The family is gone until August 12th. I kinda think I know how they feel when I leave for college. Except they are ALL gone. I miss them. A lot. I'm actually fairly lonely right now, though I've been filling my schedule fairly well so far. Sigh.
I'm having a bit of an episode with books right now. I started reading Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. I was aware that it was an abridged version, but was ok with it at the time. I absolutely LOVED the book. Hugo was, on an almost by the page basis, becoming one of my favorite authors. Then I posted on my facebook that I was reading the book, and someone asked me if I was reading an unabridged version, to which I responded in the negative. The ensuing disparaging comments brought me to the point of actually pulling my bookmark out of the book and returning it to the shelf, opting instead to locate a full version of the book. My next title to read was Charles Dicken's David Copperfield. I carefully searched every page on both ends of the book to make sure that it was unabridged, and finding no declaration of its being condensed, I commenced with the story. I was about 65 pages in, and it just wasn't grabbing me nearly the way that Oliver Twist did this spring. I was a bit disappointed, but the book was beginning to get better, so I was far from giving it up. But that night, when I was hanging out with a friend, we were in Barnes and Noble, and I found a copy of David Copperfield in their classics section. I noticed that it was considerably thicker than my own copy, so I turned to an early chapter to read a segment I was familiar with to see if it was the same. Low and behold, there, staring back at me in black and white, was the beautiful prose and beautifully orchestrated acrobatic language that I had fallen in love with, but was nowhere to be found in my own copy at home. So, immediately upon coming home, my copy of David Copperfield fell to the same fate as Les Miserables, and was returned to the shelf. Except with far more disdain, because I believe I was tricked into reading a book which I had expected to be unabridged, later to discover otherwise. Hmph. So I'm not reading anything at the moment. I think I'm going to try and get into one or two or the books I picked up at the International Christian Retail Show in St. Louis in June.
Thinking about books and stuff, I just read (on an Apple news web site, amusingly enough) that the new Amazon Kindle is priced at $139. You know what? At that price point, I am considering myself interested. Sure, it'd be awesome to have an iPad, but realistically, I'm due for a new computer after I graduate next spring, and I'm gonna get a macbook pro. I'd like to have an e-reader though, and something with limited function might actually encourage me to do more reading on it, since I won't be able to be distracted by a fully functioning web browser the way I would with an iPad. We'll see. Maybe a Christmas present for myself?
I'm starting to get into trance and electronica music more than any other time that I can remember. I owe this joy to the band Cinnamon Chasers, an indie electronica/techno band from the UK. They are great, particularly the songs "Luv Deluxe" and "Jetstreams." I've got a couple friends at school who have been into this type of music for several years, so I'm excited to go back to school and discover some of the great stuff they have.
T minus 13 days until I move back to school. 18 days til all students return, 22 days until classes start, and 277 days until graduation, Lord willing.
