Chronicles Book Club

I have added a new link to my sidebar, and I thought I'd explain about it. It's to an online book club (called Chronicles) that my friends Paul and Christina recently started (recently being about a week or two ago). They had thought that they wanted to start a book club, but they had lots of friends they wanted to invite to be in it, and those friends were scattered near and far across the globe. So they decided to do it online. For our first book we've been reading Animal Farm by George Orwell and discussing it. It's been loads of fun! Feel free to check it out, and if you're interested in joining, send an email to either Paul (which you can find at the book club site) or me.

no title

It's been a long time, and I'm avoiding writing on my dissertation, so I figure this is a good way to while away the hours.

A few days ago I went to Harrogate to watch The Pirates of Penzance, performed by the local Harrogate Gilbert & Sullivan Society. Harrogate is a nice, pretty little town. Nice enough that I would live there. Plus it's close to be Leeds and York, so it wouldn't be that hard to get to some decent shopping. (I think about these things when I travel. It's probably a bit odd, but I do it nonetheless.) I got blisters on both feet, since I dressed up a little for the show and wore my dressy shoes for a full 72 hours.

Anyway, the show was nice. Very fun, as that show always is. I think my favorite part was the policemen -- their dancing was hilarious! They got a bit carried away with the sexuality of the show (most of you probably never even thought that G&S were sexual, but in today's world everything is sexual, so ...). And Frederick was just a little camp. (That's a great British word meaning that he seemed a bit gay.) But it was great fun. I kept thinking about the last time I saw that show performed, in Springville with my friend Elizabeth, with more people in the cast than in the audience. Good times!

Other than that ... I've been stressing out the last few days about the upcoming Enrichment night. Much more so than the last few I've done, since February. Last night we had a Presidency meeting, though, and that helped a lot. For one thing, I'm starting to feel like this really is coming to a close, and that makes things much more bearable.

The other day, we took a little church history tour for Institute, which was also fun. We went to Hale, where John Taylor came from, and then drove down to Downham and Chatburn, some tiny little villages where Heber C. Kimball had an especially spiritual missionary experience. When he told Joseph Smith about it later, the Prophet told him that ancient prophets walked on that ground and dedicated that land for the work of the Lord. I thought that was especially interesting, since it's right by Pendle Hill, where the Pendle Witches came from. After that we went to Preston and walked down to the River Ribble, to near the spot where the first baptisms in England took place. No one knows exactly where those baptisms were, but we have a good idea of the general area, and that's where we went. On the way home we stopped for some fish and chips. Yum!

As I said earlier, I am avoiding working on my dissertation, and that's about how that whole thing is going. I was going to go Edinburgh today, but decided to stay home instead. I thought I'd do some work. And have done basically nothing. Nothing productive, that is. So that's pretty much where I am right now.

Some people stay far away from the door if there's a chance of it opening up. (3 points)

reporting for duty!

And though before my fall I was captain of you all, I'm a member of the crew. (16 points)

So, this week I went to Portsmouth. Well, not for the whole week, of course. But I ought probably to start with the weekend, when I went to Huddersfield.

Huddersfield

I don't know if you may have heard of Huddersfield, but it was a very important town in the Industrial Revolution, though not so important as, say, Manchester or Birmingham. Anyway, that basically means that there is really nothing there to see, even though they try to pretend they have a cultural heritage. I went out there to see a performance of "The Yeomen of the Guard," a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, by the Huddersfield G&S Society. It was lots of fun, as always, though the first act lagged quite a bit. However, both of the finales were good, and that's very important in G&S. It was a bit depressing for G&S, too: of the 3 marriages at the end, 2 of them are not very happy ones, and there's even a jilted lover, which never happens in G&S. The story ends with the jilted lover falling dead to the floor as the happy couple set off, cheered by the chorus. Ee.

