Ten things about me, today:

1. My last final is in 13 days.

2. I am TERRIFIED of the amount of work I have to do in said 13 days.

3. I played Golden Eye last Saturday, and it was the most fun I've had playing video games since that Winter Break my Freshman year when I became an almost-decent MarioKart player. Right now, we're trying to figure out how to hook up our own Nintendo 64. It isn't working.

4. I wish it was cold out, because all the campus buildings are about 85 degrees.

5. We had a little apartment dinner tonight! We made meatloaf. It was fun.

6. There's a big Bengals game tonight? And they're showing it on NBC? And they're NOT showing The Office? So I'm really upset about that.

7. I had to grab lunch between classes today, which meant that I had to eat while I walked. And you know what? I realized that you never see people doing this. Why not? It's such a time-saver.

8. The Nintendo is working. Pokemon Puzzle League* = love.

9. I don't have any classes tomorrow!

10. I am done with NaBloPoMo! It's been real.


*PPL is NOT like Pokemon. It's like Tetris.

First rule of regifting: remember where you got it.

Yesterday Christina came back from her extended Thanksgiving break (apparently, living across the country leads some people to believe that they are entitled to an extra day or two off). Her Christmas gift (Sufjan Stevens Christmas music!) had come in the mail, and seeing as how it was Christmas-themed, and no one really wants to listen to Christmas cd's on December 26th, I decided to give it to her now to enjoy before Christmas is everywhere and you are kind of sick of looking at snowmen and Rudolph.

"Here's your present."

"OH! I have something for you too. Part one. Your other present didn't come yet. Here."

"Ha ha. Thanks. I actually used to have one of these."

"Oh really? Maybe you are the one who gave this to me."

"No, mine wasn't in the box anymore."

"Oh, okay."

"But now I know that it's definitely been regifted."

Wondering

what kind of grade you get when you conclude an impromptu speech with, "So...just think about that."

Proof that NaBloPoMo forces us to write for quantity, not quality

(because I would never have published this otherwise.)

It seems I've missed yet another anniversary (although, I'm about five weeks late on this one): I am in my tenth year of keeping a journal. I realized this Saturday night when I crawled into bed with the four notebooks I've filled with writing, determined to look back and have a good laugh at myself.

On October 18, 1996, I wrote the first entry in what would become the first journal I would ever fill completely. From what I'm able to gather from that first page, a note in foreign handwriting that says "Sarah is the awesomest!," and a few fuzzy memories, my best friend Sarah and I were planning on keeping journals that we would share with each other. Of course, because girls are girls (journals = secrets = fights), there was no way that would ever last. But as I read through the entries in my atrocious 12-year-old's handwriting, I realized something: by the time I was halfway through my little journal, I had learned something valuable: how to organize my thoughts and express my feelings. At first, I think I was writing with the idea of sharing in mind (foreshadowing!), but the last of the pages are definitely a little bit more confessional.

But oh, what fun to read. I wanted to laugh, and I definitely did. I found my little pre-teen self endearingly adorable, especially when I listed the reasons for breaking up with my sixth-grade boyfriend (one was, "he always changes the subject when I talk to him") or expressed my worry about an upcoming spelling test. I smiled to myself when I read the last few entries, which were squeezed onto the inside of the back cover because I was having such a hard time finding something new that I was comfortable writing in. I still have that same problem today: I can't write a blog unless I'm typing it at the Blogger Create a Post page; I have to hand-write, with a pencil, any of my speeches; I can't write a paper unless I'm using Microsoft Word in 100% Print Layout View. Picky? You betcha. Or just crazy.

By jr. high I had moved onto composition notebooks, and I filled two and a half between 1998 and 2004. These are filled with the best reading: boyfriends, girl fights, and generalized teenage angst ("My life is so hard! No one understands me!"). Through these notebooks I am able to see those pesky personality traits that haven't gone away and ones that I've grown out of. There's page after page of documented dances, parties, and, above all, drama.

