Tender are the Early AM Hours

Even though it's considered Tuesday night, I'm going ahead and doing...Affie's Book Recommendation Wednesday! I've almost been blogging a month. Hehe, I'm currently listening to Sep them...ber's Music Wednesday band. And are they sweet. Much sweeter than jelly beans and better than rice, except I can't eat them...well...but that's Johnny Depp's line. And before I further confuse anyone that might have been interested in reading this, lemme get to the book. This month, today actually, I finished Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. OK, now this is just my opinion, but it was no where near The Great Gatsby. An online review that I read said this: "It is often said that every writer has, at least, one good book in him. Sadly most of them only have one. This certainly appears to be the case for Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby, while flawed (see review), is nonetheless a great novel." ..."Tender is the Night seems to be a victim of this Modernist disease, too autobiographical & self absorbed to tell us much of value about the wider world." (Full paragraph here.)

The book was a disaster to me, as was Fitzgerald's life by the time he wrote it. I recently read Fitzgerald's first novel, This Side of Paradise, and was thoroughly engrossed with finishing it as soon as I could. As his first novel, of course, it's more juvenile than his later writings, but the fact that he was younger gave him a different outlook and one that I could relate to more. When the book review mentions that it's too autobiographical, all I have to do is agree. The two central characters Dick and Nicole Diver, are far too much like Scott and Zelda (hehe) Fitzgerald. Nicole is battling a mental illness due to sexual abuse and although Fitz has her over come it and the insanity consume Dick, it sounds all too familiar. By this time, Fitzgerald was a heavy drinker. Guess who else is? Dick! Coincidence? I think not. In similarity to This Side of Paradise, the book is divided into three sections, but are unsatisfactory in helping the plot line. In TSoP, not only is the division into two books appropriate, it's necessary. There are clearly two different sections of Amory's life going on in the book and it works. (I'm still in love with Amory Blaine. Just as much as Jim Halpert. [see first post]) But these three book divisions, although I see the logic, seem to be more motivated by the divisions in Fitzgerald's life and not in Dick Diver's. As usual, I consulted Sparknotes, but it didn't help much because I guess there wasn't as much to interpret as I thought there was. It's laid out plain as day. I do feel for the main character, Dick though. He starts out healthy and magnetic, and as his wife's mental health improves, his deteriorates, due mostly to the fact that not only has he married a mental patient (Nicole) and must double as her doctor; he has spent a lot of time with other mental cases, since that was his chosen profession. Book 3 seemed the most important to me and I enjoyed it the most. Book 2 seemed muddled and Book 1, although entertaining at times, seemed to really drone on and on. Book 3 contained the climax and the most emotionally wrenching part of the book. There are two passages that I would like to share, just because.

This one amuses me:
"Nicole reproved him when they were in their room alone. 'Why so many highballs? why did you use your word spic in front of him?'
'Excuse me, I meant smoke. The tounge slipped.'
'Dick, this isn't faintly like you.'
'Excuse me again. I'm not much like myself anymore.'

And...I decline from sharing the other one from Book 3 since it is central to the main plot. Really, it's pitiful, only because by this time, this exemplified the Fitzgeralds, so it's more of a sad pitiful. If you're working on THE LIST!!!, then, as #28, you'll have to read it, but I would have to mark my first Affie's Book Wednesday as a nonrecommendation. It is probably the least favorable novel of Fitzgerald's that I've read, but this one only makes 3 out of the 4 novels that he wrote in among a sea of short stories. I've read The Great Gatsby a few times because I really do love it and Fitzgerald is my favorite author. And Jay Gatsby is far more appealing than Dick Diver. And as noted already, I've read This Side of Paradise and enjoyed it. This was a let down for me overall, though some parts were good, but the nonrecommendation still stands.

I'll probably blog later today, so be prepared. There's gonna be drama today!

Eating myself to death

The Polyglot sent me a txt msg yesterday saying that he was impressed that I was keeping up with the blog. After next week, I'll probably forget about it for a while (more than 3 or 4 days, but not a complete mental loss that I do have one), but a once a week updates I saw as more than fufilling the demands that this blog places upon me.

