Ryter finished book # 5 today!

Today is the first day of the seven-day-long Floralia, a festival to honor Flora (Chloris), goddess of flowers. She was a fairly minor goddess but was strongly associated with spring, so it was appropriate that she have a festival at this time of year. Flora was the wife of Favonius (Zephyr), the god of the gentle west wind and (appropriately) of spring, which he was said to bring. In Greek myth, their son was Carpus, god of fruit (NOT god of fruits, that's Ganymede), but I don't know if that part of the myth carried over.

Anyway, today was celebrated by theatrical performances, circus games, and, in the evening, offerings of milk and honey to Flora. Hares and goats were released to run the streets and various beans and legumes were thrown to the spectators. The whole city was decked out in flowers-- even temples were covered in flowers, though only white ones. The people dressed in bright, colorful clothing instead of the customary white and there was much dancing and drinking. Great fun.

Incidentally, Roman prostitutes considered this holiday to be their own. I'm guessing it's all the drunk guys wandering around with flowers on their heads needing to prove their manhood, but that's just speculation...

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Okay, I found something that amuses me greatly. It's an emo bunny complaining about how he can't get laid. I really like that song, despite the fact that the lyrics are kinda weird. Warning: The only really easily decipherable phrase is "Everybody else has had more sex than me" so you might not want to watch it when that would start an awkward conversation...

You know, you'd think it would be easy for a bunny to get laid. They're freakin' rabbits.

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Ryter: So what did you do today?
Basiorana: Tore open the sternum of a pigeon with my bare (well, gloved) hands.
Basiorana: You?
Ryter: Finished a novel.
Basiorana: Mine's creepier.

Yeah, we were dissecting in Bio lab today. I asked my lab partner if we could do the pigeon, on account of the rats being a bit too well preserved-- they looked like they would get up and walk around. Well, until they were cut open and their guts were splayed everywhere.

Nothin' like a dissection to bring out the perversion in people, though. Honestly. One guy took a pair of scissors and lopped off the pigeon's head; the guys in the back were tossing a rat brain around... Yeah. And just think, most of us are pre-med or pre-vet. Comforting, ain't it?

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And in other news, the English portfolio looks like it will be fairly easy, maybe an hour's work tops. Everything else still looks impossible. Oh, and I forgot to mention the paper on Kinorhynchs I have due next week... Joys.

"Blessed is That Man Who Has Found His Work"

Today is the Feast of Adonis. For those unaware, Adonis' mother, Smyrna, tricked her own father into sleeping with her, and then when he figured out and she ran, a god turned her into a tree. Nine months later, the bark on the tree peeled back and a baby emerged. That's Adonis. Aphrodite took the baby and asked Persephone to raise him, and he grew up to be so beautiful that Aphrodite wanted him back and Persephone, in a weird Oedipal moment, wanted to keep him. They fought and then brought the matter to Zeus, who decided that Adonis could spend a third of the year with each goddess and the last third with whichever of the two he preferred. He naturally preferred Aphrodite (Persephone was like his MOM). He and Aphrodite had a daughter but then he died because he was attacked by a boar, and Aphrodite turned him into an anenome.

Moral of this story: Beautiful people have weird family situations and die young, the Greeks liked the idea of sleeping with their mothers, and all problems can be solved by turning into a plant.

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I met with my therapist today. She gave me an assignment, like usual. Luckily this homework is easier than last session's assignment, "Have a conversation with Incredibly Hot Guy, even if it's just three sentences"- I didn't accomplish this. The conversation was two sentences. This is not to say that this new assignment is easy. It is "list all your positive qualities." This is impossible, naturally, because to list all the ways I am awesome would take years.

No, not really. It's actually hard because I feel like I'm bragging every time I say something nice about myself. Thus, here is my list:

1. I have, thus far, not killed anything larger than a guinea pig (a duckling is smaller than a guinea pig, right?)
2. Cameras and mirrors have never broken when looking at me. Cameras break when I point them at other stuff.
3. I am not allergic to peas.
4. If I'm ever cornered by a mad ax murderer (as opposed to the sane ax murderers that wander around), and they say, "I'll let you live- if you answer one question: How much does Jean Grey weigh?" I'll be able to say, "115 lbs!" and save myself. I expect this to happen at least three times next week.
5. I could write a book on Greek mythology. No one would read it. It would sit on a shelf in a library and/or my friends' coffee tables and collect dust. It would, however, be an excellent conversation piece and/or paperweight. I would get to act all snooty, like "I've written a book" and my friends would have to make sure it was out when I came over, or I'd get all insulted...

(Don't worry, that's not what I'm telling her. You just don't want to hear me try to be nice to myself. Or maybe you do. I'll stick the real list in my LJ later tonight.)

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In other news, I was getting into the cab to come back from the therapist's office today when I got a call from TJ Maxx asking me to come in for an interview. Nice. That's 11 AM on Saturday. Less than an hour later- I kid you not- someone from Vector Marketing, a company I know nothing about except that they're hiring students and I applied, called and asked to set up an appointment. The caller was somewhat pushy and the next thing I knew I had a ninety-minute appointment interview at 2:30, meaning it will end right at four. That was when I was supposed to go to Macy's for that interview. One somewhat frantic call to Macy's later, I had a completely booked Saturday, from 11:00 to 6:00.

I mentioned that I had job interviews coming up in Group today and they kinda walked me through questions I should ask, which was good, because I so need a job. And only partially because I'm broke. In large part it is because my mother was incredibly disapproving of my lack of a summer job. I believe my not having a Christmas job would result in immediate banishment from her presence.

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Speaking of disapproving: Disapproving Rabbits. Very amusing. Kept me occupied for a whole half hour or so.

There is other stuff to do now.