All the King's Horses and All the King's Men

Welcome to another edition of the Stompin' Ground.

I do want to thank Geo for the suggestion. I might have to look into the earplug thing. Never tried sleeping with 'em before and certainly not the cheap 89 cent ones ya get at the shooting range. I was lucky enough to have no cricket maddness last night. Someone was looking out for me too because I forgot to turn on my alarms. I woke up between when they would have gone off and instead of rolling over as I was want to do, I felt I ought to check the clock first and lo, I made it to school. So far that's 100% attendance. Not a very common thing in my life I must say. Course I did take my Lysol can and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed under the bed. Ya know how it kind of hangs briefly in the air, I was hoping it would spread enough down there that if anything was there it wouldn't be very chirpy.

Sorry to hear about your woes, Kong. Pity that you aren't playing much GBG. I've been duking it out with a couple of computer opponents (diff teams) on Moderate. Sometimes I clean up really easily. Othertimes I just can't seem to keep up. I always go random so I don't know that I have a fave group -- but that Rebel/Empire team sure was pretty Stomptastic. Shielded X-wings guarding AT-AT's -- what could be better? I do have to say the last two times I have taken the competition down though, it was as the Trade Federation. Shielded Destroyer Droids are also pretty buff. Hope the head cold is gettin' better and your tech insomnia takes a break. Even worse when you're ill and need the sleep more than normal.

So what's new? Not a whole lot really. I think I nailed the Kanji Quiz we had today. I don't think they're worth a lot of points, but it's nice to know I'm not stinking the place up. We got our last bunch of them today and quite frankly I need more practice. I know we'll do some in class tomorrow and our next quiz is Monday. After that it's another couple of weeks of Chapter 1 in the text. I guess we bust our hiney learning the Kanji asap because it's all throughout the rest of the chapter. Course there is a LOT that is in the chapter that we just don't cover... hence why they give us the hurigana (little kana above the kanji) so we know how to pronounce it at least. I did notice as I did the pages from our workbook that they did make a little more sense. In today's reading from our text there was a little blurb from the author that suggests that learning Kanji really does get easier after learning around 500 of them. (Since there are around 2000 in common usage and after 4 semesters of Japanese you cover about 400 in class -- that didn't make me feel a while lot better.)

One nice thing -- there is no computer homework over the weekend. I showed up to class about half hour early and instead of just goofing around (or posting here) I decided to get a jump start on that day's assignment. I was almost 2/3rds done with everything when our instructor finally got around to telling us the changes she wanted made from the way the text wanted us to do things. *laugh* So I had to go back and redo a few things, but I was still way ahead of the game. Maybe I should look ahead. She's probably got some crazy mad idea like for Word. A big 4 part project worth the same as a test. Last time she did that, it was assigned Monday and due Wednesday. It was on the schedule for more than a week, but on the schedule for a week but a week away doesn't really help if you aren't peeking ahead all the time. *shrug* I managed to do alright with the last one, even if I did have to stay up late to get it done.

That's good too because I just realized it's conference weekend! YAY! Conference is a really cool deal. You get to listen to various of the Lord's Servants share messages directly related to our world today. Check it out if you haven't. Never know, it may change your life. Tends to change mine when I pay attention. You can even listen to it on-line from LDS dot org. They also archive it so if you do happen to miss it, you can always go back and read, listen, watch things you missed.

And to think I was planning on saying a little 'bout the origins of Kong and Godzilla. Alas, I think that's enough for now. I can tell that story another time.

While the cows are away,

~ゴジラ！

And Shun the Frumious Bandersnatch!

Ho there!

Godzilla coming to you, underdead, from the computer room of the house I live in. Even if I were alive I would certainly feel out of sorts right now. I should probably hit the sack and soon. I am very glad, however, that I didn't nap this afternoon or early evening. I tell ya, I may not have much fear of a Jubjub, or even a frumious Bandersnatch -- but ONE lousy, stinkin' cricket sure made my exitence pretty miserable today.

'Tis bad enough that my insomnia keeps me up sometimes even when I am tired and need to sleep I just can't. 'Twas the case last night. I tried at 10:30 to go to bed. No dice. So I got up and tried again at 11:30, no dice. So I got up and took over the world (Hey Kong, you still play Galactic Battlegrounds at all?) as the Trade Federation no less. So about 1 this morning I finally decide I'm going to bed and staying there, like it or not.

