Sunday, August 20, 2006

Old Friends and New Ideas
I finally hung out with Chrissie and Kami on Thursday - it was pretty fun. We got all retro and played truth or dare. I must say, the connotations with that game have never been too wholesome but it's an easy way to ask the people around you the questions that are burdening your mind but that don’t quite fit into casual conversations. And my old friend Juana offered to drive me to school this year - I think it sounds fun but I haven't hung out with her since 7th grade so it has serious awkward potential for the first few days. Though when we went to see Shannon, who we were friend with from childhood but hadn't seen in a long time, it wasn't real awkward. It was weird, no doubt about that, but it was fun. I imagine that is similar to what a high school reunion would be like: seeing people that you once knew so well - inside and out - and then you meet up with them and they look just different enough for you to have to take a second look and their mannerisms are the same but the content of the conversation has changed. It's bizarre. And along this pattern of old friends making an appearance in my life, Emanuel has. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I saw him at the mall a week ago but the most recent news on him is that he got a job working at XXI; which most know is also where my sister works. -_- Go figure.

Anyway, all I have been up to lately is watching Dawson’s Creek. Laugh if you will but I find it to be sufficiently entertaining for hours upon hours. But do not be mistaken, I get my intellectual stimulation from the books. It is true, that is, the rumors and gossip chains that have spread of my taking up reading again. I finished "Pride and Prejudice" and I have to agree with Cathleen [Kelly] on this one; the language [words like felicity] are at the very least captivating and as I read it I couldn't help but wonder yet again if she would end up with Mr. Darcy. "Confession. I have read Pride & Prejudice about 200 times. I get lost in the language. Words like "thither", "mischance", "felicity." I'm always in agony over whether Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are really going to get together. Read it. I know you'll love it." I also finished "The Picture of Dorian Gray" which I found to be incredibly fulfilling. It was a dark romantic satire written by a homosexual in the years when homosexuality was a practically a direct sentence of death. They actually used the novel against him [Oscar Wilde] in trials for allegedly having affairs with young boys (a.k.a. rent boys).

I also read “Said the Shotgun to the Head” which was by Saul Williams and it’s one long poem about love and religion and war and all that good stuff. Uhm, I enjoyed it. It is spoken-word poetry which is new to me (mostly because we are only taught to read poems by Emerson and Keats and Shakespeare and Dickenson and Whitman and other poets that stick to such molds) but it is my hope to expand my horizons. He is a poet, preacher, actor, rapper, singer, and musician. He played in ‘K-Pax’ and ‘Slam.’ I think he’s one of those poets that people are either going to love or hate – I don't see much of a middle ground. I also think people would have to be relatively open minded to enjoy his work but I do and I’m rather looking forward to listening to some of his music. I also bought a book by Voltaire called “Candide” and a book by Billy Corgan called “Blinking with Fists.” I haven’t read either of those yet obviously because I got them today and I’m still trying to finish the summer reading books but I’m excited to delve into them.

On another note, my current favorite song is “The Ballad of Henry Darger” by Natalie Merchant. It’s interesting that I found the song because I am fascinated by Darger. I saw a movie on him called “In the Realms of the Unreal” and it’s mind boggling. [by the way, I wish I could think of another way to say ‘mind boggling’] I don’t even know where to begin in talking about his life and I’m by no means an expert so I’d just suggest that anyone reading this go look him up on wikipedia.com. All I will say is that he was a reculsive writer/artist from Chicagoland. I’m also interested in getting some “Mewithoutyou” CD’s but I cant seem to find them anywhere so if anyone knows where I can find them, let me know! And seeing as that it’s about 4:00 AM and I might go to church today I am going to head off but we are by no means done with this conversation! G’night love.

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