Upon Completion of My First Two Weeks At School
Things are really going well. I’m enjoying my classes and I’m getting my homework done. (At least all the homework I can afford to get done, meaning, I haven’t got money enough to buy all my books, but that should be remedied shortly.) The funny thing is, I like doing my homework. That’s a new concept even for me. And why do I enjoy putting a pencil on paper and working towards some goal so much? I think it has something to do with nostalgia. I’ve missed it. Being an English major, I don’t remember doing homework for two years. My last semester, I didn’t buy a single book.
Sure I wrote a couple (bad) papers and some (terrible) stories and read a fraction of the books I was supposed to read. But that’s not really homework is it? Papers and stories, you don’t have to do many of them a year. Those are crests in between the daily grind. And reading, that doesn’t even show up on the homework charts anywhere, because no one’s keeping tabs on how much you do. At least not at Orono.
So what is homework? Problem solving. Answering questions. Putting all the pieces of the puzzle together and doing it on paper. And no, you don’t get any problem solving in literature. Your brain does all that for you without any effort. It’s breathing. It doesn’t mean anything. (Such a thing to say! But that could explain why my English degree holds to weight with me. Because I don’t remember doing anything to get it. Don’t tell my grandmother that though.) And now with the problem solving I’m able to feel like I’m working for my keep. And that is a marvelous and productive feeling.
But wait, there’s more! Lets discuss the issue of class attendance. Every single semester in the past three years worked as follows. Somewhere around Wednesday or Thursday of the second week I would feel an overwhelming urge to skip class. And from that moment on, I’d cop out around once a week. A plethora of excuses, generally weak, ranging from "I don’t feel like it," to "it’s too cold," (and this when I drive to school) followed me around. And I just didn’t care. Lazy? Of course. Not that it bothered me any.
So We’ve once again met our two week marker. Ask me how I did. C’mon ask me. Always present! I went to every class for every day for every week (so far). The thought of not going barely crossed my mind, and when it did, I scoffed at it. What do you mean, not go to class? Why wouldn’t I go to class? Because I’m walking there with a wind chill of 15 below? Pish tosh. I’ll dress warmer. Because I don’t want to? Of course I want to. Class is fun.
Did I just say that? It’s been a few years since I said that. Probably four.
And all the discoveries I’ve made about Farmington! First it was the sidewalks. I LOVE the sidewalks. So handy. There’s really no point in driving unless I’m getting groceries. Cars? Cars stop for people at crosswalks. That bears repeating. Cars stop for people at crosswalks. And not just the people half way across the road. Cars stop for pedestrians waiting to cross! And it’s not just one or two. We’re talking 90% of cars, will stop for me if I want to cross the street. And we’re talking anywhere in town, not just on campus. Holy Junipers Batman!
It’s like Farmington lives in this sunny happy universe that wasn’t settled by yankees. It has a very southern feel to it. People greet each other on the street. They look at each other and smile and say hi. I haven’t seen anything like it since Gardner Webb University. I’m used to the frowning and staring straight ahead school of interpersonal relations. This is way cool.
Next discovery, the third floor of the library. Always a lovable concoction, no matter where you are. Third floors are quiet and comfortable. And they like to have couches. As does this one. But along with the couches, one finds a lovely, underused computer lab, some fabulous study tables as well as individual desks. And did I mention that the third floor is the home of the children’s library? The whole thing is so cuddly. That’s the best word I can come up with to describe it. Besides that, it’s also 10 degrees warmer on that floor than on the first. Definitely worth the stairs.
And finally, my last holy cow! moment I had at school came yesterday. I was cutting through the student union because it’s the shortest, warmest path towards most of my classes (ingenious in and of itself, all student unions ought to be so well placed) and about to head down stairs when a rack of newspapers caught my eye. You know those wire racks that hold several piles of newspapers, generally free? It was one of those. But the contents were by far more astounding. USA Today and The Boston Globe. Do you know what this means? The University of Maine at Farmington gives away USA Today and Boston Globe FREE. Is that the most wonderful beautiful fantastic stupendous magnificent idea that you’ve ever heard associated with an institution of higher education? Because I’m thinking yes.
And how goes my life outside school? There’s not much there besides Abby, my cat. And she’s taking much better to this whole situation than I expected. Considering the fact that she hasn’t got any friends here, and she’s not allowed to go outside, and her quarters are much smaller than she’s used to, and she’s scared of all things new ever, she’s doing very well. The scared thing balances well with the outside thing. She hasn’t gotten around to wanting to venture outside the door in the first place, and whenever someone walks around in the hall outside my door she growls and hides under my bed. It took her a while to condescend to eat my lowly Purina brand cat food and longer to figure out that yes, that is her litter box. (Although no accidents prior to that, which was wonderful.) The only thing is, she loves my refrigerator. Marches herself right inside whenever I open the door. And she always follows me into the bathroom.
But we’re getting along. I’m shopping for a good toy, something with a bell, so that maybe she won’t need to play with my yarn quite so much, and I’ve come to no conclusions on how to keep her odd water qualifications satisfied, but any relationship is a work in progress.
