This morning at the train station a woman asked me for directions. Me! Haha! I was mistaken for an Aussie! Probably because I looked half-asleep and cold, though it's still in the 50's (already I'm becoming a wimp...oye).
I have lots of work to do before Jodie, Edwin and I go to the pub tonight. So just 4 things:
1. Finished reading Ragtime. It was an interesting book, and one of my first experiences with historical fiction. It began with some general commentary about the Ragtime era in the U.S., and then proceeded to describe the intricate goings-on of a fictional family that once in a while intertwined with historical persons or events...but only once in a while. However, by the end of the novel all of the fictional threads of the story slowly emerged as being entangled in a fascinating yet believable way with the historical bits. In all, I liked it. Not as much as older books (I still have issues with stuff written in the last 40 years), but I think I like Doctorow as an author. Next up I'm reading a personal memoir about some chick's negative experiences with the famous Australian mega-church Hillsong. My host family has serious grievances with this church also. More later.
2. My brief (though intense) affair with Lemingtons has come to an end. I was running too late to grab breakfast at the house this morning, so had to stop on my walk through the university for a coffee & food. Caveat on coffee: They only serve espresso in Australia...sometimes with a bit of chocolate or a bit of milk, but you cannot buy any coffee drink larger than, say, 12 ounces unless you're at a Starbucks. American coffee drinks are mostly syrups. I don't know if I can ever go back, despite my love of sugar (and therefore syrup, which is made of sugar (cf. the move "Elf").
Caveat over. I saw that my new favorite coffee place (called "Mint") served Lemingtons. So I thought, what the heck. Since at home I usually have Reeses' Puffs (sometimes granola, if I'm feeling less naughty), a Lemington isn't too far off the mark. But when I started devouring it in my office, the coconut tasted exactly like soap. Exactly. Very disturbing. And the cake, while good, was not as delicious as some of the other offerings I beheld in Mint's display case, namely, huge chocolate croissants and other pastries I can't even pronounce. So, goodbye, Lemingtons. It was a fling that was "too hot not to cool down", as Nat King Cole would say.
3. Last night was the first famous rugby match of the season, called "Game of Origins" or some weird title, between arch- rivals New South Wales (the Blues) and Queensland (I have no idea what they're called). NSW squashed the Queens (that's probably not it, is it)-- 18 to 4. Rugby, I am willing to concede, is an interesting game. But give me college basketball every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Or pro &/or collegiate football. Or soccer. Rugby was fun for a while, but then you realize that all it is is touching. Too much....touching. Yes, that's it. Too much touching and feeling and smacking and kicking and groping and bleeding of very thick-necked, muscular, approximately-square-shaped, steroid-and-angst-filled, dirty men. Blech. I'd take our boys any day (*cough* Tom Brady *cough*...though I hear he's married now? Man, I leave the country for one stinking summer...)
But I watched the match. So there you have it.
4. Lastly I must report a more disturbing event having to do with a seminar Guido gave on Monday afternoon. In the room were mostly philosophers that I recognized, but for this one woman. She was Asian, petite, mid-to-late 30s, spoke to no one. And she giggled during Guido's entire talk. It was the most bizarre thing, ever. And very, very eerie. Because, I'm pretty sure I followed closely the arguments Guido made, and none of them were that funny. I wanted to lean toward her and say, "Seriously, Chuckles-- you're freaking us out over here." But no one said anything, and she want on giggling maniacally (and yes, prior to this day I would not have said one *could* giggle maniacally... but she was definitely doing precisely this).
Now, as a philosopher who somehow gets related also to science, you're bound to get weird emails or have interactions with weird people. Already I've received a few emails from random guys who saw on the ND website that I studied philosophy of physics, and they wanted me to read and evaluate their paper or argument or thesis or whatever, on how quantum mechanics explains the existence of God or how evolution is bunk because of quantum-leaping proto-plasmic entities, or how time travel is allowable if you tune two different radios to the same station and make them face each other, or some such nonsensical thing (ok, that last one was my own-- I used to think that as a little girl. I was very young, though, and read more about the Bermuda Triangle, poltergeists, WWII, and random fantasy/science fiction than is probably healthy; but as a little girl such hypotheses are cute, not insane or disturbing). Anyway, the point being I'm not unaccustomed to this. Also, the other day working at the local soup kitchen with some kids from SBCRC I got into a discussion with some of the clientele about lunar eclipses, and some guy started going off about space-time wormholes and whatnot. You get used to it.
But the giggling? I've never experienced that sort of response. I haven't asked Guido about his feelings on the matter yet, but for the time being I remain rather disturbed.
The end!
Me and Pacific Ocean (not pictured). 
Australian animal.
Sydney Harbor. And boats in harbor. 
Little boat, medium boat and pointy building.
Big*ss boat and pointy building. 
Bridge.
I like the pointy building. 
Look, it's a shrub!
That pointy building is rockin' awesome.