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Quite a hectic day, yet it seems that most of the things needing to be accomplished have been accomplished. I met with my advisor and he was congenial as always. I wish my relationships to more of my professors were like this. He also wrote to the dean on my behalf, suggesting that I be allowed a ninth semester. The math 128a midterm was not all that difficult, although I didn't find the fixed point of f(x)=sqrt(1+x) on [1,2]. Unfortunately I missed Swedish class to study for Math; I really feel bad about missing that class, because there are so few of us in it in the first place, but it's hard not to. Chris took the VW to run an errand to Walnut Creek; fortuitously, the DMV stickers also arrived today, and Chris tracked down a meter maid to get that signed off, and he took care of the tickets too. In Scandinavian R5B, Michael actually told us a bit about himself, including a tale about one time when he was traveling through Serbia during the war, fell off a train, and limped back to Europe, eventually roaming the Dutch streets, himself dirty, unshaven, barefoot, and with his arm in a sling. That's a good tale. Liz read my paper and she really seemed to like it; her compliments were quite emphatic, and provided quite a boost. I read Brian's paper and was also quite impressed; he found a lot of good material pertaining to birds and metaphorical flight in Anna (I) Anna. Now it's time to take a little break before dinner, after which I need to do my workshifts.

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I wonder how "ordinary iraqis" feel about the government of that country. I wonder what life is like for them. The American incursion-to-come supposes that the Iraqis are really waiting for some kind of "liberation," after which they will gleefully frolick in democracy. About this, I am very skeptical. That region of the world has never known democracy, and in fact the countries themselves are the product of British and French schemers of the first world war. It's hard to imagine the place without tribes and without kings. (Although Egypt does pretend to have a democracy.) Anyway, I wonder what the Iraqis think. The only way to know would be to go there. I think I could put myself into that country in a week's time. The flight into Amman, the trek across the desert, sneaking in. Boy would that be a trip. Too bad I don't speak Arabic.

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After Dinner, Jamie and I ran out to the Dylan concert. We live up on Warring, so the Greek Theater is just a hop, skip, and a jump away, just on the other side of the I-House, Stadium, and Bowles. On the way we came across some kind of happening at Haas which we discovered to be a private party thrown by the Latin American Business Association, with the music, food, drink, and general exuberance characteristic to parties thrown by those from latin cultures. We snuck in amongst the Peruvians and Brazilians and danced a bit, wondering what it was all about, before sneeking out again to go see Bob.

Climbing up behind the Greek Theater, we found a nice spot in the Eucalyptus trees with a view of the stage lighting if not the stage itself, surrounded by other unofficial concertgoers. It was quite a nice spot for listening to the concert, close enough to hear it well yet far enough that we could converse comfortably.