MILTON MARATHON
So yesterday I had a rehearsal on campus at about 6:30, I brought my cello so I had to take the bus. After the rehearsal I left my cello in a locker on campus; however, the rehearsal ended at 10, and by the time I'd put my cello away it was already almost 10:15. This is only interesting and/or relevant because the last buses in the summer leave at 10:10, and my parents' house is 3 miles from campus. So I was now faced with an interesting problem: I was at least an hours' walk away from home, but the next bus didn't come until 6:30 AM. I decided that a trip to AMPM couldn't possibly make things any worse than they already were, since it's vaguely in a similar direction to home, so I started the trek across campus to the hallowed late-night college student shrine.
As I was about halfway to AMPM, a stroke of brilliance hit me: the realization that I had Milton's Paradise Lost in my backpack. I made a commitment to myself at the beginning of the summer that I was going to read Paradise Lost before school started; however, by this point I'd fallen woefully behind, and with only a week and a half left until school starts, I had regrettably read barely more than a third of my edition's 289 pages. So I decided, screw it, I'll wait all night in the 24-hour reading room for the first bus in the morning. I've got Milton and an iPod to keep me company. So with all-nighter fuel from AMPM (bottled coffee, 2 cheeseburgers, mint chewing gum and a thing of "extreme sours lemonade strips") I advanced upon Shields Library as the hour approached 11PM with firm resolve and an ambitious objective: read 100 pages of Milton by the end of the night or fall asleep trying.
(Note: before anybody is like 'hey stephen only 100 pages I can down that in like less than an hour', this is Milton's Paradise Lost. It's very difficult reading, and my previous speeds hovered around 6-10 pages an hour, so 100 pages in 7.5 hours was somewhat optimistic.)
I also decided to take notes on the whole ordeal, which I am typing up and posting for posterity. They are completely unedited except for the asterisk notes, which I am adding during transcription as I remember important details.
MILTON MARATHON
START
10: 55 PM (page 108)
I am set against this ambitious task with a coffee + 2 hamburgers from ampm, plus some sour candy, mint chewing gum, and an ipod with ~2 hours of battery life left.
Even at this early our there is only 1 other dude left in the room.
(1 minute later: LOL there's actually another guy, I just totally didn't see him.* Whatever.)
11:24 PM (page 113)
I think someone left? YEP it was the guy that I couldn't see at first.*
(* = At each end of the 24-hour Reading Room in the library, there is an Auditory Study Room. These have doors that close and are partially walled off, with windows... however, it was not immediately obvious that there was someone in there)
11:32 PM (page 114)
Second (last) guy left. There is now absolute, uninterrupted silence.
11:39 PM (page 116)
3 more people come in, disturbing the quiet. For now, I am no longer alone.
11:42 PM (page 116)
One of the three who just entered appears to be a janitor; the other two are together.** I was feeling a bit unfocused, so I opened the coffee.
(** = the two who are together are male and female. whose idea of a fun night out is going to the library to study during Intersession? I mean, really. Also, they whispered a lot, which was very annoying)
11:46 PM
4th person entered; has promptly disappeared. Did not see her leave.*** First dude from earlier returned just after.
(*** = I never saw her the rest of the night. Unless she spent the entire time in the bathroom, her exit must have escaped my notice. Did not look desperate enough to be sleeping in a public restroom.)
11:53 PM (page 117)
"...Son of heav'n and earth,
Attend: that thou art happy, owe to God;
That thou continu'st such, owe to thyself..."
11:56 PM
Janitor made fast work. He is already going. Wiped down all the tables (maybe 50?) in about 8 minutes.
12:01 PM (page 119)
1 hour down! Janitor is back, I guess he's not done.
12:06 PM (page 120)
Janitor leaves again, possibly for good?
Self-determinism seems a repeating theme in Paradise Lost... with Satan's monologues @ beginning, then with Rafael's admonishment to Adam...
Another angle is CHOICE to disobey and face consequeces as in Satan's original rebellion, Death a+ Sin's opening of the gates of hell, Adam + Eve's eventual transgression.
Another is choice to obey despite oneself, as seen in confrontation between Satan and Gabriel.
Coffee half gone.... hmmmm.......
12:37 AM (page 127)
Done with Book V. Again, CHOICE. Soon-to-be-fallen angels CHOOSE not to argue with Satan; Abdiel chooses to remain serving God vs. serving Satan. Abdiel is only servant of Satan's who does not question that God created them -- Why?
