13. “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov

I have officially picked up a copy of my first reading list book, and boy was it tough to not rifle my way through the entirety of Barnes & Noble to find more treasures! There’s just something so exciting about book stores. But more to the point, from the title of this post I’m sure you’ve already figured out the first book I’ve selected is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Prior to reading the back of the book, which doesn’t give too much additional information, I didn’t know much about Lolita beyond it being considered a controversial novel about a taboo romantic relationship (likely with a young girl judging by the word “lolita”).

“Awe and exhilaration – along with heartbreak and mordant wit – abound in Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov’s most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Most of all, it is a meditation on love – love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.” 

Also from the back of the book is a little snippet about Mr. Nabokov.

“Vladimir Nabokov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1899. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and launched his literary career in Berlin and Paris. in 1940 he moved to the United States, where he achieved renown as a novelist, poet, critic, and translator. Lolita was first published by the Olympia Press, Paris, on September 15, 1955. Nabokov died in Montreux, Switzerland in 1977.”

Po(le)stponed

My knee hasn’t fully strengthened since I dislocated it at work about a year ago. There have been several times when I’ve felt it move around and pop like in ways it shouldn’t. The last few pole classes and practices, I’ve felt it moving around, and it’s become painful. And this last practice it popped and locked up to the point where I had to force my knee to bend to move the kneecap back into place. So, with much sadness, I’m choosing to postpone my career as a stripper in hopes of doing some rehab on my knee. But don’t worry! I let the studio know what’s up, and they’re going to give me a 50% credit toward my next session as soon as my knee is up to par. With any luck, in the next 5 weeks until a new session starts at the studio, I’ll have a stronger knee, stronger body overall, and I’ll be down at least another 10lbs.

Book List

So I figured since item #22 of my 30 is to finish my reading list, I should probably post that list. Now, as quite the obsessive reader, this task will never truly be finished for me; however, I have been creating a list of books, many of them classics, that I want to read. The list I’m going to post might be added to as the weeks, months, years, go by, but I’m going to start with what I have on it for now, and I’ll post an update, short summary, and my thoughts on each book as I check them off. 

1. To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee (read in school – want to reread as an adult)
2. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
3. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
4. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
5. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
6. Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
7. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
8. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
9. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
10. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
11. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (read in school – want to read as an adult)
12. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
13. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
14. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
15. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
16. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
17. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
18. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer
19. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
20. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
21. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
22. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
23. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
24. Paradise Lost by John Milton
25. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
26. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
27. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
28. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
29. Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
30. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
31. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
32. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
33. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
34. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
35. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mich Albom
36. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott
37. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
38. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
39. Don Juan by George Gordon Byron
40. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
41. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
42. Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
43. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
44. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
45. The Royal Enigma by Krishna Bhatt
46. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
47. A Modest Proposal by Jonathon Swift
48. Looking for Alaska by John Green
49. The Concubine by Norah Lofts
50. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
51. What She Saw by Lucinda Rosenfeld
52. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
53. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
54. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
55. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
56. I Love Dick by Chris Kraus
57. Bossypants by Tina Fey
58. How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
59. How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
60. How’s Your Drink? by Eric Felten
61. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
62. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
63. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
64. I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley
65. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
66. At Home by Bill Bryson
67. Ringing Cedars Series by Vladimir Megre
68. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
69. After Long Silence by Helen Fremont
70. Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo
71. The Last Cannoli by Camile Cusumano
72. Don’t Stop the Carnival by Herman Wouk
73. The Hunt for the Seventh by Christine Morton-Shaw
74. When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins
75. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
76. The Hunger Fix by Dr. Pam Peeke
77. The New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler
78. Run Your Butt Off! by Leslie Bonci
79. Flat Belly Yoga by Kimberly Fowler
80. Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales
81. Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom by Dr. Christiane Northrup
82. The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
83. You are Not So Smart/ You are Now Less Dumb by David McRaney
84. Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain
85. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandella
86. The 5 Love Languages by Gary D. Chapman
87. The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal
88. Spontaneous Healing by Dr. Andrew Weil
89. Appetites: Why Women Want by Caroline Knapp
90. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
91. The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope
92. Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
93. The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
94. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
95. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
96. Everything Is Perfect When You’re a Liar by Kelly Oxford
97. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
98. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
99. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
100. Maus by Art Spiegelman

It’s a decently long list, but over the next 7 years, only averages out to 1.25 books per month. I welcome any suggestions you lovely people might have to add to this list – anything from Classics to Graphic Novel suggestions are welcome!

