Content Alert: If you are here for the books, this isn't a post for you. I had a really exciting weekend, so I wanted to share that with you guys. Will be back to posting about books in the very near future (I've got a couple posts lined up, so hopefully it won't be too long).
So first things first, I've told you that I'm an engineer. I might not have told you that I'm minoring in Chinese. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any language classes this past year because of scheduling difficulties (which is basically the story of my academic life). To make up for lost time, I've been taking Chinese 201/202 this summer. I just got my grade back for 201...and I got an A! I know you might not care all that much, but it makes me really happy.
And now on to the exciting weekend.
On Friday, I had an adventure with two of my best friends, and some of my favorite people on the planet. We went "thrifting" at Plato's Closet (I use quotes because Plato's is a little more upscale than my usual thrift store). We then went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby...which was probably a mistake and I probably will not be going there again.
Saturday was the real adventure though. I started out my day by waking up at approximately 10:00 AM - significantly earlier than my usual wake-up time. I then got in the car with my mom, rode to the train station, and boarded a train bound for New York City.
I love trains. Trains are awesome. What is not awesome about trains is when there are screaming children both in front of, and behind, you. There is no escape from the loudness and the screaming. Also, the lighting in train cars is atrocious. You can try to sleep, but you will always fail. Also, a note to people that use public transportation: I do not want to hear your music. Not in any form. Please don't sing along to your earphones, hum loudly, or blast your tunes. Nobody wants that.
After switching to a new train, we finally made it to the city. We walked about fifteen blocks down from the station, into Chelsea, and started thrifting.
The first place we went was called Housing Works. There are a lot of these throughout the city. Like most thrift stores, they are fueled by donations. They also donate their money to charities that are fueling the fight against AIDS. We went to three of these in total, the first in Chelsea, near another thrift store (whose name I can't remember, but which was a good bit more expensive). The second was closer to the East Village, and the third was up around 50th Street, a few blocks over from the Broadway theaters. We also stopped in a jewelry/home furnishings antique store, which was fantastic.
Between stops, we found ourselves in Madison Square Park. This was the first time I'd ever been there, but if you have the chance to go in the near future, I say take it. It is a really nice park, and there is currently a large outdoor art installation in progress.
After two Housing Works, the antiques store, and the thrift store that I can't name as of now, my mother and I decided that we had thrifted enough for a while. We started making our way to the closest subway station. On the way, we stopped at a small Macaron bakery. Those suckers are expensive as anything, but really fantastic.
A quick subway ride brought us up to the Time's Square area. What we found there was something I had never seen before in the city: A street fair. Our first stop at the fair was the Google+ Local booth. We wrote reviews for some of our favorite city places and got a free shirt. I freaking love Google (and I'm not just saying that because they run my blogging website or will one day own the world or anything like that).
Some quick things that I learned from the fair:
1. People really like pocket watch necklaces. I saw more of those at the fair than anything else.
2. Smoothies, crepes, and kebabs are the new fair food - move over deep-fried life-shorteners.
3. Honestly, I think a lot of people had multiple booths, or there is some sort of universal fair supplier for clothing, jewelry, and food...
After the fair, we shuffled off to the last (and oddly enough, smallest) Housing Works on our itinerary.
Walking back towards Times Square, we found a cute, not too busy Italian restaurant and decided to try it out for dinner. Man, did we make the best choice ever. Maria Pia on West 51st Street is one of those places that is down a short set of stairs from street-level, easy to miss, and one of my new favorite things in the city. Their pasta was fantastic, the staff were very nice, it never got too loud, and it had a very welcoming atmosphere. Go there. Do it.
We had tickets to see Rodger & Hammerstein's Cinderella that night, and we finished dinner just in time to get in line before the house opened and we could go in. Cinderella is currently showing at The Broadway Theater, which is 1) gigantic and 2) gorgeous. The show was spectacular. It is perfectly cast, the music is moving and beautiful, the costumes are awe-inspiring, and it is just generally an uplifting show.
This version is NOT the Disney version, but it is so much better! The plot does not solely revolve around Cinderella going to the ball and marrying her prince. In this show, Cinderella stands for something. She goes to the prince to get him to see the way that the poor were being mistreated. The fairy godmother's message is that dreams don't come true on their own, and every person has the power to make their dreams come true. I would most definitely see this show again!
I didn't have time to wait at the stage door that night, which was really disappointing. Despite that, Saturday was one of the best days of my life, and probably one of my favorite New York experience.
