de rerum natura: Don't tell Janna I'm not taking down the Christmas decorations

Okay, she'll find out in about thirty minutes anyways.

So, I am thankful to the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior not only for living and losing his life in pursuit of justice, but also for doing it in a such a way that grants me and all other educational, postal, federal, and sundry workers a day free from the obligations of our jobs. The fact that I have been granted this Friday the 13th off is an added blessing. Now, I am going to fritter away the weekend by going to see Ryan and Rebecca in D.C.

Now that I have had this blog for a year, I can start to see the annual patterns of my life. Thankfully, there is no snow in the forecast this year, however, I did serve as DJ again for the "Movement Μαραθον". At least this year I found out about that three days ahead of time. However, the students didn't even think about being tired this time around. Of course I blame this on the đ@μи Jeopardy game that Brian set up for me to run. Instead of sitting in a chair and pushing buttons on a machine, I spent my time playing an ignorant, tired, and surly Alex Trebek. If it weren't for Jeremy, Brian's dark apprentice, helping me out, I would've just crawled into a corner and hid for the rest of the night.

Anyways, I've started reading Gorgon, and I'm getting really into it, so be prepared to hear more about my burgeoning interest in paleontology—that, and the Permian extinction. (By the way, I am this close to buying the Guide to Prehistoric Life from the good people at the BBC, which I perused cover to cover at Schuler's Books in Grand Rapids.)

Anyways, Commander Sue invited me to do the Meme of Seven a long time ago. I must admit that, although I believe that the unexamined life is not worth living, I don't really think that internet personality tests or lists of favorites really offer true egress to the inner workings of soul. (I don't even believe that Meyers-Briggs or other scientific personality tests are any more useful than horoscopes, because people are infinitely complex. I mean, look at all the ink that has been spilt psychoanalyzing Hamlet, or Oedipus for that matter.)

Therefore it is my belief that lists of favorites and internet personality tests are the multiple-choice standardized assessments of the self-knowledge universe. But who am I to judge—I love multiple-choice tests. I can just send my them straight through the scantron machine.

Therefore, without further ado, a somewhat altered "Meme of Three"—because brevity is the soul of wit, and because I'm thinking about getting the image to your left tattoed on my shoulder (theological suggestions, anyone, I can't seem to think of any good semiotics to go with the Triquetra)—with thanks to Commander Sue and Meg Jenista.

Three favorite snacks