Nov 25, 2004 11:12
Urgh, it just occurred to me that today is Thanksgiving. Or at least I think it is. And instead of being at home in Plano, fighting over that last piece of pecan pie, I am sitting here in Holland reading the world's most boring articles about the evolution of social complexity in the Caribbean. I'm supposed to write 1500 words about all this in the next 3 hours, but considering I have yet to finish reading the articles, I doubt that will happen. No one really seems to notice or care around here if things are turned in late, though, so I can always just finish it tonight or tomorrow morning.
I was seized earlier with the desire to know whatever had happened to some of my classmates from high school (don't ask me why), so I spent a few minutes googling around. Didn't find much of particular interest, other than that Lanchi is studying at Harvard and that Jack is as screwed-up as ever, but it was still amusing. Of course, I googled James as well (I know, I know...) and stumbled onto a picture of him and his girlfriend (who is disgustingly beautiful). It made me feel so strange-- here was someone I had spent years of my life with, whom I knew inside and out and shared every little detail with, and yet now I am resorting to looking him up on the internet to see what he's been up to. It's so bizarre how something so intimate can fade away into... well, internet stalking. :-P So I decided to let my curiosity take a healthier and more socially-acceptable course, and just wrote him a quick e-mail. No idea if he will respond or not, but at least I tried. :)
Oh, and I completely switched my thesis topic yesterday after meeting with Dr. Jansen-- I'm going to be looking at the murals in the Temple of the Jaguars at Chichen Itza. I confessed that I was not really feeling enthusiastic about looking at Maya divinatory codices, which are more prescriptive-- the priests would make some calculations based on the date and look up the potential influences that could affect newborn babies, people with illnesses, etc, then advise people on what to do. Instead, I'm interested in following a narrative, such as in the Mixtec historical codices. I want to look into how shared stories forge community identities, not wrestle with calculating day-signs. I felt a bit stupid for not saying anything earlier when I started suspecting my topic wasn't a good match, but no lasting harm appears to be done-- I've just got to hurry and read up on my topic to get up to speed. My background is in Maya (and Olmec) stuff, so Chichen won't be too much of a stretch, but there's still a lot for me to learn about the goings-on in the northern Yucatan at that time...
Anyway, time to go pick up my turkey from the butcher's... Eef promised to come get me in her car if it turns out the turkey is too much for me to transport on my bike, so we'll see how it all turns out! :-P