NOT.

Somewhere under my bed is a cricket who must have smurf ancestry in it somewhere to be that annoying. It was driving me sane. Made me want to leave Monster Island and go invade France and do a jig in Paris... ya know one or two good shoves on the arc d'triuimph, an atomic breath blast at the Louvre, that sort of thing.

I tried to block it out, no luck. I tried thinking about something else. No dice. One suggestion that sometimes does work is start thinking of an animal at the zoo beginning with A and going on. I couldn't even do that. Cricket Chirping was SOOO annoying. Do they make cricket motels -- you know where crickets check in but can't check out because they're dying horrific deaths of starvation and dehydration? Might have to check into that.

So finally I took one of my pillows and pulled it over my head. WHAT? Silence? Blessed Silence.... so I took the pillow off my face and heard the darn cricket. Did I have a solution? You might think so. HA. Joke's on me -- ever try and sleep with a pillow on your head? I don't usually sleep on my back, and even if I did, I generally like to have unobstructed breathing passageways. So I'm trying to find a position I might be able to sleep in, balancing a pillow on my head enough to block out the cricket and still breathe comfortably.

I've been juggling for years. More than half my life. I'm not into a lot of tricks, I don't do more than 3 objects, I am certainly not limber enough anymore to go behind the back or under a leg... but I juggle fairly well otherwise. I really enjoy my torches and knives. I can't be completly lacking in dextrousness... and yet it is much easier to juggle torches and knives than it was for me to balance that sleeping act. I am pretty aware of how well it didn't work because several more times in the wee hours of the morn that marched to their doom like anyone invading Russia knows I woke to the chirping of one very annoying little cricket.

And so it goes. The alarm goes off. I actually turned it off and took the extra 15 minutes before my second alarm goes off. Not that it helped a whole lot. Ah well, it's over, it's done, bed time comes upon me soon and as I didn't nap I should be able to tell my body to get it's silly self to go to sleep. Just PLEASE, no more crickets!

I'll invite the Bandersnatch over for Sunday dinner before I like crickets.

Until next time--

~Gojira

Beware the Jubjub Bird

Konbonwa.

While sitting outside the labroom waiting for the pervious class to vacate what happens in a clearly posted non-smoking area? Some woman lights up. *growls* A woman in my lab section agreed that she ought not to have done so and we discussed the pros and cons of actually asking her to put it out. What do you think?

So what's really on my mind tonight? I am amazed. I was looking over my schoolwork schedule and realized I'm totally caught up. I've been trying to keep up with things and have been doing well, but it always eems there is something else to do. And there is. When I say I'm caught up that means I've done all my assigned work, reading, etc. Alas, there is more I can do. I could very easily spend another couple of hours studying Japanese... and probably should. I should probably go over more physics as the Jubjub Bird of Physics attacks tomorrow in the form of our first test.

Mind you, this is a very, very basic physics class. It's all about the concepts. We don't even do math in class (just some very, very basic algebra in lab). I'm pretty comfortable with most of the concepts we discussed so why should I strain the "brain" and muddle it all up? Leave that to Kanji.

Talk about a Jubjub sneaking up on ya and biting you in the tush. The kana really weren't all that difficult. Sure, I still have to think about them half the time to "read" it, but it still makes a load more sense than Kanji does... though after a couple days of it, talking to Ochiai Sensee after class a little, reading websites, and generally just going over my homework again and again it looks like it may make sense some day. I'm sure I'll keep you posted.

I think I am going to take the next hour and a half before bed and take a bit of time for myself. Maybe we should take that Jubjub bird and stuff it in the oven. Afterall, if Godzilla can't take out some nonsense bird I'm not worthy of the kana that make up my name.

Until next time! Ja mata!

~Gojira

The Vorpal Blade Went Snicker-Snack!

Boy howdy -- I had written several paragraphs but wasn't the least bit happy with it. I am guessing the general idea of this topic may irritate and offend some people. I am not going to apologize for it. This is an ANTI-SMOKING entry.

I don't get it. I just don't. I never have. I doubt I ever will. It's ugly. It's smells to hades and back. It causes all sorts of health problems. I just do not understand smoking.

