Recluse

I realize that for the past few weeks, I've been living in the Dark Ages: no cell phone, no personal laptop/desktop. Surprisingly though, I kind of like it because it makes me unreachable, which I know can be frustrating for others (read: for my mom), but it's rather nice to be sitting in Starbuck's or the bookstore for five hours straight by myself with no interruptions. Without these things, I've created a sort of haven for myself where I can be alone (even in a public place) and do my own thing without constantly wondering where everyone else is or what they are up to.

Have you ever wondered, just who is Charles Bliss?

Wow, never?

Well, he's the inventor of the Bliss symbols, a writing system based solely on meaning, not sound, which is unlike any other writing system in the world. Even the Chinese script has a phonetic basis. One of my favorite symbols is the one for "secret", which is the symbol for "mouth" enclosed in a box. Doesn't it make so much sense? One can even write that ultra-famous nonsensical phrase coined by Chomsky: "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" in Bliss symbols, although "furiously" is written with the symbols for "angrily".

And this is exactly why I don't think a solely semantics-based writing system could ever flourish like a regular writing system with some phonetic basis, because there is no room for synonyms; otherwise the system would be way too unwieldy. I could be wrong about this though, who knows. Maybe it just takes a little thinking outside that Box that everyone keeps talking about. By the way, did I use that semi-colon correctly? Those things always confused me...

Happy Belated Birthday to Calvin & Hobbes!

"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy! Let's go exploring!" ~ Calvin

Kitchen Inventory

Sink.

Stove.

Silverware.

Pots & Pans.

Spices.

Bed.

Waaaaitaminute.

Yes, folks, there's a bed in our kitchen, and mold spores flying about our bedroom. Oh, and Harnwell drain pipes? Suck like a lollipop. Maintenance? Sucks like a black hole. What is the noun form of "to suck": is it "suckage" or "suckitude"? Either way, maintenance and Harnwell drain pipes are doing a fan-fucking-tastic job of it.

Subtleties of the English Language

From: Angie Chung
To: Sarah Chung , Jessica Kim , Hoa Trinh , May , tameil@seas.upenn.edu, cordaben@gmail.com
Date: Nov 5, 2005 6:00 PM
Subject: morimoto's

Hello, les gens, my brother James wants to take Sarah and me to Morimoto's while he is here, on the Friday after Turkey day. Anybody want to come along? I know it's pricey, so I would totally understand if you guys can't make it. Lemme know if there's anyone else staying in the city of brotherly love over break taht should be added to this email list. And let me know if you are not a homestar and thus would like to be eliminated (from this list).

Later homestars,

Cobalt

Benoit: What's a homestar?

May: Home? Star?

Hee! Gotta love international students.