A random amalgamation of miscellany (any ideas on how to fit more big words in there?):
Common People by Pulp has been a favorite of mine ever since I heard the William Shatner (yes, that William Shatner) cover. Shatner's version is spectacular, but it hovers so close to the line between campy and serious that I've come to enjoy the original a bit more. Check the mp3 of the song in the link to the lyrics.
Every time there's a semi-major change in my life (e.g. the end of a semester or something similar) I'm going to switch deodorant. When I was packing up to come back to Hillsdale after Memorial Day weekend, I grabbed a stick of deodorant that I haven't worn in months. I put it on today without thinking, and all morning I was wondering "why am I all of sudden reminiscing about last summer?" It wasn't like specific memories came back or anything, but all of a sudden I remembered how it had felt to be me a year ago. After a few hours of this, I realized that the feeling was stemming from the smell, and a little while later I realized the smell was my deodorant. The feeling was far more direct than simply remembering what the summer had been like. I can't really describe it, but it was powerful enough that I'm going to try to organize it and catalog it. Maybe I'll have a spreadsheet linking ranges of dates to various deodorant brands and scents. If I feel like being back in sophomore year of high school, I look it up, then go to the store and grab a stick of Old Spice (Classic) deodorant. My true geek nature shows through... (Well, not true geek nature... I am wearing deodorant, after all...)
I've been using Google Personalized Homepage at work ever since it came out. As one who has developed web applications (albeit primitive ones), I am duly impressed by the layout system, which is simple, effective, informative, yet still sparse enough to be easy to read and use. One of the main effects of using it is that I am far more informed of major news events than I ever have been previously. The Google News section is updated every few minutes, so I'm constantly bombarded with various happenings. Last month, I wouldn't have realized that the European Union was even thinking about making a new constitution. Now I can ruminate about the impact of France's "no" vote on this constitution. Because of this new plane of awareness, I think I'll start doing a weekly round-up of world events, touching briefly on the stuff that was prominently featured on Google News, and give my take on them. The intention is not for this to become a political or current events blog, so I will only write about things to which I think I have something unique or important to add.
Come to think of it, what would you call this blog? It's not quite a personal journal, because I don't just write about the commonplace events of my day. It's not a political blog. It's not a religious blog. It's not really any specific type of blog. I suppose it's just the thoughts I have that I consider worth sharing. And a place to work out thoughts that I think are worth working out. Hmm.
I think that my daily blogs are going to come from work for the rest of the summer. Here, I'm limited to where I can go on the internet, and what I can do on the computer (I'm stuck on a Windows box), but I have plenty of time sitting in front of the monitor, waiting for a call or for my boss to tell me to do something specific. So, I can open up an email and write in it throughout the day, and when (a) the day is over or (b) I feel like I've reached a good stopping point, I can just send it and *bam* it's posted. I don't even need to visit blogger.
Until tomorrow...
Commentum Physiologiae
Science fiction is my guilty pleasure. Sure it's escapist and most of it serves as tripe for socially undeveloped white males living in their parents' basement, but there is the occasional rare gem that is uncommonly fascinating. A worth-while sci-fi author uses the future to stage his view of the present, and will concentrate less on the technological innovations that dominate lesser novels, but instead on the social and political change. People of the future will often be portrayed as having a difficult time understanding things about the "past," which is of course our present, or perhaps the futuristic society will exist a particular way because of the way the our present is. It's an opportunity for the writer to act as a prophet, looking at humanity, and trying to divine where we will go from here.
There is plenty of opportunity for an author to get up on a soap box and lecture his readers about the evils that are perpetrated today, and how they can and will influence the future that our ancestors will have to inhabit. Or to go on philosophical tangents that have little to do with the plot of the book. Most good sci-fi writers avoid making such things too obvious, and just let the events and the futuristic world speak for themselves.
I just finished Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. If you've seen the movie, just forget completely about it. It's a $0.25 movie, and does the book absolutely no justice. I saw it, and laughed at it, but I did realize that it was spawned from what could be a very interesting book. After a few weeks of looking around for a copy, I got ahold of one this afternoon, and spent a few hours giving it a read-through. I guess I haven't fully digested it yet, but I am quite intrigued by it. It satisfies my hunger for futuristic gadgets and technology. But the real measure of any good science fiction novel is being able to integrate the scientific prophecy with the social prophecy.
