Roger's verboten entry is tantalizing and mocking at the same time. It's an in-my-face reminder that I'm not holding up my end of the updating bargain. Regarding why I'd be so narcissistic to think that it had something to do with me, I've no answer. In any case, I'm alive and kicking.

What's been up? Midterms and midterm papers came and went. I learned to blow a conch shell. Our house had Thanksharing, a quarterly "special dinner" of sorts with extra food and extra guests and lots of music. The final project for my seminar was turned in yesterday, as was my last paper for philosophy. Our ultimate team played in a scrimmages and a tournament, and is playing really well. My co-captain Kara is bouncing to France for a quarter, and I'm going to miss her incredible, infectious smiles, pretty cuts, and, of course, those now-fabled speech quirks a whole bunch.

It's been tempestuous during the past couple of days: thick, almost tropical clouds overhead Thursday which made for a bright and moonlight-diffusing night. An incredibly blowy afternoon Friday; could see the leaves flying swiftly by through the giant picture window behind our advisory board as our seminar group made our final presentation. The project was—and still is—amazing, but I'll be glad to put the bureaucratic side of any international NGO startup aside; much longer story than can be justly told in one sitting. After dinner with the team, saw Monsoon Wedding, which was being shown in the history corner.

This morning, biked to breakfast in Woodside with five others as is quarterly tradition. The thick clouds were fairly complacent when we left campus, but began to mist and then, not uncomfortably, drizzle as we headed west toward the foothills. Huge downpour during the forty minutes of breakfast, but had politely stopped by the time Clare and I had to race back to get to an interview and a lecture, respectively, by 9. The remnant hadn't returned by the time I got back from lecture and showered; it turned out they'd spent another two hours at the table debating the likely impending military action.

Let me not euphemize: they were discussing the war. Looks like we're going to be in one soon. I haven't yet had a successful attempt at articulating my thoughts, so I'll not unleash another botched attempt on you. In the meantime, rain!