Update: Metaphor, Prachett, and Looking West

These days, I've been really fascinated by this concept in linguistics called conceptual metaphor. I remember a couple years ago when I was trying to describe cheese while making a round at Di Bruno's, and came to the conclusion that all we ever know, we have learned through metaphor- mappings from known things to unknown things. To me, the conclusion came naturally because in math, mappings are used all the time to study unknown sets. Now I'm reading about how this idea of knowing through mapping is the basis of an entire subfield of linguistics called Cognitive Linguistics, pioneered by George Lakoff. 

I also read my first Terry Pratchett book, "Making Money", which turned out to be a fictional account of how money works in reality. I totally appreciated his wit and spoofing of various aspects of our modern society, including the lampooning of spacey-sounding string theorists going on about 11 dimensions and such. Also, I love the idea of golems- beings made of stones. Most of all, I really liked how there were elements of science fiction- many to be sure-, but it was first and foremost good ol' fiction. Speaking of metaphor, there was a mention of it (was it a spoofing?) in the water tank model of the town's economy.

A couple days ago, I played a vicious game of basketball with the NYer and the Brit. At one point, one tackled the other, and I stood there watching for about 3 seconds before diving into the brawl myself. It looked like too much fun not to join in. By the end of the game, we looked like creatures of the dust mines- you just can't get away from dust here. And unfortunately, it's not Dust. 

The closer the end approaches, the more I think of home. I can't wait to see everyone again, I can't wait to watch shows like Boston Legal and the Daily Show, I can't wait to chill out at a bookstore, and be up-to-date on the politics and pop culture and other goings-on of our nation, and did I mention, friends? And my poor mom. Damn, I wish I had a dog, because then I could look forward to seeing my dog, too. I can't wait! But then, as I scroll through the gazillions of pictures I took here in Kurdistan and in Oman and all the other countries I've visited, I'm sad to think that those days of amazing discovery will soon be over. I haven't told you about Oman yet, but it was truly amazing and unreal that often, I imagine that it didn't really happen. I think it's a sign of a good time when you feel like you're living a storybook life. Hopefully, the story will go on!