Forget Everything I Just Said

So, my comprehensive exams for my M.A. degree have been staring me down since January, and I've been too "busy" (read: intimidated) to really get started studying for them. I should have started like, when I entered the M.A. program, but instead I'm starting now... heh. hehhhh.

First I toyed with the idea of taking them in the fall, like one of my friends did. That way I could get finals out of the way and study all summer. (Yeah right. I'm gettin' the hell out of here.) Then I thought I could just... not take them. I've got the knowledge, I don't need no stinkin' diploma. (This logic would work if anyone else on the planet subscribed to it, and if I were inherently a quitter. As it stands currently, I and the world are pushing me to not only take the exams, but pass them.)

I tried not to think about it, thinking constantly that "next week I'll really get crackin'... no excuses!" but then I of course made excuses and did not in fact get crackin'. What ever that means. I assume it has to do with corn, and someone named Jimmy that I don't care about.

But yesterday! Yesterday, this rather annoying woman named Montserrat (which would be a great name if she were a vintage wine, or a fancy watch) asked me how they were going. (Double annoying, Montserrat. You shut your mouth) We talked for a while about them, because apparently she took them fairly recently as well, although now I think she's a professor at some technical college in Ohio. I told her I thought that in all seriousness it was too much information for me to thoroughly study before May. And she said:

"Una palabra? Mejor que nada. Te lo digo: Una palabra-- mejor que nada."

So simple! So true! So helpful! "One word? better than nothing. I'm telling you: one word- better than nothing." HELL YES MONTSERRAT [WHO I WILL CALL MONTY IN MY HEAD TO MAKE HER MORE LIKEABLE]. So that night after gym I went to the library, got a lot of anthologies that I will skim for starters (just to know how much I don't know... diagnostics thus far reveal that amount to be hovering between one metric shit ton and four standard boatloads).

I am determined not *just* to pass, which previously was a comforting mediocrity for which to strive, but to pass with flying colors and kick this school in the face for being so damn unhelpful. That's about how I felt after I did so nicely on my main paper last semester, and I would absolutely love to see that look on a particular person's face again. Followed by immediately re-insisting on not going into the PhD program here.

That said, if you're looking for me I'm probably reading. Nothing fun, though, unfortunately.

Right now: Gerald Martin's Journeys Through the Labyrinth.

Currently Reading

What's on the shelves these days...

For school I'm reading a book called On Christian Doctrine, by St. Augustine, and The Hero With a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell (who is some kind of genius).
For fun I'm reading Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, and Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis. More on that later.

I just got rid of a bunch of books, either giving them to people I thought would like them or donating them to the library, and it helped me focus on which books I had and really wanted to read in the near future. Of course this led to me starting two books rather than one, and I bought a few more.

Recent purchases I can not *WAIT* to read: The Watchmen, All the Pretty Horses, and (thought I've already looked at the first part) Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance.*

I've also signed up on Goodreads.com, which gives me lots of ideas and recommendations. Just going to the bookstore makes me glad I don't try to keep a running list like some people I see with tiny notebooks. There's no way you could write down everything you want to 'look into' and keep it prioritized-- I think it's easier, but if you have a different system, I'd love to hear about it!


*My bike's a hybrid, but I got this one because it discusses shocks and suspension, which my bike has.