Reading!

I have been such a slacker in a number of ways this summer, updating the blog, keeping up with cleaning house, and getting myself organized for going back to school (four days now!), but most disappointingly I have been seriously slacking in my reading for the entire summer.
This is a huge shame because those hazy humid days of bad hair and sticky thighs always allow me to lock myself in my air conditioned bedroom and snuggle up with some good reading. But this summer I have been too focused on either working or losing my mind to daytime television (my guiltiest of all pleasures). Luckily, I have a boyfriend who has his own personal library and allows me to take as many books as I like. So in these last remaining days of Summer I have been trying to catch up on all the reading I have allowed to escape me. However, there will be absolutely no way I can finish up my reading list which includes:

1. Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov (a library book that I need to finish by friday)
2. Ariel by Sylvia Plath (I'm not usually a big poetry advocate but Sylvia Plath's writing is so beautifully tragic it's hard to ignore... also a library book)
3. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (I bought then when Jill and I went thrifting during my trip to Athens, a complete steal at 35 cents)
4. Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (One of Alex's books, a play based on the Scope's Monkey Trial, I'm not exactly that keen on reading plays)
5. Stranger Than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk (I never finished Fight Club in the Spring, blame my Sociology class)
6. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (a book I bought Spring quarter Freshman year and have yet to finish, but was around to entertain me during the most beautiful of Spring mornings after my BIOS 103 class. Ms. McCullers and I shared a few good moments in Emerti Park)
7. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (I've had this one for a long time, it's the time to read it!)
8. We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates (After reading Where Have you Been? Where Are You Going? in English 201, I have always wanted to read more of Oates' stuff. It's about violence and what not. big surprise)
9. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote (a lender from Alex)
10. Euthyphro, Crito, Apology, & Symposium by Plato (an obvious borrowed book from Alex)
11. Islam (another lender from Alex)
12. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
13. Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
14. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
15. The Plague and The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus (Existentialism! WOO!)
16. Lucky by Alice Sebold (I loved The Lovely Bones, here is another book that will freak me out so much that I won't be able to leave my house)
17. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (I began it when I was in Australia but never finished

This fall will be the perfect opportunity to lounge by the Hocking River and tackle some of these books.

Visits home...

As most college students spend their summers rotting away at bad jobs in their hometowns, I've spent this summer rotting away here at OU. You see, they pay me more to rot here.

After a stint as a popcorn bitch last winter break, I swore I'd never again spend more than a couple weeks at a time in my hometown of Hubbard, Ohio. It did, however, feel nice to head back to Hubbard for a bit last week.

My mom's cooking is always appreciated, as is the gas my dad puts in the car when he knows I'm coming home. Driving around town with the windows down and the stereo bumping feels like freedom, even if I'm just driving to get a haircut downtown. And laundry is free! It felt good to be back on my old stomping grounds, especially when I knew I'd be back in Athens, my home, in a few days.

The best part of my week at home (you know, besides the two concerts I went to) was definitely hanging around my friend Billy's digs. Casa de Billster is a place where you can find puppies with bladder problems, fat cats, video-game-playing moms, a Chinese exchange...man..? named Tang (not a student, just this Chinese guy who lives with them because he teaches little kids or something) and most importantly, brand new Mac desktops sprawled out on the dining room table (because eating is so very over-rated these days).

Billiam and I made several ridiculous YouTube videos in Photobooth, in addition to taking many ridiculous photogs. One of the videos somehow got 141 views and 1 comment overnight. Upon viewing, the Chinese man Tang seemed convinced that we were YouTube stars. Give the guy a break, he's real foreign.

Anyway, here are two of the videos. I'm warning you, they're silly as hell, especially the second one:

U Street D

even the food is happy!

I have been pretty lame at keeping up with simple pleasures, but this is one that Jill and I can completely agree with: Union Street Diner.
Last week, I went down to beautiful Athens, Ohio to visit Jill, Rika, and Jason. It was a wonderful time. We had chinese food, watched 90s dramas (My So Called Life is my new fave teen drama*) and Jill and I went to our classic dining spot, Union Street Diner.

During the school year, U Street D is a staple for the weekends. They're open 24 hours so after a good night of party hopping or hanging out with friends, it is the go-to destination for a cup of coffee and scrambled eggs (my favorite late night food).
Union Street Diner holds so many memories, from the first time I ordered chocolate chip pancakes at 8pm to the time after $2 Prom (an annual event that ACRN.com holds at The Union) where i ate there with Jill and my boyfriend Alex and ended up spilling syrup all over my Junior year homecoming dress.
Union Street Diner is a wonderful little hole in the wall place that offers crazy good meals (spicy chicken sandwiches, breakfast quesadillas, and a plethora of different kind of melts). If you're ever in Athens and you need a good meal for not much dough, Union Street Diner is your place, plus it's a wonderful place to gather all your friends (just don't be alarmed by the holes in the seats of the booths).

*except for this "so bad it's good" drama on ABC family called The Secret Life of the American Teenager.. I watched a marathon of it today.