Books I'm reading--The Catcher in the Rye

I've decided it would be interesting to start keeping a journal of what I have been reading and what I think about what I've been reading and whether or not I'd ever want to read the thing again. On Sunday, two days ago, I reread Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. First, I remember liking the book very much whenever I read it before, probably in college. But I don't know; this time around, it just made me very depressed. I spent much of the day reading it, and by evening, I felt nearly as depressed, disjointed, and displaced as Holden. I mean, I get that it's about adolescent angst and all that; I appreciate the narrative voice; I think I see what Salinger is trying to do. But I can only take so much! On every other page, Holden talks about how lonely / depressed / suicidal he's feeling. And I get it; we're supposed to see into his mind. He's disturbed emotionally. In fact, we know from the beginning that he's been institutionalized for his psychological problems. I just can't get with it, I guess. Rather than interesting, the book simply strikes me as sad.

I know that's not the appropriate academic response. I could talk about Salinger's novel more academically, I suppose. I could talk about narrative theory or important themes or symbolism or even what the title tells us. But I just don't want to. The predominant feeling I have is merely one of sadness. Maybe that says as much about me as it does about the novel. I'm not sure.

It's Too Early for Snow!

Today is merely the 23 of October. And it's cold. I came home from grocery shopping around noon, and it was only 35 degrees. The worst part about it was that while out, I saw quite a few cars with several inches of snow on them! It hasn't snowed here yet, at least not enough to stick and be noticable. I guess it must have snowed a bit higher up. I don't know. I am just not ready for snow; it seems way too early. But I am just a West Coast "flatlander," so what do I know? Still, I feel a little off put by snow. Last winter, my first winter here, it was a lot more exciting and quaint somehow.

A Really Good Turkey Sandwich

Today, for lunch I ate a really good turkey sandwich. I get excited about really amazing sandwiches, and this one was especially lovely. It was this great honey roasted turkey on a ciabatta roll. (I hope I spelled that correctly--I'd tell my students to look it up if they are unsure!) But the best part was it also had this great cranberry stuffing in the sandwich. The weird thing is that I don't necessarily like stuffing, except for this one time when I had Thanksgiving with Tersh and Phoebe. But I like stuffing cold, in a sandwich. It was really great.

Here's something profound: I think it's important to be thankful for the little things in our day to day lives. For me today, that was a really good turkey sandwich.

Getting a PhD

I'm in the final stages of working on a PhD. That's right; I'll soon be Dr. Drennan. That is, I'll be Dr. Drennan if I can ever get my dissertation filed. Mind you, the problem is not with the writing of the dissertation. Many people sort of fall by the way side when it comes to writing a dissertation. But not me. I've just plugged away in spite of all kinds of drama in my life. No, the dissertation is written. It's mostly done. My hold up has to do with filing paperwork, getting through bureaucracy (bureau crazy?) so that I can get the dissertation processed to get my degree. While I was tearing my hair out over the researching, composing, revising, even editing my dissertation, never did it occur to me that I'd get stuck with filling out paperwork and paying graduation processing fees. Never. It almost seems like one needs a PhD just to figure out how the bureaucracy works.

I know this is all must sound like a silly rant to the rest of you, but I don't care. I am frustrated, really frustrated. Every day this week, I've come home from work, sat down, and cried because I am so annoyed and frustrated. At great personal cost, I've worked and worked to get my degree. And now I'm held up by paperwork. It's like a bad Kafka story.

Power Washing

So, I just got home from work, and the management is having one side of my apartment building "power washed" today. I knew this was happening; last Friday, we all got notices from the management telling us to move our cars away from the building today for power washing. Said notice did not remind us to shut our windows, but I, of course, did so anyway. The notice did tell us to shut curtains and blinds as the washer guys would be right outside the windows. Well, when I got home, the power wash guys had worked their way down the building and were right in front of my bedroom and office windows. When I got inside, I realized that a lot of water had leaked in, a lot. I went out and told power washer boy that my windows were leaking. And he's all like, "The windows are closed," and I'm like, "Yeah, I know I closed them, but they are leaking from the top," and he's like, "Well, they said there might be some leaking." Now I don't know who "they" are, and the notice I received said nothing about potential leakage. And he's like "OK, well someone can caulk it later," and he procedes to spray more water into my apartment.

Is it just me, or does this seem dumb? I'm opting for dumb.

Here I am over the summer at the Dr. Seuss Memorial in Springfield, Mass. I'm in front of a giant copy of _Oh, the Places You'll Go_.

Here's a good one of Polly.

Here's Polly. Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?

This Is Guinevere with her Nylabone Stub

I Feel Self Conscious

OK, I have to say that since I first posted last night, I've been thinking about it, and I really feel rather self conscious about blogging. I mean, what if I mispell something, or what if I just go off on a rant and everyone thinks I'm crazy. And now that I type that, I realize that this neurotic worrying is itself crazy, and now you, dear reader, know I'm crazy.

I don't know. . .maybe this whole blog thing wasn't such a good idea after all. Hey, is this metablogging--blogging about blogging. Whatever.

I did want to say that when I get the time I'll load pictures of Guinnie and Polly so that when you read their adventures, you can see what they look like. Here's a brief description: Guinevere is extremely beautiful. She's really just as perfectly beautiful as a pup could be. Polly, on the other hand, is certainly cute, but she's not exactly beautiful. Polly's defining characteristic is that she's very, very good. Is it better to be beautiful or good? Guinn and Polly embody this eternal conflict. Even Anne Shirley had a hard time picking between good, beautiful, and clever.

I suppose it's time for me to get ready for work.

First Post

Well. . .

Here it is--my first post. And I don't know what to say. I'm extraordinarily tired, and I know I'm not thinking clearly.

I'm Drennan, but you probably already know that, and this is my blog. I have a definite vision for this blog. I think that there are three things that I really want to focus on sharing with the world. They are listed here, in no particular order:

One: What I have been eating

Two: What I have been reading

Three: What my dogs have been up to, what they are plotting, and what they could conceiveably be doing someday in the future. This includes such activities as flying in the space shuttle, ordering pizza, being abducted by Girl Scouts, and taking a nap.

Oh, I guess that I can review movies and television programs that I've seen recently.

Really, the more I think about it, the more a blog seems silly. I mean, why should anyone care about what's going on with Guinn and Polly? Why should anyone care about what I've been reading?

I'll leave you with this final bit of news. I just got this cool, retro Atari game thing. So I can play Centipede and Breakout.

Drennan