Coherence? Overrated.

Thoughts of the day, corresponding to one another only in that they are all coming out of my brain right now.

I am old. So old that not only do I remember a time when no one had a cell phone, but I remember the era of phones with curly, confining cords and I remember non-touchtone phones. Next time you call the airline or your insurance agent or your gynecologist, pay attention. They have changed the recording: "If you are calling from a touchtone phone, please dial 2. If you are calling from a rotary phone, you can just piss off because we don't want your business anyway, you technologically-challenged imbecile who is probably dabbling in international espionage and unamerican activities! Thank you for calling (insert company name here), and have a nice day."

Friend: Our Dustbuster is broken.
Me: That so (considers)... doesn't suck.

Someone recently decided it was necessary to understand the decision-making processes in a herd of Cape buffalo (who have no alpha male), so he studied them for several years. In his dissertation, he relayed his highly scientific conclusion that one buffalo starts randomly looking in a particular direction, and the others notice what he's doing and follow suit, and pretty soon the whole herd is staring in one direction, and off they go. Recently the World Council of Churches decided that they are from now on making all decisions by consensus, too.

The German word for decaf is "hag," which is pretty much what they think of people who ask for it.

On the "mindless boob-tube entertainment" front, my absolute favorite German show is coming back on the air! (For its final season, which is too bad in a way, but maybe afterwards they will start showing reruns.) It's about Lolle, a hip, sweet-yet-hardcore, charmingly-confused-in-all-things-romantic comic-strip writer living in (you guessed it) Berlin. Like Lizzie McGuire for grownups.

A line from an old toothbrush commercial keeps running through my head. I just love the British voiceover to it: "Either get a flip-top head, or get Reach." The German word for getting a song stuck in your head is Ohrwurm ("earworm"). Nice image, oder?

And for those of you who give a flying patootie about my social life, an update: Astonishingly (well, only socially astonishing, not mathematically) my circle of friends tripled this morning. I was invited to a breakfast to welcome the two new "directors of studies" at the academy in whose building we have our offices. Frankly I was expecting dowdy, beer-bellied old men who like to hear themselves talk. (My own bias.) But these are two really interesting people, well-traveled, nice, intelligent and (most importantly) MY AGE. And also at this breakfast were three graduate students who are interning for six months at a non-profit in town and they are also MY AGE. Do you see what this means? I have PEERS!! Join me, please, in doing the happy dance!