Bucklebury

My great-great grandfather grew up farming in a little, bitty village community called Bucklebury, in West Berkshire. (This is on my Dad's side of the family.) So on my way down to Portsmouth, I stopped at Reading and took a bus out to see Bucklebury. There was basically nothing there -- the actual village consisted entirely of an old Norman church and a few cottages scattered about -- but it was sure beautiful country. (For those of you familiar with the Idaho Falls area, it was very much like taking someone to see Coltman or Ucon.) I had a nice little walk from the bus stop down to the village, and took some public footpaths through the field along the way. I felt a lot like Elizabeth Bennet, walking the three miles to Netherfield and in the process getting her petticoats soaked "six inches deep in mud" (7 points for that quote, though I hope you all know it). It had been raining on and off all day, and so my pants really were soaked through by the time I got back on the main road. I took some lovely pictures of the countryside, which I will put up on my website ASAP so that you can see them. By that time, though, I was worried that I wouldn't make it back to the bus stop in time to catch the last bus back to Reading (there are less than 5 buses to Bucklebury per day), so I didn't linger long in the "village." And on the way back, I did something really daring and ... hitch-hiked! (Gasp! Oh, horror!) I think the guy was rather surprised when I told him I only wanted to go a mile up the road to the Bladebone Inn. I'm sure he would have taken me all the way into Reading if I'd asked him to, but it was probably best as it was. (He was a very nice, middle-aged man in a nice, clean car, on his way to a business meeting, apparently, so I would have felt comfortable going that far with him, too ... but I'd already paid for the return to Reading by bus.)

Portsmouth

Portsmouth was just what I had expected. The worst I can say for the town is that the cabbie was pretty rude to me. But he may have been funning, I couldn't quite tell, since I could only see his eyes in the rear-view mirror. Anyway, I saw the HMS Victory, which was wonderful! I was a little disappointed that they didn't let us go up on the poop deck, but we did get to see just about everything else, so that was OK. We even got to see the Grand Magazine and the hold, so that was cool. And they showed us the exact spot where Admiral Nelson was shot, and then where he died.

I then went to see Charles Dickens's birthplace. His parents lived on the main street in town, though you wouldn't know that nowadays. It's tucked away in a little section of the old street that's been preserved (probably because of Dickens's home), while the city has grown around and away from there. The house itself wasn't that great, but it was nice to know that I was in the place where the genius Dickens spent his childhood. While there I bought a Dickens book (they had them for dirt-cheap in the gift shop), and the lady even stamped it for me so that I will know for all eternity that I bought that book at Dickens's birthplace.

In the afternoon I decided to go see Southsea Castle. It really doesn't look like much from the outside, and it isn't much on the inside, either. The former was intentional, though, while I don't think the latter was. It was purposely built very low to the ground in order to give the enemy a smaller target to shoot at. They are very proud of the fact that Henry VIII (who built the castle) watched his flagship, the Mary Rose, sink from there at the beginning of a big battle. They are also particularly proud of the fact that there has never been a shot "fired in anger" from Southsea Castle during the 400+ years that it served as an active military post. That seems a bit silly to me ... I would be more proud of a castle that had actively defended my city than one that had never had reason to shoot at anyone, personally. It seems to me that fact merely serves to point out that Southsea Castle was superfluous. Oh well ...

That evening I bought a bag at Debenham's -- which made me very happy, since I've been looking for one for a while -- and then went to have dinner. I seriously considered having Indian, but I ended up in a pub called -- wait for it! -- The Hog's Head! For you HP fans out there, you know how hilarious that is! My British friends, when I got back, told me it was rather a common name for a pub, but I still think it's awesome.

School

Well, back to the reason why I'm even here, eh? I went to pick up my marked coursework today, and did quite well. I had previously seen my dissertation proposal-thingy and discussed it with my supervisor, so I knew that I had done well on that one. I got 71 for that paper, 68 for sociolinguistics, and 66 for my crap class (also known as CDA). I can't read most of the comments on my CDA paper, either, since the professor was German (well, Austrian, really), and she has that loopy German writing. I got quite good at reading that writing on my mission, but it's been way too long, and I don't care enough to ask her what it means. In any case, I've done quite well overall, and that's really good to know. This means that if I can only get a 70 or higher on my dissertation, I'll have earned a Distinction, which would be great!

I had a really good discussion with my supervisor today. I've been doing some tagging work for him, along with some other stuff, and so I had a few questions about that stuff. He also gave me some more information on this program I'm trying to use to help out with my texts and my computer analysis. And then we ahd a good discussion about the reading I've been doing, theoretical problems I have to work with, and some of my concerns about my PhD program. It was very helpful, and I now feel like I can face my dissertation again. Which is good, since I really have to do so, especially tomorrow and Saturday.

