It's been a few days since my last entry, mostly because I've been busy with Thanksgiving and then writing papers for my Supreme Court class. I thought I'd be busy revising my Post-9/11 Foreign Policy paper, but my professor liked it enough that he suggested I think about writing an Op-Ed out of it. We'll have to see about that... (But for that reason, I'm not going to post that one yet even though I promised to do that earlier.)

I also spent a little bit of time working on adding a page of vocabulary to my web site. I think this means I have truly qualified to be a nerd. (Well, perhaps the blog and the web site--not to mention the Computer Science degree--meant I'd already obtained that qualification.)

I created that page mostly for my own use. I was toying around with the practice GRE some time ago (when I was considering getting a PhD), and I realized that my vocabulary skills weren't as great as they could be. Since then, I've become hyper-aware of how many words I just don't know. If it were not for the possibility of taking a standardized test at some point, would it really be worth it to look up these words and record them? Even though I actually do enjoy accumulating knowledge, what is the practical use? How many times am I going to weave "atavistic" into a conversation? I reckon any writings that I toss these words into will seem somehow more intellectual (well, as long as I avoid using the word "reckon").

Fortunately, I've embraced my nerdiness in this respect at least. The practical use of learning vocabularly doesn't really matter to me that much. I enjoy it for the same reason I enjoy reading articles about subjects that I'll never apply to anything, or having a conversation about a topic that doesn't change my world in any way. These things, just like the Fourteenth Amendment (according to Justice Harlan), stand on their own bottom.