Loramir Of Gondor's Journal

My whole family, plus my mom's childhood friend who is visiting for the weekend, have just left to go to the beach for the day. I, meanwhile, am getting ready for work. Argh. My mom's friend, whom I like and would like to spend time with, is only here for the weekend and I am working every day. Fortunately only working evenings, but it still kind of ruins things. Especially since they're probably going out to eat at one of the really good restaurants at the beach.

Argh.

I am totally getting Zaxby's on the way to work. I am entitled to unhealthy fast food in return for having to work while they're all at the beach. Hmph.

There has got to be something wrong with Nicholas Sparks. Does he just spend his days thinking of ways for people to die??

Honestly. The Notebook I can just about enjoy, because at least Noah & Allie got to spend a whole lifetime together and grow old before they died (mysteriously at the same time, apparently due to the transcendent power of love or something). But the rest of his books/movies I just don't like.

I just watched Nights In Rodanthe, which was reasonably good but very predictable. Personally, I just can't really get into the story when I *know* someone's going to die. This is why I only watch the first half of Titanic. And while I had not read Nights In Rodanthe, since I knew it was by Nicholas Sparks, obviously somebody was going to die. I was amazed when they survived the storm in Rodanthe, so after that I just sat there wondering, "Well, they survived that, now how is one or both of them going to die?" Was his plane going to crash? Would she get in a car accident? Would they get together only to realize one of them had a terminal illness? Maybe he caught a fatal South American disease while visiting his son in Ecuador!

But seriously, there has got to be something pathologically wrong with someone who writes some of the most romantic, moving love stories and then every time, kills one or both of the characters. Even more bizarre to me is that people voluntarily read his books knowing how it will inevitably end. I mean, having a good cry every now and then is one thing, I suppose, but reading his books just seems masochistic.

I am a major proponent of the Romantic Nonsense genre of literature. I don't want murder mysteries, deep symbolism, apocalyptic disasters, dysfunctional families, terminal illnesses, car accidents, tragic secrets, etc (though there are a few exceptions to this). If I wanted those things, I'd read the newspaper. If I'm going to spend my time reading a book (or watching a movie), I want an escape from real life and, darn it, I want a happy ending!

Possibly this is why I did not enjoy being an English major. All these books with "literary merit" almost all happen to also be incredibly depressing. So do all the movies that get nominated for Best Picture. This is why I was watching Mamma Mia and Enchanted while everyone else was raving about No Country for Old Men and Atonement.

I've been reading Little Women lately, and just finished it. I read the afterword at the end of my book, and it made me so annoyed I had to complain about it!

Lots of rambling about Laurie vs. Professor Bhaer as the right man for Jo, behind the cut :) I much prefer Professor Bhaer myself...

( Ramble )

Wow. Jake Gyllenhaal is filming a movie (which looks really weird) a few blocks away from my apartment building. How awesome is that?

He's been seen at Strom, the university gym, late at night. I've gone there about 5 times in my 3 years here, but I think now would be an excellent time to go again, LOL...

I'm still at a loss as to why they film movies here. Kevin Bacon and John Goodman were around last year filming Death Sentence. Columbia is quite possibly one of the ugliest, most generic, personality-less cities I have ever seen. It's a bigger version of my ugly, generic, personality-less hometown. There are very few tall buildings, even downtown, and no skyline to speak of. Just shabby, half-empty strip malls and ancient, empty buildings.

Beaufort or Charleston, I can see as filming locations--they have some character and appeal. Columbia is rundown, shabby, dirty, and generally dull. The downtown areas where they're filming, around the State House, are full of homeless people. I have no idea why you'd film a movie here.

I was talking about Dumbledore's "outing" on a forum, and got to thinking about it.

For one thing, I don't really care - Dumbledore is how he is in the books to me - whatever she says outside the books doesn't really count. I already know who Dumbledore is to me, so it's a bit late to try to change my Dumbledore.

Secondly, I also had a bit of an "of all the characters to make gay..." moment - I'm a huge Shoebox Project fan, so Remus/Sirius is the only slash ship I have any interest in - I've really never been into slash at all till I read that.

Thirdly, I think it's a dumb move. There are enough reasons for people to keep their kids from reading HP. Why give them another one? Even my aunt and uncle were reluctant to let my 10 year old cousin read it, but my brother and I practically forced them. For people like them, who are not that keen on HP anyway just from the negative press, this - even if it is isn't in the books - is all they need to say no. I think it's just one more reason for people to slam HP.

I mean, it doesn't affect what's in the books, but a lot of people who don't know anything about HP will just associate this with it now, and that will keep them from letting their kids read it. "Oh no, there's a gay guy!" No kid should have to miss HP just because JKR wants to satisfy the slash fans and keep her name in the headlines.

Right. So I haven't posted since July. However, posting in forgotten blogs is one of my patented Essay Avoidance Techniques. When it's two AM, my paper is due at 11c and I still have 3 or 4 pages to go, I start getting insane urges to do things I normally don't even think about. I start going "Wow, I'd love to clean my room right about now!" and "Hey, let's totally redo my website that hasn't been touched for 5 months!"