The novel does offer a lot to think about. Through the mouthpiece of philosophy teachers, Heinlein gives his opinion on basic human rights, corporal punishment, the nature of citizenship, and how all of these and other subjects should integrate themselves in a society. One of the more interesting features of the futuristic society is that citizenship, and hence voting rights, are only granted to those who have served at least two years of military service. The idea is that responsibility is the counterpart of authority, and one should not exist without the other. If you have authority without responsibility, you turn into a despot, and if you have responsibility without authority, you grumble and eventually revolt.
So, the social prophecies exist, but do they exist seamlessly with the technological prophecies? Not really. Though I can see applications of the more cerebral discussions in the rest of the novel, I constantly found myself asking, as the pages in my right hand dwindled, just how he was going to come to a climax that brought everything together. It turns out that he doesn't. Throughout the sequence that should be a climax, it is all guns and aliens and futuristic suits. Nothing but fluff and special effects, really. I couldn't help but feel that the real climax had occurred when the main character had decided to extend his military service to a career. That was the true moment that embodied all that had been discussed about the moral duty of a citizen, and how it must be voluntary. The rest was secondary, and only appealed to my visceral nature.
This isn't to say that I didn't like the book. I loved it. But I never felt fulfilled. The lectures on philosophy and politics could have existed independently as essays, with Heinlein talking directly to his readers rather than couching his ideas within a story that never brings them to fruition. In this aspect, the book was startlingly similar to the movie in that they both had flashes of insight and brilliance indicating that there was much more beneath the surface, but it never quite fully materialized.
There is plenty of opportunity for an author to get up on a soap box and lecture his readers about the evils that are perpetrated today, and how they can and will influence the future that our ancestors will have to inhabit. Or to go on philosophical tangents that have little to do with the plot of the book. Most good sci-fi writers avoid making such things too obvious, and just let the events and the futuristic world speak for themselves.
I just finished Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. If you've seen the movie, just forget completely about it. It's a $0.25 movie, and does the book absolutely no justice. I saw it, and laughed at it, but I did realize that it was spawned from what could be a very interesting book. After a few weeks of looking around for a copy, I got ahold of one this afternoon, and spent a few hours giving it a read-through. I guess I haven't fully digested it yet, but I am quite intrigued by it. It satisfies my hunger for futuristic gadgets and technology. But the real measure of any good science fiction novel is being able to integrate the scientific prophecy with the social prophecy.
The novel does offer a lot to think about. Through the mouthpiece of philosophy teachers, Heinlein gives his opinion on basic human rights, corporal punishment, the nature of citizenship, and how all of these and other subjects should integrate themselves in a society. One of the more interesting features of the futuristic society is that citizenship, and hence voting rights, are only granted to those who have served at least two years of military service. The idea is that responsibility is the counterpart of authority, and one should not exist without the other. If you have authority without responsibility, you turn into a despot, and if you have responsibility without authority, you grumble and eventually revolt.
So, the social prophecies exist, but do they exist seamlessly with the technological prophecies? Not really. Though I can see applications of the more cerebral discussions in the rest of the novel, I constantly found myself asking, as the pages in my right hand dwindled, just how he was going to come to a climax that brought everything together. It turns out that he doesn't. Throughout the sequence that should be a climax, it is all guns and aliens and futuristic suits. Nothing but fluff and special effects, really. I couldn't help but feel that the real climax had occurred when the main character had decided to extend his military service to a career. That was the true moment that embodied all that had been discussed about the moral duty of a citizen, and how it must be voluntary. The rest was secondary, and only appealed to my visceral nature.
This isn't to say that I didn't like the book. I loved it. But I never felt fulfilled. The lectures on philosophy and politics could have existed independently as essays, with Heinlein talking directly to his readers rather than couching his ideas within a story that never brings them to fruition. In this aspect, the book was startlingly similar to the movie in that they both had flashes of insight and brilliance indicating that there was much more beneath the surface, but it never quite fully materialized.
Sunt Pueri Pueri, Pueri Puerilia Tractant
I was using the little hand-truck at work today, hauling junky old computers from one storage room to another. As I was walking back through a hallway with an empty cart, I jumped on the cart and pushed it along like a scooter. I didn't really even plan to do it, it was just a spur of the moment thing. Just as suddenly, I jumped off and quickly looked around. I didn't want anyone to see my moment of childishness. After all, I'm 21 years old. That sort of thing was done in elementary school. Fortunately, no one was looking.
