"When the Dixie Train comes down the track, everyone gets off."

That's what Flannery O'Connor said about William Faulkner. After reading several short stories and 1 of Faulkner's novels (Light in August), I must agree. Light in August was actually a pretty good story, but my beef(s) with Faulkner are 1)he gives his characters all similar sounding names, and 2) he should reduce the novel/short stories by about a fourth. There was a Burden, Byron Bunch, Burch, and a Brown all in the same novel, as well as 2 Joes. Yikes. Burch and Bunch were supposed to sound alike to fit into the plot of the story, but come on, dude, give us a break. I had to keep flipping back and forth to remember which B word fit each person. Faulkner also likes to include lots and lots of side stories within other side stories, which ultimately fit into the main story. Or do they? I keep finding myself asking, did we really need to know about this SIDE CHARACTER's lineage? I give it 3.5 stars.

After taking our midterm on Faulkner, my next assignment for lit class was to read All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren. I was really excited to read this one because I'm originally from Louisiana (the novel is about a corrupt politician in LA and his assistant), and because I really liked the movie version that came out in 2006.

I actually just finished the book today, and I must say that it is the best thing I have read in a really long time (it's up there with To Kill a Mockingbird). When Kyle and I saw the movie last year, we didn't know that it was originally a book, and now I kinda wish I could've read the book first. I haven't seen the movie in a while, so I can't give too many comments on how they differ, but our friend Haley wrote a review that gives a great outline of the plot and characters, as well as movie info.

I agree with her that the movie did a pretty good job of relaying the book, but the movie ending is really incomplete. There is a lot in the end of the book that the movie doesn't tell you, and ironically, it's (in my opinion) possibly the best part of the book. I feel like you can walk away from the book feeling a little lighter about the story, although I definitely wouldn't call it a feel-good. Certainly thought provoking though. I give it 5 stars, and highly recommend it to anyone, especially people interested in law and politics. I say that loosely because I'm not really that interested in law or politics, but I still found the book really entertaining. It is also an interesting time to read this book because one of the main campaign platforms of Willie Stark is providing universal health care (for LA), and even though this book is set in the 1930's, it looks like that same issue may drive the 2008 election...

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Kyle

I was reading Lindsey's blog yesterday, and it reminded me that I never blogged about Kyle's birthday, and everyone knows that if you don't blog about an event, then it OBVIOUSLY wasn't really that important to you, right? =)

Kyle's birthday is October 8, and today is October 19. I'm a bit late, but I have a good reason. I was enduring the Columbus Day Massacre on Kyle's actual birthday. I woke him up at 2:30 am not to wish him a happy birthday, but to tell him that I was in the worst pain of my life. I then proceeded to vomit and do ungirly things for the next 48 hours, nothing short of a trip to the ER at from 4:00-7:30am on, you guessed it, his birthday.

There's nothing like having your spouse take care of you when you're (REALLY) sick to remind you how wonderful marriage really is, and what unconditional love really looks like. Kyle only got a couple hours sleep that night, not because he was sick, but because he was sitting beside me, trying to comfort me the best he could in my agony (this was by far the worst kind of sick I have ever been). He took the day off work to be able to go to the pharmacy and make sure that I was staying hydrated and didn't get dizzy. He even skipped his softball game that night, which is a BIG sacrifice, as he loves his softball team very much.

October 8th was supposed to be a day all about him, and it ended up being a day all about me. I am always amazed by how gentle and gracious Kyle is, and he is the least selfish person I have ever met. After our 2 years of being together, I still stop during the day in awe that such a wonderful man would have chosen to marry me (of all people!)

Happy Birthday, Baby. I love you so much, and I will try really, really hard not to ever get sick on your birthday again. =)

An Intern No More

Today was my last day as the writing intern for Mays Business School. Hooray! It is a student worker position, so I knew I would be leaving in December when I graduated (or they would kick me out), so after thinking about it, I decided to push up my resignation time by a couple months.

Some of you know that I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (think mono), and for some reason, the fall seems to be the worst time of year for it. I don't really know why- I think it could be because summers are usually more low key, so school is always an unpleasant surprise. But anyway, I've been feeling more worn out lately, and since I can't get rid of school and I don't want to get rid of my friends, I decided work was the thing to go. =)

This whole fall-tiredness thing usually gets better in November, so I thought of staying with my job until graduation, but then I realized that this may be the last time in my life where I have the option of slowing down- whether it be because I have a job in the "real world," or I have kiddos to chase around. So, I thought I should enjoy it. =)

My boss threw me a little party today, which I thought was really sweet. The head boss even got me balloons! I was a little tickled because the balloons and card had "Graduation" on them, so it was like a pre-graduation party. (I guess they don't have sorry-that-you're-quitting ballons). I'm really glad that I had this opportunity to broaden my writing skills, and I'm reallyreally glad to now have a little more free time.