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.

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.

It appears as if I need to add some CSS for blockquotes... - Fixed!

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.)

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.

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.

I want to say I'm sorry,
I want you to forgive me.
I didn't mean the things I said,
they just came out.
A verbal ejaculation
of gigantic proportions.
I hope I didn't get any on you.
It wasn't intended for you.

One person may know what this is about.  If she can connect the dots that is.

Wo sind meine Klamotten?
Ich kann sie nicht finden!
Sind sie in die Toiletten?
Ich habe die Toiletten geputzt!
Ach! So das ist warum!
Weil, do am meine Klamotten sitzt!

Heh.  Why NOT stick a German poem in my portfolio?  And, yes, I did write it.  Plagiarism for the lose.

That means I just need two more...

that raised it's son,
but soon forget to sleep.

Dadaism (Wikipedia link), at it's core, is the belief that there is beauty in chaos and randomness.

We started Dada poetry yesterday.  It was very fun.  Some poems were more random than others, and some had an obvious structure, but it's amazing what people can come up with sometimes.  I'm just gonna share the two that I wrote real quickly:

When Dada Reigns Supreme

Pizzaburgers run free
when others are scared.
And notebooks coerce
little children,
When Dada reigns supreme.
The sweater eats a sandwich,
and the sandwich eats a dog,
The nose screams in pain,
and the gas laughs at it
When Dada reigns supreme.
Circles, lights, trees,
are no longer red, blue, or green.
And when black turns blue and
pink becomes round,
Dada reigns supreme.

When the Moon went Sideways

Magicians leave this world
in cats that fly,
to seek ice cream
on the tiny red chair.

Despite succeeding,
the dogs cry,
for their pens are
gone and replaced
with pads of paper.

Run!  Run!  You crazy cat!
Kangaroos in boats are coming!
Do not let them snarf
that which your masters have earned!
Sleeves and flags come to the rescue!
Red and Blue go the cannons,
in this powerful escape!

Then from the outlets come the dogs of war.
They brought with them
Jackie Chan.
And the war commenced
when the bird roared.
In this void,
this red room,
war was beginning.
The hoppers had no chance to survive,
for the ice cream had power.
The power to see another dimension.

The wizards escaped
with their spacial felines
into a world of
Impossible Realities.
The ducks climbed waterfalls
and the rain fell up.
This was not normal,
this was not black and white,
this was Australia.

The kangaroos in boats
were exasperated.
They could not win
this never-ending struggle.
They went down the stairs
with the kids and the chairs
and found a world fit for them.

The dogs called the empty black
their own.  And Jackie Chan
celebrated in the only way he knew how:
Dance-Fighting.
Pizza was had by all
when the moon went sideways.

TF seems to be running VERY well as of late.  It went down only once today, and it quickly came back up.  I'm still gonna send the letter though.  After a little more tweaking...

If you checked out the picture above, then you saw my new speakers!  OMG they rock!  It's so freaking awesome!  Man, they beat headphones anyday!  Also: There are inputs for standard RCA left and right channel.  The red and white plugs on the back of your TV.  This means I can plug my Gamecube directly into the speakers!  No more going through my blah onboard sound card! w00t!

I've been working on something for Creative Writing:

The dark rain clouds rolled in, the thunder roared off in the distance.

"Beautiful." he said, in an appreciative tone.

It was late in the afternoon, the sun was no longer at its height.  When the first cool drops hit his body, he slowed h is bike and took his time getting home.  The storm was directly overhead, as signaled by another crash of thunder.

It was over before it started.  A white flash, and then he was thrust from his bike.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a bright light.  After letting his eyes get used to the light, he saw that he was in a white room.  It smelled cleaner than clean.  He looked around and took note of his surroundings.  There was a silver sink along the wall to his right.  Further back along that wall was a wooden door.  To his left was a window, a long window that covered the entire wall.  He could see oak trees and tall buildings out that window.  The sun was shining.

For the first time since he awoke, he wondered why he was in this room.  He still had no idea where he was until a lady walked through the door.  She was a tall, lightly-built woman with a face like an angel and golden, blond hair that barely touched her shoulders.  She had on a green apron.  A hospital apron.  When he realized where he was, he jerked up and began to interrogate the nurse.

"What happened?  What am I doing here?  Where's my family?"

"It's good to see you awake.  What do you remember last?" she said calmly.

"Uh...  I was...  I was riding my bike...  I was going home... from... from... my friend's house..."  He was having a hard time trying to recall the events.

"Uh huh.  Good, good.  Anything else?" she asked.

