all is optional

Let’s take our pants off!

Read about previous “No Pants” missions here.

Wikipedia says it’s an international holiday.

This winter vacation sealed the deal on so much of the past truly showing how all of us have changed and the lives we used to know are nothing more than photographs in a scrapbook.

Sure, people I graduated high school with got married in the years past but this time, someone I knew pretty well got married: my big sis from Junior Social - a noble foray into the stereotypical middle America culture of catty girl fights, gossiping, and boys. People I’m much more closer to are in similar places in their lives whereas I go induce an anxiety attack (like a true commitment phobe) when I think of my brief, three week interaction with a decidely adorable fellow.

My brother and I haven’t fought, not even once in the near four weeks I’ve been home. This must be some kind of new record for us.

I was in Memphis and I didn’t call Brianne or even call her back when she called a few months ago. I was in Pine Bluff one day a couple of weeks ago and didn’t call any one under the auspice of spending time with family, promising that I’d return at some later date in January. I’m not going maybe because I’m lazy, maybe because I’m not ready to face my friends and see near-strangers in their place.

When I look toward the future, there’s graduate school and surprisingly there are only two New York schools: Columbia (begrudgingly) and Fordham. My top three (States-side) are:

1. Brown University
2. American University
3. University of Southern California

USC is a reach program because they don’t really accept Masters-level candidates unless you intend to follow through with the doctoral program. Frankly, I don’t think I have the CV to be accepted into that kind of a program. Granted, I might have the fortune to swallow those words if my G.R.E. scores are through the roof but I’m really not holding out hope in that department either.

Before I go galavanting eighteen months ahead into my academic career, I should probably figure out what I really want to study and hope that the Honors thesis I produce will be a viable candidate for a writing sample.

New York, I’m coming back with a clear conscience. Even better, I’m looking forward to coming home, which is all that really matters.

Recommended listening: Elliot Smith’s “Somebody I Used to Know”

I watched you deal in a dying day.
And throw a living past away.
So, you can be sure that you’re in control.
You’re just somebody I used to know.

Related entries: Won’t Forget the Way You Love Me

Never underestimate the power of a full night’s sleep.

I went to bed disappointed in you and even more disappointed in myself. I woke up with the realisation that those actions change nothing because they were never the basis of who we are. It’s nice to know I can wallow in the good even now. That’s what makes us different.

When love beckons to you follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.

Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet

Pleasure focus your attention on the top left corner of this screenshot where the Adium duck looks more like a klan member than any thing else.

via Tudor

1. Go to google.com.
2. Type in my name.
3. Click “I’m Feeling Lucky.”

The New York Times (via AP) is reporting that Tom DeLay will be resigning. DeLay chose to resign after House GOP called for his resignation in light of his ongoing problems with conspiracy and money-laundering charges.

DeLay is battling campaign finance charges in Texas and was forced to step aside temporarily as majority leader last fall after he was charged in his home state. He has consistently maintained his innocence and said he intended to resume his leadership post once cleared.

Required Reading: American Literature of the 1960s (independent study)

1. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
2. Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
4. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
5. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
6. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
7. The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
8. Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac
9. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

aside: Which of the following should I begin with: Silent Spring, The Bell Jar, Cat’s Cradle, The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, or Catch 22?

Non-required Reading:

1. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
   I want to read this mainly because it’s been sitting on my list for the last couple of years. Plus, I like Dave. And, McSweeney’s.
2. You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers
   Again, I like Dave. I liked Tudor’s review. Plus, the cover of the hardback is pretty sweet.
3. McSweeney’s Quarterly #11 edited by Dave Eggers
   Recommended by C.J. Kershner
4. The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth
   Everybody loves a little bit of conspiracy theory.
5. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
   This summer, I read an article written by Michael Chabon on writing his first novel. I liked his style. His work with McSweeneys’ isn’t too bad either.
6. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon*
   Recommended by C.J. Kershner
7. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
   I keep seeing it pop up every where. Looks intriguing enough.
8. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
   Erin’s was on a Vonnegut fix. I liked Slaughterhouse Five. I ask, “Why not?”
9. Slapstick: Or Lonesome No More! by Kurt Vonnegut
   See above.
10. A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut
    Recommed by my aunt.
11. Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie*
    Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s execution and placed a $3,000,000,000USD bounty for his head. Eleven countries banned it. Got to see what the big fuss is.
12. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie*
    I thoroughly enjoyed Fury thus giving some of his (relatively) lighter works a go.
13. Acid Dreams: The Complete History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond by Martin A. Lee*
    I figured this would give good historical set up for my Sixties independent study. Kenny enjoyed it last summer. For the naysayers, like I said earlier, who doesn’t love a good conspiracy theory?+
14. The Prince and Other Stories by Niccolo Machiavelli*
    This bit Machiavelli’s assertion of the then revolutionary idea that theological and moral imperatives have no place in the political arena from the amazon.com review won me over.
15. The Trial by Franz Kafka*
    On Mom’s recommendation. Also, because existentialism is lessthanthree.
16. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison*
    Lauren Hardy gave me this book some time between the end of senior year of high school and the beginning of sophomore year of college. I have a feel I’ll despise it so I haven’t read it yet but there comes a time in every English major’s life where you suck it up and read.
17. The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald*
    Fitzgerald is like my dirty pleasure.
18. Love of the Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    Apparently, Tycoon was Fitzgerald’s next great masterpiece but he died before it could be completed.
19. The Crack Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edmund Wilson (editor)
    A collection of essays and letters for a slightly different look at good ol’ Fitz.
20. Flappers and Philosophers by F. Scott Fitzgerald*
    Fitzgerald’s short stories are better than his novels.
21. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James*
    Foray into the horror genre of fiction.
22. Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky*
    It was $2.00 at the thrift store.
23. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky*
    Russian literature, it’s famous for a reason, right?
24. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky*
    It’s a nice change when literature makes you work for it to be good. I have a feeling this book will be good.
25. Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky*
    Notes was a present from a boy I once knew quite well.
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