October 17, 2003
Fall Break Looms Large
Oh, hi. It's you again, you stupid blog post. After a few false starts, maybe I can finally get this thing completed. I am operating at the lowest stress-level I've had in weeks right now. Why? Because tomorrow I will show up to English Lit, having read The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, and I'll sit there and watch yet another group do their little thing . . . in the little theater, no less. And then I'll be scot-free until Wednesday.
Scot-free is, of course, a relative term as I have the following tentative list of things to accomplish:
School-related:
THE CONFERENCE PAPER
Bib Lit Journals (I think I'm four behind at the moment)
English Lit Journals (five more and that's IT for the semester)
Bib Lit Genre Reports (I still haven't done any of the reading for those, and that's just not cool)
For my own personal enjoyment/enlightenment:
Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
All's Well that Ends Well by Shakespeare
The Divine Comedy by Dante
Perloo the Bold by Avi . . . yeah, kinda weird . . . I like Avi, so I'm putting up with it
The Father Brown Omnibus by G. K. Chesterton
Watch Amadeus
Watch Metropolis
Watch Bowling for Columbine
Watch Schindler's List
Watch Saving Private Ryan
Anyway, the school-related list suddenly doesn't look to scary . . . except for that bloody, looming, all-caps monstrosity up at the top of the list. 'Course, I'm reading The Divine Comedy as research also, so . . .
As for the things to read, that's just my "To Read" list of books that I'm working on right now. The written out version of the list is some forty books long, and the one in my head is . . . oh, hundreds at the least. As for the movies, there are a half dozen other things that I want to watch this weekend as well, but those are the most important, being culturally relevant.
So, don't expect to hear from me for the next five days. You might, just don't expect it. Now, in brief, my day:
I had three hurdles to fly over today, not counting getting out of bed. First, staying awake in Bib Lit so I could study for . . . Second, a Western Civ test, and Third, a speech to deliver in . . . wow, you're sharp. It was in Speech class. I'm running all of these things off of four hours of sleep, so keep that in mind. Yeah, nothing particularly special about a getting a full four hours of sleep, but I don't tend to function particularly well unless I get closer to six on a consistent basis.
Bib Lit did not go as planned. I barked my shins rather nastily on that particular hurdle. I absolutely could not keep my eyes open, try what I would. I have never tried so hard with so little success to stay awake in a class. It was just bad. But I did absorb a few things. I kept my book out for the walk over to Glaske, skimming madly the whole way. Coppinger called my name about four times before I realized someone was trying to get my attention. I looked up and he was laughing. Told me I shouldn't walk and read at the same time, I might hurt myself. I was too distracted to tell him that I've been doing it for at least 15 years . . . and look how I turned out!
Dr. Kubricht's Western Civ test was stunning. A real masterpiece . . . I didn't get writer's cramp taking Watson's midterm for English Lit, but today my hand was hurting. Fifteen multiple choice (just listing them, not saying they were difficult to write out), four short answer, and an essay. The essay was a real piece of work. "Name five lessons that a Christian can learn from religious history between 30 and 500 AD. Give historical examples for each lesson. Name three lessons that someone who wanted to persecute Christians could learn from this period." All of this together was . . . long. I finished the hour and a half test with about thirty seconds to spare.
Then I gave my speech. Actually, this was after lunch and I was the last one to go, so it wasn't right then, but I'm consolidating here. There were some very interesting speeches. And some not very interesting speeches. That's just the way it goes. Anyway, I wasn't particularly brilliant with my delivery, so my grade probably wasn't as high as on the first one. But with the topic I chose, you don't have to be . . . Let's just say that they stayed wide awake for the majority of it. For the curious (and unenlightened), I will divulge that my speech topic was Pope Joan. If you've never heard of her, I suggest you do a little independent research. Very amusing, very entertaining, very interesting.
Let's see . . . after that I pretty much blew off the afternoon chatting and stuff. Watched Gattaca with Martinez. Pretty good movie, and I haven't seen it in awhile. It's a cross between Brave New World and The Caves of Steel. If you haven't read one of those, then I'm sorry. If you haven't read either . . . I'm very sorry.
Then Scholl and Anna showed up and we decided to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. And, of course, by the time it was over we had about ten people packed in my room enjoying the movie. The more the merrier, I say . . . I joined Martinez, Scholl, Anna, and Ziggy in their attempts at punnery, much to my chagrin. It was a pretty good release though . . . I find that it's not nearly as unbearable to listen to if you can slip one of your own in here and there. This will be remembered in future . . .
Anyhow, I'm ready to get started on my long weekend, and you lot are keeping me from it. Signing off . . .