So yes, life is beautiful, and as if in proof, I’ve even figured out how to crochet all my granny squares together. I smell an afghan coming on…
My Secret Admirer
So here’s the thing. I understand that you are not mind readers. And I would never, EVER randomly expect you to cater to my wishes without telling you what they are. It’s not fair to you. So I’ll just dive in.
Every once in a while we come up with these ideas about things that we’d like to happen, that depend upon others. Example, I might see a really gorgeous necklace in a window to drool over. But I can’t buy it for myself. Why? It’s an ethical question. To buy jewelry for yourself is cheating. Therefore, I only get to walk by this necklace everyday and dream of the circumstances surrounding my eventual acquisition. (Random note, why is it that I can never use just one word with more than 3 syllables? They always seem to come in whole sentences. Must get back to my Strunk and White.)
But I did not write this blog to explain to you about the necklace I’m drooling over in the window of Days Jewelers in Bangor. This is about my secret admirer.
"What, Sarah, you’ve got a secret admirer? That’s so sweet! Who s it?"
First of all, if I knew that, it wouldn’t be secret, so stop asking questions to which you already know the answers.
Secondly, no, I don’t have a secret admirer. That’s the problem. I’m missing out on a veritable institution of the American Dream sub-dream romantic notions. Now, I’ve managed , happily I might add, to clear away oodles of romantic notions from my poor, fairy taled head. But this one isn’t going anywhere.
And so I’m asking for your help. All of you. Any of you. Won’t you please be my secret admirer? Because Valentines Day is coming up, I know because there’s all kinds of pink and red boxes in grocery stores and drug stores and department stores, easily accessible to any at-least-partially-mobile being. Please? And I just need the one box of chocolate covered cherries (this year’s please, not last thank you) on my doorstep with the little red paper heart attached that says "Sweets for my sweet, Sarah Eliza. From your secret admirer." Or something along those lines.
Is this just a ruse for me to wheedle a box of chocolate covered cherries from an unsuspecting public? Quite possible, but I’ll tell you a secret. Shhhhh.
I don’t think it’s going to work.
So you don’t have to feel bad. I promise.
Top 10 List
Top 10 List
My mouse just reminded me that I forgot to share with all y’all my ever so important and well researched Top 10 Movies of 2004. I can’t even remember if I came up with 10 to put in it. But along with this, I’ll be adding my running Oscar commentary because the nominees were announced this morning. So, On your mark, get set, Oscar!
10. There’s a ton of movies that I haven’t seen this year, which I should have if I was going to be qualified to write a top ten list. Those movies being, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Incredibles, Shrek 2, We Don’t Live Here Anymore, and Million Dollar Baby. I’m sure at least one of them is good enough to fill in this missing spot that I wasn’t able to fill.
9. Team America World Police
A dumb movie I am aware. But the puppet sex and puking set aside, this movie has one of the funniest monologues ever, especially in the middle of this setting. It turns out that we’ve been wrong for a long time. There are really three types of people.
Oscar Potential: nil, but it would have been so much fun if one of those songs had been nominated…
8. Finding Neverland
A movie about the creative process, and a boy that never wanted to grow up. A movie with magic and fairies and children staying children? A movie about hiding from the real world? Are we sure this movie isn’t actually about me?
Oscar Potential: it’s contenders are 10 times as strong, but in the best picture and best actor categories. But some point in the near future, Johnny should be getting himself a little statue. We’ll see what happens with Mr. Wonka.
7. Fahrenheit 911
yes, I liked it. Yes, I thought it brought up excellent points. Yes it was just propaganda to get Bush sucked out of the White House. No, it didn’t work. Somehow that didn’t bother me. You know what I like about Michael Moore? He’s not afraid to use those techniques which conservatives seem to have claimed. He’s loud and obnoxious and one sided and doesn’t play fair. He claims to stand up for the blue collar everyday American. It’s about time we liberals found someone like that. (also good reason to like Al Franken, who resorts to name calling. If you can do it, then we can to.)
Oscar Potential: Completely shut out. Likely due to the fact that it didn’t change the country and Bush was not ousted. Understandable? Not quite. I don’t care whether it wins for best documentary, but a nod would be nice. I can’t help but have my suspicions that his last Oscar acceptance speech was somehow involved, but I realize that’s not likely the case.
6. Sideways
This year’s critical darling, I did like it. I loved how the movie would go along being all intellectual and everything and then out of nowhere it would hit you on your it’s-so-random-its-funny bone. Some absolutely adorable moments, it made me feel really terrible about the way I live my life. Whatever happened to carpe diem?
Oscar potential: Not so much. I’m sure it has more than I give it credit for, in my voting, it comes in third for best picture, but Oscar loves his surprises, so you never know. However, I do think it’s enough to deserve best screenplay.
5. The Assassination of Richard Nixon
This movie really hit home with me in sort of the same way that Sideways did. It made me look at myself. What if I could become that person? It wouldn’t really take all that much would it? Also disturbing was how much of my little brother I saw there. This type of situation is not as far off the mark as it ought to be. And why is it that every time I see Naomi Watts she looks like a completely different person? I think I can only tell it’s her because there’s something metallic in her voice.