What I understand even less is why smokers feel they have the right to smoke anywhere they please. Seems like more and more places are trying to pass "Clean Air" laws that help keep public smoking down. Believe it or not, it is a health hazard to us non-smokers. Mesa is one of those places. Alas, I have to travel campus to get from one class to another and though the majority of campus is non-smoking, that doesn't seem to keep people from lighting up wherever they want. There are designated smoking areas. I may not like detouring around a building because there is a smoking area I'd rather not go by, but I am very willing to do so. If you can't or won't quit (from what I've read of nicotine addiction it is one of the hardest addictions in the world to break) -- at least do the rest of us the courtesy of smoking only in designated areas. When I DO take a path well out of the way of those areas the last thing I should expect is to find myself walking though a purple-grey haze. Yet, on a daily basis that's the case.

So you have the right to smoke, I suppose you do. You certainly have your God given agency to bind yourself the chains of tobacco. I still don't see where that gives you the right to make me breathe in your second-hand or exhaled smoke. I don't see at all how your choice to smoke should cause me ill effect.

There are things that are illegal to do in society. From a simple burglary to violent crime including murder. We have laws against these things and yet some people choose to do them anyway. You can't legally shout obscenities in public in most places. You can't legally run around in your birthday suit in most places. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Some people still choose to do these things, but that doesn't make their choice right. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something.

Maybe you feel infringed upon when told you can't smoke in a certain place. Maybe I feel infringed upon when you do smoke there. MCC, at least, has those designated areas for smokers. They are trying to accommodate you in that fashion. Guns, knives, explosives -- all sorts of lethal objects have been banned from schools. Cigarettes are just as lethal. Until they are banned totally, do me the courtesy of sticking to those areas. Please don't smoke elsewhere. Let us non-smokers have our designated areas.

~G

Whiffling Through the Tulgey Wood

Hello there again. Quite frankly I'm not quite sure what "whiffling" is, but if it's anything like "stompin'" then that Jaberwock better stay out of my territory. But then again I seem to invade Wonderland on a regular basis so I suppose it's alright if he visits. The real problem as I see it is that it feels like something has gone whiffling through my tummy in the last 8 hours. Blarg. I have never been sea, air, car or otherwise motionsick in my life that I am aware of. I suspect it feels something like this. I do so hope it goes away, I have church meetings in a couple of hours.

So I had this dream -- don't expect to make any sense of it, though it was strange. There I was in a nearly empty theatre. There were a mere 4 of us. Me, a dad and his two little girls. For some reason I was sitting between the Dad and his children. And when I say little they were like 4 and 6. Now this is strange in and of itself and why that Dad would allow such a thing is beyond me. However, what is even more strange about it.... I was in the middle of the theatre!! For more than 13 years now I have sat in the front row. One or two seats left of center is my perfect spot. Grumble all you like about the front row, I love it. I don't end up with neckaches either. Maybe it's the years of practice. Okay so back to this dream. We were there and were going to watch Batman Forever. Why we'd be watching that is also beyond me. I will admit a long time movie-going crush on Nicole Kidman, but to pull out that particular movie from my subconscious was a bit odd.

The lights dim, the movie starts and not very long into it everything stops the lights come on, and there are three members of the management there. The Dad starts talking to them about switching movies because his little girls don't like it. They wanted to know what he was thinking bringing such young children to a Batman movie. In the end they got it all worked out and that's as much as I remember. As I said -- strange.

So what was the point of sharing all that with you - frankly I'm not sure but I wanted to put it down somewhere because I don't often remember dreams, especially with any sort of clarity so I figured I'd at least make note of it. Dreaming and dreams are such an interesting thing that we really don't seem to know much about. I did a paper way back when I was a Freshman at BYU on REM sleep and Dreams. I would hope we've learned something more in the sucessive years, but I'll bet we really aren't any closer to knowing just where dreams come from or what purpose they serve. I do believe in prophetic and communicative dreams. Scripture has told us that God has spoken to prophets through dreams. Though I don't think every dream we have comes from our Heavenly Father. Course even as much as we start to understand things from scientific means it doesn't mean we really know what's going on.

Sorry that (some of) you can't see the Japanese characters. Maybe it's a font issue. All I'm doing is putting in gojira, which is of course Godzilla's name in Japan. I do have to admit I was a bit surprised to see that it was in Katakana, but that's okay. I am still amazed that I can read some Japanese at all. Even a month ago it would have just looked a total mess to me.

So for now I'll sign off. Until later my friends!

