a ten-minute dream in the passenger seat

Not that I dislike Plato. He is a cool guy--very interesting and suave. But I am tired of reading The Republic right now. Too bad I still have 15 pages to read tonight!

Oh well. Today is October 10th, and it is also the mark of ten days until I go to Portland! I know I have already communicated this to John multiple times, but HURRAH!

I am now a declared English major and Linguistics concentrator. :)

This LJ is increasingly filled with inane babble and list-y things that do not reflect well upon my ability to reflect. Perhaps it's because I've been so busy lately that I don't have time for much hardcore reflection . . . I suppose that's what weekends are for.

Someday I want to bake an ENORMOUS chocolate chip cookie, kind of like the one in Bruce Almighty (only it will most likely not be quite that enormous). Then I will eat it with good friends while we talk about good times, make new memories, and possibly throw small chunks of cookie at each other. Or large chunks. Either way is fine with me.

I really want to have time to read the book about the politics of bilingualism in Barcelona that I got from the library. Maybe . . . someday.

Anyway. This is long enough. Time to read more Plato.

I decided to reread Pride and Prejudice after watching the 2005 version with Sara, Becky, and Megan. OMG Victorian romance. I just realized that I may be reading some Austen for English this fall, so that is cool; I've never really studied any of her novels.

In other not-so-exciting-news, I'm becoming bored! I guess after such a whirlwind June, July, and early August it's natural for time to slow down a little and play lots of tricks on my mind now that I'm not working. Add to that the fact that a lot of people are already at school, and I end up at home all day long doing nothing. While I'm getting more and more anxious to return to Grinnell, I'm also kinda sad that I won't see my family for a looooong time. Mreh.

I finally settled on a new layout (after much searching and perusing of lj-designer-people) by reversescollide. I am liking the simplicity. Eventually someday maybe I will design my own thing. For now, I'm satisfied to just make header images for myself and let others do the coding.

And now for some more of the adventures of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

So I'm feeling a lot better. Still not 100%, though.

At any rate. Today I started to read The Hobbit again. I think it's been at least four years since I read that one, and it's a treat to go back to that written-for-kids style of Tolkien's. Especially after being around children so much this summer (even though most of them don't read. They just play their DS's).

So, help! I think I'm falling back into my Tolkien Phase. I hope this won't like, consume my life from now until I go back to school. Cause there's things I want to do and people I want to see and everything.

Also, "A Comet Appears" by The Shins is a really beautiful, sad song.

Tonight was the final orchestra concert of the year. I performed in one of the songs, Sibelius's Valse Triste, under the direction of a senior music major with more poise than I'll probably ever have. Then I went and sat in the audience for the final two pieces, and was amazed at how good the orchestra sounded.

They played a Haydn symphony and then a dual-concerto type thing for viola and violin, by Mozart. The soloists on the latter piece were professionals, world-class musicians who were both in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra together. The violinist was the concertmaster for several years, and the violist is still a member of the viola section.

Needless to say, they were amazing. The orchestra backed them with better tone and timing than I expected. It was so cool to see such high-caliber musicians performing in Sebring-Lewis. How often does a performance like that happen, especially in Grinnell, Iowa? Amazing.

Add on top of tonight's concert last night's author reading (given by my English prof) and Tuesday night's jazz band concert, and I'd say this was a very culturally enriching week for me. Thank goodness I chose the latter two events over stats review sessions.

I bought my prof's book last night, too. Being at that reading made me want to be a linguist and a scholar and a writer and a literary critic and a teacher all at once. It made me much more interested in disability studies than I was previously, and now I'm sort of having to force myself to not read the book. I still have a crapload of stuff to do before I can rest easy for three homeworkless months.

Despite the impending hell of three papers, two exams, and a project/presentation, I'm really glad to be here.

I feel somewhat guilty that I haven't been able to help out with all the disaster-control stuff that's going on here in the wake of the ice storm. Like volunteering at the place that opened up so that people who are still without power have somewhere warm to stay. We've been getting emails about volunteer opportunities for a couple days, but all I can do is sleep away this illness.

