Fail

On the down side, I did not finish reading In Cold Blood by Wednesday. I also have not finished Bodega Dreams. My work load is pretty fucking retarded, and the first place I slack is on the readings because there's nobody checking to make sure I've done them.

On the up side, I'm half finished with Stoner and Spaz (a quick read) and I finished the first section of Joan Didion's The White Album (highly recommended).

On the annoying side, I am not receiving much feedback from my teachers. My first two graded assignments have come back A and A-, which is nice, but the comments on my work in general are frustrating. Mostly it's scattered, generic praise, like "Good!" and "Nice effort!" What could be more demoralizing than "Nice effort!" even when it's attached to an A paper? And this from a teacher who just that class ran a discussion on not giving empty praise when responding to student assignments.

I feel as if the work I'm doing is unremarkable, and I don't want (or think I'd deserve) an A just for "trying hard." I don't mind it being known that I've worked hard to achieve excellence, but it's the excellence I'd like to be known for more than the effort. Or perhaps I'm just so blazingly smart that my teachers are paralyzed and unable to comment.

Gas Station Observation

My dad noted the other day that "Full" has become the opposite of "Self." The existential implications of this cannot be underestimated.