Arrr, My Lord!

Real live pirates off the coast of Somalia attacked a cruise ship. Pirates. With all the Disney movies and cheesy horror flicks I had forgotten that Pirates actually existed, and are a serious threat. I always thought of them as a romanticized part of history. I'm shocked! Here is the link to the CNN article: Cruise Ship attacked!!
I even dressed up as a Pirate for last Halloween. I don't know what to say. I feel like I'm living in some over-budgeted sci-fi movie where ships from evil rich countries battle against starving third-world looters with super-sonic weapons; except, it's not a movie. These are real people, with real lives.
Welcome to the future mates.

Show The Love

When was the last time you thought about your pinky toes? They are important; they provide balance to your steps. Without them, you would only be a freak with four toes. Because of these very important reasons, I believe you should show your pinkies some love and appreciation.

I would even go as far to say that we should have a National Pinky Day! During this day it would be custumary to get (and give) pedicures, wear sandals to show off you toes, and ponder about the little things in life that make humans special.

Domokun

I never liked stuffed animals. However, I have to admit that Domokun has a special place in my heart. He is a wonderful Japanese creature because he has the ability of scaring away cats and kittens. -I come from a long line of cat haters. Don't blame me, blame my genetics and upbringing-
He also has a highly developed sense of fashion: Every now and then Domokun likes to wear my sunglasses. Isn't he cute?

...If only all men could be this fashionable AND useful...

Language Reflects Prejudice Against Women

The way women are reffered to in a society reflects their status in said society. With this in mind, pay close attention to the semantic changes that the following sample words have undergone in relatively recent Indo-European language evolution. They are all, unfortunately, cases of pejoration (degeneration). The words change to acquire more sexual and negative connotations in their meaning. While, on the other hand, all the male counterparts of these words have NOT been transformed into words with such negative connotations.

Spinster 'unmarried older woman' ... 'one who spins'

Mistress ...'a woman who employs others in service'... Borrowed from Old French maitresse 'a woman who rules/has control'

Madame 'the female head of a house of prostitution' ...'a title of courtesy used as a polite form of address to a woman' ... Borrowed from Old French ma dame ' my lady'

Italian Putta and Spanish Puta 'whore'... Latin putus 'boy' and puta 'girl'

"I Want It That Way"

This is the title of a song, by the BackStreet Boys. -For some of you it might ring a bell- Anyway, I was minding my own business when a video clip of this song fell into my lap: It is soo funny I cried. Even if you don't know who the BackStreet Boys are, or if you know them all too well, you will get a kick out of watching these Chinese college students lipsync to it.
Can you tell what the skinny one says before they start singing? I wish I knew.
...Besides, it is damn good music -I don't care what you say! In fact, the music is so great and the students are so into expressing the emotions of the song... it makes them look cute, in a very, very weired way. It kind of makes you wonder: This is a Chinese impression of American culture. But, are they mocking us? Mockery is the greatist form of flattery, yet they do it just a little too well for comfort.
CLICK HERE to open the link.

Note: Google is a wonderful thing.

MM's saying of the day:

"It is good to have balance...

have a nice inner-ear-day."

Don't believe everything you read

It is official: For 21 years I have been searching for a book that I could call "my favorite book". At last my search can cease; I have found it: LA CHUTE, de Camus. ('The Fall' for all English speakers.) It is the most complicated, enigmatic piece of French Literature that I have ever read. It is simply beautiful in its complexity and truthfulness. The monologue/discourse/conversational style in which it is written is fab.!
It is about Europe, Algeria, life, death, speech, action, ideals, religion, philosophy, guilt and innocence, the holocaust, everything and nothing, all at the same time.

Please read this book if you ever get the chance.

Warning

Reading other peoples' blogs, that contain intimate details, is very addictive.

(I found this out the hard way. My friends are so interesting. I must get some sleep now.)

I never know what to do when people take my picture.

I was out with some friends celebrating the birthday of my Turkish consultant, Fey. It was a pretty funny night. Alan came up with the perfect gift for our animal loving, vegetarian friend: He would match the amount of money that Fey drank and donate it to the charity of her choice. This served the purpose of:
a)Motivating Fey to drink, drink, drink!
b)Making the birthday girl happy the next day, because she knows her headache was created for a good cause.
I think she ended up donating the money to some sort of a sea-lion shelter. I hope the sea-lions appreciate her efforts.

Mucky Duck, Monterey, CA.

"The SLUgS Prom"!

To confirm our status as the greatest geek/nerd (whichever is coolest in your vocabulary) group that ever existed in the UCB department of Linguistics, the SLUgS have unanimously embraced the idea of throwing a "prom".
In order to replicate the past years of high-school glory and despair: There will be corsages; there will be cheesy decorations; there already is a climate of fake and exaggerated, giddy drama. As a bonus -alas, college is good for something- : There will also be very alcoholic beverages and no parental supervision!
The exact time of the event has not been determined, but it will probably be around the end of this semester, in December.

Why, I asked myself, is the idea of having a prom so appealing to college seniors? Shouldn't we be over this by now? -I came up with three major reasons:

1- My personal answer is that I never had a prom, since I grew up and went to highschool in Venezuela. In short, I have never experienced what a prom is really like... And I'm curious.
In addition, I'm quite stressed-out right now and could use a little nonsense.
2- However that is only half the story: A prom serves to revert back to days when we had less responsibilities, and hadn't yet discovered what was behind the miracle of having clean, neatly folded laundry. It has the purpose of reminding us where we came from, how stressed out we were about our life back then, and how insignificant that all seems now that we have changed so much.
It is one of our last chances to express our fear of growing up, with the twist of already being sort of grown up, while it can still be considered cute and not totally pathetic.
3- Of course, there is always the factor of fashion: It is difficult for girls now a days to properly and fashionably wear a pretty dress; modern society has stripped girls of girlyness and left us contemporary gals with very few excuses to play dress-up. And by golly, I'm taking whatever I can get!

Ridiculous prom makeup: Here I come!!!!

Interesting Thought

I woke up with an interesting thought this morning: Vibrating Pineapples.
I was peacefully sleeping when a cellphone's alarm clock began to ring, at about 6:30 am. My mind somehow tricked me into believing that a peeled, quartered pineapple that was vibrating -due to some emanating inner energy- on a table was the source of the awakening sound. I do not know why my mind would do such a thing. It was, however, food for pondering during the rest of the day:
What do pineapples mean? Symbolic dreaming? Was I hungry? Is my body crying out for pineapple vitamins? And how would vibrating pineapples sound like an alarm clock anyway?
The mind is a fascinating place; Apparently mine is tropical.

Have a nice day.

I JUMPED!!!
Jumping out of a moving aircraft at 14,000ft. is EXTREEMLY counter-intuitive. The wind wipping past you so fast you can't think, while the idea of becoming a human omellete actually making more sense than what it has ever made before in your life leads to exilirating moments. The truth is, flying through the sky did not reveal the essence of life, nor did it change my views on how much I detest Bush; it simply gave a pretty view of Caifornia.

Linguistics (I am a bad poet, I know. Being a poet is not the point of this poem.)

A giant machine,
So powerful it escapes the eye,
So mighty it can rule the world.
Is it scared.
It lives inside; in transparency it strides.
It hides and shivers.

Its loyalty has never faltered.
Trusted one: you do not trust us.

I can try.
I want to see what is inside,
What knowledge do you shield?
From those before, who used it, who burnt it, who set it aside.
Injustice! Linguistics cries,
They do not know your worth!
For those who die,
Like a child, I can try.