Songs I fell in love with this summer.

Certainly going to play these on some show, sometime in the future:

Carina Round - Backseat
- a Brit with a lovely voice; this song is a departure from her other albums that have more of a Patti Smith feel. The sound of the song is Spektor-esque and the piano+choir is absolutely wonderful.

Arkells - John Lennon
- Canadians. Can't look at Canadians the same way since reading IJ but this song has 1. an infectious chorus, 2. John Lennon references, 3. sweet keyboards. YES.

Electric Owls - Magic Show
- Xylophone+ the use of the word "clairvoyant" in the first verse = love

Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
- Really, I blame the wedding music video on this one. Particularly the /"I'm a tiger"/ segment.

Nada Surf - If You Leave (OMD Cover)
- I love the original song because of Pretty in Pink; I love this song because of the laconic feel.

Fleet Foxes (all of their songs)
- After seeing them in concert, this feeling is completely justified.

Pete Yorn - Lose You, EZ
- So why did it take me this long to get into Pete Yorn? I like sad songs.

The Darkness - I Believe in a Thing Called Love
- And I missed this when it came out back in high school. The lead's falsetto makes me laugh.

The National - like, all of their songs, but especially The Geese of Beverly Road, Start a War, and City Middle
- As another music-lover once wrote, "The National is no secret."

The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?? and Fight Test
- The first song is now the official rock song of Oklahoma (the Flaming Lips' home state) and the second is simply delicious.

MGMT - Electric Feel
- Ridiculous lyrics+dance music. ("/I said ooo girl/Touch me like an electric eel/")

Michael Jackson - Baby Be Mine
- Glad to have been a fan before he passed away this year, but I hadn't listened to the whole Thriller album (!! awful of me, yes).

Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone with You
- Haunting, simple, beautiful.


As a side note, I definitely don't claim to be on the cutting edge of music. There's just too much out there to keep up with (for me, anyway). Nevertheless I love sharing the songs that I find or others sharing new/old music with me.
For instance, a friend of mine is now a fan of Death Cab for Cutie and Fleet Foxes (she came with me to the concert) thanks to some rather vigorous encouragement (me and another friend). We were absolutely shocked that she hadn't really listened to DCFC, not so much concerning Fleet Foxes.
But that has been remedied-- hurrah for friends who contribute to your musical education.

Very very close and EXPLODE!

I think I may have hit it-- the name I want to use for my radio show (I just typed "album"; just shows where my brain has been with this whole naming thing).

Eclecticity.

Yeah, that's right. Complete with a tagline similar to selected music+verse, conscientiously high-voltage.

It makes me seriously happy, so I think this may be the one.

I'm very excited to share fun.'s album on the show. Currently listening to "I Wanna Be the One" which seems appropriate considering my quest for a name.
A name is a name and is changeable (a good thing in this case).

I'm still undecided w/r/t renaming this blog; such decisions can be made at a later time.
It feels good (a relief, really) to have this figured out.

Name-calling

I'm having problems with name-calling.
*dun dun DUN*

Namely (haha), what to call my show. Owls on the Answering Machine makes for a wonderful blog name, but I don't know if it will be as effective for a radio show.
I have a massive .txt file in the works with some half-baked ideas (and plain atrocity committed against the English language) but none that have cried out to me "Yes. YES! Take me. I am the One."

In any case, I could always use simply "The Show" as a last resort. It would highly amuse me and lower everyone else's expectations so spectacularly that there would be nothing to worry about.
Hee.

VD12- Final

900 sometime yesterday, FINISHED today sometime before 4 pm.
I've heard it's not unusual to be reeling, staggering after you finish. I flipped the book to the beginning and re-read the "Year of Glad" sections...there's something sinister/mysterious going on. Man. It's so weird to go back to the beginning with "all I know now."

