Oh, the humanity!

23. The Pilgrimage - Paulo Coelho

Workin' on A Prayer for Owen Meany.

ok so basically i'm pretty much drunk and never been so dissapointed in a one night stand ever.

and that's it.

klovebye.

MWF
9-9:50 ENG301 Criticism
10-10:50 ENG337 Modern American Lit
12-1:25 RUS101 Elementary Russian

TTH
11-12:20 ENG333 American Lit 1828-1865
12:30-1:50 SPA207 Spanish Conversation and Composition

Sounds good to me. I just wish I had some other kind of literature. NO MORE AMERICAN. Or British for that matter. How about some Chinese or Indian or African or South American. For goodness' sake. At least my two language classes will counteract the Americanization. I wish I could still take French but the 151 courses are all full. I guess I'll just have to continue study on my own. French isn't that much different than Spanish, I just have to get the pronunciation and vocab down.

Oh, and I'm refusing to take Shakespeare. I can understand his universal truths on my own, kthx.

That's all, though. It's nice to be taking 300 level English classes and be so close to a degree. It's also nice to be able to take Russian, as my language skills are Romance-heavy. I also want to take linguistics classes.

Back to the Golden Compass! The guy who plays Fra Pavel is unbelievably creepy.

1. Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
3. The Actual - Saul Bellow
4. Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
5. A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
6. Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
7. Nine Stories - J.D. Salinger
8. A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
9. "Three Pictures" - Virginia Woolf
10. "The Fascination of the Pool" - Virginia Woolf
11. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
12. The Courter - Salman Rushdie
13. Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah - Richard Bach
14. "Aguri" - Tanizaki Junichiro
15. "The Moon on the Water" - Yasunari Kawabata
16. Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie
17. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
18. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Jean Dominique Bauby
19. The Know-It-All - A.J. Jacobs
20. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
21. Everyman - Philip Roth
22. The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac

It was rambly and got boring in some places, and was generally about the same as On The Road. I really loved the parts that I was into, but really hated the parts I didn't like. It kept me reading, though. I still want to read Subterranean and Tristessa, but I might just wait a little while and let it build up. I'm not a fan at all of the Beat writers, but maybe that's just Kerouac and I need to explore the rest. I'm having a nice break from my American postmodernist authors. I think that's why I couldn't quite get in to V. as much as I wanted to just yet.

God, I'm making some damn progress right about now. If I keep going at this rate, I'll have 50 books just by the end of the summer. A lot of them are shorter, but still. I am reading No Country for Old Men right now ("What do you say to a man that by his own admission has no soul?"), and then on to A Prayer for Owen Meany and who knows after that. I'm still in the middle of The Pilgrimage and Falconer, so we'll see where that goes. My brain kind of hurts.

I'm going to watch The Golden Compass because it's due tomorrow. Stupid friends inspiring me to join a video rental place. :(

I'm so sick of preferential treatment and people ignoring merits that should give me the upper hand. I'm sick of always being a good person and sacrificing myself for others just to be shafted to the point where it feels like no one thinks twice about me, much less gives a shit.

I'm sick of keeping myself together and having absolutely no one recognize it. What's the point of being a good person if shitty people are the ones that get rewarded? What's the point of keeping secrets when people ask, being there for my friends, and offering my life and resources to them if they're just gonna go pick someone else anyway?

What's the point?

Maybe I just need new friends. I'm outgrowing all of this bullshit. All of this dependence on the music industry in order to have a "fulfilled" life. All of this dancing around issues because of the awkwardness it would cause at shows. Pretending to be a friend to someone I completely disrespect and dislike is really taking a toll on my happiness and I'm not going to sit here and let it happen any longer.

21. Everyman - Philip Roth

I liked some elements of this book, but overall I wasn't so impressed. It makes me a bit nervous to read American Pastoral. I'm going to try to finish Vonnegut's new one next so I can write my paper, and then I want to get to The Pilgrimage by Coelho for my English project.

Almost done with my associates! One more month! Then back to UB!

Better update when I'm feeling a bit better.

1. Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
3. The Actual - Saul Bellow
4. Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
5. A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
6. Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
7. Nine Stories - J.D. Salinger
8. A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
9. "Three Pictures" - Virginia Woolf
10. "The Fascination of the Pool" - Virginia Woolf
11. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
12. The Courter - Salman Rushdie
13. Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah - Richard Bach
14. "Aguri" - Tanizaki Junichiro
15. "The Moon on the Water" - Yasunari Kawabata
16. Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie
17. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
18. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Jean Dominique Bauby
19. The Know-It-All - A.J. Jacobs
20. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

Meh.

ok so i am really pretty drunk right now.

and i met a really great guy, named sagan. and i am an idiot and didn't save his # in my phone.

cos i'm dumb.

but i'lll hopefully get it soon. his band is palaying rochester the same day as my american shitface larry motherfucker in pittsburhg so i'll prob go see sagan because he's not a dick sucker like larry. that dude really needs a reality check.

anyway. i'm really drunk. i had a lot of peach rum tonight, plus a drink aor two at showplace. did i mention that i kinda like sagan? and that i'm mad at myself for not saving his #? i left a comment on the band account though. and i did merch for 4 bands tonight

idk. abbey needs my help though so i'll ttyl dudets.

unless someone has sagan's #. then i'll talk to you soone rrather than later.

kloves bye.

I am in the middle of cleaning my room, and it feels awesome! I've been checking out all sorts of communities about domesticity and there have been a ton of pictures of cute, clean rooms. It's made me insanely jealous, as my room is always ridiculously messy. I have so much crap everywhere, and it's never been easy for me to organize it, but I'm really making an effort this time. I want to keep it clean and organized.

My room is absolutely TINY, and I'm pretty sure it's a perfect square. I've talked to my parents, and we have a spare single mattress, so I'm throwing out my queen sized bed and I'm going to use the single. I'm 5'0" 85lbs, there's no reason for me to have such a huge bed. I don't use half of it anyway. They are going to buy me a box spring, and I will be able to buy a new sheet set to match my rug and bedspread. I am also going to start hanging things on my walls. Most importantly, a dry erase board for my homework since I'm transferring to the University at Buffalo soon.

Anyway, back to the cleaning! Hope everyone is well. :)

Since I have something I want to point out from this book, I figure I'll add it to my list right now:

1. Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
3. The Actual - Saul Bellow
4. Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
5. A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
6. Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
7. Nine Stories - J.D. Salinger
8. A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
9. "Three Pictures" - Virginia Woolf
10. "The Fascination of the Pool" - Virginia Woolf
11. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
12. The Courter - Salman Rushdie
13. Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah - Richard Bach
14. "Aguri" - Tanizaki Junichiro
15. "The Moon on the Water" - Yasunari Kawabata
16. Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie
17. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
18. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Jean Dominique Bauby
19. The Know-It-All - A.J. Jacobs

I didn't know that Hilary Clinton is not the first woman to run for president! Victoria Woodhull was. This book is filled with fun facts and anecdotes, and I absolutely loved that Jacobs was able to show his ego and show how it was shattered at times by this information and circumstances surrounding his journey. Though his tone is somewhat along the lines of those trendy authors that I hate so much, this guy seems to really care about the subject and about becoming a better person, which doesn't happen with the others. I have eight more pages, but I have fallen in love with A.J. Jacobs and I wish I could befriend him so I could pick his brain and maybe learn a thing or two. I ran out and bought the HARDCOVER version of his new book, The Year of Living Biblically (for full price! $25! unheard of!) because I loved this book so much. I haven't been able to find any of his other books in stores, but I fully plan on ordering them online, which is also something I rarely do.

The one thing I found rather comical, though, is that I found a few errors in this book and I wanted to e-mail him and let him know the same way he does with the Britannica and things. A book written by an editor...with errors? :D Fun concept.

Anyway, I'm immensely glad that I picked this up at Borders one day, and immensely happy that I chose to read this instead of picking up something else on my shelf. This book has restored my faith in non-fiction and humanity as well.

A lot of people have told me that they think I'm suffering from a seasonal affective disorder because winter lasts so long in Buffalo. I think they may be correct. I've been incredibly bored since spring break started. I work but not enough and I've just been laying around watching TV or going out. My room is absolutely atrocious. I think that has something to do with it as well. I've started cleaning up, and it's starting to get much better. I desperately need another bookshelf, and I need to start getting rid of all of the water and bottles in my room.

