Hong Kong and Used Books

Too Many Mainland China Mothers Coming to Hong Kong

This does seem a bit harsh, but I can't blame Hong Kong in the least. They have no room whatsoever. Hong Kong is probably the most dense place I've ever been (or probably ever will be). Something like this could seriously ruin them. It's probably a terribly tempting opportunity for mothers on the mainland, but there just comes that point I guess. Don't quite know how I feel about it. Onwards.

Color Time:
I like to read books; it's no secret. I managed ten over Christmas vacation, and I'm still behind terribly. So what do I do when I get back to college and lose my ludicrous amounts of free time? I go online and buy books, of course! (I mean, of course, in addition to ones for courses.) I love the internet for this. I seem to have acquired some small reputation at the Oak Hall reception desk for being "that guy with all the packages." This is easy when each of those packages cost me four bucks. I like buying used books, and the best place for that is the wide interweb. I just bought a series of four paperbacks this way. It would seem logical to get them all from one place and save on the shipping, but that's not how the world actually works.

I scour at least three different "marketplace" type sites and find the book that's selling for like two cents. With shipping pretty much any book can be found for four dollars. When these books retail for eight dollars, the savings might seem small, but on that series of four books I saved a total of sixteen dollars. That's four more books for free, basically. It's the little victories in life that keep me going, after all.

I should also mention that the internet gives you the best selection you can get. It's amazing that there are books I can't find at our local shop in the mall. I mean, they stock a Star Trek and X-Men Crossover Novel. I know. My head exploded too.

A Post To End All Posts

This link might just change your life!

This site is explosively awesome.

And if that wasn't enough, you can have all the information you ever needed here.

This has been a test of the emergency (not) link system. I still find it entertaining.

Dead as Disco

So I guess this is what it's all about, then.

As Latin Lay Dying

I found this whole perspective to be a bit odd. Here I was figuring it had already been dead for some time now. Anyway, I do find it rather sad because Latin is a language I've always wanted to learn, but never had any good opportunities to. If it had been offered in my high school I definitely would have taken it. Unfortunately near the end of my high school career all that was being offered was Spanish, which I somehow managed to avoid despite needing two years of a foreign language to come here. It took post secondary and internet classes to pull it off.

The idea of thinking in a language that Father Foster points out is one I've often thought about. It's unfortunate that I do not see the time in my future to do much about learning another language, especially one that would allow me to read some of my favorite books (many of which are in German, Japanese, or Chinese) in their native language.

But forget about Europe and dead languages. America can't even get the modern ones right, it seems. My high school experience has really soured me to the whole thing. I know Spanish is like the unofficial second language of the United States and everything, but a little choice might be nice. In an area where culture can be quite important, I have to wonder where the classes in Norwegian and other Scandinavian languages are. And all this is important, because learning a language on your own is not easy; I've tried.

So that's it, I guess. The one positive thing is there is a very real effort keeping Native American languages alive. A lot of people I know were able to take and enjoy that part of their heritage. I wonder how many of us others would take that chance if they were given it.

Color Time:
There's been a strange crash-bang sound coming from my walls today. Some part of me tells me that it's always been there, but today it has really started bugging me. My running theory is it has something to do with the plumbing or heating. All I know is I'll just be sitting here when it just happens and scares the crap out of me. Maybe my room is haunted and the ghosts are telling me to take out the trash. I should probably do that.

First post, yay.

I suggest you think long and hard about squirrels.

Or something like that. I somehow screwed up my blog and couldn't fix it back the way I liked it so I just blew it up and made it again.