BREAK FROM READING :D
//// AVG ~10 pp/hr ////
1:12 AM (page 131)
1:40 AM (page 138)
Line 527 "refulgent" wtf does this mean
599 "serried" " " " "
1:55 AM (page 143)
Line 756 "beryl" <--- look this up
2:08 AM (page 146)
2:23 AM (page 150)
Finished Book VI.
Milton is a sexist pig.
(To Adam, Eve is called "thy weaker")****
(**** = Milton consistently chooses language that insinuates inferiority and servility in Eve, at all points in the passage. This is one that stuck out more than most.)
BREAK
Coffee almost gone
May have to go to the vending machine in front of Olson for an energy drink...
2:32 AM
Packing up for walk to Olson or home, depending on outside temperature, my energy level once I stand up, etc.
Also will eat outside :O :P
2:46 AM
FUCK ITS COLD.
I ate inside. Didn't go to Olson. Must weigh options; to go home now, at the half-way point to the first bus in the morning, would be to be satisfied with only 42 pages. Hmm......
I will try reading a little more. If my energy holds up for another hour, I will stay; if I start to lose focus, I will go home. Mint gum will help.
2:49 AM
Resume Reading. Only 130 pp. left in Paradies Lost; if I can knock out another 50 tonight I can finish the rest of the book easily within a week.
2 people who were together left; now it's just me and the guy from the beginning. He's a tweaky asian with an expensive laptop who can't study much more than an hour without a smkoe break. So far he has taken 3.
3:11 AM (page 154)
Got distracted and read some of the preface... duuurrrrrrrr*****
(***** = in the handwriting I wrote this with, the 'u's gradually morphed into 'r's, then sort of evened out into a wobbly line)
3:26 AM (page 158)
Starting to feel weird and sleep-deprived... honestly had no idea whether or not I was asleep a second ago. Still doing fine in the reading tho. :\
3:33 AM (page 160)
3 hours left!!!!!
At this rate I will reach page 200 well before the bus! YAY!!!
4:00 AM (page 167)
Finished Book VII. Tweaky Asian left, I thought I'd finally out-studied him, but he came back less than a minute later. At this point I am doubting he'll ever leave.
Continuing with Book VIII:
"What is it in Adam that might cause sin?" is hand-written as a guiding reading question above the heading.
Answer: Adam's thirst for knowledge.
Line 13: "Something yet of doubt remains,
which only thy solution can resolve" (Adam speaking to the angle Raphael)
Word in footnotes, p. 170: "prelapsarian" <--- Look this up
Line 167:
"Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid,
Leave them to god above, him serve and fear;"
"...heav'n is for thee too high
to know what passes there;"
4:26 AM (page 172)
FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKK im tired
Line 215: (!!!!!!!!) "...but thy words with grace divine
Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety."
5:00 AM (page 183)
Finished Book VIII
No wonder Adam eats from the tree of knowledge -- Raphael is a douchebag and won't tell him anything. I'm starting to slow down. Sleeeeeepy.... BUT STILL ON TRACK TO HIT PAGE 200 BY 6:30
tiem for a short break tho
5:05 AM
The tweaky Chinese dude appears to have fallen asleep. It's about time, too; the morning study crowd will probably start arriving in the next hour. ******
In Paradies Lost there was just a funny bit where, in response to Raphael's rebuke of Adam's passionate loss of rational control when dealing with Eve, Adam basically asks Raphael, "SO... you're, like, an angel, rite??? Uh..... How do you, like, DO it?" Raphael then gets embaraseed (blushes) and kidn of blurts out some stuff about angel's love being superior because it is not bound by "membrane, joint, or limb" and then he's like "Heyyyyyy lookit that, the sun's setting, it's been cool but I'm going" before he gives us any real answers on Angel Sex.
5:14 AM FUCK I accidentally spilled some coffee.******* FORGE AHEAD!! I need to get out before my misdeeds are exposed.
(******* = I actually was out of coffee by this point. I had apparently spilled a little bit some time earlier, and it had pooled underneath the bag from AMPM. I discovered this as I lifted the bag to throw it away.)
-------------------------------------------------------
At this point my valiant quest is interrupted by a phone call from my father. He apparently gets up at 5 AM (I'm never up that early, so I wouldn't know) and this particular morning noticed and read the note I had had Andrew tape to my door (thx androooo), and decided I needed to be picked up. The tweaky azn was still asleep, so I decided that the spilt coffee would probably be blamed on him if I left, and hoofed it over to the MU while listening to Daft Punk. The sun rose as I was riding thorugh downtown Davis towards home, and in the purplish crepuscular dawn I came to the realization that I hadn't managed to read 100 pages, I hadn't even managed to get to the landmark page 200. I'd barely slogged through 75 pages. However, it was immediately evident that regardless of any goals I may have naively set for myself, it had been a momentous evening and I could rest in peace, knowing that great deeds had been done and my honor was (mostly) intact. I got home, had a bowl of cereal, and went to bed, and as they say, the rest was history.
