A random collection of content

It's not yet *thoughtful* content, but it is being assembled.

--I love Paul Ricoeur. I will go find mimesis(2) and have its babies. Which will, of course, be mimesis(3).

--No draft of the interest statement is yet forthcoming. I am, however, able to see the *shape* of my interests now; like seeing figures in marble, or persons approaching through fog.

--Last week's spam tally: $174.6 million the Nigerian scammers want to send me, 20" I can add onto my nonexistent penis.

--This project is phenomenally cool. Not so much for the "interview your loved ones" headline as for this mission statement:
"StoryCorps is a national project to instruct and inspire people to record each others' stories in sound....Since we want to make sure your story lives on for generations to come, we'll also add your interview to the StoryCorps Archive, housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, which we hope will become nothing less than an oral history of America...A StoryCorps interview is an opportunity to ask the questions that never get asked because the occasion never arises. How did you come to this country? How did you and mom meet? How did Uncle Harry get the nickname "Twinkles?"...We've modeled StoryCorps—in spirit and in scope—after the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the 1930s, through which oral-history interviews with everyday Americans across the country were recorded. These recordings remain the single most important collection of American voices gathered to date. We hope that StoryCorps will build and expand on that work, becoming a WPA for the 21st Century."

--I'm working my way through the Major Arcana. Ask me more about it in 21 days.

--Grades? good. Weddin' plannin'? Fun. I'm thinking of setting up a bridezilla filter (a la coraline for those interested in my babbling.

--Looking forward to solstice. Trying to determine how best to celebrate it; for the winter solstice, I fast for the day. What is the counterpart? Providing a feast of plenty? And how to recognize the presence of loss in abundance, as my breaking-the-fast was meant to be joy in the dark times?

--sen_no_ongaku will be assisting me in my French class. That is, he is ensuring that I learn proper pronunciation. Which will be difficult, because I cannot currently pronounce the French "u" or "r", and thus, a la Dave Barry, "Rouen" comes out as "Woon."

--And finally, stealthmuffin sent me this wonderfully informative Guide to the Da Vinci Code. Excerpt:
Q Why is the main character described as a professor of religious symbology at Harvard? Is there such a thing as "symbology"?
A: Not in a narrow, Western sense, no. But in the sense that there is a Santa Claus who brings toys to all the Christian children of the world, yes.