Friday

It was Kensy's birthday, so I took her and Molly and Heather to eat out at the Blue Orchid. We all got different dishes, so then we could sample a variety of Thai food...it was delicioso!

Then we went to Coldstone, but I didn't eat any ice cream because I am trying to cut back on the sugar.

On the way back to the car, we saw this guy throw up on the sidewalk. It was crazy. Then he kept walking like nothing had happened, lighting up a cigarette.

There was a guy in a blue shirt who was sort of freaky, and stared at us.

Then we saw Dr. Cypert walking around with two people, probably his wife and this other guy that works at Wesleyan. I didn't see them until we were right along side them, and when I looked back, it was too late to exchange pleasantries.

Now I am sitting here.

Now I am going to do something.

Wow! More Events!

After swimming, D'Leons seemed like the right thing to do, so Lisa, Tim, and I went there. I was feeling pretty generous, as I have been for the past two weeks, so I bought them food. It was a good time.

Then, to the grocery store. Marcus was working there. I took forever going through the store and spent forty bucks. That is more than I wanted to pay, but I got some good stuff.

Then, driving around town. Lisa and I drove up there and then left, and then stopped so I could get the nuts and candy from trunk, and Lisa her cds, and then we followed a car for a while but we lost them.

Then we were on the UNL campus and I engraved a picture of a dude running on the stone bench. it was an ancient tree that obstructed your view from the bench. There were nasty piles of goo on the bench.

There was a strange net sculpture, but the ladder was locked up in there so we couldn't climb up.

Then some more driving.

At Touzalin Avenue and Benton Street, there were about fourteen cop cars and a white van. "The SWAT Team!" Lisa exclaimed. I wanted to investigate, but she was driving. We didn't get up close.

But then I was thirsty. "I am thirsty," is what I said. So we tried to go to Casey's, but it was closed, as was the Kabrelo's. So, we went back close to where the SWAT team was and bought some drinks at the gas station.

I told Lisa that it would suck to die, but I could deal with it.

She said I should avoid an occupation where death could get me.

Then back at my apartment I put away the groceries. The yogurt and vegetables were warm. They are not supposed to be. The cookies were sort of gross, as was the chocolate. I see why they only cost a dollar.

Then a few games of speed. It was out of control. It was a frenzy. Then it was 2 o'clock already, so Lisa left. She has class at nine.

I work at ten, so I figured I still had an hour left to do something. I played guitar. Last Thursday I purchased a new guitar, an Epiphone Dot, which is a hollow-body electric that looks sort of like BB King's guitar. I am a jazz and blues man. I plan to take lessons.

Then I wrote this entry. I thought you would care to know how my life is going.

My life is going fine. I am enjoying myself. I don't do homework often, but everything else is falling into place.

Depressing Events at The Fish Store

I went to The Fish Store today to buy a nice fish or two. I always wanted to have a bunch of those guys swimming around in a tank.

The first fish I looked at was a sort of eel-like creature. It had dots on it. I think it was called "Peacock Eel." It was an amazing fish.

Then I noticed that its lack of movement was not from being in a state of rest, but because it was dying. It was floating around in the corner of the aquarium, his little gills beating furiously. The poor thing was hyperventilating.

Out of nowhere, these little black and orange shark things come and start to bite at the Peacock Eel. The eel writhed around, trying to whip its body away from the horrible shark things. More and more little black and orange shark things gathered around the magnificent Peacock Eel. They forced it to the bottom of the aquarium and bit at the poor little eel.

The Peacock Eel died. I saw it twitch for the last time.

It was a depressing event.

Jibberish

What the hell does "Oo-de-lally" even mean? What kind of sick joke is this?

Sleep Deprived

I am not getting enough sleep; that much is true. It is 4:14 and I am still up for no reason. I could have gone to bed six hours ago, but I didn't. I'll probably get up at 8, and then be tired for the rest of the day.

The Giver

I read The Giver today, which used to be my favorite book back in the day...I first read it in the fifth grade, when my teacher was Mrs. Wilson, who is the cousin or niece of Dr. Wehrbein, who teaches in the physics department. Anyway, The Giver is a pretty good book, and I recommend that you read it if you haven't. The New York Times called it "a powerful and provocative novel," thus proving (possibly) that it is a good book to read.

I have, however, been finding places in books that make me think "what the hell?" and stuff like that. For instance, they don't talk about cars or other vehicles at all...then The Giver brings it up like it is normal. Everyone riding around on bikes, and The Giver gets a car all of a sudden? Does that even make sense?

The author, Lois Lowry, seems to not use language as effectively as she should. When Jonas is thinking of the rules he has broken, right after crossing the bridge separating his community from others, Lowry builds up the "suspense" and "mood" or whatever...she says that Jonas doesn't take his bike, but his fathers bike. Why?

"It was necessary because it had the child seat attached to the back."

Anyone, even a fifth grader, can see that Jonas is going to take a child with him...and the only child is Gabriel...so you know that he has decided to take Gabriel.

Then Lowry has to ruin it all by saying: "And he had taken Gabriel, too."

We know, Lois, we know. Why did you have to spoil this glorious moment?

And then, when it is snowing and Jonas is ascending the hill with Gabriel, Jonas continues to ride the bike. It wouldn't have been so bad, but we know that the snow is at least four inches deep (Lowry describes how the snow covers Jonas's feet)...so why is he still trying to ride the bike?

And then, in about a minute and a half, Jonas is at the top of the hill, where he finds the sled. And the snow up there is probably pretty deep too, thus making it seem like there is a pretty big difference in snow fall in just a couple hundred meters...it just doesn't make sense.

Blah blah blah

Anyway, there's all kinds of things that I am starting to question. I guess it is good, though, because it shows that I am looking at the writing, not just the story.

Okay. That is all for now. I've read four books since Sunday, and am tentatively planning to start reading Prey by Michael Crichton tomorrow and finish it on Sunday.

Five books in one week is pretty good, I think.

Very refreshing.

And motivating.

Fahrenheit 451

Just got done reading Fahrenheit 451 for the first time...sat down and read it front to back, taking two breaks...one to eat a bowl of Golden Puffs, and one to go take a piss.

The book was pretty good, I guess. Very poetic language, you could say. There were some times, though, where there was too much description and explanation of things that I couldn't focus on...I don't really remember what they were, but there were some long passages in there that were pretty hard to get through.

However, there were an even greater number of examples that deserved to be praised, such as:

"Montag lay watching the dead-alive thing fiddle the air and die."

There were others, too, but I don't remember where they were.