another crossroads?

Posted: April 4, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Bartleby the Scrivener | Leave a comment

of course I know that I’m good at editing. that’s why I chose to do an english major with an editing emphasis. but for some time now I’ve known that I don’t see myself working as an editor for my career. what I’d rather do is be a mother, raising children. and I could do editing for fun, because I enjoy it.

but in the past few weeks I’ve wondered if I want to pursue the editing degree. sure, it makes everyone’s writing look prettier, but does it really accomplish anything? I want to make a difference in the world. today I looked at the majors offered at byu, and the sociology major has less hours for the entire undergraduate program than I have to finish the english degree. could I do more good with the sociology degree? if what I want to do with my life is help people, wouldn’t it be just as practical to do a sociology major as anything else?

and so I come to another crossroads. for the next while I’ll be considering if I should change majors. granted, the point is somewhat moot, since I’m not a byu student right now and won’t be until next january, and so I can’t officially switch majors anyway. but it is something to consider.

general conference april 2006

Posted: April 3, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Pilgrim's Progress | Leave a comment

all got together at our place yesterday for breakfast and good old-fashioned conference fun, then today jarom and I went up to his grandma’s in salt lake. I offered to drive, which was good because it meant that I got up on time (even though jarom overslept). yummy breakfast, and ravioli for late dinner; then in the evening besta and jarom & I played monopoly. I won the first game. completely. I put everybody else out. so, so awesome. but on the second game I went out first. they got smarter. and I did have really good luck the first time.

I think my favorite talk was from this afternoon, president faust’s talk about the race horse and how we can become extraordinary people. good times.

now I’m super tired — no nap, I stayed awake for more than 14 hours straight (14 normal hours, I should point out) — and bed sounds lovely. I’ll put on the winter sonata soundtrack and just relax. mmm.

Eragon

Posted: April 2, 2006 | Author: | Filed under: Book of Sand | Leave a comment

by Christopher Paolini

Another “free” book from that book club. I was possibly less interested in reading this than I had been in Inkheart, but, encouraged by the surprising success of Inkheart, I decided to start reading Eragon.
 
Yeah, disappointing. I’d heard all this critical acclaim about how Paolini was homeschooled and wrote this book at age Ridiculous, etc., etc.; but to me it was one of the most generic archetypal hero journeys ever written. I understand that it’s similar to other great hero journeys because they have so much in common, but I felt like Paolini borrowed elements from every well-known story and pasted them together in a horribly obvious way. One word: predictable. And that was the biggest problem, because I almost never try to think about what’s coming next – yet Eragon had no surprises, no twists, and no action intense enough that I kept turning the pages eagerly. Instead, I had plenty of time to let my subconscious work out the hints and foreshadowing, so that nothing caught me off guard.
 
I have a hard time believing that everyone else loves this book, and that it’s been made into a movie, and that there are two more critically-acclaimed novels to follow. But apparently Paolini is a very good writer and I just happened to miss that bit of the book.

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