Pole: Week 1

Today I’m proud to say that I took my first step out of my very small comfort zone. I attended my first pole dance class. Now if the only idea that comes to mind when you hear “pole dance” is a sleazy strip club, I would recommend that you hop on over to YouTube and watch a few competitive pole routines. The amount of muscle strength required to do the basic moves (and I use “basic” loosely since there’s nothing basic about they can do) and then to add artistic styling to those moves is insanely impressive. The center I’m taking my classes at teaches in 8 week sessions and they separate classes by skill level, so those of us just starting don’t feel intimated by women who’ve been dancing for years. I would like to point out that, even when I don’t really dance… like ever… not even drunk. So I knew going into this that 1) I’m very out of shape and 2) I’m probably the least coordinated person you can find. Any of my peers could attest to how ridiculous I looked in gym classes.

Speaking of which, when the class first started, I must say that a part of me immediately felt like the chubby asthmatic kid in middle school gym. Without thinking I sought comfort in the back of the room next to the only other woman in the class who wasn’t already in decent shape. I saw myself in the floor to ceiling mirrors, barefoot and clad in a pair of very short shorts and a tank top, and I instinctively wanted to cover up… to hide. I had to remind myself that while it was OK to stand in the back of the room, it wasn’t OK to feel like I didn’t belong simply because my body isn’t in the shape I’d like it to be. I had paid to be there just like the rest of the women. This wasn’t a mandatory gym class. This was something fun I had chosen to do. As the class went on I felt less and less self-conscious.

I’d like to clarify some things about pole dancing. When they say you don’t have to be coordinated to do it, they’re liars. Big. Fat. Liars. Seriously though, I really am not very good at getting all parts of my body working toward the same fluid movement, but it got a little easier as the class progressed, and the instructor was excellent at explaining how to move your body to complete a particular move. I still have a lot of progress to make, but I learned a lot.

• When they say that women of any shape or size can pole dance… they mean it
• When they say that it’s a great workout… they mean it
• Every movement looks fancy if you do it on your tiptoes
• Toenails are ugly and I really need to keep mine painted
• Tyra is right… everyone looks sexy with a booty tooch!

Reality Check

As a single 23 year old looking to start school full-time and working two mentally and physically stressful jobs, most people would describe me as a workaholic. I like to think of it as being hardworking in pursuit of my goals, though there are times when I think of it more in terms of not wanting to be poor – something we can all relate to these days. Even though I know my work ethic and the job experience I’m gaining are helping me get closer to a financially stable and rewarding career, I’m also beginning to realize what my friends have been telling me for years: I work too much. Don’t get me wrong though. Both of my jobs (one full-time, one part-time) have me caring for developmentally disabled adults in their homes, and I absolutely love it. I feel very lucky that three years ago I fell into a job that I love at the young age of 20. I wouldn’t trade the experience this field of work has provided me for anything. That being said, though, I have been trading away my free-time in exchange for a paycheck that I rarely spend on anything fun. And I guess that’s where this blog comes in. One thing I’ve learned these past few years is that I’m a really good planner… as long as those plans aren’t for my own life. In my own life I’ve been more of a dreamer. I’ve always believed in the power and reality of everyone else’s dreams; however, I guess it’s only been a recent discovery for me that my own dreams can be a reality. In the short 23 years I’ve been alive I’ve had to very quickly learn some of the harsh lessons this life has to teach, and until this year, I’ve let those things skew how I viewed what I can accomplish. Sob stories aside, I’m now understanding that I need to turn my own dreams into plans. In terms of physical fitness and general health I’m a resolutioner this year. What can I say? I’m a sucker for “new beginnings” as they were. I’m proud to say that since January 1st, I’ve lost nearly 20 lbs, and I’m still going strong. Weight loss has always been one of those dreams I never really believed in the reality of before. But as I’ve made progress these last two months, I’m starting to ask myself, “Why not?” Why not go skydiving? Why not travel? Why not take a naked yoga class? So I made a list, and you guessed it… all of those are on it. Perhaps it’s a bit cliche, but I’ve chosen 30 things to do before I turn 30. If you’ve made it this far,  I’m sure you’re waiting to see what made the list. So without further ado…

1. Take pole dance classes
2. Take boxing lessons
3. Take belly dance classes
4. Go skydiving
5. Take ballroom dance classes
6. Run a 7 minute mile
7. Run a 5K
8. Run a 10K
9. Finish LPN program
10. Finish LPN to ASN program
11. Finish ASN to BSN program
12. Take sign language classes
13. Finish therapeutic massage certificate
14. Visit Albuquerque Balloon Festival
15. Visit Nantucket
16. Visit Sequoia National Park
17. Visit Maine
18. Travel abroad
19. Learn to ski
20. Learn to snowboard
21. Ride a zipline
22. Finish my reading list
23. Host a dinner party
24. Host a Sunday brunch
25. Participate in a poetry reading
26. Sing karaoke
27. Take a naked yoga class
28. Learn to drive stick shift
29. Buy a house
30. Change someone’s life for the better

Every item on this list is something that I have been wanting to do for some time, but the majority of them are pretty far out of my comfort zone. I’m sure there are a few on here that will even surprise my friends (Hey, friends! Surprise!) I’ll explain some of my choices in later posts. For now… I’m off to nap before work!