-Godzilla/ Gojira/ ゴジラ

---

Addendum - so at church today we got new ward lists with updated phone numbers. Well that's the theory. Good thing I talked to her and told her the story first and got her number before I got the list or I'd have just tried that some time and found the number was input incorrectly. Anyhow I've got it correctly and should be able to call sometime. Now I just have to wait for the hermit instinct to give way again... that could be another 3 months. It's very much ingrained in me. Time will tell wish me luck.

~G

You are old, Father William

Morning.

While I may not be Father William (or his son) and I am certainly not really all that old. I do feel it from time to time. After last night's exertions I am feeling a little bit old. *nods*

After the problem calling the young woman mentioned yesterday, I was kickin' around the house not doing much of anything. One of my roomies asked me if I was going to a party. Being the hermit I am hadn't heard about it, but since he invited me to go, I went. Why not? Sure the only person there I really knew was him, but hey, I met some new people.

We arrived and lo, a pool. Alas, I wasn't properly dressed for that. And wouldn't ya know it, the whole thing was a perfect, perfect setup for juggling. They had those tiki torch things all over and it was kind of Hawaiian or at least South Pacific themed, so what better than throwing a bunch of flaming sticks around in a juggling manner? Well, I wasn't prepared for that either. So I meandered a bit and finally got my roomies keys to run home. Changed and my box o' goodies in hand I returned.

I don't know what it is about juggling, but people seem to like it. They seem to think it is some sort of feat of skill when all it really is ends up being lots of backbreaking hours of practice. Not really, sure it takes practice, but it doesn't take hundreds of hours or anything. As it goes, the torches were a hit, but everyone wanted to see the knives. I like to do those too, but torches are the most fun. It was awfully dark to do the black handled juggling knives, but with others holding a lighted torch around the perimiter it worked. So after months of not-juggling I got to show off a little bit and wear my arms out. To top that off, there were HOURS in the pool. Sure, sure, I wasn't swimming laps but even just horsing around you get some exercise.

I was trying to watch Godzilla vs the Sea Monster when I got back (you know the one with the secret Nuclear testing and the gianl Lobstrosity? Heck, even my old Pal Mothra shows up.) from the party, alas, I couldn't stay awake. I was just too tired from all my pety exertions so off to the land of Nod I went.

No real plans today (can't call that gal as her phone number hasn't changed on the list overnight). I'll probably visit the mall to check out the ol' bookstore and see what's up even if I can't afford anything new. As for my dear cousin's suggestion to call someone else-- Geo, there really isn't anyone else that I would feel comfortable calling. So if I see ya later today I do. If not, you can always go dig up Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla or another of my 20+ films and enjoy a day of Monster Mayhem.

-- ゴジラ
(by the by are you folks seeing the Japanese characters there or what?)

Oh Beamish Boy

Calloo-calay!

Well the good news is I apparently wasn't standing there in "uffish thought" because I managed to pull out another 98% on my written Japanese test. I missed the 2 I thought I did and no others. Such is the way of things when you just don't remember the vocab. I knew how to say them, but I didn't remember what they meant. I did also get full marks on my speaking test. YAY! Mind you I think Ochiai-sensee is very leineient when it comes to students speaking, but I was pleased to see that anyway.

We started Kanji today and I have to admit I'm a tad confused. I think it'll make more sense once I get the book(s) open and start digging through it. Afterall she's trying to explain something that's second nature to her in a language that isn't even a second language but a third or 4th to her. (She told us today she studied German in college.) As I understand it, Kanji characters don't just represent a sound, more often a word/idea in and of itself (frequently more than one) so can be more than a single syllable. To top that off each has 2 ways of pronouncing it. The Chinese way and the Japanese way. So mixing that all up, it looks like it might be pretty confusing. I think it'll make a little more sense when we get into it.

She assigned 11 of them to know by Monday. I don't think they'll be that bad since they are the numbers 1-10 and 100 which means we should be able to write up to 999 in Kanji by Monday. I did the homework sheet she gave us already. Problem -- I think I need more practice. So I'll do some of my own, I'm sure.

So I'm thrilled with my Japanese grades so far, my Computer Class grades have been right up there, my Physics HW and Lab grades are on the spot (First test there Wednesday so we'll see how that goes). Most of my HW is already done for Monday. It's Friday. I have a card for a free pizza buffet lunch. I have 150 pages to go in The Dark Tower which I hope to get to today... all in all, sounds like things are going pretty well. I do believe I'm going to take off for a while and go eat that lunch and read that book... possibly be back later. Until then this is ゴジラ signing off!