Anyway. Vocab...which feels almost pointless to do now that it's all over.
My infinite summer ended a week before my actual summer.

blesser: Fr. to hurt, offend (www.french.about.com)

topology: Topology (Greek Τοπολογία, from τόπος, “place”, and λόγος, “study”) is a major area of mathematics that has emerged through the development of concepts from geometry and set theory, such as those of space, dimension, shape, transformation and others. (wiki)

phocomelic: the congenital absence or abnormal shortening of arms or legs, often with only short, flipperlike limbs projecting from the body (yourdictionary.com)

achondroplastic: achondroplasia - an inherited skeletal disorder beginning before birth; cartilage is converted to bone resulting in dwarfism (Princeton Word Net)

Zog: i.e., ZOG, for Zionist Occupation Government, the acronym coined by American neo-Nazi Eric Thomson (wallacewiki)

The Turner Diaries: Written by William Luther Pierce III (1933-2002), this is a neo-Nazi novel once called the "blueprint" for the Oklahoma City bombing. (wallacewiki)

sinsemilla: cultivated high potency marijuana (wallacewiki)

strabysmic: strabismus - abnormal alignment of one or both eyes (PWN)

prophylaxis: the prevention of disease (PWN)

hemoptypsis: coughing up blood from the respiratory tract; usually indicates a severe infection of the bronchi or lungs (PWN)

pertussive: pertussis- whooping cough: a disease of the respiratory mucous membrane (PWN)

ghost word: A ghost word is a word that has been published in a dictionary, or has been adopted as genuine, as the result of misinterpretation or a typographical error. (wiki)

shillelagh: a cudgel made of hardwood (usually oak or blackthorn) (PWN)

fillip: A flick; the act of releasing the index finger from the hold of a thumb with a snap; Something that excites or stimulates (wiki)

ICBM: intercontinental ballistic missile: a ballistic missile that is capable of traveling from one continent to another (PWN)

imprimatur: An official license to publish or print something, especially when censorship applies; Any mark of official approval (wiki_=)

catadioptric: A catadioptric optical system is one where lenses and curved mirrors are used to form the Image-forming optical system. Catadioptric systems are commonly used in telescopes and in lightweight, long focal length lenses for cameras, where the term mirror lens is often used for them. (wiki)

sinciput: the front part of the head or skull (including the forehead) (PWN)

étagère: a piece of furniture with open shelves for displaying small ornaments (PWN)

delfts: a style of glazed earthenware; usually white with blue decoration (PWN)

kyphotic: crookback/hunchback- characteristic of or suffering from kyphosis, an abnormality of the vertebral column (PWN)

gerontologic: gerontology- the comprehensive study of aging and the problems of the aged (www.merriam-webster.com)

koans: koan - a paradoxical anecdote or a riddle that has no solution; used in Zen Buddhism to show the inadequacy of logical reasoning (PWN)

antigens: any substance (as a toxin or enzyme) that stimulates an immune response in the body (especially the production of antibodies) (PWN)

piaffer: A dressage movement in which a horse trots in a stationary position while using high lifting of the legs (wiki)

Fourier Transforms: In mathematics, the Fourier transform (often abbreviated FT) is an operation that transforms one complex-valued function of a real variable into another. In such applications as signal processing, the domain of the original function is typically time and is accordingly called the time domain. That of the new function is frequency, and so the Fourier transform is often called the frequency domain representation of the original function. It describes which frequencies are present in the original function. (wiki)

mufti: civilian dress worn by a person who is entitled to wear a military uniform (PWN)

and finally

fuliginous: Pertaining to soot; sooty; dusky, gloomy (wiki)

VD11

Passed the 100-pages-left (!!!) mark about 6 pages ago. Feeling almost scared to go on; feeling unnerved by Hal's narration and experiencing the disconnect between himself and others.
And was struck with the thought that maybe the novel is annular as well...that as soon as you finish you begin again in a sort of ellipse.
I'll be curious to see if that is true.

quoins:

• quoin - expandable metal or wooden wedge used by printers to lock up a form within a chase
• quoin - the keystone of an arch
• quoin - corner: (architecture) solid exterior angle of a building; especially one formed by a cornerstone (Princeton Word Net)

inguinal: of or relating to or near the groin (PWN)

sudoriferous: sweaty or sweating, bearing sweat (wiki)

civety: Civets are small, lithe-bodied, mostly arboreal mammals native to the tropics of Africa and Asia. Civet may also refer to the distinctive musk produced by the animal. (wiki)

cytological: cytology - the branch of biology that studies the structure and function of cells (PWN)

brody: Intentionally spinning in circles and sliding in an automobile (wiki)

senescence:

