This is a Very Adult Post.

Well. This is it! I am an official adult. Officially. Sure, I still can't enter a bar, but now I'm out of high school! I can finally enter "Temple University" in as part of my "education" on my facebook! Wow! My dad flew in for the ceremony, as well. We spent the past few days at Jason's place on the lake. It was the first time in years that my whole immediate family was together. Please notice how handsome our Mr. Thirteen Year Old is. Please do not notice how I am in three inch heels and still he nearly meets my height.

Picture taken by Jason

This is me and Jason, by the way.

Picture taken by Dad

Dad and Rick were both wearing Mackenzie tartan ties. Rick's is Mackenzie hunting tartan, and Dad's is Mackenzie dress tartan. Yeah. We're pretty in touch with our familial background :D They're both so handsome!

Also, we (Rick, Dad, and I) went to the mall afterwards to get batteries. Rick got a giggly hello from some girls from his school, and whispered to me in horror, "We are soooo overdressed for the mall!!! Should I have left my jacket in the car?" He's still adorable.

Photo taken by Dad

After graduation, as I mentioned, we spent some time on the lake.

We canoed a lot, and we listened to most of the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio show broadcasts (which Dad had on his laptop)

It was a good time. I would post pictures of Rick paddling, and the three of us on the dock, but that would involve finding my camera cord, which is not happening.

Additionally, thanks SO much to Laura at Rhinestone Armadillo for her shout-out the other day! I appreciated it so much!

I'm also very excited to participate in the SOA that she has going on -- my post is coming up!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the fatherly men out there ^_^

We had a nice Sunday dinner of mashed potatoes, burgers, and green beans. I was fairly proud of the mashed potatoes -- I put gruyere in them, and they were fantastic. Yum yum.

For desert, I took store-bought pound cake, I food-processed some blueberries and strawberries, and spread it on the pound cake slices. I spread unsweetened whipped cream on top of that, and stuck some more berries on top. It was very yummy, and not overly sweet.

Jenny came over, as well. She thought that the cake-trifle-thing was very patriotic. I thought it was yummy :D

Also, we had a fabulous time in the park. We only stayed there a short while, but Rick skipped many rocks, and we all (except Jason, spoil-sport that he is) wandered around shoe-less. In the picture, by the way, is Jenny, not me. She got in and went, "oh! It's cold it's cold!"

I hope you're all having a beautiful time with your families this Sunday.

Mom's Wedding

Well, my mom got married in April, and as it's now June, I've really not been expedient with getting pictures up.

But, still, here they are.

Oh, and good news -- She did, indeed, not wear a suit!

The wedding was a lot of fun, it was the first time in ages that my whole maternal family had been gathered -- I think it's been six years, since Uncle Art's wedding to Aunt Shannon. As such, it was the first time I'd ever met little Jillian. She's adorable, and possibly more mature at three than Rick was at twelve (now thirteen). I also got to see my cousins Luke and Logan. Logan is now about ten feet taller than I am, and Luke has gotten enormous as well :D

This is Jason's mother, Grammy (not her real name, obviously, just what we call her). She's as sweet as anything, and a lot of fun besides. She lives in a DC suburb, and we like her a lot. She likes the victorians like I do. Also in the picture (duh): Mom and Jason.

I like this picture because Rick and Jennie are glaring at each other.

I like this one because you can see Rick's shiny little dress shoes, and my whole dress. I'd only finished it that morning ^^; Also, isn't Mom's dress nice?

Of course, no collection of wedding photos would be complete without a shot of the newlyweds traipsing down the aisle. As such:

Congratulations to Mom and Jason, even though they've been married for quite a while.

Also, because I said I would blog about it: Today for dinner, Jason made the Dinosaur Barbecue's recipe for Macaroni and Cheese Shepherd's Pie. I had two helpings -- INCLUDING THE BEEF. This is huge because I have been alive for eighteen years, and I have also been a vegetarian for that long, and as such I generally don't like meat and it makes me sick. However, I actually preferred the meat version of tonight's dish to the vegetarian version. I am proud of myself.

