I may be a total waste of air today, but at least my kitchen is clean.

[grammargirl]

As penance for being a total useless schmuck tonight in the world of academia, I just cleaned the heck out of the kitchen for the first time in... well, an embarrassing amount of time, I can tell you that. We're talking mold that practically grew limbs and walked out of the sink, here.

And now I must go to bed so I can get up tomorrow and stay up for twenty four hours straight reading Ulysses aloud. Yes, it's for a grade. Yes, it's the geekiest final ever. I'd be looking forward to it if I didn't have to come home Tuesday morning, take a nap, then get up and write the paper I totally failed to write tonight. Because, as already established, I am a terrible person.

Comments

[adam-oddfellow.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I misunderstand... but do you mean that your Ulysses involves sitting and reading aloud for 24 hours??

[misanthropicsob.livejournal.com]

I'm also baffled by this final. Please give us further explanations.

...And, don't forget...bring lots of Penguin Mints.

[grammargirl.livejournal.com]

Yep.

Well, sort of. It's in a group, so I'm not reading by myself for 24 hours. And we're actually encouraged to change locations depending on where we are in the book. But by and large, yes. 24 hours of out loud Ulysses reading, starting at 11am tomorrow.

[grammargirl.livejournal.com]

See above.

Yeah, I have some Dr. Pepper and, actually, a box of penguin mints I got for free at Penguicon. I imagine I'll be putting both to good use.

[adam-oddfellow.livejournal.com]

I'm still highly confused. I've read Ulysses before. It's not that long. I am very very confused.

You have to stay awake from 11:00am to 11:00am and your professor will somehow be involved in this as well, also awake from 11:00am to 11:00am?

?????????

[misanthropicsob.livejournal.com]

You're the first person I've ever read/heard/seen who has said that James Joyce's Ulysses is NOT THAT LONG. It is a 700+ page book. (The edition on sale at Amazon says 783, but that probably includes editor's commentaries) So, I think it is of sufficient length to read for 24 hours. If it is 700 pages, thats reading 1 page aloud (not in your head) every 2 minutes.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the reading it actually sounds fun or at least different.

I once defrosted the refrigerator rather than write a paper.

[adam-oddfellow.livejournal.com]

And there is the source of the misunderstanding. I was under the impression that this was, you know, the original Ulysses. Like, translated from ancient Greek. Which isn't really that long. Either that or I read an abridged copy or something like that. Because the one I read, years and years ago, was a rather slim paperback only a couple hundred pages long.

This is what I get for attending a school whose founder honestly believed that the Illiad was the pinnacle of human literary achievement, and whose successive faculties (or rather, a small but vocal portion of the faculties) apparently concurred. God I hate Greek literature.

So now my only question is why on earth anyone would ever think this reading was a good idea. Which is probably why I'm not an English major.

[misanthropicsob.livejournal.com]

I think the reading sounds fun.

[adam-oddfellow.livejournal.com]

I dunno, for some reason the idea of being told, by a professor, to spend 24 hours doing anything, I find rather irksome, perhaps even offensive. But then, I've been feeling rather anti-academic lately.

In any case, considering the fact that I would in no circumstances have signed up to read Ulysses in the first place, is it any surprise that I wouldn't want to read it for 24 hours straight?