The Day After Yesterday

For this, my second blog post, I have decided to share a few thoughts on life. I think maybe I'll make a list. 


Sports: Michigan State University is my favorite college sports program. Don't ask me why though, because I certainly did not attend school there. Last night MSU was involved in a basketball contest that was so bad it made me want to rip my hair out and feed it to my cat! I'll just say this about the current MSU basketball season: Star point guard Kalin Lucas must be healthy for the Spartans to have any postseason hope. In order for Lucas to regain his health, coach Tom Izzo MUST sit him down for a few more games. Over the next two weeks or so, the more we see of Kalin Lucas, the less of a chance MSU has to make any postseason noise. You heard it here first.

Music: Pretty bad day today on the music front. While I was hurrying last evening, to edit a group assignment for my Innovation course, I completely forgot that I was up against the deadline for requesting Dave Matthews Band summer tour tickets. This must be the first time in the last 8 or 9 years that I haven't executed this task properly. And while I really have only myself to blame, I can't help but be a little annoyed at one of my group members whose spelling, citation, and grammar issues led to this late night editing marathon. I'll plan better next time! As for Dave, the public on-sale date in Feb. 26th. I'll be ready!

Books: I'm currently about half way through a novel by Elizabeth Kostova called "The Swan Thieves".  Liz, as I affectionately refer to her, rose to fame in 2006 with "The Historian", which is best described as a  suspense novel involving Dracula. Sounds kind of silly right? Well it isn't. It was actually quite good. Her new novel, the aforementioned "Swan Thieves" has many of the same features as "The Historian", but seems to be both a denser, and much more intricate novel. For example, after pushing through roughly 200 out of the 565 pages, I still don't quite know what the story is actually about! I'm hoping that by page 400 I'll be able to offer some type of plot summary.

One wonders, when an author chooses to write in this manner, whether she simply went a little haywire trying to set an elaborate scene for her story, or whether she is doing something a little more self serving? As I read this novel (and don't get me wrong, it is entertaining) I am left to wonder whether Liz's writing was dictated by those little teenie-weenie inner voices  (don't worry, I know you've got 'em too) inside of her head that demand perfection. It is likely that these vicious little guys wouldn't allow her stop adding to this book until they were satisfied that it somehow eclipsed "The Historian". Unfortunately for Liz, "The Historian" was a near masterpiece of historical suspense fiction and is unlikely to be eclipsed. In my mind, this type of hubris is a writer's biggest sin. In the spirit of saving trees, here are a few of my recent reads that I found to be succinct yet completely satisfying. The list is in no particular order, but attention should be paid, as I will surely refer to these fine works in subsequent posts!

1. "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" by John LeCarre
2. "City of Thieves" by David Benioff
3. "Summer Meditations" by Vaclav Havel



Fulbright Fact of the Day: Each year over 6000 (mostly) young people apply for 1400 Fulbright grants. At this point, over 3000 of those applicants have been eliminated. The remaining 2800 or so face 50/50 odds (or better) of receiving a grant. As an applicant to Poland, I am competing with between 14-19 other people for one of 10 grants. Right now, this is where I stand. I think about it every day. April can't come soon enough.

Until Tomorrow

TA Esq.