And proud of J&J, of course. Yes. Very nice job they did, getting married and all :D

Sir Dostoevsky

This I wrote for the final project in my World Lit class. We had to write two letters, each to a different author. I chose to write one to Fyodor Dostoevsky, of Crime and Punishment fame. Before reading C&P, we read "Notes From Underground," which was significantly worse. I wrote this letter as though I had just finished reading "Notes From Underground" when it was first published, before C&P had been written. If you ever had to struggle through C&P or "Notes from Underground," you'll get the humor in this letter. If you never had to read it, think about all the verbose works you have read, and I'm sure it'll be fairly applicable. If you ever read Tolstoy, I hear that he's fairly similar. Enjoy.

November 13,1864

Re: Editing

Dear Mr. Dostoevsky:

I am writing to you concerning your recent novella “Notes From Underground.” I congratulate you on exploring so well the subtleties of the alcoholic, anti-social jerk. I do wonder what inspired you to write such a comprehensive study of such a character, although I agree that it is a unique work. Perhaps some particular individual inspired the Underground Man? It is certainly amazing how well that you managed to explore the depths of his mind.

However, in my opinion, the short story, while short, could easily have been written much more concisely. While I understand that the story was written to explore the concepts of ennui, pain, and nastiness, I don’t believe that readers should be forced to feel pain and boredom deeper than the Underground Man himself feels during the novella. Additionally, I think that your stories might be significantly more popular if you inserted a smidgeon of cheer. For example, the Underground Man is well defined, but he does not change at all. At the end of the book, he is just as unhappy and despicable as he is at the beginning. As such, I think that you ought to appreciate my services as an editor.

As your editor, I would prevent you from repeating mistakes that you made in Notes From Underground. If I had been working with you while you wrote Notes From Underground, I would have suggested a happier ending, for Liza, at least. For the Underground Man himself, some character growth would have made the story significantly more likeable – for example, after his awful cruelty to Liza when she comes to visit him, the Underground Man should have attempted to change his pitiful and terrible attitude towards life and other people. After all, while your Underground Man was certainly well developed, modern audiences consisting of decent people may find him difficult to identify with. If I had been helping you, your character would have found redemption in the end, and the unfortunate victim Liza would have been lifted out of her sinful prostitution and her awful position.

Besides your characters, I would recommend that you alter the constitution of your writing. Your writing style is commendable, but Notes From Underground was extremely long winded – I’d hate for your next book to have 500+ pages. Although you are not repetitive, I do feel that many of your ponderings were redundant. That is, while you did not directly repeat things, you certainly did use and overuse ideas. As your editor, I would try to prevent your beating concepts into the ground. For instance, if you were to write a thrilling murder mystery, I would advise you to not write more than three hundred pages exploring guilt.

My final suggestions as your editor would be plot – please have some. Although there were certainly events in Notes From Underground, they were certainly less than thrilling, and I believe that your talents could create an absolute cliffhanger. Again, I do suggest a murder mystery. I believe that you could certainly make readers sit on the edge of their seats, chewing their nails, wondering who the killer was, if you would only abandon this obsession with character development.

I thank you both for writing Notes From Underground, and for reading this letter. I hope you’ll return my interest in my aiding you with your writing. I’m sure you realize how much more marketable and appreciable your writing could be, were I to help you with it, and I certainly do hope you find my suggestions agreeable.

Your devoted reader,

Carlin

Camping

This weekend, we went camping. We were in the Adirondacks, of course, and it was gorgeous. Although the last week had been very, very hot, this weekend was much cooler, and misty for most of Saturday, and rainy for today. We stayed in a cabin that had originally been built during the Great Depression as part of the job-providing efforts of the PWA (or so I gather), and which has been continually maintained since then. It was gorgeous. There were a few such cabins, and we were in a row of two (quite a row, I know), but we were on the end and the other cabin was unoccupied.

This was the room I slept in, it had the fireplace in it, which was awesome. I felt like a medieval princess, sleeping with a fire going all night. The fireplace was really nice, too, big and made of bricks. There was no heating systems in place other than the fireplace. There was one elecrical outlet in the kitchen, lighting consisting of a single lightbulb in all rooms, a refrigerator, and an oven/stove. I thought it was perfect.

