Still aten't ded. But I did go two weeks without reading and that did nearly finish me off.

[oddmonster]

Work. It was worklike, then it was bananas, then it was super-extra bananas with the full split and marshmallow sauce (Me: "That's it, I've had it. I am taking 12 full hours off!" Everyone sane: Um.)

Comments

[valis2]

I am so happy that you're back from the Banana Split Of Doom. *hugs*

I'm back, too, from a crazy end-of-summer roller coaster. And suddenly, when I have so many things to do, the words are rolling out of my head. *blinks in surprise*

[oddmonster]

The trick now is to fight any future banana splits off with a stick. (That sentence should look weird, but yesterday I wrote, "I threw up inside a perfectly good deer." so all bets are off.)

I envy you the words flowing when things get busy, because for me it's only now, like four days into relaxed-and-groovy-self-care-time that I'm starting to hear words again. When shit gets going at work, there are no brakes on that rollercoaster. Not even for emergencies.

I'm glad you're back, dude.

[valis2]

Yes, arm yourself against future banana splits with a good heat gun and some anti-hot fudge shields.

I am as bewildered by the words as always. After months of simply spinning around as my usual h/c mental gymnastics, they insisted on coming out this time.

I do want to write but damnit, I have so much going on right now. Ah well. Any writing is better than no writing, even if it's hurriedly done in the margins of my day, right?

[birdgirl_1107]

Lovely to see you popping up at the top of the f-list. And glad to hear you're reading again and no longer quite as apt to bury someone in the garden. Not that they probably didn't deserve it, just that the whole grave-digging thing can be such a drag.

If you ever find a way to bottle your wit and your way with words, I'll take a dozen cases. ;)

[oddmonster]

Digging graves is really hard on your shoulders and upper back. I mean, sometimes it's justified, but most of the time the gym is just as effective.

And it's great to see you too! You are too kind, as always :D

[hardboiledbaby]

*whistles* You do nothing by halves, babe :) I have no idea what happened to the past two months. Can I haz a refund?

[oddmonster]

SERIOUSLY. I'm over here watching everyone going back to school and thinking, "But my summer's only just *begun*."

Hope your autumn gets easier!

[little_tristan]

There's a Park Ranger Sequel? How did I miss that? I LOVED Park Ranger! Sucker for a girl in uniform, I guess.

At the end of Pledged I was still wondering why women sign up for that kind of mess. Even at that age, I'd opt of anything that begins with a wet t-shirt event entitled The Pig Run. Just--nope.

[oddmonster]

Aha! I knew there must be a reason why I still had your envelope of books sitting on my end table waiting to be mailed. I can toss in the Park Ranger Sequel, if you'd like. And then get my act together and get to a post office. Rar!

I think that was one of the strong points of Pledged, actually, that Robbins did a great job of explaining all the pressure to join a sorority -- either because all the women in your family did it, or because everyone in your town did it and you anticipate needing to join the ladies auxiliary everything sooner or later, or that there's this idea (which I think has been largely put about by the sororities themselves) that you need the career connections. Breaking into the job market is hard enough that, along with being 18, I could see it making sense that you want this leg up on it. But yeah, the Pig Run was so horrifying. There were lots of parts of that book that horrified me but why everyone condones that crap from the d-b'ing class is just a nightmare.

[little_tristan]

I was not aware you had an envelope of books for me. Is On Her Own Terms in it? I really want to read that one, too. In addition to PRS, of course.

Have you received the box yet? Books are coming your way!

With Pledged, I got the idea that a lot of girls feel pressured to join, the reasons just left me unconvinced. Probably because it's just so insanely far removed from life as I know it. I can't even imagine the pretty, popular girls from my high school signing on. We were more like the Dolly girls in Winter's Bone, grabbing our switch knives and stomping boots for a night on the town, no Prada required.

Maybe I just don't understand joiners. But from my outsider's viewpoint, I didn't see anything there worth preserving. With the exception of the Black sororities and fraternities. Those seem to serve the actual purpose that traditionally white orgs give lip service to. And if I lived on a campus with step nights, I wouldn't miss a one.

[oddmonster]

Of course On Her Own Terms is in it. Along with some Eerie goodness. It's a mighty envelope.

No box yet, but you know how mail works here in the northern hinterlands. It's being diligently paddled across the lake from New York by a flotilla of plesiosaurs, and the little guys get tired easily. It's a long way to paddle. They have to take frequent rest stops. And only do it at night.

I was hella horrified to learn from Pledged that MTV's Sorority Girls first season was shot at my alma mater. Greek life there was obnoxiously prevalent, and it was true that during rush, some girls missed class for rush events. Like they would flat out say they were choosing the rush event over the entire reason they'd gone to university in the first place.

And reading Pledged, I couldn't help but wonder: did fraternities make the bros miss classes for rush as well