Ten, eight, four years later, the dramatic irony is almost too much to stand. It's like reading a book but knowing the end--except, in this book all the things that happen? They have about zero effect on the way the whole story ends.

I don't keep a written journal anymore. I have a 60-page-long Word document on my laptop instead. And I'm pretty sure that in ten years, I'll be laughing at that one too.

Celebrate good times

So look! I'm a day late for the third day in a row. This post is my 501st. I wish I had something profound to say, or a good lesson I've learned from writing so often, but I don't. I just wanted to commemorate it somehow.

So...here it is. 501. Hooray.

More talk of those crazy flightless birds

I totally forgot that yesterday was a Friday, so if you actually care about the music I post, you'll just have to wait until next week. I kept thinking it was Sunday, and last night I even had a dream whose plotline centered around me trying to figure out what day of the week it was.

I guess was just too preoccupied with penguins. Speaking of which, I watched the Morgan Freeman documentary last night. Yep, I just curled up on the couch with a glass of wine and watched those penguins march the 70-mile march across Antarctica.

It was good. But, I refuse to believe that it should have ever been a blockbuster hit in theaters. Oh! A thought: perhaps it would have been best-suited for one of those IMAX theaters. They have famous narrators all the time.

By the way: Still not going to see that other one.

Pardon me for my penguin pessimism

So, yes, yesterday I missed the anniversary: three years of the blog. This is arguably the longest, most healthy relationship I've ever been in. And seriously, I just sat staring at my screen for a while trying to find something I could use to disprove that, and I couldn't. So...yes. Yes, that is quite sad.

It's not often that what I write here gets me into any trouble. Generally, for your reading pleasure, things are a little...exaggerated. For example, my burning hatred slight dislike of penguins is actually a simple disinterest that just looks like dislike, because I am apparently the only person in the world who does not care for these animals. Don't get me wrong! I'm all about the penguins. I like the cold, I'm down with the simple black-and-white look, and who needs to fly? I certainly can't fly. But on my list of favorites? Well, they aren't in the top ten or anything. And if you're going to make a movie about an animal, I'm not going to see it unless one of those top ten is starring.

I tell you this because last night at Thanksgiving dinner, my family (hi, family!) were shocked by my anti-penguin sentiments. In fact, I believe the original plan, concocted before I arrived, was to take me to see that movie. They even sent me home with a copy of the penguin documentary, which I sincerely plan to watch, just so I can make sure that I really don't have an opinion about penguins.

So please forgive me for taking out on a helpless species what I really should have blamed on the real culprit: pop culture. Because let's be honest, since I never really cared for (but NEVER hated) penguins in the first place, I simply can't understand society's new obsession with them. And really, it's much more fun to have an opinion about something than to just be indifferent. Right?

They're with us in spirit. Or something.

My mom's cousin is getting married this weekend, so my parents and sister are in Florida right now for the wedding. I wanted to go (despite my hatred of Florida, I happen to think my mom's cousin is one of the most fun people I know), but I have to be on campus Monday so I can pass Public Speaking.

Because of this, today my brother and I are the only ones home. Everyone I talk to seems to feel that this is the worst thing that could ever happen to a person, and I have been invited to numerous Thanksgiving meals and given even more piteous looks. We don't think it's so bad; we're heading to my aunt and uncle's in about half an hour for the exact same dinner we would've had regardless of my parents' absence. Plus, today I got to be thankful by doing the following things:

1. Waking up in my parents' bed*

2. Making Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

3. Watching Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

4. Taking a nap

5. Listening to my dad and sister sing into the phone, "It's Turkey Day today, gobble gobble gobble"

6. Writing this post

So, that's just about the best Thanksgiving ever, except I do wish I'd found some time to watch football, because I like it when they wear the old school uniforms.

*My bed at home is not my favorite bed. In fact, I'd say it's my least favorite bed I've ever slept in. So I try to avoid it when I can.

