Updates

Holy cow, I was totally right when I predicted how long it may take before I get to post on here again. Here's what's been going on in my life since the last time I posted:

1. Grad school: called off. I decided that it wouldn't really help my chances of getting a job or increase future salaries, so I've decided to find a job...ideally something permanent with a good deal of stability.

2. Job search: I've been on a couple interviews, at least one for a job that I really wanted, but all in all, it's just been an extremely frustrating process. I'm ready to finally just get an offer and work my butt off doing something that I'm at least remotely interested in doing.

3. Other stuff: the bitty's adorable (she was the sweetest thing at the beach last week), Eric's fantastic, and I've started climbing twice a week (super-fun, good exercise, and a decent stress reliever).

New Blog...Because I'm Such a Bookworm-y Nerd

So, I decided that I needed a place to put some of my thoughts about my reading. Mostly because I'm one of those crazy re-readers, and I wanted everything in the same spot so I could search/see how my ideas on books and such may have changed between various readings of it.

The new blog will, of course, include more than a fair share of 1,001 Books books (hence the title), but will also have stuff from various classes that I've had to read.

All this means that since book discussions have been a major part of this blog, this one will probably be ignored quite a bit. Maybe a post here or there about class discussions/grad school or job woes/various political ramblings as I try and figure out what I really believe. But the other blog will likely be updated much more. Since, well, reading is super-cool.

Link: Wading through 1,001 Books

Craptastic

So, right when I finally get the 1,001 Books book, they come out with another freaking edition with like 200 some odd (yes, I'm from York County, we say such things) additions and deletions. And most of the deletions are the ones that I read already.

So I'm totally keeping myself from going insane and am just sticking with the 2005 edition of the damn book. If I ever get through those, then I'll work on whatever the latest edition of the 1,001 Books happens to be.

Interested?

Check out this site, with the updated list as an Excel document with super-cool links and easy shopping.

I just need to save my sanity at this point, that's all. Especially since I've taken a bit of a break from the list. Harry Potter and I have been forming a lifelong friendship over break. I love him and the fact that I barely need to think when I'm reading them. Real page-turners, they are.

Nyquil = Godsend

I mean seriously, I don't think I'd have gotten even this far through finals week without it. No, I'm not addicted (I promise), I'm just sick...like always. I got hit with the York bugs like two days after I came back from Thanksgiving break, and they're making it really, really hard to do necessary things like study for finals and put together presentations. It's kind of annoying, but it's soon over (4 days until break!!).

On a better note, my grad school applications are done, transcripts ordered, GRE scores heading to (mostly) the right places. Now I just need to put together the applications for assistantships for Mville and UMBC. One's due Feb 1, so I'll get to it over break, I hope. I'm just ready for the whole process to be over--when I know if I got in, where I got in, and how much money I have to/don't have to pay to go. Basically, I need hardcore funding if I actually want to go. I'm already in student debt up to my eyeballs and have no desire to go in further (funny thing: AIG owns pretty much all of my student loans, and they've been hounding me to pay some interest on my student loans. Think they need capital right now?). So, until April rolls around and I get my aid packages and such, I'm keeping an eye out for anything job-wise that I might be remotely interested in. Oddly, despite what everyone is calling a depression in York, there's actually some pretty interesting entry level jobs available in fun things like school publicity & media relations. Too bad they're looking for people to start right away or I would have applied.

I'm just so over school. I'm not gonna lie, 2 more years of this seems pretty daunting.

I Thought the Election was Over

Okay, so stupid me. I figured that since, you know, the votes are cast, the numbers counted, Barack Obama named the 44th president of the U.S. (I totally got 10 cents off of my Starbucks for knowing the number...yay for me being a crazy trivia nut) we would be done with all the mudslinging. I'm gonna say this now, and I have a terrible feeling that I'll be saying this over and over until I'm blue in the face. People cannot be labelled "stupid," "smart," "idiotic," "ignorant," "racist," "naive," etc. because they voted for one candidate or another. Yes, some people voted based on race, some people voted based on appearance, some people voted based on some pretty outlandish assertions. But, just because someone voted one way does not make them stupid! There still is an ideological difference regarding the role of government in people's lives and the role of government in advocating a certain morality. And, gasp, some people vote based on issues and philosophical beliefs and generally who they feel would be the best leader for our country over the next 4 years.

