a sock?

A sock. With expression. Hmm.

a sarcastic comment on spelling.

Too many people don't know how to spell the word: separate. I see it as "seperate" everywhere. (Most recently, in a comment on a blog I read two seconds ago.) I had a professor (well, not really...he was a grad student I think) who taught partial differential equations when I was in undergrad. He was always solving said PDEs on the board in front of the class, and he always put the heading "seperation of variables" on the board at least once a week, all semester, which eventually became very irritating. Nearly everyone in the class noticed eventually, and each time it happened, we would all look around the room at one another as if to say, "he still hasn't figured it out." Nobody ever said anything...I really wanted to write him a note on my final, but decided against it for fear of negative effect. Maybe he still spells it the same way.

On another note, I keep seeing spelling typos in books...really obvious ones with three "e"s in a row or letters swapped..I can't see why some authors don't use spell check. It would be so easy.

to err on a bike

I am officially a Stanford student now, the initiation has begun. I've gotten into the obligatory bike accident--right in front of a large tour group too. Stanford at it's finest, the highlight of their tour, I'm sure. They tried not to laugh. The tour guide even kept a straight face long enough for him to ask if I was alright (to which I replied that I was fine--a blatant lie, of course). But in their defense, it was sort of funny, and I might have even been slightly amused if I hadn't been so damaged. I had cut through a construction zone (lovely dirt and rocks everywhere), made a sharp turn to avoid a tractor 20 feet away, and slid gracefully into the ground. I didn't even collide with any other bicyclists. No, I managed to get in an accident all by myself. Brilliant. Once I got back to my apartment I realized I didn't have any disinfectant around, so I used vodka. Another brilliant move on my part.

I think step two in the initiation process is getting your bike stolen, but I think I'll skip that and go fountain hopping...

You thought I was going to say something witty, didn't you.

Sorry to let you down. I can't be witty all the time. Sometimes I may go an entire day without saying something witty. I was witty today, but I might not be witty tomorrow. Actually, there is a fair chance I might not be witty tomorrow. I could try not to be witty.

Something very amusing: Somehow, even though I have lived at Stanford for 9 months, I've never had to lead music in Relief Society. Nobody ever asked me. Well, today they did. Unfortunately, my 15 minutes of fame ended abruptly as I closed the hymn book after the second verse. The pianist looked at me (after stopping accompanying mid-measure), and said, "are we done?" And then I realized I had done something I do all the time..I get confused when singing hymns because you never turn the page. You have to re-read the same page over and over again depending on the number of verses. I have to consciously remind myself of this. I often close the book before the final verse (or in this case, the final two verses), only to slyly open it again and hope not too many people noticed. Today there was no hiding my error. I suppose after the second verse today, I forgot what I'm always reminding myself, and thought the song was over. I said.."erm...we could keep going. sorry." Then we all laughed (and didn't continue). And that was that. Luckily, it was at the end of the block, so we all got out on time.

The day of towels

I think it very important to observe that today is towel day. Yes, towel day. A day to celebrate the existence of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy plus two (although, personally, I didn't particularly like book 5), as well as to celebrate Douglas Adams (who died on may 11, 2001). Lets celebrate (his life). Douglas Adams also wrote a lesser known pair of books, which are by no means less worthy. The second of these is entitled, "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul," featuring a man named Dirk Gently. As you might have guessed...he was in the first book too. I would like to point out that my neighbor's name is Dirk. I would also like to point out (which I am certain most will miss) is that the footnote on this page (So long, and thanks for all the fish) is the title of the third installment in the Hitchhiker trilogy. This is, in fact, a farewell from the dolphins (who eat fish). Intrigued? I thought so. Yay for towels. On another note, I would like to say the world has not ended.

Ode to the Matt

the matt...is a matty man.
He married the mariaquita.
She and he are lovely
he is a leaf at heart
flying
soaring
twirling turbulently...
He knows he twirls, and just doesn’t tell anybody.
I won’t either.

To Matt. As requested. Any other requests?

Exit Mundi.

So..long ago, I discovered a lovely site..called Exit Mundi. Perhaps not so oddly enough, even though I generally loathe and avoid the inaccurate and overdramatized end-of-the-world movies, I like this website that lists even more far-fetched end world scenarios. But the main point of this paragraph, is an introduction to this cartoon, which I think is especially marvelous.