Yes, if I have children, they will hate me

Before I switched sections of one of my classes, I had an awkward stretch of time on Tuesday afternoons--too late for lunch, too early for dinner, not long enough to go home or to the library but too long to simply go from classroom to classroom. Because it happened to be in the same building, one day I decided to visit the Zoology Museum, which happens to be geared more toward visiting elementary school children than anything else. There are lots of things labeled TOUCH ME! or PLAY WITH ME!, as well as plenty of toys and books. One of the books was this little gem

which should actually be titled, One FEWER Fish. I don't like to nitpick, but your kid is never gonna learn the right word to use in this scenario if you don't even provide him or her with the right usage in the first place.

By the way, I'm really sorry about this post, because I can feel you rolling your eyes? But I am running out of steam, and I've got eight days left to go before I can call myself a NaBloPoMo success story.

Sleep Aid Showdown

I've been getting bad sinus headaches lately, so when I saw an ad for Nyquil Sinus, I thought it would be perfect: it would put me to sleep and get rid of my headache so I would stay that way.

And I was right. It's pretty great stuff. Here is a breakdown of why it is better than Tylenol PM:


So as you can see, while I don't want to get out of bed the next morning, Nyquil helps me sleep and does so without giving me the crazy, sometimes terrifying dreams I have when I take TPM. I think the worst thing about the Tylenol was that if I really wanted to (read: was having a really bad insomnia trip), I could stay awake.

So sorry, Tylenol. But I think I'm switching teams.

Wherein I refuse to acknowledge "Happy Feet" as a legitimate movie title

Last Thanksgiving, my family went to see a movie together. Strangely, I don't remember the movie we watched (Harry Potter four, maybe?). What I remember is the previews.

First, there was the preview for the Tim Allen remake of The Shaggy Dog (or whatever it's called). The guy behind us lost it as Tim slid across a buffet table (presumably the neighbors', because oh my! Here comes a man through the hedges) in hot pursuit of a cat, and drooled in the elevator, and scratched behind his ear. My dad and I, we just didn't get it. It wasn't funny.

Now, that movie didn't do very well, so I was okay with that. It was the next preview that really, really kills me.

I don't like penguins. I don't think they're cute, or funny, or charming, or particularly interesting. I'm not sure where this dislike originated, but I have a vague feeling it has something to do with March of the Penguins, which admittedly I never saw but whose plot I felt was lacking. I mean, come ON. Let's not market a glorified documentary as a feature film just because someone famous is narrating. Let's be serious.

Ah, I digress.

The next preview was for a certain penguin film, and in this trailer the penguins danced and sang and did Robin Williams stand-up. My mom thought this was great, but again, my skeptical dad and I shook our heads (and I'm about 99 percent sure I rolled my eyes, or at least grimaced). Penguins! Are! Not! Funny! But I took comfort in the fact that this movie was so far off that they refrained from advertising a release date.

All was fine for a while; I managed to dodge further embarrassing penguin trailers and most advertising. And then, then I saw Casino Royale on Friday, and it was good. Much better than, say, that penguin movie that also came out Friday.

But no. No, America, that is not what you thought. That is not how you spent your money. That penguin movie had the no.1 box office sales in the country. Over James Freaking Bond.

At least that guy who sat behind me is probably happy.

[inspired by this post. they're right about the damn penguins, you know.]

iPod, Shuffled (in an act of NaBloPoMo desperation)

More music! I'm sure you're beside yourselves with excitement. Here are the first ten songs from my iPod when I played it on shuffle:

1. Die, All Right! - The Hives
2. You Only Live Once - The Strokes
3. Haiti - The Arcade Fire
4. Her Brand New Skin - Everclear
5. The Same Boy You've Always Known - The White Stripes
6. Underwater's Where the Action Is - Kelley Stoltz
7. This is England - The Clash
8. Futuretarded - The Vines
9. Rental Car - Beck
10. Alpha Beta Parking Lot - Cake

When it's too late to take Tylenol PM, you just don't look back

Hey! Look at the time! It's nearly 5 am. And I am awake, but none of us are surprised.