I'm cold. Very cold. I'm in a long sleeve shirt, sweatpant-type gauchos, and tube socks- very cute tube socks. They make me smile. The shirt and the tube socks I thought to be pointless when I packed them, but are coming in handy. I feel like I'm getting sick, but it's just the lack of sleep and the stress, as well as the jelly beans I ate. First of all, I'm not too fond of jelly beans, but these are Starburst Jelly beans. That still makes no difference so as to whether I like them or not, it just makes a difference because they aren't jelly belly. They are called fruitscreme and there are four flavors: mixed berries, peaches, orange, and strawberry.
Written much later than 2 PM:
I was popping these jelly beans right and left because when under stress, I eat. Even visibly, without reading the ingredients, I know I'm allergic to these puppies. The colors are purple, pink, orange, and yellow-ish. I'm allergic to red dye and yellow dye (blue as well, but it's not so severe a reaction). Going thru the bag, I'm picking out the purple ones first, since the red dye is mixed with blue. There were not that many purple ones and they were soon gone. The next color that I'm least allergic to would be the pink. My most violent reactions are to yellow dyes and the "lake" dyes. Typical reactions to these dyes include: asthma attacks, itchy throat, sneezing, and puffy-stuffy-fluffy-ness. So I was prepared since I was already weak, running on only 4 hours of sleep, for the severest of reactions. 2 or 3 into the pink colored jelly beans and I could barely breathe, so I read the ingredients. COCONUT OIL! (I'm allergic to coconuts.) When did they start putting that in jelly beans?! Mind you, there were about 2 or 3 other ingredients on the short list that I'm allergic to as well, so I threw the rest away, drank lots of water and hoped that I could refrain from using my inhaler. It worked and I shied away from other allergies for the rest of the day, like ice cream after dinner. Ice cream makes me: puffy-stuffy-fluffy, sneeze, and gives me asthma attacks if I eat too much and occasionally upsets my stomach because I'm allergic to dairy. Thank goodness I had rice for dinner, supplemented with Mandarin chicken, beef-n-broccoli, and this really good eggplant & tofu dish that was so spicy, you would have thought you were eating chicken wings if it weren't for the fact that the dish was full of purple and cream colored food- neither of which were shaped like either type of chicken wing. And I'm thinking of sponsoring a trip to El Nopal sometime soon. They have Mexican rice.

And thanks to those that left suggestions for breakfast. Since I'm at my greenparents, breakfast is different anyways, but I've been having an egg and a slice of toast, accompanied by some of the best black coffee. This though, has convinced me to get my butt over to Target when I get home and buy a toaster (preferably the cute hello kitty one), so that I can toast my own sarah lee cinnimon and brown sugar bread at home. Yum.

Again with the movies at the High?

Yes, again. It's probably not the last movie either. I can't stay away from them. Nor from this blog, but it all has to do with the fact that I'm procrastinating getting things done...like French, even though it's late to do it and I'm currently engrossed with the New P's right now. Really, I'm doing this because I want a time filler, thus a multitude of posting has occurred this past week. Plus I've been tired and the compy is right there when I walk in the door at home and that chair is so inviting. Except right now, I'm not at home again for like the fourth time this summer already and it's only June, nor will this be the last time either.

