Yesterday, my aura was cleansed without my permission. I think she missed a spot.
Several weeks ago, I finished The Great Gatsby, which was sad and interesting, though not particulary poignant.
I just finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo and I must say, I was pleased for the most part. Unfortunately, I did get stuck with the abridged version, which I realized half-way through - at which point I decided it was too late to start over. The introduction (which I failed to read before I started the book) said something about how the abridged version basically just left out a bunch of descriptions of places, but that was a LIE! The footnotes clearly indicate that there are entire plot lines that are omitted from the text. As Emily said, I feel I have been cheated. Someday I'll go back and read the real version...a very long time from now.
I was supposed to be reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince next, but it seems to have disappeared from my room. Maybe there's something to all the hubbub about the magic in Harry Potter.
I've also read the first few chapter in Douglas Coupland's Generation X. I'm not far into it and the thing that's struck me so far is how obsessed our culture is with irony. It seems to me that overly-contrived irony almost ceases to be ironic. I mean, I enjoy a good Wes Anderson movie as much as the next 20 something, but when so many books and movies use irony not as a story-telling tool, but as the point - to make us feel like we get something that people from other generations don't understand, it looks like nothing but insincere, manufactured, ego-stroking of a generation that already thinks we're smarter than we really are. I'm beginning to wonder if the joke is on us. Wouldn't that be ironic!*
*I don't pretend to be some kind of postmodern philosopher, so don't try to read too much into what I'm saying. You can argue that maybe I'm the one who doesn't get it, but you might just be making my point.
(So I can find this article again later and finish reading it - "Irony, Nostalgia and the Postmodern.")
I did it. I went speed dating last week. For those of you who live under rocks, here's what speed dating is:
You go into a room at a restaraunt where they have a bunch of tables for two set up. Each person has a nametag with their first name and a number (NOT your phone number - just a number, like 5) and a scorecard. Each woman sits at her table and a guy comes and sits with her for seven minutes. Within those seven minutes, you just try to get to know the person to see if you would like to go out with them. If you like them, you mark that down on your score card and if they mark you down on their scorecard, then you have a match and the host of the speed dating will let you know later and see if you're willing to give the person your contact information. At the end of the seven minutes, a buzzer goes off and the guys get up and moves to the next table.
There are a few guidelines, like you're advised not to tell them your last name or where you work, etc. so this doesn't turn into a stalking situation. I can see how this would, in a more perfect world, be good clean fun. It's all a matter of who shows up.
Well, in West Monroe, let's just say, the pickin's are slim (a fact that I already knew, but was confirmed by the speed dating experience). I go to the restaurant with 2 former co-workers and one of their new co-workers - two guys, one girl. The place seems to be pretty packed, which I take as a good sign. They have 2 rooms set up for the so-called speed dating. The first room is for those ages 35 to 55 or 60. The second room has the senior citizens and my group, the under 35s.
Before we ever sit down, we get a peak into the room and start to think maybe this wasn't such a good idea. They had a shortage of tables, so they asked if Frannie and I mind sitting at the same table. If there had been any potentials, one or both of us might have been unhappy with this situation but, let's just say, it was not a problem.
In the oldest age group, there were 4 ladies and one man. The middle age group looked like the place to be. It was pretty full of people and everybody was flirting. In our age group we had Frannie and me plus 3 other girls, the 2 guys who came with us, plus 2 other guys.
Our first date was with Jeremy #3. He was a nice guy who had been suckered into this deal by a friend who was supposed to come with him, but didn't show up and wouldn't answer Jeremy #3's phone calls. We talked with him for a bit and it was pretty clear that none of the parties were interested.
Our next 7 minutes were with one of the guys who came with us who I didn't really know, but Frannie is his boss, so that was kind of weird. I think he had the most fun of the 4 from our group. I'm not sure if he made a match, but he seemed to have a good time.
Next, we had our 7 minutes with Jacob, who I used to work with. Jacob is a great guy and like a brother to me - which is not really a good quality in a date.
Finally, we got the guy who Frannie aptly nicknamed "The Wooly Booger". He looked like a guy who really likes video games. He's 19, unemployed, and enjoys hanging out in the woods with his friends. The woods?? I'm not sure what goes on in the woods, but I don't think it has anything to do with hunting.
That pretty much sums up our 28 minutes of tag-team-speed-dating. It was...unforgettable, but not necessarily in a good way.
I'll let people talk me into doing a few crazy things, but a least no one has wanted to marry me off this bad. Poor guy. Too bad he's Mormon. ; )
friday:
*purchased plane ticket (!) to go to idaho in september. i may be a texan/louisianian, but I kind of think of moscow as my hometown.
*icecream with friends. people watching in west monroe=good times
*scrubbed the daylights out of kitchen floor until the early hours of the morning. i live for a clean kitchen floor. it is one of my (sometimes suppressed) obsessions in life.
saturday:
*saw charlie and the chocolate factory. delightfully disturbing. you know that phrase "gives me the willies" (as in: kind of freaks me out)? i'm pretty sure that phrase has something to do with willy wonka. creepy.
*game night. trivia was pursued. my brother and sister-in-law won (as is their custom).
*read more of the count of monte cristo. can't get enough of it. harry potter must wait in line behind the count. 300 pages to go.
sunday:
*refreshing as usual.
*dinner with family. always a pleasure.
Miscellaneous:
*busy week ahead, both at work and in general.
*speed dating (accompanied by friends): should i or shouldn't i? i figure that even if it's horrible, i could probably get a good story out of it.
*I have been known to buy products based solely on their shiny packaging.
*I set my alarm clock 30 minutes early every day just so I can get some snooze time in.
*I re-potted a plant last week, ending my long streak of not voluntarily touching dirt.
*I watched Bride & Prejudice this weekend, and even though it was one of the most bizarre movies I've ever seen, I kind of liked it.
*I have little or no sympathy for lazy people.
1. Opportunity to learn the difference between a redneck and white trash.
2. People will get a second loan on their truck to put camouflage decals and/or superlifts, but there's no way they're spending 4 bucks on a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
3. You know that Nelly and Tim McGraw song? Those two pretty much sum up our culture. (If you've ever been to The Foxhole, you know what I'm saying. If you've never been to The Foxhole, you're missing out.)
4. We're very familiar with the difference between the heat index and the actual temperature. For example, yesterday it was 95 degrees with a heat index of 101.
5. Mudbugs are a lot better than they sound.
6. Where else does anyone get "Mardi Gras Break"?
7. I get e-mails from my colleagues in south Louisiana with the confidentiality notice in English and French.
8. The command "give me some sugar" has nothing to do with actual sugar and even toddlers know this.
9. Everybody thinks they're related to everyone else, even if they're seventh cousins by marriage.
10. Drive-thru daiquiris - the Friday afternoon treat.