Goodbye, Lenin.

My lack of posting lately is directly correlated to my academic obligations. I had round two of my Global Warming mid-term yesterday, and I was determined to do far better on this one than the last, though I acknowledge half the class failed the first midterm (possibly including myself) as a result of the professor's ludicrously high expectations. And I think I achieved reasonable succes, since I knew the answers to all the essay-style questions and only 2 or 3 out of the 30-odd short answers. It's good to know that 2 weeks of solid studying for this midterm may have actually paid off.

My focus on this course, however, has left me miserably behind in my readings for my other classes. I also have to write an essay for my Major British Writer's class by Friday, though I think I'd rather stick forks into my eyes. I am sorry, but I can not *stand* English as an academic subject anymore. I enjoyed it to a reasonable degree in high school but by the time I hit 3rd year university, I couldn't care less about writing pointless essays that I personally don't feel enhance the English literature experience for either myself or for my professors. Though some people would certainly argue otherwise, and I am a big supporter of art appreciation in its many forms, I do not see how studying Milton will solve the political crisis in the Middle East nor provide access to food or medical attention for those starving masses displaced by civil war in Sudan. I just find that for myself, studying English literature is incredibly irrelevant to anything I care about in my life, i.e. social justice issues. Pah.

Sara and I watched Goodbye Lenin tonight. It was an interesting film which focused on a DDR family trying to adjust to a Re-unified Germany, and though most films portray life in Eastern Germany as horrid and ideologically backwards, this film portrayed it in a much more empathetic manner than I was expecting. Of course the film doesn't deny that there were loads of negative things that came with living in a (let's face it) totalitarian state but it showed how those who people had never known any other kind of life loved it for what it was - familiar, and thereby comforting. Good film.

And I can officially say, Edd arrives from the hinterland in 3 weeks!! Just in time to watch me have a nervous breakdown as final exams begin!