I should know better than ask WebMD anything. No matter what the symptoms I input, the answer almost always comes back cancer. Maybe it’s a sign…

I played around with it a little today because my left eye has been bothering me a little bit. It’s not that the vision in my left eye is cloudy, but it’s changing a little - I’m not sure how to describe it. I’ve noticed this change recently ( I started realizing this either at the end-of-fall slash beginning-of-winter quarter), but I think it’s probably happened gradually. To address the issue, I went and had another eye check-up this past June. The optometrist said nothing had changed though.

In WebMD’s opinion, I may have a brain infection.

4. The Boleyn Inheritance, Phillipa Gregory
I read The Other Boleyn Girl a while back; I think I borrowed it from Mads sometime during my first year of college. It was a good read - I enjoyed the historical context, the intrigue and scandal. I remember thinking that it had too many creepy heavily-hinting-at-sex scenes, although they didn’t seem gratuitous (most of the time). I expected The Boleyn Inheritance to be much along the same lines.

For the most part, Inheritance reads in the same way as Girl. It is set in the same court, it has a few of the same central characters, the style and layout of the story are roughly the same. However, I found the book to be much more one-dimensional. I wasn’t particularly impressed by any of the characters this time around and found it difficult to sympathize with them at all. This book seemed to focus on one central event, so maybe I was missing a sense of complexity.

It was entertaining still. And to its credit, there were fewer of those creepy bits.

5. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure
Mads and I bought a couple of scandalous books during one of our literature outings. I don’t know if we were on some sort of sugar high or what… I finally got around to reading this book, and I’ll admit that I had sporadic fits of immature giggles throughout the reading. The style is basic Anne Rice, so if you liked the writing in any of her Vampire books, this one will ready rather easily. The content is… interesting to say the least. I’ll say that some of the scenes were a little disturbing…

I really don’t know what to say about this one. Approach with caution.

6. Real Simple: Meals Made Easy, Editors of Real Simple Magazine
I recently purchased this cookbook because the other ones that I have seem way too intense for day-to-day meals. The recipes are straightforward and very simple; most of them are shortcut versions of old standards (e.g. lasagna, baked beans, beef stew). I don’t ever follow recipes to the letter, so the concise instructions and time estimates made it easy to experiment with different additions. Tips for modifying the recipes are provided in the margins too.

A good addition to the repertoire.

7. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I’m glad that I finally read this book. The story chronicles the many members of the Buendia family, illustrating each life story in great detail. When I first took note of the format of the book, I was worried that keeping track of each character would be difficult and confusing (especially since many of them share the same name), but it was really beautifully written and easy to follow. Although my initial impression was that it would be straight fiction, lots of fantastical elements are thrown in. The story becomes one not only of growth and struggle in the family, but also about the loss of magic in the modern era.

All in all, a wonderful read. Everyone should read this book at least once. When I get more solid in Spanish, I’m going to try to find a Spanish copy too.

8. The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
An interesting twist on the classic Dracula vampire story. The tale was told with heavy historical context, which I always appreciate. Unfortunately, I thought that one of the final climactic scenes was pretty anti-climactic.

Now I’m working on a Charles de Lint novel that I’ve had in my possession, unread, for at least five or six years now.

It’s been two weeks since I’ve accepted my diploma. That day was sunny and long awaited and hard won. That morning, I milled around with my friends in Ratner, waiting to be lined up and organized into the order in which we would accept that fancy, calligraphed piece of paper. Then, when we processed out onto the chairs set up in Harper quad, I just remember sitting there in the bright, beating sun. The speakers were good, but their time was fleeting. Mostly, I just remember being extremely uncomfortable and hot; I was just out of shade range. Finally, my row’s turn came and I stood with them and filed up toward the stage. The moment that I actually took my diploma is a complete blank in my mind though. My heartbeat filled my ears and I received my congratulations with whispered thanks. Later, L said that she had called my name, that there had been a smattering of applause. But I don’t remember any of that, anything beyond the feel of smooth leather underneath my fingertips and the blood rushing through my head.

Now I don’t know what to do with it. It sits there, a testament that I’ve accomplished something, but nothing has really changed yet. It’s coming though, I suppose.

