If there’re two things I like, they’re movies and books. I’m so very glad that my friends at school love watching movies. For a while, we were renting about 8-12 a month. On top of watching the ones that people already owned. Granted, we don’t exactly tend to watch what most people might call high quality films, so I still feel cinematically illterate. And I probably will until the day I die. But movies make me smile. Not as in a flippant smirk, but a beaming, delightful, grin. I didn’t get to watch any movies at school after Thanksgiving. Too much work and travel (I did start watching Shawshank one night, but decided a third of the way through it that I wasn’t in the mood for it). And so, I’ve been making up for it since I’ve been home. I rented Stepford Wives and Day After Tomorrow on Monday night (yeah, I know, real quality choices there), went to Ocean’s Twelve on Tuesday night, and rented Empire Records (my new favorite movie) and Ned Kelly last night. And I plan on watching Remember the Titans for the umpteenth time tomorrow night.

Books, on the other hand…wow. I mean, let’s be real. Is there anything better? I submit to you that, in fact, there is not. I’ve always loved books and reading. Carla and Susan and I compared bookworm stories in Nashville and it made me realize just how dependent I am on books (and other such reading material). I’m a rather independent and easily amused person, but if I’m eating without company, I have to have something to read. I’ll stoop so far as to read the newsletters from my dad’s business school. But, as is often the case with many people, I rarely have time to read books for pleasure. I thought that perhaps by bringing books to school with me, I might encourage myself to read. But I only found the time to read Emily Climbs and Blue Like Jazz. Which I loved more than I thought I would. I’m currently a couple chapters into Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance and am getting Searching for God Knows What for Christmas. In other words, I just can’t get enough of Don Miller right now. I expect my copy of both Blue Like Jazz and Searching to be well worn by the end of the school year, as I’m making several of my friends, as well as my Bible study leaders read them. I’m trying desperately to get my biggest brother to read Blue Like Jazz. I also finally got ahold of a copy of Pledged: The Secret Life of Soroities and read it this week. And it made for a very interesting read, one that I’ll definitely cover later, after I have a chance to gather my thoughts more. I really liked Robbins writing though, and will definitely read Quarter Life Crisis.