Windchimes

quel weekend

Have no papers due next week, except for a short oral presentation I'm doing in German tomorrow. Last week, I felt so like a slug, all during everything. Turned one paper in a day late. But....but...

Thanks to a 20th century American lit assignment, I finally learned how to download an mp3. I also learned where to find a bunch of mp3s that interested me I could download. I found and paid the very reasonable royalties to download a Françoise Hardy album. I also just listened to a bunch of them, and found a German artist, Yvonne Catterfeld, whose music I like, so I ordered a couple of albums. I had just been complaining to my husband that someone else is always choosing the music that plays around here. Even in my car, he's got an Allman Bros. cd in my cd player. So, I've learned I have an affinity for easy pop. Don't know what that says about me, don't care. I just like it. But thanks to reading Cappucine 's journals, I also know I wanted to rediscover (for myself) M. Jacques Brel. I found a copy of "Bonbons" and "Mathilde" and thoroughly enjoyed listening to both of them. They made me smile. Also found my favorite Isabelle Boulay song, "Ici." Have decided to be more assertive about what music I listen to, at least once in a while.

This weekend's just been full of good stuff. Cookouts and relaxing, a good football game (the american version) and laughing with friends. And I just finished writing a letter to my dad. On top of all that, I believe I'm caught up on schoolwork. Since it mostly involved reading this weekend, it was a pleasure. Finished "Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein" by Marguerite Duras. Not claiming to know what the heck happens to whome in the novel. Duras and her remote antecedents, sheesh. Still, parts of it were very titillating.

Also read four Flannery O'Connor short stories. Some killer lines in those, made me stop reading for a second while I giggled. Not that anything funny was happening in a certain sentence, just the way the sentence was written.

And investigated Arthur Schnitzler, an Austrian writer who pioneered the "inner monologue" technique in German literature, according to the sources I read. Also from what I read, I think I'd like to find the works of his that have been translated into English as soon as I have a little more free time to read what I choose instead of assigned reading.

I'm not complaining about assigned reading though. The cool thing about assigned reading is, you know as you're reading it that other people are supposedly reading it and all of you will be able to discuss it when you next meet. That, for me, is some nice motivation.

So, it's been a re-invigorating weekend. I hope it'll still feel that way by Friday.

Now, I'm off to put some clothes in the dryer, gather my books and notebooks, make sure my eyeglasses get put back in their case in my purse, and maybe try to figure out what I'll take for lunch tomorrow.

J.H. Larrew
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **