Well, I'm done all classes for my second undergraduate degree. I finished today at about 1:10pm. Now I just have an essay and 5 exams to write and I'm all done. Then, I'm really not sure. Maybe I'll do something different for a while. I really miss programming, but I'm not sure I really want to go back to it as a career. Oh well, we'll see what God has for me.

And 4 more to go. And don't forget the essay. So, I'm only a few weeks from finishing this second degree.

In the news: The BBC is reporting about a village in southern China where non of the young men can find girlfriends. There's estimated that in the coming years there will be 40 million such men in China because of the country's one child policy, combined with a societial desire for sons and the technology to predict the gender of a fetus (ultrasound). Uhm, did the central government not figure that this would happen when the male birth rate was so much higher than the female almost 20 years ago? Or was this intentional? Hmmm.

I'm starting to get scared. The first two exams were easier than I was expecting. Did I forget something?

In the news: The BBC is reporting that a Dutch institute has patented a technique for inserting jewelry into the eye, so you get little hearts and other shapes in the white of the eye. The UK eye care professionals that they refer to in the article all say it's a dangerous idea, that the Dutch institute shouldn't be doing it. I'm not sure how far I would go that way, but I'm wondering, what happens when some teenagers think it looks real cool but can't afford the roughly $700CDN for the procedure? Self operation same as piercing perhaps? Followed by blindness or other loss of the eyes? Hmm, I think the Dutch doctors didn't quite think this one through.

So, I've spent the last week studying for my Latin exam, writing a 5000 word essay for my Radical Reformation course (instead of sitting the exam) and I've started listening to the recordings that were made while I was in Holland almost 2 months ago. I copied them all to my harddrive as .wav files and I can listen to them while I go about whatever I'm doing. I'd forgotten some of the things that were talked about at the conference. Other things I had misremembered. How about that? I'm ususally pretty good at remembering things. Oh well.

In funner news, it's just over a week and a half to my birthday party. So far I've got some 45 people (including children) expected to show up. Yehaa!

So, I'm down to 2 exams left in my 2nd undergraduate. Now I just need to find a job, a car, and a house to complete my dream of being an overeducated, underpaid materialistic old bachelor. I don't need to do anything to the get "old" part; it should come naturally. I'm turning 30 in just over a week, so it won't be that long in coming either.

So, I've counted up who I'm currently expecting at my birthday party. 44 people. Of which 12 are under the age of ten. Hmm, that makes 32 over the age of ten. Now I just have to remember who I was asking to bring what.

My French studying is coming along. I've got another 45 hours to learn everything. I should have time to get things straight. Maybe not straight enough to hold a conversation, but should be enough to do well on my final. Right now we're watching the hockey game on the French channel. I don't know what they're saying. :)

One more exam down. Only one left, and that's for a course I've already passed, and, if past history with this prof is any indication, I'll ace the final as well. So, I'm now overeducated. Yippee, ye haw!

There's a couple of things that have started bothering me the last few days. One is the way gas prices change. Tuesday, late afternoon, I walked over to my friend's house. I walked past 5 gas stations and they were all selling at about 75 cents per litre. That's high enough, I think, for them to make plenty of profit. Anyway, when I walked home late in the evening, I passed those same 5 gas stations and all 5 of them were now selling at 81.2 cents per litre. So I put it to you: what happened during Tuesday evening that fuel prices in Waterloo jumped 8% in a matter of roughly three hours? It seems to me to be a little bit lacking in the competitive department. If I was more directly affected (ie I had a car and was buying gas regularly) I might be thinking about calling the Better Business Bureau, or a competition department of the government or soemthing.

Well, I've gotten a few additions to my party. If I've counted correctly and everyone who has said so is coming, and no one who's not bothered to get back to me doesn't, I've count 50 people showing up tomorrow. I guess I've got a little ways to go to reach Bilbo's 144 special guests at his Birthday Party. I'm really trying to figureout how he could have ever bought all of them gifts, and gotten them all gifts that mattered to them, as Tolkien suggests. Sigh. I'm just hoping I'll have enough stuff to give away tomorrow. Acting the hobbit isn't all 2nd breakfasts and elevenses.

I dunno, I may have bit off more than I can chew for this party. I'm thinking I might have missed something, or someone at the party. Well, I guess I'll likely find out in a few hours when the party starts.

In the meantime, some things to think about:

The World is not Flat; If it were I could see Tokyo.

What goes up, must come down, unless it has hit escape velocity.

The man with a smile on his face when everyone else is moaning knows something you don't. Make sure to ask him.

In the News: China seems to be having a bad time of it. There's rumours that a gift they sent to North Korea blew up (possibly due to an assasination attempt against the leader of North Korea); they're having a horrible scare with regards to feeding their babies (in a few cities); and now SARS has reared its head, apparently due to a mistake in a lab where the virus was being tested/worked on/stored. (You can find all that if you browse around the BBC website.) It's kinda sad that the country with so many people is where the viruses keep popping up, since it's much harder to contain them there.

Ah well, Hot Jets!

Party's over. Sorry if you missed it. Oh, I had a lot of fun giving gifts away. Now I really, really, really, really need sleep.

Okay, so the new week started in exhaustion. I still haven't recovered from Saturday's party. Yesterday, to relax, I tried going driving in the country. And it did let me think a few things over. Then I watched The Last Starfighter with a friend. It was fun seeing it again. I haven't seen it for a few years. My friend, who'd never seen it before, said that it was just barely out of the too cheesy level for him, and he likes cheese! Hmm, I thought it was better than that personally. Ah well, Hot Jets!