But of course, just as quickly as I became ashamed, I became ashamed of being ashamed. Who doesn't try to regain their youth, after all? There is something to be said for being spontaneous. Maybe it's this very thing - being scared of looking ridiculous, or of seeming less mature - that one must throw away if one is to truly enjoy life. I was getting riled up. Why should I care what people think of me when it comes to having a little bit of childish fun? I mean, they ought to be the ones who are ashamed! Yeah, I was even a bit mad. Too caught up in their daily grind to have a bit of fun. They're just jealous of my youth and exuberance for life, and they're taking it out on me by calling me "immature" or "childish". Of course, no one actually did see me. But I wish they had, just so I could show them that I don't care what they think! They just don't know how to enjoy themselves.
Well, screw them! I put my foot on the cart again, ready to defy the world and act childish. But then I froze. Someone was watching through the window. I put my foot on the ground and continued walking.
Facies Nova
I spent a few minutes re-working the look of the blog. Finally. Let me know if you notice any interface inconsistencies, errors, difficulties, etc. Or if you think it just plain sucks. A couple anecdotes to mark the occasion:
One, I was talking to my friend Gilbert about dancing. I mentioned that sometimes dance at parties. He said, "Carl, what color is your skin?" to which I replied, "#FFFFFF". If you actually get that, please pray for me. You know just how bad the pun is, and just how nerdy the joke is.
As I was finishing up the design, the song after which the blog is named began to play (my music player is almost always set to random). It was a welcome omen. The title is one of the few things that has escaped being changed by my bizarre and probably unhealthy obsession with showing off the fact that I know a bit of Latin at every chance I get, and I think I'll leave it that way. Even though I could easily change it to "Ubi est mens mea?"
One, I was talking to my friend Gilbert about dancing. I mentioned that sometimes dance at parties. He said, "Carl, what color is your skin?" to which I replied, "#FFFFFF". If you actually get that, please pray for me. You know just how bad the pun is, and just how nerdy the joke is.
As I was finishing up the design, the song after which the blog is named began to play (my music player is almost always set to random). It was a welcome omen. The title is one of the few things that has escaped being changed by my bizarre and probably unhealthy obsession with showing off the fact that I know a bit of Latin at every chance I get, and I think I'll leave it that way. Even though I could easily change it to "Ubi est mens mea?"
Ex Taedio, Hoc
Recently, I've had a strange penchant for thinking up unique ways to classify the quality of various things. No longer are movies rated by arbitrary things like a particular number of stars or by a percentage. Instead, it's based on how much money I would pay to see it in the theater, with full price (about $7 where I'm from) being above average. This is slightly more complicated than other ratings in that the relative value of money isn't constant across the entire population. But all this really does is introduce another instance of subjectivity to an enterprise which is already entirely subjective. The best way to get a real feel for how good a movie is based on a particular reviewer's rating is to know what he said about other movies that you have seen. The advantage of using money as the rating system is that it is far more concrete, and it just eliminates a step that the review reader does anyway. You see that a new movie got two and a half stars from some reviewer, and you assimilate what you know of the reviewer's tastes, the rating he gave it, and the cost of seeing it the theaters into a decision to see it or not. Now, all you have to do is to take what you know of my tastes and the rating I gave it to make the same decision.
Actually I'm just trying to justify being unique and different. But I have done so, and keeping all of this in mind, here are ratings for a few movies that I've seen recently:
Revenge of the Sith: $4.00
Unleashed: $3.50
Hitchhiker's Guide: $5.50
2046: $8.00
Certain films will obviously have their ratings boosted because they are much better to see in the theater. Well, all films are better to see in the theater, but some are better than others.
What all of this has done is left me a perfect opportunity to segue into posting the various film journals that I wrote throughout the semester for my film class. So, look for those in the coming weeks, I suppose.
Oh, and speaking of subjectively rating various media, I've had a slight influx of new music ever since I got on cable internet with no bandwidth restrictions. So, five songs to which everyone ought to listen (in alphabetical order):
Hair by The Cowsills
Half Man Half Machine by Goldie Lookin' Chain
Lawyers, Guns, and Money by Warren Zevon
The Metro by Berlin
Stand Up Tall by Dizzee Rascal
A rather eclectic bunch, I know, but they are all great. Go listen to them.
