time for a change

It's time I moved. Everyone else is doing it and I wanted to feel included.

My new blog can be found here:

http://smokeandrain.wordpress.com/
(no Joy, I didn't copy you.......much....)

wordpress has some amazing custom tools and editing features that I've been looking for. It's generally an all-around feel-good experience. Like christmas morning, or a car that idles a little too much. Head on over and check it out.

Leadership

I've been wondering lately what it takes to be a good leader. I wonder because for the past month, I've been in a leadership role and I have been feeling like I've been a doing just a really bad job. I have continually trying to teach myself how to be a better role model and how to handle the challenging situations, but I keep finding myself wanting...I feel like I know where my problem is, I just wish I could figure out how to fix it.
It is easy for me to come up with creative ideas--it's easy for me to be passionate about something. My problem is (and always has been) in the follow through. It isn't from a lack of trying or a lack of understanding--in fact I believe it comes from the very opposite. I have learned how to be a good communicator, I have been taught how manage time and priorities; but I think I've grown complacent...it's as if, just because I studied, it means I don't have to keep practicing. I look back on it now and I can see a pretty consistent trend--I really don't like to practice. I can look back at so much of what I have learned and consequently stopped learning and can trace it back to how much I just don't want to practice. I only hope it's not too late to change that.

Incidentally, my dad is moving across the country tomorrow morning. My mom and sister will be following him over the next couple of months. My thoughts are constantly with them--this huge transition has taken it's toll on all of us. Good luck Dad, see you soon.

The Trouble With Youth Is

I think there is a common theme running through the mindset of people in my generation; I feel that the twenty-somethings-and-younger have a general sense of entitlement that filters the way the light reflects off the world into their eyes. I have noticed that one of the defining features of this contemporary age is choices.

The idea of progress has shaped our collective psyches to expect and require choices in every facet of living. What do I want to be when I grow up? Where do I want to live? Who do I want as friends? What do I want to wear tomorrow? Every choice we make is coupled options. There is a rub, however. The ability to choose creates uncertainty. Sounds a little strange to me too, uncertainty is part of life and healthy...in normal doses. But you live your life seeing nothing but ways-out and paths-around, then when you're told something is absolute it makes it a little difficult to believe. I think my generation has so many choices that they're afraid to actually pick one--they want to be assured that what they're picking is the right choice and that everything is going to be okay.

I never realized individualism could be such a scary concept. Life is off-road-luxury-package, create-your-own-pasta, save-on-airfare-when-you-book-a-hotel, zero-down-pay-when-someone-else-cares; fully automated and customized to fit your needs and every single want. I wonder if anyone realizes that we're all just getting the same thing in different colors?

So what does it mean?

If there's one thing I admire about my parents, it is that once they decide to do something they follow through until it's done. Both have been discussing the idea of moving back east to be closer to family, and to be in a place that doesn't feel so foreign to such right-coast-minded individuals. Recently my dad has been shopping around looking for a new challenge as a choir director--a full time job that he could focus all of his attention on. A few weeks ago he got an interview and an audition at a small church in Greenwood, South Carolina and found out yesterday that he got the job.
So what does it mean? It means my family is moving! Potentially within the next few weeks. No one is sure exactly what's happening, but my family is all picking up and moving back east. I'll obviously be finishing out my last year at CSUN, "I can't believe I'm saying this....but I'm staying in Korea!" (kudos if you get that). It's a weird thought, I have to admit. My family is going to be 3000 miles away, I mean I'm used to most of my family being so far away but I've been comfortable in the idea that my parents and sister were still just half a days drive away. I'll be fine, of course, I've been doing this whole college thing now for a couple of years and I'd like to think I've got a little bit of a handle on it....but there is an odd sinking feeling now, as if my safety net has been taken away.
But enough angst, this is an exiting time! My parents are moving back east and I couldn't happier for them--they've needed to get back to a place where they feel like they belong. Holiday's with the family, seeing their best friends more than once every four years, and snow. I know one thing, they finding their place has given me hope to find mine.