Tomorrow, actually, I'm going to Kendal, which is where my mother's side of the family came from, and I'm meeing a member from the ward up there who's going to show me around a little. Saturday night is EuroVision (kind of a Europe-wide version of American Idol, or Pop Idol), so I'm planning to watch that with "The Girls." And then next Tuesday I'll go up to Harrogate to see "Pirate of Penzance," which I'm very excited for!

parents and sushi and dreams ... oh my!

parents

Last week my parents came to visit. We had a good time. On Tuesday we went to the Lake District, Wednesday we went to London (and Dad even came with us!), and Thursday we hung out and saw the "sights" in Lancaster (including my personal favorite, the ruins of the Roman bath-house). All in all, we had a good time. But it only took 3 days for them to start getting on my nerves. I'm starting to get worried about going home in June. I might have to take refuge at Wendy's house for a while.

sushi

I'm trying to get back to real life now. Today I've been working on tagging my James and Lily info, preparatory to crunching it through lots of computer programs to try and find something interesting to write about in a dissertation. I really should probably be reading, but this is both easier and rather more fun. Plus, I can take my reading with me on the trains more easily when I go travelling, such as this weekend, when I'll be going to Huddersfield to see a production of "The Yeomen of the Guard" (a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta).

Yesterday I helped out a friend from the Linguistics Department. Katsura's doing her dissertation in sociolinguistics, and she needed some native English speakers to get together and talk about stuff. She's from Japan, and when we were finished, she fed us all some home-made sushi. It was the first sushi I've ever had, and it was quite nice. I don't know that I'd make it myself, but it was better than I had expected. That might be because it was California Rolls, and there wasn't a whole lotta raw fish in it.

dreams

My dissertation is already starting to get to me, apparently. Sometime during the night I had a dream, which I only vaguely remember, about Harry Potter. This has only happened to me on a few rare occasions. And this dream wasn't really about Harry, it was about James. I don't remember most of it, but I do recall that it had something to do with James being evil, and I found that highly disturbing. It seems like he had something to do with Lily's betrayal and death, and it really gave me the colly-wobbles. I suspect it was triggered by my thinking about the quote where JK said that James did not switch bodies with Lupin before being killed, because "James would never have saved himself and then left his wife and son to die." The dream woke me up briefly, probably because of the colly-wobbles I was getting from thinking about James being evil, and then I went back to sleep again and dreamt about something else. I hope I can last a whole summer like this.

He was her man, but he was doin' her wrong. (23 points)

Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford was really nice! I kept hoping the weather would be good while I was there, and I was not disappointed -- otherwise, I would have been really annoyed, since it was such a nice weekend here in Lancaster, from what I gather.

I took Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with me, hoping to make some good progress in my data collection for my dissertation. I planned to get at least through the chapter "Snape's Worst Memory" and maybe a little past. And that's just where I did get, by the time I got home. Yay for me!

Friday night, I arrived and found my B&B, then went out for a little walk. I thought I would go find Anne Hathaway's Cottage, just to see what it looked like and decide whether to go back in the morning to go inside. Halfway to the cottage, though, I found a lovely park, strewn with people walking their dogs, children playing football (that's soccer, for most of you), and clumps of summer-scented, recently-mown grass. It was just such a perfect scene, and I couldn't stand to walk through that park without stopping, so I plopped down on the grass and read for a while, then just lay in the sun, enjoying life to the utmost. I got to know a few lovely dogs this way, who were all quite happy to walking and frolicking in the sunny grass. Finally, I moved on to complete my walk to the Cottage. Just outside the park, though, I had to stop again, as I then came upon a little triangular field with a horse grazing in it. I clucked at the horse, and he came over, and then I felt bad that I didn't have anything to give him. As soon as he realized that, he went happily back to munching the grass by my feet. Continuing on, I came across a black cat, which was absolutely beautiful and let me pet it, though not too pleased about it (I could see his tail swishing). After making it to Anne Hathaway's Cottage and peeking in the garden, I decided I would have to come back in the morning and take a look inside.

