It is a good thing I am pretty...

she says, coyly.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure my brain is shrinking. Seriously. Well, not seriously... But you know what I mean.

I felt quite the idiot in class tonight. The truth of the matter is, I've got a bit of a gigantic gap in my education. Which is to say, I haven't a huge understanding of what went down in the U.S. in the 1980's and 1990's. I was too little back then, and they didn't make it into history books when I was in high school. I did Running Start (community college as high school student), and U.S. history just went through the 1970's. Drat -_-

So, I always look pretty silly when it comes to issues around that time frame. Plus, I pretty much never had to study European history (apart from Russia- I did take a Cold War course) or pretty much any African history (except for Somalia- I studied the Somali pirates in relation to the country as a whole). So all this stuff ends up being pretty new to my brain!

I think my references are too obscure as well. I'm pretty good with Asian history in general (like, every country in Asia, including Russia which is in the fuzzy zone between Asia and Europe), but it seems like most of what I know relates to Burma, Tibet, Vietnam, Japan, and China. See how ridiculous I am- I don't want to be the fool that misunderstands Japanese or Chinese policy in front of the folks who actually know quite a bit (i.e. people who studied in Japan for years or are from China). Vietnam seems the best option for my examples, but it seems like most everything slides back into a conversation about the Vietnam War. And a lot of people in the class definitely were alive during, so I'd feel silly.

Gah! No more self-conscious ranting. Shall firmly make a fool of myself by using Zambia as an example, knowing that many people in the class are more expertly than myself (and that all my knowledge of the country comes from them).

Anyway, The Mysterious Benedict Society is quite good. I read the first page, got hooked, and even set the next Lemony Snicket book down.

Am also thinking of writing a series of poems about zombies and other supernatural creatures. Because, well, why not? It sounds like fun. Also have thought of writing a poem for each photo mentioned in Sontag's Regarding the Pain of Others and each photo I took of the weeping monk statues in Kawagoe (五百羅漢- 500 Disiciples of Buddha). Good times.

But not really, because I've stayed up too late writing nothing of consequence. Drat. Good night!