Ha, ha, thanks Arthur - I'll get to 10, 000 eventually - Yes, life throws us some curve balls but there are also some epiphanic moments when we get 'woke' almost religiously. As for Joyce, read his short story collection called Dubliners - in those tales you'll find he writes just like me, only with an Irish brogue, lol.

I'm not particularly impressed with Joyce - what seems 'deep' to most readers is actually superficial IMHO, since he taught at the Berlitz School of Languages and attempts to incorporate foreign words into his narratives at every opportunity - As for his poetry, he's no T. S. Eliot, or Yeats, for that matter. Joseph Conrad who grew up speaking Polish and learned English as a second language is much more impressive and comprehensible in my opinion...hmmm, I do seem opinionated today :)