Your regularly scheduled book-posts will be returning soon, I promise.
Until next time.
tl;dr: Rodger & Hammerstein's Cinderella is fantastic, Maria Pia has the best Italian food I've ever had, Macarons are crazy expensive, respect other people on public transportation, thrifting is generally a win-win scenario for all involved.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Impulse Library Picks (1)
Hello All,
I have been taking summer classes at a nearby school, so "fun reading" isn't as abundant as I had anticipated. I have, so far, read a few novels, so I've got at least a few quick posts to do until I'm finished with my next book.
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
I came to this book partly because I happened upon it in the library and hadn't found enough other books on the journey. Don't get me wrong, I love John Green's work. The Fault in Our Stars made me cry. Katherines was the last solo novel of Green's that I had not read, mostly because every source I'd found had told me that it was the weakest of his books. After reading it, I'm not entirely sure that I would agree.
Part 1: The Plot
Very simply, this is a "rebound" story. The main character (Colin) is dumped by his girlfriend (Katherine, as you might have guessed). He is miserable and his best friend really wants to help, so they road trip. As the story progresses, we see various stages of Colin's life - his history with Katherines, his relationship with his intelligence, his relationship with his peers, and his ambitions in life.
Colin makes it very clear that he was a child prodigy, but not quite a genius. This prompts Colin to struggle towards genius status. He is wrapped up in the idea that he needs to work harder to prove to those around him that he hasn't let them down, hasn't wasted his potential. To accomplish this, Colin believes that he needs to make a big discovery and leave his mark on the academic world.
While on his road trip, Colin insists on stopping at a landmark in a small Southern town. This "quick stop" becomes a road-trip-halting stay with the owner of the biggest job-producer in town, a factory. Colin and his friend stay at this house and work to collect the history of the town from various sources. There is love, emotional growth, betrayal, and attempts at hunting.
Part 2: The Katherines
To be perfectly honest, the plot piece that I found least convincing whenever I heard the book described was that the main character only dates girls named Katherine. It seemed very contrived and silly out of context. Okay, it is also contrived and silly in context as well.
Turning that around, though, do not let that silliness stop you from reading the book.
In my opinion, Colin's history with girls named Katherine is part of his attempt to become something greater than himself. The first girl to become interested in him was named Katherine, and they met because her father worked with Colin in his studies. This time in his life is deeply tied to his prodigy status. He is taking special lessons and is constantly aware that he is different from his peers. As he grows older, the fear that he is losing his edge is ever-present. He has dated a few girls named Katherine, and then it becomes an obsession. He will only date a girl if her name is Katherine.
As Colin grows older, and loses his "prodigy" label, he is worried that he won't be able to become a genius. He sees no way that he can control that fate - he isn't able to force himself to have a brilliant idea that will land him in the history books of academia. He can't keep himself from changing in that aspect, but he can keep one thing constant - he can date girls named Katherine.
Although it seemed like a silly plot point at first, the whole "dating Katherines" aspect of the book has really grown on me.
Part 3: The Formula
While on his trip, and still sulking about the loss of his most recent Katherine, Colin thinks he can finally make his Major Contribution - the thing that will propel him squarely into the role of Genius. Colin tries to think up a way to mathematically graph the course of any relationship. He assigns values to various personality aspects to the two people entering into a relationship and uses those numbers to predict how long the relationship will last and which person will be dumped at the end. Once he starts this idea, he gets hooked. He perfects it to fit all of his past relationships, and it is almost ready to release the formula and earn recognition, when all of the events of the summer come together and click into place. Colin has done a great job of mapping his past, but just as his past as a prodigy cannot predict his future (will he be the genius he has always wanted to be, or will he hit the ceiling of his intelligence and live his life as an average citizen?), taking bits and pieces of a person's previous relationships cannot be used to predict how they will act in the future. There is no way for a person to use math to predict the future of a relationship, just as there is no way for Colin to force himself into the history books.
Part 4: The Message
Colin is a very interesting character, and very unique. He has a lot of quirks, but the most universally relate-able part about him is his need to be remembered. He doesn't want to be just an average person - he needs to be better, be smarter, and be important. Colin fears being left behind and forgotten, so he pushes himself to work harder and be better, and this is something that everyone struggles with.
It takes a trip to an unknown town to teach Colin that to live is enough - he doesn't have to do anything extraordinary for his life to have meaning. This story is about how Colin gains his confidence, and seeing Colin outgrow his old perceptions of himself and society, and to find his new place in his world.