• aging: the organic process of growing older and showing the effects of increasing age
• agedness: the property characteristic of old age (PWN)

quanta: You can read all about them here.

strigil: a grooming tool used to scrape away dead skin, oil, dirt, etc (wiki)

hulpil: A huipil (from the Nahuatl uipilli, meaning "blouse"`- "dress") is a form of Maya textile and tunic or blouse worn by indigenous Mayan, Zapotec, and other women in central to southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras, in the northern part of Central America. (wiki)

amphetaminic: relating to amphetamine- a central nervous system stimulant that increases energy and decreases appetite; used to treat narcolepsy and some forms of depression (PWN)

intubated: intubation- The introduction of a tube into an organ to keep it open, as into the larynx in croup (wiki)

huarache: sandal, pictured below


pleurisy: inflamed membranes around the lungs. (thank you children's center.org)

dextral: Of or pertaining to the right side (wiki)

Liebestod: An aria or duet performed in opera marking the suicide of lovers; a suicide (wiki)
or Liebestod (German, "Love's Death") is the title of a song from the opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner. It is the final, dramatic song of the opera, as Isolde mourns over the body of Tristan. It opens with the famous lines "Mild und leise" ("fair and gentle"). (wiki also)

guilloche: an architectural decoration formed by two intersecting wavy bands (PWN)

internecine: Mutually destructive; most often applied to warfare; Characterized by struggle within a group, usually applied to an ethnic or familial relationship (wiki)

cachinated: cachinnation-- loud convulsive laughter (PWN)

bupkus: bupkis, Yiddish-- absolutely nothing; nothing of value, significance, or substance (wiki)

terrazzo: Terrazzo is a faux-marble flooring or countertopping material (wiki)

ommatophoric: having eyes at the ends of stalks (wallacewiki)

synovial inflammation: inflammation of or pertaining to the fluid that lubricates the joints (wallacewiki)

somnolent: drowsy (wallacewiki)

Banfis: a sort of fancy shoe company. Google image "Banfis shoes" for an idea.

I am in love

with Infinite Summer.

I was browsing the forums and found there is a t-shirt in the works for the Infsumerians. (make sure to press the SPOILER! tag in matthewbalwin's post to see the proposed designs).
The second design has gotten the most "I'd totally buy that" votes. Awesome.


Reading IJ has allowed me to completely embrace my inner literature-fiend but reading it in conjunction with InfSum lets me do so with the license of hundreds, say thousands of other bibliophiles simultaneously embracing inner fiendish literature senses.

Community is such a good thing.

Closing in.

800.
Just freaking broke 800 pages.
I feel like this book is an avalanche that got triggered sometime in the 600's and I can't stop it or else I'll wonder forever what happened.

Even Neil Gaiman (Mr. Gaiman!) can't distract me.
Neverwhere has no hold on me in comparison to IJ; I've fallen through the cracks of this pseudo-Boston world and now I'm following Gately, I'm following Hal, I'm following Pemulis and Erdedy and Kate Gompert and yes even Orin and of course Mario and Joelle and the memories of J.O. Incandenza that come up but me, I'm the ghost, I'm just the reader.

On the 4th of August, I was in the 580's and hit 600 later that day.
On the 8th, I was just passing 700.
Today, the 12th, I hit 800.
That's an average of 100 pages every four days.

When InfSum just wants you do get 75 pages a week. Good gravy, I'm going to hit 900 by the 16th (Sunday) if this keeps up and finish before the 20th.
Meaning I finish before school, shy 5 days.

Score.

VD10(!)

