'And now she sits alone and remembers.'

The subject line is taken from the refrain of the Carlos Fuentes novel that I just finished, The Old Gringo. It was very interesting. For one thing, it had a dream-like quality: because of this it sort of reminded me of The Great Gatsby, but only because I find that novel very haunting and dream-like (though more haunting than dream-like). For another thing, I don't think I've ever read a novel--I can't think of one, anyway--that talks about Americans from the point-of-view of someone who isn't American. It's the tension between the States and Mexico that provides the major driving force for the novel. I highly recommended it. It's not a must-read, but definitely a worthwhile one.

In other news, the temporary roommate just left forever. I now have an urge to re-arrange the kitchen cabinets because she moved things around. I've finally decided to move my stuff back into the kitchen--hooray--because things are going to change around here. Caspian's girlfriend is moving in with us and she's a clean-freak. And we're going to give Amanda an ultimatum when she returns to improve her cleaning habits or leave. So, I feel that my dishes and pots and pans will be safe once again. We'll see how that goes.

School starts in a week. Sigh. I'm ready, I guess. I haven't really much thought about it. I've been more worried about freaking out about grad school. I'm trying to expand my search a bit and have found a few more possibilities--a few even in Canada, but the funding possibilities are a bit hazy if I stay here. I've still got my sights set on Berkeley, so we'll see how that goes.