Can we wrap up this business with the Catholic church already? I'd like to read a book about something else. Until the issue is resolved, please label all books which viciously satirize the hypocrisies of said church with a large sticker on the cover as a warning to the potential reader. I'm not a graphic designer, but here are some of my ( Read more... )

We studied Uighurs a bit in class this week. I love learning about Uighurs.

( like eight paragraphs about Uighurs )

I'm taking a class on social and political structures in imperial China this semester, which is really dynamite. The professor is from China, and so naturally he kinda gave me A Look when I mentioned that I knew the Japanese reading for something or other--it turns out that in addition to all the bullshit Japan has pulled with China, there's also ( Read more... )

Last weekend I tried to go running. I learned as I stepped out the door that the heating is really nice in this apartment, because it was like 20 degrees outside and I had not noticed at all. The weather page I checked afterward with barely-mobile, claw-like hands said it "felt like 10", but in my estimation it "felt like the frozen realm of ( Read more... )

Drove around 800 miles yesterday, probably more counting the minor bouts of driving in circles. It's the most I've ever covered in a day and I am still pretty damn tired. Also, there was no parking anywhere near my apartment so I walked with as much baggage as I could carry for way longer than I would've liked to. I had to get up at 7 this ( Read more... )

Made it to Dallas last night and Nashville tonight, and managed to hold up tiny children both times. It turns out that small children, if told that a relative is coming to visit, will anxiously pace around the house until that person arrives and may even cry if their bedtime means they'll miss him when he's late. As a child I don't think I gave a ( Read more... )

I went through my third immigration check of the trip tonight. The guy asked me where I was headed, so I told him Sierra Blanca. "Sierra Blanca?" he asked, with a perfect Spanish accent. "Why are you going there?" I replied that it was getting late and it was the next big town. I was half hoping he would lapse into a story about all the ( Read more... )

Made it to El Centro today. It's a little larger than the bumblefuck towns I stayed at on the way here, with the result that you can get a decent deal on a room that doesn't smell like hay. I'm really tired but I'm less than an hour out of Yuma, which is damn good time if I do say so myself ( Read more... )

Hitting the road early tomorrow morning, hoping to stop in LA to see ghoumschloqie and relatives in San Diego and maybe make it close to the Arizona border before the day's over. Then I get to try and figure out what I'm doing with myself for the three days in between Socal and Nashville. I can stop at a lot of places inbetween, but I'm not sure which ones I ( Read more... )

Got into the Bay Area around 10 pm last night and got into Maui at, uh, some time this afternoon. The combination of time difference and travel fatigue has kind of broken my internal clock ( Read more... )