A-Z Book Challenge 2012

On Goodreads, there is this challenge to read 26 books in 2012, with each one representing a letter in the alphabet.

This is a challenge I'm about to accept! Here's what I hope to read, although they may be subject to change!!!

A--Across the Universe by Beth Revis
B--Bumped by Megan McCafferty
C--City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
D--Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
E--Elixir by Hilary Duff
F--Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
G--Graceling by Kristin Cashore
H--House Rules by Jodi Picoult
I--The Ihop Papers by Ali Liebegott
J--Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams by Sylvia Plath
K--Killer by Sara Shepard
L--Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison
M--Matched by Ally Condie
N--The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
O--The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
P--The Power of Six by Atticus Lore
Q-- The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory
R--The Rules for Hearts by Sara Ryan
S--Someday this Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
T--The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
U--Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
V--A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
W--Wither by Lauren DeStefano
X--XVI by Julia Karr
Y--You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
Z--Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

unfortunate circumstance

It looks as if school makes blogging a little more complicated, seeings how i'm trying to stay on top of things for now. so blog entries will probably be few and far between. i will, however, make sincere attempts at that resolution of writing more with the notebook i carry around.

*sigh* after reading 60 pages of a chapter on my second day of classes, i'm going to bed. goodnight.

mull over this: why is the forbidden fruit assumed to be an apple?

black bird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see. all your life you were only waiting for this moment to be free

i'm going to dedicate this blog to mary daly, a beloved radical feminist. this excerpt from who2.com sums up a little about mary daly:

Feminist philosopher Mary Daly fought repeatedly with Boston College from 1966 to 2001 over her controversial books, her status as a professor and her freedom to reserve some classes for women only. Raised Roman Catholic but prevented by Catholic colleges from studying philosophy, she instead earned a doctorate in English in the U.S. then two more, in philosophy and theology, in Switzerland. Ironically, Jesuit-run BC then hired her to teach. Influenced by thinkers ranging from Thomas Aquinas to French feminist Simone de Beauvoir to Virginia Woolf, she developed a sweeping analysis of "patriarchy" as the root of women's oppression and of all social ills in which people are treated as objects. After her first book, The Church and the Second Sex (1968), she rapidly moved from "reformist" to "radical, post-Christian" feminist. Women operating on patriarchy's boundaries, she wrote, can spiral into freedom by renaming and reclaiming an ancient woman-centered reality that was stolen and eradicated by patriarchy.

we learned a lot about mary daly and her work in the history of feminist thought this past semester, and she was one of the first radical feminists that helped me to understand their philosophies as well as one of the foremost feminist philosophers regarding spiritual feminism. my only critique of mary daly is of her transphobia (she has seen "transsexualism a "male problem" and claimed that post-operative transsexuals exist in a "contrived and artifactual condition--wikipedia). her works are definitely worth musing over, however, and her look on radical feminism can help one to better relate these philosophies to a reality. rest in peace, mary daly. october 16, 1928 – january 3, 2010.

the clanking of crystals, explosions off in the distance.

it's time MORE THAN EVER to start writing. so i decided tonight would be great.

so this is the new year...

i've put a lot of thought into resolutions. i decided not to limit myself. because if i at least fulfill some of them, i feel like i have made a lot of progress.

i don't know what i expect from myself, and if i put too many expectations, i'm afraid i will not fulfill them. right now, i just want a positive year. a really ambitious year. so i have a few resolutions:

1. lose the weight i have gained
2. meditate
3. write more
4. stop being so lazy
5. read more books (buy less)
6. positive positive thoughts!
7. save more money!!
8. stop going out to eat so much
9. work on a book
10. spend less time on facebook
11. worry less/be less miserable/appreciate more

yeah, that's a lot. i realize that, and i even made myself feel better by slashing some that were similar. but, i feel in order to be ambitious, you need to really feel motivated. and i feel it. i can say i've felt that before, but i don't think it's as strong as this year. 2010--it really sounds like it could be that year. new decade. mmmm. sounds fresh.

one thing i really really want to do this summer is go to portland. the way dane talks about it, well it sounds like something i really need to experience. the liberal atmosphere, the easygoing, nonjudgmental people, ughh it just sounds amazing.

i'm at my sister's for a few days and i think it's been great. i really love them, and it's nice to have a closeness to family. ashley and i always have so much to talk about. jon and i are talking more and getting closer. and i can really see the boys growing and becoming their own unique persons. it's really cool to see. plus, may i brag, they are the cutest children ever. really. i promise.

for a celebration:
ashley has her professional site going. i'm so excited for her because it's really going to help her out. it looks so professional.

thought: symbols sometimes may have NO purpose other than materialistic intentions.

for instance, take the peace symbol.

it is seen in stores everywhere: on jeans, shirts, stickers, necklaces, backpacks. you name it, it's on it. it's as popular as it was in the sixties, yet it seems that a lot of the meaning is missing behind the symbol. how many of these people using this symbol on their possessions really are thinking about world peace and not the trend. sadly, i feel like we're desensitizing the word. people look at this symbol on people's possessions and think about the concept less and less. instead, they see the trend, the fad. where can we draw the line? it makes me rethink my intentions every time i see a peace sign on some material item: do i want it for the trend or the purpose? i'm very anti-war, anti-violence, so i would like to think it is always for the intent to support the concept; however, in this materialistic society i feel i have to re-think my intentions. just something to think about.

some quotes i've liked recently:

This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't

You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath

No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took

And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart

on the radio--regina spektor

roseanne: nerds are artists who listen to the beat of their own drum.

thank you margaret cho for a great thought: silence equals nonexistence.

