In The Frenzied New Year

It has been a hectic year so far. There has been a new dog, about to go to surgery, a parent having a knee replacement, several new students, a sudden shift in travel arrangements, and a change away from being a student. In fact, I can't think of any ways that it could have become any more eventful short of a wedding, death or alien abduction. Of course, this might all be the result of an alien abduction, and the following immersion in a virtual reality environment, bent on turning me into a mental vegetable. However, and this they could not anticipate, already being an intellectual tuber has its advantages. You can't get me, extra-terrestrials! Bwahahahahaha!

Ah, the old 'bwahahaha'. What memories. I was introduced to the 'bwahahaha' by reading the old 'Justice League' comics by Giffen and DeMatteis, which were a quiet delight in being funny or dramatic, when appropriate, and in not being particularly interested in having a silly fistfight every issue. It was lovely. It was a superhero clubhouse for all the supporting players who didn't have their own comic books, and who were prone to not get on from time to time. I'll have to write about it properly on some other occasion. The subsequent devolution of the comic book form was a painful thing to observe.

The problem with having hectic days is that you end up with very little energy left to write a blog post, or an e-mail to a friend, or anything else! At least good work is being done, and people are being helped. It's nice to help people. Now, with it being very late at night, and with exhaustion setting in, it's almost time to hang up the keyboard for the night and descend into the pits of deepest slumber. What a fascinating thing sleep is. It is often used as a device to make aliens seem more alien. The Vulcans don't sleep in 'Star Trek', and there was once a very strange Robert Duval character in 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' who positively scorned the slumber instinct. Of course, he didn't make it to the end, the fiend. Sleep is important.

And now, to the hibernation, and then another busy busy day. Adapting to new students is hard, but patterns will return to normal once it has been done.

O.