Gradumacation

So tomorrow I graduate. I don't really know what to say at what I'm sure is one of the more momentous events of my life so far. Tomorrow will signal the end of 4 years of very hard work and play, the end to dorm living and long winter and summer breaks, and the beginning of my entrance into the "real world."

I'll miss my school, faculty, friends, and classes. However, I also look forward to the next stage of my life, and hope the past four years have prepared me for what is to come.

All the best to the class of 2007!

Arrival of the Parental and Brother Units

Last night my parents and brother arrived in North Carolina to begin the graduation weekend festivities. Yay! I don't actually graduate till Monday, but since they have to come such a long way (from California), they are coming a few days before most parents will show up. I was a little worried about them making it here yesterday, as I saw on the news yesterday that LAX had to temporarily evacuate a terminal, but though my parents were at the airport around the same time as thatoccurrence, they were leaving from a different terminal.

I'm just so excited that they are here because I don't see my family that
often during school (unlike most of my friends who go home semi-frequently). Home is so far away and I consequently rarely go home except for summer and winter breaks. I spent last summer in Philadelphia doing an internship, so I spent about 6 weeks with my family all of last year. It will be nice to spend some time with them over the weekend.

How Interesting . . . I See You Out There!

My Sitemeter tells me that I'm being watched by someone at Holtzbrinck Publishers, and then someone at Penguin Putnam visited. Hello out there! Welcome to my blog!




Yesterday I started reading Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which I've had forever but never got around to reading. The first chapter is certainly heartbreaking and was very difficult for me to get through, but I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book--I'll reserve comment until then.

11 Days and Counting

I finished my last final on Monday, so now I just sit around, read,
pack, and clean for the next 11 days until graduation. It's odd, having
nothing to do, that I can barely think what to do with myself.

Last night I checked out the TCM schedule and saw that this month TCM is honoring Katherine Hepburn, as this May 12th will be the 100th
anniversary of her birth. I watched one of her earlier films, Alice Adams (1935), in which she plays a woman from a working-class family who is trying desperately
to be accepted by the high society of her town. I really enjoyed
Hepburn's performance as Alice, but I found the entire movie an
exercise in painfulness. The movie contained one humiliation after
another as the Adams family tried to hide what they were and pretended
to be something different. I just have a hard time watching such movies
-- I don't enjoy watching people go through pain, physical or otherwise.

Tonight I think I'll watch Stage Door (1937).

Since this Blog is Ostensibly About Books . . .

I thought I'd give a rundown of the books I've read and purchased recently:

Bought:
The Big Over Easy -- Jasper Fforde
Out -- Natsuo Kirino
Love Walked In -- Marisa de los Santos


Read:
Love Walked In -- I really enjoyed this book, though admittedly some of the plot elements were cliched, and the conclusion was perhaps a bit far-fetched in its "happily ever afterness," but I read romance novels, so that has obviously never bothered me. I just enjoyed the characters and the way it was written. I LOVED all the references to film, literature, and song -- the main character Cornelia loves many of my favorite things, including The Philadelphia Story, Cary Grant, and Cole Porter and George Gershwin songs. A woman after my own heart.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear -- I thought Winspear did a great job incorporating the history of WWI and the legacy it left in England into this historical mystery. I look forward to continuing to read the series.

Hopefully I'll get to tackle more books on my massive TBR list after my last final tomorrow! LAST FINAL OF MY UNDERGRAD CAREER! WOOHOO!

Almost Done

Last night I completed the final paper of my undergraduate career -- sadly I don't feel it's my best work but at least it's done.

Unlike many other people I know, I'm not terribly sad about graduating. I will miss my friends, professors, and the campus atmosphere in general. But Wake is starting to seem just a bit too small, and I am ready for a change. I'm thrilled about the prospect of moving to New York, even if I don't know that I will find a job.

Anyway, to reward myself for finishing the paper, I went to Borders, and as usual they have a damn 3 for 2 sale . . . those always get me! Despite the fact that I have over 70 books on my TBR list, I simply can't stop buying, particularly when I see a bargain. What can I say? I'm weak when it comes to books.