my violin arrived!

I had class this afternoon so it isn't set up yet, but it looks beautiful. And now I can stop jumping up in agitated hopefulness every time the doorbell rings, hoping its the UPS man.

Saturday...

is a great day. Even if you have to do Chemistry homework. (didn't get done yesterday, due Monday) I'm planning on seeing Open Range (with Robert Duval) this evening.

I finished The King of Torts, by John Grisham, last week. I didn't like it as well as, say, The Testament. The main character absolutely failed to endear himself to me, becoming a slimeball lawyer too quickly in the narrative for me to hope for a turn around, or to make it seem realistic. He says he thinks about a blatant wrongdoing he committed, but if I'm going to be convinced he really did, not just says he did, I want to see symptoms of remorse. As it was, it looked like at the end leaving it all behind in repentance was just an excuse for flying off into the sunset with the girl. (The first girl, not the second girl.)

Anyway, at least The Man in the Brown Suit, by Agatha Christy, came through with a rousing whodunnit plot and plenty of details and twists.

Tennis this morning. Shakespear this afternoon.

I'm reading St. Augustine's Confessions still, books 6-9 this week. As well as The Hobbit, which I must say doesn't seem at all like homework. The Hobbit is sheer pleasure to read. In Shakespear we're reading A Midsummer's Night Dream.


btw, what color does my blog background show up as for you? I see white, but apparently for some of you it shows up as "chartreuse on steroids". Hmm. Odd.

Played tennis this morning. I was happily surprised that I hadn't lost all my playing ability. Just, apparently, my serve. And backhand. Oh, wait... I didn't have the backhand to start with.

Read Shakespear aloud in class today. I was Helena speaking to Demetrius in Act 2. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, though, that she would follow him despite his hatred for her. I would agree with her statement that "[w]e should be woo'd, and were not made to woo." Which points to the upside-down-ness of our culture, where boys learn to sit back while girls chase them. Which I read somewhere-or-other but cannot remember where at the moment. But I would guess Her Hand in Marriage.

I'm off to read Augustine's Confessions. I've read through his babyhood and boyhood so far. Books one through five need read by Thursday.

Government class today. We had an ex-state legislator come speak. I disagreed with him on some things (he enthusiastically supports Bush and the war in Iraq), but on other things he was correct. He told us it was very important to vote for Christians, more important than the Democrat/Republican distinction.
Tolkien/Lewis, Great Books, and Shakespear all going well. We're reading through The Hobbit, St. Augustine's Confessions, and A Midsummer's Night Dream. I've read The Hobbit many times, but this is the first time through for the other two.

If you are at the video store pondering whether to view The Importance of Being Earnest, I advise you, discerning viewer who likes good plots and everything to tie in, go across the street to your local public library and get a Jeeves and Wooster such as Jeeves and the Cowcreamer. We watched the former last night. Enjoyment was keen at points, but very spotty. Go with Wodehouse.