Hello everyone!

Well, I'm back in lovely Troy, NY. (I'm being sarcastic.) Anyways, one of my classes has started a blog thing so that we can post twice a week. I didn't give them this blog since you all read it and I figured you wouldn't want to hear every post I have about books that you haven't read. I figured I'd only post the class entries if they seemed remotely interesting. So as our first entry we had to talk about ourselves as reader. Hopefully the professor doesn't get mad because I totally forgot to post it last night. oops. I attached and apology and will understand if I don't get credit for this post. (Mommy, don't get mad.) Anyways, here's the post.

Blog #1: Characterize yourself as a reader of literature and as a reader in the information age.

I think that I am a below average reader in terms of speed and efficiency. Unlike my peers, I find that I read at a rate that puts me in line with a tortoise. I am a slow-mo type of reader when I think about it. I like to take my time and read every word, to the amazement of my friends. In high school my boyfriend told me to just read the important words and not worry about the little words like “a” and “the”. “Filler” words he called them. I tried this tactic, but was unable to understand what the text was trying to tell me. In essence, it took me even more time to read because I had to go back and figure out what it all meant!
Though I am a slow reader, I’m glad that I still do it. I have heard some of my friends say that they do not like to read because they are too slow at it or do not understand it. When I hear this, I think of myself and my “struggles” with time efficient reading, but feel proud of myself for plugging through it. After Tuesday’s class, I no longer will say that I love to read, but rather that I highly enjoy it. Unlike Josh, I do not enjoy reading anything that I can get my hands on. Though this is to my disadvantage, I will take what I can get. I can only wish, and maybe through enough wishing, I will be more like him and be able to pick up a Java book and read it cover to cover with pleasure.
As it is, I find that I enjoy young adult fiction the most. The carefree nature of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Princess Diaries make reading leisurely and fun for me. (Plus, since the reading is so easy I can read through a book in a day and feel good about my reading abilities.) Please do not get me wrong, I have read some adult fiction as well, but mostly books of a fantastical nature. I like to escape from my hum-drum world of school, work and missing home. Stories like Wicked by Gregory Maguire are among some of my favorites. I cannot say that I like all of his work. I got through half of his Cinderella story entitled The Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister but did not enjoy it. I was a little let down at the quality of the writing. Wicked posed some hefty questions of religion and prejudice, which I found pleasing to reflect on, where as I found no such writing in the latter piece.
Asian and African American literature are also areas I enjoy exploring. I figured since I am Chinese, my interest in Asian American literature stems from there. I like to read, even if it is fiction, about Asian families and their histories. There has to be little fragments of truth in there, right? I connect with the stories well, and they make me think of home. As for African American Lit., I am not exactly sure why I am so attracted to it. I particularly like The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. I have not read any of Morrison’s other works, but they are on my list of books that I intend to read before I die.
I also am nothing short of obsessed with the Harry Potter series. I find the series utterly fascinating and can occasionally be heard muttering spells while in traffic or cleaning the bathroom. Harry Potter has lead me into a universe that is outside of my own. I have found that FanFiction has become a suitable outlet during the down time of book releases and now, the end of the series. I first started reading within this fandom one summer in my undergrad when my roommate and I were having a horrid fight and not speaking to one another. This lead to studying for five hours and reading FanFiction late into the hot, desert nights. As many will say, reading leads to writing, and that is what happened with me. At the time I was using my trusty desktop computer, but once I got my laptop I began to “cuddle” with it on top (not in) of my bed. Late into the night, my laptop and I would delve into the teenaged girl’s mind and fantasize about being in the wizarding world. I say teenaged girl because most of what I read sounded VERY much like a teenaged girl’s writing. In this case, I would read anything that I could find. As of late, I have been much more picky about my reading, which has made the hobby become a task.
Reading and writing of FanFictihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifon is not something that I have openly admitted to any class before, but as it is out there, I’ll see it through to the end. “I am Allison Chin, and I write smutty Harry Potter fan fiction.”

A/N: I apologize for the tardiness of this blog entry. To be honest, I totally forgot about it until I saw the “pinkish orangish” syllabus sticking out of my folder. Also, sorry for my wordiness. Those of you who have had me in a class before know that I tend to ramble on more than I need to.


P.S. If anyone is really interested in reading the other blog, I've given them my old Xanga blog.

That's all for now. Emmy is doing fine, but we've noticed that she isn't as energetic here as she was in CA. She's been sleeping a lot more than usual. I think that she misses home as much as we do.