Things I did instead of sleep tonight
1. Take a nap from 10:45pm - 1:30am*

2. Try to fix and ultimately ruin one of my necklaces (clearly I didn't inherit the jeweler gene)

3. Watch Alton Brown make blueberry muffins and be a bad actor**

4. Pluck my eyebrows

5. Make a shopping list

6. Pick out pajamas to wear at band formal tomorrow night (I know, that's totally bizarre)

7. Look for a missing tube of mascara (no success)

8. Attempt to fall asleep

9. Start a design for the AEFD December banner (again, no success)

10. Write drafts for about 4 blog posts


*It wasn't supposed to be a nap, I just never fell back asleep. Hence, the list.

**I also watched Sandra Dee have blindfolded people put ingredients in a mixing bowl for her, which freaks me out, but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt because I think she's wonderful*** and I had just turned on the tv so I missed whatever led up to the blindfolds.

***How can someone who adds a gratuitous stick of butter to every recipe not be wonderful?

Favorite Friday

I am picky about what music I listen to when I'm in certain moods, and if I had to describe what I'd be feeling like when I want to listen to Hem, I think I'd have to say I was feeling sad and happy at the same time. If that makes any sense. Anyway, this song is peaceful and pretty.
Hem - The Golden Day is Dying.mp3

I had never heard about Bound Stems until I read about them at Stereogum. Now, I'm a fan. Like they say at Stereogum, they sound a little like one of my other favorites, Wolf Parade.
Bound Stems - Andover.mp3

Emily Haines has a beautiful voice and a really interesting background that you can read about here. I've only heard a couple of her songs, but I can't wait to get my hands on her new album, Knives Don't Have Your Back.
Emily Haines - Crowd Surf off a Cliff.mp3

Whenever I think of The Lemonheads, it always reminds me of Schoolhouse Rock, because they covered "My Hero Zero" and it was a little bonus video at the end of the America Rocks VHS my brother and I watched growing up. This is always slightly embarrassing to me. Anyway, here is a track off their new self-titled album.
The Lemonheads - Become the Enemy.mp3

I love The Strokes, so it's no surprise that I love this pre-released single from their lead and rhythm guitarist's first solo album, Yours to Keep. It's like The Strokes (obviously), but...better?
Albert Hammond, Jr. - Hard to Live (In the City).mp3

also, a totally non-related link (except, it IS a music video, so does that count?): pleeeease go watch Lazy Scranton in its entirety, because The Office is the funniest thing on tv right now, and this video is only going to be on their website for a week.

You say tomato, I say pomodoro, but not really, because I had to look that up. Like this guy.

I was walking through the library today when I saw one of those cutesy posters that is supposed to encourage you to read. Since we're big kids now, they don't feature Garfield or Snoopy; they're supposedly trendy designs that I guess are supposed to make you feel like you can be trendy too, if you just pick up a book! And read! It's that easy!

This poster, however, didn't catch my eye because it was particularly well-designed. I saw the words ha letto and APPARENTLY (and this is the ONLY time I have ever, EVER said this) I did pick up some Italian, because when I saw that I saw, "had read (pronounced, red. Like, past tense.)," and I was confused, because why would that ever make sense? So I stopped to read the rest of the poster, and this poster was trying to get you not only to read, but to do it in different languages. (We have a diversity problem here at Miami, you know.)

And I can't tell you how tickled I am that someone, whoever was told to sit down and make a library poster, just plugged the word "read" into this site which I never, ever, EVER used to cheat when I did my Italian homework.

I always wondered if that's what they did. And now? Now I have proof.

Wondering

exactly how unfortunate it was when I realized that the girl in my English class--the girl for whom I've harbored a slight distaste since the very first day of the semester--was not wearing that Hanson t-shirt as an expression of irony, but of her undying love for a band of brothers who need haircuts.

