Okay, I'm calling it

I just saw Happy Feet (yes, the CGI-animation movie about a dancing penguin), and I'm making this call: the penguins are actually aliens (that have however only dimly remembered their origins), and get help from their still-celestial kin. The star cluster, the mythology, the twinkling, the feather -- these are my clues.

Another random update: a few weeks ago I sold some used books in Taipei, but held off from buying Daniel Dennett's Brainchildren (on the silly grounds pshaw! that I wouldn't read it any time soon). Well, since then I've been having that bookworm itch and asked my friend to pick it up for me today on her trip to Taipei. Meanwhile, I checked it out at Amazon.com, and discovered Brainchildren goes for $70.00 US hardcover and $30 US paperback! Tonight when I got my hands on the book, I was giddy to find it only cost me $180 NT (under $5 US). I LOVE scoring book deals like that.

Good night!

Up above from down below

Greetings, all. Where hath I been? Still in Taichung, but I've been moving, dealing with lots of visa "issues", being sick, changing jobs, and subbing a surprisingly great lot of hours. As promised, most of my writing and intellectual energy has been diverted from FCA to offline work. (Of course, not having internet in my new place ... yet? ... puts a damper on those late night blog binges.) Since I live right next to a parish, I have become a morning person in a major way: 6:30 AM Mass nearly every day.

I've tweaked my "fast" a bit, at the behest of my priest, who said "some books are good for you." So, instead of abstaining from all reading, I have allowed myself to read spiritually edifying books and works needed for my writing and research. You're as happy as I am about this, I'm sure. Thank God, the Providence U. 50th anniversary book is getting really close to its end, and may be published by Christmas. It will be nice to be done with it and see what good may come of it.

Also, I'm happy to report I took the last segment of the GRE in Taipei last week, and that I found a place to sell off my glut of books (if not for a good profit then at least for the relief of reducing the glut and swapping out for a few good finds). It was an unrealistic ego boost to take an English test amidst non-native speakers. In both verbal sections, as I sat writing for the last minutes to tick down, I saw not one person on the final page. The two math sections were, however, a different story...!

Being away from blogging on a consistent basis reminded me again how curious a phenomenon it is. "Hey everybody, whom I don't really know, I find _________ interesting and have some things to say about it. Sit down and read what I have to say on the fly. ... Well, wasn't that interesting? Please click twice if you agree it's interesting!" Anyway, blogging is a strangely self-propelling exercise, to say the least, driven by man's inner voice given a platform like never before.

I'll see what goodies I can cook up for FCA. I do have a canon law issue I'm looking into, so stay tuned for some action at Follow Falv.

Cheers!