The next morning I went back to the Cottage and had a nice look around, and then strolled through the gardens. I walked the labyrinth (which, to my utter annoyance, they insisted on calling a "maze"), which was rather fun, even though the yew trees outlining the path were no higher than 3 feet, so you never really felt lost or overwhelmed at all. I suppose that's just as well, since that's really not the point of a labyrinth. I finally walked back into town then, vaguely thinking that I might stop at the Shakespeare Birthplace House. By the time I got to town, the sun had come back out (she'd been hiding in the morning), and the town was filled with people eating ice cream and enjoying the sunshine. I walked down to the river, got a little something to eat, and then sat and did some more reading. Then I got my theater tickets, but discovered that I had another hour before the doors opened. So, I walked around by the Swan Theatre and found a nice spot in the grass to read some more, intermittently watching the family picnicking nearby, whose kids were playing tag with each other.

Finally, I went in to the theater. My seat was right at the very back of the theater, and I mean the back. However, there wasn't anyone directly next to me, and I found it easy to stretch out and enjoy my comfort. The play, Twelfth Night was definitely worth it. I love Shakespeare's sense of comedy, and this performance did not disappoint on that front -- Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Feste the fool, Malvolio the steward, and Maria the maid were all marvelous. The others, though, left a little to be desired, particularly Viola, which is just a shame. Sebastian (Viola's twin brother ... in the play, not in real life) was only slightly better, Olivia was rather too emotional, and Orsino -- apart from being really good looking, which is definitely a necessity -- played the tragic lover just a little too strongly. But it was still worth seeing.

I often think that Shakespeare is highly over-done, but then I watch something else of his, or I read a few sonnets, and I think, "He may be over-done, but he probably deserves to be." And there are plenty of other over-done things I can think of that I still really enjoy (Harry Potter, for example, and Orson Welles). And I often remember a student in high school claiming that Shakespeare was nothing but a bawdy old man, and then I think, "Maybe he was, but he sure could write!" For that matter, I know plenty of other artists who were little more than bawdy old (or young) men, or even women -- except for the fact that they were blessed with a great talent, which they chose to share with the world.

The journey home was probably the worst part. I had to walk from one Birmingham station to another, which was a little annoying, even though short. And then, I had to take a coach from Crewe from Preston and another from Preston to Lancaster -- the trains are still terrible on the weekends right now, even though they were supposed to be done with their work by March or April.

I kept my journal for the trip in my copy of OotP -- and every time I wrote something, it made me first think of JoAnna, and then of how apalled Dad would be if he knew what I was doing. :)

"Words are grown so false, I am loath to prove reason with them." (13 points)

just a note

Well, I'm really off to Stratford now. I'm writing this from an Internet Cafe in Lancaster, en route to the train station. I had to check my email about something important before I left, and I forgot to do it at the university before I left. And I still have 12 minutes of 'net time left, so I thought I'd make the most of them.

I also (finally) updated my website today on the Lancaster server (see link in the sidebar). I've added some pictures, and taken some out (since they were taking up so much space, and most of them weren't that great, and most of you probably don't care about them that much), and I also added a section with some of my academic writings in pdf format, so that you can see what I've been working on this past year.

I'm getting excited about my dissertation. I need to speak to my supervisor a bit more for some direction/instruction in the computer-analysis part. There are some important things I need to use the computer for, and I've asked him to introduce me to some programs I haven't used before. But other than that, I'm mostly reading right now, both Harry Potter (I'm about halfway through the last book) for data analysis and other stuff for background reading. I hope it goes well.

Well, I'd better get going now. I'll write again later when I have been to Stratford and have more interesting things to talk about. Until then!

coming home! coming home!

Well, I bought my tickets today to come home. For good. June 24th. I'll be arriving in Salt Lake around 5:30 pm, if anyone wants to come meet me. :)

Driving down the road I get a feeling that I should have been home yesterday. (4 points)

I'm away again ...

I just decided tonight, rather last minute, to head out to Stratford-upon-Avon tomorrow after my class. I found a ticket online for 10 pounds to see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform Twelfth Night, so I bought it. Now, though, I need to find accommodation for the night, which is a little tricky, since this is May Day weekend. Hope it all goes OK. I'll report back later.