But as I was saying, another movie at the High. I've seen an Indian documentary, a samurai movie, and now this one. It was thoroughly interesting. It's called Stolen. I was debating on whether or not to stay for this movie today, last night after the family get together. Auntie finally just said to stay and since I had already packed everything I would need for a stay, I wasn't going to let all that effort of packing go to waste. (Except I forgot my cell phone charger...again. And I'm Jewish so you heck as ain't gonna get me to spend $30 on a charger for my phone. That money goes to the MP3 player fund [though I probably won't save long enough to get this particular one]. Cingular gets you on your accessories, but their service is great.) ANYWAYS, so this movie was about art theft from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It's divided into five or six parts and is mostly about how they try and retrieve the art and how they are run around in circles since organized crime is highly involved. There is a little bit of story going on with this main investigator, Harold Smith, and his interactions with other art and antique investigators and thieves. This old man is a heckuva lot stronger than I am. He tells you about how he got skin cancer in the documentary and it's horrible. He's battled skin cancer for 50 years and has a prosthetic nose and has lost an eye. It's kind of disturbing at first, but this was very entertaining for the brain...to me at least, and I'm easily occupied with things that would bore others to death and I love paintings. In the documentary, they mentioned how Isabella's mansion became the museum and since it was built as a house, it doesn't have really good modern security system making it easier to work in. Also that these security guards that they hire are insanely underpaid and are guarding a multi-million dollar collection of art. Harold mentioned after one of the former security guards that they interviewed left his office that he had come from Ohio, never had a job before, and they pay him minimum wage to watch millions of dollars worth of art. Honestly, I give people too much credit as far as having common sense goes, and this is one of those situations where you think they would at least work a little harder to treat these employees better. If you get a chance to see it on a rainy Sunday, do so. I found in very informative and some of the people involved in this business are characters and really entertaining. Don't kill yourself to see it though, since it could be considered slow moving and monotonous to most.

Afterwards, we were joined by Aunt #2 at El Nopal near where she lives. It was some of the best Mexican food I've had in MONTHS! I was dying for some spicy salsa, salty tortilla chips, and a kick butt chicken burrito. El Nopal provided all three. If you are ever with anyone that wants to go to El Nopal, do kill yourself to go, especially if you like Mexican food. Where I moved, there's just not enough Mexicans to glut the construction worker market and as a result, none of them get to start restaurants and cook me delicious food. There isn't a single Mexican restaurant in Athens. No joke. But there are like 5 Thai eateries, 6 or 7 cafe type places, 4 Italian, and don't ask me to count the bars. It's funny. We only have two Mexican chains and they both pretty much blow, though I do like On the Border, but stumble upon any Italian restaurant and you are sure to get some of the best Italian food your senses have ever come across.

Most important meal of the day, serving it up Affie's way!

This is going to be another post where I need your suggestions. Scenario: Breakfast has now become the most dreaded meal of the day for me. I believe it was Wednesday and I was desperately trying to get ready and make it to the hall on time for service. I ate my normal breakfast of some soy milk and raisin bran/rice chex (I'm plain Jane all the way, and yes, rice again. If it weren't for rice, right now, I would be sorely malnourished.) Well, usually I don't do as bad with soy milk as I did that morning. It was a far more violent reaction than the usual upset stomach when I eat soy milk too many days in a row. See, I developed a sensitivity to it a few months ago, but this was a full blown allergic reaction. I tried another brand today on a smaller scale and a different flavor. The different flavor was gross, but I didn't toss my cookies. It was vanilla and it tasted more like licorice, which I hate, and it gave me a headache. So I present to you, the reader, my problem. I need suggestions for breakfast. I'm not much of a breakfast eater, so I don't have a massive breakfast, but I must eat something or else I'm useless for the day. I've tried oatmeal and I can't choke down but four or five bites because it's too heavy for a morning meal. Note: I'm allergic to corn and milk (although I occasionally indulge in a wallaby), as well as fruits like apples, mangoes, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, kiwi, etc.

What kind of smelly cheese is that?

Mom: "You got a solicitation from Rice University today. I think you should go. It really fits."

Affable Olive: "I know the Polyglot would eat that up. If they served rice, you know that would be my first pick."

CHEESE!? Gorgonzola!