The book is not a very difficult read, but well worth the time you put into it. I found myself laughing out loud a lot throughout the book, and I definitely recommend it.
Until next time.
I have been taking summer classes at a nearby school, so "fun reading" isn't as abundant as I had anticipated. I have, so far, read a few novels, so I've got at least a few quick posts to do until I'm finished with my next book.
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
I came to this book partly because I happened upon it in the library and hadn't found enough other books on the journey. Don't get me wrong, I love John Green's work. The Fault in Our Stars made me cry. Katherines was the last solo novel of Green's that I had not read, mostly because every source I'd found had told me that it was the weakest of his books. After reading it, I'm not entirely sure that I would agree.
Part 1: The Plot
Very simply, this is a "rebound" story. The main character (Colin) is dumped by his girlfriend (Katherine, as you might have guessed). He is miserable and his best friend really wants to help, so they road trip. As the story progresses, we see various stages of Colin's life - his history with Katherines, his relationship with his intelligence, his relationship with his peers, and his ambitions in life.
Colin makes it very clear that he was a child prodigy, but not quite a genius. This prompts Colin to struggle towards genius status. He is wrapped up in the idea that he needs to work harder to prove to those around him that he hasn't let them down, hasn't wasted his potential. To accomplish this, Colin believes that he needs to make a big discovery and leave his mark on the academic world.
While on his road trip, Colin insists on stopping at a landmark in a small Southern town. This "quick stop" becomes a road-trip-halting stay with the owner of the biggest job-producer in town, a factory. Colin and his friend stay at this house and work to collect the history of the town from various sources. There is love, emotional growth, betrayal, and attempts at hunting.
Part 2: The Katherines
To be perfectly honest, the plot piece that I found least convincing whenever I heard the book described was that the main character only dates girls named Katherine. It seemed very contrived and silly out of context. Okay, it is also contrived and silly in context as well.
Turning that around, though, do not let that silliness stop you from reading the book.
In my opinion, Colin's history with girls named Katherine is part of his attempt to become something greater than himself. The first girl to become interested in him was named Katherine, and they met because her father worked with Colin in his studies. This time in his life is deeply tied to his prodigy status. He is taking special lessons and is constantly aware that he is different from his peers. As he grows older, the fear that he is losing his edge is ever-present. He has dated a few girls named Katherine, and then it becomes an obsession. He will only date a girl if her name is Katherine.
As Colin grows older, and loses his "prodigy" label, he is worried that he won't be able to become a genius. He sees no way that he can control that fate - he isn't able to force himself to have a brilliant idea that will land him in the history books of academia. He can't keep himself from changing in that aspect, but he can keep one thing constant - he can date girls named Katherine.
Although it seemed like a silly plot point at first, the whole "dating Katherines" aspect of the book has really grown on me.
Part 3: The Formula
While on his trip, and still sulking about the loss of his most recent Katherine, Colin thinks he can finally make his Major Contribution - the thing that will propel him squarely into the role of Genius. Colin tries to think up a way to mathematically graph the course of any relationship. He assigns values to various personality aspects to the two people entering into a relationship and uses those numbers to predict how long the relationship will last and which person will be dumped at the end. Once he starts this idea, he gets hooked. He perfects it to fit all of his past relationships, and it is almost ready to release the formula and earn recognition, when all of the events of the summer come together and click into place. Colin has done a great job of mapping his past, but just as his past as a prodigy cannot predict his future (will he be the genius he has always wanted to be, or will he hit the ceiling of his intelligence and live his life as an average citizen?), taking bits and pieces of a person's previous relationships cannot be used to predict how they will act in the future. There is no way for a person to use math to predict the future of a relationship, just as there is no way for Colin to force himself into the history books.
Part 4: The Message
Colin is a very interesting character, and very unique. He has a lot of quirks, but the most universally relate-able part about him is his need to be remembered. He doesn't want to be just an average person - he needs to be better, be smarter, and be important. Colin fears being left behind and forgotten, so he pushes himself to work harder and be better, and this is something that everyone struggles with.
It takes a trip to an unknown town to teach Colin that to live is enough - he doesn't have to do anything extraordinary for his life to have meaning. This story is about how Colin gains his confidence, and seeing Colin outgrow his old perceptions of himself and society, and to find his new place in his world.
The book is not a very difficult read, but well worth the time you put into it. I found myself laughing out loud a lot throughout the book, and I definitely recommend it.
Until next time.
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