sugardeath

I ordered all of my books (and a few extra things) off Amazon.com.

Here’s the breakdown:

• HUM104
  • Dialogues Concerning Natural Religions
    David Hume
    ($9.95; $5.10 at IIT used)
  • Frankenstein
    Mary Shelly
    ($4.95; $5.95 at IIT used; never did read this in 12th grade, yay for AP English)
  • Darwin (Norton Critical Editon)
    Charles Darwin, Phillip Appleman
    ($12.35; $13.50 at IIT used)
  • Therese Raquin
    Ãmile Zola
    ($9.13; $8.25 at IIT used)
• BIOL115
  • Human Biology
    Sylvia S. Mader
    ($80.32; $90.50 at IIT used)
• LIT328
  • Favorite Works of William Blake
    William Blake
    ($9; $11.25 at IIT used)
  • Short History of the Printed Word
    Warren Chappell
    ($14.68; $18.70 at IIT used)
  • Another E.E. Cummings
    E.E. Cummings
    ($5.49; $11.20 at IIT used)
  • Norton Anthology of Poetry
    Margaret Ferguson
    ($48.50; $50 at IIT used)
  • Ariel: The Restored Editon
    Sylvia Plath
    ($11.16; $10.45 at IIT used)

Total: $205

I listed the IIT Bookstore’s used prices for reference. A few of the books were a tad higher than the used prices on-campus. I neglected, however, to list the prices for new books. The store was asking $120.65 for the bio book. I think it’s a win no matter what, really.

I also already had the Java book I need for CS116 and the Psych book I need for PSYCH221.

I also ordered:

• Brave New World
  Aldous Huxley
  ($9.64)
• Fahrenheit 451
  Ray Bradbury
  ($6.99)
• Lord of the Flies
  William Golding
  ($9.99)
• 1984
  George Orwell
  ($7.95)
• Crime and Punishment
  Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  ($6.99)
• V for Vendetta (the graphic novel)
  Alan Moore
  ($13.59)
• East of Eden
  John Steinbeck
  ($15.90)
• The Dollmaker
  Harriette Arnow
  ($2.25)
• Stargate (Ultimate Edition) (the original 1994 movie on DVD)
  ($4.91)

With these items, and shipping/handling, the total came to $309.20.

Ouch!

There goes all that money from work I was talking about.

Half of the order was to be shipped on Feb. 20th due to Brave New World being out of stock. I ended up cancelling that book so that the order would ship on the twenty-fifth of January instead and just reordered a cheaper version of the book that also has some extras (and is in-stock!).

The only book in that list that I have not yet read is 1984. All the others I read in Honors English 10, 11, or AP English. It’s been a while though, so I figured it’d be good to read them again, seeing as how I enjoyed them quite a bit. V for Vendetta was just a little something I’ve been meaning to get. I love the movie and I wanna read the original story.

I also found out that my amazon.com login/password is valid on amazon.de, the german site.

• Der fernste Ort
  Daniell Kehlmann
  (€6,07/$7.87 ; €20,07/$26.04 with shipping/handling)

I saw a review of the book on everything2, and it looks pretty neat. Plus it’s in german. It’ll be a challenge to read, but it’ll be a fun challenge. I need to keep up with my german anyway. And what’s better than reading? The reason I love the english language so much and am pretty good with it is because I used to constantly read books that were rated for highschoolers and the like in elementary school. It’s the same principle with german.

Speaking of everything2, today marks two years since I signed up as a noder. I have only written three things in those two years, so I decided I’d post the sonnet I made for AP English. I’m wondering what kind of reception it will garner. We’ll see.

I should write more. I have an idea in the back of my head. It’s been there since the summer, I think. I forget when I started it.

All of the books should be coming right around my birthday. It’ll be like a gigantic birthday present followed by a bunch of smaller ones (that’s the way the orders are broken up; there’s like ten items in one order, and then one in each of the rest) and then finally one from Germany. I can’t wait. There will be much literary goodness to come.

Originally written… the day after the last LAN Party? Given the context, one or more of you might know what’s.. behind this poem, I guess you could say… I figured there was no longer a reason to not post it..

I’m kind of proud of myself with this poem. I tried to have a basic structure that I followed: two words, nine words, three words, nine words. I think that I adhered to it pretty well throughout the poem. It was hard to follow in a few stanzas, trying to find just the right words to fit the structure and still get my meaning across. Any rhyming is unintentional, as are most other literary devices. It just so happen’s that the first line of each stanza is “subject verb,” except the last and the first. The first, if you make it “It is funny” follows the subject verb, but then breaks the two word rule, so we’ll just excuse that line. The last stanza… I just couldn’t think of a subject verb combo to end the whole thing. But I think it works great as it is.

Pronouns galore…

It’s funny
how my mind keeps wandering back to that night
in the dark
while walking along the pavement, the grass, the dirt.

I remember
not the path I walked alone, on my own,
but the short
time and distance walked with you by my side.

I walked
alone, but you made effort to be by me;
you fell away,
but always tried to walk with, next to, me.

You asked
what was wrong with me, why was I sad,
I said that
I was not sad and that everything was alright.