Marla

'"Case of the Mondays"

I find I am dragging my feet this morning. Slept so heavily last night that I think I forgot where I was when I woke up. For a minute I thought I was back home. No real responsibilities or to do list longer than the phone book; no cares or worries--just a pleasant bed and a pleasant day. Why is it so difficult to find balance and serenity? I haven't been happy recently, and I don't know if I don't know why.

I'm goig to wash some clothes today, that'll cheer me up some.


(p.s. thanks cindy ;-) )

Do you know what today is?

It's Free Hug Day.





I am a vocal opponent to those assinine fowards, the ones that try to define a friendship by how often someone checks their e-mail. This is not that. First of all, if you are reading this there's a good chance I already consider you my friend, I'm not worried about that. Secondly, I'm passing on a message of unconditional love. I do not need anyone to respond back to me to validate our relationship; I think today is about selfless love.

So in that vain, if you are reading this, considering yourself hugged. If I see you today I'll be sure to pass one on in person. If we are too far apart for full on body-contact, then know that I am thinking of you today. I hope your Free Hug Day is well.

I love you.

lunch: from scratch

Home made pizza. Be jealous, I know Ben is.

I want this

it's a vintage absinthe poster. $29.99 at allposters.com. I'm just throwing that out there.




p.s. can anyone tell me why rich text-format editing isn't showing up on any text boxes on my mac? It doesn't work here or my e-mail....lame, Mac. Very Lame.

Better Late than Never

I'M BACK. Wow, so I'm only two or three months behind. My apologies, I will attempt to catch up over the next couple weeks--highlighting, of course, my fantabulous trip to Alaska. Quick preview: it rocked. In other news, I'm back in Los Angeles and doing fairly well. I'm excited this year, things are different. My classes feel like they fit...like they're already broken in. In fact they're so comfortable that I'm writing this blog in the middle of one. Technology is so neat.

I hate when I have so much to say that I don't have any place to start. So with that I will leave you with this post and hope to see you soon.

Adventure

So I'm going to Alaska.

Harry Potter 7

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Get.



On a related note, I realize that I am arbitrarily annoyed by everyone under the age of fifteen. This is a blanket annoyance and is both automatic and fairly absolute. If you're under fifteen you annoy me. Exceptions will be considered on an individual level.

I've got a fever! and the only prescription is...Harry Potter?

I just finished re-reading Book 5! On to Book 6! Can I finish before the seventh comes out? Let's find out.

A Confession

Sometimes I want to write something on here, but I stop myself afraid of what those who read it may think of it. Then I remember how few people read this and wonder if any of it really matters at al.

On Yosemite and friendship

It's official, I can now say I have been camping in Yosemite. I have been promoted from the casual tourist or day-tripper; I have called Yosemite home...if only for two nights. I think you learn a lot about yourself when you're camping, when you've stripped yourself down to the essentials (well...close, anyway) you understand how your react in a challenge, taking yourself out of the comfort zone of an easy chair and a high definition television reveals a lot about how you handle certain things that you simply cannot change. For instance, I have learned that whle I'm away in the mountains and trying to be one with nature, I don't like people around me. It's true, evidently nothing is more annoying the faint ambient noise of Fergie soaring through the fresh mountain breeze. It actually pisses me off. I've also realized (perhaps not for the first time) that if something doesn't go the way I want it to, I can be a little hard to get a long with. Some of you may be letting out a discerning chuckle....shut up. Why is it so easy to get wrapped up in gap between our expectation and reality? It wasn't until we stopped and ate lunch in a meadow--that must have spanded half a mile--that I realized the unabashed joy of being in pure nature. Of course, it wasn't until then that I finally felt the solitude I was searching for.

I was talking with Melanie the other day about the problems with aggressive frienship. I don't mean making friends and gun point, I mean taking control of the friendship in a social headlock and keeping control for ourselves. It is easy for extroverted, the hyperactive and the mythical "type-a" personality. (can anyone please describe a type B personality?) But really how is it fair to the other person in this relationships. So often the aggressor feels that the other person just isn't trying to put energy into a friendship when in fact they've just become to acquaintd to being taken along for the ride. Perhaps they even want to take more control--plan more stuff to do, make suggestions, start conversations--but just don't know how to get a word in edge-wise....we can be a little intimidating. I talk about balance a lot, it is what I always strive for. But how is constantly maintaining control of a frienships or relationship being balanced at all?

