www.selfinjury.com

I just walked out of a Hydrology class at good ol' Ma Tech. I thought I knew what hydrology was. Thought I engaged in it on a regular basis at work. Thought I had actually taught others about the subject.
Apparently, I've been using the wrong word all these years, because what I thought was 'hydrology' must be something else. Today, in an hour of indecipherable rambling, I caught a glimpse of what the professor deemed as hydrology. Assuming he has the correct definition means that I don't know anything about hydrology, because I had no idea what he was talking about.
I am actually paying this place to make me feel dumb.

Vizzini: "Inconceivable!"
Inigo Montoya: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means"

facing your childhood fears

The Alan of the 80's was a bit different than the over-confident machismo you interact with today. Being the youngest kid in my neighborhood, and small for my age, I found myself partaking in the grand activity of watching others have fun.

For instance, I watched my friends conquer Zelda, play quarterback, pitch, pick first, cuss, talk about girls... I digress.

Not to say that there were no pleasures provided me. If anyone was needed to climb down into the storm basin to get the ball, I was your man (boy, I mean). Or, if a quick errand over to another's home to invite them out to play presented itself, and you could count on my fresh legs.

So it is now, at age 33, that I find myself faced with an enemy of all children of the 80's (that is, except for me, as I only watched other spew frustration): the Rubik's Cube. The Christmas present of my 8-year old daughter, who immediately asked her noble father to show her how to fix it. And seeing as though she still believes I hung the moon, I will spend the remainder of my natural born life tackling this object of wrath.

It is on.

2009 Books I Listened To

1. Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne
2. The Great Crash 1929 - John Galbraith
3. Giants of Irish Literature: Wilde, Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett
4. From Jesus to Christianity: A History of the Early Church
5. Upon This Rock: A History of the Papacy From Peter To John Paul II
6. “God Wills It!”: Understanding the Crusades
7. The Cassandra Compact: A Covert-One Novel - Robert Ludlum
8. Visions of Utopia: Philosophy and the Perfect Society
9. Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam 1862
10. Fundamental Cases: The Twentieth Century Courtroom Battles That Changed Our Nation
11. The Murder Room - PD James
12. The Black Tower - PD James
13. Nerve Damage - Peter Abrahams
14. The Lost Spy: An American in Stalin's Service - Andrew Meier