phoenix {rising} |
| new - older - profile - rings - cast - notes - guestbook - host |
Concatenation Hum final, check. I think I got seven of the ten quote IDs (there were thirteen, you had to answer ten). My essays were fine, albeit the Aristotle-Plato essay a bit rushed. I got three phone calls during the test. I should have unplugged my phone. Chloe. My dad. John. The linguistics paper is in progress. II. This conversation was prompted by me reading in Avi's away-message that he'd be "back in a jiff" and containing pontifications on the nature of a "jiff," theorizing that he thought it was like a boat. I responded that I thought that was a "skiff." Avi: eh, close enough Me: quite so. but i wonder what a jiff(y) actually is... Avi: indeed Me: maybe related to some small number of shakes of a lamb's tail? Avi: well, that why we have the internet (and college students who are trying to avoid studying) Avi: huh? Me: you know, "back in two (three, four...) shakes of a lamb's tail." or is that not right? is it something else's tail? Avi: i think its just shakes Me: hmm. maybe an abbreviation of some kind. but yes. these kinds of discussions allow us to think that we are doing something productive, which, clearly, we are not. Avi: clearly Me: what is it that you should be doing? Avi: studying orgo Avi: ah! Avi: jiffy - 1785, origin unknown; said to be originally thieves' slang for "lightning." Me: ah! Me: "back in a lightning" is a bit awkward. we should start saying "back like jiffy." Avi: we should Avi: we'll get wierd looks, but thats certainly never stopped us before Me: no, it certainly has not. Me: we have perservered in the face of wierd looks galore. Avi: indeed Me: sudden flashback to port authority escalator, a wierd look from jessica, en route to bowling. Avi: i imagine that happened manytime Avi: no one particular time is coming to mind Me: well, yes. i don't think flashbacks have to be specific. Avi: huh, you ever know where "cool as a cucumber" comes from? Me: the inherent coolness of all known cucumbers? Avi: apparently cucumbers really are cooler inside than the outside temperature Me: wow! Avi: i know Avi: cucumber - c.1384, from O.Fr. cocombre, from L. cucumis (acc. cucumerem), perhaps from a pre-Italic Mediterranean language. Cowcumber was common var. 17c.-18c. Planted as a garden vegetable by 1609 by Jamestown colonists. Phrase cool as a cucumber embodies ancient folk knowledge confirmed by science in 1970: inside of a field cucumber on a warm day is 20 degrees cooler than the air temperature. Me: cucumber-related free-association: when i was like ten and starting French classes, in fifth grade, my teacher told the class a story about how she'd told another class that in France there are thirteen months: the twelve regular ones and the Month of Cucumber. Avi: hahhaha Me: yes. apparently, they believed it for quite awhile. Avi: heheh, i wish there really were a month of cucumber Me: me too! Me: there could be cucumber parades! Me: and cucumber festivals! Avi: what fun that could be Me: and ceremonial cucumber dances and costumes! Avi: heheh Me: i think i might spend some time designing the Month of Cucumber. I mean, we wouldn't have to create a whole *new* month, we could just subtitle a month. Avi: but then which month would be the month of cucumber? Me: the coolest month, of course. Avi: but what month is the coolest? Avi: are we talkjing strictly temperature wise Avi: if so, is coolest simply coldest, or a mild temperature below average? Me: i don't know. temperature or social status, which is it to be? Avi: or are we talking about the slang coolest in the sense of what month is the most socially confomring? Me: now, problematically, though, i think "cool as a cucumber" kind of implies a different kind of coolness. a non-conformity-based coolness. Avi: thats true, another wrinkle Me: this is very complicated. Avi: indeed Avi: i think if we're going temperature-wise, we have march or october Avi: or even september Me: yes. and if it were october, there could be birthday fun. ulterior motives... Avi: indeed... Avi: hahah Avi: look at this: Avi: I.Q. - 1922, abbreviation of intelligence quotient, a 1921 translation of Ger. Intelligenz-quotient, coined 1912 by W.L. Stern. Me: that's a very, um, exact translation. Avi: i know Avi: isnt that funny that german for inteeligance quotient is intelligenz quotient? Me: it really, really is. Me: there should be reverse-translation of other things. Avi: like what? Me: like... "reticenz." that's the first thing that comes to mind, somehow. Me: there could be a reticenz-quotient. Avi: fair enough And then he had to go get dinner. I've been talking to the home-folk recently, mostly via AIM, but also much phone-contact with John, and it makes me miss home, and be excited that I'm going back. Tomorrow. Wow. III. John telling me that he almost "had a moment and no one to share it with." John telling me that I'm a "mental orgasm waiting to happen." John telling me that I'm the smartest person he's ever met, seguing with "oh, wait, except -- this kid --" into a story. John laughing at me when I (jokingly?) asked if he missed me, making me repeat the question. John making me feel like I exist and am anchored to the world, John singing me a song that makes me want to go home. (Me, melting rapidly into a small puddle.) IV. Walking through the dark campus with Miriam at two in the morning, after getting off the phone with John. The blue bridge, through Eliot, cutting lines through the lawns, limning the edges of campus, ending up in the tea-smelling library stacking blocks into towers taller than we are while the stim-table staffers blared "stimulating" music. "Eye of the Tiger" at top volume. "Give Us the Funk" at top volume. Repeat. Repeat. |
| linsay designs |