I think the hardest thing I've ever had to face is the idea of letting go.

Sums it up

I found a picture my sister took a long time ago, think it sums it up pretty well.

one at a time, please

A friend of mine and I were just discussing our various pet peeves. The conversation started very shortly after I got off the phone with someone who was attempting to talk to me and cary on multiple other conversations at the same time on another medium. It bothers me when I am trying to hold a conversation and it begins to feel as if I'm speaking into a void. A conversation is based solely on interaction; when the second person is scarcely interacting it isn't a conversation, it's a monologue. If someone is telling you a story in a group do you also carry on five other conversations or do you listen to the story? I don't see how it's different.

time for something new, time for something different.

I am pleased as hell to tell you that I am writing this on my brand new Macbook. Macs have always existed on the periphery of my computer needs, sort of a leper or a rebellious cousin that no one takes the time to understand. But the more I use this thing the more I enjoy it, and aside from the very slight paranoia that I look "trendy" I think I'm rather hooked.

School is over and again I'm staring down the barrel of another listless summer. Last year around this time I was just beginning to realize how much time I had until I could get back to LA. So I guess the trick is to how repeat last year without last year's mistakes. I think the best start is not worrying about last year. I have less time this summer and more I'd like to do, so I guess the trick is...doing it. For me, summer's have always been about change, sort of a pit stop along the speedway of my life. I've got a job that's pulling in some money. Nothing elaborate but enough to keep me going, and I have a couple projects I'd like to work on but as always, my biggest project this summer, I think is me.

After a lot of introspection over the past couple months I realized I am more at peace and feel more balanced when I write everything down, so I imagine I will be using this facility a great deal more than I have been. As always I hope to offer some thought provoking ideas that people will respond to, if you enjoy reading this experiment of mine please feel free to let me know. I'm not about shallow flattery, really I'm not.

So I can't decide where I want to search for my next inspiration. If I head left I go to The City. The frenzied steel-and-mortar-jungle where the fabric of life is woven so intricitly and tight that the casual observer can't help but get swept up in the noise? If I head right I go to the woods. Single, Solitary, removed from the burdens of modern conviences, safe from even time itself? Both are available, I only have to choose.

On Mondays and Migranes:

Why Getting Drunk on Sunday Night is a Bad Idea.

Every Monday he comes,
seven am like some tyrannical alarm clock,
the garbage man clamors down my alley

He toils away, an over-zealous drummer
smashing at his metallic tympani
with desperate determination. I can just see him—
his eyebrows damp with sweat, cocked at a disturbing angle
his tongue pinched dogmatically between his lips
never looking up at the conductor to see if
They’re on the same page

Every Monday he comes,
as democratic as a jack-hammer
pounding mercilessly against my ear drums
he probably enjoys it sometimes,
doesn’t care what you did the night before
he’s got a job to do and no cries of mercy
from a sleepless poet will stop him.

Grip it by the husk.

I am at peace the most when I am working with my hands. It really doesn't matter what I'm doing so long as I get to holding something between my fingers, able to manipulate it--there's something about the idea having control over what I'm working with. Carpentry, playing piano, painting, drawing, cooking. I think this is what's fueled my desire to be in the kitchen so much this semester, it's my only outlet for this need I have to dig my fingers into something, feel out a problem and solve from the inside.

It's so simple to take something for granted; to rely on the idea that once you have it, you've got it for good. If my experience has taught me anything it is that happiness can be a fickle and fleeting thing and when one has it, one has to hold on with every ounce of energy to keep it. Mainting happiness is a daily endevour and takes devotion to a cause. I hve been to passive, thinking that the happiness I've found will simply be there and that I dont have to work to keep it. I want to do what it takes to keep that happiness.


I miss Amy.

The Brink

I hate it when so much starts going on that it hinders your ability to write about it. My program is teetering on the edge, my classes are a mess, and my computer is--for all intents and purposes--broke. I want peace again.

I'm dating this one....

Oh yeah. You know you're jealous

Want.

I think I really like this one.

