New Reading List

So, I haven't had time to really read a book since Christmas. My schedule is calcitrating my glutimus maximus. For realsies.

But I did recently pick up a book I started a while ago, Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I got it at Dollar Tree (They surprisingly have really good books.). Their book section is filled with Southern Christians trying to save you or really witty books with dry humor that the masses didn't like (Diverse, no?). Well, this is one of the most intelligent books that I have ever read. It is about a genius with a genius daughter, and she is ready to break free. It sounds cliche, but it is the most constricted breaking free ever, and it is so well written.

Well, the point to this ramble is that the author, Marisha Pessl, named all of her chapters after books that you need to know. Usually, these lists are normally too pretentious or too mainstream, but this list seems to be a good mix. There is a little theory, a few classics, and there is always room for Shakespeare. So, I will take Blue van Meer's, the protagonist, advice and try to complete her required reading:

1. Othello- Shakespeare (Completed)
2. A Portrait of The Artist As a Young Man- Joyce
3. Wuthering Heights- Bronte
4. The House of the Seven Gables- Hawthorne
5. The Woman in White- Collins
6. Brave New World- Huxley (In Progress)
7. Les Liasions Dangereuses- de Laclos
8. Madame Bovary- Flaubert
9. Pygmalion- Shaw
10. The Mysterious Affair at Styles- Christie
11. Moby Dick- Melville
12. A Moveable Feast- Hemingway
13. Women In Love- Lawrence
14. The Housebreaker of Shady Hill- Cheever
15. Sweet Bird of Youth- Williams
16. Laughter in The Dark- Nabakov
17. The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales- Quiller-Couch
18. A Room With a View- Forster
19. Howl and Other Poems- Ginsberg
20. The Taming of The Shrew- Shakespeare
21. Deliverance- Dickey
22. Heart of Darkness- Conrad (Completed)
23. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest- Kesey (Completed)
24. One Hundred Years of Solitude- Marquez
25. Bleak House- Dickens
26. The Big Sleep- Chandler
27. Justine- Sade
28. Quer Pisticciaccio Brutto de Via Merulanu- Gadda
29. Things Fall Apart- Achebe
30.  The Nocturnal Conspiracy- Harvey
31. Che Guevera Talks To Young People- Serna
32. Good Country People- O'Conner (Completed)
33. The Trial- Kafka
34. Paradise Lost- Milton
35. The Secret Garden- Burnett (Completed)
36. Metamorphoses- Ovid

Let's see how this goes...

Georgia Tech

So, hello there. I feel like I haven't been here in forever, but I have a good reason: AP Chem. It is killing me (slowly and violently), but it should be worth it next year. I'm majoring in Chem, and I keep telling myself that I can actually do it, but we will see.

Today, I went on a tour of campus. But it was not just any tour; it was the most wicked sweet tour ever. My tour was not led by some random student; it was led by the Executive Director of Institutional Research. She was so nice, and there was only one problem with her. She looked like my former band director. And since she worked at Tech as well, I actually do think that they might be sisters, but I didn't bring that up because she probably hates her as well.

So,  we walked around campus, and I got to talk to a Chem professor who was astounding. She was so helpful and nice, and students kept popping in to talk to her and ask questions, and it was such a nice atmosphere. A college atmosphere. So, after that, we continued walking, and we ended up in the Bio Quad. These are the four most swank buildings ever created by man. Ever.

After that, we walked over to Junior's (yes, that legendary one) and had lunch. She brought friends to: the Director of Student Success Programs and the Co-Op Program Coordinator. I was in awe. They were all so normal and helpful, and they even brought swag. I now have brochures, a planner, a bookbag, and the book that they read in Freshman seminar.

I am still in awe of this day. I was so lucky, and I have to thank my cousin for setting it up. I can very easily see myself here next year. Very easily...

P.S. Their campus bookstore is actually a Barnes & Noble. You get your textbooks at a Barnes & Noble. Swank.