The Mad Latinist's Journal

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Conventiculum
Lexintoniae sum. Ephemerin scribere gestio, sed tot mihi faciunda ut non possim. Argh!

Greek History Exam
I PASSED!!!

Current Mood: jubilant

Greek History Exam
I have been studying for this damn Greek History Exam for... well you don't want to know how long! But I've been working really intensely on it for the last school year. It's been driving me crazy... I am not a historian by nature. At least I figured out I could make myself do the readings by simultaneously making myself ride a stationary bike—that part at least has been great for my health.

Today I finally took it.

I've been studying (or rather trying with moderate success to force myself to study) like a maniac for the last several days. This morning as I pulled up on campus, I could not believe how scared I was. When I talked to people I could not hide the terror from my voice. But once I started, I calmed down.

There were three sections: The first was ID's. I couldn't get every one, but as the instructions said to do as many as you can, I hope I'm not expected to. The second and third were essay questions (the former on methodology, the latter on historical themes). I had to pick one question from each. I confess the deck was somewhat stacked in my favor. Initially I tried not to take the bait, by going with "What are the methodological problems of using Greek comedy as a historical source?" and "Was Athens a typical Greek city-state?" Two things I know about, but which aren't my special pet subjects. But I quickly said "@&#* it!" and switched over to "What are the methodological problems of using Demotic papyri as a historical source?" and "How 'Hellenized' was Ptolemaic Egypt?" So in the end, I probably did fine on both essays too.

Did I pass? Well, I guess I'll find out in about a week! In the mean time I'm SO GLAD IT'S DONE!

Now I'm off to relax by doing some yoga & tækwondo.

Current Music: My brain — The Ultimate Battle of Ancient Greek History

Mother's Day
My grandmother turned 95 this weekend. Every year I get to spend with her is a precious gift.

But I am a greedy bastard.

I'm unexpectedly single for Valentine's Day, Beth still being in Beloit. Now I have to figure out what to do with my spare opera ticket.

BTW, here's Eisenbraun's 2009 Valentine's Day Contest. Not as good as good as last year's ;) OK, OK, I didn't submit anything this year, and my attempts to get Allisa and her Mycenological friends to submit something in Linear B were apparently unsuccessful (or at least any output so produced did not win even an "honorable mention.") Oh well, maybe next year.

Oh, and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

A really bad day
I've been having one hell of a bad day. Well honestly the whole week has been crazy.

It started last Friday. Beth was going to Wisconsin to visit her family, but her car wouldn't start. Because we didn't handle this as well as we should of, she ended up having to borrow my car for the weekend. That was OK because my mother was in town, and she has a car here.

Then soon after Beth arrived at her parents' house, they received a call that her brother had suffered a near fatal head injury. So she's been with him at the hospital ever since. Luckily he seems to be doing well now, or as well as can be expected, and if they haven't already released him, they may soon. But meanwhile the stress has been crushing them. I've lent her support via phone when I could, but it's been difficult.

Since Beth has been away all this time, my Mom has let me borrow her car. Great, so I took it to the appointment I had on campus this morning. After the appointment I went to do some research on campus for a couple hours, until my 3:00 appointment downtown. Well, I was enjoying my research so much that I pushed it to the last second, and got to the car around 2:30. Then I noticed I didn't have the keys. Just to make matters worse, I had already paid my parking fee, which meant I was expected to get the car out within like 5 minutes before the ticket became invalid. The parking office could get me out after that, but they were closing at 4.

So I looked everywhere. My pockets. My backpack. In the car. Under the car. Every room of the library I'd been in. Most of these places more than once. Nothing. I started leaving my phone number with the various lost and founds. Did I mention it was pouring rain this whole time?

Having searched for nearly an hour, missing my appointment entirely, I went back to the parking office and told them I still hadn't found the key. They very kindly worked out a way I could exit after they closed. At this point I'd already looked everywhere, so I sat down and thought. The last thing I had done as I was leaving the car was to put a bunch of electronics back in the side-door pocket, where I had found them. Could the key be in there? Well, at first glance no. But it's hard to see into the pocket from outside, and sure enough, when I leaned over the hood and squinted through the front windshield, there they were.

Remembering I had a set of spare keys at my house, I hired a cab to take me there and back. I grabbed the keys and left my backpack, figuring I didn't need to lug it around anymore. I came back, the rain still pouring, ran up the parking structure and... they key didn't work!

I went to Campus Police to ask if they could get me in. Sure they could! Oh wait, no, nevermind. The one officer they had who could do it was off duty today. So I finally relented and called AAA.

Why hadn't I done it so far? Well, I had a feeling they might take a while. Yes, yes they might. They're currently running about two hours. So I've gone and taken refuge from the pouring rain in the library. If I hadn't left my backpack at home, this would be a perfect time to continue my research. Unfortunately I'm stuck here without my bibliography, and even if I were to venture unguided stacks, I might lose my phone signal, and, as things stand, that would be very foolish.

