A Friendly Update

Life is going well, and I thought I would pop on to let my Readers know that. It's well, but it is also very busy. My Shakespeare class is an absolute ball of fun - I knew Shakespeare was funny, but I really had no idea the extent of his wit until I actually began reading his plays! And he is not as difficult to understand as people claim. You just can't take every single word in. Let them flow over you; gather the general idea of what's going on, and you'll find yourself enjoying the story immensely. So far we have read Richard III - which is a new personal favorite; Richard is a very complex and interesting villain - and The Merchant of Venice, which elicited lots of discussions about political incorrectness and the Holocaust (if you haven't read it, just understand that the villain of the piece is a Jew, and the "heroes" of the story say lots of nasty things about him). We are right in the middle of Much Ado About Nothing, which is hilarious, but I find I prefer Mr. Shakespeare's tragedies. Everyone dies in the end and gets their just rewards, and the characters are complex! Shakespeare's comedies seem to consist of women who are initially smart and funny, but ultimately end up falling in love and become boring.

In other events, when I am not studying Benedick's speeches or trying to figure out the probability of winning the lottery (i.e. my Probability and Statistics math class), I have been reading. Copiously. I stupidly checked out an armload of books from the library last week, and right around that time, a bunch of holds decided to finally arrive. And while I realize I can always renew the books, I hate having to do that (don't ask why; it insults my pride having to renew books for some reason), and so I am trying to get through them all before their due dates catch me up. I have read many good books of late, and some OK ones, but mostly good. Yes, reviews are coming; I just haven't had time to really write any. But they're coming! Slowly. The book I most enjoyed last week was The Scorpio Races. Wow. I was impressed. If you haven't read it; do.

When I haven't been reading, I have been fighting with my story. Wednesday I had a bit of breakthrough with one of my scenes, and I was so happy that I foolishly began thinking about all the other things I needed to figure out for the story. Well, my gears started turning and now I have one of the most brilliant ideas running through my head that is going to require me to rewrite a few things. The problem is I don't have the idea fully formulated, and it isn't cooperating with me at all, so the physical act of writing is at yet another standstill - but a standstill that as soon as I tackle this idea and pin it to the ground, will go away. I swear, my story is twenty times more stubborn than I.

The weather here as been off and on good. There was a major snow storm a few weeks back that gave me a generous entire week off from school, and also stole my electricity for four and a half days (thank God I keep lamps and candles in abundant supply; still, without music, I was beginning to feel a little crazy). But now the weather has evened out, and I've experienced sun and rain on and off. My bulbs are well on their way to becoming pretty blooming flowers, and the trees are also starting to show some green. I am especially looking forward to spring this year, because with comes my final quarter at college, and then I am done for at least two years - possibly for good, depending on how I plan my future.

But the best news of all? Come Spring Break, I am once more going down to my all-time favorite bookstore and stocking up on a motherload of books. And when I say motherload, I mean motherload. I really hope my new shelves are finished before then . . . And also, Johnny English Reborn, Hugo, and The Adventures of Tintin are all coming out on DVD soon, which I am excessively excited about. Hopefully Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows will be close on their heels!

Cheers!