And yet . . . what can I do about it right now? I'm sick with a contagious disease, and I've felt like I have zero energy for the past few days.

I don't mean for this to be a complaint-ridden entry about the state of my health. I guess I am just reflecting on the poor timing of natural disaster and strep throat.

Anyway. I just finished As I Lay Dying. I feel like I have a basically superficial understanding of the book; I could follow the narration, but I am kind of lost as far as deeper meaning goes. The novel is clearly modernist in many ways; it also managed to make me really sad in places. But still I have no idea what Faulkner was getting at, necessarily, with the work. Any thoughts?

So, I got The Tao of Pooh for Christmas from my uncle. I've been rereading it in small bits since then, and it's amazing how relaxed I feel after reading it, even just a fraction of a chapter.

Thus, I would highly recommend the book to anyone who's remotely stressed or looking for a light philosophical read. Because while the subject matter can touch on some really deep, important parts of life . . . it's just an enjoyable, easy read. <3 Benjamin Hoff.

Um, yeah. That was my book pimping for the day.

Life is an interesting fellow. I'm happier than I've been in months. I'm rediscovering this awesome outlook on life that I discovered this summer. I did much better than I'd anticipated in my first semester classes. And I'll be home for another two weeks.

This is Good.

So . . . yeah. This week, like most weeks this summer, has absolutely flown by. I am not sure how I feel about this game time is playing with me. It's that old internal conflict I've written so much (and yet so little) about this summer. You know, the one where I really really really want to be in college, yet don't want to leave home and my friends.

Right now my brother has a pizza in the oven and my mom is reminding him for the fifth time in 20 minutes to turn the oven off when he's done. It's that sort of thing which annoys the heck out of me, but now that I'm 2 weeks away from moving out I realize that it's also the kind of thing I will miss at school. Sort of.

One thing I will for sure not be missing is doing laundry for my entire family. Ughughugh.

I should really start running again, to get some muscle mass back in my legs so I don't collapse on move-in day. Four flights of stairs are going to make beasts of my thighs during the school year, I am thinking. This is good as long as they don't get frighteningly big, like short-track speedskaters' thighs. Because those are really intimidating.

Yesterday I ordered some books for my tutorial: Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf (with both the original Old English and the translation) and the Earliest English Poems. Exciting!!

Aaaand to further excitementify my life, I will proclaim that the Garden State soundtrack is quite tasty. And now to finish Good Omens, which I've been working on for over a year now.

I'm currently sitting on my bed, which is sheetless and piled high with clean clothes that have yet to be folded. The pile of clothes is here because I needed to free up laundry basket the clothes were in, and my bed was the cleanest empty space I had in my room.

Anyway. One month till I leave for school. How weird is that? Only four weeks during which to work and play in the Mundelein area (at least until winter break). This summer has been weird, emotional, and not as socially-full as I'd imagined, but above all it's going by fast. Summers always flew by after Independence Day in the past, but this one as a whole has gone by at breakneck speed. And now that I'm working about 8 hours a day during the week, things will only go faster.

After only two days as a "helper" for swimming lessons, I have an extremely well-defined swimsuit tan. It's kinda amusing, actually. (Adler Pool has taken over my life, pretty much. The wait for roommate assignments has also been killing me. I mean, I understand that there was some problem with all of the freshmen who requested subfree housing, but GEEZ. You'd think we would know by now.)

Anyway. Time to do some more reading of The Te of Piglet.

OW.

Pirates: WTC??
Housing info: WHERE IS IT??
Work Today: WHY SO BAD?? (Worst. Day. Ever.)
My Body: "Let's cause Amy as much pain as possible!"
2nd Job Possibilities: Expo or Swim Instructor? Hmmm.

Updated List of Books I've Read This Summer:
+ Robinson Crusoe
+ Zen
+ HP 6
+ Tolkien's bio
+ A Prayer for Owen Meany
+ The Tao of Pooh

ETA: ( Meme time! )