On our first night there, we didn’t have time for much else other than starting a fire. The menfolk drove off to find a local gas station from which to buy firewood (you’re not allowed to transport firewood more than 50 miles from where you found it. This rule is part of an effort to prevent the spread of some noxious insect, which we don’t want here in NY, thankyouverymuch.), and I set about finding some twigs from branches that had fallen to the ground, but were raised up off it so that they weren’t too wet for me to light. I was determined to get a fire going before the boys could get back with their bundles of firewood (I was worried they would try to cheat with lighter fluid), and I did. With half of one piece of newspaper and slightly damp wood, I might add. I am the Wyoming Princess.

In Wyoming, the mountains and woods are mainly treed with pine, with a few copses of aspen per forest. In New York, though, the trees and plants vary enormously. Even the colors of green vary from plant to plant, and area to area. There were probably five bushes of these purple flowers in a clump by the side of the road within our campground. The plants were taller than I was, and the purple flowers were gorgeous.

Saturday, we went for a walk around the lake, which was small but absolutely gorgeous. I think the misty weather contributed to the fantasy feel. Look at that lake!

Also, look at this pavilion. It made me think of Heorot, the hall of Hrothgar, the king that Beowulf rids of Grendel. I just thought it was the most gorgeous little building, in the most perfect setting. I would get married there, wouldn’t you?

I had a fantastic time, and I think everyone else did, too. Plus -- we had about a zillion marshmallows each.

Review of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a book inspired by the Antebellum South, where the strange institution of slavery was viciously defended, and whites were taught to view blacks as lesser beings. As many know, it is about the adventures of a boy and an escaped slave on the Mississippi River, and about the mental journey that Huck undergoes to view Jim as an equal. In my opinion, its fame is well deserved, for the book is extremely well written, as well as engaging.

I enjoyed reading Huckleberry Finn because it was well written and engaging. Twain’s writing style is friendly and familiar, although the dialect can be difficult to get through (when I first tried to read Huck Finn in 8^th grade, after reading Tom Sawyer, I gave up around when the King and the Duke appeared). Twain has the rare gift of forcing readers to live with the characters, even if the setting and situations are completely different from what the readers have ever experienced themselves. The exact issue at hand, slavery, has ceased to be a central issue to America today, but the struggle between what Huckleberry has been taught is right and what he knows in his heart is right is still very relevant.

Compared to other works of the same time period, Mark Twain’s writing is concise and easier to read, because while he may have been paid by the word, he didn’t write as though trying to get as many words as possible into his book. His word choice is appropriate for his subject matter, and the characters never seem to speak awkwardly – again, Mark Twain is a master of dialect. What really made the book stand out 150 years ago was not his writing style, however fantastic and unique it may be. Instead, it was his ability to take on a very controversial subject without preaching or hateful writing. This subject, although no longer a focal point of politics, is still a tender one in the American eye. Mark Twain’s book was recently re-written (read: censored) to exclude the word “nigger” and replace it with “slave.” The re-write has been the focus of much debate, and shows that Twain’s novel is still controversial; even now that slavery has ended over a century ago.

If readers look to the newly released version of Huck Finn to give them literary swank without needing to brave hate language, they may wish to read Tom Sawyer instead. After all, the book is exactly the same as the original, only missing the “n-word”. As such, Jim is still beaten and chained, treated like a thing rather than a human being, and hunted for like an animal, but he is never called any names (except, of course, for the arguably worse title of “slave”). Huckleberry Finn is a book that will make you angry, and it will make you sad, and it will make you ashamed for what once was. It’s certainly not a book for light reading. It will also make you laugh (Says Jim: Is a Frenchman a dog, or a cow? If he’s a man, why doesn’t he talk like one?), however, and it is a book that everyone ought to read. (If everyone in the world had read the same book, we’d all have something to talk about at those awkward parties. Icebreaker? Huckleberry Finn, of course!) It’s a story that will stir your emotions, which is really the most important thing for a book to do.

Read Huckleberry Finn. It’s a fantastic book that’s somehow managed to remain entertaining, engaging, and relevant for longer than most. The only dissappointment you’ll face is at the end, when you’ll have to wonder if Mark Twain sold out to what I’m sure were the demands of periodical readers that read Tom Sawyer and wanted more of the same. If you pretend that the end is the famous, “Fine – I’ll go to hell!” line, and you still drudge up some discontenment, please tell me what it was and let me argue with you.