sigh...
just read The Book of Four and
while i enjoyed it...it pointed out a most egregious
breach in my education..
...i do not know Latin

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

and while i don't really have any desire to read
500 pages of Latin
only to see if i can decipher the puzzles therein
i dislike the fact that i cannot. read. latin.
(as julia would write)

my mother had over 12 years of Latin
she knew german from her Ph.D. program
my father speaks spanish
my sister is fluent in spanish having spent
years in central and south american
and that year abroad in santander*, spain

*A city of northern Spain on the Bay of Biscay west-northwest of Bilbao. It was a major port after the discovery of America and is now a resort and industrial center. Population: 191,155.

but frankly, and sadly, i SUCK at languages
i got a D in spanish in college
a D for the love of pele
and had to withdraw from italian
because i surely would have flunked

woe be unto me