Summer Aspirations

I have found my free time in Boone becoming increasingly rewarding. I have found pleasure in reading again, which has helped me turn off the TV, and delve into new types of literature I have passed by in the past. I also am finding myself reading differently. Instead of flying through books (which I never truly did, just at a faster pace), I am finding myself reading at a slower, but more thoughtful pace. Instead of trying to get through a book as quick as possible, I read the words in a way that lets them echo in my mind. I realized last night that I am reading as if I am listening to someone else read the book to me. When I change books, the voice changes. I can't really think of a way to describe these voices, but they are more or less combinations of famous voices (Patrick Stewart, Morgan Freeman, etc.). I am hoping that the voice I find within the pages of War and Peace can help me to stay interested, and finish the book before fall semester starts.

Outside of reading, I am also attempting to get a job as a graduate assistant. I was chosen for the job, but I haven't heard back from the university yet. I would get paid fairly well, and I would be working with one of my favorite professors in the Sociology department. I would also get the chance to teach an Intro to Sociology class for a couple days, which is a career possibility I have considered. The class is in an auditorium and consists of over a hundred students, but somehow I don't have any fears about the prospect of standing in front of them and blabbering about C. Wright Mills, Max Weber, or Karl Marx.

I am also hoping I will get to go to Europe next summer with the Gerontology department and that Barack Obama will be president.

I kind of want to write a novel too. Nothing serious, just some kind of dorky science fiction book. True, I know little about the process of writing novels, but I feel it would be a challenge to come up with an idea that hasn't already been taken.

I have begun to realize that the poster of Tupac and Biggie that sits above my television is chilling and errie. They never stop staring.