Day 19, 26 Jan: Dan the Man

Norfolk Terrace, Day 19. 23:59. Dan the Man

My first seminar for my Nineteenth Century Writing class went well, but at points I was frustrated that I wasn’t picking up the tutor’s underlying destination from her prodding questions. It all came down to Sir Walter Scott’s language claiming to be plain and that the journey will become more romantic (and entertaining; oh, romantic as in akin to a medieval romance which was basically a tale of a quest—not really related to love) BUT of course the language itself was poetic, metaphorical and already embedded in the romantic component of the novel. And when Scott explicitly mentioned a dull bit, he did so in order to NOT make it dull. Literature is the art of linguistic subversion (more nicely called “ambiguity”), I tell you.

            First Romanticism lecture (that I didn’t miss) was fabulous: the lecturer was passionate almost too loudly but hey, his points were good and actually followed very well from a handout he gave out at the beginning. In contrast to a Berkeley professor’s lecture, I’d say it was slightly less profound/abstract but more visibly demonstrative of his organization and textual citations. Subject matter was definitely favorable (much more so than Scott’s Waverley): Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads and what it means to be a ballad and why have metre in these revolutionary unconventional poems. Good stuff.

            Based off one interesting hand posture I saw a guy do with his cigarette (not even unique), I wrote a single page of a short, but got too deep too fast. Character was fun to write, though.

            I spent the night indoors, much to my gratitude because Dan, the ever generous and good-hearted flatmate, actually took forty minutes out of his day to teach me a few things on guitar, i.e. pentatonic scale, “Otherside” intro, Linkin Park’s “Bleed It Out” intro, etc. He even let me borrow his acoustic for a bit. He reminds me of Will Houston, good friend from back home, when he used to teach me a few chords here and there. I have a guitar friend here now too. Dan’s the man.

             Again it’s almost 1 o’clock by the time I sit down and write things, even these twenty minutes it took me to write all this (oh yeah, I put 23:59 now if it’s past midnight when I begin the post).

            I should join a society (well, a “club” as it would be called back home, but “club” here is exclusively a drinking club—the place, not a group) on campus soon. Gym membership will be available after my Sunday induction, so maybe the yoga society might be fun. I could do it with Steff. Swimming? Athleticism is running but if it’s on a track, forget it. I’ll look into it, though. Singing’s always an option too. I’ll just have to see. Good night.