Until tomorrow...
Actually I'm just trying to justify being unique and different. But I have done so, and keeping all of this in mind, here are ratings for a few movies that I've seen recently:
Revenge of the Sith: $4.00
Unleashed: $3.50
Hitchhiker's Guide: $5.50
2046: $8.00
Certain films will obviously have their ratings boosted because they are much better to see in the theater. Well, all films are better to see in the theater, but some are better than others.
What all of this has done is left me a perfect opportunity to segue into posting the various film journals that I wrote throughout the semester for my film class. So, look for those in the coming weeks, I suppose.
Oh, and speaking of subjectively rating various media, I've had a slight influx of new music ever since I got on cable internet with no bandwidth restrictions. So, five songs to which everyone ought to listen (in alphabetical order):
Hair by The Cowsills
Half Man Half Machine by Goldie Lookin' Chain
Lawyers, Guns, and Money by Warren Zevon
The Metro by Berlin
Stand Up Tall by Dizzee Rascal
A rather eclectic bunch, I know, but they are all great. Go listen to them.
Until tomorrow...
Eius Obliviscamur
Well, this "writing something every day" shit just isn't working out. And I suppose it's for the best. Stephen King forces himself to write at least a set amount every day, no matter how off he's feeling, and I can live without being like him. But I'll try to at least post something interesting every day. So, a random snippet of online conversation between myself and Dan:
Dan: I EXPECT YOU TO BE THE NEXT NIETZSCHE
Me: i'll do my best, but i make no promises
Dan: ok
Dan: but i dont expect you to experience two failed marriage proposals and then die of syphillis, completely out of your fucking mind, living with your aunt
Me: shit, those were the parts i've already got lined up
Dan: actually, funny story... i can help you with the syphillis part
Me: ...
Dan: I EXPECT YOU TO BE THE NEXT NIETZSCHE
Me: i'll do my best, but i make no promises
Dan: ok
Dan: but i dont expect you to experience two failed marriage proposals and then die of syphillis, completely out of your fucking mind, living with your aunt
Me: shit, those were the parts i've already got lined up
Dan: actually, funny story... i can help you with the syphillis part
Me: ...
Pecuniae Scribere Volo
Writing is a fascinating enterprise. For as long as I can remember I'm simply mimicked writing styles that I've read. I suppose that really, that's all that writing ever is, but I've always been hyper-concious of the process, and of the language I appropriate. When I first started writing papers for classes, I was always worried that it would be obvious what I was doing. I just copied that phrase directly out of some newspaper article I had read a while ago, or I was just using some common expression to sound professional. I got good grades, and I was mildly surprised, but I just figured that at that level such things were overlooked.
Then came highschool. I was scared that I hadn't prepared myself for "real" paper writing, because I had slid by in junior high by just imitating other styles, and didn't do anything original. Having no choice, I just did what I had always done and turned in the papers. And I got good grades. In fact, paper grades are what carried me through highschool, really. It sure as hell wasn't the homework. I figured out after a year or two that highschool wasn't all that challenging, so I figured maybe they were just letting me get away with it there, too.
College was different. Or so I thought. They tried to scare us, saying that "college is much harder, it will take a semester to adjust" and so on and so on. I didn't know what they wanted, so I just did the same ol' same ol', imitating and meshing the styles I get from newspapers and books. And I do well on my papers. I don't know, maybe they're just being easy on me in college, too. I have no experience with levels of writing beyond the undergraduate.
But I think that I've figured it out. When it comes to writing, sounding professional is being professional. "Style" is simply an amalgamation of imitations. Common expressions are welcomed because they cojure specific relationships between the things signified by the other words quickly and easily. So all of the worries that I've had since junior high are really just a moot point. I imitate well, and therefore I write well.
Now the key issue is: can I make money from this? I think that I can. I wrote a short story back in 8th grade for a bullshit school competition. It got a "gold star" (which wasn't hard, trust me), and the judge gushed about it, saying I should get it published. I hold no illusions about the actual quality of the story, but it is rather inspiring. I think that with a bit of practice, I could write well enough to be published. So I'm going to try to post daily for the next few weeks.
What the hell am I getting myself in to?
