Bob and Jerry's

Bob's

I'd rather be in some dark hollow
Where the sun don't never shine
Than to be at home alone, just knowing that she's gone
That would cause me to lose my mind . . .

So blow your whistle freight train
Take me far on down the track
I'm going away, I'm leaving today
I'm going but I ain't coming back

Jerry's

I'd rather be in some dark hollow
Where the sun don't ever shine
Than to be in some big city
In a small room with a girl on my mind

Jerry's lyrics differ from Bob's and apparently this lyric comes from a folk song recorded as early as 1929 and dating back long before (See here). But it's on my iPod and in my head.

And now, I'm listening to China Doll:

A pistol shot at five o'clock
The bells of heaven ring
Tell me what you done it for
No I won't tell you a thing . . .

Take up your china doll
It's only fractured
Just a little nervous from the fall

Next up on the playlist, I've Been All Around This World.

Malayse

I was supposed to be in KL this weekend. Instead, I'll be in the office again. Either way it's work, but a few nights at the Mandarin Oriental and seeing a new city sounded like fun.

What I need to do:
1. Start taking a few pictures.
2. Purchase a bike.
3. Book some weekend trips so that I can turn away weekend work.

Malayse was mostly an (un)funny wordplay. Things couldn't be better--although I haven't had a true day-off in almost 4 weeks.

Also, the link for the week (meant to post this a few weeks ago and in the meantime both Volokh and ATL have linked to it):

Get Up Jake.

I had my first chili crab in the office last night. And by that I mean, I had my first chili crab. But, by that I also mean, it was the first chili crab I had eaten in the office. Tasty. Work is humming along.

It's Chinese New Year. It was a good--but not great--weekend (since, last minute, I decided against a jaunt to Phuket, in favor of racking up hours at the office.)

Oh, and I'm finally over jet-lag, which is the point of this post. I owe it to Heroes; I bought season one, and watched the whole thing last week, which made me stay up later each night, until now: I've normalized. I know, because it's suddenly hard to get up on time. Thus, the song, covered by one of my favorite new bands:

Ad hoc translation.

Ever since I was a delightfully (as in, it delighted me--not others) selfabsorbed know-it-all in high school, I've been looking for the right opportunities to use bits of Latin here and there. Today, I had to translate my diploma from Latin to English. In the process, I (would have) proved (if anyone actually knew any) that I am helpless with Latin--a complete fake. Yet, in the process, I also discovered the supreme irony of Ivy league diplomas written in Latin--or at least of those from my school: the Latin is bad--even blatantly incorrect, aimed mostly at using complicated words and tenses. So a certificate is passed from Trustees, Faculty, Dean and President of the University--none of whom understand the Latin--to their pupils--none of whom understand it--to signify that the former wish to acknowledge the learning of the latter. Those conferring the diplomas, dressed in the robes of a false priesthood, which neither they nor their graduates believe in, do not even understand what the diploma says (or its mistakes)--nor do those who receive their diplomas, for the most part. Yet all are happy to participate in the pomp and circumstance which serves to congratulate each on his or her status.

Similarly, today I hacked my way through a very bad translation so that a government entity, which also doesn't know much about Latin, can take at face value what I say that my diploma says--even though whatever it says, it says incorrectly. Rewarding me for this, they will allow me to work--thankfully for all, in a field other than Latin.

The Other Baron-Cohen and My Brain

This interesting discussion at T&S talked me into testing my brain.


My EQ SQ results:

EQ : 29
SQ : 100
Brain Type : Extreme Systemizing

Take the EQ SQ tests


In other news, I found this before Kaimi at T&S, but I agree completely with him about it.
It's pretty hard to tackle "What Is It About Mormonism?"--but this is the perfect tackle, following some famously fumble-fingered attempts of late in the media.

If I wait till midnight. . .

. . . maybe i get another daily video. or two. conor puts depression into words and music. and silence.

and he's so good live too:

we are nowhere


lua

Daily Video.

I should just start calling this the Video of the Day Blog. Or even the Music Video of the Day Blog. Because that's what it's turning into. I found a new musician today--who is probably famous for all I know--but knowing little about music, he is new to me. And I like the video. That song, and that artist, come as an upbeat answer to the ennui engulfing this first singer, in this first song. She has a better voice, I think, than the original artist--and, if I didn't know better (and I don't), I'd even say that I have a crush on her. Which isn't something I've had on a random far-off singer since Jewel--and high school. See a few posts below.

1. 我真的受傷了, 王菀之 performed by gaspard128


2. M. Ward "Chinese

. . . I'm definitely going to get some M. Ward from iTunes this week. . .