Xanax and productivity

I love Xanax. I have been a little stressed lately with all the hub-bub, and to top it off it is mid-term time, but with my happy pills I finished 2 books this week!

The Quiet American by Graham Greene is my 27th book. I adored this movie and that is why I read the book. I do wish I had read it first, but not too much was lost. I did get a little bored at times, but not enough to get annoyed, his writing is really good and there is just something about imperialism I love reading about. I really like the feel of this book, it is seedy without being at all dirty. It is dreary, but not miserable and everyone is likable.

From childhood I had never believed in permanence, and yet I had longed for it. Always I was afraid of losing happiness. This month, next year, Phuong would leave me. If not next year, than in three years. Death was the only absolute value in my world. Lose life and one would lose nothing again for ever. I envied those who could believe in a God and I distrusted them. I felt they were keeping their courage up with a fable of the changeless and the permanent. Death was far more certain than God, and with death there would be no longer the daily possibility of love dying. The nightmare of a future boredom and indifference would lift.-The Quiet American-Graham Greene

Book 28 is Nickel and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America. This was a wonderful read; it was certainly nothing new for me. It was a little like a trip down memory lane. Trying to make it as an unskilled worker in the US, is my heritage. Waiting tables, retail and house cleaning, the family business. For anyone, who has lived this drudgery, this is a good book. It isn't overly political, it is just a day to day account of trying to making the choice between a roof over your head, or nutritious food. It was excellent.

There are no secret economies that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special costs. If you can't put up the two months' rent you need to secure an apartment, you end up paying through the nose for a room by the week. If you have only a room, with a hot plate at best, you can't save by cooking up huge lentil stews that can be frozen for the week ahead. You eat fast food or the hot dogs and Styrofoam cups of soup that can be microwaved in a convenience store.- Nickel and Dimed- Barbara Ehrenriech

The rest of my life is fine. Things are smashing and peachy. Tonight my handsome Latin lover and I will order in Asian dumplings and watch The Office. What could be better?