When you read until you can't read no more, it's time for a more soothing, mechanical activity.
Like defining.

veronica: a bullfighting maneuver where the matador swings his cape away from the charging bull (wallacewiki)

sartorially: Relating to good clothing or skilled tailoring (wiki)

coffre d'amas: Fr. waste basket (wallacewiki)

Donc: d'accord, Fr. okay (wallacewiki)

frappe: Fr. punch or kick (wallacewiki)

Leur Rai Pays:

Bof: an interjection in French expressing lack of interest (wallacewiki)

de coeur: Fr. of the heard (wallacewiki)

sybaritically: in the manner of one who engages in sensual pleasure (wallacewiki)

mordant: black: harshly ironic or sinister; "black humor"; "a grim joke"; "grim laughter"; "fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit" (Princeton Word Net)

oeuvre: A work of art; The complete body of an artist's work (wiki)

katexia: Wallace wiki has something to say on a definition that is NOT meant here.

restenotic: refers to restenosis, or the re-narrowing of blood vessels after initial stenosis (stenosis: The abnormal narrowing of a bodily passage or opening, such as a blood vessel.)
(thank you rianvision.com)

chanteur fou: Fr. crazy singer (wallacewiki)

protrusive: thrusting outward (PWN)

gonions: the craniometric point on either side at the apex of the lower jaw (PWN)

armamentarium: the collection of equipment and methods used in the practice of medicine (PWN)

brachiatishly: something to do with brachia? or brachiate (To move around in trees by arm-swinging from branch to branch) (ADW)

lalating: ?

heuristic:

• a commonsense rule (or set of rules) intended to increase the probability of solving some problem
• of or relating to or using a general formulation that serves to guide investigation (PWN)

parturient: of or relating to or giving birth; "parturient pangs"; "the parturient uterus" (PWN)

thanatoptic: thanatopsis: a meditation upon death (answers.com)

olla podrida: A stew of highly seasoned meat and vegetables; A mixture; a hodge-podge (wiki)

All the pretty girls on a Saturday night

Currently streaming the debut album of fun. "Aim and Ignite" over myspace. I never did use myspace when it was super popular, but it seems to have evolved into some kind of music-dissemination+networking tool.

I was really sad to hear that THE FORMAT broke up; I did hours and hours of math homework singing aloud with Nate and Co. (I think his name was Ruess or some such). Nate's found a different Co. (including a full orchestra) and a different sound (which, thanks to the orchestra, is lushly thick and delicious) but he's still singing about love and belting out his clever word games.

The link for listening is here: fun.
So far, "Benson Hedges" and "I Wanna Be the One" are catching my ears. I probably should list all the tracks I've listened to so far; so far this album is golden.

Pick up THE FORMAT's albums "Dog Problems" and "Interventions and Lullabies" for some background information and general awesomeness.

OAM: Or maybe not.

I will be a DJ for my college (Covenant College, The Scots, liberal arts, Presbyterian of America, atop Lookout Mtn, GA) radio station (streaming, http://wklt.covenant.edu, The Kilt) for my "practical service."

How I lucked out in terms of getting a creative and non-grunt-work (hopefully) job for my final year of PS remains somewhat of a mystery to me.
It helps when you have a sig.other who 1) already does work with the Kilt; 2) encourages the spread of good music and ideas strongly; 3) and can give the insider's perspective on how the organization works.

Sadly, the Kilt doesn't attract many listeners simply because it's the age of ipods, Pandora, and various other forms of audio dissemination. The so-called silver lining of this fact being the relative security it provides a new DJ who doesn't quite know what she's doing to start out.
I've been encouraged to listen to "A Prairie Home Companion" not only to hear the "best voice out there" (Garrison Keillor) but to hear some slam-bang awesome radio.

I confess that I have not listened faithfully to the radio since high school. My parents repossessed my cd player/radio sometime after my senior year. I had shipped out to Covenant (more specifically driven hours and hours to said institution) and its silvery surface was dusty and its speakers unused. Soon it was blasting Dvorak symphonies at strange hours of the day due to its automatic timer that no one appeared to know how to disable.

