So I was browsing on eBay and I came across this...

...and it took. my. fucking. breath. away. Seriously.

Oh, precious Chun-Li, how I love you and lust after you! Alas, I cannot afford a woman of your surpassing beauty and 1/8th scale form! You're also too high maintenance, as your resin model kit comes unassembled and unpainted! And though I would devote all of my leisure to your successful completion, my love -- yes, I would make you whole! -- I doubt that I could ever make you look quite as beautiful as you do in the picture above. Adieu, my love, adieu! We shall not soon meet in this life.

I have just returned from the used bookstore! While I wasn't able to find a copy of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises or a sturdy old edition of Albert Camus's The Plague for my dad, I did leave with a few worthy (I hope) titles. Per Jax's recommendation (apparently The White Bone, featured in the latest Scary-Crayon book review, put her in mind of it), I snagged a copy of Richard Adams's Watership Down, as well as its sequel, Tales From Watership Down, by the same author. In addition to these, Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen and The Stranger by Albert Camus comprised the fiction that I bought during today's visit. Add to these a collection of critical essays on Kafka and his work, a book on learning basic to intermediate German, and a German-English dictionary, and the list of today's print purchases is complete. As the latter two purchases may suggest, I plan to teach myself a bit of German. Rah.

I also started reading Achilles by Elizabeth Cook yesterday -- good stuff so far. Way better than Troy. I should finish it on Monday, at which point I'll either start in on The Stranger or Andre Gide's The Immoralist. Haven't decided yet.

Off to watch more "Street Fighter II: V" episodes and then do a bit of drawing and writing for these books o' mine. Ja ne.

Yes, I think that I could do it right now. I can scarcely maintain an upright position for exhaustion; a painful amalgamation of queasiness and hunger festers in my gut; my senses are on edge, such that my head swings 'round at the slightest rustle in the distance -- and the office resounds with sound! The hum of the fan, the tick of the clock, footsteps in the hall, voices in the office, the irregular drip of water from the ceiling onto the plastic bag that lines the interior of the trash can behind my desk, a distant beeping from somewhere -- I know not where! -- all of these devils assault my peace of mind and conspire to bring about my fate. And these on top of those unhappy concerns that already plagued my troubled thoughts! Had I a pistol in my desk drawer, I would gladly splatter my brains across its glossy, varnished surface.

I finished reading Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther this morning. Poor Werther! Good book.

The Scary-Crayon review of The White Bone is finally online! Granted, I sacrificed sleep to get it done -- not that I could've slept anyway, as fucking hot as it is in here -- but I came through. Go me. It's a fairly lengthy review, but I think it's pretty good. Anyway, enjoy! And do comment.

I've been having ideas for books to write like crazy this week. Will I get any writing done this weekend? We shall see!

Hey all. Sorry I haven't gotten that Scary-Crayon review of The White Bone finished yet -- as you can tell from the previous posts (if you haven't read them, go do that), my mind's been pretty occupied this week with all manner of depressing and complex thoughts. You can rest easy, though, at least for the moment -- my "Street Fighter II: V" DVD box set showed up yesterday, and I can't go to my grave without first watching all 29 episodes. Rah. Anyway, hopefully I'll have that review up tonight, along with a long-awaited addition to SC this weekend. No promises regarding that one's completion, but we can hope... and if nothing else, hopefully I'll finish up a new food article for next week or something.

In looking over these graduate programs that fail to captivate me, I'm kind of disappointed that I haven't seen any Philosophy and English/Creative Writing dual degree programs. That would excite me. And teaching philosophical fiction? That would be fun. But I don't see anything like that available. Sigh.

Maybe this weekend I will make substantial progress on my illustrated book as well! Here's hoping. Anyway, gotta get ready for work. Ja.

Did I mention how fucking hot it is in here?!?