As I was about halfway to AMPM, a stroke of brilliance hit me: the realization that I had Milton's Paradise Lost in my backpack. I made a commitment to myself at the beginning of the summer that I was going to read Paradise Lost before school started; however, by this point I'd fallen woefully behind, and with only a week and a half left until school starts, I had regrettably read barely more than a third of my edition's 289 pages. So I decided, screw it, I'll wait all night in the 24-hour reading room for the first bus in the morning. I've got Milton and an iPod to keep me company. So with all-nighter fuel from AMPM (bottled coffee, 2 cheeseburgers, mint chewing gum and a thing of "extreme sours lemonade strips") I advanced upon Shields Library as the hour approached 11PM with firm resolve and an ambitious objective: read 100 pages of Milton by the end of the night or fall asleep trying.
(Note: before anybody is like 'hey stephen only 100 pages I can down that in like less than an hour', this is Milton's Paradise Lost. It's very difficult reading, and my previous speeds hovered around 6-10 pages an hour, so 100 pages in 7.5 hours was somewhat optimistic.)
I also decided to take notes on the whole ordeal, which I am typing up and posting for posterity. They are completely unedited except for the asterisk notes, which I am adding during transcription as I remember important details.
MILTON MARATHON
START
10: 55 PM (page 108)
I am set against this ambitious task with a coffee + 2 hamburgers from ampm, plus some sour candy, mint chewing gum, and an ipod with ~2 hours of battery life left.
Even at this early our there is only 1 other dude left in the room.
(1 minute later: LOL there's actually another guy, I just totally didn't see him.* Whatever.)
11:24 PM (page 113)
I think someone left? YEP it was the guy that I couldn't see at first.*
(* = At each end of the 24-hour Reading Room in the library, there is an Auditory Study Room. These have doors that close and are partially walled off, with windows... however, it was not immediately obvious that there was someone in there)
11:32 PM (page 114)
Second (last) guy left. There is now absolute, uninterrupted silence.
11:39 PM (page 116)
3 more people come in, disturbing the quiet. For now, I am no longer alone.
11:42 PM (page 116)
One of the three who just entered appears to be a janitor; the other two are together.** I was feeling a bit unfocused, so I opened the coffee.
(** = the two who are together are male and female. whose idea of a fun night out is going to the library to study during Intersession? I mean, really. Also, they whispered a lot, which was very annoying)
11:46 PM
4th person entered; has promptly disappeared. Did not see her leave.*** First dude from earlier returned just after.
(*** = I never saw her the rest of the night. Unless she spent the entire time in the bathroom, her exit must have escaped my notice. Did not look desperate enough to be sleeping in a public restroom.)
11:53 PM (page 117)
"...Son of heav'n and earth,
Attend: that thou art happy, owe to God;
That thou continu'st such, owe to thyself..."
11:56 PM
Janitor made fast work. He is already going. Wiped down all the tables (maybe 50?) in about 8 minutes.
12:01 PM (page 119)
1 hour down! Janitor is back, I guess he's not done.
12:06 PM (page 120)
Janitor leaves again, possibly for good?
Self-determinism seems a repeating theme in Paradise Lost... with Satan's monologues @ beginning, then with Rafael's admonishment to Adam...
Another angle is CHOICE to disobey and face consequeces as in Satan's original rebellion, Death a+ Sin's opening of the gates of hell, Adam + Eve's eventual transgression.
Another is choice to obey despite oneself, as seen in confrontation between Satan and Gabriel.
Coffee half gone.... hmmmm.......
12:37 AM (page 127)
Done with Book V. Again, CHOICE. Soon-to-be-fallen angels CHOOSE not to argue with Satan; Abdiel chooses to remain serving God vs. serving Satan. Abdiel is only servant of Satan's who does not question that God created them -- Why?
BREAK FROM READING :D
//// AVG ~10 pp/hr ////
1:12 AM (page 131)
1:40 AM (page 138)
Line 527 "refulgent" wtf does this mean
599 "serried" " " " "
1:55 AM (page 143)
Line 756 "beryl" <--- look this up
2:08 AM (page 146)
2:23 AM (page 150)
Finished Book VI.
Milton is a sexist pig.