I know you so better than the city in the rear view.

Yesterday i played a game of risk with some friends, joseph and iggy. and while risk is one of my favorite games of all time to play, i realized that it truly brought out the worst in people.

iggy, for instance, does not like the idea of losing at all. and whether or not the poor dear will ever realize this, he'll do anything, even manipulation, to win a game. so as it was becoming more obvious that him and me had the most power, he used his "boyfriend charm" to try to get joseph to attack me. and the more joseph succumbed to his wishes, the happier iggy got and the more giddy and supportive he became of joseph. and at the end of the game, when i won, he was very mad at joseph for not attacking me sooner. what an unfair strategy!

joseph was discouraged about attacking people in general. so the more powerful iggy and i became, the more joseph gave up. it got to the point where he just got bored with the game and gave up, because he didn't want to start conflict.

and i, the more powerful i became, the happier (internally) i was. and as soon as iggy openly pushed joseph to attack me, the more pissed off and personal i became of it.

it's interesting to take this game of risk and the people's flaws and put it into real life. these are all big weaknesses of all of us.

i feel like a lot of problems i have with people (not just cornering these two) can easily be found when i play games with them. everything iggy did in risk and everything joseph did in risk were things that i'm used to them doing in everyday life. this simple game of risk allowed me to see that these are the things that bothered me most about them.

on another note, i hung out with bryan today. we decided to go to hemingway's then study for psych in my room. the more and more i talked to bryan, the more i realized that we were like the same person. it's so hard for me to find someone that is so deep inside, yet can't find the words to what they think or soo self depricating, yet cannot understand as to why anyone else is. i found he was a very emotional guy who just wanted to fix things and talk about his feelings. and it was so refreshing. i'm used to people who trap their feelings inside. i'm used to people that are full of themselves. i'm used to articulate, outwardly intellectual people that know what they're going to say. i think we're going to click very well.

and obviously i completely opened myself up to him. i feel like i have a problem completely keeping my heart on my sleeve. and i pour out every detail it's probably not something safe, trusting people as i do.

unfortunately, i am stuck here until sunday. it's friday night, and i'm sitting in my dorm, with no one around me. i'm bored as fuck. come save me, someone?

Tries to tell you life has just begun, But you know that she's getting something other than the love from her mother!

4 things:

1. Today, I bought gifts for the little girl I sponsored at work.

I bought her two books, a winter hat, barrettes and such, and gave her my copy of thumbelina.

although she's a poor child and would appreciate anything, i still feel as if i did not give enough. she wanted dolls, dress up clothes, books, and dora. and i gave her books (one of them was about dora!). and i only spent $28. as a college student, that seems efficient, but i still feel a little greedy.

2. I AM DONE WITH MATH. or at least the final. hopefully, if all goes right, i won't ever be taking math again!!! :]]] before the final, i called dane to de-stress, yet it only stressed me out more because his phone died and i didn't know what was going on! but i made it through. it took like, forever.

3. at dinner, sam, anne marie, and amanda were saying how all guy friends literally want to have sex with their girl friends. like no matter what situation. and i thought that was COMPLETE bullshit. bullshit. like, i know my guy friends at home don't want to have sex with me. i just think they're being shallow or creepy. i can't decide. but i started to think, am i surrounding myself with these people who have these kinds of thoughts? like, who wastes their time with theories such as that? and anne marie also theorized that people who sneeze loud are just asking for attention. now, what? i think that is ridiculous. SNEEZING LOUD IS FUCKING EMBARASSING! whatever.

4. golden graham cereal is fucking amazing.

that is all.

Preserving your pride prompts you to hide; You'd rather feel safe than to have tried.

The first day of hell week is OFFICIALLY over. Unfortunately for me, that was just a portfolio.

I've got Shakespeare tomorrow, Math Wednesday, and Psych Saturday.

And I CANNOT WAIT TO GO HOME!

This weekend was a good time, and seemingly eventful. Friday night was spent at Ben's for his lovely dinner party. I made some friends that I should have made a long time ago--yay chloe, jess, and marie! he threw a lovely dinner party, and we all fortunately left with a nice buzz off of the wine.

then iggy and i headed off to jamie's (after seeing jess's awesome apartment). that was a lot of fun. and of course dan was there. and well, i don't want to get into that.

i'm sort of upset that you cannot privatize these entries!

The next night was Drew's, and well, that was fun as well. I didn't think the officers could have that much fun together, and perhaps we had too much fun. And for the safety and respect of others, I won't talk about that night either.

Right now I'm super pissed at Amanda. It bothered me that she just came in here and assumed that she could just take my fabric softener. and it's not that she borrowed it, it's that she didn't ask. i don't know, just because i owe her money i don't think it's fair that she can walk all over me.

Whatevv. I need to study for Shakespeare. IF that even happens.

Peace.