Tonight, I had a very late dinner with R&C. They’re leaving tomorrow to head home, and then to get married and go on with the rest of their lives. And as we hugged and parted ways, I realized that, really, we were parting ways. It struck me that almost everyone has left now. People that I’ve talked to and grown with and lived next to for the past four years, people that I’ve sorely underappreciated, are gone.

It has a sense of permanence that leaving high school didn’t. This idea that now, now that we’ve gotten our first degrees, now that we’re filled with knowledge but no life experience, now that we have the idealism but not yet the cynicism, we are on our way to something larger. The idea that (tossed around with joking seriousness) now we’re on our way to saving the world.

I know it’s not forever - hell, I’ll see them in a month and celebrate their marraige. And at that time, I’ll see so many of the other people that have gone before

But (stating the obvious) it’ll all be very, very different. We can’t have those lunches on the steps of the GSB. We can’t skip class and go for gelato instead. We can’t have those same late nights of beer, drunken philosophy, and nerdy board games.

The nostalgia that hits hurts my fingertips.

And it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a couple weeks or so now. What with the Boy’s ever-impending departure and with the confusing brush-off by a character from my past, I’m wondering about history.

I’m wondering about what’ll happen when I’m the only one again.

Recently, I decided to take up knitting again. Domestic Partner (DP) taught this craft to me a while back and gifted me with a pair of circular needles and some red yarn. We sat in a car, either on the way to or from Iowa, for about five hours, so I had plenty of time to practice. I managed to learn the knit stitch and the purl stitch, but ultimately I lost patience and dropped the whole thing once I was on my own again. Other things just took precedence.

Anyway, I don’t remember what exactly inspired me to take it up again. Maybe it was the bag of supplies sitting on the bookshelf, guilting me by gathering dust. Maybe it was watching Bex work on various projects. I really don’t remember. But about a week ago, I picked up my needles again and watched a couple YouTube videos about casting on, the knit stitch (continental), and the purl stitch (continental). I didn’t (and still don’t) have a project in mind; I just began making practice squares. The first couple nights were very frustrating, and I had to rip apart several rows repeatedly (I really need to figure out how to fix mistakes). But I’ve hit a little groove now, although I still don’t have an actual project.

So I ordered two books on Amazon: Stitch ‘N Bitch and Domiknitrix. I’ve read through the first couple chapters in each, and my next step is to go out and gather up some more supplies. My first project is going to (surprise, surprise) a scarf. Maybe two. I think I’ll make a ribbed one (knit two, purl two) for the Boy, and then maybe a stripey one for myself to practice changing yarns and knitting in ends and edging and whatnot.

I’m excited about starting this up, although I am having some trouble figuring out where to find knitting stuff in Chi-town. I might have to order everything online.

Any recommendations from people with more experience?

Busy, busy, busy this quarter. I definitely put way too much on my plate. Not caring really doesn’t help either. I’m trying to maintain my full course load as well as the two and a half jobs that I have, but it’s been difficult. I haven’t been dedicating as much time as I’d like to any of the things that I’m doing, which means that it’s all kind of shoddy.

My tutoring program is going alright, but the politics are wearing. I’m tired of people attempting to look busy and then not pulling through. I’m also tired of being expected to reward people for completely sub par effort. The power structure at the community center where we work is also in flux, so that’s a little worrisome. Right now, I’m pushing for MJ to take over for me as Assistant Director for next year. She’s the only one I trust to maintain the group and make sure it functions and survives.

Overall, not a good quarter for me. And I think my grades and whatnot will reflect that. But at least I’m almost done. Graduation in two-ish week! I’m excited to see everyone and to celebrate!

I’m not keeping up with the Challenge very well either, but I have a couple more volumes for you.

2. Level Four Virus Hunters of the CDC, M.D. Joseph B. McCormick and M.D. Susan Fisher-Hoch

I was interested in reading this book because I’ve been thinking about maybe pursuing something with the CDC in the future. As most of you know, I’m planning to become a doctor. That’s still in the works, and I’m leaning more and more toward studying infectious disease and immunology. So this book was perfect for exploring some of my interests.

It was obvious though that the authors were not writers by trade. Some of the transitions were a little forced. That’s fine. The subject matter was exciting, and most of the prose itself was very easy to read and get through. The technicalities about viruses and infection and the medical stuff were all nicely explained. The only part I didn’t like was the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) social and political (both national and institutional) commentary. I understand the social/political issues underlying the situations the authors/doctors were in, but I thought it would have been much better had more space been devoted to developing the ideas. Instead, it was kind of out of place and messed up the flow of the text.