Fireflies

I was born on the Roanoke
which feeds the Potomac
that twists and bends it's way
to the Atlantic. It started in the
Appalachians, my mighty river,
as young and clean as I did.
I was born in Shenandoah innocence.

My cradle was arms of oaks—knotted
tentacles of mingling trees wrapped
haphazardly in a lover's embrace.
Momma hung bluegrass chandeliers
above my head. It twinkled folk songs
and spirituals in the waning sunlight.

My earliest memories are made
of log fences and ukuleles,

The smell of wood-smoke and rain
And the fugitive sight of a firefly's burning embers.

They said it was my destiny
to want to follow the sun;
they said that there was more to take in
the further west you go.
Now the rivers run cement, scrapping
the sandy ground. It's easy to run
the path of least resistance when
you don't meat any at all. But
all you grow are stucco boxes
they hardly give your room to put down roots.

It occurs to me that I am the Potomac,
with my feet buried deep
in the tobacco-fertile ground
of the cool green mountains.
I have stretched west to the path
of least resistance, and in
the suspension of twilight it occurs to me:
The one thing I still miss are the fireflies.

re-kindling

Going home is good for the soul. A little bit of spotenaity and a lot of missing home found me driving up to Modesto Tuesday morning, much to the suprise of my family (and a little of myself). After scaring my mother half-to-death, and listening to my sister laughing that I tricked her again, I spent a quiet week at home catching up with old friends, and getting to know some a bit better. On the way back I stopped in Fresno and met Joy and Lamar at teazer for some, well, tea. It was the coolest place I've seen in a while. Good music, the best tea I've ever had, and they didn't seem to mind that I wasn't wearing shoes; I wish I had something like that closer to Northridge.

I found some things I've been missing, some things I realized I no longer need, some one I'd like to get to know better, and a few things I want closer to me.

It was a good week.

Chrysalis and Coming off the mountain.

I've said it before: experience is gained in the follow through.

Friday morning I left with my class for our three-day backpacking excursion into the woods above lake Isabella. It was three days of uninterupted blissful escapism. We hiked in about 3 1/2 miles to a sandy beach along the river. We ate good food (I made greek pizzas on an open fire), hung out and let our hair down. Saturday we went on a day hike up to an abandoned mine shaft and learned how to orienteer with a map and compass and the terrain. Saturday afternoon we climbed a giant hill, then climbed a giant rock where we could see the whole valley. After we played a bunch of games including finger fencing that turned into "gladiator wrestling" (I accidentally flipped Kelly, a guy who's a bit bigger than me). That night we sat around the fire getting to know each other and being silly til 2 in the morning. We gave each other pirate names, John was "pokes fire with stick" Erin was "floating Gazelle" I was "pirate camper." After everyone went to bed Aeisha, John and I stalked Erin commando-style to her tent in the dark and did the hokey surpised her with the hokey pokey. She fell apart laughing.

Sunday morning I was the first one up (again), and I made fire from scratch! I felt like Tom Hanks in Castaway "I! HAVE MADE FIRE!" We left that morning, hiked out quickly (everyone was so pumped up from the weekend that a few of us practically ran...actually Erin did). We left the trailhead and met up in Kernville for pizza and beer and proceeded to toast anything and everything we could.

The whole weekend was amazing--the only bathing I did was sunbathing and that was completely expected. But it was the drive home that made me realize the significance of espcaping to my mountain top. For three days I was able to leave my problems behind, I didn't have to think about work, school, or really anyone except for the awesome people in front of me; but eventually I had to come back. I had to drive back down from the mountains into the valley where my problems laid waiting for me.

