1:56 AM:

As the Harry Potter Sorting Hat link of a few days ago seems to be the first thing I've written here in ages that's gotten much interest (mostly because I haven't been writing much at all, I know), I should perhaps clarify my position.

As mentioned in that other entry, I do own a Slytherin T-shirt and mug, which are cool. Gryffyndor is all well and good, but their crest is too mainstream for me to wear on my chest. Identifying with Slytherin provides just the right blend of pop culture and counterculture. Plus I'm still committed to the notion that there are shades of grey in all the houses, and I'm hoping to see good Slytherin characters and evil Gryffyndor characters down the line. (I have my theory about the person most likely to fill the latter role, but let that pass for now.)

With that having been said, I rather suspect that if I were really being sorted for admission to Hogwarts, I'd end up in Ravenclaw. Although it's a bit hard to tell, as Ravenclaw is the house given the least attention in the books. (Hufflepuff is also neglected, but at least they have Cedric Diggory.)

Regarding the Thanksgiving break, the plot thickens. It seems that the class I have on early Wednesday afternoons may shift its pre-Thanksgiving session to sometime the following week. If this actually happens, I'll have off from late Monday afternoon through the weekend. In which case I'll definitely be heading back to New York.

I don't know if this is really gonna happen, though. I'm hoping to find out tomorrow.

4:57 AM:

Oh, my.

I just logged into my Escape.Com account for the first time in about a month (long story, not worth getting into), and set about deleting the mountain of spam in my mailbox, and noting the few non-spam messages from people and lists still using my old address, which is going to stop working at the end of October.

I almost deleted one bit of mail based on the subject line, but noted a split-second later that it was from the Church of Euthanasia mailing list and undeleted it. I hadn't heard from them in months, but, in hindsight, it was perhaps inevitable that they'd have some words of approval for recent events.

Warning, then: if you have the slightest bit of doubt whatsoever about your tolerance for sick humor, if you wonder for a moment why anybody would be on the mailing list of "The Church of Euthanasia" in the first place, if you do not find yourself running to alt.tasteless.jokes after major traumatic events... don't even think of clicking the above link and scrolling down to their newest song, "I Like to Watch." I mean it. In fact, even if you fit all the above criteria, prior experience with the works of Rev. Korda and Co. may be a necessary prerequisite.

Me, I was perversely charmed. And, as usual, left uncertain of how much of this is over-the-top satire and how much is straightforward.

5:43 PM:

[snicker]

I love The Boondocks.

10:21 AM:

Hmmm.

I've just noticed two interesting things. The first is that Thanksgiving recess at my new school runs from Wednesday afternoon through the weekend; the second is that Greyhound service to New York is better than I'd thought it was, both in terms of travel time and in terms of price. (Sibley tried to tell me this awhile back, but, truth to tell, it didn't really register.) I'm just homesick enough to be seriously considering this.

On the downside, in the best-case scenario, the ratio of travel time to NYC time would be less than inspiring. The itenerary I'm looking at would have me leave Ann Arbor about 6 PM on Wednesday, arriving in New York almost sixteen hours later, around 10 AM Thursday. In theory, I get to sleep on the bus; in practice, this seems distinctly unlikely. Worse, I can't read on the bus, either; I'm prone to motion sickness. The only form of transport on which I can read without problems is the railroad.

So, I arrive in New York Thursday morning, get to the family around noon, then collapse in a heap, waking up early Friday morning... then Friday itself is pretty short at that time of year, with Shabbos starting at 4:14 PM. I would get a long Saturday night, though.

Sunday afternoon, I'd leave at 2 PM, spend about eighteen hours on the road, arriving in Ann Arbor about 8 AM Monday. Probably exhausted again, with class at 2:30 PM.

Alternately, I could just stay in Michigan and get a few days' rest, perhaps taking the oppotunity to catch up on my schoolwork and work on all the end-of-term projects that'll presumably be in progress at that point.

Still... hmm. New York has pastrami. New York has fresh bagels, rye bread, pita, challah. New York has kosher pizza. New York has a bunch of people whom I miss dearly. And... (sigh)... and, well, there's the other thing, the thing that I suppose I sort of almost understand intellectually, but which I don't think I'll quite be able to grok [1] until I see for myself. And I'm not sure I can wait until the semester ends in late December; it's been hard enough being away for the past month.

[Footnote 1]: Actually, the word I want is derher, but "grok" is the closest I can come to it in... umm, in jargon understandable by an English-speaking audience with some exposure to science-fiction or hackish culture. The Yiddish term in question denotes a sort of experiential understanding.

"Hi, my name is Shmuel. I'm a first-year student in the Language and Literature program. According to the current sound bite, my areas of interest are cultural criticism and gender study."

Since the start of the semester, I -- like everybody else in my program -- have been called upon to give the academic equivalent of my name, rank, and serial number at least a dozen times. In the first session of every class. At get-togethers. When guest speakers have dropped by.

Being me, of course, I can't just repeat the same two sentences every time. That would be boring. For that matter, reciting two boring sentences would be even more boring.

Thus far, I've managed to avoid giving the same answer twice.

"My name is Shmuel. I just graduated from Queens College of the City University of New York. I'm interested in cultural criticism and women's studies. I've also recently become interested in the way American society considers children, with a particular focus on teenage sexuality, so my dissertation -- you heard it here first -- will be on Britney Spears." (Professor: "Really?!" Shmuel: "No!")

"My name is Shmuel, and I'm another damn New Yorker..." (This was at the start of September; I don't think it'd work just now.)

"My name is Shmuel; I'm a first-year Lang-and-Lit student. I'm interested in cultural criticism, gender study, children's societal roles, and teenage sexuality, so my dissertation is going to focus on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Powerpuff Girls."

"Shmuel. Cultural criticism, gender study, and smut."