Random Thoughts
This page is for the various profundities/stupidities that now and again pop into my head. I need an outlet, and this is it! Prepare to be bored out of your mind.
For GB3 class September 20, 2000
The Rap of Roland
Our class was this last Wednesday.
Mr C got kicked out not even halfway.
We missed him sorely, but did what we could,
Sam F led the class, and he did good.
Our reading was the Song of Roland epic poem,
good Charlemayn wanted to take the Franks home,
And the Saracens were plotting to cheat them,
sent delegates with lotsa stuff to treat them.
Promised plenty of treasures and loyalty,
but Charlemayn wasn't such a dummy.
But Ganelon, that treacherous cad,
who happened to be noble Roland's stepdad,
Messed it all up cause he was jealous,
his wrath against his stepson was fiendishly zealous.
Roland got the rear guard by Ganelon's suggestion,
he didn't think the guy's loyalty to question,
Charlemayn was upset, he wasn't very happy,
but he ignored his dreams, which turned out to be bad thing.
100,000 Paynims again 2,000 good guys,
Oliver saw it coming on the hill with his own eyes,
Told his pal Roland to blow the horn, please,
but Roland said, "Nah, we can handle this. Geez!"
Some of us found the battle quite monotonous,
with everyone thrown a spear's length from his horse,
And the Franks killed lots, but more baddies were coming nigh,
and pretty soon Roland knew that they were gonna die.
"Okay, I'll blow the horn now," he said to his friend.
Oliver was quite upset. "That would be a bad end!"
The upshot of the story is that everyone is dead,
including Roland, who blew out the veins in his head.
He took forever to die, he just kept wandering around,
until he finally lay down on the ground.
It took about ten pages, I can't imagine why.
I felt like telling him, "Just go ahead and die!"
Then Charlemayn was all upset, he fainted and wept and stuff,
and he was mad at Ganelon, he was in a real huff.
He fought some more with the Saracens, totally destroyed them all,
then went back to France to put Ganelon on trial.
There was a little more fighting, with Thierry and Pinable,
but at last it was finished, Ganelon's death knell.
And what they did to him I thought pretty gross,
had him torn apart limb from limb by four horse.
So that's the story, sorry I didn't get to even SQ number one.
Maybe I'll do this again next week; I think it's lots of fun.
But here's a message to Roland, from GB3 students forlorn,
"Don't take so long to do it! Just blow the stupid horn!"
From GB2 class April 12, 2000:
Today our first debate was over 'algebraic sin.' We discussed whether it is possible for two wrongs to make a right, because in algebra a negative number times a negative number equals a positive. But when it comes to sin, I'm not sure how you would multiply. I think it's more like addition, and a negative number plus a negative number equals a negative number, no matter how many negative numbers you add. But if you add a positive number to a negative number and if the positive number is greater than the negative, you will get a positive number. This is deceptive, though, for when it comes to sin, breaking one sin is breaking them all, like 10 to the 23rd power or something. But also, one drop of Jesus' blood can wipe them all away. He is the ULTIMATE positive! Anyway....
