It's My Life

Life is settling into routine and patterns. I'm at Borders the majority of my time, and the rest of the time all I really want to do is read and learn how to think again. No, really. Journalism really does that to you -- it robs you of any semblance of intelligence, and makes you a drone so that you may repeat the journalism mantras "truth." "equality." "unbiased reporting." Do you see intelligent diction, research in there? No. So, if you try to use even a relatively complex word, even something like gregarious or gauche, they must be changed to talkative and awkward. No, awkward might even be too complicated for our fifth-grade reading-level audience members -- clumsy.

As I go through and re-read some of my journal entries from high school, I don't remember what some of the words mean. These are words I used on a regular basis in my high school. HIGH SCHOOL. Is this what college does to you? It forces you to speed read literature and text books, so that you memorize fractures of information for quizzes and essays, yet understand nothing. Sure, I was able to read some of the classics in college, and now I can say I read them. But I wasn't able to enjoy hardly any of them, because I was expected to read Jamaica Kincaid in two days; Herman Melville in three. Gee. This must be why children and adults alike no longer quite enjoy reading like they used to. We simply aren't given the chance. Rather than force Shakespeare and Dickens down our throats, why not give students a list of dozens of works to choose from? Let them go out and explore literature, explore the classics and any genre they might be interested in. Maybe then our literacy rates wouldn't be so appalling. Maybe then you wouldn't see I HATE READING in Facebook profiles, or vacant shrugs when asking what someone's favorite novel is.

But, that would be giving us too much freedom, wouldn't it? However would our poor governors rank our schools if not by number crunching and data? If we can't ingest 10 books a year as we choke on them and scrape by on spark notes rather than our minds, what would happen to our fantastic technological advancements? What would happen?

You tell me.


Song: Title, Billy Joel

Final Harry Potter Installment Will Make a Better Film

Ok, if you don't want to know about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet, don't read this. But, I finished the book about an hour ago and I have to vent about it a bit.

If any of you thought that Rowling was writing for Hollywood before, maybe you're right, but this book is worse than any of its predecessors. What is the major edge literature has always had, and will always have, over other forms of entertainment? Imagination, of course. Books are able to provide detail, imagery and beautiful language in ways that no other form of media can. Authors can go on for pages about one simple movement and scene. It may only take a few seconds or minutes to play out on screen, but in a book, when written well and played out correctly, a description can suck the reader in so completely, in a way that movies never could. Readers are able to develop personal relationships with the characters and feel as though they're sharing a special secret with the person who brought them all of this happiness and understanding: the author.

Well, Rowling obliterates all of that in her final book in the Harry Potter series. Rowling has never been a spectacularly gifted writer, in some ways. However, she has always used her greatest strengths to her advantage very well. She has a wonderful imagination, and a great part of her success has been in her ability to create such a believable world that she has held reader's entranced for nearly a decade. It doesn't matter if her sentence structure doesn't quite rival Dickens, Wilde or any of the greats of the British Isles. She created immensely sympathetic characters that millions of readers around the world have fallen in love with -- which is why she doesn't do herself, her characters or her devoted fans justice in The Deathly Hallows.

Just spending a bit more time and details on the scenes would have helped. I know she could never live up to our expectations; we all want to much from a series we all feel so strongly about. We wanted, or at least I wanted, a seamlessly tied up story with no loose ends. It didn't have to be a happily ever after, but something maybe a bit better than the last line of "all was well" would have done the trick.

The thing that is most disappointing is how episodic, yet slow, the book feels throughout its 700 plus pages. Readers are more than 500 pages into the book before Harry even finds another horcrux. When she kills off much-beloved characters, she doesn't even sufficiently explain how they have died, or even give very plausible reasons as to why they've died -- other than to add a bit more suspense for Warner Bros. perhaps. She kills off Fred right when he has been reconciled with Percy again. How does he die? Debris falling from the ceiling of Hogwarts. Do we see George after this scene at all, or even hear what has happened to him after the entire Weasley family (or what's left of it) is seen standing over his body? No. There is an epilogue for the "main" characters, albeit an unfulfilling one. I'm not asking for every little detail to be spelled out, but at least to leave out such major characters as George, who Teddy is left living with, and Luna.

Maybe once I have re-read this book, I will feel differently about it. But the whole time I was reading it, I was protesting what was happening. It doesn't sound like Rowling's voice, with characters randomly dying, suddenly, seemingly to add melodrama and suspense. Rather than relying on talent, Rowling expounds unnecessary plot twist after plot twist, leaving readers uncertain as to what exactly the main thread of the book is, other than the final duel of Harry and Voldemort. With Ron, Hermoine and Harry camping for several hundred pages of the book, it's no wonder she tries to add a bit of excitement to the book, but she does so in all the wrong places.

I hope I will feel differently about it at some point. I didn't like The Half-Blood Prince until the second time around, either, but that was mostly shock at the plot, per usual for the series. But with this one, I remain skeptical that I will ever change my mind. There's always a fool's hope...

Song: I know, I know, I didn't do it. Everyone makes exceptions for Harry Potter, though.