I bought a little carrying case and all of the essentials for the times when I stay at someone else's place or a hotel unexpectedly. Toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, Wet Ones, some facial wipes. I raided the "99 cent travel section" of Target. I'm so proud of myself for my control with shopping lately. I bought two shirts at Wet Seal, and that stuff from Target and not much else. I'm doing relatively well with budgeting. I get paid on Thursday and Friday this coming week. Wooh!

I can't wait for school to start again tomorrow! I wish I didn't have a summer break.

I haven't gotten much reading done lately, so I feel useless. I think I'll continue my reading tonight while I wait for my blanket to dry. :X

Fun.

he broke up with me. AWESOME. i really need to get better at human interaction. that is all.

I am sick of this distance but I'm far from being sick of him. He has so many good qualities that it's so easy to just forget about the arguments and our equal inability to manage money very well.

You'd think that since I'm dating a drum teacher/punk band drummer, I'd finally get lessons, as I've wanted to be a great drummer since I was about 8, but nope. I guess my passion isn't that intense. I'll stick to the technical aspect of it. And my books.

The promoter that is bringing his band to Buffalo is being gay about letting me into the show because he "can't afford to be letting girlfriends in for free." This from a guy I've known since I was 15. I'm pretty sure it's just because I met Chris at one of his shows, and I always turn him down when he asks me out. Oh well.

I'm so ready to be done with school.

I wish I would've gone to school for a trade instead, so I'd be working right now instead of going to school. As much as I love learning and reading, this is just...exhausting.

And now I'm off to read. :(

Ugh, sorry for updating so much.

But I chose that Love Smart book by Dr. Phil as my next read because I decided that I've gotta do SOMETHING to keep this relationship afloat or else it's going to sink really pretty fast, and I am thinking that since it's been a full year since I've been in a relationship longer than a month, it's probably something I'm doing. Considering I've NEVER been in a relationship longer than six months, and I am now 21 and do want to get married by the time I'm 30 (or at least have an incredibly long-term relationship under my belt), now is a great time to start figuring out what I'm doing wrong. As a few people have already pointed out (and as I've pointed out to myself), even if things with Chris and I don't work, at least this will be good practice! :X

I feel kind of dirty that I'm reading (and thoroughly enjoying) this book. I'm not usually a "self-help" book fan, but I already know half of what he's saying, and it seems like a lot of his suggestions and insights are really right on. It all seems like common sense, and he makes it seem like the fun that it should be. He uses great examples and states things plain and simple. He doesn't say "you have mental problems and need to work on those in order to be happy" and he doesn't say "this is the easiest thing ever, you should feel stupid for not knowing it!"

I think it helps that I went into this book not expecting too much because it's Dr. Phil and it was on the bargain rack. We'll see what I think when I'm done. :D

1. Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
3. The Actual - Saul Bellow
4. Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
5. A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
6. Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
7. Nine Stories - J.D. Salinger
8. A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
9. "Three Pictures" - Virginia Woolf
10. "The Fascination of the Pool" - Virginia Woolf
11. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
12. The Courter - Salman Rushdie
13. Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah - Richard Bach
14. "Aguri" - Tanizaki Junichiro
15. "The Moon on the Water" - Yasunari Kawabata
16. Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie
17. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
18. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Jean Dominique Bauby

Diving Bell was an okay book, but nothing mind-shattering. It was depressing, but somewhat shallow and short. I can't really blame Bauby for that, as he was communicating with only one eyelid, but it still wasn't my style. I am reading Philip Roth's Everyman now (and loving it) and I want to maybe work on finishing a couple of the others that I'm halfway through. I also want to read a couple of the non-fictions on my shelf soon. I wish there were more hours in the day. :(

Shakespeare was canceled today, so I was all stressed out for nothing. I now have two more weeks to complete these papers.
/endstress.

Vonnegut's new book thing comes out April 1st. I am probably going to die. There's an excerpt from it in the new Playboy, which I am heading out to buy pretty soon.

Instead of using this time to get some personal reading done, I've been playing Animal Crossing. I really just can't get away from the game. Crazy.

I'm way behind on my finances. Kinda sucks. :(

That is all.

Okay, who wants to help me write papers on Shakespeare now? Haha. :X

I hate this, but I love it at the same time. But I hate it more than I love it right now.

I don't think I have been this stressed since my first attempt at UB.

I am going insane.

I hope it all clears up soon.
<3

Poll #1153313 EN230 Project
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

What book should I read for my final 20th Cent World Lit project?

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