Lazy Saturday Ramblings

Christmas shopping phase 1 complete.
In other news, my laptop will get here in 3-4 days. How cool is that? I'll actually have it before fall break, which might mean that I can take it with me on fall break (whether or not I will is another matter). But at any rate, you should be kept in the loop fairly regularly.
Don't worry, all hope is not lost yet.
On yet another unrelated note, Tiff's been kindly working out the various routes and other painful details of our december trip. She forbids me from posting details until everything's more finalized, but it looks like it'll be fun. And don't worry, we haven't forgotten about the Black Forest trip, it's just been postponed. It's currently scheduled for the weekend of Nov 19-21, but that's tentative still.
I read Goethe's Faust Part 1 for humanities yesterday. I have no idea why I never encountered that book before. It was a great play on the 18th century, the 16th century, Shakespeare, and culture in general. Cleverly written, too. I guess it just falls outside the realm of typical English classics. Shame on us.
For a pleasure read I borrowed Neil Gaimon's Neverwhere. Also a good read, though definitely not for the same reasons. Gaimon writes a lot like Terry Pratchett. Satirical, sarcastic, dry humored puns and jokes pepper a bizarre version of a stereotypical story (in this case, Alice in Wonderland with a little of the Hero's Quest or The Wizard of Oz mixed in). It was lightwieght enough to also be finished between classes and meals, which is a pleasant change after Freud and Nietzsche.
It's been really nice having this weekend to wander Regensburg. I'm really getting to like this city and am going to miss it when I come back. Then I think about hamburgers, though. Ah, sweet beef...
There was another point to this post. I'll get to it here directly.
That's right! The opera.
We're going to see Fidelio tonight at the Bismarkplatz Opera. I'm of mixed feelings on it. The DVD put me into an instant battle not to fall asleep, one which I fought with various degrees of success, but it was just after lunch. Then again, this will be just after dinner. I'm going to be having coffee with dinner, I think. Lots of coffee.
Opera.
It's cultured of me, right?
I think I'd rather be a brute.