Misanthropy

I returned from my weekend away to find five packages waiting for me. Hurrah, right? But it bought home (hehe, get it?) to me that I've been a little--shall we say permissive in my recent book purchasing. So in an effort to change my behavior through those most effective of teachers, shame and guilt, I've decided to make myself compile a list of what I've bought over the last few months. Note that the list does not include manga, which I also buy with great enthusiasm, but somehow seem to lack in time to read . . . .

Anyway, I'm hoping that each time I'm ready to click that buy button at amazon (damn you, amazon prime free trial) I'll make myself review this list. I don't know if it'll stop me, but it's worth a try.

And anyone out there who wants to ridicule me, tell me I'm disturbed, or otherwise let me know they're gawping, please do, it might help. If, on the other hand, you're pshwing, thinking, that's nothing, you should see what I bought, please let me know that as well, because, well, validation of my bad habits is far better than trying to restrain myself . : )

( The List )

And btw, I'm not even reading any of these books right now. I'm rereading the Iliad, which is going to take me a while. So really, no need for more reading material, right? But I really really want this.

I wrote this last week on the train back from D.C. and also forgot about it. Absent minded? Me? I misplace half my supposed journal entries that way.

( I’ve been reading Steven Ambrose’s book Band of Brothers after having watched the HBO miniseries.  )

I hate winter, not because of the cold (when it actually is cold), but because the days are so short. It's only 4:30 and it feels like the day is over, and it was a lovely day. (I also hate that I can't fully enjoy having unseasonably nice weather, since I keep thinking about global warming.)

I have caved and turned on my heater for the first time since last winter. Damn, I might as well get out the gloves and scarf. Fall, I hardly knew ye, where have you gone?

In other sad news, I have caved further and finally ordered a new ipod to replace my slowly dying 1st gen model. The good news--it probably won't come for a month or so, so I can cling to my baby for a little longer. Yes, I am somewhat demented.

And since I was feeling guilty for spending so much money, I promptly spent some more. I've been needing a new battery for my old ti powerbook, but since I pretty much only use it at home, it didn't seem so urgent until the charge starting lasting something like 10 minutes. So new battery (expensive suckers, those batteries are) is on its way. Oh, and I also ordered far too many books. Never mind that I have no space nor any time to read them. I used to tell my dad that I only needed enough money to keep in books and a place to put them, but little did I realize that I would end up living in NYC, where having a little space is like having gold plated walls in another city--walls encrusted with precious jewels, big ones.

After a crazy few weeks, things have ground to a screeching halt. Since I can't think about it without ranting (and I've already ranted plenty--probably to people I shouldn't) , I won't say much beyond the hardly surprising observation that there are crazy, petty, inconsiderate people out there, and dealing with them will make you tear your hair out and, if you're not careful, a crazy, petty inconsiderate person yourself. After weeks of killing-pace work, apparently our presence is not presently required, though no one has bothered to inform of us of that fact to our face, not even the person we directly work for. Such an ass.

Anyway on to more frivolous but happier things. Because of this unexpected respite, I've had time for some frivolous, happier things, including leaving work early to catch Spider-Man yesterday (had a really good time) and watching lots of anime. I finally watched all the released eps of Kyou Kara Maou! which has to be one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. I absolutely love it. It's crazy. I've also, rather strangely, been watching the old anime God Mars (or whatever it's real name is). It's formulaic with stock characters and robots which go through their transformation predictably ever episode, but oddly I keep watching it. It must be nostalgia. I have also watched the first 3 disks of Figure 17. It's surprisingly good and rather endearing. I could see it getting kinda boring though, if they don't move it forward with both Tsubasa's character development and with the plot.

Also, Just finished reading Seabiscuit, which I couldn't put down. It's a lot different than the movie, but for once I think it might be a situation where the book and the movie both stand on their own--I don't think I would have been disappointed by the movie if I'd read the book first, which is usually the case. I also read Shoots, Eats and Leaves, which is a great little grammar book. I don't think I'll ever pick it up as a reference (and some of the rules are definitely inapplicable to American writing), but it's a fun read. I still have to go back and take a look at her section on colons, though. I don't think I've ever used colons in one of the ways she describes.

I didn't waste all my time on entertainment, though. I spent most of yesterday afternoon reading through the Supreme Court's recent decisions. ( Cut for legal rambling/ranting.  )