Panda Gummis!

Hello, world.

I have a cold. This is my third cold this year. Immune suppressants can bite me.

Allow me to give you a summary of my day:

Wake up, blow nose, shower.

Turn on Gilmore Girls, Season 4.

Clean. Blow nose.

Switch to Gilmore Girls, Season 5.

Continue to clean. Keep tissues within reach.

Clean clean clean.
Cancel dinner plans in favor of cleaning and blowing nose.

Unpack boxes found in closet from when I moved last December.

Accidentally drip snot on ticket stub from vacation. Throw away immediately.

Blow nose. Look at ticket longingly. Leave in trash and keep cleaning.

Make emergency run to McDonald’s.

(It doesn’t count because Mom is paying for it.)

Clean.

Clean.
Clean.

After 12 hours of cleaning, finally give up and sit down to blog and drink hot chocolate.

I started reading Dorian Gray last night. I got through the first chapter and then decided I was finally tired enough to sleep. I had planned to continue tonight, but with this cold, we’ll see.

FAME was really fun. The movie....not really so great, but Kali, Jim, Trevor and I had a great time watching it. We sat in the back and laughed through the whole thing. Kali and Jim are both dancers, so it was hilarious listening to them make fun of the movie. We’re having a “movie night” tomorrow at my dad’s house. (He has a projector!) Trevor is bringing Basket Case, Kali and Jim are bringing Evil Dead, and I will have Lethal Weapon on hand. We’re hoping to have a few bad-movie-watching parties. Next time it’ll be Basket Case 2, Evil Dead 2, and Lethal Weapon 2. Etc. Except I actually like Lethal Weapon, and there are 4 of those, not 3.

Anyway, I came home last night with a smile on my face. It sounds cheesy but it’s true. ^_^

Kali bought me Panda Gummis yesterday. They’re half black and half white and they taste terrible, but the back of the box has a puzzle you can cut out and build. Definitely something for the video blog, which I have been neglecting. I have a lot of things to say to everyone on YouTube, but I’ve fallen out of the habit of vlogging regularly and now it feels weird. I will make it a priority to vlog this week though. At least once.

Didn’t wear the ring today. It turns my finger green after a day of wearing it, so I can’t wear it very often. I did trick one of my former high school classmates into thinking I was engaged, though. She came into the coffeeshop just as the barista asked to see it, so it was perfect timing. (I did confess the truth. We had a good laugh.)

Hot chocolate is now room temperature chocolate. This must be a sign.

Goodnight, everyone!

50 Book Challenge Update

Hello, world.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a fake diamond ring from Kohl’s. It’s so pretty and until you get close it looks completely real. I like to wear it because lately I haven’t been at all in the mood to flirt, and if you have a ring on your finger guys are a lot less likely to hit on you. While I do someday want to get married, I’m just not feeling like I want to get involved with anyone at the moment. I’m sure that will change at some point, but for now, the ring.

Meanwhile... BOOKS!!

I started the 50 Books in a Year Challenge on November 1st, 2008. Here’s my list so far, in the order that I read them:

1. Feed, MT Anderson
2. The Beautiful Miscellaneous, Dominic Smith
3. Harry, A History, Melissa Anelli
4. Oryx & Crake, Margaret Atwood
5. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
6. The Almost Moon, Alice Sebold
7. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, JK Rowling
8. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
9. Snuff, Chuck Palahniuk
10. The Bermudez Triangle, Maureen Johnson
11. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E Lockhart
12. Suite Scarlett, Maureen Johnson
13. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
14. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (Volume One), MT Anderson
15. Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
16. Boy Meets Boy, David Levithan
17. Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
18. Uglies, Scott Westerfeld
19. Pretties, Scott Westerfeld
20. Marley’s Ghost, David Levithan
21. Devilish, Maureen Johnson
22. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
23. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
24. The Great Perhaps, Joe Meno
25. Specials, Scott Westerfeld
26. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, Katherine Howe
27. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins
28. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
29. Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
30. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
31. The Everafter, Amy Huntley
32. Push, Sapphire
33. Just Listen, Sarah Dessen
34. Story of a Girl, Sara Zarr

As you can see, I’ve been reading mostly YA Fiction. While fun to read, it’s not as intellectually stimulating as, say, The Poisonwood Bible. I did read Gatsby for the first time, so that was good. But I feel like there is a large part of my education in literature that was overlooked. I skipped American Lit in high school to take AP English, which meant that I never took a non-drama English class in college. I’ve read what feels like thousands of plays (probably only hundreds) but I still feel like my reading history is lacking something.

