Weekly Update

Weekly Update
mood: relaxed
music: Ranks in Love/E.G. Morgan, Diariamente/Marisa Monte, Rosie's Lullaby/Norah Jones

1. I realize sometimes how unsophisticated my English vocabulary can be. In the past week I have learned these words: recumbent, corroborate, laconic, perfunctory, lassitude, indolent, knave and pernicious. I'm thankful for my modern European history class for being the medium through which I came across these new vocabulary words.

2. Speaking of my modern European history class--I really love history nowadays. I've always had a flirtatious interest with history (as long as it wasn't a survey of American history) but I haven't fallen in love with it until now. It's really quite amazing how much more sense the world makes when one spends the time to seek its causes. Next year at NCC the professor that teaches my class is teaching a class called Modern Ireland and India since 1750. I will be taking both if I'm still otherwise languishing away at NCC next year. Yet, I guess if I'm taking them and loving it, I'm not really languishing, am I? The funny thing is that if I do that I will be 2/3 done with a history minor around this time next year.

3. I had a weird dream last week. In my dream, I was walking in my bedroom. Not the bedroom that I have now at the apartment. This one was different. There was elegant dark wood panelling, for one thing. My bed, nightstand and desk was at the furthest point away from the door. Between the doorway and this point, there were three bookcases and three aisles to walk through, going around corners and down aisles like a snake slithers. Along the walls there were shelves of books. Do you have the image in your mind? Yes, I dreamed that my bedroom was a library.

It makes sense, in a lot of ways. I work at a library, spending about 10 hours a week inside one for that. I often do homework in that same library. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I spend some time at Nichol's before and after I meet Kiaran during his off-campus lunch hour. On the weekends, a trip to Wheaton's library or Downers Grove's library is a treat, because they're relaxing places to be and they have a varied selection of books. Then, like so many of us, I absolutely relish hanging out in Borders.

The end result? I have a dream that my bedroom is a library.

Oh boy.

4. I can't wait until this term is over so I can formally stop taking Chinese. Yes, there was a time when I thought I would major in it. About half a year ago I decided that I wanted to quit after this year, realizing that for one, I will never remember thousands of characters (I can barely remember the ones from two chapters ago) and that two, I actually don't want to go to China (or Taiwan, really). Reflecting on my sophomore year when I signed up for Chinese 1 at NNHS, I remember that I had decided to take it because it would be novel, fun, and outstanding for my college application. There were also so many Chinese-speaking classmates and friends that I knew it would be great to practice the language with them. It was. But Chinese is no longer novel or fun, and the last thing I'm interested in at this point of my life are buzzwords to get ahead in the college-race (those I've completely done away with--I'm getting A's and working--hasta la vista to internships, extracurriculars and volunteering). If you don't even want to visit the country, then why would you learn the language, is a revealing question. So, my linguistic interests shall confine themselves to the Romance languages, the Indic (North Indian) languages and German.

5. I can't believe people are going to be coming home for summer vacation in a few weeks! It's so cold here still and I still have seven weeks of classes left!