Just a little note to let y'all know I'm still alive. However, now I've got that fsckn cold that Richie had. I'm fighting valiantly against it, but my head feels like it's filled with cotton.

Gotta get back to cranking on the Math stuff. I delayed the next Math 112 makeup test, but it's coming tomorrow. And the second test for Math 113 is coming 11/18.

There's also stuff I need to do for Soc 22 (Sociology of Women) and Linguistics 1. The Lx 1 extra credit project I'm working on is going to have to wait until after the Math 113 test, since it entails my Math 113 Prof Mary Hito. She is from Peru and of Japanese descent, and has an interesting story I want to tell about growing up, acquiring her first language (Spanish), learning English (her L2) and about how she fell in love with Math, of all things.

Peru is home to the third-largest Nikkei (those of Japanese descent living outside Japan) communities next to Brazil and the United States. Alberto Fujimori is not an unusual case. The story of Peru's Nikkei community is a fascinating one...the Peruvian government actually collaborated with the US in extraditing Peruvian citizens of Japanese descent to the US Internment Camps during WWII. There were also a series of anti-Nikkei riots in Lima and other cities in 1940. Most Peruanos of Japanese descent are descended by a small group of Japanese emigres who came to Peru to work in agriculture. There were less than 1,000 of these Nikkei, but from their numbers came the vast majority of Peruanos with Japanese ancestry.

The more I dig, the more interesting it gets.

Anyway, on Thursday they are holding the Dean's Reception for those who made it onto the Dean's list in Spring 2004. I think this might be the last one I participate in, alas. The two Math classes I am trying to finish, (only Math 112 is in jeopardy there) and the other classes which are more difficult than I had thought they would be, are conspiring to press my limitations. Which in turn makes me more susceptible to colds. Aarrgghhhh....