With Spring semester finished, I’m finding myself with an incredible amount of free time. There is only so much time I can devote to sitting in cafes writing, so I often end up laying in bed, watching a movie on my laptop.

All of my friends and co-workers know my love for terrible movies. I’m talking straight up horrible, critically panned films. They make me laugh and feel better about myself… but afterwards, I usually realize I’ve wasted two hours of my life that I could have used to read, write some more, or play with my chinchilla.

As a result, I’ve given myself a new personal rule. Every time I watch a terrible movie on purpose I’ll have to purchase a new classical book that I haven’t read, or haven’t read since I was in high school. This rule doesn’t count if I thought the movie was going to be good, and it turned out being awful, such as The Golden Compass.

I only started doing this to myself two weeks ago, and here’s the movie watched / book purchased list so far.

Skinwalkers / The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
Timeline / The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
PS I Love You / Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Doomsday / The Wasteland & Other Writings by T.S Eliot
10,000 BC / The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

I’m hooked on picking up Borders’ editions of classic books, especially because they look so nice sitting on the bookshelf.

Heather’s birthday party is coming up. Heather and I will be watching Diary of the Dead and Zombie Strippers during the course of the weekend to celebrate, since she’s seen almost every single zombie movie… except these two recent ones.

I wonder, what two books will I buy after that.

So my first year of graduate school is officially over. I’ve managed not to fail out despite uprooting myself to a new city, moving three times in the span of four months, going on a tour, and working a full time job. Surprisingly, my girlfriend hasn’t broken up with me yet.

Just one more semester and a summer class, and I’m finished. I can’t wait. Then maybe it’ll be time for a break from school before I start my PhD in English. I’ve been in classrooms non-stop since I was… what, 10? When do kids go to kindergarten? At 25, I’m ready to take a break from those uncomfortable desks.

Right now, I’m ready to spend a week playing XBox 360 (I need to beat Just Cause), watching South Park episodes, eating bad food, and then cutting lose with my family and close friends in New Jersey this weekend. Christmas holiday mixtape to follow shortly.

And yes, admire my Photoshop skills with that LOLbunny I just made. Ashlee goes to the vet again in January to get fixed and have some blood work done (she has some swollen glands, poor thing), and Mittens the chinchilla has his first visit in February. My babies are growing up!

Burkey [n] bur-kEE 1. a bunny that has grown so fat that it bears resemblance to a butterball turkey.

Seriously, this is my life.

And it’s pretty good.

Summer classes are finished. I still can’t believe I read every single one of Jane Austen’s novels in six weeks. My second class, The American Short Story, wasn’t as reading intensive, but there were a hella lot of papers. I’m thrilled to just have a whole month off to relax, do some writing, and hang out with friends. I really need the time off.

I’ll be spending some of that time off in Montreal, working on a lyric book for a musical. I’m really excited about this project, and even if nothing comes of it, it’ll still be a wonderful writing experience. I’m working with an amazing composer who also happens to be one of my best friends. The story is based off a classical piece of literature, but as to what piece it is, that’s a secret.

I also plan on saving my money all month so I can buy one of these from a jewelry shop in Society Hill that apparently specializes in rapper jewelry.

Here’s to a month off.

So I’ve been working this amazing job for the past few months and realized that my cubicle was positively barren. For those of you who know me well, you know that simply isn’t me. So after looking around, I decided to do something about it.

I mean look at this place! Does it look like Eric Smith works here?

Hmph! Certainly not! The only decor in this photo is a disshelved looking green apple (it’s not even round, it’s almost potato shaped, wtf Trader Joes) and a list of emails next to my lappy. It’s time… for change.

*cue triumphant sounding music*

Two very important things. My bunny and the girl I adore. Aw. There’s also the kitten who likes to walk on my face while I sleep.

OMG! Space Invader!!! Made up entirely of Post It Notes! SKILLS!

Also note the framed robot prints. I’d like to thank the ever talented Anthony Clark for those. If you haven’t heard of this guy, do check out his website at Nedriod.com and his blog, Nedroid Comics @ Livejournal, where he makes daily updates. Dinosaur Warlock is currently my favorite thing. Ever.

What will I be up to this week and all weekend?

Reading: Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion by Jane Austen, all in that order, during the next six weeks. My head hurts a little. The joys of graduate school.

Listening: Socratic - Just Turn. Self Against City - Telling Secrets to Strangers. Boys Like Girls - Self Titled.

Watching: Pan’s Labyrinth. A hundred times.

And counting the weeks to being on tour.

I was an obnoxiously precocious little kid. I spent so much time reading and writing from grade school to high school, that I was socially retarded around girls up until I entered college. My love interests were novels, the paperbacks that seemed only to collect dust in my 6th grade classroom. Perhaps I was a bit on the pretentious side, as I often scoffed at my friends who picked up R.L. Stine books, or the girls who were glued to V.C. Andrews. They didn’t understand half of what was going on. Flowers In The Attic? Get out of here.

Oh, what a shock my little mind was in for when I started picking up Vonnegut. Can someone at age 11 / 12 really appreciate novels like this? Slaughterhouse 5? Breakfast of Champions? Sirens of Titan? Cat’s Cradle?

No, probably not. But I read them all anyway.

Slaughterhouse 5 was the first of Vonnegut’s works I read. The unique voice, the constant moving back and forth through time, and the odd humor scattered throughout, really altered my perceptions of literature. Books didn’t just have to entertain. They could teach you something, deliver a message, leave you in awe and with a sense of wonderment.

Maybe I read it because the original title of the book was Slaughterhouse 5: or The Children’s Crusade, A Duty-Dance With Death, and that whole children’s crusade bit interested me. I was a kid, what did I know.

Sigh.

Vonnegut passed away on Wednesday, while I was in my room, sitting by the window, reading Franz Kafka’s The Trial. I wonder, would I have been here, in Philadelphia, reading Western literature, German literature for that matter, if I hadn’t picked up that dusty novel with yellowed pages in my 6th grade library?

A mind wanders.

Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.