old enough? definitive version

So, Sarah wrote about a conversation we had in the car today and completely mis-remembered everything with her own truthiness version that put me in a bad light. I'll forgive her this time, but I have to set the record straight with the "true" version (no truthiness involved, I promise). :)

Justin: Juma, when are you going to be old enough to do cool stuff with me like go paintballing?

Juma: When I'm seven.

Sarah: What? No way, seven?

Justin: I was that young when I got my first BB gun.

Sarah: I don't believe you--we'll call your Mom when we get home.

Justin: You call her and she'll say I was 15 just to make herself look like a better Mom!

Sarah: Seven's way too young.

Juma: Okay, nine.

Sarah: He's way too young, he'll cry when he gets hit by the paintball.

Justin: It doesn't hurt very much, Juma. Don't worry, you just have to make noises like, "Arrrrggghhh!" when it hits you. [Notice, please, that I said nothing of being a "man" or being "manly." Way too cliche.]

Juma: Arrrrgggggghhhhh!

Sarah: It still hurts.

Juma: Have you ever played paintball, Mom?

Sarah [sheepishly]: No.

Juma: Dad, have you ever played?

Justin: Yes.

Juma: Did it hurt?

Justin: Not very much.

Juma: See mom, you are a genius!

Either Juma was being sarcastic or he thinks genius means someone who pretends to know something she couldn't possibly know firsthand....

Now you can read Sarah's version. Keep in mind that anyone that spells it bee-bee gun automatically loses all credibility. Even if she edits her post to show things like this or this.

Memory is something I'm spending a lot of time on lately--it is a big part of the upcoming orals section of my PhD. I'm becoming more and more convinced that memory is more "created" than "recorded." (And yes, I create just as much as Sarah does.)

Do any of you have conversations that one person remembers totally differently than the other?

teaching

You can probably guess which class I'm TAing this semester by the books on the sidebar.

It's called "State, Society and Culture in the Modern Middle East." Although I know next to nothing about the history of the Middle East, I am really looking forward to learning about it along with my students.

The only thing that worries me is how to keep a room full of very opinionated students from each others' throats when the discussion inevitably turns to root causes of the current quagmire in that region.

At least there will be lively debate, right?

matt's new cd

I just got the new Matt Lewis Band CD in the mail today and have to say, "Wow, my brother-in-law can rock!" I know I could have scored a free copy from Matt or Andria, but it's always nice to help out a band trying to break into the market.

If you're at all curious, click here to check it out:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/mattlewisband2

You can listen to a few of the songs online to see if it's the kind of stuff you like to listen to.

Hurry up, though, before you end up like this guy:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30646
(Warning: naughty word in link)

Schlaflos in Muenchen podcaster, Annik Rubens, was recently horrified to learn that most people stop trying out new music at age 35. That means I only have five years left....

According to her, I've already passed the tongue-piercing age (23), but still have nine years before I start turning my nose up at new kinds of food (39).

dangerous sport

I've come away from ice climbing, rock climbing, snowboarding, four trips to Africa, scuba diving, and American Idol* watching with hardly a scratch, but get me on a basketball court and the blood starts flowing. On Wednesday I split my head open once again on a bony elbow and needed a couple of staples to close the 2-inch gash.

And the guy was on my own team!

*I don't really watch this show--this was purely for comic effect.

depressing day

Sarah, Juma and I went to "The Game" today. We had high hopes for our Yale Bulldogs against the evil Harvard Crimson Tide, but it wasn't meant to be. In a very exciting, triple-overtime game Harvard came out on top.

It's a good thing I'm not the suicidal type, because our other team, BYU, also lost a heart-breaker in overtime against their arch-rivals, the hated Utes.

I'm done with football; as of tomorrow, I'm moving to Tibet to become a monk. A monk with no access to ESPN.

finally

It's taken almost two years, but I think we have finally found a good Mexican restaurant. Everyone breathe a sigh of relief with me. Ahhhhhhhh, so good.

i did it.

I am officially a Connecticut resident.

I went down and got my CT driver's license today. Sarah has had hers for a while, but I had a hard time giving up my California license. Yes, I still had a CA license--even though I haven't really lived there since the day after my high school graduation. Nothing against Utah, but, well, I really like my home state.

Preachers should try to work the DMV into their description of what awaits sinners in the fiery pits of hell. Imagine enduring a two-hour line while being serenaded by a squeaky child singing "Three Blind Mice" at the top of her lungs over and over and over and over....

which language next?

I'm almost resigned to the fact that my next language will be French.

Unfortunately, after living in Germany for two years, I've found that the anti-French bias has rubbed off on me. Actually, thinking back, I have never, ever wanted to learn the language.

"Why learn a language you don't like," you ask? Well, a lot of scholarship on Africa is in French. French is a second language in much of West, Central and North Africa. It really would be valuable for my career and in my desire to be able to communicate with Africans all over the continent.

But then I think, "is it really possible to master a language you have a strong aversion to?" We'll see, I guess.

Any advice from you Francophiles? I need someone to persuade me that French is, in fact, a rich, beautiful language and not the nasal, stuffy, stuck-up language I hear.

taking risks

Just a quick shout-out to my sister Andria and my brother-in-law Matt: Good luck this summer! Matt's band is going on tour in Alaska and the West Coast. Unfortunately they won't be making it up to Connecticut--maybe next summer.

Anyway, I'm proud of them for following a dream. It takes guts to sacrifice comfort and predictability to really go after your passion in life.

"Art that teaches us, moves us, challenges us to think about the human condition in new ways, is often shocking and disturbing. It is intended to be."
--Philip D. Harvey

Go out and do some shocking.

fun site

I found a cool site today called The Dialectizer.

The site takes any web address you put in and translates the website into "Redneck," "Jive," "Cockney," "Elmer Fudd," etc.

Click here to see this website translated into "Redneck."

No, I don't have anything against rednecks. In fact some of my favorite relatives were/are rednecks (you know who you are, be proud!) I even have redneck tendencies myself--ask Aunt Bobbie about the old VW bus I left rusting at her house for years. I was going to restore it, I promise.

my turn

This blog is supposed to be about the whole family, so today I'll let you know a little about what's going on with me.

Right now I'm hanging out at home writing some papers. This summer I'll be finishing up some classes and trying to define my dissertation project. I need to write what's called a "dissertation prospectus" where I define my topic, put it in context, explain resources available and set out a timeline for research. I'll also try to get started on my reading for orals, where I have to read an insane number of books and articles on three topics and then go get grilled by a few professors about those topics. Many Ph.D. students have to do a written exam as well, but History students here only have to do orals (thank goodness).

Well, better get back to those papers....