Entertainment, Advertising, it's all the same to me

This is why I love YouTube. You can find all sorts of things you don't need to be watching, and waste your time watching them. For example:

This Absolut vodka commercial. I love it. Marilyn Monroe? Rocky Horror? Best commercial ever.

Here's another one along the same lines if you're interested.

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about Bob Dylan doing an iTunes commercial, but then I decided, it's a good album, and it's a fun ad.


And in honor of my powerbook, which I will be picking up Friday, one of the Mac vs. PC commercials that did a good job of making me want to NOT be a PC user.

In other news

I am about to get an (extremely) early graduation gift, as my parents are buying me a Powerbook. Stories of PC-to-Mac conversion frustrations to follow soon, I'm sure.

I haven't slept in my bed since Thursday, because when we returned from Chicago there was this terrible smell coming from my room. Something along the lines of a dead...something. I'd just cleaned my room before I left, so it wasn't like, "oh THAT'S where I left that month-old pizza." We also came up with some oh-so-fun possessed/haunted/etc. theories. You know, good bedtime stuff for people who are as good at sleeping as I am.

The trip to Chicago was a lot of fun. And since we had such a good time during our last visit, the Windy City is definitely at the top of my list of places I'd like to live after I graduate. Even though I'm best suited for Seattle.

Things I thought during The Decemberists concert

1. I am really too short to be standing right here.

2. I love it when performers talk to the audience.

3. I wish I lived in Chicago.

4. I REALLY wish I was a little bit taller.

5. I wish the girl behind me would stop singing along.

6. Wait. Is the girl behind me trying to harmonize?

7. I want to live in Chicago!

8. Are they really reenacting a scene from Lord of the Rings? Because I don't know anything about Hobbits.

9. YES! A song the girl behind me doesn't know!

10. I should've worn the heels again tonight.

Curiosities from around the web

I just added a links list that I can update whenever I want, so this is the last post like this for awhile. But I just got home from Chicago, and I had the opportunity to either write some pithy prose or dye my hair.

I dyed my hair.

So here you go:
Soda? Pop? A map of regional beverage nicknames.

Watching Dwight every Thursday on The Office? Awesome. Getting a phone call from Dwight on your phone? Even more awesome.

More palindromes than you will ever know what to do with. [via BoingBoing]

Everybody's linking these cute, disease-causing microbes.

Here you go, Mom. I'm unique:

HowManyOfMe.com

There is: 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Getting that NaBloPoMo post in!

Shoes from a night out in Chicago

Favorite Friday: Live in Concert

Today I'm leaving for Chicago to see The Decemberists in concert. The last time I was in Chicago I had one of the best weekends of my college career, so I'm hoping the next three days don't disappoint. Anyway, here are some tracks from the bands I've seen live this year, all of which are fantastic.

At the beginning of the summer, we bought tickets to see The Raconteurs in August. During the three months we waited, and waited, and waited, listening to their album and loving it. It was the most fun concert I've ever been to. And at the end? I caught Patrick Keller's drumstick. It was awesome.
The Raconteurs - Intimate Secretary.m4a

This band was pretty great to see live, too. I've loved them since I first heard this song last spring, and I couldn't have been more excited when they finally came to Ohio in October.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood.mp3

This band and the next opened for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and not only were they fun to watch, but they were all adorably geeky.
Takka Takka - We Feel Safer at Night.mp3

I also saw Architecture in Helsinki, but I can't find any .mp3's of theirs online (and right now I'm feeling particularly law-abiding). BUT you can check out this 3Hive article if you're interested. I'm a fan.

In the same vein, I also saw The Strokes, which should not go unmentioned. Here's an acoustic cover of Reptilia, which I really, really enjoy, and if you like it there are a couple more of Howie Beck's tracks over at Stereogum, where I got this one.
Howie Beck - Reptilia.mp3

And finally, the band I'll be seeing tomorrow night. This is a track from their new album, The Crane Wife, and it's pretty good.
The Decemberists - O Valencia!.mp3

My first Flash slideshow

My grandma had a great family photo album from her childhood that my aunt took the time to digitize for us after she passed away. Last year I put a few of the photos on my computer, but never got around to doing anything with them.