Then came highschool. I was scared that I hadn't prepared myself for "real" paper writing, because I had slid by in junior high by just imitating other styles, and didn't do anything original. Having no choice, I just did what I had always done and turned in the papers. And I got good grades. In fact, paper grades are what carried me through highschool, really. It sure as hell wasn't the homework. I figured out after a year or two that highschool wasn't all that challenging, so I figured maybe they were just letting me get away with it there, too.
College was different. Or so I thought. They tried to scare us, saying that "college is much harder, it will take a semester to adjust" and so on and so on. I didn't know what they wanted, so I just did the same ol' same ol', imitating and meshing the styles I get from newspapers and books. And I do well on my papers. I don't know, maybe they're just being easy on me in college, too. I have no experience with levels of writing beyond the undergraduate.
But I think that I've figured it out. When it comes to writing, sounding professional is being professional. "Style" is simply an amalgamation of imitations. Common expressions are welcomed because they cojure specific relationships between the things signified by the other words quickly and easily. So all of the worries that I've had since junior high are really just a moot point. I imitate well, and therefore I write well.
Now the key issue is: can I make money from this? I think that I can. I wrote a short story back in 8th grade for a bullshit school competition. It got a "gold star" (which wasn't hard, trust me), and the judge gushed about it, saying I should get it published. I hold no illusions about the actual quality of the story, but it is rather inspiring. I think that with a bit of practice, I could write well enough to be published. So I'm going to try to post daily for the next few weeks.
What the hell am I getting myself in to?
Star Wars Sans Pop Culture
As the ever jocund Mr. Alex Harner would say, the Star Wars shaped hole in my heart has been filled. And I found myself wondering, as I left the theater, what would be running through the head of someone who watched the Star Wars movies in order, without any prior knowledge not only of the plots of the movies, but also without any prior knowledge of the story behind the movies - how George Lucas made A New Hope on a shoestring budget, how it changed special effects in movies and all that sort of thing, and then how he made the prequel trilogy twenty years later.
Episode I:
Oh wow, someone spent a lot of money on this movie. Too bad it's absolute shit.
Episode II:
How the hell did they get the money to make another piece of crap like this, especially after that last bomb of a movie? Unbelieveable. Why is this kid so damn important? Why is any of this so damn important? Why are these people treated like I'm supposed to know them? Or is there just a complete lack of character developement? Oh well, it was a waste of two hours.
Episode III:
I have no idea what the hell is going on. Why is there so much attention being paid to this weird-looking costume that the dumbass kid is wearing? I mean, two minutes to put on a suit that makes him look like an oversized fly. More attention was paid to the suit than to the character himself, or at least the lines he was supposed to deliver. It seemed a little better than the last ones though.
Episode IV:
They must have pulled the funding or something, but they made another one anyway. But it's actually fun to watch. And the dialog isn't ridiculous. And I'm actually interested in what happens to the characters. I like the guy they pulled in to do an old Obi-Wan, and Darth Vader is a lot better being voiced by a black guy than being played by a kid who can't act. It's strange, though - we know that Luke and Leia are brother and sister, but there isn't a single sly little hint at it or anything.
Episode V:
Holy shit, this is really good. But they still must not trust them with real money, even though IV was a gigantic upswing. This is better funded than IV anyway, but what happened to all of the special effects? Oh well, it doesn't matter, the story carries it. There are all sorts of references to the first three movies, too. Kinda silly, if you ask me.
Episode VI:
Almost a return to form, really. It wasn't worthy of following V. Those furry things were ridiculous. The Emperor finally decided to show up again. He was only mentioned once in IV, and only had a fuzzy cameo in V. Weird. Anyway, it was still better than the first three, though I have a feeling that the writer for the first three had left for IV and V, but came back for this one. I detect a common thread of shit. But it is far less pronounced in this one. Strange.
All-in-all:
Apparently, it takes pulling funding for a project to get good. I just don't know why they didn't pull it earlier. Those first two were just God-awful.
Episode I:
Oh wow, someone spent a lot of money on this movie. Too bad it's absolute shit.
Episode II:
How the hell did they get the money to make another piece of crap like this, especially after that last bomb of a movie? Unbelieveable. Why is this kid so damn important? Why is any of this so damn important? Why are these people treated like I'm supposed to know them? Or is there just a complete lack of character developement? Oh well, it was a waste of two hours.
