(to be fair, I started this when it was still Thursday, but seeing as how it's now after midnight, I can quote these very thoughtful lyrics)
I have nothing to show for today. I fumbled through some organic chemistry MCAT review, woke Katie up from a nap instead of doing my homework, and stared at my physics lab for half an hour before calling it quits. Today, I don't want to be a student. So I figured, if I'm not going to get anything done, I might as well have some fun and revive my blog. I've really missed blogging since my life became significantly less foreign and exciting- I don't feel like there's anything blog-able going on. I've recently had a change of heart, however, and decided that there are plenty of blogs out there about things besides wandering around a foreign country. So I'm back.
A habit that I've happily fallen back into is reading before bed. The Hesburgh Library is a bit of a labyrinth if you don't know what you're doing, but once the card catalog has been mastered, it is quite the treasure trove. My latest and greatest find is The Lacuna, by my all-time favorite, Barbara Kingsolver. I had read the first bit of this book when it first came out. Is it against the rules to camp out in Borders to read with no intention of buying? I feel like it might be, but then why do they have such comfy chairs? Anyways, miracle of miracles, The Lacuna was on the shelves at good old Club Hes and I snagged it. Written in journal form, the book tells the story of an American boy, Harrison Shepherd, as he dragged about North America by his Mexican mother, eventually ending up in DF working for none other than Diego Rivera. While it's a bit of a Mexican Forrest Gump in that the main character encounters several key historical events and figures of the 1930's through the 1950's, the author peaces it together so gracefully that it seems perfectly reasonable for H. Shepherd to work with not only Diego Rivera, but Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky. Not only was this a Kingsolver novel of the expected quality, but it involved all sorts of fun Spanish phrases and references to places that I have actually seen!! Crazy.
On a related note, I have recently started a collection of quotes and lyrics that I like, inspiration credited to Miss Rachel Hamilton. I especially liked this one:
Traces of paint clung to the surfaces too: red, green, violet. In their time, all these buildings were brightly painted…Today Chichén Itzá declared the truth of what it was: garish. Loud and bright, full of piss and jasmine, and why not? It was Mexico. Or rather, Mexico is still what this once was.
So remember how I had the chance in December to see Chichén Itzá, one of the Wonders of the World, and didn't go? Well, here I am, regretting that already. I guess my real point here is that I enjoyed the book so much because it expressed what I haven't quite been able to- the essence of Mexico. This was one of those books that I was in denial about having finished and so went on to read every page of the afterword, interview with the author and discussion questions for book clubs. Yes, I am exactly that pathetic.
Luckily, I found a new exciting book, disguised as a required read for my "Preparing for the Health Professions" class. My original plan was to skim sufficiently to write a one-paged review and reflection paper, but after the first few pages of The Spriit Catches You and You Fall Down, I was hooked. It's about a family from Laos, of the Hwong tribe, that moved to the US as refugees and their navigation through the American health system. It's a personal account of the clash between Eastern and Western medicine, and the unavoidable ties with economics, politics, social norms and religion that make medicine such a messy topic. I am not explaining this well but let it suffice to say that I'm doing more than skimming.
Finally, a combo pun + pickup line that I heard today (no, it wasn't directed at anyone, unfortunately).
Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only 10 I see.Bahahahaha.