Yesterday, one of my professors was showing us how to make slideshows for a project we're doing, and instead of using the photos I'll eventually turn in for a grade, I decided to use these because I like them better. Since I don't have anywhere else to showcase this, I thought I'd share it here. I'm probably attached to the photos because they're of my grandma, but I think it's fun to look at old photographs. And I think my family will like it, too, even though I only used six pictures.

View slideshow

In case you missed out the last time I wrote about comics

I couldn't resist. Anyone who refers to Skylock Fox as "CSI: Genus Vulpes" must be linked from this page. MUST.

Literate

About six years ago, my mom gave me a copy of this list. For three summers, I would pull it out, vow to read as many of them as I could, and inevitably find myself two and a half months later sitting by the pool reading some awful Oprah book, wondering why I'd only been able to scratch one book of the list.

When I left for school, I lost my original hard copy and sort of forgot about the summers I'd spent plodding through The Grapes of Wrath and A Good Man is Hard to Find. Then, with the magic that is the internet, I happened upon the list last summer and decided to continue on my way.

This summer, I think I read half a book, which is on one hand pathetic, and on the other admirable because at least it was a worthwhile choice: To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf.

The other day I picked up a copy of Brave New World and read a few chapters. I don't often get the opportunity to read during the school year, but of course this inspired me to give the list yet another try.

This time, I think I will incorporate it into this website, because feeling like you are tsk-tsking me if you don't see any progress is likely to make me read every once in a while (or at least tell you I'm reading! Is a book a day believeable? ...No?).

And here's the list, so I can keep track of what I've done.
What I've read is struck through, and what I'm reading will be in red.

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
15. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
38. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
41. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
51. My Antonia by Willa Cather
52. Howards End by E.M. Forster
53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
54. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
55. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
56. Jazz by Toni Morrison
57. Sophie's Choice by William Styron
58. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
59. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
60. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
62. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
63. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
64. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
65. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
66. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
68. Light in August by William Faulkner
69. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
70. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
71. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
72. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
73. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence
76. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
77. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Tokias by Gertrude Stein
79. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
80. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
81. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
82. White Noise by Don DeLillo
83. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
84. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
85. War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
86. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
87. The Bostonians by Henry James
88. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
89. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
90. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
91. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
92. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
93. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
94. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
95. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
96. The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
98. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
99. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
100. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Here's to setting a goal. The plan is to be finished by the time I'm 30 (can I tell you how frightening the thought of being 30 is?), which puts me at about 10 books a year. Too bad I didn't try to start a little earlier.

Things I thought about today at the library

1. My planner is missing, and has been missing since Thursday. Today after looking all over the library, I have given up. I always thought that INTERNET belonged in the #1 spot on my list of addictions, but what's actually written there is CALENDAR CHECKING. I can't tell you how lost I feel without those little boxes telling me what I'll be doing each day for the rest of the year. It's funny when you realize the things you're most dependent on, but also a little bit scary.

2. My absentee ballot, which I sent for a month ago, never came in the mail. I usually enjoy feeling superior on Election Day because I have always been good about voting. Today, however, I was forced to stumble through my excuse every time someone asked about voting. This is just another glaring example of how I often sense the presence of Karma in my life, yet rarely experience it in its "good" form. I guess I need to work on that.

3. I saw a guy wearing a Green Monkeys t-shirt! YES! THOSE* Green Monkeys! I didn't get the opportunity to ask him if he was on the show, and if he was, did he win a pack of Nerds or maybe a sweet pair of Sketchers? But I spent a great deal of time during my next class thinking about this. Then I wrote this paragraph and Googled "Hidden Temple" and wow. I am a little floored by how many results there are. And also? I found a site where you can buy the shirts. Which after my afternoon exceptionally disappointing, but oh well, because I know someone who's getting a Blue Barracudas shirt for Christmas!

