Chaos

Chaos [noun] (kay ahs)

1. Great disorder
2. Confused situation

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While I hate to editorialize - okay, you can stop laughing now - but please allow me to do just that when it comes to today's word: chaos. 

Chaos, the opposite of order, the bringer of confusion, and the title of a French film about prostitutes I saw in a high school French class, is a word in my GRE vocabulary book.  This baffles me to the point where I felt compelled to use the verb "baffle" despite its rather odd configuration that looks a touch like "wiffle" and thus reminds me of t-ball games during a summer camp that I acquaint to a very long nighmare.

That aside, how in the world is "chaos" deemed a graduate word rather than a undergraduate word?  If you were able to get through high school without confronting the concept of chaos, than I applaud you for your absentmindedness and general disregard for any literature class you may/may not have ever taken.  If you were able to get through your undergraduate degreee without confronting the concept, than I question if you went to college - period.

Chaos is not a GRE word - opine, desultory, transitory, and anachronism are.  Please note this, GRE study guide, as we go forward to avoid further chaos.

Opine

Opine [verb] (oh pien)

1. To express an opinion

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If I many opine, the video for "Her Morning Elegance" by Oren Lavie is mesmerizing.  Apparently, the entire video is composed of over 3,000 stills and the actual shooting took only a day (cite).  I want to make something like this:

Insipid

Insipid [adj] (ihn sih pid)

1. Lacking interest or flavor

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When is it that birthdays become insipid?

It's not when we're 5 and squeal at the sight of our Sesame Street cake and plow through a pile of presents in mere moments.

It's not when we're 10 and invite a gaggle of friends for a sleepover which features little-to-no sleep.

It's not when we're 15 and we try for our drivers permit, or 16 when we hope to call the open road our own.

It's not when we're 18 and put a foot into the adult world - and by adult, we do meant cigarettes, military, and porn.

It's now when we're 21 and shimming up to the bar (or, in this writer's case, shimming up to a ice cream sundae the size of her head).

Is it 23 when the glow fades?  The age when we realize that all milestones from there-on-out are marked in decades and those decades arrive with a town's worth of misconceptions, worries, and societal beliefs.   The age when both feet are planted firmly in the adult world of rent, loans, and ever-changing atmospheres.  The age when friends move on, family moves on, and even time itself appears to plunge ahead, unconcerned with our apprehension.  The age when expectations begin to be the guide and desires get moved to the trunk.

With such a list of birthday-induced absolutes, its no wonder birthdays become insipid over time - there's just far too much to worry about in between.

Intractable

Intractable [adj] (ihn traak tuh buhl)

1. Not easily managed or manipulated

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My virus is proving to be intractable, as is my imagination.  Although lessening in resolve (the virus, not the imagination), it chooses to transmogrify daily into something new and equally uneasy.  It's like a mini-Picasso in my system - just replace paint with with a battle field of empty white blood cells.  But still, it's rather imaginative.

...

Is it sad that my virus has more creativty than I do?

I think so.

...

Nonetheless, we will prevail.  And by we, I do hope that will not include the virus, which would indeed be counter to the whole "prevailing" concept.

Fortuitous

Fortuitous [adj] (fohr too ih tuhs)

1. Happening by chance
2. Fortunate

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It seems wrong that sickness is such a fortuitous event.  One moment, one is completely whole - agile, buoyant, and driven; the next the entire world is turned on its head.  Wistfulness, lethargy, and irritation quickly take over and reign for a fortnight.

How I hope this doesn't reign for a fortnight. 

Perhaps this fortuitous event will come to an end as quickly as it was brought on.

Now, if you'll excuse me, medication awaits.

Iniquity

Iniquity [noun] (ih nihk wih tee)

1. Sin
2. Evil act

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Being sick is unfortunately, but the real iniquity occurs when one is confronted with vomiting, intestinal problems, achiness, headaches, and an inability to sleep in little more than fits.

I am facing that reality as I type.

Or was.  My symptoms are now limited to achiness and headaches. I'm quite content to see my maladies diminish, but the lack of sleep is compounding what few issues I have left.

Ah, to be sick and young.

Anachronism

Anachronism [noun] (uh naak ruh nih suhm)

1. Something out of place and time.

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Too literal an anachronism? 

 

Cavemen from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, August 2009

  Hope the Geico guys don't mind....