Before the repossession of a once-Christmas present, I listened to the radio quite faithfully. I listened to cds as well, though I'd listened to cds and tapes almost exclusively before middle school. The reasons for this exclusivity being 1) my radio before the elegant silver Panasonic had been an old black Sony boombox with a 2-tape deck/cd player. The radio had a dial selecter complete with tab to scoot back and forth, but the antenna was broken so radio listening was useless anyway. 2) I lived in Germany when I first started using the player for my own listening -- Adventures in Odyssey tapes and classical music from the parental collection-- and we'd dropped a transformer on the player. It broke cd player's door so that henceforth we had to keep something relatively weighty on the door to keep it shut and the music playing. My parents eventually took pity on our (my sister and I; we shared a room) ingenuity in the face of faulty technology or were at least embarrassed enough by it to buy a new sleek Panasonic (with digital radio, on-top tape deck, motorized cd-tray, programming options, AND remote control). The world of radio, hassle-free cd listening, and (later) taping the radio was now open to me.

I was highly familiar with the Christian and classical radio stations thanks to Mom-as-chauffer-and-music-selector. For a time, my curiosity about the less-holy airwaves was limited. From what information I'd gathered, there was only audible "garbage" being strewn about "out there" and it would infect my young mind. Also, thanks to my antenna-less radio and nigh-unshakable belief that my mother wouldn't change the station in the car (and therefore wasn't worth requesting) there was little opportunity for experimentation.

Middle school duly arrived and as is common with middle school, new experiences and the beginning of the excavation of my musical-tunnel-vision.

My first venture into the secular world of radio had been to a top hits station and was pre-Panasonic, oddly. I had a handheld radio; one of those freebies they give at walk-athons or other such events at private Christian schools. Feeling adventurous and even rebellious, I moved it to a (gasp) non-Christian station and furtively listened to the second half of Sheryl Crow's "Soak Up the Sun." As Sheryl twanged her song that I would later hear many times in the orthodontist's chair, I felt slightly discomfited and simultaneously daring to have moved past the parent-sanctioned airwaves to more popular fare.
It was an experiement.
I had not planned to begin listening to popular "godless" music (meaning that the songs rarely mentioned God and if they did, in a questionable light). I did not set out to learn how to tolerate commercials by creative station-hopping. I did not know I would later avoid morning-talk shows because I preferred music to celebrity gossip or that I'd fall in love 80's music or sing along to 90's singer-songwriters over my algebra homework.
I did not know the next song would insure that all these would come to pass.

The mellow, casading piano chords of Train's "Drops of Jupiter" came small through the unit's earbuds, even a little staticky since cheapie handhelds aren't known for great reception. I shifted, leaning on the bookshelf in my bedroom, and the song came in more clearly. I had been impressed by the rich, full piano intro; I'd been taking lessons since grade two and always admired the skilled. Pat came in with the vocals; I listened closely for evil, negativity, dirty words. Listened for the entirety of the song and found Nothing of the sort.
Nothing but a song about a man singing to the woman he loves who'd been gone "lookin' for [her]self" among the celestial bodies, asking if she missed him while she was "out there."
The way he sings and plays, I daresay she did.

When people ask me about my favorite song, I tell them "Drops of Jupiter." While it is very easy for me to fall in love with a song if it has the right combination of magic elements, DoJ's magic was mindscape-scattering; it taught me there was music "out there" that was okay to love, that it was okay to keep turning on the radio, to keep challenging my perceptions about what made music "good."

That all being said, I am excited to be a DJ this fall and to share "good" music--overtly Christian, closet-Christian (the band-made-up-of-Christians phenomenon versus a Christian band), and secular. I cannot write succinctly in this post what my views are on what makes good music, but hopefully my show (whether it will be called 'Owls on the Answering Machine' or not; still can't decide if that's too out there for Cov) will present a working definition every hour, every week.

VD9

Just passed page 700. YES.
I'm now fairly certain I will finish before I return to school.

prima facie: a Latin term meaning “at first sight”; used to describe a fact that is presumed to be true unless disproved by contrary evidence (thank you www.manitobacourts.mb.ca/definitions.html )

Bröckengespenstphänom: "German: Boulder-ghost-phenomenon, as best I can tell; the umlauts are incorrect" (wallacewiki; I remember reading something about this before but can't recall what it was.)