*Please visit this website, scroll down, and laugh at the person who wrote about how cool this show's "opstical" course was.**

**Probably why I don't see so much of the good Karma.

4. I have a class in the basement of the library, which is currently under construction. This has provided me with endless entertainment this semester (why yes, I am easily amused, why do you ask?) because there's something new going on every time I'm there. For the last two weeks, these small boxes have been accumulating. At first, there was just one neat pile of about 2oo boxes, but now I would say there are over a thousand. And I say that confidently, too, because I stopped to count them on my way into class today because I wanted to be able to say LOOK AT THIS! THOUSANDS OF BOXES!

This happens to be that first pile I told you about, which has now grown. There are three rooms full of boxes, as well as a long stretch of hallway. I am fascinated by these boxes partially because they are all labeled, and I want to know what's in them, and also because I'm absolutely thankful that I don't have anything to do with figuring out how to re-organize them. I honestly feel a sense of relief whenever I walk by.

A story about sleep that will put you to sleep! Ha ha, get it?

I'm not good at very many things. I'm not an athlete,* I'm an awful speaker, and I'm not particularly witty. I have no fashion sense and I often state the obvious (which is where the name of this website came from--my famous eye for detail). For the most part, I have come to terms with these shortcomings. But there is one thing I cannot do that perpetually torments me. I am a terrible sleeper.

If you've met my mother, no doubt she has told you about how I would not go to sleep without being rocked or cuddled or driven around in the car, and apparently even then you were lucky if I stayed asleep. I also remember having this really sweet Paula Abdul cassette that I listened to every night when I was about three or four. Frequently, I would last longer than side A, and at that point, I'd go get one of my parents to play the other side of the tape for me. I'm sure this was one of those things they did while silently hoping that one day I would have my own child to flip cassettes for, but I'm so totally the winner here because cd's? They have the repeat capabilities that my 1987 kid-friendly boom box did not. Sorry you missed out on that, parents.

This inability to fall asleep has followed me into adulthood,** and I have issue after issue with sleep. When I'm under stress, you can be sure to find me baking cookies or watching Six Feet Under at 4 am. If I have a nightmare that wakes me up or I have to go to the bathroom, you can be sure I'll be awake for at least another thirty minutes. I did not have the ability to sleep in past 10 am until I was a college freshman, because once I was awake, it was more work to keep sleeping than it was to just be awake and sort of tired. And really, the only reason I was sleeping in then was because I wasn't sleeping at night, because welcome to college! Have insomnia!

No, college is not a place for people whose sleep patterns and habits hang in delicate balance. It is a place for good nappers (I harbor great jealousy for my roommate Mike, who falls asleep basically on command) , people who can last for three days on less than six hours of sleep and/or twelve cans of Red Bull (Christina fascinates me), and people who don't want to kill the first person they see each morning (i.e., every single person who isn't me). I've come to terms with it. But after waking up at 5:30 this morning and not falling back asleep until after 6, my question is this: what do I have to do to be successful at sleep? Because I generally just avoid the things I'm not good at, but I've never enjoyed doing something I'm so bad at.


*Understatement of the Year

**First sincere reference to myself as an adult

All kinds of nothing

I know if I had the time and resources to take a trip, I'd make like these people Wal Mart hired this pair and "Wal-Mart" across America. Or, you know, I'd go see something that didn't make me feel embarrassed. Like Targets, or Best Buys maybe. Or something intelligent.

Coca-Cola slogans from the past. What's your favorite? I enjoy 1916's "It's fun to be thirsty when you can get a Coca-Cola." I also like 1963's "A chore's best friend." I'm fairly certain this one accompanied a perky housewife with a spotless house.

How to dress emo.

Did you know "My Darling Clementine" is about a girl who drowns? The lyrics are totally morbid.