I lied
when I said that everything was alright with me,
everything was not;
I pushed you away, and for that I’m sorry.

But I
just cannot relate to you yet what I feel,
because you are
the reason I feel that pang in my heart.

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Along the rooftop he runs, gliding through
the night. But no one hears him on his way,
and yet as he gets closer, closer to
his goal, he thinks about his kid’s ballet.
He silently arrives at your front door
and waits. Watch out for his great ninja sword,
it will slice you in two. He hears you snore,
defeat is something he cannot afford.
Your house is quiet as the ninja treads
through it and finds his way to your locale.
Not hesitating, he prepares his edge.
His deed now done, he leaves to see his gal.
As with you and I, ninjas too have kin
that will forgive and bear their father’s sin.

(’Tis a sonnet, by the way. A Shakespearian sonnet. ‘Twas a bitch to write.)

It seems I’m paying more attention to people this year, specifically at school. I never realized what a great place school was for people watching. I dunno if it’s better than the theatre, though, as you don’t see the same exact people everyday at the theatre. I want to write again. Poetry. Observations. Random ejaculations of creativity. I want it again.

I want lots of things.
More time.
More outtings with friends (the lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, specifically, comes to mind).
More mobility.
I want my license.
I want to be able to roam.
I want to be able to hang out.
I want to be free.
I want these things, and more. These things, those that make up many others’ lives, I want.

I want the joy that music brings me.
I want to be part of the songs.
Floating in time with the flutes,
bouncing around with the drums.
Dancing with the bass strings,
screaming with the electric guitars.
I want it all.
The melody, my best friend, trails me along.
Ups and downs.
Familiar paths, new frontiers.
Coming in on the high note,
going out on the low.
I want it all.
The joy, the sorrow.
I want to be part of it.
Part of the epic,
the story.
My story.

Sometime last month, I downloaded the Rise of the Star project. Basically, it’s a remix of most (all?) of the music from the original Kirby game. At first, I thought it was lacking, and kind of neglected the playlist entries. As of late, however, I have been listening to the tracks, more closely than before, and I hear something, something more. The effort put into these songs. This is some high-quality stuff right here. The artists were clearly passionate about their work and strove to make it the best they possibly could. This stuff is amazing. It really stays true to the mood of the game too. It’s upbeat, it’s happy, it’s got a nice variety (triangle in one song, electric guitar in another; fast song one minute, slow song the next). It’s perfect. It fits the game 100% and is seriously some awesome work. These guys better be getting paid for their musical talents.

Shortly after downloading Rise of the Star, I hit up The Dark Side of Phobos. A project dedicated to remixing music from the original Doom game. All of this music, while actually sharing a composer, has a completely different feel than Rise of the Star. And it shouldn’t be any other way. The DSoP captures the spirit of Doom perfectly. Dark music, combined with not so upbeat instruments (if that’s even possible), create an atmosphere unique only to Doom. I guess you’d have to listen to the music to fully understand what I mean. Both of them, Rise of the Star and The Dark Side of Phobos. I recommend you check them out. Whether you have actually played these games or not. This is some high-quality work that I hope everyone can appreciate and enjoy.

Note: Writing at 2AM may be unhealthy for both the artist and the reader. You have been warned.

So there I was, about 20 minutes left after finishing up the Honors English exam in eighth hour, when it hit me. Inspiration. I grabbed my notebook and started writing. Writing what I saw, what I knew, etc. This is an observation poem of sorts, a poem in which I wrote down things as I saw them happening. It was amazing. As I was writing, words were popping into my mind, phrases, whole lines even! I’ve never written a poem that I’ve felt THIS good about before. Simply amazing. It’s so good, in fact, that I decided against performing Deja Vu for the class and, instead, chose this one! (Deja Vu included at the end of this post, after This is When it Happens) I hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I do.

This is When it Happens

In these last few minutes,
seconds seem like hours.
Anything could happen,
anything at all.

The question,
however,
is not what will happen,
but whether anything will happen at all.

Looking around,
I see faces wrought in thought,
trying to get the right words.
I see blank faces concentrating
on nothing.

Clicking pens, crinkling paper.
Folded arms, hunched shoulders.
Nothing has happened yet,
and I doubt anything will.

The tick tock of the clock,
the mashing of calculator buttons.
Faces down on the table,
eyes on the floor.

The end is near.
See it in the air.
Hear it in the silence.

Boxes here, boxes there.
Full of books, full of nothing.

Shuffling of papers,
another is done.
Restlessness becomes our friend,
our mother, our father,
easy and cool.

We are one
in thinking we are done.
We are one
in hoping we can go.

All at once, you can hear,
the restlessness of each and every,
of all at once.

It comes quickly,
it comes suddenly.

Just before it is time to go,
that’s when it happens.
All at once.

Now for Deja Vu, actually written quite a while ago:

Deja Vu

Deja Vu,
she said.
Walking the familiar path,
talking the familiar talk
we reached a
familiar spot
and she said
Deja Vu.
She couldn’t
explain it,
could only
say it,
Deja Vu.
I just didn’t
want to say,
the feeling that she had
was shared by all:
The birds and the bees,
the rocks and the trees.
But most importantly me.
Deja Vu.