Today

Pointed chad off to the bart station, then finished packing in time for Rohan’s arrival. We drove the long way to the airport (to avoid the congestion, which was fine by me.

I put p l e n t y of padding in my plans. Hours more than was necessary as it turns out. Airport was a ghost town. It’s actually kind of spooky to see previously bustling terminals half closed and unused in the middle of the week day. I’d like to think it’s just the recent holiday, and not a sign of the current state of travel, but I wonder.

Much reading of Please Understand Me II on the plane. I think I better understand what the various typological categorizations mean. They’re somewhat better than astrology, though it’s far from rigorous science, pretend though the author might. He offers some stuff that sounds an awful lot like “historically in western thought we’ve had lots of people who defined 4 basic personality types, therefore there must be some validity to it, and these 4 types in particular.” His lack of rigor in this facet aside, I have a general belief in the usefulness of his ideas of differentiating personality types, in part to increase understanding and improve communication between individuals of differing natures, as well as further appreciation of their different contributions, and I’ve found the system useful for those goals, so I’m not knocking it (too much).

Oh, and my snack was a bag of potato chips, carrot sticks, some variety of vinegrette dressing, a small apple, and a cucumber-lettuce-tomato sandwich on whole wheat bread. I dislike cucumber, but even so… Apparently, they’ve never heard of ‘complete protein’ found even in such exotic and esoteric dishes as ‘peanut butter and jelly sandwiches’. I guess the airlines industry is running into hard times.

Another chapter and a half of GG&S down. Had trouble understanding what was going on in the chapter on the polynesian expansion. It’s a topic in world history I’m essentially wholly unfamiliar with, it’s in the examples section (my least preferred section), and I took a long break in the middle of it. Probably explains it, oh well, my loss, but not a huge one, I can always go back and read it again. The native american section contained more familiar participants, was more thoroughly referenced in earlier sections, and had less in the way of complicated cultural, racial and linguistic diffusion (native americans were comparatively far less mobile) to track across the more familiar geography of my home continent(s). And I still didn’t get all of it.

One more chapter (why africa is black), the epilogue, and then I will attempt to compose a more thorough summary, as per ‘s request.

and whisked me back to their place, where cheeseless veggie pizza (for me), cheesy veggie pizza (for greg) and a sub (for regan) were consumed. We also played a game of Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers. I’m not sure who won, but regardless, fun was had. Thanks and for leaving it behind. =)

I was then plied with soymilk laced with alcohol and treats left over from their nye party. Then sleepytime, before which I had a nice chat with regarding my day which got dominated by a discussion of whether bullies ought to make the rules, the meaning of “strength”, and the power to persist.

Now it is time for me to sleep. See y’all on the flipside.