Still not getting much done this week. My friend Mike moved in this week. He studies all day every day. This is going to be his second time taking the exam, so he doesn't want to screw up. Somehow, his being around hasn't really been the motivator that I thought it would. Anyway, I hope to do some good reviewing on the computer tests tonight, so I will spend another friday night in the lab. I hope to start my serious (?) studying after Easter.
Two interesting phone calls last night. Talked to my brother for a bit about going on a nice long bike ride tomorrow morn. I tried to bring up some politics or something of import (?), but he struck me down. "I don't care about your silly book (Incidentally, I am reading this really cool book called Mirror for Americans: Japan). All you ever do is try to argue. Some day you'll grow up and start working and you won't have time to bother with such nonsense..." Partly he was just joking with me about the apathy of the average American, but he was also somewhat serious. Do I really have to quit thinking about saving the world after I enter it? Is it so overwhelming that I will just give up? It reminds me of one of my favorite Simpsons' lines where Homer tells Lisa, "It's all right Lisa, I used to believe in things when I was young too."
Then I called Yai. I got a little more interesting response from her when I mentioned the book (although she did say she doesn't have time to read it). We ended up discussing one of my favorite questions: Why did America manage to become so economically prosperous while the nations of South America, with similar pasts, have not? What is the deal with Japan's unusual success. She came up with a theory about how both countries started at zero, and the people had to work hard to build. I guess this would be true in Germany after the war too. As for South America's lack of success, we could only guess that perhaps the country started from zero, but the immigrants did not. Americans and Japanese were very poor in the beginning, but the Spanish settlers (?) of South America seem to have been wealthier, though I don't know a lot of the history. Anyway, it was a fun conversation.