Whilst I Lay Dreaming

It’s official: Summer has officially begun. A few days ago, I arrived in the green mountains hoping for some sunshine and warm weather, only to be met by fog and rain. The sun did manage to break through the clouds yesterday and this morning, however, and naturally I took advantage of the opportunity by doing some gardening. Having so much time on my hands this summer, I have high expectations for both my kitchen garden and flowerbeds. In a spur of enthusiasm and optimism last night, I drew up some cursory garden plans by the light of the television screen. This morning, I awoke early to get a head start while the sun was still shining and went out to the yard.

However, my bucolic pleasures were to be short-lived. My father came out and informed me that my Uncles Bob and Bobby, who had spoken of paying a visit from Boston, had just called to inform us that they were 30 miles away and planned to drop by the house for lunch. Now, I love my uncles, but today was not the day. The house was a mess, I badly needed a shower, and we were running out of food. My gardening was to be put on hold. Bob and Bobby arrived, right on schedule, “so happy to have caught us.” I made a haphazard lunch and we entertained them for a few hours out on the patio whilst the air grew chill and the clouds darkened. We will be meeting them for dinner tonight and for lunch tomorrow. No more gardening for me. At least for today.

On another note, when the weather is as changeable and unsatisfactory as it has been these past few days, I have to spend my time indoors. And what better way to spend time indoors, but to do crafts (I now have a playlist on my computer, jokingly entitled “Crafty Music”) and read.
After graduation last year, I remember thinking how much time I had to do reading that I had put off. Being OCD as I am, I made a list of what I hoped to read by the end of the summer. Sur enough, by the time September rolled around, I had completed all of the titles on my 15-book reading list.

Well, this year, I have even more time, and I have already gotten busy on the reading front. This time, however, even before the summer had started I had a 14-book list. That doesn’t even account for the books I will find along the way. So....perhaps I will be looking at maybe 17/18 books. Let’s see what I can manage...

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Below, I have my reading list (as of today—May 21st) in case anyone is interested:

*An asterisk denotes something already completed (yay efficiency!)

*Everything is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer)

Les Fleurs du Mal (Charles Baudelaire)

Catch-22

The Memoirs of Giacomo Casanova

Mansfield Park (Jane Austen)

Emma (Jane Austen)

*Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)

Daisy Miller (Henry James)

*The Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Wives and Daughters (Elizabeth Gaskell)

Cranford (Elizabeth Gaskell)

A Room with a View (E.M. Forster)

Wherein I contemplate the effects of spring on the psyche of a college student...

One of my favourite hobbies has always been people wacthing--On the subway, on the street, in a cafe, on the Ram Van, in the caf (especially in the caf). Let me clarify one thing before I continue. When I say "people watching" I don't mean it in a stalkerish way, or in a creepy way; I just love observing people's habits and tendencies, and perhaps trying to speculate on their characters.

Anyway, now that spring appears to have offically sprung (pardon the cliche), I have noticed a few key effects that the warmer weather has on the brain of a college student:

1. A lack of motivation to do anything other than take naps in the sun and sit outside. It's nice out and we want to be outside. That's all. There's no harm in that. The problems kick in when the amount of time spent outside eclipses the amount of time spent going to class, doing work, and doing anything productive in general.

2. An increasing number of people (read: Fordham students) who have changed their appearance drastically in some way. In the past two weeks, I have seen more people dying their hair (especially guys dying their hair red, very peculiar) and people with faux-hawks. Wtf. Perhaps the rebirth of spring inspires people to have personal rebirth. Maybe they're just crazy. Who can tell...

3. Everyone is falling in love. I know that spring is the time for lovers, but the recent change is kind of ridiculous. I swear that in the last four weeks of people watching, I have seen at least an 80 % increase in people holding hands. PDA has hit harder than allergies. Everyone is confessing their love for everyone else. These extraneous signs of affection, of course, make me all the more glad that I am single. Now, I'm not bitter; I believe that everyone should love someone. However, it makes a girl feel really good about herself when everyone seems to have someone and she's in the dust saying, "What about me?" Good times.

4. An extreme heightening of school pride or an increasing hatred towards the place. Take your pick. I know a lot of people who don't want to leave, who thought it went by way too fast, and just as many people who have professed a strong desire to "get the hell out as soon as they can."

Anyway, my people watching is not creepy. In fact, it lets you learn a lot about people in general and about yourself. There's no better way to spend an afternoon.