i was thinking: perhaps now is the worst time to wake up as a laser printer. imagine all those people applying to american universities! applications are stacks and stacks thick. the library printer is being exploited. and of course there are the essays. its current status reminds me of indian natives in 16th century spanish america. i'd much rather be scalped.

on another note: thank goodness i'm not applying to the US.

possibly because, as judith alleges, i am bland. bland as porridge. (to be exact, porridge without mincemeat, pig liver, soy sauce, and assorted condiments.) bland as, say, crushed cockroaches. (are they bland?) bland as, say, oranges put in a blender. or is that blended?

and anyway they don't want bland people. which is why they get applicants to write really creative essays on mustard cans.

and just to drive my point in, i shall tell a bland viola joke -
Q: Why are a violist's fingers like lightning?
A: They never strike the same place twice.

if you didn't get the joke the first time: a viola, unlike the guitar and the appregione, does not have frets. if you still don't get it: never mind.

anyway i'm posting here to make an observation. this blog is once more showing the symptoms of terminal decay. after a brief (and i feel, rather artificial) rebirth during the prelims and immediate post prelims period it is again beginning to exhibit the signs of a second death. well at least it's only going down for the second time (assuming my prediction does come true and it goes down again) and not the third.

or maybe kai will spite me and post an interesting post here.

or perhaps, like normal people, inspiration dries up with the prospect of exams.

and as we all know, they're coming soon.

good luck.