Clef Hangers, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Ye Olde English!

Tonight was a blast. Our singles' small group from church had dinner at Diane and Ventia's townhouse, and I was the only guy with four girls to contend with. But I managed. We all arrived between 6:30 and 7, and no one left until after midnight. Crazy! I tried out a new dish to take, but I wasn't thrilled with it. Everyone else thought they were OK, at least. I fried plantains, about three different ways. I fried two plantains with 1/4 inch thick round pieces, one with thin lengthwise strips, and one I cut into inch thick round pieces, fried slightly, smashed 'em flat, and fried again. The strips were my favorites, kinda crispy like a potato chip, but mildly sweet. But I also brought chips and salsa, as an emergency contingency plan.

The dish of the night has to go to Miranda, though. Dude, I have never had such a delicious strawberry cheesecake. Rather than a firm type of cheesecake, it was more of a whipped consistency. Pour that onto a gram cracker crust, top with meticulously chosen, sliced, and arranged fresh strawberries, and I had to have a second piece. Sorry Miranda, but I cannot help but keep talking about the cake. OK, I guess I can. There was a lot more that went on, and I am sleepy.

Lots of good music was enjoyed throughout the evening, and lots of gaming. We played a couple of rounds of Bananagrams--Sarah about freaked out when I said I had brought it...and she smoked us on both rounds, lucky bum! Then a lovely game of Cranium was enjoyed by all, but won by my team. We were just too good; it wasn't even a contest, really.

But I think the highlight of the evening for me was Ventia's history lesson in the English language. Good points I never really had realized or thought about. For example, after the Norman invasion and conquest of England, the nobility used French, and the English, who were at this time servants and lower class people, were the only ones to use English. Had it not been for the bubonic plague, English may have died...yay, plague! Just a little linguistic trivia, brought to you by the letter V.

And now, I'm off to bed. Early to rise, so the less late to bed the better!

Parlez-vous?

OK, so school is getting back into full swing after the December break. So far, it is going very well. Last semester was my first semester back to school in exactly ten years. Went in planning on a major in early childhood education, but mid-semester I decided I would rather major in foreign languages. Call it a mid-life crisis, but heck, I have always enjoyed picking up words and phrases in other languages, and the idea of being bi-, tri- or even somewhat-lingual has always appealed to me.

During my first semester at Gainesville State College, I took French 1002 and Biology 1102 (plus the matching BIOL 1102 lab). Both classes would satisfy requirements for the early childhood associates portion. Well, as I began to feel well about my progress in the French 1002, it struck me! I enjoy the language, I love visiting foreign countries (I miss Europe), and I don't envy the prospect of teaching as much as I thought I did (and if Sonny Purdue gets his way, I really won't envy it at all). Why not pursue the linguistic direction?

Well, I haven't found a convincing answer to that question yet, so I'm still pursuing it. Fortunately, all of the classes I took that first semester will still be useful toward satisfying the new major; in fact, it works out now to where two more courses transferred in from Troy State will now be useful toward the new degree. Hey, it is now a no-brainer, right? And I hope to follow up last semester's three A's with a repeat performance. But more on that later. As for now, I am sleepy, and this is enough for one night's work.