transmural infarction: heart attack (wallacewiki)

plura: a misspelling (likely) of "pleura," which is a thin membrane enclosing the lungs (wallacewiki)

jape: a joke; to jest; to play tricks; to jeer; to mock; to trick (wiki)

anaclitic: denoting a person whose choice of love-interest arises from the dependence of the libido on another instinct (e.g. hunger); pertaining to an acute emotional dependence on another person or persons (wiki)

monilial: apparently related to yeast infections. (amalgamated from google results)

furcated: forked or branched (wiki)

perspicuous: limpid: (of language) transparently clear; easily understandable (Princeton Word Net)

punitive: inflicting punishment (PWN)

vermiform: looking like a worm (wallacewiki)

pule: a plaintive whine (wiki)

pariah: outcast; a person who is rejected (from society or home) (PWN)

deuteragonist: in literature, the second most important character after the protagonist (wiki)

epicene:

• bisexual: having an ambiguous sexual identity
• hermaphrodite: one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made
• effeminate: having unsuitable feminine qualities (PWN)

emetics: emetic - a medicine that induces nausea and vomiting (PWN)

hanuman-faced: hanuman - a monkey held sacred in India (wallace wiki); therefore, monkey-faced

cognoscenti: people having superior knowledge (wallacewiki)

novenas: A recitation of prayers and devotions for nine consecutive days, especially one to a saint to ask for their intercession (wiki)

verger: a church officer who takes care of the interior of the building and acts as an attendant (carries the verge) during ceremonies (PWN)

lapsarian: A person who believes in this doctrine; Of or pertaining to the fall of man from innocence, especially to the role of women in that fall (wiki)

CONTRARIA SUNT COMPLETMENTA: "Opposites are complementary" (http://blog.kyleoliver.net/2007/12/bohr-identity.html)

OAM: Show idea

Here's one: a show featuring songs that (artist or title or album name) contain some reference to owls. I have a 100+ minute playlist of songs that I need to cull.

So far, these are the bands/songs that make the list:
Dead Kennedys-- "I Am the Owl"
Breathe Owl Breathe -- "Drop and Roll"
something by Owl City (think Ben Gibbard but pop-fantastic+ecstatic to be alive)
one of the songs by The Owls
AND OF COURSE---> Electric Owl-- "Magic Show" (I am in love with this song. Sometime I should make a list called "Songs I Fell in Love with this Summer").

VD8

Somewhere solidly in the 600s. Oh yes, with 19 days left until I go back to school.

eubliette: a dungeon with the only entrance or exit being a trap door in the ceiling (Princeton Word Net)

adtorsion: a turning inward of both eyes. (thank you medical-dictionary.com)

ailanthus: any of several deciduous Asian trees of the genus Ailanthus (PWN)

collops: rolls of fat (wallacewiki.com)

nostrums: nostrum - A medicine or remedy in conventional use which has not been proven to have any desirable medical effects (wiki)

coprolaliac: coprolalia- the obsessive use of scatological language. (dictionary.com)

phylogenic: Based on evolutionary development. (thank you www.releasechimps.com-- yes, that's the name of the site)

verdigrised: Coated with a deposit of copper, usually greenish or bluish in color. (wiki)

coruscant: aglitter(p): having brief brilliant points or flashes of light; "bugle beads all aglitter"; "glinting eyes" (PWN; and yes, three/four definitions on the googledefine concerned the glittery planet of Star Wars origin)

carminative: medication that prevents the formation of gas in the alimentary tract or eases its passing (PWN)

buttinski: buttinsky-- one who butts in, interrupts, where he or she is not welcome (wiki)

R.H.I.P: "rank has its privileges"

saltire: St. Andrew's cross: a cross resembling the letter x, with diagonal bars of equal length (PWN)

tektitic: tektite-- Any of numerous generally small, rounded, dark brown to green glassy objects that are composed of silicate glass and are thought to have been formed by the impact of a meteorite with the earth's surface. (dictionary.com)

colposcope: a form of endoscope used to examine the tissues of the vagina and cervix (wiki)

olla: a pot for making stew, or stew itself (wallacewiki)

tsimmes: a fruit and vegetable casserole (wallacewiki)

VD7

I feel sorry for whatever person is reading this blog and happens to wade through my vocabdump posts instead of just skipping them.
Currently in the 580's or 9o's of the novel...it remains astounding to me that I'm over halfway through. While reading IJ it really does feel infinite and the idea of it ending seems foolish.

