Weekend

Yesterday I had a good day. School was nice, we had the second hour so I got to sleep in 30 minutes, and I went to see "Twilight" at the cinema with Tang. The movie was terrible, the sort of film that prides itself on having a "hot guy" in it and thinks you want to spend two hours looking at close-ups of his face and listening to him engage in unbelievably boring, cliche dialogues. That being said, I understood almost everything. And it was a very large theater with big comfortable seats, and since I had a... a Gutschein! I cannot remember this word in English! It's a thing that you get as a gift and then you don't have to pay, because it's beem paid for you. Well, since I got one for my birthday, I only had to pay €1.30. So I'm glad I went, and it was funny seeing Kristen Stewart, the "Angel from Montgomery" girl, play Bella Swan.

Tang, of course, loved it. She would not stop quoting it afterwards and told me I need to get the main actor's autograph for her when I go back to America! She asked me which guy I thought was "the cutest," and I half-heartedly said "Jasper." Jasper is one of the vampires, pretty much a filler character whose only job is to sit in the corner looking pale and gaunt and surprised. None of the characters were particularly endearing, but they did really look like vampires. I don't really see the appeal in being in love with a vampire.

I did read the book. I know you Twilight fans will probably hate me, but I had some concerns with it. I've thought about writing an essay on this, actually, because it will give me an excuse to read all the books (they are addictive) but also complain cynically about them. I am uncomfortable, first of all, which the amount of control that Edward has over Bella, his girlfriend and the book's protagonist. He decides whether she lives or dies, basically, and throughout the books loses his temper with her (which she responds to by submitting completely, apologizing or insisting, "You're right"), follows her around and spies on her when she is sleeping (which she finds endearing) and attempts to prevent her from seeing her best friend. All of which, well, creep me out. The writing is good enough to make me want to keep reading, and I have fun reading them, but I don't believe these books. I am reading them very much from afar -- when the characters claim that they are really in love, that they will always be together, I don't believe them. Also, the Romeo and Juliet metaphor was boring.

But really, this is to be expected when I read a book that is a vampire romance. Sure, vampires are cool, but I am not so easily charmed by "romances." I am not a romantic. I think the only book that has ever made me say "Awwwww," was Norwegian Wood, a good example of "just a romance" becoming an amazing, touching story that draws you in. I fell in love with Midori while reading this book, and isn't that sort of the purpose of a "novel," that you really believe it and feel what the characters are feeling, no matter how ridiculous that sounds?

In other events, I had a good couple of days. Right now I'm kind of back in my slump. It's brought on by the strangest things -- today, coming across a girl's blog from Iceland (the country that I originally wanted to go to.) I had a moment of "Oh my God, why am I in Germany learning German when I always wanted to go to Iceland and blah blah blah..." Which is ridiculous. Any issues I have are not a result of the country I am in, they're a result of me being immature or unflexible or cynical. It's an issue with me. I am in a really good situation, in a good family, in a mediocre school with kids that seem to like me and teachers that leave me alone. Someday maybe I will like Pforzheim. So then I started feeling very bad that I've started blaming Germany, when anything that bothers me is my fault.

I don't know why, but Flickr's flash uploader is not working. I still have photos backed up since November. I promise I'll get to it, it's just very, very time-consuming since I need to be sitting at my computer to upload them all. I hope to have pictures from Spain on here soon.