The Intriguing Hitman

I wonder what our (meaning, I suppose, American's) fascination with hitmen is. Lately (as in, the past two weeks or so), I've been coming across the theme of hitmen in movies, television, and the book I'm currently reading.

I suppose it's that for most people the idea of someone who can kill for a living, yet remain a functioning human being is bordering on impossible. In general, hitmen in stories are ridiculously polite or calm or 'nice'. Something to challenge our notion of what a killer would be like. I suppose there are actually hitmen in the world, but I somehow doubt that the romantic image found in movies and books is very accurate. But I do wonder what killing for a living does to a human being. I've never met a killer, as far as I know, so for me, as with most people, it is a mysterious sector of our society.

I seem to be having random, unexplained problems with spelling and/or typing sentences. Leaving out words, or suddenly being unable to remember how some word I know quite well is spelled. It's very weird. I hope it goes away soon. I hate my typing to be less-than perfectly comprehensible.

Jonah "tagged" me to answer the question 'if I could write a novel about any subject, what would it be?' I will answer this question, but I'm not going to tag 5 people as instructed. Mostly because I doubt that there are 5 people who read this blog.

I think it's interesting that the question specifies a novel. I think a generic 'book' would provide a more interesting question.

Like Jonah, I'm hardly capable of creating fantastic worlds in vivid detail. I think I am able to write realistic fiction based on my own experiences, and that is what any novel I wrote would be. I suppose a novel I wrote would explore some themes. I've considered exploring age issues, gay issues, and depression issues. I don't have anything to add on the middle, but the first could be interesting, I suppose. But probably only to me.

All in all, I find it unlikely that I would write fiction other than as an exercise for my own mental health. Possibly short stories. I think writing short stories is exceptionally hard, and impressed with people who can write meaningful short stories.

But if I was going to write a book, it'd probably be an extension of my thesis, and therefore not a novel at all, but a really boring non-fiction book. I like to think it has some pretty interesting parts, however.


I bought a MacBook today. Of course, since I *had* to custom order it, I won't get it for 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. Which is too bad, because at most, I'll only have a day or two with it before classes start. At worst, I won't get it until after classes start.

I also will be receiving a free (after mail-in rebate) ipod nano. I pretty much plan on selling it on eBay, unless someone I know desperately wants it.

I wandered into an NYU library on my walk around Washington Square Park today. Didn't notice it yesterday. It appeared to be a 'general' library, so it's probably the main one. I was interested to see if they had a fiction section. They had a small 'leisure' reading section, but I didn't see anything that particularly piqued my interest. But I know it's there now, and right next to the law school, pretty much.

3 of my classes were posted today: Contracts, Procedure, and Torts. Only Torts has the syllabus and first assignment posted. I assume the others will have at least the syllabus soon, so I can get the books. I really don't entirely know what Procedure is. I guess it's where you learn how things like suing someone work. I don't know if it covers Criminal or Civil procedure or both. I'm not looking forward to Contracts. My brief introduction to Contracts taught me that it is a bizarre section of law that makes less than adequate sense. My New College professor said it was the only area he had issues with in law school, so apparently I'm not alone. Isaac didn't think it made sense either. Of course, who the hell knows? I might love contracts--I don't know enough about it to know, I suppose.

Okay, I'm off to try to finish up the last of my book. Maybe I'll be able to sleep at a reasonable hour. (Ha.)