shanmonster | Can You Catch the Iron Chef Reference?

Today is Ugh-day. I didn't get enough sleep. My jewellery, although mostly complete, is flawed. I'm exhausted. And, worst of all, I found out my student loan might not come in for another five weeks. How am I supposed to pay for rent, food, utilities, or tuition? Plus, I am in desperate need of new eyeglasses, and I suspect the prescription will run me in excess of $500. I can't get cheapo $50 Mal-Wart glasses because my eyes are so bad that I need a special prescription. Oh yeah, and I need to get my Propranalol prescription refilled. I don't even have my usual sources of income: dance class and costuming books. I can't afford to make another print run, and I haven't been able to track down a location for classes. The need of money is the root of my evil.

The day wasn't a total loss, though. I did get some awesome free chocolate cake. Laila, a woman in my class, brought in two birthday cakes. One of them was homemade, and contained a full pound of butter. It was the richest-tasting chocolate cake I've ever had the pleasure of eating. I could only manage the smallest sliver of it, and even that almost filled me up. Wow. Talk about dense chocolatey goodness.

Some of the students began talking about Chinese New Year. We're coming up on the Year of the Monkey. I ventured that it would be awfully spiffy if my kung fu group were to do a lion dance. A third year metals student gave me a well-duh! look and said, "It's the year of the MONKEY, not lion."

I tried to explain the lion dance to her, but I'm afraid she willfully let it go over her head. I know she thinks I'm a dork, because she found out that I play roleplaying games, graduated with a Classics degree, and started reading when I was two years old. I think she saw that I was listening to an audio tape of The Canterbury Tales. That just cemented my geek status in her head.

But do you know what? Fuck her. I may never understand the mentality of people who look down on those who choose intellectual pursuits. Why would I ever want to gain their approval?

The Canterbury Tales was even better today than the last time I read it, about twelve years ago. I particularly like the Wife of Bath's tale. She makes many good points, and in a very amusing, ribald way. Now I want to reread Dan Simmons' Hyperion. If memory serves me correctly, it's a retelling of The Canterbury Tales. And The Lord of the Rings also has more than its fair share of Chaucerian influence, it seems. The way the words are strung together seems quite similar....