I never can see him but I am heart-burned an hour after. (15 points)

Cornwall trip

Cornwall last weekend was a lot of fun. Ironically, on the day I left, the weather was beautiful, which doesn't happen often in Lancaster. In fact, the weather was apparently wonderful here all weekend, while I was down in Cornwall. Cornwall is supposed to be one of the sunnier places in England, but you wouldn't have thought it from the weekend I spent there. It was pretty yucky most of the time I was there. But at least it didn't rain too much.

On Saturday, JoAnna and I went to Land's End, and then walked from there to Sennen Cove, about a mile or so up the coast. The beach at Sennen Cove is beautiful, and it's apparently considered one of the best beaches in Europe for surfing, body-boarding, and the like. There were lots of surfers there Saturday. We had some fish and chips from a local shop and then walked on the beach. The water was cold, but it was nice anyway. Then we went back to Penzance. We were going to walk along the Esplanade (the longest in Europe, so I hear), but we didn't get very far before we decided to give that up. The tide was in, so we kept getting sprayed with sea-water (if not doused in it), and then it started raining to boot! We went back to Market Jew Street, the main shopping street in town, and bought some groceries for the next day. Then we went back to the hostel for a rest, and after an hour or so went back out and ate at Wetherspoon's.

On Sunday we got up bright and early and headed to Helston to find the church. We did find out, although we had to walk up a honking long street to get there. We arrived right as they were beginning the sacrament, and the usher didn't let us in until they had finished with the bread. So, we got to take the water, but not the bread. Kind of odd. Anyway, while there at church, we met a few members, and one of them told us he worked at St. Michael's Mount (near Penzance). We said we were hoping to go out there before we went home, and he told us he would get us in for free. Wow, we thought -- OK, that sounds great! He wanted to introduce us to his wife, who would be working there, but we were going to leave during Sunday School, so we didn't have time for that. So instead he asked us for our names, and he said he'd phone and have them let us in free. "Just introduce yourselves at the ticket office," he said, "and they'll let you in.

So, we left and took the bus back to Marazion, which is the town next to St. Michael's Mount. The mount is only about half a mile out from the coast, if that, but during high tide you have to take a ferry. We got there at low tide and walked over the causeway to get there. When we got to the ticket office, we rather awkwardly introduced ourselves.

"We're Katrina Wilkins and JoAnna Hunter," I said.

The ticket lady looked at us blankly. "Excuse me?"

JoAnna repeated, "I'm JoAnna Hunter, and this is Katrina Wilkins."

"Hello, I'm Dawn Evans," she replied. "Nice to meet you." And she held out her hand.

JoAnna and I looked at each other, unsure what to do next. "Does that say anything to you?" JoAnna asked.

Dawn looked blank again, and then, while I sought for the words to explain the situation, she suddenly seemed to get it. "Oh! Who are you here to see?"

"Uh ..." I stammered. "I ... can't remember her name ... she's married to Richard ...?"

"Oh, Maggie?" Dawn exclaimed.

"Yeah!" I responded excitedly. (I need hardly add that Richard had never told us his wife's name. To this day, I'm not sure if he really is married to Maggie.)

Dawn printed out our two free tickets, and we then went to watch the 15-minute-long informational video about the Mount.

St. Michael's Mount, as I mentioned, is about 1/2 mile out to sea from the village of Marazion. Back in the day (around 600 AD, if I remember correctly) some local fishermen had a vision of St. Michael the archangel there, and so some monks built a monastery there. The Benedictine monastery was there for several centuries, and then the island was captured and given to some noble family. They used the monastery as their castle, and a few more centuries later added on to it. The castle is still owned by the St. Aubyn family, and they are said to still live there as well, though I'm a bit incredulous. Anyway, the mount was nice. It's supposed to be based on Mont St-Michel in Brittany, but the latter is much more impressive, I must say. By the time we left, the tide was in again, so we had to take a ferry back to the mainland. We could have swum it, to be honest, but I guess then we'd have had wet clothes and that's no good.

We then went back to the hostel and made dinner/lunch. After a very nice meal, we decided to head over to St. Ives, wanting to make the most of our time there. St. Ives was also very nice, although it would have been nicer if the weather had been. We walked along the beach again, "having a marvelous time" (7 points), and then went back to Penzance for one last night.

The whole time, I kept wishing I had my "Pirates of Penzance" music with me. I kept singing snatches of the lyrics to myself, but I don't know them well enough. Somehow, I ended up without Pirates on my computer, so I'll have to copy the CD when I get back home again.

