Yay! Today I got an email from the library saying that Death In The Afternoon is now ready for pick-up, just hours after checking out Steinbeck’s 22-disc East of Eden. Add to that Winesburg, Ohio, which is currently on deck, and I’ve got plenty to keep my iPod full for the next couple weeks.

Commuting absolutely eats up those audiobooks though. I started A Farewell to Arms on the way down to Chicago Saturday and then again on the return trip, a little bit here and there while showering and making lunches, then again while playing frisbee with the dog this morning, and finally my drive to and from school. That leaves about an hour’s worth of listening left, which means it’ll end sometime early in my drive home tomorrow night. The section that sees Henry return to service followed almost immediately by the fiasco of the Italian army’s subsequent retreat has been fantastic.

I’m taking my exams (written and oral) for the intermediate level of my Spanish course later this week and early next, which means I’m about half-way through the course. Brother Todd and I have talked about this, but at the end of the first 12 weeks you think you’re practically fluent because you know 12 different verb tenses. At the end of 24 weeks you think you don’t know a damn thing because of the subjunctive.

This is where deep-breathing and relaxation techniques come into play. You can’t learn a language overnight and a lot of this is done via time and repetition. No matter how badly you want to learn it now. ‘Tis a good lesson, probably.

A good friend disparaged the Clash’s Sandinista! this weekend. And I had just been considering waxing poetic on how great that 3-album set is on this very space. Don’t get me wrong, Sandinista! has its warts but it’s still fantastic and completely underrated. My vote for the Clash’s most underrated song ever is “One More Time.”

I have a whole “how the Clash transformed my life” post brewing but you’ll be spared it. For now.

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