Desperate for Changing

There is so much to say, I'm not sure where to begin. It's like Ron says in Order of the Phoenix, "If you feel all of this at once, you'd have to explode." Hermoine replies by saying "Only because you have the emotional capacity of a teaspoon!"

Or something like that.

I am officially moved (to Ann Arbor, in case anyone has forgotten =P). I have been at my new job for two weeks now and I love it. I work with the best people, from my co-workers and managers to people I have met at orientations. Even when the work is somewhat tedious, the people make it fun. And completely worth it. The company I am with now is completely different from my experiences in my New-York internship last summer. There, people either didn't care that I was brand new or didn't realize that I really didn't know the 330,000-person company after working at their headquarters for a week. In Michigan, people have taken the time to really explain things to me. I don't feel like I am stuck in a cubicle by myself, trying to figure things out on my own. And if I don't, too bad. People and help are really accessible here, it's been such a wonderful change. There were a dozens of things and anecdotes I wanted to write about, and now that I have set aside the time to blog, I naturally can't think of many. :-P I wasn't sure I would like the college grad program, but it has been a great experience so far. It's been nice to meet more people my age who have just graduated from college that also may not know too many people in the AA area.

And one of the best things about my job? It revolves around the book and entertainment industry. I get to spend parts of my day discussing Harry Potter, bestsellers and new releases. (Example: last week, I got a free HP7 tote bag. Could things be any more fabulous?). Haha. But seriously, I love it.

Now if only my house would magically unpack itself, life would be nearly perfect in all aspects. Maybe I can find my own Tonks to conjure up a trunk to put hodge-podge stuff neatly way, you know -- the kinds of things I couldn't possibly part with. =P And now, I really should go attempt to be productive. Until next time, then.

Song: "Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse -- I don't care how cliched it is, I will always love this song.

All the roads we have to walk along are winding

We're moving in four days!! Today is my last day at work at the COE, and then I'm just home for the rest of the week, working on packing and cleaning and organizing. All three of which are much-needed -- the house is such a wreck, probably unsurprisingly. So it will be good for me to finally get everything done by Friday, with any luck... on time.

I am starting to get more nervous about starting at Borders, but the good news is that I feel more prepared to leave Athens now. I'll still miss it, of course, but I am looking forward to exploring Ann Arbor and finally being able to settle down, at least for a while. This is the third time Steven and I are moving in less than 12 months, so it will be nice to be able to definitely stay somewhere for at least a year (regardless of whether I end up loving Borders, or being miserable there, heh). I just sincerely hope that the job ends up being worth all of this effort. It has already ended up to be quite a financial burden, so I know that no matter how the job ends up working out, we have to stay there at least for a year to work out more secure finances... and loan payments are coming in less than six months. Ack. So, exactly: I hope it's all worth it. I think it will be, and hey, that may just be optimistic thinking, but so be it. At this point, I have to be. =)

In other news, my graduation party was this past Saturday. It was much better than I expected. I finally got to meet my new little cousin Jacob; he's five months old and a total butterball. He looks way older than five months too, he's quite tall for his age. =) And he is completely chill and smiley and adorable. He wasn't fussy at all, even with 30 Bonomini's, Martini's and others all over him, which is a total disaster for most people. haha. But anyway. I really enjoyed seeing some of the more distant fam I only see about twice a year. Now I've seen them twice in two months because of Lauren's wedding. So yeah, it was good, despite the disastrous food and the fact that a certain Gary was there. haha. Laura and Andrea even came, and it was great to see them before moving. And I got to see Linda last Friday, which was awesome since I hadn't seen her since March. We got to catch up, and I saw her photos from Equador. All in all, not a bad weekend in Cincinnati. That might be because I know I won't have to see any of them for a few months now since I'm moving, but you know. Like I said, I'm trying this whole positive thinking thing out. It was fun because they're such fun people!

Riiight. All right, back to my last few hours of work at McCracken... Next time I post, it will probably be from Michigan!

Song: my favorite Oasis song ever, "Wonderwall"

the things we never thought we could be

It is officially official: we're moving June 30!! Our realtor... err, new land lady, called me today to tell us our application had been approved and we can move to Rice Avenue on June 30! And then I start July 2, whoaaa. And right when I starting to adjust to my job... Harry Potter 7 comes out!!! So totally cannot wait.