Overall, good read. I would definitely recommend it. It’ll give you a very nice snapshot of something I might like to do in the future.

3. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, Bill Bryson

Fun book. Some parts made me laugh out loud. The Appalachian Trail isn’t something that I would every attempt; I’m not a big hiking person. I’ve never even been camping, come to think of it. But I could definitely relate to this book, and I could visualize the pain that the author must have gone through during those early days on the trail.

After many, many (well, not that many) years of waiting for my birthday to finally fall on a weekend again, it manages to land land on the one weekend sandwiched between three tests.

I had an Endocrinology test on Friday, and I have Biochem and OChem on Monday and Tuesday respectively. So, on my birthday, which was a wonderful, sunny, gorgeous day, I studied OChem (and took minor Project Runway breaks). I didn’t go to the Summer Breeze festival on campus. I didn’t do anything or see anyone. Which is fine really, because for the couple weeks prior, I had mostly forgotten it was my birthday anyway.

But today… Today was filled with Biochem work, which I actually enjoy normally since it’s very interesting. However, at this point, the additive effects of it being my last year (and some added things coupled with that fact that I’m just not thinking about right now), of my crippling senioritis, of my growing apathy and listlessness, of my not seeing any of my friends for the better part of two months, of it being nice outside, and, finally, of it having just been my birthday ultimately made me want to cry.

I feel (not to sound like a hippie) spiritually tired. Which is definitely not a point that you want to get to when you’ve just turned 22. But I don’t have a better way of describing it. Today just drained all of my energy. Physically, I feel fine. But mentally, I’m holding onto the edge for dear life and hoping that I don’t dissolve spontaneously into a puddle of tears (this is important - the Boy puts up with enough as it is).

Anywho. Enough whining.

What I really wanted to say was that I’ll post some of the goings on of the past couple of weeks later this week. Sometime after Tuesday anyway.

In the meantime, you should see what the Boy crafted for me in celebration of my birthday. It’s adorable! We’re both such video game nerds.

Consider this a stall. I just wanted to let you know I’m not (quite) dead yet, and that I’ll come back soon enough.

Doesn’t that sound like the lovechild of Sorry! and Scrabble? You’d think it’d be some sort of amazingly fun game.

But it’s not. It’s the blog that the boy and I started for our “losing circumference” challenge/contest. We figured that making it public would force us to commit. So in that vein, I thought I would just announce it here.

Decreasing the 2(pi)r is going to be hard work…

Here’s a site with some pretty fun memes. You know, if you’re into that kind of stuff.

I thought the Zombie Survival one was particularly entertaining. Pay attention to the choices for the question about where you would go if (when) the zombie apocalypse arrives. If I’ve ever spoken to you about zombie plans, you’ll understand… Apparently, I have a 50/50 shot according to the interwebs.

This is the third location change of my blog. We’ll see if anything actually alters, but a shift in scenery often results in renewal. Maybe it’ll keep me honest.

Recently, the deadline for my first attempt at the 50 Book Challenge came and went. Unfortunately, I got to book 38 and failed, mostly because school and life-changing tests got in the way. I figured it would be worth another try, partially because it drove me to read literature from several different genres (a very illuminating experience). Until I started the challenge, I had fallen into a sort of rut with the books that I was reading. That is, when I was actually making time to read for pleasure. Usually, I was neck-deep in school reading, which, while interesting, was required.

Anyway, this challenge (taken from an entry in my previous blog, and indirectly via cheye):

Read 50 books in a calendar year. Blog about them, rate them, recommend them or diss them, just read them and [write] about them.

My start date for this second attempt is officially May 1, 2008.

1. The Rule of Four, Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

I thought The Rule of Four was well-written (no major stylistic complaints here at least), but it took me a while to get into the story (the beginning was rather slow). In addition to revealing the secret hidden in the pages of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a misunderstood and mysterious text from the Renaissance period, the book tries to examine the relationships among the characters in depth, but 500 pages really isn’t enough to accomplish everything it’s trying to do. Toward the end, I found the whole friend-love interest-relationship angle annoying because I was primarily interested in what the historical secrets were going to be. I won’t put spoilers up here, but I will say that this was the first time I wasn’t disappointed with the huge build-up. The ending was a bit predictable and a little corny, but overall it was okay.