A chrysalis is the process a catipillar goes through to transform into a butterfly. It is a time of seclusion and deep personal growth. I think from time to time, it is important for everyone to undergo their own chrysalis--a time of maintenence, and a time of personal growth. Remembering to take care of the self must be one of the hardest lessons there is to learn, it continues to be one of the most difficult lessons I face. But this camping trip has reminded me of something--beating my head against the wall is useless. Occasionally life requires a retreat in order to regroup before facing our problems again. Occasionally, it is necessary to head up to a mountain so that we can come back down to the valley, revitalized and with new-found momentum.

greater than or equal to zero

I have never walked into a class and been COMPLETELY suprised to discover a test waiting for me....until this evening.

so evidently there was a midterm in class tonight. So when I said earlier to a few people that I didn't do my reading for today, that also included the syllabus. My first clue should have been when I walked in and thought "man, why are there so many people here??" But the real epiphany came when she handed me a little stacks of white papers. The thought process went something like this:

"hey waddaya suppose this is?"
...
"it almost looks like a test.."
...
"oh no fucking way..."

so yeah. I failed, I failed like Woody Allen at ameteur night at the Apollo. In fact, instead of an essay I simply wrote an explination and apology as to why I did so poorly on this exam. I think this marks the turning point in my school career. It's taken too long to realize that I just don't take school seriously. Assignments have been important, due dates have been important--but the idea of school has never been one I took seriously. I think I finally realized this when I realized that my friends and I were talking about assignments and school work that they were speaking a different language than me. They spoke of due dates and page-length requirements as commandments chizeled in stone; all they heard from me were excuses why I didn't need to go to class that time....

The problem isn't the desire to learn, I hope I never stop learning. Learning is a full-contact sport and my one goal in life is come out on top. My problem is confidence--the confidence to get from zero to one. Being a good student, staying on top of my responsibilities, being an adult in general takes discipline--I have discipline, because I can get stuff done (to put it loosely), but it is that next step, making the discipline a habbit, where I lack confidence. I've spent so much time trying to recapture my youth and remember how to be a kid that I've forgotten the importance of being an adult.

Monty Python makes everything better.

We all know where you've been yuo military faiiirry!

Leap of...faith?

Someone asked me to design a tattoo for them based on my interpretation of the word "believe." That was two days ago and I still don't have anything for them. It's a little dis-heartening to draw such a perpetual blank, I believe in many things. I believe in truth and I believe in love. I believe in God. Sometimes I have a hard time not beleiving in magic. It's not what I believe, it's that I believe that I'm having problems with--or at least communicating it in an effective way.

The teachers of CSUN may strike. Their contracts are up for renewal and the union isn't happy with the terms of the salary increase won't keep up with inflation, and the treatment of the university's finances in general. They are voting whether or not to strike this week. The teachers believe and they know how to express it. They believe in education and they're willing to fight for it. I spoke with a few of the teachers manning the "we don't want to strike, but we will if we have to" booth, they're not only looking for teachers to join the picket line but student that will pledge to support their cause. I'd like to support them...I just don't know if I would. Here's where I get into trouble.

Up until now I have believed because everyone else around me was believing. It's not a bad thing--in fact I'd say it's human nature to want to believe. But when faced with real challenges on my own terms, given the option I simply chose to not choose at all. Remaining blissfully skeptic simply takes less work. I don't think a lot of people realize the amount of work it takes to really believe in something; it's suprising the sheer commitmnet one has to make--to a cause and to themselves. I'm sure if you talk to a few ex-girlfriends they'd be happy to tell you my inadequecies with that word. I think it comes on slowly--like growing up; it isn't as if one day you suddenly decide that for the rest of your life you are ready and willing to believe. It's little by litte, and comes mostly through trial and error.

It is easy to sit on the fence. Making a commitment is the hard part, most peple don't want to do it--including me.

The (Not so) Science of Silence

I went for a hike today; up to stony point which is basically my mountain now (just don't tell the others). I spent about two hours exploring the backside of the mountain jumping over new rocks and finding new caves and getting dirty. Maybe it was when I was crawling on my belly through a cave or laying out on top of a giant boulder baking in the sun that I realized how powerful silence can be.

It's 4:30 now and I've maybe spoken 12 words since I've woken up this morning. And it's not that I've been trying to be anti-social, when people spoke to me I answered back, but beyond that I just kept silent. But even when I did speak to people, I noticed a suprising warmness in the reactions I got, as if saving my voice for when it was needed made it that much more powerful. It makes sense, doesn't it? When moses wanted to be a lone with God he went up a mountain--and before that he was a shepherd. How much more space do you need than that? Buddha had his tree on a mountain, and even the President gets Camp David.

