"No One Bothers You More Than Yourself"

Back to therapy. That's what I'm calling this. For now, the best way to describe this blog is therapeutic. My eyes are crying out for some sleepy time, but rest is out of the question when there's two weeks of school left, I recently started at my first job, and it's gloomy outside. Random side note: I have this theory about rainy weather. I get tired quicker when the weather is gloomy or it's rainy and wet and such. I love the rain, hate the tiredness. I'm so glad I'm complaining digitally because there's nothing that irks me more than whiny voices/tones. And then the one thing that ranks higher than even that on my "irk list" is being obviously hypocritical, which is what I am being right now (complaining about complaining, yeah I've gone THAT far). I have another theory: I call it the "No One Bothers You More Than Yourself" conundrum/axiom. It means that the things, behaviors, mannerisms, whatever you want to call them, that bother you the most are the ones you display within yourself. For instance, I absolutely hate it when the people sitting behind me in class tap their feet incessantly on the wire basket under my own because all I feel for the remainder of the period is their stupid feet- drumming causing a not-so-massaging vibration on my behind. Not. Fun. Yet, I tap my feet all the time, I kid you not.

So where was I going with this entry? I never remember once I start typing....

I literally just finished The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. That's right people-who-have-been-keeping-up-with-my-endeavor-to-read-all-the-nicholas-sparks-books, I am soooooooooooo close to being finished! By the way, I don't really think I was supposed to hyphenate that whole sentence right there, I might be unconsciously obsessed with hyphens. Another problem for another time. Back to the sappy romantic novels: He came out with a new one recently so as the list gets smaller, it's also managed to grow at the same time. Literary genius right there. I believe it's called The Best of Me. I still have that one, Dear John, and the nonfiction book Three Weeks With My Brother. I'm putting off Dear John because (and I know it's not the same) I've watched the movie too many times and I'm pretty much getting sick of the plot. I know the book will be better than the movie, but that doesn't mean I have to look forward to it. I look forward only to the finishing of my task, of what I set out to do. I have no doubt that Nicholas Sparks will continue to write those romance novels that I can easily predict but somehow enjoy despite of all its cliches and uniformity. Love is love, man. And I LOVE LITERATURE! You can't tell me that that stuff isn't literature because it is. It just is.

It has taken me months to compile, edit, scratch out and then add stuff, categorize, the whole shabang...that is...my summer reading list. For pleasure that is. I always read for pleasure, but due to my enrollment in AP European History and AP English, I have required reading as well. Big deal, boo hoo. I will enjoy it somehow. Anyway, here's my reading list for the summer. Take a gander, smile, laugh, and accuse me of being crazy. All of those are to be expected. :)
(titles with an asterisk are the ones I'm reading for the second time)

The Alchemist*
Brian's Winter
The River
Dogsong
Brisingr**
The Invisible Wall
The Help
The Best of Me
Dear John
Three Weeks With My Brother
The Perks of Being A Wallflower
Wit & Wisdom of Mark Twain: A Book of Quotations
My Name Is Memory
Jane Eyre
Scarlet Pimpernel
Great Expectations
Shark Life
No. 1 Ladie's Detective Agency (finish the series)
To Kill A Mockingbird*
Mere Christianity*

"I've noticed that everybody who is for abortion has already been born"-Ronald Reagan

Hosanna

"Heal my heart and make it clean,
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me.
Break my heart for what breaks Yours,
Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause,
As I walk from love into eternity."

Ya'll Be Good Now, Ya Hear?

I've come to the bittersweet conclusion that I want to read more books than is physically or humanly possible for me at this time in my life. What is even more sad is, well, this is the time in my life (excluding retirement, which I will probably end up avoiding as much as possible anyway) that I have the most time to accomplish the daunting yet thrilling task of reading all the written works on my "must read" list. It's actually called, and feel free to make fun of me for this, but it makes sense if you know me at all, "Read Before You Get Married" list. I figure that by the time I am married, my reading momentum will slow down significantly due to a) not finding a man who enjoys reading as much as I do or b) I will begin to make more and more excuses for "not having time" to read.

