"Closing Time"

So I finished the sequel to Catch-22, Closing Time, and I must say it was something of a disappointment. Set about 50 years after the first book, Closing Time follows a much older Yossarian and his adventures in modern society. The story line was convoluted and confusing at times, much like Catch-22, but many times, especially towards the end, it did not make much sense. Catch-22 was at least probable, but Closing Time was very contrived and a little forced; the story didn’t move on its own like Catch-22. And there was too much sex. Much, much too much. I’d like to think that I’m not a prude, but it was just too much. If you are looking for a nihilistic satire of modern society, this is your book, unless you want something easy to read. Then it isn’t. 

A Well-Paid Adventure

I learned several things this week. First, if you are offered an extra $2.50 an hour, $25 in food expenses, and free room and board, the job isn’t going to be much fun. Everything else was, though; this week and next I’m working second shift in an office building a coupe hours away. The fact that I’m working until 1 in the morning isn’t ideal, but the hours were more like my “school hours,” and I got the chance to wake up naturally and run before work, which really made me happy. It was basically an all-expense paid vacation to work. 

There was two of us, each with a $25 food allowance, so we had $50 to spend on food every day. There was free breakfast at the hotel, so we had $25 for each meal. With that kind of money, you can get a really good meal every day. One day we went to Friday’s, the next Ruby Tuesday’s, and the last we went to the Cheesecake Factory. At the Cheesecake Factory I was struck by a sudden and horrid realization: that place has a 20-page menu with ad space in it! I almost wanted to get up and walk out I was so disgusted by it. Here I was, with so much wrong with the world, and I was sitting at the epitome of middle-class gluttony and excess. I can’t say the people sitting near me helped the image: loud, annoying, and excessively fat, they were the poster children for what’s wrong with us. I’d like to say that I don’t think I will ever set foot in that place again, but my family is in love with it. 

Finally, taking the time to be courteous to anyone and everyone can pay large dividends later on. For example, one of the night guards was a man who it would have been easy to take offense at, but we made the effort to talk and joke around with him. By the end of the week, in his own way, he went out of his way to help us an make things easier for us. It’s kind of corny and cliche, but a little kindness and amiability goes a long way. 

And finally, I like traveling, as long as I get to sleep and run and eat well. 

The end of the world

So, the end of the world came and passed, and there was much frivolity. I’m still not sure what to think about it. I did my fair share of mocking it and the people who believed that it really was going to happen 6 PM on May 21, but ultimately I do believe that the world is going to end at some point. I just don’t think that anyone will see it coming. But you really could get a sense of our culture in the way that everyone responded to it. It was like I was in a dystopian novel, like 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 or something, where the most serious things are downplayed in order that the general population will not panic. The end of the world was coming, and everyone was cracking jokes and poking fun at the concept of Judgment Day. And the idea that it would happen in each time zone at 6 PM was just the weirdest feeling, because theoretically you could see the ned of the world coming. Just imagine what it would have been like watching the world go up in flames bit by bit, knowing that it was coming but being powerless to stop it. It was the end of the world, and everyone cracked jokes had a jolly old time pooh-poohing the religious crazies who proposed such an idea.  “It’s the end of the world as we know, and I feel fine.”  I believe that was the state of the world this weekend. 

But where does this put us? People now more than ever are going to see Christians as a bunch of loonies who believe absolute nonsense. One of my friends wrote something, the general idea of it being that the people who predicted the end of the world are more dangerous to Christianity than the Westboro Baptist Church that hates gays and soldiers, because everyone knows that the WBC is a small, loony sect that no one likes. But the end of the world group was made up of a large number of Christians who did not appear as WBC does. But now they have discredited Christianity in the common mind more than WBC has or will, at least in my opinion.

Catch-22

I just finished a book. I hope that happens quite often this summer. Last summer I only read two books, The Brothers Karamazov and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Needless to say I am ashamed of myself. I thought I was hot stuff back then, reading some Dostoevsky, but it took me all summer to get through it. I've been home for a week, and I've already read two books. I plan on reading at least one book a week, so I should read at least 12 books this summer if my math is right, which it probably isn't. You see, I'm an English major. I suck at math, and I'm not too hot at the sciences either. But give me a book or ask me about philosophy and I can go on for hours. I think. Anyway, I just finished Catch-22, and I absolutely loved the book. It was recommended to me by a friend who has not read it himself, so I don't know how he knew it was such a good book.The premise seemed to be that we live a world of contradictions, but we have no choice but to accept them as they are and look beyond the inherent senselessness. We try to pretend that it's okay and we are sane and there are no problems; be realizing there are problems shows true sanity, which is seen as insanity by those who continue to delude themselves and are truly insane.  The author presented his characters in a comic light, making references to events that did not make any sense at the moment, but were explained periodically throughout the story. I did not to expect to become so attached to the characters simply by virtue of comedy. I grieved, I laughed, I loved, I hated along with the characters, especially Yossarian, who is the main character; a bombardier in WWII, he is one of those who realizes the world is a screwy place. Catch-22: Read it!