Episode III:
I have no idea what the hell is going on. Why is there so much attention being paid to this weird-looking costume that the dumbass kid is wearing? I mean, two minutes to put on a suit that makes him look like an oversized fly. More attention was paid to the suit than to the character himself, or at least the lines he was supposed to deliver. It seemed a little better than the last ones though.
Episode IV:
They must have pulled the funding or something, but they made another one anyway. But it's actually fun to watch. And the dialog isn't ridiculous. And I'm actually interested in what happens to the characters. I like the guy they pulled in to do an old Obi-Wan, and Darth Vader is a lot better being voiced by a black guy than being played by a kid who can't act. It's strange, though - we know that Luke and Leia are brother and sister, but there isn't a single sly little hint at it or anything.
Episode V:
Holy shit, this is really good. But they still must not trust them with real money, even though IV was a gigantic upswing. This is better funded than IV anyway, but what happened to all of the special effects? Oh well, it doesn't matter, the story carries it. There are all sorts of references to the first three movies, too. Kinda silly, if you ask me.
Episode VI:
Almost a return to form, really. It wasn't worthy of following V. Those furry things were ridiculous. The Emperor finally decided to show up again. He was only mentioned once in IV, and only had a fuzzy cameo in V. Weird. Anyway, it was still better than the first three, though I have a feeling that the writer for the first three had left for IV and V, but came back for this one. I detect a common thread of shit. But it is far less pronounced in this one. Strange.
All-in-all:
Apparently, it takes pulling funding for a project to get good. I just don't know why they didn't pull it earlier. Those first two were just God-awful.
Hortor Me Ut Studeam Sed Erro
My laptop, left in my possession by the incorrigible Mr. Schlessinger, has finally bit the big one. The charging jack, which has been on the blink all semester, has been gently refusing to accept the increasingly more forceful advances of the charger, and is now completely rejects any electricity that it is offered. So, it has died. Perhaps I'll send it in to be repaired. But I find myself pondering whether or not paying $500 to fix a hulk of a laptop that's already in bad shape in other ways is worth it, when I could get a student developer kit from Apple and get a 12" PowerBook for a little over double that. I suppose it all depends on the summer cash flow. We shall see.
So instead of sitting in the comfort of my own room, with a comfy couch, and a generally homey atmosphere, I have to go to the cold, sterile enironments of the computer labs to get on the internet. The walls are all a generic beige, the rows of slate gray Macs hum quietly away, and the fluorescent lights, bathing the room in an unnatural white, give off an almost imperceptible 60 hertz hum. It's like a room in the Death Star.
Having been exposed, in some small way, to deconstructionism a few weeks ago, I found this to be particularly funny, especially coming from a programming background as I do. It's actually rather depressing that I can understand both positions. I have a tenuous grasp on the concepts for both of these disparate fields of study (computer science and literary criticism), but I have no truly deep understanding of either. I can put the terms together and make sense of them, but I can't come up with original thought. It's a sort of a jack-of-all-trades thing, but the master-of-none portion bugs me. I can impress people with the breadth of my knowledge, but anyone who really knows either field will be disappointed by the depth of it.
I only have two finals this semester, but one of them (Latin) is in two hours, so I'm going to get to studying.
So instead of sitting in the comfort of my own room, with a comfy couch, and a generally homey atmosphere, I have to go to the cold, sterile enironments of the computer labs to get on the internet. The walls are all a generic beige, the rows of slate gray Macs hum quietly away, and the fluorescent lights, bathing the room in an unnatural white, give off an almost imperceptible 60 hertz hum. It's like a room in the Death Star.
Having been exposed, in some small way, to deconstructionism a few weeks ago, I found this to be particularly funny, especially coming from a programming background as I do. It's actually rather depressing that I can understand both positions. I have a tenuous grasp on the concepts for both of these disparate fields of study (computer science and literary criticism), but I have no truly deep understanding of either. I can put the terms together and make sense of them, but I can't come up with original thought. It's a sort of a jack-of-all-trades thing, but the master-of-none portion bugs me. I can impress people with the breadth of my knowledge, but anyone who really knows either field will be disappointed by the depth of it.
I only have two finals this semester, but one of them (Latin) is in two hours, so I'm going to get to studying.