Oh, man.

I finished an infuriating and agravating book last night. The Nanny Diaries drove me insane; by the end of the book I wanted so badly to scream at the narrator "What the hell were you THINKING working for a couple of WASPs?" ... but I didn't. It was after midnight, after all. And I remembered the movie back in Intro to Soc. that Marion made us watch ... and I shuddered. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did, Mr. BoJangles.

Anyway, few days ago I finished a different book: Memoirs of a Geisha. This is the second time I've read Arthur Golden's book, and a few things have stuck with me, even since I first read the book in high school. The fact that the book is entirely fictional, for example, was something that I was surprised to have discovered after first reading it. I remember, very clearly, reading the Acknowledgements section at the end of the book and being struck by its first line, Although the character of Sayuri and her story are completely invented ... I put the book down and forgot about it for a good long while.

But some months ago I went to Half Price Books, as I often do, to browse the clearance section. (This is, not coincidently, the same way I managed to find The Nanny Diaries last week.) I found Memoirs peering up at me from the shelf, the geisha on the cover looking away to the right. I picked it up and remembered having enjoyed the story and decided that I should have my own copy.

So I start pouring myself through the book again, this time finding a sentence so profound that I immediately mark the page with a bit of foil from a gum wrapper and I think, "Wow, this is it. This is the whole thing, this is life."

We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course.

I suppose that's all the wisdom I've got for today. I've got to keep searching for a job out Omaha way. (Sorry about the rhyme.)