Another symptom of essay writing is that my music selections become Decidedly Odd. I can't write and listen to songs with words, so I'm limited to instrumentals. Back in my BitTorrent days I had a large stock of film scores, but I've gone straight as far as music downloading, so now I only have a few tracks still on my computer. So I've turned to Pandora, and I find myself listening to--and quite enjoying--lots of Old Guys With Long Hair And Goatees. I have a vague idea that Floyd Kramer is not cool. Probably Richard Clayderman isn't either. My only station criteria was Phil Coulter, and now they're trying to give me Liberace (skipped that one--too fluttery). It'll be Kenny G and Yanni before I know it. I hereby swear that I will NOT sink that low...

Now Pandora's started playing Jim Brickman. My Dork Factor is skyrocketing.

Ah well. Back to Oscar. You'd think I could write an essay about Oscar Wilde with no problem, but I just can't focus and the fact that I hate the class (or at any rate the professor) with the fire of a thousand suns (my favorite 10 Things I Hate About You quote) and deeply resent this assignment doesn't help.

Professor S drives me NUTS. Just thinking of her makes me mad. She is SO pretentious. She thinks she's this great poet and she's always blathering on about the Arts Institute and poetry slams and chapbooks like we're supposed to care. And she says "idear." She's an ENGLISH professor, for crying out loud! On my end of course evaluation I am going to write "PLEASE, for the sake of the sanity of your future students, STOP saying 'idear!!!!'" She also pronounces "gesture" with a hard G sound. WHO TAUGHT HER TO SPEAK??? She's one of those people who always misuses big words and says the wrong word when reading aloud. Arrrrrgh!

I just installed my new Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse thing. It CAME with a AA battery. No sooner have I plugged it in than it is telling me that the battery is low. Honestly, is Microsoft so pathetic that they include half-dead batteries with their products???

I'm so depressed. I really really really really hate my job. And I've only had it two weeks. *moan* I sooooooo don't want to go tomorrow. I know I sound like a lazy spoiled brat whining about what is essentially an okay job, but I would like a little more than minimum wage...and I just don't seem to be clicking with Fred's. I actually keep wishing I was back at Piggly Wiggly. Which is really saying something. Because Piggly Wiggly isn't so hot. I dunno. I mean, Piggly Wiggly wasn't fun, per se, and I wasn't exactly eager to go to work, but I didn't always dread it like I'm dreading Fred's.

The only job I really really really want is at The Happy Bookseller, but they're not really hiring. I need to go pester them some more though, and see if I can talk to a manager this time. I wouldn't really mind working at Waldenbooks in Sumter, cos the manager sort of knows me, and is fairly nice. Also, I wouldn't mind an on-campus job because they pretty much involve doing nothing. I'd kind of like an office job in general because it'd be a great opportunity to wear suits, with which I'm obsessed.

Anyhow. Speaking of suits, I really really like this one I saw at Dillards, but it was $100, so I was going to find it online and keep an eye on it in case they put it on sale, but it apparently doesn't exist on the internet anywhere. Which stinks.

I still feel very morose, despite it being spring break. Yay. But I have to work tomorrow. And I would rather...have a root canal. Or do 10 pages of math. Or...I don't know. But I hate hate hate it with the fire of a thousand suns.

Argh. I'm in a story-writing mood and this always makes me mad and irritable. I cannot write. I am impatient, have no self-discipline, and am very unoriginal. My main problems:

-no plot. At least no coherent one--I have some bits and pieces but not enough to call a plot.
-no world. My fantasy-ish story is lacking a world and culture.
-romance takes over the world. I am a complete and total hopeless romantic, and while I don't read romance novels, any story I attempt to write pretty much ends up being one. Romance ends up killing all the suspense, action, plot, etc.
-no sense of pace and no self-discipline. If I do have a plot, the whole thing manages to tumble out into the first five pages, thereby eliminating the rest of the story or causing it to decline to a long mushy love scene. Argh.
-impatience. I am simply not patient enough to plan and write a story. Back when I used to actually try (before I gave up) I ended up writing all the good (e.g. romantic) parts and skipping the rest.
-boring as heck. I cannot think of a single original idea. Or maybe I can think of one or two, but I can't blend them and augment them to create a fully realized plot.
-no self-discipline. I know good and well that every story does not and should not end happily. However, due to my romanticism and lack of discipline, every story of mine ends (or would end, if I wrote them), in a wailing-violins, fade-to-pink love scene. I can't even manage to be ambiguous like in The Princess Bride (the book), much less sad or unresolved.

*frustration*

Maybe I should just start writing something random and see where it goes? I find that hard with fantasy because I have to know the culture and setting and such first. And the one time I tried that (*coughing fit*) with a fanfic it turned out horrbile beyond belief.

*;fj;akf;afja;* <-anger

My German class is positively abysmal. This one guy was trying to read "Heute Abend spielen wir Karten." He said "Hyoot Abend speelen weer karten."

*sigh*

Does no one else find it odd that the news agencies are quoting Bush's State of the Union before he's given it?