It's easy to get lost in the distractions at ground level. When I cut out the extra noise--the cars, the televisions and the cell phones and the internet and even my own voice, and strip everyting down to the simple sounds of nature and the voice of my own thoughts; I find that everything is a little bit clearer, answers are more logical and questions are....they just don't seem to matter as much. Now the pertinant question now is how do I follow through? How do I bring this back off the mountain?

this is what happens when you second guess your blogging

I've had so many thoughts rampaging through my buck-shot mind recently that everytime I try to follow one jagged path I get pulled down another. So I start one, and can't ever seem to finsih and eventually just leave it alone, clogging up my concentration like a wicked case of mental blue-balls. So instead of twenty pages of philosophy and self-discovery, here's one page of simple confession. Things that've been on my mind recently:

-I need to take time for myself so I can start taking pride in myself.

-I want to finish all of the books I have started

-I hate playing the dating game, yet right now I want nothing more than to meet someone nice. I hate that this enthusiasm is what is driving people away.

-I want to go rock climbing again

-I wish it felt like my friends were as excited about what I am involved in as I am about them

-The more I discover about myself, the more I realize the infinite more I have left to discover

-When people don't respond to what I write on here, it makes me feel like a bad writer.

Single Awareness Day

Ive never really like Valentine's day. The whole aire of romance that surrounds the day seems a little forced. Thinking back, I've never actually shared Valentine's day with anyone. I've done nice things on Valentine's day for people--I used to buy a rose for three of my friends every year--and it was always very well received but I've never actually had someone who I could share the notion of Valentine's day with.

It hasn't really bothered me, until now. As I look around me I'm realizing that it seems like everyone has someone they can share today with. For some the special someone is literally right next door, while others have a few miles to trek before they sleep. Even for those who can't be with the one the love today, they still have someone. It didn't really sink in until I got a call today and found out that one of my closest friends is getting married...in ten weeks. She and her-now-fiance-are both a year younger than me! And what's more is that she's fourth friend to get married. Other friends are in committed relationships, and I? I am.....I don't know what I am.

I am not one to wallow in my own self-pity, nor am I fishing for sympathy. I will do what I always do when the stark realization of romance rears it's cock-eyed head. Read some Raymond Carver, listen to Tom wait, and get the fuck over it. Still though, the bitter reality of the single life seems to bite a little harder tonight--it's sting seems to be lingering a little longer tonight.

The real skill is in the follow through.

I believe the source of my troubles lies in the follow through. Like so many ameteur gold or tennis players, I put all my effort into the brunt of the action. I have a good swing whenever I do something; but just like the sports if you only focus on your short game you end up leaving yourself in more traps than not. Is this a bit confusing to understand? You bet. It is on my end too. But I think that any self help starts with identifying the problem.

New and exciting things

Classes, teachers, people, relationships....



There is a certain side of life, that I am ignorant too. There is a barrier built into who I am, and where I was born and who I was born to that keeps me from understanding life of the oppressed. There is a plethora of opportunity built into my life, I didn't ask for it but I have it. It is easy to skate through life without meeting much opposition simply because of the way I look (except in Texas--they don't like hippies).

The more I've studied the more aware of this advantage I have, so it's with some serendipity that the classes I have this semester are all designed to help me along that path. Men, Women, and Media is studying the bias of gender roles in the media. The History of African-American Literature highlights the significant advancements of African-American literature--literature that best shows what black society has had to put up with.

Some of you may be reading this and wondering why I hate my own skin so much--this isn't the case. This isn't white guilt. I've done nothing to feel guilty about. But what these classes, and really being in college, has taught me is that I truly believe in equality--for everyone. And that for anyone who has an advantage over another--it is their responsibility to reach out and obliterate those hurdles. I believe in this, in absolute equality for everyone. And it is time that I start taking it seriously--these classes will help.

This is going to be a hard, but a good semester.

first day

I am in a fanstastic mood. First day back at school was awesome! That's all.