Speaking of coming home ... it looks quite likely (I'd say about a 98% chance) that I'll be coming home in mid- to late June. I had a good talk with Jonathan (my supervisor) today, and he seems quite confident that it will be no problem at all. He also let me take a look at his comments and marks on my dissertation proposal, which I gave him last week sometime. I was pleasantly shocked to see that he marked it at 71 (recall from last term that anything above 70 is a "distinction," which means it's really good). I honestly didn't expect more than the high 50s, although I was hoping for something in the 60s. I hope the other essays from this term come out as well as this did.

I had intended not to intrude myself upon your notice in this effective but alarming costume. (13 points)

i'm away again this weekend ...

I'm leaving for Penzance in a few hours. JoAnna's been at surf camp in Newquay, and the two of us are going to meet up tonight and hang out in Penzance and Land's End for the weekend. I'm pretty excited. Everyone tells me great things about Cornwall, so I hope it lives up to my expectations. From all appearances it's supposed to be yucky weather all weekend, but I'm not going to let that ruin it for me.

Fill my heart with song and let me sing for evermore.
You are all I long for, all I worship and adore. (11 points)

giving in to the lure of the meme ...

Because I liked the idea. I didn't include two of my very favorite books, just because they're so ridiculously easy.

Note: Answers have been added for those that have been guessed correctly. I'm still waiting to hear from anyone on #5 and #10.

1. List the first line(s) of 10 books you really like.
2. And then you all can guess.

1. There was no possiblity of taking a walk that day. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte; correctly guessed by Donovan, Elizabeth, and Erin

2. 3 MAY, Bistritz - Left Munich at 8:35 p.m. on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late. Dracula, by Bram Stoker; correctly guessed by Donovan and Erin

3. Every one has heard people quarrelling. Sometimes it sounds funny and sometimes it sounds merely unpleasant; but however it sounds, I believe we can learn something very important from listening to the kind of things they say. Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis; correctly guessed by Elizabeth

4. The intense interest aroused in the public by what was known at the time as "The Styles Case" has now somewhat subsided. The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie; correctly guessed by Elizabeth

5. The short answer to the question 'Who is stylistics?' is that she is a friend of mine, and that I hope by the end of this book she might also become a friend of yours.

6. Who that cares much to know the history of man, and how the mysterious mixture behaves under the varying experiments of Time, has not dwelt, at least briefly, on the life of Saint Theresa, has not smiled with some gentleness at the thought of the little girl walking forth one morning hand-in-hand with her still smaller brother, to go and seek martyrdom in the country of the Moors? Middlemarch, by George Eliot; correctly guessed by Donovan and Elizabeth

7. My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens; correctly guessed by Donovan and Elizabeth

8. On August 16, 1968, I was handed a book written by a certain Abbé Vallet, Le Manuscrit de Dom Adson de Melk, traduit en français d'après l'édition de Dom J. Mabillon (Aux Presses de l'Abbaye de la Source, Paris, 1842). The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco; correctly guessed by Donovan and Elizabeth

9. The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could ; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. (actually a short story, but unquestionably my favorite by this author) "The Cask of Amantillado," by Edgar Allan Poe; correctly guessed by Donovan and Elizabeth

10. We are talking now of summer evenings in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the time that I lived there so successfully disguised to myself as a child.

an invitation

I've been using my Gmail account a little more the last few weeks, and I just realized that I have 50 invites to give out. So if anyone wants a Gmail account, let me know.

You have no idea how much trouble I'm having trying to decide what to get you for a wedding present. Oh, I know!-I'm enough. But I do want you to have some little trifle for the occasion. At first I thought of a fountain pen, but you've already got one. And then I thought perhaps a villa in the south of France, but they are so difficult to gift-wrap. (17 points)

Eco, Short, and Watson

Eco

I finished The Name of the Rose last night -- great read. It's an excellent murder mystery, but with so much more going on. I've never known more in my life about monastic orders, medeival philosophy, and the politics of the Holy Roman Empire.

The historical aspect of things gets the book a little bogged down at times -- the stuff about monastic orders, politics, and various heretical groups -- but the plot keeps you moving along the whole time, which is important. The best part, though, is the philosophy scattered throughout the book. Most of it is discussed in a very accessible way, and it can really get you thinking.

