Home today
I'm staying home from work today. I've been having trouble sleeping for the past few weeks, and it finally hit that point where I'm just utterly non-functional. At work yesterday I felt dizzy I was so exhausted, and today when I woke up at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep, I knew it would be even worse, so I admitted defeat and stayed home. Now at least I can deal with my achy body, sleep deprivation headache, and general out-of-it-ness without feeling guilty about not being able to focus on work things.
So, here I am. Sleep problems really, truly suck. Usually when I have sleeping woes during the school year, they're because of stress/anxiety... so I thought the summer's comparative sense of freedom would be good for me, but I think I'm still worrying about things like events around my friend's wedding, post-graduation job application stuff, when I'll squeeze in time for exercise, etc. If there were a magic potion to make me stop being a worry wart, I'd down it by the vat.
In my free day, I do have to admit it's nice to be able to catch up on my f-list and update my own journal. I miss you all! I can't check my personal email or do any fun internet browsing during the day because in my office anyone walking past can see my computer screen and I really should be focusing on my work projects anyway, but the result is that I feel very out of the loop on the LJ world.
One of the best things about summer is that I can READ FOR FUN!!! Oh, the novelty of it!!! :P
1. First off, huge shout out and earnest thank you to the ever wonderful dogstar101, who sent me Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson. These books about the "Moomintrolls" are classic children's literature from Finland, and I'd never even heard of them before so she sent me a copy. This one looks interesting -- how the Moomintrolls respond to the prospect of a comet headed straight for the valley they live in. Just the concept is so inventive and creepy that I'm sure the book will be intriguing...
2. Second, I finally, finally had time to finish Enduring Love by Ian McEwan. I think I started it last summer and had to set it aside when school started kicking me around. But I finished it, and as with other books I've read by McEwan, CANNOT get enough of his prose. It's the kind of writing that pierces me with its authenticity and simultaneously makes me realize, "I could never string words together this beautifully." :( Well, I can strive to do so, but there's a reason why he's an award winning author and I'm a scrub. At one point as I was reading, I could no longer resist and simply had to underline sentences that GOT to me because I knew I needed to go back and appreciate them.
Here's one example from a passage describing a period of tension/weirdness between a married couple: "Conflicts, like living organisms, had a natural lifespan. The trick was to let them know when to die. At the wrong moment, words could act like so many fibrillating jolts. The creature could revive in pathogenic form, feverishly regernated by an interesting new formulation or by this or that morbidly 'fresh look' at things."
I think that appeals to the biology major in me, but it also taps into an understanding of the nature of fights-that-aren't-quite-fights-but-you-don't-know-what-they-are that couples go through... Anyway, I love McEwan's writing and also bought his new novel Saturday.
3. And finally -- last book thing -- I started Wicked. This book has been on my list for over two years, and I'm very curious about it since I've heard mixed reviews. People seem to rave about the musical, and I've heard enthusiasm for the book as well, but I've also heard "blah" reviews of it. Essentially, it's published fan fiction, so that makes me really curious as well. I read and loved Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, so I'm eager to compare Wicked to it.
So, here I am. Sleep problems really, truly suck. Usually when I have sleeping woes during the school year, they're because of stress/anxiety... so I thought the summer's comparative sense of freedom would be good for me, but I think I'm still worrying about things like events around my friend's wedding, post-graduation job application stuff, when I'll squeeze in time for exercise, etc. If there were a magic potion to make me stop being a worry wart, I'd down it by the vat.
In my free day, I do have to admit it's nice to be able to catch up on my f-list and update my own journal. I miss you all! I can't check my personal email or do any fun internet browsing during the day because in my office anyone walking past can see my computer screen and I really should be focusing on my work projects anyway, but the result is that I feel very out of the loop on the LJ world.
One of the best things about summer is that I can READ FOR FUN!!! Oh, the novelty of it!!! :P
1. First off, huge shout out and earnest thank you to the ever wonderful dogstar101, who sent me Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson. These books about the "Moomintrolls" are classic children's literature from Finland, and I'd never even heard of them before so she sent me a copy. This one looks interesting -- how the Moomintrolls respond to the prospect of a comet headed straight for the valley they live in. Just the concept is so inventive and creepy that I'm sure the book will be intriguing...
2. Second, I finally, finally had time to finish Enduring Love by Ian McEwan. I think I started it last summer and had to set it aside when school started kicking me around. But I finished it, and as with other books I've read by McEwan, CANNOT get enough of his prose. It's the kind of writing that pierces me with its authenticity and simultaneously makes me realize, "I could never string words together this beautifully." :( Well, I can strive to do so, but there's a reason why he's an award winning author and I'm a scrub. At one point as I was reading, I could no longer resist and simply had to underline sentences that GOT to me because I knew I needed to go back and appreciate them.
Here's one example from a passage describing a period of tension/weirdness between a married couple: "Conflicts, like living organisms, had a natural lifespan. The trick was to let them know when to die. At the wrong moment, words could act like so many fibrillating jolts. The creature could revive in pathogenic form, feverishly regernated by an interesting new formulation or by this or that morbidly 'fresh look' at things."
I think that appeals to the biology major in me, but it also taps into an understanding of the nature of fights-that-aren't-quite-fights-but-you-don't-know-what-they-are that couples go through... Anyway, I love McEwan's writing and also bought his new novel Saturday.
3. And finally -- last book thing -- I started Wicked. This book has been on my list for over two years, and I'm very curious about it since I've heard mixed reviews. People seem to rave about the musical, and I've heard enthusiasm for the book as well, but I've also heard "blah" reviews of it. Essentially, it's published fan fiction, so that makes me really curious as well. I read and loved Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, so I'm eager to compare Wicked to it.