Probably the best thing to come out of Amazon.com: Negative reviews of famous literature. Complete with bad grammar.

I was wondering when this was going to happen: Networks use iTunes as gauge for sitcom success

Things not to say to me upon realizing that I have awoken

"Did you sleep well?" (Alternatively, "Did you have a nice nap?" or "How did you sleep?")

"Someone looks happy!"

"Are you okay?"

"Any plans for today?"

"Good morning."

Favorite Friday

I recently started perusing a lot of music blogs, so on top of my (already unhealthy) obsession with Pandora, 3Hive, and Stereogum, the situation has led to me listening to more mp3 files than is probably normal.

So I've decided to share the stuff I like the best every week. Here we go:

Ben Kweller released a new cd at the end of September. I don't really know how I feel about most of it, but I dig this track.
Ben Kweller - Nothing Happening.mp3

I just finished a good run-through of Beck's new album, The Information. I think I like it better than Guero.
Beck - Elevator Music.mp3

You know how Amazon makes recommendations for you based on the stuff you buy? It kept recommending Cat Power, whose album cover looks like this


and I thought it was going to be some awful girly-rock band. I finally heard one of the songs, and have commenced sticking my foot in my mouth. I couldn't have been more wrong (and you know it's a big deal if I'll admit to being wrong).
Cat Power - The Greatest.mp3

The Bishops are another band I'm glad I found that can supplement my music collection when I'm in a Vines or Hives mood. Love them.
The Bishops - The Only Place I Can Look is Down.mp3

The links will be good for two weeks. Enjoy!

Being a student feeds my neuroses

School has been more intense than usual lately, requiring me to like, write papers and do research and read assignments and it has been, like, totally uncool. Yesterday was the first day in EIGHT days (not counting the weekends!) that I did not have to turn in/be tested on something that was a large percentage of my grade.

• I applied to and was officially accepted into my degree program last week, which is exciting for me because this should have happened about...two years ago. Not because it was competitive and I had to continue to reapply; actually, I would say that because I felt confident that it would be No Problem, I continued to put it off just because I could. And I did, and everything worked out. So there you go: Put things off! Procrastinate! Your life will continue to be fabulous, aside from the ulcers you contract due to the stress of worrying!

• I wrote that ridiculous post on Google, you know? And it was sort of embarrassing when I went back and realized that I'd written it and then POSTED it, because I am not very good at articulating the thousands of ideas going around in my head about any particular topic. Anyway, we had merely flirted with conversations about Google in these classes, but on Tuesday we spent an hour talking about its development and where it's headed and blah blah blah FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LOREN NO ONE CARES ABOUT A DAMN SEARCH ENGINE. (But if you're interested, I have these articles for you to read.)

• I am taking three classes that require me to make a short film for the final project. I've learned a lot about good shots, lighting, and balancing sound but I'm afraid I'm no filmmaker. I have a sinking feeling that my film shooting skills are going to pan out like my photography skills, which is to say that I will spend too much time trying to get it right but to no avail. I often picture myself as a mother, standing on my front porch on the first day of school, adjusting lights and forcing my kid to skip out the door over and over again so I can get it just right. And then doing something idiodic like forgetting to actually take the child to school because I wanted to get to the computer and edit right away, but falling into a depression because I forgot to white balance.

• I am taking a class about the structure of grammar right now, and I'm sort of hot and cold about it. Sometimes I derive great pleasure from analyzing the form and meaning of a sentence, and sometimes it seems tedious. Apparently, I only find it to be tedious in class, because in conversation I will often point out to people that they didn't quite mean what they said. A friend of mine spent a good five minutes discussing with me his observation of, "I am cowering at you!" and my reaction of, "you can't cower at someone," which is about, oh, I don't know FOUR MINUTES AND FIFTY-SEVEN SECONDS LONGER than any sane person should discuss the use of a preposition.
  

Well. That was impressive! I'm three for three in the paragraph-organized proof of insanity contest today.