class is done

I had my last classes of the semester on wednesday. Now I'll be studying for the next three weeks and taking an exam every week or so. the first one is a week from friday. if any of you want to call with words of encouragement, leave a message, because i don't get cell service in the library.

hiking

Last friday I went hiking on the coast in marin county. It is beautiful out there.















This is my friend Erick climbing up a gigantic rock.














We found a bunch of crabs hiding out in tidepools and between the rocks. This one pinched my friend Joey's hand, which caused him to throw it at my face. i almost died.

in california

so i'm home now. and for some reason i feel like i ought to blog about it, even though i started this thing for people at home. let me tell you about my first day here. actually, no, you would probably be bored by it, because it consists of just a few very ordinary things that aren't interesting to read about. but i loved it and was pretty excited about each little thing. i guess the point is that being home is good. i've really liked being away and doing my own thing these last few months, but all my favorite things at home are still my favorite things. i'll try to post some pictures soon so that any new yorkers reading can understand why i love california so much. happy thanksgiving.

reading

the best news of the week is probably that we finished the syllabus in my contracts class on wednesday. this will cut my reading load by about 33%. we have about a week and a half of class left and nothing to cover that i'll need to know for the exam. more importantly, no new reading over thanksgiving break. that is amazing. of course, this good news is mitigated by the fact that i will spend all the extra time studying something else. yay for finals.

home

i'll be coming home for thanksgiving for about a week. and if you're reading this silly blog of mine you are probably the kind of friend that i want to see. so let's do that. we can get burritos or something.

distraction

If I fail my classes this semester, it will be 40% my fault, and 60% the fault of whoever designed this.

album of the week

Bookends
by Simon & Garfunkel.


No really. This one is good. And the best songs are the ones that you don't hear all the time. I love "Save the life of my Child". "Fakin it" is good too, but sad. But you should just listen to it the whole way through. It's terrible driving music because it's soft and you need to hear the quiet little guitar things they do. But it's good for studying. Especially when it rains like seems to happen pretty often over here.

from theonion.com

Republicans Blame Election Losses On Democrats

November 7, 2006 | Issue 42•45

WASHINGTON, DC—Republican officials are blaming tonight's GOP losses on Democrats, who they claim have engaged in a wide variety of "aggressive, premeditated, anti-Republican campaigns" over the past six-to-18 months. "We have evidence of a well-organized, well-funded series of operations designed specifically to undermine our message, depict our past performance in a negative light, and drive Republicans out of office," said Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, who accused an organization called the Democratic National Committee of spearheading the nationwide effort. "There are reports of television spots, print ads, even volunteers going door-to-door encouraging citizens to vote against us." Acknowledging that the "damage has already been done," Mehlman is seeking a promise from Democrats to never again engage in similar practices.

life

so what should i do this summer? i'm open to suggestions. and if any of you know someone who wants to sponsor me as a professional book reader and bike rider, let me know.

love poem

so did you see il postino? it was a pretty good movie about the poet pablo neruda and the guy who delivered mail to him. pablo helps the postman get this girl by teaching him about poetry and love and all that. so i picked up a book of poems by him at the bookstore the other day and found this:

Upstream, in the midst of our outer waves,
your parallel body yields to my arms
like a fish infinitely fastened to my soul,
quick and slow, in the energy under the sky.

I don't know what it's like in Chile, but I don't think girls here are that into being compared to fishes. maybe something was lost in the translation.