Anyway.

escutcheon:

• finger plate: a flat protective covering (on a door or wall etc) to prevent soiling by dirty fingers
• (nautical) a plate on a ship's stern on which the name is inscribed
• a shield; especially one displaying a coat of arms (Princeton Word Net)

cyanosis: a bluish discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes; a sign that oxygen in the blood is dangerously diminished (as in carbon monoxide poisoning) (PWN)

sinistral:

• of or on the left; "a sinistral gastropod shell with the apex upward has its opening on the left when facing the observer"; "a sinistral flatfish ...
• preferring to use left foot or hand or eye; "sinistral individuals exhibit dominance of the left hand and eye" (PWN)

Q.v. : quod vide used in books, etc, to make reference to other material (wiki)

raison-d'être:

• reason for being
• the purpose that justifies a thing's existence

ital: italic type (wallacewiki)

brisance: a measure of the rapidity with which an explosive develops its maximum pressure. (wiki)

reseau:

• a net or mesh foundation for lace
• a network of fine lines used by astronomers as a reference for measurements on star photographs (PWN)

diverticulitis: inflammation of a diverticulum in the digestive tract (especially the colon); characterized by painful abdominal cramping and fever and constipation (PWN)

ambit: The sphere or area of control and influence of something; A circuit, or a boundary around a property; A span of actions, thoughts, or words (wiki)

cathexis: the concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea (PWN)

threnody: dirge: a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person (PWN)

traversion: apparently to Schtitt-- character is traversion.

anomic: class-alienating

Show and tell

Apologies for the unartistic photography of my carpet+lampstand.

• Pictured L to R, clockwise: Receipt from buying IJ on Amazon.com w/ white space now taken up by the contents of very helpful page 223;
• Copy of IJ (used, excellent condish, two bookmarks);
• Merriam-Webster dictionary that has been used/abused since the fifth grade, first page is now the abbrev. page;
• 2 library slips on which I write words I don't know or don't think will be in the M-WD (the yellow one was the holds slip from the first library copy of IJ I'd started but had to abandon in the move on page 196 and is written on both sides, white one is from the current library and can only be written on one side)
• LOTR/Frodo themed journal I've had kicking around since middle school that was specifically dedicated to recording sporadic thoughts, funny quotations, persevering self-encouragement about IJ
• I think there's also a black Bic pen somewhere between the novel and the journal on the cream carpet.

I'd hoped to have some kind of deep thoughts recorded about IJ that I'd look back at later and feel smart or at least surprised that I knew where the novel was going. Even in such a non-linear novel I can't shake my normal linear reader-predicter routine. Most of my entries have consisted of some form of "Jumping into IJ again. Here we go!" and then page numbers with quotations and "haha" or "Yay Mario!" scrawled next to it. I make a point of writing down at least an allusion+pg# for every section that makes me laugh aloud. I cackled today at Lenz being chased by the flaming cat. I actually felt rather guilty for thinking it was so funny, but when DFW puts it like in such academic/frank terms "...on which the alight cat ran (as alight cats will, like hell)" I can't help myself, animal cruelty or no. For all the sadness and down-right sickening elements the novel contains, it's important to hold onto the bright spots (of which there are many, so the danger is limited to how bogged down you let yourself become. )
It might be good to have written out all my theories on how things work in the IJ universe, but it would take too much time away from actually getting through the novel. The folks at I-S recommended to either dig deep or stay near the surface of the novel--I'm doing my fighting best to stay snorkeling since I'm sure I lack the lung capacity for the kind of deep depth to which I'd want to swim.

Now the race is to finish before school starts. Counting today, I have 23 days until school begins. If IJ gets as exciting as they say after page 600 (the rumors whisper like pages of banned books in the library storeroom), it should be no problem.

One of my friends (my boyfriend, actually, in complete disclosure) is trying to catch up to me in pg#'s since I'd leapt ahead in my non-working, non-busy summer. I daresay he'll catch me sometime this week, which I welcome since we'll be able to discuss "current events" rather than my constant fear of committing spoilerage or simply saying "Oh yeah, I remember that."

Here's to you, IJ. May we never never ever give up.