Can you name five countries that end in the letter “r”? No cheating and using an atlas! It took the Snook and I about five minutes to puzzle them out. Three are easier, but the last two are hard. I’ll throw out some hints if no one gets them.
Notre Dame blew out their first round opponent… but now we face top-ranked Duke. Hopefully St. Paddy’s day will give us some Irish luck!
Wow. Snookums treated me to a night to remember. We got all dressed up and headed out for dinner, but he wouldn’t tell me where we were going. When we got out of the cab at Circular Quay and started heading towards the Opera House, I guessed immediately. He had made reservations at the Bennelong Restaurant, which is actually in the small separate “shell”. It was amazing. The food was so good. I had the beef tenderloin, he had the lamb. We had wonderful sunset views of the city skyline and the Harbour Bridge. We had wine and champagne and decadent desserts. I can’t recommend it enough. Afterwards we met up with Carrot, Major, and Steve at a bar in the city and spent a couple hours boozing it up with friends. What a night…
As usual, I slept in about half an hour more than the Snook did, which gave him time to slip up to King Street and get me stuff for a special birthday breakfast. And what awaited me when I finally stumbled yawning and blurry-eyed into the living room? A custard tart, sliced strawberries, a dusting of cocoa, and a single long-stemmed red rose. Awwww… And now he’s baking me a cake!
It’s my birthday, get busy! It’s my birthday, get busy!
(Actually, I just realized that it’s technically still the 14th in America. I should probably wait another sixteen hours to celebrate. But I’m not!)
Are you an international (wo)man of mystery? I am. I correctly translated 9 out of 10 phrases in this quiz. I only missed one of the Spanish ones. Actually, that’s pretty surprising, since I pulled the French, Italian, and Portuguese answers out of my ass. (Link courtesy of Kristen.)
Sars (of TSFKAMBTV fame) has written a great essay about teenage girls and how cruel they can be. I never really experienced much of what she’s talking about. I wasn’t part of the popular crowd, but I didn’t rebel enough that they singled me out or anything. I was smart, and – while they didn’t reward that trait – they at least respected it (especially when they’d get assigned to work with me on a project). I had my persecutors though. In my case they were the non-popular kids, the ones who are all dropouts and single mothers now. They picked on me because I was a “brain”. One low-life stole my brand new Umbro shorts (which I’d saved up to buy) out of my gym locker. I knew exactly who’d done it, but I didn’t say a word. These were the kids who hated anyone that they perceived “above” them, and unlike the popular kids, I didn’t have the group armor or the ability to look down my nose at them. I was vulnerable and they knew it. I had a scientific calculator stolen as well. I used to honestly wish that I wasn’t so smart. Can you believe that? That a person would honestly wish to be less intelligent? Nowadays I can’t. Nowadays I’m different. I haven’t run into many of these people since high school, but on the few occasions that I have, it’s been a delicious experience. “Oh, you’re still working at the air conditioner plant? Yeah, I got my degree from Notre Dame, lived in London for two years, and recently moved to Australia. Have a nice life.” Yeah, it’s mean, but I feel a little occasional revenge is justified, don’t you?
How Smart Are You? I’ve been kinda worried that my brain has been atrophying, what with me being out of work for five months and all. Fortunately, no permanent damage seems to have been done. I scored only three less than Bill Gates!
My name is Kris. I’ve been blogging since the 90’s. I live in Sydney, Australia, and I spent most of my career in the tech industry.
No AI used in writing this blog, ever. 100% human-generated.
We have the Harold McGee book, v interesting and often useful. Right up his alley I reckon!
Pisces buddies!!
TIL we share the birthday month/week. Happy Birthday!
Special thanks to Matt Hinrichs for the site logo!
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