The semester just started last week. I think several trees have died as a result of the photocopying I've already had to do (the prof I TA for always uses paper handouts, and I had to photocopy a 60 page article to put on reserve, plus it seems like there's always a new handout for class, even when we haven't finished the last one. I'm not complaining, mind, since the photocopier is usually my friend--except for the time last week when the server had crashed and I was trying to scan something). Given the reading schedules for my classes, plus all the marking and reading responses I'll be doing, I think I can definitely state that I will not be committing to anything more this semester than I'm already committed to.

Last Tuesday, I went to language philosophy class. When your professor walks in, and he's wearing a tweed jacket, he has sideburns, and he starts by reciting a Dylan Thomas poem, you just know it's going to be a good class. Sadly, tonight I've been bogged down in Lakoff's thing on objectivism, and an excerpt from Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. I've read Kuhn before, and while I understand him better now, I still don't agree with all of what he says. Fortunately this time, I have more intelligent reasons for disagreeing with him. Last time it was because I was so sick of trying to wade through what he was saying. I'm not too keen on objectivism, either. After reading that I wanted to go back and hide in the excerpt from Confucius' Analects on language and names. I still really love the class. I just want to read all the fun stuff on how awesome language is, and not read the people who have drastically influenced linguistics with all their formal, true/false, dualistic, "we're objective" stuff. Which is important, certainly, but it can be boring. And language shouldn't be boring. Language is---well, when I have a better-formulated concept of what is, I'll get back to you---truly incredible.

In the meantime, I've been doing that thing where I start a lot of random projects because I'm feeling jumpy. I finished a double-knit hat and a pair of mitts this weekend, I'm closer to finishing a pair of stranded colourwork mittens, and I have one sock out of a pair finished. I also started a sweater. And I finished the first half of a pair of mitts for a friend. Yeah. I know. I'm probably a little nuts. And on that note, good night.