Time comes in many forms

Why is it that when I have all the time in the world to blog I can't bring myself to do so? I think about posting but I never sit myself down to actually do it . . . strange.

So, what is new in life lately . . . knitting projects, moving to a new apartment, that's about it. Not too exciting. Actually I just celebrated my birthday over the weekend which was if not exciting at least pleasant. I went to a Japanese style bar called Wann with the girls from school for yummy drinks and tasty snacks that were nostalgic of Japan. I had a Cassis Orange, it's classified as an izakaya (a type of Japanese bar) classic beverage and although I've never had one at an izakaya before, just at normal bars, it is indeed a very typically Japanese girly drink and made me feel right at home. We ordered several of their appetizer items but my favorites were probably the tatsutaage, marinaded deep fried chicken, and the Brie cheese tempura with a raspberry soy sauce dipping sauce - oh so delicious! On a side note, the bartender was really cute. In the following days I also got taken to brunch - one of my favorite meals - and to dinner by various other friends. So, basically I had a weekend of eating and since I love all things food related that was quite alright by me.

I won't tell you how old I am after this birthday but in a conversation with my friend Rena I was told that I can now officially be said to be pushing 30. I don't think I like that, not that I have anything against being 30, but it's just that I still feel like I'm very much in my mid-20s. Age is really just a number though and I should pay it no heed.

Other things . . . I now have in my possession the final book in the Harry Potter series. I'm both excited and sad about it. I'm eager to read about the continuing adventures of Harry and his friends but it's sad knowing that this is the last book and that there will be no more after it. The same sadness has accompanied the last volume of other series too, such as the Anne of Green Gables books, The Chronicles of Narnia, the adventures of the Swallows and Amazons, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Obviously I can read the books again but I'll never have the same feeling as the first time I read them, that feeling of anticipation, of slowly pushing forward line by line into the yet unknown realm of fiction. I can't bring myself to start reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows just yet. It'll sit on my bedside table for a little while longer while I savor this feeling of ending and resolve myself to it.

And on that note of ending, a goodnight to you all.

So much to do, so little time

So, another quarter has started. I've had all of my classes and all I can say is that it's going to be a doozie. Tons of books, lots of reading, and exams upon exams - which oddly enough I'm not too rankled about as I'm feeling a little burnt out on papers lately and am willing to accept anything else. This quarter I'm resolved to turn a new leaf (as I am almost every quarter) to mend my procrastinating ways and start early on all things important - no more end of quarter madness. Will I actually make these changes? It's debatable, I always have such good intentions but well . . . it clearly hasn't panned out in the past so it may not this time either but I will try and try again, I'm nothing if not optimistic.

At the moment I'm feeling a little torn between reading for class, doing taxes, and reading my new book from the library. Taxes have taken a back seat to books, after all books are much more exciting than taxes (ick!). But should I read school books or fun books? I know I should read school books but fun books are just so much more . . . fun. It's like falling off the wagon at the first bump, how did I ever expect to make it the whole ride? Clearly at this rate if I can't prioritize serious school reading I'm never going to be able to turn a new leaf and be uber productive and avoid procrastination . . . oh dear.

The problem isn't ameliorated by the fact that I'm already in the midst of three fun books which I started over spring break.
The Earthsea Quartet - My father gave me this in high school and I finally decided to commit myself to reading it. I know that sounds strange, committing oneself to reading a book, but the circumstances under which it was given to me have a lot to do with that. My father gave it to me since I had so enjoyed the Lord of the Rings trilogy and it was of a similar genre and he thought I would enjoy it also. But I decided to not read it since I was afraid that it just wouldn't be able to compete with the Lord of the Rings. This fear is born from a similar experience I had with Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy. Hardy was recommended to me by my father since I had so enjoyed Austen but when I read Hardy, not long after I had whisked through several Austen novels, he just put me to sleep. In retrospect I may have not given Hardy as much of a chance as I ought but there it is, I wasn't impressed upon first trial. Anyway my point is that I didn't want to have that same experience with LeGuin and thought that perhaps a break from the genre altogether might be beneficial. Little did I anticipate that break to be years upon years. So, The Earthsea Quartet came back from Japan with me over winter break but I didn't even start reading it until a month ago - this is the sad state of affairs around here.
Persepolis - Note to Sherry: I can just imagine your exasperation, I know, I know. I'm finally reading it. It got buried under so many other books that it really didn't have a fighting chance until now. Besides, in comparison to The Earthsea Quartet this pace is downright speedy!
Time Was Soft There - I haven't gotten very far in this yet so I'm not entirely attached. But it sounded so lovely on the staff recommendation card at the bookstore that I was suckered into finding it at the library. It's about a bookstore in Paris called Shakespeare & Co., a store which I just fell in love with when I was there. It is the epitome of the bookstores that I daydreamed of as a child, scruffy around the edges, vast while being compact, and it is as much a visual feast as it is a literary one. Of course, the fact that it's on the banks of the Seine just across from Notre Dame doesn't hurt either. On a tangential note, how many kids daydream about old scruffy bookstores? What an odd child I was.

Do you see my dilemma? They're so fun . . . or at least full of the promise of fun. How could I decided between these three books and school books, let alone the new book that I got at the library today?

Oh, Mr. Darcy!

I'm just about to settle down to watch Pride & Prejudice. And yes, I know it's the middle of the night and I have class tomorrow but I don't care. I'm a grown-up (most of the time) and I can do whatever I want to! Besides who can resist the romance of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy? I once read somewhere that Pride & Prejudice is the quintessential love story and that every other love story thereafter is just a different rendition of it. I don't know that I agree with that but there are certainly plenty of stories that have been modeled upon it. There are so many commentaries to be made on the novel and the novelist, not the least of which is the fact that Jane Austen was ahead of her time as a female writer, but I haven't time to go into it all here and now. I just want to say that despite what some people may say the sole appeal of the story isn't that it is a romance with a happy ending, there is so much more to it than that. Isn't part of the appeal that we can see ourselves reflected in one if not several of the characters in the story? It was written in a different time and place and yet the characters are still accessible to people today. I find that to be true of all of Austen's novels. Superficially they may seem to be love stories but each of them is a study of people, of character, and there is so much to be gleaned from that even now.

Okay enough with the sensible talking, I want to ooh and aah over the dancing and dresses at the ball and listen to Elizabeth and Mr Darcy's spicy repartee!