I spend a lot of time at my desk looking at everything on it, and I kind of want to talk about it because some of them are interesting. And I like talking about them, but I never do it because I don’t know why.
STUFF ON THE WALLS:
-New York Giants 2013 calendar because I haven’t taken it down yet
–Poster for the ISU jazz band performing at the Brewery last November (https://alongthemilkyway.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/jazz-and-glory-and-night-skies/)
-A couple of awesome postcards from the American Swedish Institute which we had a membership at for a while in the hopes that we could get scholarships for me to go to Sjölunden
-A bookmark which says “Edelweiss” which I colored red to use when reading Die Flaschenpost in my mom’s class senior year
-A computer printout of a John Keats sonnet which Devo (high school journalism adviser) gave me after I presented a poem in class that reminded him of said sonnet and then I really liked it, so I kept it
-My name, which I cut out of a postcard that the University of Chicago sent me, in gothic-y letters with photos inside the outlines of the letters
-A cool language-y postcard that my mom gave me one time (I believe Hannah has one as well) which has a cool language/bilingual person/language nerd joke on it.
-Three index cards with quotes on them – two I found on the Internet, one Goethe
-Another index card with all the German adjective endings you could ever want to know on it
-The tag from the Redbubble shirt Kailyn gave me for Christmas (it’s clothespinned to one of the index cards)
-Two sticky notes telling me what times the gym and pool are open
STUFF ON THE ACTUAL DESK:
-A stuffed Dalahäst (those orange Swedish donkeys) that I bought at Sjölunden -Lots of books (we’ll get to that) -Goethe and Schiller, two small white busts of famous German authors which I got from Mr. Bird when he retired last year. They very often fall over. –A sticky note that fell off telling me what days the jazz band is playing at the Brewery again this spring -A pencil jar with a Swedish flag sticking out of it -Some more books -Flashcards that I made for jazz improv-Other (duct tape, loose change, mug, keys, phone)
-Tickets from when I went to see Frozen with Stephen and another couple last night
-School stuff
-Lots of charger cords and things
-A Raymond Carver library book that I probably should return before I forget
-A Doctor Who find-and-search book that one of my fraternity brothers gave me because she is awesome
-An old Nintendo DS that Stephen gave me for Christmas
STUFF ON THE WINDOWSILL:
-A basket that my aunt gave me when I graduated with letters and some folders and other odds and ends
-A GOP elephant beanie baby that my grandpa gave me when I was a senior in college. He and my grandma had come from Minneapolis for Thanksgiving and we were at a restaurant and he pulled it out and said, “This is so everyone at college will know just who you are.”
-A picture frame which is so broken it has a rubber band across one corner to hold the back in; there are pictures of my parents, me with my dad’s parents, me with my sisters, me with Hannah and me with Derek.
BOOKS (FROM LEFT):
-Madeleine L’Engle Herself: a book of cool snippets about writing and life and love and self from all of her writings which Derek gave to me this last Christmas
-A Wrinkle in Time: the copy that my grandma gave to me when I was ten
-Pride and Prejudice: the copy I bought at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis this past summer when I went to see the play version with my sisters and cousin and mom.
-Camilla: I bought it for myself off Amazon.
-A Wind in the Door: The copy that I have actually used to belong to Hannah, but then Derek bought it off her to use to ask me to prom.
-The Arm of the Starfish: From my parents this last Christmas (Stephen actually has it right now because I wanted him to read it).
-Paper Towns: the copy Hannah gave me for Christmas.
-The Fault in Our Stars: the Swedish copy my parents gave me for my eighteenth birthday.
-The Love Letters: the AUTOGRAPHED copy Derek gave me for my eighteenth birthday.
-The Complete Works of Shakespeare: bought at Barnes and Noble with Derek and Montana last summer.
-Kristin Lavransdatter: Graduation gift from Devo because I did a big report on it for his English class.
-Dance in the Desert: Hannah bought it at a garage sale in California and gave it to me for my birthday when she came back.
-Selected Poems of e. e. cummings: Mr. Bird gave it to me when he retired.
–A House Like a Lotus and Dragons in the Waters: from my parents this last Christmas.
-Paths to German Poetry from my honorary uncle Craig
-A Swiftly Tilting Planet which I’ve had since I was like twelve
-The Blue Castle: sixteen? seventeen?th birthday gift; also favorite Lucy Maud Montgomery book, like, ever.
-Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: a beautiful little book that my grandfather gave me right before my junior year of high school when they picked me up from Sjölunden. It used to be his father’s.
-Swedish: A Practical Grammar which I bought for 50 cents at a cleaning-house sale at Sjölunden (loppis!).
-201 Swedish Verbs which I bought myself at Sjölunden.
-Teach Yourself Swedish which my dad gave me when I was twelve because he is awesome.
-Half of a Swedish dictionary which I got for Christmas; the other half which I bought myself at Sjölunden.
–Sweden which is a travel book that Doug gave me a long long time ago.
Books are cool. I like things that have stories attached to them. Derek and I were having dinner in the dining hall the other day and I had Paper Towns with me and had underlined some stuff on one page, and he said, “You write in your books?!” and I said, well yeah! And I do. I love writing in my books. Because I know these books will not always be mine. I’ll lose them or give them away or die and my kids will go through them. And I love finding what other people have written in books. So I hope maybe someone will find what I’ve written in my books and think it’s kind of cool.
Yeah.