Eco is a semiotician (he studies signs) who started out as a philosopher, particularly interested in the Middle Ages. During the last part of the 20th century, he's had some influence in linguistics, specifically the philosophy of language. That means that he resonates with me, and I always appreciate that in an author. Anyway, he brings up several interesting notions such as abductive logic, the application of logic, and the pervasiveness of semiotics. It's gotten me interested in Peirce again, as well as in Roger Bacon and Aritsotle. He made me realize (once again) just how little I really know about the world. So today I checked out some books, by Eco, Peirce, and Aristotle. I'm hoping that I manage to get through them decently before my interest is claimed elsewhere.

Short

I handed in my assignments today, but with a little bit of trouble. I printed them out in the computer lab, then took them down the hall to photocopy them (we have to turn in two copies of each essay). While they were being photocopied, I realized that the diagram I had inserted in one of the essays hadn't printed out. Apparently it had gotten lost in cyberspace, sometime between finishing my essay and then transferring it to my USB key and taking to the lab to print. So, I went back to the lab and re-drew the diagram, figuring I could just insert an extra page into the essay. But then, I didn't know the page numbers for the source that it was taken from. So I cited some random page numbers, saved the diagram, and went over to the library to find the book it came from. That part wasn't hard, and I soon had the right page numbers. But then I went to get some of my books (Eco, Peirce, and Aristotle), and in the meantime forgot to change the page numbers. I didn't realize until just about 20 minutes ago that I handed in the essay with the wrong page numbers cited for my diagram. I hope it'll be OK -- I'll go have a quick talk with Jonathan and explain what happened, and I'm sure he'll be fine about it. It's not as if he's unfamiliar with the diagram or anything, so I doubt he would try to look up the reference anyway. (Oh, the diagram was taken from a book by Mick Short, hence the reference to him in the section title.)

Watson

After handing in my essays (even if they had false citations!) I went in to town to run a few errands. While there, I stopped to get some lunch at KFC. As I sat looking out the window and munching my yummy chicken sandwich, I noticed a man across the street who looked just like a modern-day Dr. Watson. I could just imagine him hanging out with Sherlock Holmes and trying to solve mysteries. He even had the mustache right, and he was wearing an earthy-toned overcoat and tweed cap. The only thing that could have made it any better would have been a smoking pipe in his mouth. Or a friend who looked like Sherlock Holmes

Why, you could melt that girl like butter, if you'd only turn on the heat! (380 points, if you know this one, you're my friend for life!)

may you never ...

I just tasted what I think is quite possibly the most rancid milk that ever existed. I sniffed it several times, but couldn't tell for sure whether it was still good. So I poured a tiny bit (say, half an ounce) into a glass and drank it. That ended all doubts on the subject. I kept wondering what induced me to actually swallow it, why I hadn't been smart enough to just swish it around in my mouth. Oh well.

CONSTANT VIGILANCE! (3 points)

one more down

I know I haven't been around much lately, and I'm sorry if anyone's been looking for me. But I've been really busy working on a paper. I finished it today, but I have another one to work on. Anyway, I thought I'd take a minute to mention some of what I've been up to.

For one thing, I'm seriously considering coming home in June instead of August (which would also mean not attending the Accio Harry Potter conference). It would sure save me a lot of money, and that's always a good thing. Besides which, there'll be pretty much no one here after June, so that's no fun.

This weekend I'm going to Hadrian's Wall in the north of England. I'm really excited for it. I have recently been learning a little Latin on the Internet -- not enough to really do much, but I can identify the cases in phrases like "in nomine domini" and stuff -- and we will be visiting a Roman fort up there. Besides which, it's Hadrian's Wall, and that's just really cool.

I've also been reading The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, which has been lots of fun. Plot-wise, it's a medeival murder mystery, but it goes far beyond that, really. Anyway, very interesting reading. If any of you have read it, be sure and let me know so we can chat.

