Science and Semantics

I wasn’t born yesterday. In San Diego I’ve reached the ripe old age of 22, and since there is no place like home, my mother’s work is never done. But, the times they are a changing, and next year I’ll fly the coop, leaving my parents with an empty nest. When I start to make my own way in the world, I may be batting my eyes like toadfrog in a hailstorm, but to stick to the story, I’ll tell it to you straight – my life –the calm before the storm.
I had bad hands growing up, so I stood (and ran) on my own two feet. I played soccer eight days a week. Every dog has its day though, and since children are the future, my parents occasionally gave us a taste of history. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, they said to me, and in our travels my family often traipsed off the beaten path.
My parents also taught me not to judge a book by its cover. As a child I read between the lines, I read the fine print, and I took a page out of each book I read. You could say I read the tea leaves too, and when I was 20 I took the slow boat to China. Old customs die hard there, and I was like a fly on the side of an age-old pillar of society. With dumplings as food for thought, I found that not all who wander are lost, and that I had everything to write home about. I hung on every word spoken to me, and in speaking picked my brain each time for the right word. I took the high road home, and back in San Diego to live and learn.
I’m a quick study, but its taken me year in and year out four times over to learn my lessons at UCSD. It may not be rocket science but I managed to learn the rhyme and reason behind plays on words, and lo and behold, I found that it’s all semantics anyway.