avril lavigne and the guy from sum 41 are engaged. there's an oh-so-cutesy photo of them in the latest rolling stone. i can see it now — MTV's latest celeb reality show Pop-Punk Heaven: Avril and Deryck (yes, that's how he spells his name.)

quick thoughts on the latest books i've finished.

middlesex: the last half was a faster read than the first half. probably because it seemed more interesting to me, although it didn't take me very long to get into the characters. they were likeable and real.

memoirs of a geisha: amazing. i liked this one better than middlesex. it was really captivating and sucked me in from page one. i highly recommend it. i love books that incorporate historical info/culture into fiction. i want to re-read this one when i get a chance, it was that good. i didn't want it to end. i took my time with this one, savoring every sentence, page and chapter. the characters were fabulous.

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time: super fast read, but interesting, too. really quirky and funny. i loved being in the mind of a 15-year-old boy with down's syndrome. on the surface, the book is about a boy searching for answers when his neighbor's dog is killed with a fork, "a garden fork, not the kind you eat with." he ends up discovering a bunch of startling information about his family in the process. it's kind of a quirky, amusing coming-of-age mystery. and that doesn't even begin to describe it. i guess what i'm trying to say is that this book can't be categorized, which is probably why i liked it so much.

she's come undone: i think i understand why elissa hated this book. i wouldn't say i hated it, but i didn't like it either. it took me forever to get into it. i would read a few pages at a time, until finally i said fuck it, and just started skimming, skipping a few pages here and there. i read a good chunk in its entirety though, and it just didn't grab me and i didn't give a shit about the characters or what happened to them. i just didn't care, which is what you need in a book. you need to care to find out what happens next, not necessarily like the characters, but at least care to know what they're doing. this book just didn't do that for me. i just finished it about 15 minutes ago, and very blah. i don't understand what the big fuss was all about for this one. or why oprah picked it for her book club. sure, it's a story of a girl and it goes through her life up until she's 40. it starts with her being 4, i think. and all sorts of bad thing happen in her life, to herself and people around her. depressing things. the usual sob story type of book. but i don't think it's done right. i suppose that's what happens when a middle-aged man tries to write about an entire woman's life in first person.

next up: a long way down by nick hornby is what's sitting next to my ibook right now.

and i'm reading the new chuck klosterman at barnes & noble. my goal is to head over there every afternoon for an hour or two before class or work and read books there to save money because, at the rate i'm going, i'll need to buy a book or two a week for the rest of the summer. and i just don't have the money for that. of course, there's always the library.

facebook

i have never met anyone through facebook and don't plan on it. but there are some who, for some unknown reason or other, believe online communities such as facebook, friendster, myspace, livejournal, etc. are a good way to meet people.
i happened to receive an IM from one such person last week. i had just come home from the bar and couldn't sleep, so i watched some tv. i was pretty wasted. i pass by my laptop and notice i have an IM from someone whose screenname is something like whenidie something or other. very emo-esque. person just says hi. i type hi back. i think i passed out immediately after that. i had forgotten about the incident the next morning, until i notice the person had sent me about 3 more messages after that. he said "i saw you on facebook and thought you're very cute and cool." and "i guess you're not there anymore. lol" and "ok. i guess you don't want to talk to me. lol."
if there's one thing i cannot stand, it's the use of lol or any other type of internet jargon. especially when used more than once. in a row. and especially when the person lol's at what he himself said. and especially when what he said was not even funny, or cause for lol'ing.
i don't hear from emo dying boy again until a few days later. i am about to go out for the night and i get an IM asking me if i remember who he is. and another lol. i have a few minutes to waste before a friend comes to pick me up, so i decide i can get some amusement out of this. i look the emo dying boy up on facebook. he's a freshman. and he's straightedge. i wonder if he noticed most of my interests include drinking.
he proceeds to ask me if i'm "latino" and when i don't respond says he "likes ethnic girls who aren't white". i finally say no. he lol's again, and says he's sorry. why is it funny that i'm not latino? who knows? maybe he just likes lol'ing. i wonder if he's really laughing out loud. then i ask him how old he is. after he tells me, he says he doesn't mind the age difference and that he can be "really wild." he seems to think we're on some dating show. i don't understand when this emo dying kid came to the conclusion that IM'ing someone from facebook equals hitting on them/flirting. i've never been a big fan of having real conversations online.
he tells me that he lives at home this summer, but he makes trips to east lansing often to visit friends. i think he expected me to extend an invitation. not going to happen, mr. emo dying.
what really gets me is that this kid didn't even bother to ask me anything about me. not like i would have told him anything had he asked, but if he really had any real interest in dating, wouldn't he have asked the usual get to know you questions?
i thought i would get more amusement out of the whole thing that i did. he didn't seem to understand sarcasm and didn't give me the humorous responses i had hoped for. so i chose to x out of the IM and left for the night.
he's im'd me once again, but i chose not to respond. i never added him as a buddy, so i can't remember his screenname other than the die part. i'm sure emo dying boy will move on to someone else from facebook. beware. he's out there. and he likes "ethnic girls who aren't white."