"Um...  I remember being wet...  It was raining!  I was riding home in the rain!"

"Yes!  Very good.  Do you remember what happened?"

"What...  happened?"  He had no idea what she was talking about.

"You were struck by lightning.  You were found laying unconscious, five feet from your bike, scratched up pretty badly."

"Where's my family?  Do they know where I am?"

"Yes, yes.  They're in the hall, they will be in shortly.  Now just relax."

The nurse took his temperature, checked his pulse and other vitals, recorded some observations, and left to inform his family about his condition.

He was studying the trees outside the window when he found himself swallowed by the darkness.  When he awoke, he found himself in the damp grass, his bike roughly five feet away.

I've got a little bit more, but I like ending it right there just for a preview.  I have a pretty stable idea of what I wanna do with this.  It'll be very interesting.  I already like it.

Basically what we were doing, sometime last week, was designing a character, sketching out all of the little details, etc., etc.  At the end of last week we had to start thinking of a situation to put this character into.  We've been kinda sharing our ideas and such since Monday.  There are some VERY interesting ideas and VERY good writers out there.

I've also been working on a little poem of sorts:

See the man with the lonely eyes,
Take his hand, you'll be surprised.
At the places you'll go, the wonders you'll see.
The things you'll do, the things you'll experience.
See the man with the lonely eyes,
Take his hand, you'll be surprised.
Things you've never imagined
will all be possible.
See the man with the lonely eyes,
Take his hand, you'll be surprised.
Never know who you'll meet,
What you'll see, where you'll go;
When you see the man with the lonely eyes
And take his hand, 'cause you'll be surprised.

Wo sind meine Klamotten?
Ich kann sie nicht finden!
Sind sie in die Toiletten?
Ich habe die Toiletten geputzt!
Ach!  So das ist warum!
Weil, do am meine Klamotten sitzt!

Exploring the great disabled world
People come to the oracle
This sterile void of redundant faith
Counting the years that go by
Trust tomorrow and rethink the threat

This is my "paste-pot" poem.  Basically what we had to do was cut out a bunch of words from various magazines, particularly interesting words.  Make sure you have a good amount of articles, so as to cover your ass in the event you need an article (though you could always go back and cut out some more words if you know what you're looking for).  And then just start playing with the words you have.  Instead of you writing the poem, the poem is supposed to write itself.  I'd say my turned quite well, I'm satisfied with the end result.  The last line was kind of tricky though, I almost put "pardon the explosion" instead of "rethink the threat," but it wouldn't have fit.  I was also considering not including a fifth line at all, but then I found "rethink the threat" and thought it fit quite well.

I like Creative Writing already, 'tis a cool class.  Plus there's this senior chick that sits by me that is into computers and stuff.  We were comparing video cards :tongue: Her Radeon 9800 > my Radeon 9600.  I said something about wanting to get a Mac Mini too, and she didn't like that.  :tongue:

I work Friday and Saturday, both days from 6PM - 11PM.  Thing is, however, mine and Brian's birthday party is on Saturday.  It starts at 5, so I'm calling around trying to find ushers to take my Saturday shift.  Should be fun...  You know what else should be fun though?  Early Saturday =P I called Megan last night, finally asked her what was going on and told her what Adam had said to Elyse.  She seemed genuinely surprised.  We talked about various things before she asked if I was doing anything on Sunday.  'Twas decided that Saturday would be a better day to do something, though, before she goes to work.  What we're doing, however, we don't know.  She had to work on her Physics homework that she had been putting off for way too long.  So, yea!  Awesomeness!  I can't wait! :grin: It took me forever to pick up the damn phone.  I was pacing from the family room, through the dining room, through the kitchen, and back through the family room.  I picked it up once, listened to the dial-tone for thirty seconds and put the receiver back down.  I paced for another ten or so minutes and finally picked it up.  5.... 5..... 5... 5.... 5.... 5.............  ......  .... 5.....  (555-5555, obviously not a real number) I told myself that if I didn't press that last number, when would I?  When would I actually do this, if I couldn't do it now (or, at the time, anyway)?  I asked myself if I wanted to hang up and go take my shower and beat myself up for being such a coward.  I asked myself if it was really worth it to not do anything.  I put my finger on that last digit and pressed, ever so slighty.  [i]Come on!  I can do this![/i] I pressed a little harder and heard that beep.  [i]There you go!  There's no turning back now![/i] I was so surprised I managed to do it.  Awesome.  When I got off the phone I wanted to freaking dance.  Thing is, I DON'T dance.  It's too embarassing :tongue: Though I did let myself dance a little in the shower.  :tongue: