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- Virginia, here I come baby -
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Thursday, August 18, 2011
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The weirdest thing to think about is the progression of days, and how much is going to change, say....forty-eight hours from now.
I want to be really good at encapsulating my thoughts, because the surge of emotion this week has been unbearable, stressful, and disarming. I'm already pulling away from all the people I love excepting G, because it makes it easier that way. I am not good at keeping in touch with best friends, despite the amount they mean to me, despite the fact that they are my family more than my blood family will ever be. I consider it a survival instinct, and a generally useful one at that. But it isn't necessarily healthy, and I owe it to myself and them to not be a jackass.
Fighting with my family a lot this week. I guess its kind of expected, tensions are high. Also, conversely, unexpectedly, and awesomely, getting closer to my little sister. We have been stenciling and spray painting all week. Playing cards together, watching music videos, it's super cute but also super sad because I just realize how late this bonding is happening and how much we will actually miss each other; not something I otherwise anticipated. I hope we don't lose it and grow distant. And I hope the same for my other family.
I can't employ that tactic on G if we actually want this to work. I'm still so in love, and so apprehensive about the emotional codependency. Because, as expected, we've gotten way more attached in this last week. I mean, it will kind of be a shock not to see him at all for the first week or whatever. But I really am so excited for all the opportunities yet to come, and determined to immerse my emotions in UVA so that I don't have the time or energy to miss him.
I just finished Lolita, by Nabokov, Certainly it ranks now among my favorite books, if not topping the list entirely; what a beautiful 'romance' Vladimir Nabokov had with the English language; I think that his position as a connoisseur of other European languages contributed greatly to the magic and artistry in his English prose. Beautiful, rich, words that you devour and taste all at the same time. He creates literally painful beauty with his little nuances. Amazingly varied characters. And the most enjoyable, knowledgeable, sad humor I've ever experienced. You need to read Lolita, and I (WE) need to read some of his other works.
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- Lolita -
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Friday, August 12, 2011
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'... a destiny in the making is, believe me, not one of those honest mystery stories where all you have to do is keep an eye on the clues.'
- Vladimir Nabokov
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Saturday, August 06, 2011
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The Associated Press was allowed into North Korea to take photographs. Holy shit; it’s so interesting to me that they have, or at least try to facilitate with as much normalcy as possible, the same amenities and attractions that other Asian and Western nations foster, such as amusement parks and hiking trails to mountains. The wealth disparity is considerable, but what I wonder about most is the state of adolescent North Koreans. For instance, where do they attend university? And how easily is exit granted to students who wish to study further, in international institutions? And what is the quality of North Korean institutions, educational or otherwise, because would this not be compromised by their sheer isolated nature? It seems to me that the inhibited access to outside models would impede advancement or the pursuit of perfection, and that the compensatory uniqueness that the North Korean premier would seek for his institutions would render them useless in a greater global context; not that this fact is relevant either, seeing as citizens cannot leave the country.
But honestly, looking at the amusement park rides featured in the photos, for instance, the outside contact which would have been required for the North Koreans to replicate the Western-contrived ‘rocket’ rides, for instance, is indicative of a fundamental anomaly underlying the North Korean system; for in these creations they seem to be pandering to their populace to keep them happy, thereby indirectly supplying them with Western consumer goods.
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- Hookah -
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Thursday, August 04, 2011
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Dude. You have no idea, I am so happy about my new hookah! Gordon and I used a rootbeer jug from the Pi for the base. We got a rubber stopper that was an airtight fit in the jug, and he drilled two three-eighth inch diameter holes through the stopper. Through one of the holes we fit a copper tube, about a foot long, to be the stem. In the other one - now this is the REALLY cool part - we got a t-shaped short drainpipe, and fed the bottom part of the t into the hole. With the other two parts of the t we made a double-hose attachment piece; which is awesome. Almost no homemade hookahs have double hoses :D. We bought a light blue ceramic bowl for it, and a few extra rubber washers to make everything fit together more perfectly. When we tried it out yesterday, the smoke was super thick, better even than molly and miles' professionally-made hookahs. And it's really cool being able to see the smoke through the clear plastic tubes we're using as hoses. Now all I need is an ash catcher. It hits amazingly; I'm so psyched!
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