"John and Jane" Flashback

This is going to be short, since I'm so very tired. I've been babysitting at least once a week for Contessa. Although she is about 8 years old and isn't hard to deal with, she's very active. There are no problems with that, except she likes to ride bikes for like 3 hours and, being an asthmatic, I can usually only go for about two until I need a break. I think she would ride all day if I would let her. Her dad isn't as watchful as I am. The whole thing is, I would let her ride for forever if I didn't know how much it would break her dad's heart if she wasn't there when he got home. See, it would break any parent's heart, but his especially because Contessa's mom, his wife of almost 15 years, passed away in November and I don't think he's over it yet, although he likes to talk about it like he can handle it. So she tires me out plus, I went out in service on Wednesday and today (for my school friends that's when I go from door to door and place magazines...basically. Y'all know it's more complicated than that but back to what I was saying...) And I physically can't go to sleep before 11 PM for some weird reason, and if I do, then I wake up around 2:30 AM and will not fall asleep again until around 5 AM. My friend Easel Weasel Beezit, whom I'll just call Eas, got back from a trip to Baltimore Monday and talked to me (I didn't get to say much) until after 12 PM on Tuesday, after I was already exhausted.

Now for the point of this post. It was definitely Wednesday when I picked up the phone. It was from MBNA and I know mom was having some issues with them lately so I picked it up when I normally would not have. Immediately, I was greeted with a warm hello with a thick Hindi accent. Most of my readers remember John and Jane. How could you forget Naomi, with her "totally natural" blonde look? And the guy who pleged his life to Amway? Not going into that. H'n'B did a great job of describing the premise of the movie way back when we went...when was that...May? Whenever it was, it resurfaced in my mind when I heard this girl's voice. I told her my mom wasn't available and she said she was glad she had caught me. Lord, I've been caught. How do I say no to this poor soul in the call center? I let her give her spheil about how I could lower my intrest rates and such and all she needed to do was check my address. I verified that what she had was correct and then she asked for my name. Well, then I told her the honest truth that I was too young for a credit card. (I'm not, but that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.) She then says, "Oh well, I'll try back for (my mom) later then." And she was so nice. I hated to turn her down, but what can I do with a credit card except get into debt? I don't have a regular income, so it's more than pointless. After I got off the phone, all I could do was think about how they're pushed to fufill a certain quota and all that. The worst part about it is I know I won't answer the phone again when MBNA shows up on the caller ID.

Librarians: Sweet and Sour

Well, on a very excited note, I've finished some classes for homeschool. Now, tons more to go. Stinks, and I'm moving so slow with French anyways. I'm not as dedicated to it as I would like to be. It is sticking though, so whatever I'm doing, I best keep at it. I decided to take...Journalism. It is what I want to do after all, deep down, but probably not what I end up doing realistically. If somehow I can get into the field without four years of college and a whole bunch of competition for jobs, I'll do it, but that's just my hopes and dreams.

Librarians though. So I have to go to the library to take my exams because I have to have a librarian, vice Principal, or counselor proctor my exams. Indiana is tough on that kind of thing. Yesterday, as everyone that read yesterday's post knows, I took Brit Lit. Today, I took US Hist., which is boring all on its own so just think of how boring this exam is. Two hours of sitting in the library, half way day dreaming through the short answer part and slaping together the last two essays because I fell asleep during the multiple choice. It's a very painful final, but atleast it was Thursday. Every Thursday is far busier than any other day I'm in there, and there are plenty of people to watch. The past three exams I've taken, no one was in the area with me. During yesterday's, a weird mechanic-type guy came in and was laboriously taking notes on something that he had brought into the area with him. Today, first was an elderly woman looking at census reports, then an OCD guy that was making a rucous with his papers. There are other desks to sit at in the library, why do you have to come into my area and distrub me while I'm trying to make an A on this test? Honestly, do I look like someone who wouldn't mind? Just come in, sit at my table, distract me with all of your rustle. There's an obvious reason why I sit in that area. No one usually bothers me. What's wrong with these people. The old woman was fine; those two guys- not fine. There are three young blonde girls that are always there. One I think works there, the other two act more like volunteers. But the one that works there was dealing with this lady from Bogart. She was complaining that they didn't have any of the books on the list that her daughter needed. This woman was very upset and the way she was treating this young librarian, who was being nothing but sweet to her, just let me tell ya, if I hadn't been taking that exam, I would've been walking over there and decking this woman in the face. She had already been hit with the ugly stick. A fist to the face wouldn't have made any difference. She was mad that they didn't have any books and that the books the school was making her daughter read were too easy. OK, lady, the librarian can't do anything about that. I'm gonna call the librarian Anna. She looks like an Anna. So, yeah Anna can't do anything about what your school does. The lady, I'm gonna call her Butthead, was ranting about how she hates the library and that she only comes once and year and how she can't belive that they never have any of the books. When Anna started working with Butthead, Butthead found out that she wasn't looking in the right place for a lot of her books and also Butthead had no idea about holds. She didn't understand either that she could've saved Anna 20 minutes and not get her temper up by conducting all of this at home by using the library's website. Oh Butthead made me so angry, and Anna was so sweet. After Butthead left, she started talking to the other librarians, the one with the British accent and the one that looks (and acts) like a thin Paula Deen, and was saying how she just wanted to slap the lady and tell her to go to Borders and she can pay for her books, and it was a test of her paitence. She's better than I am. Anna continued to help her and everything. It didn't help that was in a bad mood there since I didn't want to be taking that exam and Butthead just made it worse.

