eh, eh, nothing else i can say

I love Memoirs of a Geisha. It's a lovely movie. So well put together.

Classes start tomorrow. My roommate wants to get up at 6am and go work out. I just don't understand how someone can do that. I'm going to try.... we'll see how it works out.

Today I finished reading Pillars of the Earth. It's probably one of the best books I've ever read. Spanning 35 years, it tells of the intertwining lives of several characters, ranging from a prior of a monastery, a mostly-feral boy and his mother who join the family of Tom Builder, a mason looking for work on a cathedral, and a young woman and her brother who have been stripped of their royal titles. All happening during a civil war in the 1100's. The mini-series on Starz doesn't do it justice. The story is very compelling. The way it takes the lives of people from the 12th century and makes it sound modern, even though you can tell the places and people are very much ... not modern? I can't think of a good word to put there at the moment. (That is the worst thing about my mind. When I need a good word, I can't think of one.)

This semester, I will not have the time to read its sequel, World Without End, but I will try during the Christmas break. It's nearly as long as the first one, 900 some odd pages. However, I will have so much to read this semester coming up... so much Shakespeare, American Lit and poetry. Le sigh.

Buster had a bath today, which he disdains. I worked for seven hours making a mere 23 dollars in tips. The Waffle House here is not as good at making money than the one on the Coast. However, you'd think they would make a lot more money, because it's the only one for hours around. I guess Coasties like Waffle House a lot better than people in Northern Mississippi.

My house in Columbus is coming along well. I still have 6 boxes to unpack, and I think I'm just going to throw all the contents of them into storage things I have to put under my bed, once I get one.

Also on a list of things to-do is get my xbox fixed. It doesn't read discs anymore and I really wish it would so I could finally put my DVD player in my bedroom so I could watch TV as I fall asleep.

Sometimes I find it difficult to fall asleep, even at 2am. I don't know how to fall asleep I guess. My mind races with ideas right as I'm falling asleep, and I never write them down, hoping I'll remember them. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. I usually just try to keep trying to sleep, keeping my eyes closed, but my mind still keeps going.

I always look to the past for things I could write about. On my extension of Hot Thibodaux, I have run out of words. I have plenty ideas for what is to happen, but I cannot put them into words. I think this is what people call writers block. I can't take Fiction Writing until next semester, and I cannot wait until that happens. I'm not very skilled in poetry, and I've never really read much of it, written it either, except for a long time ago, when it was mostly dark, emo, lame things when I was a teenager and was angry at the world. Things have changed drastically since then. Who knows, perhaps my poetry will still be dark and whatever, but it won't be emo and lame.

Once, in high school, someone said I was the definition of emo, but honestly, the only thing emo about me was that I listened to the music. I was depressed, of course, but I wasn't cutting my wrists or other parts of my body. Doing things to physically hurt myself. That is pretty much pathetic.

I can't think of any time in my life where I've wanted to hurt myself. I found a letter I wrote to my parents a long time ago about how I wanted to hurt myself, and I'm sure at the time I did. Teenagers always feel like the world is against them and they can't do anything about it, and the best way out is pain, or death. Truthfully, life after being a teenager is the best thing in the world. So far, I've enjoyed every minute of it. I'm not the person I used to be, that's for sure.

In high school, I was not outgoing, social or anything. I was self-conscious and felt that I wasn't good enough. Now, I'm none of those things. Maybe still a little self-conscious, but really, who isn't? (Even though, the "popular" kids in my high school said that if I had only talked more I'd have been more "popular." I'm very, very glad that I was not popular in high school, because I feel like it gave me the perspective of life that I have now. I was even invited to a girl's end-of-the-year pool party, but I did not go because there was no one there I would know.)

Perhaps I should write a satire of teenage existence, but it would probably end up being too cliche and melodramatic.

I don't know what else to say.

p&l
rachel

optimum tragectory

Where does my destiny lie?

I'm watching The Men Who Stare at Goats. I enjoy this movie. Jedis, goats, what more could you ask for?

In less than a week a lot of things will have happened: my best friend will be married, school will be going on and I'll have a new roommate. Someone I have never met, but I think we'll get along just fine.

I've been decorating the house, getting myself ready to start sleeping in the back room, even though I don't have a mattress yet. Sleeping on air mattresses isn't so bad, I guess.

There are still so many boxes to unpack. I'll have to do it all again in a few years. Pack and move. Pack and move. I wonder how many times I'm going to do it before I feel like I can settle down.

I'm hungry, but I don't know if I want the leftovers from last night's dinner. I wonder how much one pizza from Dominoes could be....

The train choo-choo's in the distance and I sit here wondering what can I do to make tomorrow interesting?

p&l
rachel

It's been too long...

since I've last blogged. Too much has been happening.

I have a lot of free time now, I guess I should do it more often. I need to be writing more often anyway.

As for my writing career, I have progressed a bit.

I live in Columbus, Mississippi now. I got 5 grand in scholarships to the school here, which is awesome. 4 grand of it is for my writing. Not bad at all.

My short story Hot Thibodaux has gotten pretty rave reviews from a lot of ... English teachers.

I won an award for it from the community college I went to last semester.

I was published in said community college annual literary journal. I think that's me doing pretty well for myself, right? Publication and scholarships. I'm on my way to the big top. Ca-ching.

However, life in Columbus is pretty lonely. I don't have a roommate. It's just me and Buster.

I have a few friends, but they live in the next town over. Also, I have my co-workers, but they're co-workers.

I really love the house I'm living in though. There's a ghost cat, and it has made its presence known. I have witnesses, Lindsey and Lexi have both seen it in action.

At the moment, I work a lot and don't do any house work. I've done a little writing, but I need to do more. I do a lot of reading though, and that should count. I'm at least broadening my horizons.

As for the Fall semester here at the W, my classes should help me flourish:

• Poetry Writing Workshop (I'm not very good at poetry, hopefully this will help)
  
• Shakespeare (early works I think)
• College Algebra (I'm not too excited about this one)
• Yoga (I am excited about this one)
• American Lit 1 (Even though I took World Lit 1 and 2, I have to take another survey course)

My future is bright, my tail is bushy. I need to start submitting Hot Thibodaux to more literary journals other than the one it was published in, which doesn't count, because it doesn't have a circulation over 100, I'm sure.

Tomorrow is my first day off in seven days. I have to pay my first electric and water bill. Being an adult is not all it's cracked up to be....

HOWEVER, what I really should be talking about is the ending of LOST. But I really can't until I see the whole last season again. I need to be well educated in it's brilliance before I can make any accusations of any sort.

The box set will be coming out this month. 150 on pre-order on amazon.com. I really need to buy it once I get my tuition refund money if that ever happens.

I am now the proud owner of all three season of Veronica Mars. I don't have to rent it from the library anymore. Even though the Columbus library doesn't have a great selection of DVDs to choose from.

I'm still working at Waffle House. It's nothing special. And it's pretty much the same where ever you go. A WaHo is the same in every city, every state. The people have the same problems, the same complaints. The same whatever.

I really need to just write a sitcom. Or a Grey's Anatomy type show about a Waffle House-esque diner. I just need to come up with loveable characters. That's the problem..... to stereotype or not to stereotype. Cliche or not to cliche? That is the question.

p&l
rachel