Author: Charles Céleste Hutchins

Supercolliding since 2003

The 15 GRE Words of the Day

  1. antagonism (noun) Hostility, conflict, opposition. Witnesses at Columbine high School spoke of a lingering antagonism between nerds and jocks. antagonistic (adjective), antagonize (verb).
  2. antipathy (noun) A long-held feeling of dislike or aversion. Jazz musicians often have an antipathy for country music. Do country musicians have similar feelings about jazz?
  3. apprehension (noun) A feeling of fear or foreboding; an arrest. The apprehension was noticiable in the line of students waiting to take the GRE.   I was surprised to turn on Cops and see an apprehension of Jim. Why didn’t he get his face fuzzed out? apprehend (verb).
  4. arabesque (noun) Intricate decorative patterns involving intertwining lines and sometimes incorporating flowers, animals and fruits. The dominant art-form in the middle east has long been caligraphy and due to prosperity in the region, for a long time, everything was inscribed. So you can go through the British Museum and see mosaics covered with arabesque, surrounding religious quotations.
  5. arbitrary (adjective) Based on random or merely personal preference. the highschool dresscode, which banned camoflague patterns and jeans of certain colors, was widely considered by the students to be fully arbitrary
  6. archaic (adjective) Old-fashioned, obsolete. For years, macintosh users bragged that their GUI replaced the archaic command-line system used by DOS users. Now they brag about their BSD-based system with it’s terminal windows. archaism (noun).
  7. ardor (noun) A strong feeling of passion, energy or zeal. The “primative” ardor that Stravinsky poured into Rite of Spring was so strong and unexpected by his contemporaries, that a riot broke out after just the first movement during the first performance. (true story). ardent (adjective)
  8. arid (adjective) Very dry; boring and meaningless. Visitors to Death Valley are advised to take a few gallons of water apiece so they can survive the arid conditions.   Only after everyone listening to me excitely talking about the Hundred Years War fell asleep, did I realize that some might find French military history to be an arid subject. aridity (noun)
  9. articulate (adjective) To express oneself clearly and effectively. After listening to the republicrats speak, it’s exciting to listen to someone as articulate as Nader and that green guy whose running for govenor who everyone should vote for because he’s soooo much better than Davis or Simon.
  10. asperity (noun) Harshness, severity. Pelican bay prison is built on the insane idea that the way to lower recidivism rates is to treat the prisoners with asperity, instead of preparing them to return to the community.
  11. assail (verb) To attack with blows or words. when Ari Fleisher attemtped to state Bush’s war plans, he was assailed by thinking people in the audience. assailant (noun).
  12. assay (verb) To analyze for particular components; to determine weight, quality, etc We assayed spam and discovered that it does contain meat products, epsecially from the snout region.
  13. assimilate (verb) To absorb into a system or culture. A goal of Ellis Island was to convince immigrants to Americanize their names and ideas so they would more quickly assimilate into mainstream culture.
  14. assimilated (adjective) The decendants of Irish immigrants have fully assimilated into mainstream white society, but, because of the legacy of slavery and lingering racism, the decendants of African immigrants have not assimilated to the same degree.
  15. assuage (verb) To easy, to pacify. Hearing that her brother was fine after surgery did not assuage Katie, only seeing him awake and talking did.

My mission: agitation. I’ve sworn alliegance to a secret organization, dedicated to anarchy. Using an alias, I travel to strange locations and stir up animosity against the ruling powers. Such animosity is always present, so I just need to amplify it to reolutionary levels. I’m like a modern-Che (or perhaps I’m aggrandizing myself). Fighting the power means bringing about a crisis quickly. Governments want to keep power and they will allocate funds for aid to do that, as little as possible, so they can create the illusion of ameliorating the problem. My pseudo-communist mission may sound like an anachronism to the upper classes, but it is not. the poor have no real affinity for the rich. they pretned to respect you, but it is merely an affectation. Right now, class uprising is thought of, by some, as an anomaly. They are wrong, it is the natural order of things. The mission of my adversaries, such as the world bank, is to prevent that. Thus they offer their loans, wich nations can only amortize while their GDP is eaten alive by debt paid to the first world. Some members of my group want to destroy the rich, others just want to amalgamate them with the rest of the world. some of us believe that the survival skills of the well-heeled are such that both amount to the same thing….

The 15 GRE Words of the Day

16. affected (adjective) false, artificial.
80’s radio djs used to speak in an affected british accent. affect (verb), affectation (noun)
17. affinity (noun) A feeling of shared attraction, kinship, a
similarity.
When Christi and I feel in love, we marvled over our affinity for John Cage,
Riot Grrl and our RA.

18. aggrandize (verb) To make bigger or greater; to inflate.
When he was mayor of New York, Ed Kotch was renowned for aggrandizing his
accomplishments and stroling through city events shouting “How’m I doing?” aggrandizement (noun)

19. agitation (noun) A disturbance; a disturbig feeling of upheavel and
excitement.
The campus took away the microphones from the radical groups because they
feared student agitation. agitated (adjective), agitate (verb)

20. alias (noun) An assumed name.
Don’t reveal my identity to the spies! Call me by my alias, “sloshie.”