So...I can also use a blog for venting. C'est super!

"Hook," line, and exams

It wasn't until this past week that I realized that there were people out there reading my blog. Nice people. People I like. And then there's this other one that screamed in ALL CAPS at me this morning to update. She's not in the nice category...I'm kidding horse n.buggy, and I hope this INSANELY boring and banal post will appease your want for updates.

So this I would have to call my first official post back in the other O.C. because the last one is going to be a monthly thing and the other two were at my Greenparent's house, since I was evicted for that week. Last week, Marry Me went camping with far off family at the lake. I babysat for 24 hours. Had a demonstration on the meeting. Nothing has been going on worth posting about. Drama with Jammies is over. (But I feel it appropriate to give him a nickname since he'll probably be making frequent appearances.) We can be civilized friends now that he has a "girlfriend," which hasn't been confirmed but he's going down to West Palm next week and then she's coming back the week after that. The "she" is also brining another girl with her that Jammies would like for me to set up with one of my friends. Still don't know if I feel comfortable doing that. I wanted to be friends with him from the beginning, and now I can since I don't have to worry about the creepiness of a guy 9 years my senior wanting to get to know me for other reasons. And I wasn't dreaming this up. Everyone was saying something about it. Now, after 6 months, it's all over...thank goodness. Convention hopped on Sunday, which was a milestone in its own right. See, I haven't had my license for long. June 21st makes two months and I have an insanely over protective mother, but I understand her plea since there are some horrible drivers out there (i.e.- my aunts). Mom got flustered and told dad to make the decision and my dad, who doesn't give a flying flip what I do, just tells me to gas up the Jeep, leave by 7:30, and make a few phone calls home to mom. The trip is an a little less than an hour each way and mom hasn't even let me go much further than 20 minutes, much less drive on a highway type road without her. My sister, Marry Me, and I left on time and had a smashing day and visited with awesome people. When we got home, we found out we could have gone to dinner with our brothers, but it was too late and all I did was come home and sleep for 14/15 hours, since I hadn't had but 3 hours of sleep since Friday night. It was best that we didn't go to dinner because if I had hit the couch at their house, I would have been there for 14/15 hours... asleep. This week has been full of studying for exams. I take some today and some tomorrow. There's nothing I would rather NOT being doing more right now. Procrastination is what I do best, so I'm watching Hook (best Peter Pan movie in my opinion) with Marry Me and Contessa, listening to Johnathan Rice (who is in close running to making it to next month's Affie's Music Wednesday), and updating bloggie. Today's exam is Brit Lit, so it's not like I need to study. Plus the exam is open book, but I might as well go look over it just to be sure.

