Somewhere on the outside

First of all, time to update that books list I've sporadically been keeping. My reading has slowed down again with the onset of classes, but there are still additions since July. Go me?

Books of 2009, as of 27 September:
1. Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil - Inga Muscio
2. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
3. Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
4. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
5. Neuromancer - William Gibson
6. The Opposite of Fate - Amy Tan
7. The Joy-Luck Club - Amy Tan
8. The Bonesetter's Daughter - Amy Tan
9. Takarazuka (Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan) - Jennifer Robertson
10. The Hundred Secret Senses - Amy Tan
11. The Kitchen God's Wife - Amy Tan
12. Cunt - Inga Muscio
13. Beyond Heaving Bosoms (The Smart Bitches Guide to Romance Novels) - Sarah Wendell, Candy Tan
14. Killing Rage - bell hooks
15. Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
16. Polite Lies - Kyoko Mori
17. Looking for the Lost (Journeys Through a Vanishing Japan) - Alan Booth
18. Lost Japan - Alex Kerr
19. Geisha: A Life - Mineko Iwasaki
20. Women of the Pleasure Quarters - Lesley Downer
21. The Faded Sun Trilogy - C.J. Cherryh [it's an omnibus, so I'm counting it as one]
22. The Loved Dead - H.P. Lovecraft
23. Idoru - William Gibson

So, hey, I'm up to 23, which isn't bad at all, given how much I have going on most of the time. As you can probably see, there are some trends in my reading this year, a couple of repeat writers, some similar themes. I get mini-obsessions every so often and my reading habits definitely reflect that. Although the Japanese studies thing is more of a long-term interest that just got a lot of attention this past summer. I'm on a William Gibson kick right now.

In other news, I met my language partner, Keisuke, and he's very, very pretty. Also, unfortunately, the variety of Japanese person I can have a bit of trouble conversing with. Very quiet and subdued, leaving me to do most of the talking. So it was an okay meeting, the work got done and he was definitely easy on the eyes, but I'm hoping he'll warm up to me a little, or subsequent meetings are going to be a little bland.

All of that aside, I've been crazy busy lately. My Writing Center job resulted in having to meet all 14 of my freshmen about their first paper, over the course of several days. It made for a very long week, let me tell you. It was interesting in a way, figuring out what they're interested in (or not interested in) based on what aspects of the film they paid attention to, and also getting to know them a little bit in general. One kid is kind of an asshole, with that hipster 'I'm too cool for this' attitude. But he lost the argument we had over structure, which made me smile because he totally thought he could BS me, and overall they're pretty cool kids. So, really, so far so good on the job front.

And, as a final note in this scattered blog entry, tonight Annie and I (plus Alex, as often happens) ate left-over spaghetti (really left-over, as in we originally made it over two weeks ago) with a side of mushrooms from the Saturday market that we sauteed in butter and garlic. It was delicious and wonderful and we were very happy because we like good food. Then we went to watch a few episodes of Avatar (yes, that cartoon that ran on Nickelodeon - it's better than you think)... and forgot to turn the burner off. So the sauce we'd been keeping warm while we ate ended up sitting over low heat for, oh, an hour too long while we were in Annie's bedroom at the back of the apartment. So now my kitchen smells kind of like overcooked lasagna, and a burnt sauce-encrusted pot is soaking in the sink. But on the plus side, the spaghetti's finally gone!

I need to start keeping a log of Alexis and Annie's Domestic Adventures. We're pretty awesome.