beginning-of-the-year lists:
best book i have read so far this year: sixteen and a half hours into 2008 and forty-three pages into it, must be the liar by mister stephen fry. i find his writing absolutely gorgeous and not "gorgeous" in the sense of "pretty" but in the sense of absolutely necessary to my continued existence, and i am adding him immediately to my oft-mentioned List of Fictional Men I Would Totally Do (if we were both just a bit less queer. just a bit) because, like sir ian mckellan, i don't for one moment believe he is at all real. i am looking forward to reading revenge (a novel) which i fully intended to read first right up to the moment i opened this book instead, the ode less traveled because the first page is too wonderful not to bear out that promise in the following pages, and his autobiography, even though it makes me feel like a bit of a pervert. thus far, i have no idea what the last item might contain, but while i have no problem with biographies because they are necessarily partially works of fiction, autobiographies, memoirs, and diaries make me uncomfortable in the same way that homemade pornography makes me uncomfortable (as opposed to corporately-owned pornography, which honestly just makes me bored).
is it too much of a fabrication to call one item a list? i have no resolutions because i never keep them (except for 2005's gem of not to kill anyone...with a hammer. as much an homage to david sedaris as an aspiration regarding how to live my life) and anyhow, i generally make my resolutions around february, seeing as that's how long it takes people to forget that they'd planned to improve themselves. it makes me feel like i've got a head start. or something. maybe the opposite of a head start, since a head start would imply that i began before rather than continuing afterwards.
along the same vein, what is the opposite of a retrospective?
i positively live for beginnings, and apparently cannot abide by endings. i still have not finished my mandatory journal from second grade. at the very back, there is a drawing of my then-current goldfish (with the uninspired name of "goldie", happily swimming around in a tank that is the pure product of my imagination as the real goldie lived in a small glass bowl which is probably the reason why neither he, nor any of the other denizens of aquatic life i called "pets" managed to last much past the three month mark) along with two pristine pages on which i decided never to write anything so that there would always be the potential for untold brilliance.
i think of this and don't wonder why my mother insisted i see a psychologist.
so recommend for me:
-several books.
-several things of musical persuasion, be they songs, bands, or musical instruments to attempt to learn at some point.
-visual media, be they photography, film, or of the painted variety.
-museum exhibits i might enjoy, regardless of whether or not they are geographically feasible.
-your top choices for an undergraduate major.
-several foods you enjoy, stipulating whether or not you feel they can be made vegan if they aren't already, as well as whether your answer of "no" to the preceding question is, in fact, a challenge.
here are some of mine (by no means complete, nor completely following the aforementioned list. i'm sure you can guess which is which):
-the god of small things by arundhati roy, ficciones by jorge luis borges which i have finally won my mother over to, paradise lost by john milton because i still love 17th century poetry and i don't care if it's cool or not, the dispossessed by ursula k. le guin because space anarchists and an allegorical retelling of einstein's life between europe and the united states as he searched for a unified theory of everything is certainly a recipe for a rockin' good time, and anything by stephen fry, i am finding.
-bonfire madigan, forever and always. "made-up love song #43" by guillemots even though it is a bit cheesy. danielle howle, with or without the tantrums depending on your preferences. rickie lee jones, who i always listen to in the winter. annie lennox who, it appears, i cannot make it through a single entry without mentioning.
-sociology and physics are currently battling it out in my heart. this is not exactly true. physics of course has won in my heart, but sociology still seems the more sensible route w.r.t. pursuing a graduate degree in library science.
-one food i love which no one else seems to even like particularly is brussels sprouts. i think they are delicious, but as i recall they were generally the focus of disgust on the sitcoms of my childhood.
is it too much of a fabrication to call one item a list? i have no resolutions because i never keep them (except for 2005's gem of not to kill anyone...with a hammer. as much an homage to david sedaris as an aspiration regarding how to live my life) and anyhow, i generally make my resolutions around february, seeing as that's how long it takes people to forget that they'd planned to improve themselves. it makes me feel like i've got a head start. or something. maybe the opposite of a head start, since a head start would imply that i began before rather than continuing afterwards.
along the same vein, what is the opposite of a retrospective?
i positively live for beginnings, and apparently cannot abide by endings. i still have not finished my mandatory journal from second grade. at the very back, there is a drawing of my then-current goldfish (with the uninspired name of "goldie", happily swimming around in a tank that is the pure product of my imagination as the real goldie lived in a small glass bowl which is probably the reason why neither he, nor any of the other denizens of aquatic life i called "pets" managed to last much past the three month mark) along with two pristine pages on which i decided never to write anything so that there would always be the potential for untold brilliance.
i think of this and don't wonder why my mother insisted i see a psychologist.
so recommend for me:
-several books.
-several things of musical persuasion, be they songs, bands, or musical instruments to attempt to learn at some point.
-visual media, be they photography, film, or of the painted variety.
-museum exhibits i might enjoy, regardless of whether or not they are geographically feasible.
-your top choices for an undergraduate major.
-several foods you enjoy, stipulating whether or not you feel they can be made vegan if they aren't already, as well as whether your answer of "no" to the preceding question is, in fact, a challenge.
here are some of mine (by no means complete, nor completely following the aforementioned list. i'm sure you can guess which is which):
-the god of small things by arundhati roy, ficciones by jorge luis borges which i have finally won my mother over to, paradise lost by john milton because i still love 17th century poetry and i don't care if it's cool or not, the dispossessed by ursula k. le guin because space anarchists and an allegorical retelling of einstein's life between europe and the united states as he searched for a unified theory of everything is certainly a recipe for a rockin' good time, and anything by stephen fry, i am finding.
-bonfire madigan, forever and always. "made-up love song #43" by guillemots even though it is a bit cheesy. danielle howle, with or without the tantrums depending on your preferences. rickie lee jones, who i always listen to in the winter. annie lennox who, it appears, i cannot make it through a single entry without mentioning.
-sociology and physics are currently battling it out in my heart. this is not exactly true. physics of course has won in my heart, but sociology still seems the more sensible route w.r.t. pursuing a graduate degree in library science.
-one food i love which no one else seems to even like particularly is brussels sprouts. i think they are delicious, but as i recall they were generally the focus of disgust on the sitcoms of my childhood.