Dear writers of The 4400,
In the future, please do not start a new season with a Monster of the Week episode, containing exactly nothing tying us back to the mythology from the previous season.
Thanks a bunch!
-Aaron
Starting in the fall, I’ll officially be a PhD student!
On Friday, I took a trip down to scenic New Brunswick, New Jersey to visit the Linguistics Department at Rutgers.
I wasn’t exactly thrilled to take a 6am train, but at least the scenery was pretty:
In spite of the early morning travel, I had a great […]
Will my generation care about their high school reunions? If I can hop on Facebook and see what that cute girl is up to these days, is it worth traveling to a physical reunion? It seems to me as though the fun part of a reunion would be seeing the surprising things people […]
I won’t go into the details of the evening, but suffice it to say that Chris and I spent the evening in Boston, involving ghosts of freshman RAs past, awkward seating arrangements, a parrot, and a second visit by the RA and his beau. (If you’re actually interested, there’s a play-by-play in a friended […]
A few days ago, I talked about some language podcasts. One of the Word Nerds commented on that post, and I replied.
That whole “conversation” got me thinking about blogs, the internet, and connectivity in general. It amazed me that I was able to write about something, and the creator of that particular something […]
Doctor Who is a big deal in the UK, and you can really tell from the BBC’s Doctor Who website.
The site is redesigned every week to reflect the most current episode. There are video specials, a photo gallery, an episode guide, character information, news, MP3 commentaries, screensavers, and oh yeah, a new *game* for […]
It took me almost an hour to read three pages of this linguistics paper. Not because it was impossible, mind you, but because I was having a good time. I would see something I didn’t understand, look it up in another book, and then in that book find something interesting - and then […]
I kinda like waking up early (without an alarm, of course) and being the only one awake in the house. There’s something spooky about having to be quiet in a place you’re normally able to be loud.
Or maybe it’s just because I like the grade that got posted this morning…
In Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, he describes a very special book. This book (the Primer) is interactive (in more ways than I need go into right now). If the reader wants the Primer to go more in-depth on a particular subject, or to explain what something […]
I have a thesis topic.
I never thought I’d say those words, but they’re right there, staring me in the face. I guess this means I’m really doing this whole “life” thing.
The basic idea of the thesis can be summed up in the following sample sentences. (For my non-linguist friends, “(*xyz)” means that “xyz” […]
Some people think I’m quiet. But really I’m just saving up for when I have something important to say.
[A note to those who don’t think I’m quiet: that just means I’m comfortable around you :)]
I’m very relaxed right now. And it’s not because I’m on break. A few things have changed recently, and at least one warrants sharing:
My term as Secretary of the Student Union is over. I’ve held that position since Danny resigned a year and a half ago. While the end of a […]
This weekend I was hurt by something someone said (or more accurately, the way they said it). I started into my usual passive-agressive scheming, and that really didn’t help.
After thinking about ways to get back at this person, I realized that the best thing I could do would be to just stand up and […]
Ever notice how certain people behave differently when you’re interacting with them alone than they do when they’re in a group?
It makes sense that this happens - people want to feel like they’re part of an ingroup, and will change themselves in major ways in order to fit in - even if it’s not who […]
Professor McIntosh dismissed us fifteen minutes early today from Language in American Life. Does it mean I’m a dork that I stayed after and talked with her for those fifteen minutes, plus five more?
I had a good reason though - turns out she’ll be here in the spring semester of next year, meaning she […]
Partly inspired by this post/remaindered link over on Danny’s blog, and partly inspired by what I want this site to be, I’ve moved the blog so that it’s no longer the first thing you see when you hit up aaronbraver.com.
I was working on my resume (not that I’m sending it anywhere in the next few […]
This may sound bad, and don’t take it the wrong way..
I love you, however, you hold me down.
- “You Hold Me Down” by Motion City Soundtrack
You know how sometimes you hear lyrics that just fit a situation you’ve been in? Yeah. I can’t say they fit the way I feel currently, but (and […]
Wow, odd timing on this one.
I was looking for a particular post in my old LiveJournal (some may remember my “remix” of the Captain Planet theme song), and ran across something I didn’t really expect.
There was a period of time when I was pretty angry, hurt, and generally upset with a few certain individuals (myself […]
I have this tendency to get worked up over small things.
Exhibit A for the prosecution: I’m going to a concert tomorrow (the only band playing I really care about is Anberlin, but I don’t want to miss Acceptance who’s playing also). Doors are at 6. Show starts at 6:30. We meet […]