So busy today!

The Invention of Fractions Jessica Goodfellow

God himself made the whole numbers: everything else
is the work of man.
—--Leopold Kronnecker

God created the whole numbers:
the first born, the seventh seal,
Ten Commandments etched in stone,
the Twelve Tribes of Israel —
Ten we've already lost —
forty days and forty nights,
Saul's ten thousand and David's ten thousand.
'Be of one heart and one mind' —
the whole numbers, the counting numbers.

It took humankind to need less than this;
to invent fractions, percentages, decimals.
Only humankind could need the concepts
of splintering and dividing,
of things lost or broken,
of settling for the part instead of the whole.

Only humankind could find the whole numbers,
infinite as they are, to be wanting;
though given a limitless supply,
we still had no way
to measure what we keep
in our many-chambered hearts.

Links!

Hey, remember that Romeo x Juliet anime, with the swordfighting and the crossdressing and the awesome? The first episode is now available with subtitling here! (On Megaupload, which I hate, and if it doesn't work for anyone, let me know and I'll try to upload it on a different server.) I only downloaded it last night and haven't had time to watch it yet, but I thought I'd go ahead and spread the love. If you do not remember, by the way, you can watch an excellent trailer here; it's from the makers of Gankutsuo (The Count of Monte Cristo remade as space opera) and will apparently be a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, except Juliet dresses up as a boy and Verona has been transformed into some sort of lovely anime-esque city on a floating island with crumbling ruins interspersed with more modern buildings.

And speaking of love: two people wrote me stories for my birthday! Squee! Y'all are too sweet. And kind.

You Are the Seal of the Burning Year by veleda_k. Saiyuki, Sanzo and Goku, G. This is lovely and sweet in that totally not-sweet way of the series, and the Sanzo-voice is spot-on.

Scripted by ranalore. Saiyuki Gaiden, Kenren/Konzen, Kenren/Tenpou, PG. Oh, such pretty, pretty language and images, and so totally hot.

Eee. I'm so happy.

Dude.

There is a hypnotist performing in this coffeeshop right now.

I'm not even in the same coffeeshop as the one with crazy poetry readings and musicians! It's an entirely new place! I think I attract strange happenings.

...he says later he'll want volunteers. I'd be tempted to do it, but I suppose I'd have to be polite and go pay attention first.