home(body)
On another note, last night I had an impassioned conversation about the relative benefits and detriments of living in Austin, Texas with a fellow UT expat (formerly of Brooklyn, and before that, who knows) over what passes for chips + margs in this place- despite our distinctly pro/con orientations on the matter (I was pro, he was con), we argued to consensus about one thing at least - living there too easily facilitates cerebral atrophy. Too easy to fall prey to mental stagnation when things are so sweet. Something to ponder (and promptly forget in favor of something more fun. What's the tradeoff between the availability of breakfast tacos and IQ points? There are seriously no breakfast tacos here). OK, so I'm not fulfilling my potential. For the first time, working here has made me realize how much more I could've accomplished had I gone to a school like Duke, with its winning combination of amazing resources and relative sequestration in this tiny, boring town. Of course, I didn't get in. Still, something to remember for my grad school apps. Then again, I'm happy in Austin. Things have been steady for the first time in forever. I feel as if I've been rewarded after years of uncertainty. Swim, sleep, dinner, drinks. Study for the GRE. Spend 85% of my time with Ryan. Repeat. I passed a pleasant couple of months before I came here.
On yet another note, today marked my yearly perusal of Time's 100 All-Time Novels- not much progress since last year, though I did double or triple up on certain authors. Twenty two years old, and only 20/100 novels read. Of course, it was never my intention to read all 100, especially not after last year's progress report inspired me to read Tropic of Cancer (which was merely amusing, but not special to my heart parts) and Never Let Me Go (a dull mistake), after which I quit with not a little bit of disgust. Still. Onward, 2009. I'm taking a break from studying my GRE Maths this summer(knowing full well that I am making a Huge Mistake) and spending the summer with some leisure reading, titles as follow:
the Blind Assassin- Atwood
the Crying of Lot 49 & Gravity's Rainbow- Pynchon
the Infinite Jest- Wallace
Brideshead Revisited- Waugh (found it amusing that Time's blurb on the novel acknowledges that it is "...saddled with a faded doily of a title". True).
Portnoy's Complaint- Roth
Herzog- Bellow
not on the list:
If On a Winter's Night You Meet a Traveler- Calvino
A Sentimental Education- Flaubert
Of Human Bondage- Maugham
Ender in Exile, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, A War of Gifts- Card
some jumbled diary excerpts via Anais Nin
Twilight?
My paltry justification being that maybe, if I look up all of the words I don't know in these books and commit them to memory, my score on the verbal section of the GRE will increase. If my score on the verbal section had been low, this strategy would make sense. However, my practice scores indicate I'm in the top 99th percentile. I was sort of proud about that. My math scores indicate that I'm in the bottom 39th percentile. I'm not proud about that, but I will concede that it's sort of hilarious. You totally need both for psych.
On yet another note, today marked my yearly perusal of Time's 100 All-Time Novels- not much progress since last year, though I did double or triple up on certain authors. Twenty two years old, and only 20/100 novels read. Of course, it was never my intention to read all 100, especially not after last year's progress report inspired me to read Tropic of Cancer (which was merely amusing, but not special to my heart parts) and Never Let Me Go (a dull mistake), after which I quit with not a little bit of disgust. Still. Onward, 2009. I'm taking a break from studying my GRE Maths this summer(knowing full well that I am making a Huge Mistake) and spending the summer with some leisure reading, titles as follow:
the Blind Assassin- Atwood
the Crying of Lot 49 & Gravity's Rainbow- Pynchon
the Infinite Jest- Wallace
Brideshead Revisited- Waugh (found it amusing that Time's blurb on the novel acknowledges that it is "...saddled with a faded doily of a title". True).
Portnoy's Complaint- Roth
Herzog- Bellow
not on the list:
If On a Winter's Night You Meet a Traveler- Calvino
A Sentimental Education- Flaubert
Of Human Bondage- Maugham
Ender in Exile, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, A War of Gifts- Card
some jumbled diary excerpts via Anais Nin
Twilight?
My paltry justification being that maybe, if I look up all of the words I don't know in these books and commit them to memory, my score on the verbal section of the GRE will increase. If my score on the verbal section had been low, this strategy would make sense. However, my practice scores indicate I'm in the top 99th percentile. I was sort of proud about that. My math scores indicate that I'm in the bottom 39th percentile. I'm not proud about that, but I will concede that it's sort of hilarious. You totally need both for psych.