Well, the one good thing about this is it's a perfect opportunity to start using my blog again!

UPDATE: I finally got into the car at sevenish. Just got home (at eight—I stopped for some groceries). I'm hoping I have the energy to work out still.

Current Mood: aggravated

a sigh of relief
CONGRATULATIONS, U.S.A.

Now I can breathe again.

Current Mood: overjoyed
Current Music: Elizabeth Alexander — "Praise Song For The Day"

Blog rating

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

cum (8x)
suck (1x)

Um, yeah... is it really fair to judge me based on "cum"? I guess that's what I get for speaking Latin.

ANNVM·NOVVM·FAVSTVM·FELICEM

100_1234
Originally uploaded by jdm314

Kevin very generously sent me five Hanukkah presents this year. The first of them was a very authentic replica of an Ancient Roman oil lamp of the type that was used to celebrate the new year. So I made a point of taking it with me and using it this year. Thank you, Kevin, you are insanely generous.

In other news, Zac of Internal Monologue has written one of his sprawling philosophical posts,this one being about Bo Diddley (again). I recommend you read it, including the comments (at least this one), but the upshot of is that covering the song "Bo Diddley" which is in fact about Bo Diddley, can be problematic, if you do not happen yourself to be Bo Diddley. Realizing that he was venturing into Gödel Escher Bach territory here, Zac wrote to Douglas Hofstadter for advice, and received an immediate reply. Now that is some considerable geek cred there, but I suppose with Bill Gates, the kotaku video, and so on this is not exactly his first brush with fame.

Happy new year!

Current Music: Sweet Home Alabama

Just in case I forget to post later tonight, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Current Music: none yet

Timelining software
Anyone know of a timelining program for MacOS (ideally freeware, but I won't hold my breath) that doesn't suck?

Midlife crisis starts today!

Current Music: Guess

O.V.F. you-know-who you-know-what!
Vincant Veneti!

Pereant Russati!

In case my politics, and opinion of the Latin language are not clear, please allow me to quote Ioannes Hispanus Oleastrensis (vulgo Juan Garcia Gutierrez) who wrote the following bit of wisdom to the Grex Latine Loquentium this morning:

Utinam bonis ominibus (hominibusque bonis) eveniat quod ex OBAMA nomine augurari licet. OBAMA enim, si retrorsum legerimus, Latinum verbum inveniemus AMABO. Mac Cain candidos habet capillos; Obama autem nigros. Sed cum Vergilio sentiamus illud "nimium ne crede colori". Obamae color pellis fuscus est; albus vero Caino. Sed "quamvis ille niger, quamvis hic candidus esset", mutationis prospectus quos America desiderat maiores sunt ex Obamae iuventute exspectandi quam ex Caini senectute.
Iuventuti credite, cives Americani, quae mundi spes semper fuit! Et lex quaecumque sequatur (Stat. Silv. 5.3.276)
Good luck. Fortuna propitia vobis sit!
Ioannes Hispanus Oleastrensis.

(How is it that all this time I never noticed Obama was amabo spelled backwards?)

ADDENDVM: Mr. Gutierrez has now posted his own English translation. I would add that in addition to "I will love," amabo is also an idiom for "please." It's short for amabo te "I will love you," which always reminds me of Little kids vowing "I'll be your best friend!"

Current Music: Duran Duran — Election Day

Happy Halloween
Here's hoping for a treat next week, not a trick.

Current Mood: cautiously optimistic

Writer's Block: Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins today. How are you celebrating? If you're not, how do you plan on guiding your fate over the course of the next year?

View other answers

... this seems like an invitation for mischief! I mean, not many people are likely to have a serious answer unless hey happen to be Jewish.

In any case, sundown will be soon, so I'll take the opportunity to say לשנה טובה תכתבו!

Current Music: לשנה טובה תכתבו

It's a halibut town
Arrived in New York today. Despite logistic problems (e.g. having to cary heavy suitcases, including one with a broken wheel, six blocks through Harlem, to totally disorganized B&B) we've been having a great time.

Also finally met

onezumi in person, having known her since 2002. That as really awesome. She and beth naturally bonded over makeup and couture (she's been texting her advice for a couple days now anyway).

Our next too days are not so well scheduled, but will likely be just as tiring. So I'd better call it a night.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: The Bronx is up ...

I spent Talk Like a Pirate Day traveling by air, and with security these days I really didn't want to be mistaken for a pirate.

Just found out about another Latin broadcast forthcoming from Germany, by KISS FM. You can read more (in English) at Yahoo. I do wonder if that rap mentioned is new, or one we've heard before. I also hope their transmission has better Latinitas than their advert. "A mani"???

ADDENDVM: Turns out a mani does occur in Plautus etc. I stand corrected! Still, wouldn't want my students saying that.