21. allegiance (noun) Loyalty or devotion shown to one’s government or
to a s person, group or cause.
I pledge allegiance to my christi and to the sidewalk on which she
stands…

22. allocate (verb) to apportion for a specific purpose, to distribute.
If you want to buy a fabcy new RAID array, you’re going to have to
allocate some funds out of your general budget. allocation (noun)

23. amalgamate (verb) to blend thoroughly.
The reason the white south wanted to maintain segregation, especially in
schools, was because they feared amalgamation. Intermarriage would
destroy their very wonderful paleness for future generations. amalgamation (noun)

24. ameliorate (verb) to make something better or more tolerable.
Perhaps we can ameliorate the condition of Vanessa’s Tofu Suprise through
the juditious addition of soy sauce. amelioration (noun)

25. amortize (verb) to pay off or reduce a debt gradually throught
periodic payments.
In the interest rate is low, it might be a good idea to amortize our
morgage instead of paying it off as fast as we can.

26. amplify (verb) to enlarge, expand or increase.
When you asked me to amplify the music, i wrote a second movement, not
knowing you just wanted me to make it louder. oops. amplification (noun)

27. anachronistic (adjective) out of the proper time.
The knight at the ren-faire was wearing keds, which is totally an
anachronism, cuz it’s not like keds were invented yet when there were
knights. of course, somebody running around now dressed in armor is kind
of anachronistic anyway. Maybe he belongs to the society for creative
anachronisms. anachronism (noun)

28. anarchy (noun) abscence of law or order.
anarchists are kind of silly, because they don’t want chaos or actual
anarchy, they want people to form allegiances voluntarily. anarchic (adjective)

29. animosity (noun) hostility, resentment.
Roz could no longer contain her animosity towards Xena and so after a
minute of sniffing noses, she returned to growling obnoxiously.

30. anomaly (noun) something different or irregular.
we noticed an anomoly on the scan, so we’re going to have to do a biopsy
to make sure it’s not cancer. anomalous (adjective)

Esperanto class was bursting at the seams! We are going to move to a bigger classroom. (no, i am not making this up.) But there is still room for you! Yes, there is. Tuesday night 7:30 – 9:30 enhanced with kekstempo – cookie break time! keksoj = cookies. See, now you’ve learned one useful word, there’s no reason not to show up.
Speaking of Esperanto, I’ve been thinking more about Christi’s silent movie idea. Phillip Glass does a lot of movie composing for old movies, but the one’s i’ve seen have all been movies with sound and subtitles. Opera singers sing the lines of the speakers in the movie. so he just plays the movie with the sound turned off. and then I thought of the perfect movie to do that to: Incubus! no, don’t leave! William Shatner, when interviewed about his role in Incubus, consistently describes the script as “operatic.” He says it deals starkly between good and evil – like an opera would. the movie is, as i’m sure you know, the only full-length movie shot entirely in Esperanto. And it doesn’t have much dialog. the dialog it does have is very easy. There are long sequences with pretty pictures where no one speaks. (these are the best part of the film.) those sections could be filled with musical interlude. Also, the movie has very few speaking parts. There’s that guy who only lasts for one scene, Kia, her sister, Marco, his sister and the incubus, and I’m not sure if the incubus even speaks. so we could get away with a mezo-soprano (I don’t like high sopranos so much), an alto and a tenor. Maybe a second male part, maybe not. If we got a second male part, there could be cool chorus-y suff when the evil minons file in at the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, there are problematic elements in the movie. It would take a bit of snipping. For all of it’s operaticness (as perceived by Shatner), it’s still an icky horror movie. There are only two scenes that really ought to go. there’s the one where the evil minions tear off Marco’s sister’s clothes and the incubus lurches in with his bad teeth. (well, it is an icky horror movie and we’re going to cut that scene.) and of course, the scene in the end with the goat. I think we could have Kia and Marco running towards the church and then have her crawl in, harmed, and never explain what happened. Or, we could just have the incubus show up to get her and cut before he turns into a goat. Really, this film does have all the great aspects of opera. Think Don Giovanni with it’s graveyards and people eating corpses and satanic figures rising from the dead. Think of that and thenk really low budjet, with only three singers, no sets aside from a screen and projector and a small pit orchestra. Additionally, this is an act we could take on the road. People would come see it because it might sound interesting, but think of all the esperantists who want to see what on earth an opera based on Incubus would be like. see! this is a great idea!

Today is the first day of Esperanto class. Yes, this means summer is finally over. I left for my mom’s house really early, so I don’t have 15 GRE words for today, but they will resume tomorrow along with the 5 esperanto root words of the day. If I learn 20 new words a day, in two languages, soon i’ll be the best spoken person on earth. (note to self: there must be a more multi-sylabled way to say that…)
I woke up in a bad mood because I couldn’t remeber what “abjure” meant. But now I feel happier.
My mom is popular. Twof reinds came earlier and two more are on the way. That’s all god. She’s also happy. I’m not paying attention to her right now because I am updating my blog. Bad daughter! No bisquit!

