A Literary Crush (that's not mine)

This time it is not my personal crush, but a crush that was expressed by one literary figure over another. I was reading some excerpts from Louisa May Alcott's journals while in the laundromat this afternoon because... well what else do people do at the laundromat? I needed a break from homework and though there hasn't been much news, I do entertain hopes of doing an independent study on Alcott next semester. Anyway, I came across this passage about her sister's wedding:

Mr. Emerson kissed her [Meg]; and I thought that honor would make even matrimony endurable, for he is the god of my idolatry, and has been for years.

A deliberate reference to Romeo and Juliet it would seem. She had a crush on Emerson- I laughed out loud when I read that. Her family was very closely knit with the literary community. When her sister Elizabeth (inspiration for Beth in Little Women) died, Emerson and Thoreau were among the pallbearers according to her journal.

Trying to Cheer Up a Bit

As Allie, my boss on the college paper can attest, nothing calms me like men in wool. So, after adding a few hundred words to my story, instead of leaping into my research paper (Satire in Troilus and Cressida is due Wednesday!) I decided to watch a Sherlock fan vid or two which inspired me to read "The Field Bazaar" and "How Watson Learned the Trick" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. They're actually parodies of Holmes and Watson that Doyle himself wrote.
They are pretty funny. They're also very brief, so I then read one that J.M. Barrie wrote for Doyle when together they wrote the libretto of an operetta that was a total flop, it's about the two of them having a confrontation with Holmes and Watson and it's called "The Adventure of the Two Collaborators." Kind of... cute actually. Made me smile anyway.
In another attempt to cheer myself and re-invigorate my writing I've decided to write scenes in my story that I didn't originally plan, but that I think would be fun. I wrote one yesterday that brought my protagonist together with her two equally strange and interesting siblings, just because I find their potential for interaction to be exciting. I did it in flashback so that it didn't change my plot.
Next up on the frivolous scenes agenda will be one where the sidekick convinces my protagonist to go "clubbing" with her. Of course my anti-social misanthrope will try to gather clues and make this an experience that will help her solve the crime (and help me move the plot forward, ahem), but I just think it could be fun to see her faced with such an obnoxious situation and have her size up other people at the club.
Best of all, I definitely think that I will go over 20,000 before introducing the next dead body... well not introduce, we've already met him, but you know what I mean. We haven't met him dead yet. Might not quite break 25,000 before he's found, but we'll see.
I'm optimistic within reason. How's that for a qualifier?
Well, tomorrow is home work day. While I'm at the laundromat I'll finish reading "The Turn of the Screw" and then when I get home I'll get on my satire paper- hopefully the other book I need will be in by tomorrow morning when I check. Saturday will probably be spent in shaping up said paper and maybe starting on the next one, a comparison piece. Ah, yes I still need to choose a subject for my third paper, I have two weeks on that one, but I'd like to at least know what it's about. Have I ever mentioned that I'm very bad at selecting a topic for research? Unless something jumps out at me right away, I just stumble around in the woods until I fall into a pit, then I stay and hang out. Translating my mental and emotional responses to a text into something I can research or write about in a scholarly way is difficult for me.

My Day Off

For the first time in several weeks I have had a morning to myself. Truthfully, I should be camped out at the laudromat with my laptop doing homework between feeding quarters into the machine. Honestly, I probably won't be able to do laundry for another week, but I woke up with a massive headache, so instead I'm camped out in my room. Yes, I'm still working on homework, but I'm also cuddling with my cats and wearing the baggy band tee I sleep in- I couldn't do that at the laudromat... well I'd have to be wearing jeans as well. I should be okay on the laundry thing, I can hand wash neccesary pieces and I just bought a new pack of underwear. It'll be fine.
Truthfully I'm valuing my precious quiet alone time very much. I have been two weeks without any and it's taking its toll. I may start snarling at passerbys and hiding under tables to avoid customers at work. Which I do have to work tonight, so this sweet repose it but short lived.
Now I must get back to listening to The Doors and writing my articles for the paper.