Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A Series of Unfortunate Events (From the Past Six Months):
-Mono
-Flu
-Spilling water on month-old Macbook
-Said Macbook growing mold
-Falling down stairs of Kennedy Center
-Falling down in the back of the Marriot in SLC
-Tripping throughout the entire day after two above-mentioned falls
-Expensive plane tickets
-Insomnia
-Lack of motivation
-Biting my lip pretty hard once
-Not knowing everything ever (dang it!)

Good Fortune:
-No lack of employment
-Grad school!
-Internship (which I had to turn down...)
-A good home teacher who took care of me when I needed it
-Graduation!
-I got to go home and see family
-My car hasn't imploded from lack of care
-Funding is awesome!
-Minuscule schmoozing is a plus, right?
-Good friends
-Totally aced a test I thought I bombed
-Despite my jokes, I am pretty literate. Sweet!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Life Goals

Projected Timeline For My Life:
-Graduate, again.
-Live in France. Maybe Belgium, too.
-Become a better francophone
-Do a PhD program somewhere
-Learn Latin, German, etc
-Then I'll have to do one more graduation
-Live some more in France or Belgium.
-Find a job somewhere
-Publish a bit
-Travel to places outside Europe
-Finally write the children's book on Medieval French history I've been planning for forever
-Retire
-Spend my free time in some exotic and random hobby, like directing documentaries or painting large murals
-Move to Scotland, or Ireland, and pretend to not speak English for at least a year

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Vivrez Joyeux

Cool:
-passed a test with flying colors
-didn't have to present
-ate truffles
-participated in classes
-did a fair amount of homework (when I thought it was going to be impossible to do it all)
-generally survived

Not So Cool:
-tired.
-in fact, very tired.
-situation with a book
-still have yet more homework to do (it's a vicious cycle, one may suggest)
-have to present next week, which means I have two presentations to do
-so much to do at home, so little energy/motivation
-printer still broken

Monday, October 5, 2009

amuse(me)nt

Signs that Rabelais Wrote the Book You're Reading:
-A Giant is the main character
-There is a lot of emphasis placed on his odd upbringing
-Paris is mocked. Lots.
-The text is in middle French with lots of Gascony slang thrown in
-Lots of drinking is going on
-Maybe some content deemed against the honor code
-Content that makes you think you aren't understanding what's going on, but no, Gargantua really does pee on a bunch of people
-Social and political criticism is hidden under hilarious bawdy humor
-Everyone tells you that the point two above is their favorite moment in the book
-If you tell someone what book you're reading, they get a special twinkle in their eye and tell you how funny/great it is
-The chapters are maybe five pages long, and it's a fairly quick read considering it's not in modern language
-You're not sure you get it, but it's still hilarious
-You do get what's going on, and it's hilarious

Tips on Studying People Have Recently Given Me:
-Why read books when you have wikipedia?
-Learn what you need to and don't waste time on the rest
-Learn how to skim well
-Gain a strong desire to learn and you can do it
-Learn as much as you can
-Don't even worry about it!