Monday, June 20, 2005
On four hours of sleep I arrived punctually for my six o'clock morning shift at the office, reading through a goodly chunk of The Aeneid before then parsing verbs from the Latin passage I translated last night. However, I parsed neither the verbal nouns nor adjectives, both of which I now have reason to believe were included as part of the assignment. It counts as a quiz grade, but if I do score poorly, I am afforded the opportunity to redeem points with a mid-sized research effort on some as-yet undetermined topic, due sometime before the last day of class.
I might write on either sport at Olympia or the evolution of the gladiatorial system, both of which I became interested in after having taken the ancient sports and public spectacles course last semester. In particular I find amusing Julius Caesar's transformation of the gladiatorial combat role from that of strict funerary commemoration to its more popular use as blood sport. Also, I thoroughly enjoy gladiator gear: the helmets and bindings made participants look like giant, aggressive insects. If I ever had had to fight someone in such a get up, I would have been killed immediately, for in a fit of laughter I would have dropped my own weapons and shield, both leaving me vulnerable and instigating vigorous, murderous antagonism from my opponent, had he any initial qualms about killing me.
I remained attentive through German, but I dozed off during the translations in Latin, so when Sharada dismissed us for a ten-minute break, I reluctantly, but relievedly, vamooshed [commas, I love thee]. Thus begets my reflection on the extra-credit assignment, for I might require it ever more greatly now that I perhaps missed another quiz this afternoon- the likelihood that Sharada assigned an in-class group quiz project in my absence is half in my favour, half in hers, with her half weighing more. Natürlich.
This Thursday and Friday groups in my German class present various final projects, for which I and two other people are researching the Swiss army, for, as one of our group members aptly expressed this afternoon, 'Do they remain neutral because they've all got guns and ammo stored under their beds?' I forward that we designate such statement for thesis and gather pertinent information posthaste. I, for one, want to mention Zwingli somewhere, if only for the satisfaction derived in saying, 'Zwingli'.
I ellipticized around eight this evening, which significantly reduced the bloated feeling by which I had been possessed prior to taking a fitful nap after weaseling out of Latin [awkward sentences, how I do love thee]. I ought to return now to the dorm room zu schlafen, to be ready for arising at six tomorrow in order to sweat out a pound. Then I'll have about two hours before German to conduct research or to read further The Aeneid.
I am a busy bee.
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 8:05 PM]