Hello, My Name Is Drewby. Remember Me?

Since leaving my blogging regimen (or better, sporadic blogging) this is what I've been up to:

After what seemed like an eternity, my final day of work finally arrived last Friday and in typical fashion, I celebrated with many drinks with friends. Which made more an interesting Saturday morning when I had to wake up early to make the trek north to my parents for a wedding that night. As you may know, weddings are not my favorite affairs, and I typically go into them with a rather pessimistic "I give it 2 years" kind of attitude. I would like to sat this wedding was different, but I can not. A very old childhood friend of mine married his high school sweetheart in a town next to where we grew up. Lovely wedding, lovely reception (cash bar, but I digress...) blah blah blah. Deez Nuts made the trip north with me, so at least I had some entertainment. What had planned on a weekend trip, be back home Sunday turned into a four day event. Due mostly to various members of my family coming up with plans and events that made me feel guilty for leaving. Highlights included eating huge meals, sleeping, eating more, chilling in the hot tub, or "Cajoozie" as my gramps calls it, eating and then going out to eat. It was a great relaxing weekend, but I was more than ready to leave this morning. So after an early rise this morning and a brief stop in Clarion for breakfast with a former professor (Elisabeth, if you're there, I apologize) I'm back at my place. Unfortunately, I did not get to visit with anyone other than my immediate family this weekend, so if you're from home reading this, don't kill me.

Another highlight of the trip was witnessing the phenomenon of my hometown, the preparation for the 4th of July parade. Presumably because there is nothing else to do or look forward to in this town, locals line the parade route 3 to 5 days in advance with lawn chairs in order to get an excellent view of the mediocre parade. Most are linked together with rope to avoid easy theft, but the good seats, the REALLY good seats are chained to street signs and utility poles. (side note: it has always been a mischievous fantasy for one friend and I to saturate the entire street of chairs with maple syrup the night of July 3rd. Unfortunately it didn't happen this year, but I feel next year might be the year. Just imagine what the people in Meyersdale would say! )(Photos courtesy of Dee from my moving vehicle)

So now I am back at home refreshed and ready to tackle the lazy summer days ahead. I realized the other day that, because of my shortened summer, I had not yet prepared my summer reading stack. So, in order to get motivated, I made a trip to Barnes & Noble this afternoon, which is always an economic disaster. After an hour or so of browsing, reading and Starbucks, I managed to get away with only 3 purchases: "Drown" by Junot Diaz (I really wanted "The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao, but it won't be in until September), an Isabel Allende novel, and Miranda July's new book of stories (Jen-nay, it's all yours when I'm finished). Any other suggestions for the summer stack are more than welcome!

Buon Pomeriggio!

Day One of Italian class is complete, and I think it's going to be a success! The class is full of middle aged wealthy people who "Want to learn a few phrases" before their vacations to Tuscany, but I think it will be a good time. There is, as in every class anywhere, the one student I absolutely can not stand who seems to think she knows everything and is much smarter than every person in the room. My favorite moment was when she tried to translate something the teacher said out loud to show off and was wrong. Completely wrong. I couldn't help but giggle like a kid. My friend who is taking the class with me and I have already decided that we are going to be the "bad kids" of the class, and it didn't help that we went for a margarita (or two) beforehand.

I got on Amazon tonight to buy a workbook for the class, and ended up spending 100 bucks impulsively on books I probably don't need. No, definitely don't need. I'm most excited for "Fuck This Book", a collection of photos of signs vandalized with the word "Fuck", and I also bought another book from Post Secret. Jen-nay turned me on to the website/blog and I instantly loved it. I've decided I'm going to start my own collection of the books.

I have more stories to post about a current temporary roommate but don't have the time/energy to post now. Stay tuned.

Stuff

• This week began my second week in a series of 25 full 5-day weeks at work with no break. As most of the people in the working world go "big fucking deal" , it is to me, and I'm wondering just how it is I plan on staying sane throughout the upcoming weeks. Although I love my job, and recently switched from French to Spanish, I foresee several "mental health days" creeping into my schedule. I hate to complain, since I do get almost three months off a year, but a few long weekends here and there would be nice.

