On a lost USB Drive

I wrote a poem yesterday on a piece of Coscto's catalog when I couldn't find my USB drive amidst all the trash in our living room:

How much of our lives do we put in storage?
Piles of things
Material
Digital
Virtual
Stocked into
heaping columns and
entropic masses
Clutter

and the frantic and
frenetic search that ensues
for Lost Things
memories.
intangible documents
and
electronic pictures
we think we're making for meaning
when really
it's all just an expanse
of glorified
waste

~~

okay, not the best example of creative writing (haven't done that in a while). but it was nice to get my frustrations out.

i want to be more productive. list of things i want to do by the end of the summer:

1) learn ms excel (a skill that will actually come in handy when i start working, unlike much of my college education)

2) be more active: running, tennis, even golf. actually fit into my clothes

3) continue to improve le français and start learning deutsch

Gossip Goodness

It's amazingly easy to return to routine after traveling. Sleeping in, lounging on the couch, eating candy, watching Gossip Girl reruns...

Speaking of which, I saw this adorable video today of the cast



I think what makes Gossip Girl so great is that the cast seems kind of down-to-earth and real, despite the absurdity of the show itself. None of the girls are stick thin (like in the new 90210, of which, thank goodness, I only saw one horrible episode), Penn Badgely and Blake Lively are so cute together, and Leighton Meester is <3... it's easy to overlook the soap-opera like qualities of the storylines and the unspectacular acting of Chace Crawford (though his hotness kind of makes up for it... those unruly yet AMAZING bangs!!). I can't wait until Season 3 starts in the fall. I may not be in college anymore, but I will be in the city!!

Afternoon Tea at Fornum & Mason

I booked a spot for Afternoon Tea at the famed St. James restaurant in Fortnum & Mason, London.



Here's what the confirmation message said (emphasis added):

"Fortnum & Mason St. James Restaurant is delighted to confirm your reservation. Please make your way to the 4th floor on arrival to the store. Our dress code is smart casual and we ask that gentlemen wear long trousers and closed-toe shoes and that both sexes lean more towards elegance than the beach.... We look forward to welcoming you to the St. James Restaurant in Fortnum & Mason. With kind regards..."

This is great. I would say it's quintessentially British, but something tells me that Afternoon Tea nowadays is more of an elaborately constructed trap for affluent foreign tourists (or, in my case, ex-students with Fathers on business trips) than a long-standing British tradition.

Oh, well. It's nice to have Fathers on business, even if it means I'll be on my own most of the time. At least we'll have Afternoon Tea.

e-mail sucks sometimes

I hate modern communication sometimes because it makes it so hard to determine tone of voice. I don't know if an e-mail reply somebody sent me suggests he is annoyed with me or angry or being short with me or none of the above. And I'm a pretty neurotic and self-conscious person who seeks approval a lot so not knowing bothers me a lot.

*GASP*

Mugglenet, how could you?!!

Then again, isn't it great to know that even after publication of all seven books, the discussion continues? I love Harry Potter so much it really scares me sometimes, but I am nonetheless happy to be immersed in such a phenomenon. Other generations had Star Wars and Star Trek... for us, it's HP and 100000 times better.

~

In other news, still working on this dratted paper. My stomach hurts from all the junk food I've consumed, but what else is new...

paper writing (yes, another one): what's a thesis again?

2 questions:

1) Why do professors, time and again, insist on assigning papers that are due during the last week of classes AND final exams/final papers? When I am finished with a paper, the last thing I want to do is write another one for the same class. Diminishing marginal returns, people. This is why we need Econ-English lit hybrids like yours truly.


2) What's more contrived than the "thesis statement"? Sometimes, especially in English classes, I think it would be better for professors to assign a position and ask students to defend it (or contradict it). Let's be realistic here. My feverish, caffeine-hyped self is not going to come up with anything unique to say about the book in the course of a couple of days. Why don't we just drop the pretense and admit that what you really want is for me to show you I can form a cohesive thought and write about it in a somewhat organized fashion. The thought itself (unless it's ridiculously idiotic) hardly matters. That's my problem with writing papers lately and my self-justification (excuse?) for not getting the grades I got first and sophomore years. My efforts to write something that actually matters rather than to regurgitate class discussions, adding on a layer of BS for good measure, might not yield satisfactory results, but at least they feel more genuine to me. Not that that matters here.

Disclaimer: My mood is probably going to be pretty foul these last few weeks. That's what papers and regrets and stupid family/"personal" issues will do. Well, at least I'll be all the more happy during Commencement to be rid of the frustrating constraints of academia.

... AND I'm going to Believers Never Die, Part Deux on Tuesday! They understand my *troubled state*/*emo moments*. Or pretentiousness ["frustrating constraints of academia"?? Seriously, did I really just write that. What a poser I am. But I still am very bitter inside.]