Fare Firenze, Vengo a Venice

I am leaving for Florence, then Venice in less than an hour. I plan on acquiring many picture-units.

Last night, in celebration of completing our first Civ course, Matt (who I call Lolmatt) and I hooked up the Falcon to the big TV downstairs and played Super Nintendo. Maggie had a couple of rounds of Mario before the spirit-breaker that is the Koopa horde finally got the best of her.

In other news, the Redfields have left us. Losing any professor just as you're getting to know him is an annoyance; losing the Redfields is a tragedy.

--

Once, twenty years ago, one of Redfield's grad students rushed into the Professor's office "with his hair disheveled" and told the Professor that he'd couldn't sleep.

"Why?"
"I've been reading Plato and there's no reason to believe the world exists!"
"What else would it do?"

It was as though a cloud lifted from the student's face. "Oh," he said quietly, then left the room.

This kind of serene clarity (combined with a gentle sense of humor) is exactly what every teacher should have, and if not, fake.