family for Christmas Eve, and they always watch one movie for kids first and then the kids go to bed and then the adults rent a movie, so the three of them were standing around talking about if anyone had any ideas for the adult movie they were going to rent, and he all of a sudden realized how they sounded and was like, "Uh, guys, I really don't think we should be saying 'adult movie' so much, or so loudly."
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
My favorite etymology of the past year.
"Hyena" is an adjectival form of the ancient greek "hys", which means pig...
That is, because of its bristly boar-like mane, at one time the hyena was known as the "piggish" thing.
That is, because of its bristly boar-like mane, at one time the hyena was known as the "piggish" thing.
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