I was just now reminded of my literary predicament because I was looking at one of those annoying Facebook questionnaire thingys about how many books you've read off of this particular list...I think the grand total was 8. Woohoo! But then as I was scrolling down the list I found sooo many more books to add to my reading list. I have friends that I could go to for recommendations also, but I'm almost afraid to because I have no room! My list is starting to exceed two pages and at the rate I'm going, I'm only going to finish half of the first page. It probably doesn't help that I find new books that I've never heard of before and I check them out at the library and they happen to NOT be on my list. Oh well. And now all this book-chatter has gotten me thinking of this summer and the summer assignment I'm going to do for my AP English class...oh the suspense! And wait! There's more! The reading and writing for my AP Euro History class too! I am such a nerd that I am utterly excited for those classes. Oh boy.

This summer will make for an interesting/exciting/epic blogging time period...watch out ya'll! Yes, I used Southern colloquiallism and I love it. So there. I shall stop typing now.

Be A Friend

Friendliness makes the world go 'round...and people happier. Nuff said

Love Is in the Air, Or At Least the Pages

Just thought I'd share this with you:

In the past year I've checked out and completed 12 books by Nicholas Sparks from the library and I currently have 3 more reserved for me on the shelf at this very moment. The epic saga continues! And I was on his website the other day and noticed there's a new one coming out soon! This guy never stops and I must say I'm not too disappointed with his work. Beware for I am predicting some of the upcoming blog posts will be on the subject of Nicholas Sparks and all the predictable yet enjoyable literary romance that comes with it.

Urgh...grrrr...rawr...and all that

This is the one and only time I will use this space to complain about the male race (I apologize in advance for not staying true to this statement, sorry guys but it's not my fault you tend to let me down and I feel like communicating my disappointment/frustration). So on to this tirade...first of all....hmmmm...well actually I've decided to abort this rant mostly due to the fact that this specimen is a good friend of mine and I don't have the motivation to come up with logical reasons as to why I should be angry with him without specifically naming his "I can't believe you did/said that" deeds. I guess I owe my frustration to my innocence, but then again if I always expected to be let down/not fully satisfied with the actions of the man population then that would be a sad life indeed. Oh well. I am now currently accepting the universal truth that the opposite sex (this applies to women as well) can never be and never will be perfect/understandable/not frustrating.

This makes me appreciate even more those shining, beautiful, and wonderful moments of hope when he (whomever he may be) rises to the occasion and goes above and beyond my expectations (and they are big, trust me). These fleeting glimpses of the capabilities of guys (and ladies, for all you men reading this) can only be described as a relief to the human mind. Sorry I couldn't come up with anything more poetic, but I believe a statement like this deserves to be logical and rational. What I mean "as a relief" is: for that single amount of time our thoughts and what we believe to be a "fantasy" or some sort of made-up depiction of how that person should act or be like, well it comes true and no guess work is needed. The guess work, this applies most stereotypically to women because we are "dreaming" beings, evaporates and becomes reality and we are pleasantly surprised! For example, the girl who sits at home imagining her first date (sounds like she has no life, and I'm that girl sometimes) will probably come up with some idea of what she wants to happen or how she wants her date to act. Of course things never turn out the way we plan, but there's also the possibility that she never imagined he would open doors for her and stand up when she leaves the table to go to the bathroom and he does these simple gestures, contradicting what "realistic" women believe to be impossible. Now you're probably thinking, "Come on Jessie, there's a slim chance this would happen." That's why I refer to these types of surprises as fleeting glimpses of the capabilities of men. Translated into real world talk this means the "normal man" would never do this. I think this is enough psychobabble for now! :) Wow, that was a super abrupt ending and I apologize. I blame this slip-up on my gradually closing eyes at this late hour.