A New York Times Bestseller, ‘The History of Love’ is a masterpiece, from what I have read of it. It’s creater extraordinar is Nicole Krauss. You might remember her from ‘Man Walks Into a Room’, her first published piece (I believe, but please correct me if I am mistaken). ‘The History of Love’ has been translated into more than 25 languages and I can see why. Here are a few of my favorite quotes…

“I used to let the door slam in people’s faces. I farted where I wanted to fart. I accused cashiers of cheating me out of a penny, while holding the penny in my hand. And then one day I realized I was on my way to becoming the sort of schmuck that poisons pigeons.” -18

“And though you were grown up by then, you felt as lost as a child. And though your pride was broken, you felt as vast as your love for her. She was gone, and all that was left was the space where you had grown around her, like a tree that grows around a fence. For a long time, it remained hollow. Years, maybe. And when at last it was filled again, you knew that the new love you felt for a woman would have been impossible without Alma. If it weren’t for her, there never would have been an empty space, or the need to fill it.” -57

“Bruno.”
“yes?”
“Isn’t it good to be alive?”
“no thank you, i don’t want to buy anything.”
“I’m not trying to sell you anything! It’s Leo. I was sitting here drinking a coffee in Starbucks and suddenly it hit me.”
“Who hit you?” -76/77

“When your pants are down around your ankles that’s when everyone arrives, never a moment before when you might have been in a position to receive them.” -86

There are many more good quotes to be found in this book and I highly recommend reading it.

As for the whole my life is uninspired part, it really is. Aside from the unusual warm weather, which brought about this post, I have felt pretty empty. Hopefully getting back to Erie will get me back to feeling productive.

Happy 2008! A new year full of new beginnings and resolutions and wonderful dreams like that. In 2008 I hope to accomplish a whole heck of a lot, so I’ll share just some of my aspirations with you now:

I, Stephanie Martinez, vow to have a good 2008 and will try to:

-Read and write more for enjoyment.
-Try something new and follow through with it
-Get my life back in order
-Make it to the gym (10 lbs!)
-Start on a creative project
-Stop caring what people think
-Exercise my voice

I think that’s a pretty good list so far. 2008 has started off well. I’ve taken chances and I’ll continue to take them. I’m not so sure how my life will go from here, but in all honesty, who ever knows? In 2008, I’m going to take life as it comes and stop so much from planning for the future, but live in the moment.

With all that empowering crap out of the way, I can honestly say that I don’t have anything else to really write about. I’ve had an unispiring, lazy day and that’s fine with me. So stop reading and go dance or something.