I don't like my work, but I get a good deal of satisfaction out of it after all, so I won't complain. (10 points)

today's scripture study

This morning I was reading in Alma, about Alma and Amulek teaching the people of Ammonihah. I was especially struck by Chapter 10, where Amulek begins to speak. The people are particularly annoyed that one of their own is speaking out against them and their actions, and so the lawyers and judges decide to try and trap him. But he, with the help of the Lord, figures out what their up to, and he again condemns their actions. This makes the people even more angry, and they claim that he is reviling their laws. Amulek explains that he did not speak against their law -- rather, he spoke in favor of their law, and that law condemns them. The people's response? "The hypocrite! First he speaks against our law, and now he claims that he didn't speak against our law. He's a liar and a child of the devil." (To read the real version of what happened, as opposed to my personal summary of it, click here.)

Anyway, what struck me with this account, was that it sure sounds a lot like what's been going on in our country lately. I think it's particularly relevant to the fiasco surrounding Terri Schiavo these days, but it's been going on for years. It really brought home to me Mosiah's prophecy that "if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction" (Mosiah 29:27). For several years, that's been one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon. Now, it almost scares me.

And now, to lighten the mood of this rather somber post, I leave you with this light-hearted quote.

"Surely you can't be serious?"
"I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."
(5 points)

Williams does it again

I just had to share this article by Walter E. Williams. Not his most recent, but I just found it today. He makes a good case for the "original intent" school of Constitutional interpretation. The only person I've ever heard make better arguments for that school is Justice Antonin Scalia.

Anyway, here's the article: The law, or good ideas?

I'm sitting in the library right now, working on my assignments, and boy is it hot! I'm sitting next to the window, and it's unusually sunny outside. On top of that, i'm also wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans, which doesn't help the situation.

Laugh it up, fuzzball. (5 points)

happy birthday, Leslie Howard

In the past few days, I've been learning a little more about Leslie Howard, the famed actor. His most famous roles include Ashley Wilkes in Gone With the Wind (1939), Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (1938), and Sir Percy Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934). (This last explains my current interest in him.) Howard was a man of high principle and courage. Before acting, he served briefly in World War I. After a very successful career in acting, directing, and producing, he became dissatisfied with Hollywood and returned to England just days before Britain entered World War II. Along with many others, Howard had sensed the coming of war in Europe, and he returned home largely in order to assist in the war effort. At the time, he was just shy of 50 years old, and he spent the next few years actively speaking out against the Nazis. In 1943, a few months after his 50th birthday, he was killed when the commercial airplane, in which he was returning to England from Portugal, was shot down by the German Luftwaffe.

I always highly admire those in Hollywood (or any other high-profile career) who leave it to do what they feel is right. I also am constantly in search of celebrities who marry before becoming famous, and stay married to that same person, after fame and fortune make their appearance. Both of these are true of Leslie Howard, and that makes him particularly admirable in my opinion. Happy Birthday to a great man!

Devilish clever race, the French. How they speak that unspeakable language of theirs defeats me. (12 points)

further exploits

Today I tried making Yorkshire parkin. It's a traditional sweet bread made in Yorkshire, a lot like gingerbread. I found a simple recipe on the internet for it, so today I decided to try it out. It turned out decent, edible, but it could have been much better. It was a learning experience, in other words.

First, I didn't have any baking powder, only baking soda. I had heard once long ago that you could substitute these for each other, but you really can't. But I tried it anyway. I think it would have been OK, but I should have used about half as much baking soda. It overflowed in the oven, and I had to scrape it off the bottom of the oven while it was still baking.

The other problem was that the recipe said to bake it in a moderately slow oven, and I just guessed at what that was. I guessed high. So, it also turned out rather over-cooked. Like I said, it's still edible, but it could be much better. At least I'll know next time.

Maybe the dingo ate your baby! (10 points)

Happy Easter!

During the sacrament in church today, I read through the account of the Resurrection from the four Gospels. I really love the account in John, and today particularly it made me think of the glorious day when I will meet my Master and worship at His feet.

I have been listening again today to one of my favorite hymns, one by John Rutter. It's called "As the Bridegroom to His Chosen," and the version I have is by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is so lovely. I would like to do an analysis and explanation of all the metaphors in that hymn.

I was so lucky as to be invited to dinner with the Kureczkos, and that was lovely, as always. I will really miss that family when I leave. Right now I'm going to read for a while, and then I will call my family in Idaho Falls.

The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature. (25 points)