2 things, quickly

I'm really tired...it's been an interesting week or so on many fronts...but before I go to bed ridiculously early, there are two things that I've been thinking about lately that I need to blog about.

1. Pineapple.

First of all, pineapple in amazing. And I'm not talking about that travesty-to-tropical-fruit canned variety in "syrup" or whatever the heck high fructose insulin shock they're marinating in. I'm talking about freshly hacked up delicious, slightly coconutty, buttery, sweet and sour amazingness. But I've got a bone to pick with pineapple. There's something I don't like about it. In fact, it makes me angry to even think about it for any length of time. What's that, you ask?

The name "pineapple".

First of all, I can see where the "pine" came from, I guess. It kind of looks like a pinecone. Except for the small insignificant fact that it's delicious. And besides, it comes from a tropical tree, not a pine tree. They don't even look alike. Come on.

And second - "apple" - I just don't get that. There is nothing further from an apple. That's like calling a hamster a squirrel. Or vice versa. Apples do grow on trees, yes, but so does money (right, Dad?). And lots of other un-apple-y things.

As it turns out, the word "pineapple" comes from European explorers as they searched the vast new world for adventure and the fountain of youth. They mistook the fruit we know as "pineapple" for the pine cones they had found in the region that we now call Canadia (it figures that the white man screwed this one up). The original native word for "pineapple" was "anana", which is "banana" without the "b". For the life of me, why people have for centuries called this fruit by other fruits names is just something I can't understand.

So you've got this amazing fruit, and its name sucks. Pineapple deserves an awesome name. Something like Passion Fruit. Or Awesome Fruit. I'll think about it this week and let you know what I come up with.

2. My random encounters with strangers

Example A: An old lady walks up to me about once a week on my walk to school, gets right in my way and just stares at me until I smile, and then she smiles back. I don't get this.

Example B: While wearing contacts, I accidentally freak out possibly hundreds of people who nearly swallow their gum at the sight of my freakishly blue eyes. Some people here have never seen a blue-eyed person in person. Sometimes they even yelp a little when you walk around a corner and accidentally surprise them.

Example C: On my way home today, I saw a cute baby, so I smiled at her. She couldn't have been more than 18 months old. She shot back the meanest look I've ever seen on anyone since I got here. I had no idea a baby could scowl like that. I was actually terrified. I'm actually still terrified. Creepy baby.

Okay, that's enough ranting for one day. Tomorrow is Friday!! Yay!! For those of you enduring finals week, hang in there - you're in my prayers. But you should probably stop wasting time reading this blog and get back to studying. To the rest of you - 12 days til Christmas!! Love!!

Jess