Some truly random thoughts:

• Life is definitely more enjoyable when you have a passion for some activity, so there is more to life than working/studying /hanging out with one’s friends, but something to look forward to even in the most stressful moments. Reading and writing have always been my passions, and they still fill me with incredible amounts of pleasure even at this age. I have a student Rabbit who loves reading and art, and I think her prospects for a happy future are stronger than all my other current students.

• I have loved comic books since I started reading Green Lantern, Justice League of America, and Batman as a child, yet I rarely have any interest in live-action movies based on those comics. The Superman and Batman movies were tolerable but they still had moments of self-parody which I found offensive (remember Gene Hackman ruining Lex Luthor? Or Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones acting as if they thought Riddler and Two-Face were buffoons?) The first X-Men movie was probably the best I have ever seen, although I have yet to see either the second X-Men or the two Spiderman movies. Probably I should.