• As I was flipping through the channels this afternoon, I happened upon the Jerry Springer Show which bore the title "Pregnant Gals & Mimes". My first reaction was "how does this show stay on the air?" Then I realized it's because it has shows with titles like "Pregnant Gals & Mimes".
• I've been working through my stack of books that I've taken upon myself to consider required reading. I like to try to consider my self quasi-cultured and somewhat well read (although I'm not at all). I've worked through "Siddhartha" and my biography of Che Guevara, as well as "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac which I picked up back in October almost out of obligation because everywhere I turned it was praised because of it's 50th anniversary release and I'd never even considered reading it. My next endeavors are "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand (recommended to me by Mikey and also, strangely enough, my mother) "Hunger" by Knut Hamsum and "End of the Night" and "Death on the Installment Plan" by Louis-Ferdinand Celine. This reading list will, of course, take me an unreasonable amount of time to finish since I prefer to pick up my copy of "I Am America and So Are You" by Stephen Colbert or The Onion's "Our Big Dumb World". Both of which I personally consider required reading also.
• A big HOLLA to Julia for getting a job before she even graduated from school! Congratulations!
• I enrolled today for beginning Italian classes at my local community college campus. It was a total impulse decision, but I'm completely psyched about it. I've always wanted to learn Italian, and I figured "hey, what the hell". I also am going to sign up for some classes through my district's IU which seem pretty cool. One is the history of music, which includes a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and another about the history of Pittsburgh's South Side which includes a trip to there as well. Should be interesting, I'll keep you posted.
• I saw a bumper sticker on my way home from work today that read "Hunt With Your Kids Not For Them". This puzzled me and made me wonder when exactly Kid Season is and what kind of permit you need for such hunting. This sticker rivals "Charlton Heston is MY President" as favorite bumper sticker ever.
  

There's just a quick run-down of some goings on in my life. Stay tuned for more!

White And Nerdy

I just finished reading Stephen King's book "Cell" which I enthusiastically give two thumbs down. I lost interest somewhere in the middle of the novel, but felt obligated to finish. (I started the book sometime in early August, if that's any indication) . The premise is a little creepy, yet completely unrealistic. Someone, somewhere created some sort of sonic wave that transmitted through cell phone currents so that whenever anyone answered or spoke on a cell phone, they turned into a nocturnal zombie like creature with no regard for anyone else and is lulled to sleep with soft elevator-esque music. The three main characters travel from Boston to northern Maine to flee for safety. Oh, did I mention the zombies can read minds too? The ending was sappy but didn't tie up any loose ends and never really explained the origin of the "boom". Maybe it's because I'm just not into science-fiction type reading or movies, but this book was a snooze. I used to be an avid reader of Stephen King, and especially loved "Dolores Claiborne" and "Misery". (Both movie remakes, by the way, are flawless). "Cell" seems to be a throwback to King's earlier book "Desperation" or even "The Regulators" (written under Richard Bachman). Both of which have a similar world-ending science-fiction feel.

But, with the completion of this book, my summer reading pile is officially completed (with the exception of a book about atheism, which reads more like a textbook than a novel, so that was just skimmed for ammunition).

My newest book is somewhat of a classic by Nobel Prize winner Herman Hesse "Siddhartha", which is a story about a young boy in India who meets the Buddah and eventually becomes enlightened himself. It's a short book, and was recommended to me by a colleague. I also saw it on a list of "life changing books" somewhere, but I think that might be a little too much pressure for me in 120 pages.

After "Siddhartha" I plan to start "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac. I never knew much about Kerouac until earlier last month when it seemed almost every magazine or newspaper I picked up had an article about the 50th anniversary of this book. Kerouac became big with the "Beat" movement in the 50s, along with Allen Ginsberg. ("Howl" by the way is probably one of my most favorite things ever written). I always thought the Beat generation was very interesting, and actually, when I was in Ecuador got to meet an author who was big there at that time. A very cool experience. (Insert finger snapping here).