Life as Usual

The French verb naître means "to be born," and naissance means "birth."

So why, oh why, would I not realize that re-naissance on my quiz last week meant "re-birth," and not the period that followed the middle ages if the entire quiz focused on religion and not historical eras?


Life has been stiflingly slow as I am suffering one of my worst bouts of homework-writer's block. While I am still interested in all my subjects, and have faithfully been following my coursework, my motivation to not procrastinate and to finish all my work has almost completely disappeared. So, I remain locked in my room until my homework muse shows up.

Saturday night, while waiting for my muse, I faintly heard fireworks crackling outside. So I ran up to the roof to search the skyline. Unfortunately, there was a building perfectly blocking my view, so I watched the second half and finale of the show through the reflection of several windows of the apartment building across from mine. Not the most spectacular view, but still, it was a unique way of enjoying the fireworks.

For the past week, a brown finch-like little bird has been landing on my window sill and keeping me company. Sometimes he helps me to wake me up in the mornings. Other times, he just sits and primps himself while I read. Heidi says that it's like I am Cinderella, but as of yet, I have not seen any singing mice, and do not feel particularly inclined to make tiny hats and shirts for my new friend. I am very glad that he is so small and sweet, because my window has no screen, and he isn't afraid to sit right on the open frame. I don't want imagine my reaction if I were to wake up and see one of those evil-looking pigeons from Rome chilling just a few feet away.