Movies

28.June

Today at breakfast my r. mom asked why I was so sad.   I said I wasn’t.  People ask me that a lot these days.  Do I really look that unpleasant?  I certainly don’t intend to.  Luckily, I have r. mom to uncover all of my problems.  She mentioned that I’d been coughing all night.  I said, well yes.  Then she informed me that the cough was a result of the rain, which must have gotten my feet wet, following which, the wetness traveled (immediately) from my feet to my throat and thus, the cough.  Thank you Dr. Russian Mom.  All of my problems are so easily solved.  As long as I don’t go traipsing through puddles, I shall be able to avoid coughing.  

Furthermore, with the help of r. mom, I discovered that the “sad” look on my face (at least for today), was a result of thinking too much about how much reading I have to do today, and really not only today, but in life.  After talking about reading lists for Slavic programs last night with Scott and Eric, and the thousands of pages of Russian texts I will be reading throughout the next several years of my life, reading was on my mind.  However, I’m still not quite sure that such thoughts should translate to the “sad” emotion that my face was apparently emitting.  Despite the difficulty of reading in Russian and the speed at which it needs to be done, I adore reading. 

Overall, I am not sad, and I am disappointed that my face makes it seem like I am.  Perhaps there is a bit of disappointment in yesterday, as I spend most of it sleeping and watching movies rather than reading, or spending time outside (when the weather was finally warmer).  But, yesterday evening was spent with good company.  Scott, Jessica, Tom and I gathered at Eric’s for a movie.  However, Tom forgot the remote to his DVD player, and we could only watch the first movie on the disc rather than the one Scott had gathered us all together to watch.  The movie we were subjected to was titled, what at first glance we thought was “underground witches,” and only later, after watching 45 minutes of the film without coming across any witches, or anything underground, we reread the title, and looked up the word for underground, only to discover that the title most likely was “cave/vault of the witches.” There were no witches in the movie, but there was a cave with bright flashes of light and laser beams.  Luckily we had some really delicious cookies, which Eric especially enjoyed, and a can of a Pringles knock of brand from which Tom had to refrain from consuming the entire contents.  We also had an intense conversation about the death of Michael Jackson.  Turns out, Scott is quite the MJ fan, and Tom is quite the MJ hater.  Tom went as far as to say that he hopes that with the death of MJ will come the death of the era of “entertainers” rather than musicians and that the quality of popular music will increase.  Those seems like rather high hopes to me.  Personally, I loved MJ’s music or “entertainment” if that’s what we’re going to call it.

I have a history book.  I use it to prop open the window on my balcony.  Christina spotted it on my desk (when it wasn’t being used to keep the window open) and asked if it was a good book.  It’s certainly good at keeping the window open, and it’s a book, so yes.  However, I have to confess that I have read the book, just not this copy or edition of it.

Apparently, this was a weekend for movie watching.  On Thursday evening I went to the theater with Christina and Jessica.  We saw a terrible chick flick called “The Proposal.”  However, everything is somehow much more tolerable (perhaps because I can write it off as a learning experience), and much funnier (especially dubbed over American films).  Plus, we got to drink a bottle of wine and eat caramel popcorn, which is obviously what people really go to the movies for. 

Friday, I somehow feel like I watched a movie, but I may just have taken a nap.  I’m unsure.  Saturday, I watched “The Devil Wears Prada,” because I was too lazy to get out of bed.  Then, upon getting out of bed, I met up with my friend Aleksei, and we watched “Pulp Fiction.”  After which, I headed over to Eric’s where the whole “Underground/cave/vault of the Witches” scenario occurred. 

This evening I went back to the movie theater (really for the wine, right?) with Alex and we watched transformers.  As far as I’m concerned, it had no plot.  However, the fact that a majority of the characters were transformers, who spoke really quickly in male Russian voices, might have somewhat interfered with my comprehension of the film.  Despite all that, it was a good time. 

Tomorrow, I must stop watching movies and go back to class.  However, since I spend most of my time alone with the teachers, if I really want to watch a movie I can.  As a matter of fact, one day last week I went into class not having finished my reading and instead of discussing what I’d read, I suggested we watch the film version of the last play we finished reading instead - and we did.  It’s lovely to control your classes. 

29.June

Yesterday was not the end of my movie-watching spree.  We watched a film today in class.  Unfortunately, not one I like.

In other news, I think I'm starting to go a bit crazy (as if I haven't always been certifiably insane).  I could use a vacation (a real one, not one where I go back to America to "take care of things").  Perfect, since I already have tickets to leave for Peter on Thursday night.  Thank you credit card god for giving me such a lovely opportunity.  I can hardly wait to get there.