Home on Spring Break
355 Concord St. #1
El Segundo, CA
Friday, March 9th, 2007

Mid-break chitchat, including super-dorky books

Haha! Bet you weren't expecting this in your inbox!

Seriously though, it's been an amazing couple of weeks, not least because for the first four days of spring break I had three of my best friends from St. John's as guests in LA. So much fun! So tiring! And so much to do. Cooking, eating, shopping, sightseeing, sleeping, joking, walking, doing dishes, talking, taking pictures, enjoying the weather, thinking of new adventures, getting lost on the freeways - it was all good. I like to think that they (two New Yorkers, one Alaska/Washington hybrid) now see a little bit of why I love Los Angeles (since it looks kind of big and sleazy from the air, especially compared with, say, Paris, France).  It was a productive visit for everyone: they left with mangos, stylish dresses and shot glasses, and I discovered a domestic streak that I never suspected in myself. Also, I am highly trained in the arts of early rising, aggressive scheduling, and (despite all my inadvertent freeway exits) efficient navigation.

In other news, I went to the library for Reading Supplies! Probably the first time since last spring break that I've been able to have a reading list. In case you're interested, we've got...

1) Grendel. I already finished that one. I enjoyed it...but sometimes it seems to me that all post-1970 literature I pick up is either nihilistic or about Indian immigrants. Just an observation, no doubt based on faulty and incomplete data.

2) The Sea of Cortez! Steinbeck and marine biology! An exciting combination, although I almost forgot that Steinbeck also wrote The Grapes of Wrath, for which I don't believe I can ever, ever forgive him.

3) Prisons We Choose To Live Inside. Written a while ago, but I suppose still relevant. Might not get to this one. Also, is the title grammatically correct?

4) The Iliad. I got a super cheap translation at school right before I left - good old Lattimore. (Let me talk like a geek for a second. I think Lattimore's okay for the Iliad, all right? And I do think Fitzgerald has the best Odyssey, so that makes up the difference. Also, while I'm enjoying the poem I still don't know if Homer deserves the laurel of being my first Loeb purchase. I'm considering it, though.And finally...

5) Gotcha! (exclamation mark actually part of title.) The book of paradoxes I haven't read since middle school, and I just miraculously acquired my own copy, which is awesome. It's full of math and stories and funny pictures, which is to say just about everything. And it's written by the guy who writes a column for Scientific American. (Or, conceivably, American Scientist.) I think Lewis Carroll would get a kick out of it. Einstein too. Heck, the Greeks enjoyed a good paradox, too! Look at how popular Zeno was. Well, until he was killed by the local tyrant.

Other accomplishments: Farm fresh veggies! Cooking asparagus! Getting out in the air and sun just because!

And in the days to come, I will both a) head up Santa Barbara-aways to visit my sister (a genuine UC campus, oh my) and b) write a paper about St. Augustine and his views on conversion. Ohhhhh my.

So long, everyone! More in a couple of weeks.

Roxanne