The Weekend's End

I'm back at the university after going home for the weekend. Sunday is the day where I am useless for anything, and I don't want to think about work -- just relax. Spending time on the Internet is a very dissatisfactory way to relax, but I did so anyway.

I did, however, read another chapter in Volkswagen Blues, which was written by Jacques Poulin. I have to read it for my French course (221). The writing is, I think, quite good. As for the content, the more or less impecunious wandering lifestyle described in the book doesn't much appeal to me. Also, I sometimes feel like pinching the main character to elicit a reaction, to break the monotony of the constant thoughtfulness and literary references and political conscientiousness (not quite correctness). But those are basically my only quibbles.

I've also added a few sentences to my Romanticism essay -- basically that the ideals within Romanticism can be divided into two central streams: rebellion (nationalism, social upheaval, etc.) and return (interest in Middle Ages, revival of Christianity, etc.). That's no doubt a glib interpretation but I see myself as entitled to generalize as much as I want because the subject is so broad anyway.

By this last paragraph you can tell that I did not finish the essay on Friday. But I'm optimistic about finishing it by next Friday, and the teaching assistant told me not to stress, which cheered me greatly.

Unrelated rant:

It annoys me that nytimes.com has changed its format. First it was haaretz.com that (a really long time ago) changed its format to a theme of neutral blue with small writing, then lemonde.fr changed to a neutral blue with small writing, and now nytimes.com. Thank goodness that, of all the lefty newspapers I consult whenever I feel like finding out about the rest of the world, at least guardian.co.uk has remained the same. I like black (and red, in the Guardian's case). It's precise and easier to read. As for my moderate-righty newspaper, I presume that timesonline.co.uk (which I've been boycotting based on quality as well as supporting-the-Iraq-War issues -- and based on the fact that Simon Jenkins has been publishing his comment in the Guardian anyway) has retained its classic black.