Prussian Soldiers

The semester is officially two-thirds over. I have five weeks left, and things are picking up their pace. And so is the weather.

I have started on my paper for my Field Methods class. I am writing about aspects of temporality in Northern Dagara. I also am doing tons of work with regard to my experimental research. This is due to the fact that I am speaking in front of the whole faculty in less than two weeks from now. I am giving a 20-minute talk two Fridays from now, followed by a 10-minute discussion. My head tells me that I shouldn't be nervous; all I am doing is that I am giving an exposition to the whole department what my qualifying paper research is about. I know what I am talking about, but still, there is the quaint feeling of butterflies in my stomach.

Familiarity indeed breeds contempt. I cannot say that man is an island; rather, man is a social being. However, there are aspects of social behavior that I am not good at. There are things that are unsaid, but still discerned. Things that are not mentioned in the outright, but still sensed. And I do not like it when my actions are somehow interpreted as signals, when in fact I have no motive whatsoever to send those signals.

My hand is getting dry again. That means that I have to take out my lotions and potions again, so that my hands won't crack. I guess it is about time, since I have started wearing my winter coats again. Someone told me that I look like a Prussian soldier when I wear my red coat, which I got from Japan almost a decade ago.



(The intricate arches, from my Basilica de Voto Nacional Series)