Wow! May already! Which means June already! Which means the end of the school year already! The end of the school year??? Which means my last year of high school is just around the corner which means college is just around the corner which means ahhhhhh. Much to think about friends. Much too much.

Anyways, amidst the not so important woes of my relatively not so difficult life (we really don’t need to delve into my very pathetic problems, emphasis on pathetic and very), I’ve found some time to read, watched quite a few good movies, and surprisingly found some time to write a few poems.

Movies 

Breakfast at Tiffany’s 

Ahh, does it get any classier? Nope. It doesn’t. I can’t say this is exactly what I expected, but the romance was very sweet. There’s something very noble about learning to live for someone else.

Also, I love the way they talk in old movies. The accents are something not quite American as I know it, but not quite British either. And they use some lovely words that my best friend and I agree need to make a come back. In fact, we made a list.

1. Swell
2. Darling
3. Marvelous
4. Tough beans
5. Cross my heart and kiss my elbow.

The Time Traveler’s Wife

WHAT WAS THIS? I liked it? I think? ‘Twas good, but my brain hurts. Time travel in general is just a mind boggling subject. But anyway. This was a good movie. Could’ve done without some of the swear words and butt shots (apparently one can’t time travel with one’s clothes?) but other than that the plot line was very interesting. Somewhat darker than I expected but overall endearing. I’d like to read the book now.

The Princess Diaries II

Great, as always. Love Princess Mia. Love the Queen. And yes, love Nicholas. Oh, and Lily. She’s great too.

Apollo 13

Not sure if this counts because technically I only watched the last 20 minutes, but I’ve seen pieces of it before. So I guess you can say watching the last 20 minutes completed the bits and pieces I’ve watched at earlier dates. Sort of.

This one is very intense, but so well done and (ugh I hate this word but I’ll use it for lack of a better one) inspiring. It’s nice to watch a good triumph story, especially when the triumph doesn’t come easy.

Tolkien

All my thoughts on this gem are here.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society 

You can read all my thoughts about this here.

Books

We Were the Lucky Ones

It’s been quite a while since I settled down with a nice historical fiction and this one was the perfect choice to wet my feet again. I enjoyed all the different story lines and the unique personalities of each character, however sometimes all the people and plots were hard to keep track of. All that said, this really was a remarkable survival story, and it’s crazy that it’s true.

When Breath Becomes Air

This book provides an ultimately heartening reflection on living and dying through the eyes of young lung cancer patient and neurosurgeon. Paul Kalanithi’s insights on the intersection of science and soul, doctor and patient, medicine and literature, and living and dying are both authentic and unique. And although I don’t necessarily agree with his conclusions concerning Jesus, his questions concerning life and death are over-archingly applicable.

Amadeus 

I’m not sure whether to feel enlightened or disgusted. Maybe I’m supposed to feel both? I’d really like to do a full review on this one because it’s brimming with themes and I have many thoughts. It’s one of those books where, as gross as it sometimes was, it was so captivating thematically that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I read it. The tension between calling, mediocrity, talent, and naivety was very compelling. And so was the exploration of jealously. I can’t say I agreed with all of Shaffer’s conclusions, but his themes were very interesting. Anyway, I could go on, but I should probably just write a full review.

84, Charing Cross Road 

This delightful little read it entirely composed of letters between a quirky (very American) New York writer and a polite (very British) London book seller. I loved this so much I ate it up in a day! ‘Twas such a quirky, friendly, literary little book and my heart was very warmed by it. It was very reminiscent of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society except these letters are real!

Wuthering Heights 

Charlotte and I are old friends (we understand each other you see) and Anne and I are well acquainted but Emily and I cannot see eye to eye. I much prefer Charlotte and Anne’s tortured souls to Emily’s woebegone, ravenous moors. (Seriously though, most of my second attempts at reading books go better. But I only got fifty pages further than I did last time before I had to put it down in exasperation.)

Music

Much Chopin, much Broadway, and some Future of Forestry. At the moment I’m working on my first nocturne (Chopin’s Nocturne in E Minor) and my first attempt at being an accompanist! The accompanying is challenging but really fun and the Chopin is very nostalgic and wistful and joyful.

Scribblings

I really need to get back to my novel writing. *sighs heavily* Meg and James is really suffering some severe neglect. I managed three pages this month. Three. Stinking. Pages. Three pages I’m probably going to delete because they don’t fit into the story well.

Aside from prose, I’ve written a few poems this month (some that don’t bode well for sharing… for a number of reasons) and more journal entries than I have in quite a while. Journaling again has been fun. I’ve placed no expectations on the entries themselves and that has made journaling feel much less an obligation than something freeing.

Adventures

Zion

This was my second trip to Zion and it was still just as unbelievably, whimsically beautiful as I remember it. The trip itself didn’t top the first trip, which was somewhat a result of my poor attitude to its lesserness, high expectations, and a lack of focus on God. I wish I wouldn’t have been so uptight. But anyways, the beauty was astounding as usual.

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Bookstore

Do trips to the used bookstore count as adventures? I believe they do. Getting lost in a world of pages, ideas, emotions, time gone by, and time to come is all at once nostalgic and intrinsic.

That’s all for this month folks! How was your May?