Weather: Hot. Me: Not So Hot

It's fabulous outside. But I can't be sure, because I was home all day. I am slightly under the weather -- I knew I should have moved away from that guy in English class, who had the miserable cold. He was sitting behind me, and I could have sworn that he sneezed on me. Also, the snortling in of liquid snot, as well as the extensive exodus of snot via fierce blowing onto tissue, wasn't all that pleasant a scenery as it would seem. Having a miserable cold when it's miserably hot is the worst. I hope (crossing fingers) I don't come down with anything too SARS-like.

It was hot today. Hotter than hot -- it was scorching. I had to slap my wrists every time they tried to reach the thermostat to turn on the AC, because being frugal means suffering while saving. Apparently, more suffering than saving. Summer has gotten a bit ahead of itself this year. It's just scorching! We are expected to break 90 in the upcoming week. It was so hot, and I felt so dead that I couldn't make it to the gym, once again. I know, that's just an excuse, but I couldn't move around much. The fact that my local gym prefers the fan instead of the AC doesn't help much either. Hello! It's a place where people are getting hot and sweaty! It would help to keep temps low! But that's just my opinion.

When I get a chance, I'll have to talk about treadmill users who fart. I would spare y'all from that insanity, but it is just something I can't keep to myself. Here's a preview: please tell everyone you know, don't fart while using the treadmill, or any exercise equipment. Just because it doesn't make a sound DOES NOT mean it doesn't make a smell. A poopoo smell! Yeck!

So on this hot day, I spent a lot of time just watching. Then I spent some time with Hamlet, and then some time with The Simpsons. I also watched Kill Bill, Vol. 1. Very interesting and gory. I'd love to see Vol 2, but as always, I will frugally wait for the DVD to hit Blockbusters.

Last Thursday, I decided. I will most likely never finish One Hundred Years of Solitude. I've always said as a joke, that it would take me one hundred years to finish the damned thing, but it turns out, it is most likely to be true. Since I can safely assume that I have less than cien anos (I can't type it, but there is a tilde on top of the "n" in anos) of life left, I will deduce through logic that the task is virtually impossible. So I said to myself, it would be a shame living life without reading something by ole Gabriel (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, that is). I went to the library and borrowed "El amor en los tiempos del colera." Love in the time of cholera. It's another one that he wrote, which is also quite famous. But this one, I will be reading it as ole Gabe wrote it: in Spanish.

I know y'all are gasping. But it is true. I can't speak Spanish like a Spaniard, but I can speak it better than most non-hispanics I know. (My old boss, who was the same age as I am, is Korean. But she lived in Paraguay since she was little, and lived there until the age of adulthood.) My reading is much better than my speech though, because I can take some time to think and analyze.

I probably won't finish this novel either, and I can say this for two different reasons. First, because I have not finished the first novel I attempted to read by Garcia Marquez, I may face similar difficulties, i.e. get bored out of my mind. Secondly, since it is in a language other than the ones I am completely fluent in, it may take more time. I decided just to take a few pages at a time, just three to five pages. I'll have a trusty Eng-Span dictionary by my side. It is about 500 pgs, so at 5 pages per day, it should take me about 4 months or so. Even so, it would take less time than Cien Anos de Soledad, so what a relief, huh?

I am doing this because I will definitely need my Spanish later in my life, and since it has been over half a decade since I took my last Spanish class, I will need to keep exercising my command over the language. My ability to speak has nearly atrophied since I quit my job at Hola Com (where my boss was the formerly mentioned Korean girl, who was an evil person, by the way -- even more evil than normal evil, because she appeared innocuous, when it was so clear to me that she was the vilest creature to roam the earth. I'll have to tell my future therapist about that). Sometimes when I do get Hispanic customers, I am surprised by the amount I had retained, but dissappointed by the amount lost.

Well, if I can ever get to my Awakening criticical essay, I'd be in heaven. It was supposed to be due last Thurs, but the instructor gave in and gave an extra weekend. It is now due Tuesday. Of course, as everyone knows, I'll be working on it tomorrow night, frantically jotting down an outline past midnight. I tell you, one day, my procrastination will catch up with my horrid habits.