So, here is my goal for the next five weeks. I’m sure I won’t be able to finish everything, but I’m going to make a sincere attempt. I’ve tried to throw in a few quick reads as well, since I’m sure I’ll need a break after some of these:

The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner

(I’d prefer As I Lay Dying, but S&F was on the used shelf and AILD was $13.00)

The Crucible, Arthur Miller

(A play that somehow escaped my reading lists for all of my college classes.)

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

(What self-respecting book lover hasn’t read this??)

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (Volume 2), MT Anderson

(I borrowed it from the library already.)

Twisted, Laurie Halse Anderson

(In honor of Banned Book Week next week.)

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

(Because I skipped American Lit and I’m the only one I know who hasn’t read it.)

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou

(Banned Book Week again.)

The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka

(So I can finally figure out what “Kafkaesque” means.)

The Bible of Clay, Julia Navarro

(My dad lent it to me.)

A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray

(Already started it.)

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, Tucker Max

(Because I’m sure I’ll occasionally need a break from the other books.)

...Yeah, there’s no way I’ll be able to finish all of these before November 1st. Plus, that’s only 11 and I need 16. There are a lot of books I’ve started that are still on my shelf though, so maybe I can finish some of those in between these fine pieces of literature.

Okay, well, now that I’ve decided to devote my entire life to reading, I’m going to go see a movie with some friends. I’ll be sure to keep this updated with my progress. I’m planning to add up all the pages I’ve read on November 1st to make myself feel better if I don’t make my goal. If I counted re-reads, I’d only need 10 more books. Why did I waste my time on those? Hehe.

Have a good night, world.

May as well start by remembering.

Eight years ago today. Now, a little after 9am.

Today is my half birthday. Eight years ago I was turning fifteen and a half. I was a sophomore in high school. I baked cupcakes for the occasion, to bring to my Latin class. It was such a small class, we brought in treats for one another all the time.

But when I woke up in the morning, I didn't feel like going to school. So I said I was sick and I slept in. Then I got a phone call.

"Turn on the TV." It was my mom.

"What?"

"Turn on the TV!" She sounded frantic, but I couldn't figure out why she would call me and tell me to watch television.

I figured it out soon enough.

I worried about my family living in DC. I was confused about what was happening. It didn't seem real. New York City felt so far away. I'd never been there. I didn't know anyone there. Twin what? I knew about the Cities, but this was the first time I'd heard about the Towers. I was (and still am) pretty clueless about the places far away from me, and why people would want to destroy them.

I stayed on the phone with my mom for a half an hour before she hung up to call our relatives in DC. She couldn't get through. All the phone lines were busy, none of the calls were going through.

I decided I felt well enough to go to school, where I would be around other students and teachers who would tell us what was going on. As if they had any clearer idea than we did. My already-graduated boyfriend picked me up in his mom's car and dropped me off at the school. He hadn't seen the TV yet then.

As I walked to my class, I noticed an eerie silence had fallen over the school. None of the teachers were lecturing. None of the students were gossiping. Classroom after classroom of people's eyes glued to the TV. Many of the teachers standing almost under the TV, they were so close, so intent on what they were seeing. Some students visibly crying. Who would attack us?

Because our nation is so free from sin. What do we do but donate food to the children in Africa and build schools and churches for the people in Central America? We are so giving. We were all, in that school, so naive. At least I was.

I finally arrived at my classroom. People looked over to the sound of the door opening, but no one smiled. My teacher nodded at me, but didn't mark the attendance book. I realized I'd forgotten the cupcakes at home.

And that's how it was, for the rest of the day. We watched the TV. We watched the plane crash into the already smoking building again and again. We watched the first tower fall again and again, the second tower again and again and again and again for hours.

In 5th period, U.S. History, the television wasn't on. The students looked at one another, confused, as our teacher demanded our homework and began the lecture for the day. Something in the 1800's. I remember thinking it was incredibly ironic that the ONE class not watching television was U.S. History. I guess we'd been watching it happen over and over all day long, but I remember thinking it would be better to witness History than learn about something that happened 200 years ago. We can learn about 200 years ago tomorrow. Today is today.

I still sort of feel that way.

But in 6th period we were back to the TVs, so I guess it didn't matter that we'd missed an hour. I don't remember very much else about that day, other than coming home and finally learning that my relatives were all safe.

...

I've learned a lot since then. Mostly, I am not as proud of my country anymore.