Although he appeared to affable, he was in fact, an adversary. Thus it was not an abberation when he attempted to abscond with all my allies. But he was not as adroit as I. He did not abbrade me, I merely hatched a plan to bring my allies back to me and abrogate their allegiance to him. They would abjure their connection to him when they learned that I had the better taste in art! Yes, I am an aesthete. true, he may donate to the opera and he has slowly, through accretion built up something of an art collection, but he will be exposed as a fraud and my allies will return. a while ago, he purchased some sculptures, he thought as an adjunct to the rest of his art collection, which was mostly paintings at that point. but the sculptures were tacky! Tasteless! ugly! The acted to adulterate his collection, not enhance it. I learned that he foolishly planned to have a prty in his new scultpure garden, a party that would surely be abbreviated when the guests caught sight of his ghastly collection. And then, their allegiance to him would be abridged. My allies would return to a true lover of art and music. But what are these allies worth? I foundmyself questioning. Afterall, if their gatherings with me could be held in abeyance due to their loyalty to one so utterly tacky, tasteless boorish, boring and completly un-affable as this adversary, what do I need them for? so I abandoned my plans and set out in search of new freinds.

Boy, give somebody a blog and they look insane. well, not sane people. sane people can have blogs and still look sane. anyway i have a list of the 15 GRE words fo the day. observe:

The 15 GRE Words of the Day

1. abbreviate (verb) to make breifer, to shorten. If all the vocabulary words are this easy, I will be able to abbreviate my study time.
2. abberation (noun) a deviation from what is normal or natural, an abnormality. “Dr” Laura came under fire for calling lesbians a biological abberation. abberant (adjective)
3. abeyance (noun) a temporary lapse in activity; suspension. In the aftermath of 9/11. all normal activites were held in abeyance.
4. abjure (verb) The renounce or reject; to officially disclaim. After the EPA declared global warming to be real, Dubya abjured the document and had the department disolved
5. abrade (verb) To irritate by rubbing; to wear down in spirit. Even though she saved five dollar, Erma abjured her pro-sndpaper underwear stance as it abraded her skin severly abrasion (noun)
6. abridge (verb) To shorten. to reduce. Readers Digest keeps it’s subscribers from being truly well-read by issueing several abridged novels every year, this freeing up readers time to write angry letters to the editor of their local paper.
7. abrogate (verb) To nullify, to abolish. the 14th amendment makes it illegal to abbrogate the rights of American citizens without due process of law. abbrogation (noun)
8. abscond (verb) to make a secret departure, to elope. the CEO of our company absconded to Bermuda with our pension fund
9. accretion (noun) A gradulal build up or enlargement. A accretion of troops continues in the middle east in prepeartion for further slaughter so we can get more cheap oil.
10. adjunct (noun) something added to another thing, but not a part of it; an associate or assistant. the military acts as an adjunct to Halburton and several oil companies, but so far does not receive stock options
11. adroit (adjective) skillfull, adept. Ralph Nader is highly adroit at pointing out the wrongs of the currents system
12. adulterate (verb) To corrupt, to make impure. While some people like milk choclate, purists see dairy products as an adulteration of fine chocolate
13. adversary (verb) an enemy or an oponent. Although many corporations claim to be friends to consumers, one only needs to look at their treatment of workers and their safety records to crrectly cagagorize them into adversarial roles. adverse (adjective)
14. aesthete (noun) someone devoted to beauty and beautiful things. John Cage caused controversy partly because it was controversail whether or not he was even an aesthete. Some folks felt he was not because he intorduced noise into music. Other folks felt he was because he wanted his listeners to percieve the noise as beautiful. aesthetic (adjective)
15. affability (noun) the quality of being easy to talk to and gracious. A good hosts endeavors to be affable

speaking of avoiding my mom…. arg. i picked up micheal moore’s book Stupid White Men and read the whole thing and apparently read really slow cuz it’s 5:00 now. what am i thinking? it’s not like i have extra mom left. oh, i’ll go see her in a couple of months. not going to happen. still, i thought she would be dead by now. i have no idea how to guess how much time she has left. october? no way. i thought. yarg this sucks. this is supossed to happen to other people. i am suppossed to lead a charmed and stress-free life because i am special damnit, and people around me are supppossed to be too. and i’m suppossed to be young forever. and the whole fxcking summer is gone and 2002 is almost over and it sucked and i did nothing useful with my time. i’m a year older with nothing to show for it. i need to stop screwing around. and i learned no GRE words today and wrote no music and only read a stupid book and didn’tr even go see my mom or get a job or do a darn useful thing and i’ve been living my life this way for a whole year. more than a year. 1.5 years of lame-ass slacking. and before that i worked for aol. i suck. i, like all software people both with jobs and without, am a parasite in the intestine of humanity. i’m so fxcking special i don’t need to get a job or go see my mom or even “find myself” (the groovy excuse for directionless young artists) or nothing. sometimes i feel like nothing i do matters and other times i realize it’s because i do nothing. poor little rich girl. fxck.