So, instead of working on my final two articles for the COE, I am writing about it here. =) I am actually really, really, excited about it now. It is starting to sink in a bit, me thinks. My HR person called me today, too and asked if I would like to get involved in the College Graduate Leadership Program at Borders, so I'm doing that now, too. As far as I can tell, it's a six-month program that pairs each recent grad with a mentor from another area of the company to learn, bond, all that good stuff. There are 12 people in the program, including myself, so it will be cool to get to know some more people my age -- and people outside of HR and the Communications departments. We will also be learning about different aspects of the company by working in the flagship store in Ann Arbor to really get a feel for the company. So basically, it sounds a lot like the intern stuff I did at IBM, which is cool, because that was really helpful. It was the only way I ever met anyone except for my office mate, which is great because I still keep in touch with a few of them today, thanks to Facebook. =P

On to the house. I basically described it in my last post, but I am just really happy we found a place that works so well for us. Oscar can come, it has a garage and it's getting new carpet and wall paint so it's quite livable. Now if Steven could only find a job by the end of the summer, we would be set for a while. It looks like the month of July is going to be pretty awesome: it's Steven's birthday, my grandpa's 80th birthday, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is coming out and Order of the Phoenix is coming to theaters! I just started re-reading the series again two days ago (am on Prisoner of Azkaban now) and it has completely renewed my obsession. If Snape ends up being evil though, man... he better die. In the wise words of Stan Lee: "'Nuff said." And I still think J.K. Rowling will come back to the series and do a prequel, after her next book bombs. Because it will; how could anyone ever top debuting with Harry Potter? Exactly, she couldn't. I mean, everyone will buy it because of Harry Potter, then realize that HP was 100 times better and she will have to write another one in 25 years. Yes, we have it all planned out.

Now I will stop rambling. Moving in nine days, whoo hoo!

Song: "Here is Gone," Goo Goo Dolls

Closing Time

So, I am moving to Michigan in two weeks (13 days, if you want to be technical). I can still hardly believe it; it's happened so fast. In less than three weeks time I had my job interviews and then the job offer from Borders... and they wanted me to start about two weeks from that time, haha. Obviously finding housing in a town I am completely unfamiliar with was a challenge, let alone when you want to find a place that will let you move in in less than a two-week notice. But, we basically made it happen -- I just had to push my start date back from June 25 to July 2. Not bad, I say.

Anyway, Steve and I just got back from house hunting in Michigan and it went pretty well, given all the excess baggage we have with our animals. =) We looked at two house -- both horribly expensive, but not for Ann Arbor and are currently in the process of signing the lease on one. It's in Ypsi, has a two-car detached garage, full basement, three bedrooms, one and one-half bath. It's pretty decent for a rental; I will post photos eventually, if I remember. =P Now I am just tying up things here in Athens -- packing, seeing people that are still around and finishing up my last three articles for the Athenaeum.

More detail later, for now I am too exhausted to really think about. Until then.

I Will Buy You a New Life

Tomorrow I turn 22 and I am graduating from college. Yesterday I had my third and final interview to work at Borders Group, Inc. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The day before that, I took my final final as an undergraduate and turned in my final final essay. =) It's such a strange feeling, and I know so many others in my position have been talking about the same thing, but I have to say it once more, if only for my benefit: I can't believe it's over.

And now it seems that all that's left to do is wait and see where life takes me. I think, no matter what happens, I am going to end up making one of the hardest choices I've ever made in my life. If I stay here, I know I will be happy in my personal life; I'm content here, at ease with the way things are going.... but I know if I stay I will always wonder what if and maybe never be truly content again anyway. I also know that moving to Ann Arbor would be incredibly difficult. Just the thought of moving makes me depressed, just completely lethargic. =/ Steve and I are just getting settled at 682, and now I might have to pick up again. I am so tired of living one year at a time, in a different place, constantly moving but always staying in the same town. It's the worst feeling. I thought when we moved to 682, we would definitely be here for a few years and that I really could settle down. I was wrong, of course. That wouldn't be so bad if I thought that I could move to Ann Arbor and be done with it... but if I moved there, that wouldn't be permanent because I would only be living in a rental for one year, two years, who knows? before having to pick up again and make another choice: either really start my life in Michigan or move again. I know there is no way I could move into a home permanently this summer. Even if I could afford to buy a home, would it make this any easier? Probably not. Don't get me wrong: I love to travel, and if I had it my way, I would make sure to go to at least one new place or country every year. But that doesn't mean I don't want a real home, too. Am I really asking so much? I hate having to choose between my dream job and staying with the one person who always makes me happy, no matter what. I know if I asked him, he would come with me, but I don't want that. Steve is so happy here; he loves his job, he loves our neighbors, and he is really excited about starting grad school in the fall. I can't ask him to move, even if he has offered to come with me. It's not fair to him, or us. But it wasn't fair for me to think I could be happy staying in Athens either, when career-wise, there is nothing for me here.

After seeing Ann Arbor and meeting my prospective co-workers and supervisors, the choice seems that much harder. I guess a part of me was hoping once I had been there, I would see it really wasn't that great. Haha. But everyone was so open and friendly and immediately easy to talk to... I know what you must be thinking: why are you worrying about all of this already when you don't even know if you have the job? Well, because there is a very strong possiblity I AM going to get the job. You know I am not cocky, or even confident, most of the time, but Borders really has rushed the application and interviewing process for me and been up front with how much they like me from the beginning, that's why I think they're going to offer me the position. It's such a strange feeling: I don't think I would have the strength to turn the offer, but I am not sure I will have the strength to go, either. Who knows? Maybe I won't get it, anyway.

Waiting really does suck.

Song: "I Will Buy You a New Life," by Everclear