My, how time does fly. The academic quarter is already reaching the half-way point, mid-term week and all that fun stuff. School is going okay. I'm finding that Tolstoy is an amazing writer. And with our occupation of Iraq, quite timely to read about the analogous situation in Chechnya in the 1860s. That Chechyn situation was wrapped up pretty quickly, wasn't it?

I've spent the last week or so mired in self-pity, which is probably no news. Feeling like I've lost control of my destiny. And deciding that maybe I had my one chance at happiness about 5 years ago, and that was it, and now it's all over. Which is ridiculous, but at least I've found a new moment from my past to dwell on, most of the others were becoming worn out, like Rosaries I'd worried away. But hey, why look to the future, that's more depressing.

Though I suppose I have been looking a bit to the future, trying to figure out some summer trips. Vegas, of course, but I'd like to take a non-gambling vacation as well. I've never been to the south, was thinking Tennessee, or Kentucky, hear the Blue Ridge Mountains are beautiful. But having given it some thought, I'm thinking the South might be more of a spring break thing, might be a bit too hot and humid to hike around in the summer. So the two choices I'm giving the most serious consideration to is Colorado, the Rockies, which I haven't seen in at least a decade, or the Pacific Northwest. Once I get Anna Karenina read for class, I plan to research the matter a bit and try to make a decision.

Got The Complete Peanuts in the mail on Wednesday. It is, of course, awesome. All the reviews emphasize how different the strip was in its infancy, but I was surprised more by what was there from the beginning, especially with Charlie Brown. He doesn't take life's slings and arrows with quite the awkward grace (if that isn't a oxymoron) in later strips, getting angry more often then usual, but the pathos of the character is there from early on. In one strip, Patty is fighting with Shermy, and calls him a Charlie Brown, to which he replies that she has gone too far, while Charlie Brown just watches the conversation despondently. But the strips are quite a bit different, especially in visual style, with a lot of pac-manesque profiles. And a lot of the humor early on depends on the children's playing with adult roles and failing to recognize their youthfulness. In an early strip, some of the kids stand below a sign, "Look Out For Children." In the last panel, they decide the children aren't coming, and leave. (Later on, they realize a similar sign refers to them, and are delighted that they are famous). The books will get even better once Shultz hits his stride, but even this first volume had me laughing, a lot, and feeling touched as well. The book itself is well-designed, incidentally, with decent supplemental material, including a great interview with Shultz from the 1980s, and a helpful (and sometimes amusing) index.

Keep watching the Freaks and Geeks DVD, and loving every moment of it. Only two episodes remain, after which I will be very sad. Saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, after several false starts (turns out the stomach upset that prevented me from seeing it two weeks ago was a lingering illness, which was probably partly to blame for my recent depression). I really didn't care for it, felt the whole film was hollow, but can't really put my finger on it. I can say I did not share the critic's rapture with Kate Winslet's performance.

I should mention that Mary Chapin Carpenter and Nellie McKay will both be on tv this week, Carpenter on Letterman Tuesday, McKay on The View on Thursday. I've been listening to a lot of good stuff lately, which I always mean to mention here but only do sometimes. I see where some people preface their posts with what they're currently reading and listening to, maybe I should do that. Today I was listening to Magnetic Stripes' 69 Love Songs, disc 2, which seems to be the only one I ever listen to. That replaced The Pine Valley Cosmonauts Salute the Majesty of Bob Wills, a truly amazing piece of Western Swing. God, have I started listening to a lot of country lately. But good stuff. But Nellie McKay has spent the most time in my CD player since I got my copy, though I'm making a point of giving it a bit of a rest. Shakira and Lyle Lovett round out what I've been listening to the most. Because I'm sure you cared to know.