Thursday, October 18, 2007

goings on

Hello, I'm writing from a Best Western in Madison Wisconsin. I haven't done much of anything today, I think the weather is having an affect on people's moods. Everyone is kind of shape shifting around the bus, becoming a part which ever seat the sit in, it's all very languid and lazy. So, in my own efforts to break the intertia, I walked to the fitness center and lifted some 20 lbs. dumbells and ran on a treadmill for like 10 minutes, a short burst of motivation that ended after I realized how bored I was. I've been reading a book called, "The Idiot", for a while....one of the problems I have when reading anything fairly involved is that I have a hard time retaining the information...it's frustrating. After I finish the book, if someone were to ask me what it was about, I would have a hard time recounting anything that goes beyond the basic plot...i always forget the metaphors, even if I am lucky enough to recongize them while reading. I remember vaguely, in first grade, a story we were reading and a question that followed...after the story was over, we were asked what the story was about, and I could not get the answer, and it became so obvious once the teacher told me what it was about...the story was about someones birthday. Although, I couldn't figure it out until someone pointed it out to me...that event probably serves as a pretty accurate microcasm for how I work today. I have a hard time getting the point, so to curb that handicap, I recap each chapter with a visit to sparknotes.com and I make sure I didn't miss anything relevant to the plot, or to the character development. In this book, there are two characters (Myshkin and Rogozhin) who represent Christ and the Devil respectively, thanks to the sparknotes, I can make sure things like that don't slip by undetected. Anyway, whatever, the book is good so far. Jacob and Dave and I watched a TV show today that was about the M theory and the existence of parallel univserses, which Jacob has recently touched on in his blog. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that kind of thing, it takes too much of a scientifically imaginative mind I suppose. I am more interested in the internal realm I suppose, more so than the external, maybe that's why I'm reading Dostoevsky and not Paul Davies. Dave is going to carve some pumpkins today, Robert and Josiah witnessed a hawk take out a rat, and tonight we'll probably order a pizza and watch the Red Sox do thier best to keep themselves in the running...it's good to keep me distracted from myself sometimes. The tour started last night, and it was your typical first night of tour, everything was running behind, no time to prep..etc etc, ya know, good fun, and tomorrow we will be in Duluth, MN. Oh, also, in the productive time I spent online today, I found a video of this news story about a woman who made a whole house made of trash, old street signs, old computer keyboards, street lights, the link is on the side of my blog, the one that says "environment". Steven from Anberlin (it's good to hang with those dudes) really took me to town playing Halo 3 yesterday, I can't play that game, it's bad for my self-esteem and temper.

6 Comments:

Blogger AJ said...

you make me smile. :) i think you are an excellent student of the written word. i worked out yesterday, too...not in response to inertia, but complete frustration after losing 70 of the almost 300 references i've somehow managed to 'miss' inputing over these years for my final dissertation draft..anyway, i think i did too much..my arms and abs are sore. i took two hours last night to try to post some video clips from U2's Slane Castle tour in Ireland, but to no avail..ugh..so, i decided it best just to surrender to the soft blanket waiting to be snuggled on the couch & watched 'private practice'...wish you were here in san diego already..have a beautiful night. :)

4:14 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can't retain information to save my life when it comes to books. And I concur with the Sox.

7:24 PM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

How very odd, my roommate and I carved pumpkins today and I too am now watching the Red Sox right now so far it's not looking good they need to score some runs man. The bruins won tonight so hopefully the red sox follow their lead.

7:41 PM

 
Blogger Melanie said...

You describe your day in such a way that I can almost feel it. I can actually relate to a lot it.

I imagine that tackling "The Idiot" can be daunting, but worthwhile. Don't be too hard on yourself about not missing things. I think we all do at times. After some of my silliness here, I'm sure you are well aware of that. LOL I imagine the people with sparknotes (I have to remind myself to check that out) have read it multiple times, maybe taught classes about it to others. I don't retain things so well anymore. I used to do much better. But if you don't recall everything, in a way you can relate it, you still gather much from your reading, I'm quite sure. If you are like me at all, once you read something and make your observations about it.. remembering isn't as important as what came out of it - the decisions you make, etc. Or maybe I'm just rambling and way off-base. LOL

In Jr. High, I had a teacher that would read the storyline of a classic, then ask us to write on the author's purpose, and our opinion. I could never seem to get it. For one thing, I could never presume the author's purpose.
I guess that is what I thought of when I read what you had to say. I felt somewhat vindicated when a well known poet (hopefully I'll remember which one later on) commented on people pontificating about the meanings of his poetry. I'm not sure they were always quite right, if you trust the author. LOL

I have been reading what Jacob has on his blog, and the idea of parallel universes is not something I can really grasp, either. It seems too fantastic, I guess.

I will check out the story abou the woman and her house of trash. Amazing what people do sometimes.

--Melanie

3:53 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Duluth is such a pretty area. I hope you like it up there and I hope it's not too cold for you. :-)

7:28 PM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH9b3W4OtdQ

10:17 PM

 

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