~G

----

Holy cow. I am in shock. I can't believe it is done. After all these years, the Dark Tower series is complete. I guess I didn't really believe it would happen becaues now that it's done I don't know what to think. I'd rather not spoil anything right here, but boy not quite what I expected.... Now that the series is done it is almost moot to read the other books that tie into the Dark Tower Universe. I had been doing it before for any further knowledge I could glean, but now, I know what happens.

I remember working at a bookstore when the second book came out. Even then it didn't seem people cared all that much. That was a long time ago. I didn't actually become a fan of the series until just a few years go compared. Even so it has been a long wait between book 4 (Wizard and Glass) and the finale. I remember when the "full" version of The Stand came out too and how excited people were. Somehow, the Stand managed to find it's way into Americana and beomce one of King's most popular works, yet the Dark Tower series seems to be shunted off to a back burner. Quite frankly, I don't see why the Stand is considered "all that and a bag of chips". It started out pretty well, but ended up being pretty mediocre if you ask me. It really didn't end up as anything very special. So if you've read the Stand and don't get it either, give the Dark Tower a try, it might be more to your liking.

---

On one further note -- I decided I would actually call a young lady and see if she wanted to hang out this evening -- wouldn't ya know, the phone number on the list just happens to be invalid. *le sigh* The one time I'm ready, willing and actually try and be social -- No Dice. Isn't that just the way of it?

~ゴジラ

Clean Cup, Clean Cup! Move Down!

So my speaking test with Ochiai-sensee is scheduled for 3 minutes from now. What, you may ask, am I doing typing on my blog? Well, it may be sceduled but the truth of the matter is it is already done. 10 minutes past, give or take a minute. I was sitting outside her office waiting for my time, running through the dialogues one final time when a fellow in class pokes his head out the door and calls back, "Yes, there is." So I got to go in early and do my test. I was a bit nervous and still can't hardly believe it's over. We got to pick, of the 10, which we wanted to do first. I picked one of the slightly more difficult ones. No, not for brownie points, but hoping that by doing so she'd pick one slightly less difficult. I was in luck, that's the way it happened. She picked, which to me, was the easiest of them. I think I passed that one with flying colors. On my way out a friend from class who was scheduled came in and we chatted for a few seconds about yesterday's written exam. I heard as I was leaving, Senee saying, "You two are just perfectionists." I kind of got a chuckle at that.

While I do think I can be a perfectionist about somethings, I wouldn't call wanting to do well in school a perfectionist things so much as finally caring about what happens to me and my future. I want to do well in my classes, especially my language classes. I guess I don't see the point in studying a language if you don't want to learn it. Maybe you need 4 semesters of foreign language to graduate and that's all you care about -- fine, study Spanish. Study something that uses practically the same alphabet, don't study something with three different syllabaries filled with thousands of characters and a set of grammar rules that must date back to the counfounding of languages at the Tower of Babel. Anyhow, the test went well, I think. I hope to see my written test score tomorrow when we also start Kanji (Booyah!).

So what clean cup am I moving down to since that was the only thing I had to do on campus today? Well, every two weeks we are supposed to spend at least 60 minutes in the Foreign Language Lab. I figured today would be a very good day to do it. Sure, sure, I'd like to be reading The Dark Tower and all, but that can be put off for an hour or so. Alas, I still have a good 6 minutes before the lab even opens so why not blog? [Authors Note: I could have started reading, sure. But then I would have been sucked into the book and forgotten that I was hear on campus to actually get to the lab, etc.] After the lab -- who knows. Being a poor college student I don't get to go hang out at some dive, munchin on tacos and sipping Mountain Dew while reading a couple of hundred pages as much as I'd like to. I've really got to come up with some substitute for that. Guess I need my own personal Rabbit Hole to fall into.

Well the time draws near -- the Mad Hatter and the March Hare are getting anxious so I'll be on my way for now. Until the next time -- don't eat any wooden salad.

~G

---

I was planning on coming home and writing a brief gripe about UPS and not deliving a package today. Their tracking site said it was out for delivery. I'd been home since 10:30am and NO package by 7:35pm when I left to go do some hometeaching. Fortunately, when I got home there was a box sitting there for me. YAY! Now I have a Japanese-English/English-Japanese dictionary and a Kanji Learner's Dictionary. Just in time too since we start Kanji tomorrow.