(To Adam, Eve is called "thy weaker")****
(**** = Milton consistently chooses language that insinuates inferiority and servility in Eve, at all points in the passage. This is one that stuck out more than most.)
BREAK
Coffee almost gone
May have to go to the vending machine in front of Olson for an energy drink...
2:32 AM
Packing up for walk to Olson or home, depending on outside temperature, my energy level once I stand up, etc.
Also will eat outside :O :P
2:46 AM
FUCK ITS COLD.
I ate inside. Didn't go to Olson. Must weigh options; to go home now, at the half-way point to the first bus in the morning, would be to be satisfied with only 42 pages. Hmm......
I will try reading a little more. If my energy holds up for another hour, I will stay; if I start to lose focus, I will go home. Mint gum will help.
2:49 AM
Resume Reading. Only 130 pp. left in Paradies Lost; if I can knock out another 50 tonight I can finish the rest of the book easily within a week.
2 people who were together left; now it's just me and the guy from the beginning. He's a tweaky asian with an expensive laptop who can't study much more than an hour without a smkoe break. So far he has taken 3.
3:11 AM (page 154)
Got distracted and read some of the preface... duuurrrrrrrr*****
(***** = in the handwriting I wrote this with, the 'u's gradually morphed into 'r's, then sort of evened out into a wobbly line)
3:26 AM (page 158)
Starting to feel weird and sleep-deprived... honestly had no idea whether or not I was asleep a second ago. Still doing fine in the reading tho. :\
3:33 AM (page 160)
3 hours left!!!!!
At this rate I will reach page 200 well before the bus! YAY!!!
4:00 AM (page 167)
Finished Book VII. Tweaky Asian left, I thought I'd finally out-studied him, but he came back less than a minute later. At this point I am doubting he'll ever leave.
Continuing with Book VIII:
"What is it in Adam that might cause sin?" is hand-written as a guiding reading question above the heading.
Answer: Adam's thirst for knowledge.
Line 13: "Something yet of doubt remains,
which only thy solution can resolve" (Adam speaking to the angle Raphael)
Word in footnotes, p. 170: "prelapsarian" <--- Look this up
Line 167:
"Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid,
Leave them to god above, him serve and fear;"
"...heav'n is for thee too high
to know what passes there;"
4:26 AM (page 172)
FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKK im tired
Line 215: (!!!!!!!!) "...but thy words with grace divine
Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety."
5:00 AM (page 183)
Finished Book VIII
No wonder Adam eats from the tree of knowledge -- Raphael is a douchebag and won't tell him anything. I'm starting to slow down. Sleeeeeepy.... BUT STILL ON TRACK TO HIT PAGE 200 BY 6:30
tiem for a short break tho
5:05 AM
The tweaky Chinese dude appears to have fallen asleep. It's about time, too; the morning study crowd will probably start arriving in the next hour. ******
In Paradies Lost there was just a funny bit where, in response to Raphael's rebuke of Adam's passionate loss of rational control when dealing with Eve, Adam basically asks Raphael, "SO... you're, like, an angel, rite??? Uh..... How do you, like, DO it?" Raphael then gets embaraseed (blushes) and kidn of blurts out some stuff about angel's love being superior because it is not bound by "membrane, joint, or limb" and then he's like "Heyyyyyy lookit that, the sun's setting, it's been cool but I'm going" before he gives us any real answers on Angel Sex.
5:14 AM FUCK I accidentally spilled some coffee.******* FORGE AHEAD!! I need to get out before my misdeeds are exposed.
(******* = I actually was out of coffee by this point. I had apparently spilled a little bit some time earlier, and it had pooled underneath the bag from AMPM. I discovered this as I lifted the bag to throw it away.)
-------------------------------------------------------
At this point my valiant quest is interrupted by a phone call from my father. He apparently gets up at 5 AM (I'm never up that early, so I wouldn't know) and this particular morning noticed and read the note I had had Andrew tape to my door (thx androooo), and decided I needed to be picked up. The tweaky azn was still asleep, so I decided that the spilt coffee would probably be blamed on him if I left, and hoofed it over to the MU while listening to Daft Punk. The sun rose as I was riding thorugh downtown Davis towards home, and in the purplish crepuscular dawn I came to the realization that I hadn't managed to read 100 pages, I hadn't even managed to get to the landmark page 200. I'd barely slogged through 75 pages. However, it was immediately evident that regardless of any goals I may have naively set for myself, it had been a momentous evening and I could rest in peace, knowing that great deeds had been done and my honor was (mostly) intact. I got home, had a bowl of cereal, and went to bed, and as they say, the rest was history.