Oscar Potential: With the best Actor category so full of possibilities, I can understand why they bypassed last year’s winner. But Sean Penn was of course, fantastic. (speaking of which, isn’t he about due for something light? A children’s movie or a romantic comedy perhaps?)
4. A Home At The End Of The World
A very well done movie, I’d never really seen Colin Ferrell as much more than a crass talking playboy, but one could blame that on his recent choices in roles. He was fabulous here, I don’t know if subtle is the right word, but his character came across oh so very well, with barely a word of it spoken. Dallas Roberts and Robin Wright Penn were also at top form, and the story felt very human. There was a definite emotional attachment on my side towards the whole thing.
Oscar Potential: bypassed.
3. Kinsey
What? I liked it. It appealed to the liberal in me. Liam Neeson, Laura Linney et al, were great. I appreciate attempts by other people to change my perspectives on things (actually that might be a lie, it’s hard to tell) and while I’m just as much a sexual prude as ever, I do feel that as far as knowledge is concerned, we should not be sexually ignorant. The movie’s goal is to get us to be more comfortable with the topic, and that’s not a bad idea.
Oscar Potential: Laura Linney’s up for supporting actor. Is she going to win? Should she win? It’s hard for me to say. I just don’t know.
2. Ray
I loved it. It was fabulous and well done and powerful and full of Ray Charles music. As far as Jamie Foxx goes, everything that everyone has said about him and this role? Ditto. I don’t really have much to add on that account. But it wasn’t just him. It was everyone. All the female actors in this movie were above par. Everything was. This was the first movie that I saw this year, that I felt had it. It what? That weird it that everyone’s always talking about when they talk abut Hollywood. That it that is a complete package where you watch it and you know when you’re done that you’ve seen a quality movie. You know, that it.
Oscar Potential: Best Actor, hell yes. I’ a little afraid since Jamie’s also up for best supporting actor, that’s been known to get in the way sometimes, and with as much talent as there is in this year’s best actor category we must keep our fingers crossed. Best picture? Really close, but coming up short.
1. The Aviator
This is a big movie. In all ways except the box office it feels gigantic, larger than life, colossal. Exceptionally well made and full of dazzling eye candy, costumes, sets, characters, everything, it is old Hollywood come back to visit. Leave it to Martin Scorsese to make this movie beautiful down to the last detail. The man is a master, just look what he can do with Leonardo DiCaprio. I haven’t seen him in form this fine since What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Oscar Potential: So what does this movie have that Ray doesn’t? Everything is bigger. The details are bigger and more beautiful and louder and overwhelming. And the character of Howard Hughes is just more intriguing to me than Ray Charles, though not by much, I promise. And please, please, please, would it kill us to give Mr. Scorsese an Oscar for best director? Just this once?
Catch of the Day
Just finished
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. Bad pun, I know, but it reminded me of cheesy newspaper headlines, you know like "Red Sox Sweep Away the Curse With World Series Win." Cheesy but endearing just the same. Such is why it’s hanging on my bedroom wall.
But I digress.
Catch 22. Marvelous. I’ve tried to read it before and didn’t get terribly far. If I remember correctly that was due to the fact that the plot never really progressed. And it doesn’t. Of course reading it today it’s attached to a whole new relevance. The central question that the book likes to ask is: don’t you have to be crazy to fight in a war?
And that’s the catch. Since everyone in the book is crazy, theoretically they would have to be grounded and not allowed to fly any more combat missions. Only they have to ask in order to get grounded. Catch 22 says that asking to be grounded shows that you are still sane because you care enough about your safety to want to continue to live. Therefore if you ask to be grounded, you are sane and won’t get grounded. And if you don’t ask you’re crazy and should be grounded, but you can’t ask to be grounded because they’ll turn you down.
And so it goes. (Wrong book, but Heller reminds me ever so much of Vonnegut with his dry but still insane humor.)
But he really does write like that. In circles, I mean. And such is how I think and often how I soliloquize as well so rather than making me dizzy, I found the style adorable and refreshing, even if I couldn’t follow the timeline. But as this the name of the book implies, it’s all bout circles and going nowhere and how do you escape from a catch 22? So it’s only logical that he would write in circles and go nowhere while we attempt to escape from his catch 22. Fantastic.
Even better though, Mr. Heller conveniently remembers that there’s a war going on. It’s messy and bloody and serious and very affecting. When Heller decides to change the tone from humorous to grave, he succeeds, and I can feel it in my heart. Props for that, and excellently executed.
The philisophical questions this book brings up are so much fun. Can you be sane while fighting a war? Is sanitiy objective or relative? What looks crazy may have a very sane reason, or is it sane to want to preserve your life? What would happen in a war if everyone protected their own best interests? Who does a soldier fight a war for? And what is the most noble way to release yourself from a catch 22 if you are trying not to die?
And last but not least, this book asks the best biblical question I’ve ever heard. Was an almighty God really worried that people were going to succeed in building a tower to Heaven?
