The illiterate college student

Agh! I kind of had plans to just sit around the house and read all day for this week that I'm at home. I've really liked being at home and keeping to myself. It's a very abrupt change from the days when I talked to people for several hours straight at the dorms. After my floormates left, I had dinner with my mom on Tuesday at Ichima. I've decided that I will only order one sushi roll if I go out for sushi, because two is way too filling. Wednesday, I ate with my aunt, uncle, and mom at a Thai restaurant. Today I'm eating with my RA who happens to be in San Gabriel ... Friday is Erica day, and then hopefully people will be able to do things on Saturday. I realize that I just wrote out all of this after saying "I've liked keeping to myself," but half of it is family, and I don't really count that as going out.

Point of blog: Agh! I can't read anymore. I went to the library, got two books, and returned them the next day. I'm really picky about books now. For fiction, I can't stand all that chick lit stuff I used to read. And then I don't like it when the author is clearly writing about him/herself, just through a made up name. And then I can't stay awake for the "good" writing, where it's all beautifully written descriptions of things or thoughts that just put me to sleep. All that's really left are books similar to those on Oprah's booklist - decently well-written, but for the common person who can only read so many words in a sentence.

For nonfiction, I realized that the only things I enjoy reading about is health, food or biographies on chefs. I like to read about neurology or psychology but I generally can't find books that are interesting and written in laymen terms. I'd also like to pick up a book on politics or world issues, but once I actually look inside, I already know that I shouldn't even bother checking it out. To be honest, I don't really care and I know so little that all the material is very hard to get through and I'd end up wikipediaing every other term.

So, I'm currently reading the Beekeeper's Apprentice, which is pretty interesting. I got it once at the Berkeley library but I delayed and ended up having to return it. Well I found it at Arcadia library, and it looked relatively clean so I got it. But every time I pick it up, or any other book, my mind just starts thinking about a ton of other things. Every time the character does something, I think to myself "hey! I want to do this! I should write this down in my list of to dos" or it'll remind me about something I want to blog about, or it'll make me think about my life. A good book should make you reflect, but I reflect while reading, and I end up just trying to speed read so I can get on with my life. If anything, reading just stresses me out because it reminds me of all the things I wish I knew about or all the things I wish I could do.

Ex.
Character in book meets Sherlock Holmes
Me: Wow she befriends Sherlock Holmes. I kind of want to meet someone that intelligent. I'm just sitting in this house all day. Maybe I should be going out and trying to talk to strangers. But I'm not as intelligent Mary is. Maybe I should try to become smarter. I should try reading more. Which is why I'm reading this. But I should probably read some sort of nonfiction book, which would teach me more. Or I should read some articles on The Economist. I'm kind of hungry. No! Must continue reading. I just thought of a song I want to download though. And I kind of want to blog. Eyes ... closing. Nap time.

I kind of think studying hard in high school messed up my love for reading. My reading level peaked at Animorphs, and after all those AP books, I just read blogs and gossip articles. Which is probably why I write the way that I do. I figure that I really don't need to know very much about the world. Interviews for auditors are mainly behavioral questions, like "describe a time you had to work with someone who didn't do things the way you liked," and answering questions like that requires going outside and doing things, not reading. If I were going into finance, I'd be completely fucked, but thankfully, I'm not. And I make enough friends by talking about TV anyway, and that's conversation that interests me, not things like what stances politicians are taking or who won the last debate.

So instead of reading this past week and learning a little bit, I've just woken up at 8:30 every morning (eeK! I just realized that this is an hour later than I did at school - must wake up earlier tomorrow!) just to turn on my computer and spend about 3-4 hours downloading music. I don't think I could do this another day though, and good thing because tomorrow is Friday. But every time I want to do something, I just check facebook, then gmail, then lie around. At least I only have a few days left of this, before I start work.

So that's that. I'm going to write in my electronic diary now, before Yu picks me up. This was not a "oh woe is me" entry, but it was more of "hey I have this thought that I want to put down because if I don't, my mind will explode from too many thoughts."

Songs I've really liked:
Estelle ft. Kanye West - American Boy (thanks to Owen, who doesn't read this which is why I will say: I'm not sure exactly why, but after he came to my house to drink with my floormates, I really started to like Owen more. He's probably the person I know the least in TMV, but for some reason, I've realized that even Owen loves TMV and is a better guy than a lot of guys in the world)


Jonathan Clay - Back to Good
You can always count on a sappy scene from The Hills to have a really good mellow song

Panic at the Disco - Nine in the Afternoon
What! It's a good song to run to, and sing to in an empty house

Baumer - Take What's Mine

Test Your Reflex - Thinking of You