This is the most spectacular news I have read in a long, long time:

Study revives six degrees theory

A US study of instant messaging suggests the theory that it takes only six steps to link everyone may be right - though seven seems more accurate.

Microsoft researchers studied the addresses of 30bn instant messages sent during a single month in 2006.

Any two people on average are linked by seven or fewer acquaintances, they say.

The theory of six degrees of separation has long captured people’s imagination - notably inspiring a popular 1993 film - but had recently seemed discredited.

One of the researchers on the Microsoft Messenger project, Eric Horvitz, said he had been shocked by the results.

“What we’re seeing suggests there may be a social connectivity constant for humanity,” he was quoted as saying by the Washington Post newspaper.

“People have had this suspicion that we are really close. But we are showing on a very large scale that this idea goes beyond folklore.”

And it’s true. It is true because I have found out that I am way too close to people I did not want to be close to via a channel of random acquaintances. The world is really small because we’re only humans, and this idea disturbs me in general because I don’t like it when people who know people end up knowing me when I am eager to come across as fresh as possible. Cyberspace is a replica of the real world, that’s how you end up knowing bloggers you have never met.

And now, I would like to know which one of you knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows Craig Ferguson. Please leave a comment stating your degree of separation from the late-night talk show host. Beam me up, Scotty.

Like all good things in life, my vacation has ended and tomorrow I will shuffle back to work to sit on my extremely uncomfortable chair and be glued to my monitor all day then take in wafts of second-hand smoke after 3 PM and consequently get a splitting headache and rush out of the door at 4:30 like my life depends on it.

Worst of all is what usually happens when I am away from the office: people take my stuff! I once went to work to find that someone stole my mouse and plugged in a dead one, and another time I found that someone took my chair and gave me an even crappier one, then there’s always the fight over the limited electric slots, which normally means that I go to the office after being away and find that my computer is completely unplugged and that there is not a single free electric slot to plug it back in.

Well. Whatever. It’s all time I am paid for, no? That notwithstanding, I’d like it if people respected my office space, but honestly I am not even half bothered to make an issue out of it. I’m so blah about it. The perks in the office where I work are as follows: the occasional verbal cat fight, the very kind receptionist, and the fact that there are some vague office politics going on which I still to this day do not understand and do not want to make an effort to explore. I have this massive lack of interest in what’s going on as long as my work gets done. I’m not anti-people per se though, only anti the people who don’t interest me, you see.

I need to look for a new job. Anyone hiring?

So I took the GRE a couple of days ago, and it is safe to say that that chapter of my life is a-over. I’ve been getting used to the idea of not having to study, and the irony of the fact that I scored better in quantitative section as compared to the verbal section although I guessed aggressively in the final section of math. Go figure.

Now I move on. Finally!

I am finally done with my mosaic class. The lion I made was unveiled today and it turned out to be a fine imitation of the original Byzantine model. I never expected the class would take me 20 days to complete, and I never guessed that I would be so utterly fed up by the end of it precisely because it took forever and I had other plans. I used to think I am a patient person, and I still do, but now I know my limitations. I am too practical for mosaic puzzles regardless of their artistic merit — at least that’s my immediate impression. I might consider doing another mosaic after I am done with the GRE, for now the stress is too heavy to enjoy artsy diversions.

And here he is, King of the Jungle, after being flipped over to reveal the level side:

From Mosaic Class …

All bow to majesty.

My summer is turning out to be so different from what I had planned it to be. Both plans A and B did not work, and now I find myself stuck in some plan X which I did not devise or even remotely consider as an option. Life threw it at me while I was literally making other plans. I don’t like it when my plans don’t work out.

I was looking forward to this summer as an enhanced version of last summer; I was supposed to go to New York City and spend at least a month there, where I would be able to explore all the exotic places I did not see last summer. I was also supposed to get my navel pierced again, which was really the most major reason behind my now defunct visit. Speaking of which, does anyone know where navel piercings are made in Amman by professional artists? Please let me know if you do.

Two things ruined my summer: finances and pride. It seems that these two flow together like twins in my life, and it’s funny but they complement each other. I am too proud and too broke, therefore, I am spending my summer here in Amman. Studying. During my vacation. Which I snatched from work. And not going to the pool. Or having my usual summer adventures.

Apologia: my summer isn’t that bad. At least I am not going to work! I’m also reading and relaxing and I am spending my time in Madaba where I am making the most handsome transgendered Byzantine lion mosaic, and I believe I am gaining weight. Oh, and I taught myself how to make cream sauce tortellini, pesto cream sauce pasta, and taco. I like to think of myself as Gordon Ramsay’s feminine counterpart, minus the constant cussing and the blond hair.

Just now it occurred to me that my vacation will end the day I sit for the GRE. Now that would be an unwelcome event, but it’s inevitable. Technically speaking, then, my vacation will have been spent studying. After my vacation I might start a second job. A month or so later, I will go back to regular school. Why am I doing this to myself, you ask? Because I know of nothing else to do, plus I have this obsessive fear of time which compels me to do as much as possible all at the same time so I can beat the clock. Not healthy. This is the last year I will spend doing a ton of things at the same time, I hope, and after this year is done, I will fling it to oblivion. I despise 2008.