That Person Who Had My Book Before Me

Yes, yes, I barely update anymore. I didn't count on this annoying silly little thing called college that interferes a bit with my life. I also have class all day on Monday, until eight in the evening, so by the time I go home, it's all I can do to stay up late enough to finish homework. And is only the beginning of my week.


Key for post:
Italics: means excerpt from book
Pink: means the girl's margin notes
Regular: my writing


So, we've all bought used books from the bookstore. Sometimes they've been used a lot, with lots of highlighting all over the place, and sometimes only a few pages are bent. But, sometimes you get real gems in the used book.


For example, I bought a used copy of Great Expectations for my Victorian Lit class at the Trinity Bookstore, and I have had the most wonderful time seeing some of the notes that the girl who had the book before me wrote in the margins. Yes, I know it was a girl, because her handwriting looks like this:

Anyway, so as I've been plowing through the book, her little notes have kept me entertained-- so entertained, in fact, that I thought I would share!

So, as we all know, Great Expectations is by Charles Dickens. I open up to the first page to see the narrator introducing himself to the reader, and a note off to the margin: England; locator. Okay, I'm glad that this book by Dickens takes place in England, but maybe...he doesn't always start his books in England. Doesn't A Tale of Two Cities take place partly in France? *shrugs, continues reading*

...with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond....

                                                                                                             ---->Looks like lead

Okay, now I knew that I was going to have a good time reading this book. I'm not going to share all of the special moments with you, because I would basically end up reading you the entirety of GE with added commentary, after skimming past a paragraph with a heart drawn next to it, another paragraph with an added note that Pip (the main character) has no parents (I should mention here that the book opens with Pip in a graveyard visiting his parents), and general sparknotes for every single paragraph involving action, I got to the beginning of chapter four to find this:

                                              ----->Constable = police officer

I fully expected to find a Constable in the kitchen, waiting to take me.

....passing by some more hearts, and every other line underlined....question mark next to the word "vicarious".....more present-tense spark-notes on what's happening....

I contrived in an hour or two to print and smear this epistle:

"mI DeEr JO i opE U r KrWitE wEll i opE i shAl soN B haBelL 4 2 teeDge U JO aN theN wE shOrl b sO glOdd aN wEn i M preNgtD 2 u JO woT larX an blEvE ME inF xn PiP"

^not good writer yet <3

...heart heart heart, underline, underline, underline....question mark next to the word "guineas"....slew of question marks by one particularly descriptive paragraph...

Chapter XXI  21

Now we reach my favorite part of the notes. There is one scene where Pip has reached London, and he wants to borrow money from some guy. They debate how much pounds Pip is going to get, having a conversation that goes a little like this:

"Can I have money?"
"Sure! Fifty pounds?"

"No! Not that much! That's crazy talk!"

"Five pounds?"

"No, that's not enough."

"You should be clear, then! How about ((100x10)/5)-(3x50)-30 pounds?"

"Yes, that should work great!"

"Now, boy, tell me how much money you want. Just saying 'yes' isn't going to get you anywhere in the business world of London! You have to solve equations like this!"

"Obviously it's twenty, sir."
"Good job! Here is twenty pounds! Run along now, and cheerio!"

Then I noticed the comment in the margins:

lbs of what?

      of what?

            of what?

First, I facepalmed my face off. Then, I wondered how she'd read twenty five chapters of Charles Dickens and not picked up on the currency of England. Not knowing about guineas, I can maybe understand. Pounds, no. Just...no. Then I asked myself why she was in an upper level (UPPER LEVEL) course on Victorian literature. What was she doing? Did this course used to be required for everybody? Do they use this copy of GE for other English classes....like a seminar class?

*sigh* So, anyway. I still have over half of the book to go, but I'm not sure I can be entertained by these comments so much as stabbed through the chest with a spear of ignorance and margin-hearts. I am not a snob, and I really do believe that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Except for when the question is stupid. Then it is stupid. 

Has anyone else ever gotten an interesting previous book-owner?

How well do you know your campus?

Working at TU over the summer has really opened my eyes to some of the things on campus I never knew existed. For example, I had no idea that we had four (4) vice presidents. And, not having a car, I only recently learned about a bunch of "secret" parking lots, like the one under Laurie and the faculty lot between the student lot (behind Laurie) and Laurie auditorium.  Or the room under the Witt center with nothing but art supplies? (I've been here for two years, btw)

Also, did anyone else know that it possible to get from the English/Language side of Northrup to the HR side without going outside at all? *shrug* Or maybe I'm just incredibly clueless. 

Well, here are a few things about Trinity that amazed me when I first found out. 