Music to my Ears

Let me start off by thanking those that put their input in for my class choices. I'm much obliged and will let y'all know which one I decide on. In part of starting this blog, I was determined that I wasn’t going to make this thing completely hackneyed (though there was plenty of drama to expound on this past weekend if I wanted to put that here). Part of my scheme to follow this through will be posts such as these where I actually put some effort into finding something I believe is meaningful to talk about. Music is always high up on the list of things to talk about, so here’s the deal- at least once a month, I’ll get a post up here about music and one about books. Seeing as how I’m doing the music early on in the month, I’ll do the book later on in the month. Ah, I can already see a pattern. First Wednesday of the month will be Affie’s Music Wednesday (forget Mondays, though it would be alliteration, my favorite element of poetic writing—I’m sad to admit that I have a favorite poetic element...especially since it’s sad in itself). The last Wednesday of the month will be Affie’s Book Recommendation (or non-recommendation).

So…Music Wednesday…I’ve got a solo artist and a band. All links will be to the artist’s websites…probably, maybe not. You’ll have to click on them to see. Let’s start with Mr. Solo Artist. *drum roll* Sufjan Stevens. Don’t you just love his name? It’s so not your typical Matthew or John. Like his name, he is a unique person, especially since he can play oboe, recorder, banjo, guitar, vibraphone, bass, drums, and the piano, just to name a few. I was in love with him from the first mention that he plays the piano. Guys that play piano, although often nerdy-ish, are the handsomest in my eyes, no matter how coke bottle the glasses are on his face. There’s one older fellow that plays piano at the Nordstrom at Perimeter Mall. He’s my idol since he can carry on a conversation with someone, play from memory, and do some insane improvisation with common songs so that you know what it is and wish that the original composer had gotten this guy’s input. Back to Sufjan: I bought his latest album, entitled Illinois(e). I’m impressed. The first song, Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois begins with piano, meaning the whole album begins with piano, giving it an overall appealing manner and smoothness that always appeals to me. Though it exudes a mellow feeling, there are upbeat moments in many of the songs, and some even have a good beat, like Come on! Feel the Illinoise! (which actually has a longer name since both parts 1 and 2 have separate names) that almost sounds like the Charlie Brown theme, only better and folksier, which the whole album has a slight indie-folk-rock feel. There are also tracks without words, the first being THE BLACK HAWK WAR, or How to Demolish an entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We apologize for the Inconvenience but You’re Going to Have to Leave Now, or, “I have fought the Big Knives and will continue to fight them until they are off our lands!” (gasps for air after reading title longer than those of Panic! At the Disco), and without words and listening to the meshing of the instruments together gives it an almost classical feel, but more jazz. If you want someone better known that Sufjan reminds me of, I would have to say Damien Rice. This album I would suggest to everyone, but find a place to listen to it first (you can get 30 second clips of all but the last two songs at amazon.com) since it’s not mainstream in any sense of the classification and wouldn’t fit everyone’s tastes. The last cool thing about Sufjan, his record label is called Asthmatic Kitty Records. Simone is so sweet, so never make fun of kitties with asthma!

Now for the band: The New Pornographers. I’ve been bordering on getting really into these Canadians for about two years now and I found out that my Aunt had their second album Electric Version, I ripped two tracks off that I had heard about a year ago now. Being at my grandparent’s house this weekend (where my aunt still lives), I had plenty of time to go through my aunt’s totally awesome CD collection, scattered throughout the house. Remembering this album, I searched for it and have been hooked for…maybe five days? About five, yes, and I’m now “into” this band of six very cool Canadians from Vancouver. The gal that sings vocals for the band is Neko Case, who has a successful solo career of her own, and sounds very folk-bluegrass-old-school-country. When added to a group of five other guys, the band is given a folk feel, but still reminds me of a cross between The Features and The Dandy Warhols— neither of which are very well known so lemme think for a minute…ah maybe The Shins? They are still kinda not as well known as some bands, but I can’t think of anyone else who they sound like. Anyways, so it’s some good alternative rock and perfect for head banging and turning up the stereo, one of my favorite past times. Everything is catchy and upbeat that they play, and I believe three of the five guys play keyboard, which leads me to believe if they wanted to, they could play some mean piano because the keyboards are super. Just for note, this is their second of three albums that I’m describing, that sounds a lot like their first one, but I’m not sure about their third one. I’m doing the second one and not the latest one because I don’t have my hands on the most recent one. Two of my favorite songs are at the beginning of the album, The Electric Version and From Blown Speakers. Both are stuck in my head right now. This album I would recommend to anyone and everyone. Who doesn’t like something that they can blow their speakers to? Though I’m not wowed like I was with Sufjan (since their sound is common) they still have a good feel for their instruments and have confusing but meaningful lyrics, which isn’t what you would think when you hear the immediately moving beat, like as in dancing, not emotionally. This is fun music, and good for short car rides and playing so loud that you feel the beat and your ears ring when you turn off the stereo.

