an assortment

1. In 24 hours is my last final exam. The most memorable things I have learned from Francophone Literature, I think, are:
a) The word "defenestration," which is "An act of throwing someone or something out of a window." Didn't know we needed a special word for that...
b) The words "monster" and "demonstrate" have the same root. Which of course makes sense, but I of course never thought about that. Like, monsters have deMONSTRably abnormal characteristics! cool!
c) My professor would easily get distracted, and to bring his lecture around to the appropriate topic, he would say, "but that is neither here nor there." And pronounce it NYE-ther. He usually said that 2-3 times per class period.

2. I just got off the phone with my family. I hadn't talked to them in a while. I tried to tell my sisters that I've been sick for a week, but I somehow managed to extract exactly Zero sympathy from either of them. hm. I told Dina that, as my dad would say, maybe "if I wouldn't be so sickening, I wouldn't be so sick." Maybe that's where my problem is...I'll work on that...

3. Instead of talking to me, Carrie kept "looking for noises," as she said. This included knocking on her head with a pen, scratching with a comb, using a pencil sharpener near the headset, and even putting tape on the microphone then peeling it off. This was all excruciatingly loud for me, and I tried to tell her that maybe all the noise I wanted was that of her conversation. ie, "just talk!!" She didn't really get the message.

4. Dina told me about Isaac taking a paper doll from Carrie, and thinking that the underclothes that they come dressed in were actually a swimsuit, he kindly took the doll to the bathtub for a swim. Thankfully the tub was empty, but the doll still suffered a torn arm and head. This happened on two separate occasions. Isaac means well, but has not quite mastered the technique of gentleness. haha...

5. Dina said while she and my mom were out shopping they counted 8 dogs, 7 of which were strays. *shudder* I'm glad I'm not there right now.

6. My dad was talking about Carrie's first grade math. It was 4+___=6 and they fill in the box. He was noticing that this is significantly easier than the first grade math I did in Russian school, which culminated in long division and multiplication by the end of the year. He says maybe they are dumbing it down "to catch up with the Americans." Oh goodness.