interest

Because I can not sleep, and I need something to think about that won't induce nightmares. Blame this fine gentleman for giving me the idea. Though I probably should break it into pieces to avoid madness.
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academica: a world I find fascinating and enticing, all those books and papers and endless arguments. really, there is no other place for me.

alan rickman: one of the best voices ever, and an actor I enjoy watching.

anathema: a good band, whose cd I keep trying to pilfer from my best friend's collection. I don't think he realized the trouble he would be getting into when he started letting me listen to his cds.

andrei biely: author of St. Petersburg, one of the best Russian novels ever.

andrei platonov: one of the authors I started reading because I was in love with my Russian professor and I would stare at his bookshelves to keep from blushing. The Foundation Pit is fantastic.

bata shoes: Czech shoe company, where I bought my nifty black sandals

belief: something I admire, and long for

belle & sebastian: one of those bands you just listen to in the afternoon.

bohumil hrabal: one of the best Czech authors, in my opinion. I Served the King of England saved my life one year.

bondage: it's fun. and what else am I going to do with all that rope?

botanicus: the greatest soap store in the world, in the Czech Republic. this year I brought home mint, lime-madarin orange, strawberry, orange-lemon, kiwi-lime, and apple-blackberry.

candy: both the sugar, and that song with Iggy Pop and Kate Pierson, which reminds me of the Christmas break where we stole a jar of jelly beans from our elementary school and ate them in the woods.

catholicism: I am not a very good Catholic, but I try.

clean hair: one of my tics, I suppose. I can not stand the smell of hair that has gone unwashed for weeks, and I hate the way mine gets oily so fast. plus, it is a joy to run one's fingers through someone else's hair.

cobblestones: I like them, even though they can't be good to drive on. they just look neat, and remind me of old things.

coffee: my life would not be complete without coffee in various forms. I started drinking it when I was still in elementary school.

collecting photographs: I am bad about taking pictures on my own, so I just collect them from others.

cooking: this is a skill I constantly want to hone. I am not bad, but I am not brilliant yet. somedays, all I want to do is run away to pastry chef school.

crux ansata: extraordinary zine writer, who I hope will one day find some kind of happiness.

current events: another one of my obsessions. I like to know everything that is going on, right now.

czech: a difficult and beautiful language, which I still don't speak well enough

czech literature: for such a small country, the Czech Republic has produced a lot of brilliant writers.

david bowie: a god amongst men, or perhaps an alien. his music rocks my world.

destiny: do we have one? is it fixed? I would like to know.

devetsil: a cinematic movement that produced some of the finest Czech New Wave film. makes me want to go to film school.

dj krush: just something I like to listen to on my headphones sometimes, and dream away.

don harrison: a newscaster on Headline News in the 80's and 90's. I grew up watching this man, and when he died, I was quite sad. Don was the voice of breaking news to me.

dostoevsky: one of my all-time favorite authors. I read Crime and Punishment over the course of two sleepless days in high school, and it sparked my fascination with Slavic literature.

dreaming: something I do too much of, and not enough. I dream quite vividly, even when I don't want to do so.

driving: finally, I am learning to enjoy driving in some ways. mostly because it is dangerous, and fast.

(no subject)

Checking the mail when I got home was something. Not only was the box crammed full of stuff, there was a postcard announcing that the women of Playboy are ready to take it all off for Melynda. Hah. How come my mail is never so amusing? I am leaving it on top of the cable bill in the middle of the living room.

Incredibly depressing to be down by campus this morning, watching everyone else go off to class. I almost cried several times, and I jumped very abruptly out of Gene's car at 24th street. I want to go back to school.....

Should pack up my laundry and head over to see my mother.

interest part two

eating out: restaurants are neat. especially eating all kinds of interesting food.

edith wharton: my favorite American author, absolutely brilliant. her work grasps all the frailty of the human heart when confronted by "society."

evan zimroth: author of a peculiar, semi-autobiographical novel, Collusion that I read in less than six hours.

evzen: one of my favorite people

falling: both in metaphors and the waking world.

fatalism: one of my bad habits. "Doom!"

fate: again, the question. do we have a specific fate waiting?

films: one of the coolest inventions ever, in my opinion. I could watch a movie every day. my mother raised me on old black and white horror flicks with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, Bogart, Hepburn, Bacall, all the classics.

flowers: somethings should just be beautiful. I love to have them around.

freedom: too many people now see it as freedom from things, but it should be freedom to experience all things

french horn: used to play, and I miss it sorely. the most beautiful brass instrument in the orchestra.

french literature: dark, pretty, strange, and thought provoking, from Camus to Simone deBeauvoir to Choderlos de Laclos

gene novark: grammar nazi extraordinare, beer-making fiend, with a dictionary fetish and a hell of a cd collection. the only person who can get away with being mean to me.

german engineering: hello automobile. hello highway.

good friends: quite possibly the most important thing in the entire world.

good smelling soap: another one of my obsessions, I have a collection to rival most stores. life is not as much fun without dozens of soaps to choose from every day. yes, I have a problem, and no I am not going to stop now.

grad school: the next step, I think. being a weird kid, I like school.

hana pichova: my wise and insightful Czech professor, who changed my life in many ways. she is one of my personal role models, being an incredible woman, a great mom, and one of the best professors to ever teach a literature class.

harpers: one of the few well done magazines out there, always a mix of interesting things, never dull.

haruki murakami: brilliant author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, a startling novel.

hazelnuts: best nuts ever, really. good in all things, especially chocolate.

henry luce: the man who created Time magazine, and changed the world of journalism forever.

homemade cinnamon rolls: there is something quite satisfying about the soft puffy dough turning into sticky sweet goodies.

iced vanilla hazelnut coffee: my constant drink at Metro. some of the staff doesn't even bother to ask anymore.

intelligent people: one of the pleasures of living is to stay up all night talking about all kinds of things with these people.

interesting conversation: this goes along with the intelligent people bit. I have been quite fortunate to meet various people in the waking world and online who have offered all sorts of conversation, from fanfiction to the politics of being female

invisible friends: I had an invisible winged unicorn when I was a kid.

ivan klima: an author I didn't really start to appreciate until this year. No Saints or Angels is one of the best novels I have read this year.