There's nothing really going on right now, but I'm three days away from graduation, and I thought I'd kick around online a while, finally post in my journal again. I'm still putting off the articles about my trip to Britain, as I'd like to get some photos posted. Mostly I'm waiting for real free time, as I went straight from hopping suicidal pocket-diving planes to schoolwork and strange roommate stories. They're best related in person, as most of my trip was, but my first roommate never told me about her problems, then let loose all at once after two weeks, and my second roommate is a damn ghost, as he's never around, but his stuff's still there so I don't get the room to myself.

Damn, I like this keyboard. It's really the only reason I'm bothering to write this up. I enjoy typing on it quite a bit. It's a - wait, let me tip it up - Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard. The keys are wonderful.

Well, almost everyone's talking about it, so I should update on the personal Potter front: nothing new. I own the book - I made the purchase Sunday evening, in fact - but I won't be reading the book until the weekend, after graduation, as I want to be able to cut loose, and that'll require a fluid bedtime.

Right now I'm reading a book called The Eyre Affair. The protagonist is called Thursday Next, and she polices literature. She catches folks hawking fake Byron manuscripts, &c. It's fabulous so far, especially the scene where a door-to-door Baconite shows up. Here's some background: some people feel Shakespeare couldn't have written, well, what he wrote. The argument goes that a country boy with no education couldn't have known the references or have the evident mastery of the English language. Now, I've been to Stratford-upon-Avon, and there's no reason a wealthy merchant's son (John Shakespeare raked in the money, not all of it legal) couldn't get a very good education there (if you want to get very technical, Will's Warwickshire upbringing's actually supported by the plays themselves - all those poetic, strange names for plants, animals, &c are all colloquial to the Warwickshire dialect). Many alternatives have been offered up, from Christopher Marlowe to Francis Bacon. So, with that background, you can guess at the very funny scene when someone who deals in literature as a career is confronted by someone arguing that Bacon, a minor lawyer in London, wrote Shakespeare's stuff. Her winning argument is truly wonderful.

Anyway. I've learned a bit of Old English over the past few weeks, that's brilliant. I even checked out an Old English grammar from the library, but I haven't had the time to really study it, so I returned it. Hopefully I can buy my own copy to study at my leisure.

ENG 520 (History of the English Language) has been instructive in other ways as well. We're studying dialects in this, the last week, and they're terribly entertaining. I didn't know "bless your heart" was linguistically unique to the Southern dialect area, but statistically it is. We had a little confrontation (this is exaggeration) over the British meaning of "pudding." Dr. Bennett said it was a general term for any dessert, but while I was there it was particularly the word for meat sausages you have for breakfast. You know, pork bits, oatmeal, and blood. We got into it at the Ceiligh, as John and I polished off our haggis and the girl from Minnesota whinged about it (John was our guide, and from Bristol - he said "pudding" was the above). I dunno, but I thought it was interesting. Also, apparently "whinge" is a lexical word from the Austrailian dialect.

If I haven't mentioned before, by the way, haggis was very good. Hell, the server was impressed with me. Was a bit disappointed I didn't want extra tomatoes with my chicken, but that's okay, John ended up eating the one I got by default, I think.

Em, I can't think of much else to say.