Book Lists

Here is Crazy's list of books that would, ideally, be taught in a high school. Here are those which I have read, or will read:

-The Odyssey, unfortunately

-selections from The Canterbury Tales are next year

-so is The Scarlet Letter

-selections from Emerson, but at church, not school.

-selections from Thoreau, although I read Walden during the summer.

-Little Woman, but I read that, for myself, in elementary school

-Jane Eyre, a summer book, again.

-A Tale of Two Cities, in sophomore English

-Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and A Midsummer Night's Dream

-The Sun Also Rises, which I'm midway through. Also, Crazy wrote the following: "I like it better than A Farewell to Arms and HUGELY better than that stupid story where he chases around the fish." I agree with her whole-heartedly.

-The Great Gatsby, which I read this fall

-a short story by Woolf

I'm rather appalled that she didn't include Catcher in the Rye, which really ought to be on any list, in my opinion.

I also found a list here of thirty books everyone should read before their 30th birthday:

1. Sidartha- from what I've heard, I'll pass, although it supposedly helps on SATs.
2. 1984- I should probably read that one eventually.
3. To Kill A Mockingbird- I read it in eighth grade, and, to be honest, I think it's a bit overrated.
4. A Clockwork Orange- would have been better if Otis hadn't spoilt it.
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls- it's Hemingway, and not Old Man and Sea, so maybe I'd like it
6. War and Peace- sounds long and painful
7. The Rights of Man- is written by Paine. More or less pain than War and Peace?
8. The Social Contract- Rousseau. This is not a novel. I will not read it.
9. One Hundred Years of Solitude- anything that "does not have a plot in the traditional sense" does not seem as if it will be a great deal of fun.
10. The Origin of Species- well, that might actually be fun.
11. The Wisdom of the Desert- sounds like something my mom would read before forcing a new supplement on me.
12. The Tipping Point- Malcolm Gladwell. Can I leave it at Outliers?
13. The Wind in the Willows- never heard of it. Sounds nice, though
14. The Art of War- military strategy. blech.
15. The Lord of the Rings- I've read some. Vastly overrated, again.
16. David Copperfield- I started it and liked it, but we read it in school next year, so I didn't want to do the whold thing.
17. Four Quartets- poetry? I'll pass.
18. Catch-22- this I'd rather like to read.
19. The Great Gatsby- been there, done that.
20. The Catcher in the Rye- see #19
21. Crime and Punishment- sounds foreign and confusing. What fun!
22. The Prince- Machiavell. Will probably destroy my optimistic worldview
23. Walden- I read it. Loved it. Highly recommend it.
24. The Republic- Plato. Not a novel. "Gripping and enduring" makes it sound like bad sex.
25. Lolita- this I'd like to read.
26. Getting Things Done- self help. I'd really rather not.
27. How to Win Friends and Influence People- more self help. And it sounds snooty.
28. Lord of the Flies- I've always wanted to read that one.
29. The Grapes of Wrath- I'm sorry, but I really just don't like Steinbeck.
30. The Master and Margarita- Emily read this, our teacher hadn't heard of it, but it's apparently quite good.

Yay books! Yay reading! Now, back to Hemingway.

A Payson Develops a Sense of Loss

The show is finally over. Guys and Dolls is kaput. All the free time on my hands may send me into shock. I played the guitar for the first time in two months today. Of course, I could only play for about two minutes, cause my calluses had disappeared and my fingers were tired and it just plain hurt. I also played piano for about an hour, but not Guys and Dolls stuff. Just Debussey sight-reading. It was glorious.

The final show went fabulously. The only snag was that one of the sax's light went out, but it was between numbers, and I passed him a bulb to replace it, because the bulbs are under the grand, but the fixture was too hot, so I just passed him an entirely new light set-up, and he managed to get the whole thing up and running by the time Havana started. Which is good, because the band teacher plays cowbells instead of her sax during that song, so he's doing double duty. He actually used to play maracas, but the band teacher took them away because she thought he was being overenthusiastic. This is coming from the woman who badly bangs the cowbells for the entire song while her facial expression resembles that of a child who has just discovered Christmas. Or Hanukka, if you want to roll that way.

When we got to the pit party, and it was just the two random saxes and Joanne and Cammie and I, we overcame the general awkwardness by dissolving into hysterics over the cowbells. When Ida showed up to the party at her house, she was incredibly confused by how much we were laughing.

We spent a good amount of time gossiping. (Why is Harry so grumpy? Nobody knows, but Morgan thinks his looks would be much improved if we attacked his hair with a weed-wacker. Why the hell is Emily still all over Spencer? He's out and proud, but they still hook up, even though she has a boyfriend. What fabulous flutist has a bit of a thing for a different fabulous flutist? The world may never know.) Anita and Richard tickled each other extensively. Cammie and I interrupted each other constantly. I begin to understand why Vicky thinks she talks a lot.

Also, there are photocopies of Eccentrius's face on the floor of the band room. I, for one, am simply thankful that he didn't go the traditional route and photocopy his ass. Or arse, as Joanne and her mum would say.

A final conversation with Harry:

Tea: I put your music with your bag.

Harry: Huh?

Tea: You left it in the pit.