I'm not gonna lie, I voted McCain, but that doesn't mean that I think Obama's supporters are stupid or vapid or following celebrity. And I buy into some of what he says regarding the role of government in things like same-sex marriages and so on. Generally, I'm conservative based on the classical definition of conservatism, basically get the government the hell out of my business. Do what the Constitution says you can do; nothing more, nothing less. (Yes, I recognize this leaves a lot of power to the states, and I'm not very pleased with how my state might legislate these issues either....but I digress.)

So basically what I'm saying is that the yucky, attack-dog partisanship that has come up in the past year needs to end. Regardless of voting, we're all still Americans. And I think we need to start acting like it.

New President

Welp, it looks like it's Obama for at least the next 4 years. I thought I'd be more disappointed, but I've been kinda over the presidential stuff for a long time. I was a lot more concerned about complete single-party rule, and it looks like the Republicans in the Senate will be able to filibuster on at least some legislation. We'll see how it all plays out.

It looks like the PA House is going to keep the same corrupt leadership yet again. I was really watching the 5oth House district in PA due to corruption and such, and it seems that the people of the 50th district remain more concerned about the $$ and special projects a certain Dem. House Leader gives to them than with any of his ethics (or lack thereof).

But Todd won, so I'm a happy person.

Congratulations to the new president of the United States. May you make decisions according to the happy medium between being a good representative of your constituents and doing what you believe is best for them. Understand that cooperation and concession is the way to get things done. And may you recognize the importance of ethical decisions in your everyday administrative and policy tasks. Best of luck, president-elect Obama.

Oooo, I finished another book!

Okay, so I read two and a half books this weekend. I'm proud of me. I finished Middlesex, and it did finally get pretty good. Still not something that I'd pick up on my own, but it was a good read. I like Eugenides. I'm excited to read his Virgin Suicides, but since it's at the York library, it'll have to wait until Summer.

And I read Alice in Wonderland to get ahead for children's literature. Mostly so I could do some really in-depth editing and revising on my personal statement for grad school. (Yes, the first draft is totally done, and I'm super excited. I just need to mess around a little with length for the various schools I'm applying to.) But holy cow, don't ever, ever read that book by choice unless you are drunk, high, or tripping...or preferably, all three. Because it hurt my sober brain. Hell, it still kinda hurts if I think too hard about some of the chapters, and I'm not kidding.

Better: The Quiet American by Graham Greene was so much better than anything else I've read recently (well, except Ngugi, but it may be hard to get close to that one for a loooong time). It really made me think about what the role of the U.S. should be in international affairs. I, personally (and Greene may disagree with me on this), don't think that isolationism it a viable foreign policy for the U.S. right now. But I totally get Greene's message that Americans' idealism overseas oversimplifies some very complicated problems in other countries. The Quiet American is set in Vietnam right as the U.S. is getting involved and France's involvement was petering out. The main character basically personifies the stereotypical American: extraordinarily idealistic and totally unwilling to consider anything that could disrupt his simple picture of how the world works. It's a beautiful book...one of those that you totally can't really pick a "good guy" or a "bad guy," but you can totally recognize some of the crappy things that were happening all over Indochina under the guise of avoiding a trigger for the domino effect in the area. It was a required book for my Issues in World History class, and it's also on the 1,001 books list.

I'm really enjoying the 1,001 Books list. I totally recognize that it shouldn't be used as a complete list of any fiction I should read in my life, but I've come across a lot of good books that I otherwise wouldn't have gotten the chance to enjoy reading. It's also pushing my reading envelope, which is always good.