That was the first Affie’s Music Wednesday and I hope my readers take the time to go off and listen to some not so main-stream music and hopefully pick up a copy of one or the other, and I’m always happy to burn copies if you are really interested and it doesn’t take too many stamps to send a CD.

Pick and choose

I meant to include this in my first post, but forgot to. Scenario: With Indiania University High School, I was required to get four more credits in English/Language Arts. Problem: I want to take more than that. I've already taken English Literature (First Semester), thus meaning I have to take the second semester of that course, and decided that I wanted to take the Five Novels of Change Course. That one I'm really looking forward to. They have you reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, The Old Man and the Sea, Slaughterhouse-Five, and A Lesson Before Dying. That makes three. I need some help in choosing the last one. Ultimately, it will, of course, be my decision, but I would like some imput. It's between: Journalism, Creative Writing: Fiction, and Advanced Composition. Please cast your vote for one of the three. It would be much appreciated.

Firstpost and The Office

Well...first post ever. How epic. I used to (it's still there, but remains un-updated) have a xanga, but this seems like it would suit me better than that site did. I wanted to be a blogger so badly and put this account to use, especially now that I know more than one person that participates in this. As of this moment, I'm very elated to have my first blog. I might as well go ahead and explain the blog name, which will probably change (since I found out that you can) as I pursue blogging as a summer hobby. Shmear as an alluding to my Jewish heritage, which isn't because I'm only 1/4 Jewish and don't practice at all, but that is the way "smear" should be pronounced. "The other O.C." is what my sister (who will get a nickname later since her current one isn't the best, but it may stick) and I have begun to call our home county. When abbreviated, our county is "The O.C." Affable Olive is a different story, explained here.

Since this is my first post, I suppose I better make it about something great, or better than great. Right now, at 11:15 (I have a little less than an hour if I want this to make it before June 2nd), the greatest thing is "The Office" on NBC. I'll link it forever later, but here's one for now. I've never had a job, but this is what I want my job to be like...or at least have this much fun at work. This show reminds me not only of Arrested Development (as well as Seinfeld), but bears a striking resemblance to my former AP classes. Jim Halpert, who is already my favorite and is going to be the main reason for staying home from my prior engagement that happens every Thursday night, is absolutely the best. He's the kind of person I would see as being my own best friend and selfishly hogging him. From the four episodes I watched tonight ("The Fire," "Halloween," "The Client," and "performance Review"), I could tell Jim would be a person that I would get along with splendidly. Dwight Schrute strikes me as a better adjusted Napoleon Dynamite. He is always asking for it, in my opinion. Poor thing, and it's so hilarious. Then there's Pam Beesly. Although Jim is my favorite, Pam is wonderful as well. She would be my best friend too. That would be a definitely since Pam and Jim have something between the two of them (though I've found that's not acknowledged til later) and I'm going to be best friends with both of them. Ryan ("The Temp.") is great, but the boss, Michael Scott, makes the work place everything it needs to be to make it one of my favorite places to be on Thursday nights now. I highly suggest this show to all of my friends (yes, the one or two of you that bother to traipse over here) and those that stumble upon the blog.

Ah...first post and I just realized I could have written this whole thing in Webdings and then no one would ever come back, despite the amusement it would give me to publish it.