Harry: Yeah

Tea: By the way good job on the second act

Harry: Yeah

Why the show sucks:

At first, it was only Vina, a bit part, who had to leave rehearsal a few weeks ago because she was throwing up. Then Blamo missed all of hell week and the entire opening weekend, but he was only Joey Biltmore, so nobody really cared. Then Shen twisted his ankle and broke two ligaments at the end of the first act and did the second act on a cane, but everyone figured he'd be fine in a week. Then we reached Wednesday, and discovered that Shen had swine flu. Ordinarily, his understudy would step in, but Ian is the funniest Big Jule ever seen this side of the Mississippi, and even though Joey, who actually is big, was understudying Big Jule, it just wouldn't be the same, so Spencer, who plays Nicely-Nicely, and knew most of the lines already, offered to step in. Now, Spencer isn't double-cast, but he has an understudy, so he would play Nicely-Nicely and the whole shindig should go nicely, but, see, Harry the Horse, one of the larger gambling bit parts, is double cast with Brandy Bottle Bates, but one of them got sick a few days ago, so Nicely's understudy got trained as Brandy-Bottle Bates, and Harry the Horse went on being Harry the Horse, but with the understudy promoted, they had to train someone else as BBB, and he royally messed up his line, calling Adelaide's jewelry "repulsive" rather than "vulgar," but to make matters worse, the other Harry the Horse got sick, and we're already down so many gamblers they decided to have the assistant assistant director do it, but he knows none of the lines, so he's reading out of the script, and to make matters worse, Emily caught swine from Shen, seeing as how their always nuzzling noses on stage, and her understudy knows most of the dialogue, which would normally be fine, cause Shen could cover it up, but since he's gone, and Spencer really only knows the dialogue for the scenes that Nicely-Nicely is in, the entire pre-Lament dialogue went entirely out of order. To top it all off, Kate wasn't there, so I don't know what will happen if Nick's sister ends up playing across from both him and Sam, because there's no way all of that kissing is going to go over well.

Grease

Today, I went to our high school and painted sets for Grease. We were painting in the blackbox, right near the rehearsal space, and, right behind me, Danny and Sandy (played by emily) were rehearsing the scene in the drive-in. This scene basically consists of Danny trying to get into Sandy's pants.

First there were kissing noises, which made me chuckle a bit, then the director started telling them to do things (wait a minute for the hand. Good. Okay, Emily, keep doing what you're doing, Danny, you want it more. Show a little more passion.) Then, they eventually started talking. (just because you gave me your ring doesn't mean we're going to go all the way!) and making random exclamations of pain (Danny, you're hurting me! was said with absolutely no provocation. The director immediately decided to cut it. Danny's response was 'at least it'll be a bit less rape-y)

This was after yesterday, when their dance included "crawling with pelvic thrusting" and some faintly disturbing shimmying from Danny on "it's electrifying!"

Also faintly disturbing is the hamburger man, who we've been painting for the past two days, that will descend from the sky for the diner scenes. He definitely isn't mentally stable.

Castles in the Sand

This year, we made two frogs drinking coffee, and we were beaten by the girl in the picture. I, for one, was most annoyed, even if that sea serpent was rather cool. I think that for next year, we should do a frog that is in the process of being dissected.

Also, I just realized I totally botched up the names in my transcription of an English convo last week. Dino is related to Caroline, not Emily. Whoops.

Old People Doing Stuff

Grim Reaper Day was today, and I didn't feel that the assembly did particularly much. It felt impersonal and didn't really move me. I think part of the reason was that they never really said anything about the people who died aside from "it was my best friend," and the guy (who's probably only in it for the community service hours) was even worse. Listening to Opmin talk about what her brother was like during class had me staring at the desk thinking "don't cry" as I teared up, but the movie at the assembly just made me dizzy.

In English today, we discussed our weekends.

"My mom is graduating this weekend," Caroline informed the class. "She's getting her masters in education."

"Oh, that's so nice! What's her degree for?" Mrs. Leon asked.

"Oh, um, I dunno...she teaches third graders?"

The class laughed at her confusion.

"So elementary education. That's wonderful," said the teacher.

"Oh!" responded Caroline, "I was going to say that, but I didn't want to sound stupid."

"That went well," someone mumbled sarcastically, and the class laughed again. I then raised my hand.

"Speaking of people getting degrees later in life, my great-grandmother went to college when she was about 60," I said.

"What did she major in?"

"I dunno. It was before I was born, my Mom was just randomly talking about it last weekend, and it seemed relevant."

Another chuckle.

Then, Emily raised her hand. "My nana used to work as a secretary for a company that sold things to the army, but she found out that the younger, hotter secretary was getting paid more than she was, so she confronted the boss, who refused to pay her more, so she quit, started a competing company, and drove her old boss out of business, and now she sells stuff to the army from her attic as the only employee of her business. Go granny!"

Then, Dino spoke. "So," he said, making his usual unsuccessful attempt at a dramatic pause. "Speaking of old people doing stuff-"

"Old people doing stuff! What?" Mrs. Leon squawked.

"Well, they're old people, and they're doing stuff, so" *undramatic dramatic pause* "old people doing stuff. Anyways-" he paused, again "-my great-aunt- she's Caroline's great aunt too-"

"Wait," interrupted Rachel. "You and Caroline are related?"

"Yes," he said, and proceeded to explain their relationship in intimate detail before actually telling his story, which was boring enough that I can't remember it. He finished with, "So, see, old people doing stuff. I think I should trademark that. Old People Doing Stuff."

"My grandpa ate breakfast this morning," muttered Peter.

Caroline and I turned to Gemma and simultaneously said "What did he say?"

Gemma shrugged, and we all turned to look expectantly at Peter.

"My Grandpa ate breakfast this morning."

So old people CAN do stuff other than go to college!