So though it was a long, long wait, and it was much later in the day than I expected, I guess UPS did their job and got me my package the day they said they would. No diatribe tonight. *snaps fingers* Darn it, I was so looking forward to complaining. *grin*

~G

You're Just a Pack of Cards

Hi there again. I had written earlier today but in the vargaries of computer land everything went out the window and I didnt' feel like retyping it. I don't actually feel like retelling that particular story right now again either so we'll have something new instead.

On the 21st, a book was released. It is the final volume of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Oddly enough *cough* the book is eponymously entitled The Dark Tower. While I am not a big King fan, this one particular series I rather enjoy. It isn't a supernatural horror type, more of a High Fantasy and to me is really King's Opus. His Masterwork that ties everything together, if you will. I've barely had time to read it with what's been going on the last 48 (or so) hours. I hope to finish it up tomorrow, my short day at school. (More on that in a bit.)

Of course another classic of Western Civilization came out on the 21st. I may have only been 5 years old when it came out, but Star Wars captured my imagination and my heart then and have stayed there ever since. I even like the new ones. I played them all yesterday, but didn't really watch them. I was rather busy getting a load of work and study done, but that's okay because in the long run that schooling will more than make up for not actually sitting down and watching the Star Wars dvds the day of release.

So I mentioned tomorrow being my short day. Strangely enough I only have one class on Thursdays: Japanese 101. And tomorrow is our one-on-one speaking test with our instructor which is scheduled for 5 minutes each. Imagine that -- I am going to drive 12 miles each way for a 5 minute test tomorrow. Craziness. I will probably hang out on campus and go to the Foreign Language Lab and do at least an hour in there which has to be done sometime before the end of next week -- but even so tomorrow should be a fairly short day. Say thankya for that because I certainly need a bit of a break so I can read this new book, watch some Star Wars and generally unwind from another busy, busy week. Afterall, we start Kanji on Friday.

Mayhaps I'll scribble via the keyboard some more later. As it goes right now, I've got 10 possible Japanese dialogues I need to hash and rehash until I can say them in my sleep.

From the other side of the rainbow,

~Godzilla

We're all mad here...

Welcome, welcome.

I don't even quite know where to begin. I haven't done anything like this in ages. Since I used to write my own "Weekly" I feel somewhat complelled to pick up from there, but it was years ago and there would just be far, far to much to share in this sitting. Guess that means I'll just start here and go with whatever comes through.

I first of all will pass the buck. I am here because of my cousin. She started her own and in order to keep up with her, I had to read it which lead me doing my own. A friend of hers (I don't know that I've kept up my end of communication to still call her a friend) is also blogging so I have some inspiration, or at the very least motivation.

I am, at the moment, avoiding my schoolwork. I have a short (2 pages) research paper due tomorrow and frankly don't want to write it (or research it). It's for a class I am learning things in, but get insane ammounts of work for what we learn. I'd much rather put in that effort into dozens of other things, one of which being my Japanese class. I do put crazy-mad time into that already, but it never seems like enough. I shouldn't complain I did alright on our first test. We'll see how tomorrow's test goes. So anyhow, school -- I'm in school. This may not seem like much to most of you, but then you may not realize I haven't been in school for ages. I think it was '95 or so the last time I was a full-time student and it was more like I was just enrolled as a full time student for I certainly didn't act the part.

After working a year and a half in retail again I decided that I really wanted to do something more with my life. Some people really love retail sales, I once had a manager who had been doing it for 17 years when I knew her. More power to her for that, but it isn't for me as a career. About the only way to change that is to get an education, or at least a little piece of paper that says I got that education. So here I am, back in school and for the first time in probably close to 2 decades, I like being in school.

So what am I going to do with it? That, of course, is the trick. I am hoping to do something with language or linguistics. Alas, ASU doesn't have a full-fledged linguistics program. All they have is an English Degree with a Linguistics focus. As I don't want to move to Tuscon, I will probably end up doing that when I move on from MCC (yeah, community college but HEY, it's a good place to learn to be a student again). Unless I decide to major in a foreign language, it seems my options are limited. Time will tell.

Well gang, that seems like a place to start at least. I do need to get working on this paper because I also need to study for a test as well.

As my dear, fictional character friend Cowin of Amber said:
"Good-bye and hello, as always."

~G