=)

Please assume the position

Materials >Select by Course

Booklist for: Northridge Campus > Regular Sessions > Spring 2007 > JOUR > 371 > 10828
Required Material(s)
Buy This Item All Governments Lie New $38.75 [Backorder] Author:Macpherson Edition:
Buy This Item Taking Their Place Used $39.50 New $52.50 Author:Beasley Edition:2nd
Booklist for: Northridge Campus > Regular Sessions > Spring 2007 > ENGL > 409 > 16065
Required Material(s)
Buy This Item Goest New $13.95 Author:Swensen Edition:
Buy This Item Here, Bullet New $14.95 Author:Turner Edition:
Buy This Item Incognito Body New $15.95 Author:Hogue Edition:
Buy This Item Luster New $13.95 Author:Bogen Edition:
Booklist for: Northridge Campus > Regular Sessions > Spring 2007 > ENGL > 396CO > 16067
Required Material(s)
Buy This Item V For Vendetta New $19.99 [Backorder] Author:Moore Edition:
Buy This Item Contract with God New $16.95 [Backorder] Author:Eisner Edition:
Buy This Item Kramer's Ergot Five New $36.25 Author:Harkham Edition:
Buy This Item Don't Go Where I Can't Follow New $19.75 [Backorder] Author:Nilsen Edition:
Buy This Item Understanding Comics Used $17.25 [Backorder] Author:McCloud Edition:
Out-of-Stock ALTERNATIVE COMICS: AN EMERGING LITERATURE (P) Author:HATFIELD Edition:
Buy This Item One Hundred Demons New $17.95 Author:Barry Edition:
Buy This Item Fun Home New $19.95 Author:Bechdel Edition:
Buy This Item Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories New $28.00 Author:Brunetti Edition:
Buy This Item EPILEPTIC (P) New $17.95 Author:DAVID B. Edition:
Buy This Item PYONGYANG: A JOURNEY IN NORTH KOREA New $19.95 Author:Delisle Edition:
Buy This Item DUCK FEET, BOOK 6 (P) New $18.95 Author:Hernandez Edition:
Buy This Item Ode to Kirihito New $24.95 Author:Tezuka Edition:
Buy This Item Kampung Boy New $16.95 Author:Lat Edition:
Buy This Item Pride of Baghdad New $19.99 Author:Vaughan Edition:
Booklist for: Northridge Campus > Regular Sessions > Spring 2007 > ENGL > 311 > 16409
Required Material(s)
Buy This Item Norton Anthology of African Amer Lit (w/2 CDs) Used $59.75 New $79.50 Author:Gates Edition:2nd
Booklist for: Northridge Campus > Regular Sessions > Spring 2007 > ENGL > 355 > 16412
Required Material(s)
Buy This Item Literature: Compact New $74.50 Author:Kirszner Edition:6th
Booklist for: Northridge Campus > Regular Sessions > Spring 2007 > RTM > 151A > 17805
Recommended Material(s)
Buy This Item Mountaineering New $29.95 Author:Mountaineers Edition:7th

____________________________________________

Subtotal: $596.08

So yeah, I have 22 books this semester--TWENTY-TWO. They break down to: 13 comic books (for "comic books as literature!), 4 poetry books, 2 anthologies, two books on journalism, and one book on mountaineering. Who says my interests are a little ambiguous? Anyway it's pretty obvious that I won't be buying my books at my school's bookstore (by the way the subtotal includes all possible used books available). I got the same list on amazon and it dropped about $200 but it's still approximately $400. The clencher is that not one is above eighty dollars, I don't have any biology or physics books that are notorious for requiring indentured servitude in order to afford them. I am an english major! We don't have any money, don't they realize that! Still I suppose it is my fault for taking four english classes in one semester.... >_< I don't know how I'm going to do it all. I'm going to start regreting this in exacly 5 weeks.

RA-ness *officially* picks up tomorrow. I'm axious to get see all my friend again, they're all such awesome people. I've missed that closeness we all share. There are a couple new RA's this semester replacing some that left last semester, and I know that I don't have to worry about them not fitting in--because all of the RA's are so appecting. I'm also excited to see my residents and start programming stuff, I have a lot of ideas and I can't wait to get them going. Between that and the metric ton of reading I'm going to have, this semester is going to be rather insane. Still I know if I can kepp my head above water, it's going to be really awesome.