Ellie has returned! Huzzah!

Why is it that in the 17th centruy all of the women mentioned in the European history books are named Elizabeth, Catherine, Anne, or Mary? And all of the men tend to be named Charles/Phillip/James/Henry/Frederick/William (OK, so this group is more variable)? And all of the royalty just *have* to intermarry with each other so that you end up with things like the War of the Three Henris? I have sometimes wondered if this is just a very cruel practical joke for easily confused history students.

I currently have had my worst case yet of aural overlapping. This condition is caused by listening to a certain work or works of a particular composer for excessive periods of time (x200 or more, typically) and results in the percieved establishment of seemingly superfluous intertextual references. Echoes of various recurring themes/motifs continue to exist within the conscious state even if they're not physically being played. In other words, if I hear two notes of a cue I'm convinced it's thematically linked to at least three other motifs bouncing around my mind concurrently. Meanwhile, listening to other unrelated cues totally shocks your brain into a total lack of recognition so that you can't identify a tuba from a violin. Seriously. This morning it took me the longest time to figure out that cymbals weren't the same as cellos. [/uberpretentiousness]

( Random religion meme that I found interesting )