i prefer nestle (homemade), thank you.

I realized last night that my ipod keeps count of the number of times I’ve listened to any given song. Quite a wake up call.

Stood up against the conservative family members again today. At least only 1 more week until it´s all determined, for the better or for the worst.

I am so glad that no one knows the passwords for all of the logins that require them to get through my daily business in the Internet world. I know that I started out with all of them being the same, but due to the need to update them, or have them be changed for me to ensure I am locked out (only for certain books of on-line networking) or whatever the case may be, I have at least 7 different ones that I use daily. Furthermore, they are all pretty hysterical and would most assuredly make me out to be more of a crazy than I am. (Or at least than I let on to be).

Suddenly the school workload has picked up. (Granted it really was NOTHING before, so a pickup could involve any gradient of change, though this actually feels quite large in comparison.) Furthermore, it looks as if the last 5 weekends of this crazy trip are planned out making the time invariably pass all the more quickly, which frightens me. (However, I do know I will be getting a great shower, Stubbie´s beer, Satchel´s salad and a diverse spread of cheese when I return those first few days.)

So while I was watching the morning San José news today (with the Ticoparents, bear in mind), the funniest story came on. It was all about the new craze for butt implants in Costa Rica. Because of very lax restrictions as far as what can be placed on television, the screen flashed (pretty much nonstop) naked butts, or thonged ones, for at least a minute of the newscast. Papatico was enthralled. Mamatica was smiling, but blushed. Me, well, I laughed of course, almost uncontrollably, not only at the particular news story and the way they presented it (they had several interviews with men on the street asking their opinions, hilarity, I promise you) but also, and even more so, the situation that I found myself in as I sheepishly sipped my second mug of coffee and crunched on my pan de mano. These sorts of stories, simply cannot be made up. (On a related note, I wish you could give donations in this area, like bone marrow and other organs. I´d be much obliged to do my part.)

I hope everyone has come into the knowledge about the new “goggle mail” system on google mail. It prevents from drunk emailing, perhaps it will spread to other types of technological communication as well. I disagree with their methodology, however, because it requires that simple math problems be done, I suppose believing that an understanding of logic denotes sobriety enough to not make any poor emailing decisions. I, however, believe, this would be much more effective if it required the user to copy letter for letter, exactly, a sentence or two without any errors. I find that once my typing starts to really slip, so does my mind and the ability to connect my actions with their future ramifications. I also think that phones should require breathalyzers for both making calls, but more importantly text messaging. Although, I´ve not had too many problems with the simple and easy “erase outbox” as my first step when I peel open my eyes after “one of those nights.” That is, unless, the intended recipient was already asleep at 4:18 am (who sleeps at that hour anyway) and receives the message at about 10, when you then get an awkward phone call, or equally uncomfortable message requesting a clarification about your previous message. Oh people, you aren´t fooling anyone, don´t be coy with me, you and I both know what that message was intending. Now, kindly give me the satisfaction of a successful avoidance and we´ll pretend nothing ever happened when I see you in class on Monday. I am much too proper to have meant anything other than a friendly chat at that hour, anyway.

It´s odd how language can be manipulated to mean exactly what the speaker intends, as opposed to the original meaning of words, phrases. Spanish is great because you can simply change the conjugated form and make yourself understood. With English, it´s a little more difficult as we rely on inflection, sarcasm, but also the hints that have been created (probably by women) to completely change the meaning of the word. This is true in instances such as, “Is everything alright?” (asks the man, who knows it probably isn´t) “Yeah, it´s fine.” We all know it is anything BUT fine. There are just a few other adjectives that don´t necessarily mean what they were intended originally, but they, (words like O.K., great, nice) also depend largely on their inflection when said, and can in turn mean any number of things when used (particularly by women, I suppose). I wish there were verb conjugations in English, being my point.

Milk and cookies, not just for Santa anymore.