I never thought you were a fool

Here is a test of your decision-making skills:

You wake up on Saturday morning feeling depressed. You:
a) drag yourself into the city to do something touristy
b) call your family
c) buy some shoes
d) decide you're going to sit this one out and buy enough provisions so as not to have to leave your apartment all weekend

So, about those provisions:
a) something healthy, balanced, with lots of potassium, because you have read that this is good for improving your mood
b) bread and water because there are millions of people in the world who live on less and why do you deserve any better than they do?
c) vodka, which you have also read is good for improving your mood
d) cookies 'n' cream because you are apparently five years old

Okay, FINE. But your apartment is pretty boring. Let's watch a DVD:
a) "Flight of the Conchords"
b) "Stranger than Fiction"
c) "Kung-Fu Panda"
d) "Atonement"

...I think you get the idea. Intellectually, I know that there are much, much better ways of dealing with a bad mood, though I actually do feel better now. Except my stomach hates me (but I am not alone). I have no idea why I keep thinking dairy products = comfort food.

Anyway, "Atonement" is seriously depressing, but it is a good movie, and I almost regret reading the book first just because it was so much better. Well, the book didn't have James McAvoy. So there's that.

You'll thank me when you share my politics

So I was in a wikipedia trance (that's what I'm calling it now) prompted by my friend's blog. As I was reading about Saint Hippolytus, I noticed a sidebar which gives information about feast days. "Neat!" I thought, "I wonder whose feast day it is today..."

Then I felt kind of stupid.

Then I looked it up anyway and it turns out that today is ALSO the feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius, which doesn't seem quite fair. They have a bunch of different feast days, though, so I won't get too upset.

Here is what Dinosaur Comics has to say on the subject of Valentine's Day.

If you read this comic a lot, then it is not really surprising if I tell you that I often remind myself of T-Rex.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I was cleaning the kitchen and thinking about racism. As in, racist people now are obviously bad, but what about old-timey racists? They didn't have exposure to other belief systems, so what happened to them after they died? It's all well and good for us to ignore these things and judge people by the standards of their time, but I don't really think the afterlife works that way. I got distracted by something shiny.

So, the next day, I'm on the internet reading the comics, and I get to this. See, it's not creepy that there was a comic about something I was thinking about before. That happens all the time with this comic. It's that it happened at the same time. I have concluded that maybe I need to get out more.

Which I will totally do once people are speaking to me again (February always brings the drama) and I don't have a 101-degree fever (February also always brings the illness).

Happy February!

I am still alive, just had a really busy week last week and a really unpleasant cold the week before that. Since then I have:
1. Conducted a teaching seminar for the first time. It was about grammar. Two of the teachers travelled four hours to attend. I certainly hope they found it useful.
2. Recieved some Christmas presents, including two sweater dresses.
3. Stopped speaking to someone who I thought was a friend. It turns out that she is mean and backstabby and unreasonable.*
4. Been really cold.
5. Had everyone and their mother tell me that I am either too fat or too thin, to the point that I figure they balance each other out.
6. Watched the second season of 30 Rock.

I'll get back to Egypt soon. For now, horrifying student conversations: divorce edition!

Misha: We didn't get divorced. The court denied the appeal of my wife.

I would think that would be grounds for divorce. But I didn't say that because I am kind and sensitive.

The next is more of a horrifying teacher conversation. We will call this teacher "Teacher A."
Fyodor Pavlovich: I think one problem was that our ages are too different.
Teacher A: How old is she?
FP: Twenty-five.
A: Oh, that's ok. She's so young I'm sure she'll remarry very soon.
FP: ...
A: Sooo, have you got any questions about the homework?

I also had a creepy experience involving Dinosaur Comics, but it is late and I want to sleep, so I will write about it later.

* You know me. It's the unreasonable that really gets to me, but I'll be over it within a couple weeks.