1. The layout of Chapman. I have yet to fully understand it, but from what I can tell, there is actually a section of it on the third floor that you can't get to unless you go up the correct staircase from the first second floor. Ie, it is possible to be on the third floor of Chapman, and be unable to get to the classroom you want to be in that's also on the third floor without going down and up a flight of stairs.
1. a. Also, who can tell me where the door is that leads outside to the tile-waterfall? Yes, I do know the answer. I am just curious to know if anybody else does. 

2. Lightner Tea Room. I feel like I was the last person on earth to find out about that one. And once I did find out about it, it was another six months before I figured out where it was. (on top of Lightner, for those other Emilys out there) The only disadvantage to it is that you can't get there unless you have your Tigercard. I suppose it's good for people who are worried about being followed by creepy people from the streets, but bad if you happen to be one of those people who tend to lose their Tigercard every other week. Not that I would know anything about that. No. Nothing at all. *wanders away*

Discussion question of the week: Suppose you ended up in the Tea Room somehow without your card. Let's say that you went with a friend who had a card, and that friend left with their card, and you said you'd stay behind before realizing you were trapped. And you had no phone. What would you do?

3. I would say the Meditation Garden or that random room stuck to the chapel that is sometimes used as a Mosque (and actually has a second organ in it), but thanks to organ lessons, I know everything about that dang chapel. 

Seriously, though, try coming here at night sometimes. It's very  beautiful when it's all lit up.

4. How about the chaplain's house. Who knew that he lived on campus? Well, I do, because I wrote an article on him earlier this year. Guess where he lives? No, not Oakmont Court. That would be too easy. 

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waiting for people to guess

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He lives on Rosewood. There are houses on Rosewood? Yes. One. Only one? Yes. Just one. Just one? Yep. The chaplain's? Yep. Now tell me where Rosewood is. 

5. Bonus question. Tell me where the Communications dept is, as well as the Animal Facility office. Yes, they're both on campus.

Any other places that people felt like they didn't know about for an embarrassingly long time?

What College Students Need (pilot)

[note: Yes, I am starting a new blog. I am not getting rid of my old one, but instead, breaking it up into three blogs. I'm hoping to attract a few more followers, based on what they are more interested in reading. Mozart and Chocolate will deal with random thoughts, and kind of whimsical posts like it always has. However, anything related to college life will be moved into this blog, which will consist of regularly written posts related to college stuff. The last post, "Tolkien and Taters," is a remake of an old blog that I haven't updated in months. Once I start posting again, it will deal primarily with books, class lectures, literature, and maybe religion.]

This is the first post of my new blog, The College Student's List! What I'm hoping to do is to build a series of posts on college-related subjects (while I will try and keep the same tone as Mozart and Chocolate, the subject material will be more specific, and the posts will be much shorter, on average). Most posts will involve some sort of list, and I would love if people contributed in the "comments" section under here (which I have deliberately left open for anybody to respond to), with additions to the lists, stories, other ideas for college-related posts, or whatever else you can think of.

So. To begin. The things nobody tells you that you really do need in college:

• Command strips (<---link). Get them nao. They hang up your posters, hooks (to hold bags), hold wires/cables, etc, without taking off half the wall at the end of the year. The trick is getting them off correctly, but I assure you that it is quite possible. I will write a "how to" post if necessary-- I will even walk over to your dorm and take everything down without tearing a single strip of wall paint or a single poster in return for more command strips-- but these little things are the best. 

J Biebs would look much nicer on the wall with some command strips

• Dishsoap. You will want this. If not for yourself, for the friend who needs it, doesn't have it, never buys it, and leaves you with dirty dishes all over your suite. Or, you could get it and be the only one in your hall who has it, and make money off of lending it to people. You'd be so rich by the end of the year that you basically wouldn't even need to go to college anymore-- you could just retire and move to the French countryside with a bottle of wine and some horses and laugh at the people who didn't bring dishsoap. But seriously. Get it. You will not regret it.

Do you want your sink to look like this? I think not.

• Granola Bars. These little things are great for when you have an eight thirty class, a nine thirty class, a ten thirty class, and an eleven thirty class, and due to all the, um, studying you were doing the night before, you miss your alar-- I mean, you feel like you should probably sleep in until eight twenty five, to maximize your sleeping time. Even if you're not a breakfast person, classes can last a loooooooong time at that hour of the morning. And freshmen: do not say that you're an early riser. Because you're not. You just don't know it yet. 

This is what you look like a minute before your alarm goes off. And quite possibly, an hour afterwards.

Soooo....what else did people realize that they needed in college after the year had already started? I will bake cookies for whoever responds. (am I telling the truth? Respond and find out!)