Thursdays are Never Productive

I always make grand plans for Thursday nights. I'm always convinced during the day that I'm going to get home from work and immediately get started on my homework so I don't have to do it over the weekend. Today I even went so far as to make an hour by hour schedule for myself. It was:
1:00-7:00 WORK
7:00-8:00 DINNER
8:00-8:30 PRACTICE TRIADS
8:30-9:00 RESEARCH OBAMA CAMPAIGN'S USE OF TECHNOLOGY
9:00-Bed CATCH UP ON SOCIOLOGY READING
And um...yeah. I ate dinner and practiced triads. I then proceeded to clean my room, which is at least something, I guess. I've been letting my shit get too messy lately. It got to the point yesterday when I kind of felt like I was having a minor panic/claustrophobia attack and I actually had to open the window wide and stick my head out to get some air and calm down. But anyways, my little space is much cleaner and I feel much better for it.

It's finally beginning to register with me that oh hey, I'm actually going away next semester. And I'm getting SO EXCITED. Handing in all my visa information did it, really. And now all I can think about is where I want to go, what I want to do. I've decided what I want to do for spring break is go to Barcelona via the south of France. So I'll probably take the train, cause the Eurorail goes straight through Nice and Marseilles. I also really want to make it to Amsterdam at some point, and Vienna as well. I want to go to the opera in Vienna and Milan and go to all the museums everywhere. I got dinner with a friend and her roommate a few nights ago, and the roommate had done the NYU in Florence program last semester. She said she loved it, but only after a few months. She made the point that a lot of people have warned me about, that it's very very small, and very very touristy, and far too many NYU kiddies are happy to just go to the American bars and drink all the time. And that's pretty much the exact experience I don't want to have. I'm going to try my hardest to become fluent in Italian, and I want to actually use this semester to experience everything I possibly can. I want to be so tired by the time I get home I can't leave my house for a week. I've been less stressed about the money aspect of it lately too. My mom has told me that she's getting me my plane ticket for Christmas, which lifts a huge burden off my shoulders ($900 ticket=less fun things Alex can do), and my nonna has promised to help me out. I'm also being a huge miser this semester and barely spending any money at all.

In other news, JIM KIM IS COMING TO VISIT THIS SATURDAY! Then I'm cooking dinner and watching Newsies with Jade. Then on Sunday Mom is coming in to do some shopping, so we're going to have a girls day. I miss her a lot lately. I think it's just getting to that time of year. But it's going to be a fun/busy weekend. Which is probably why I should have done homework tonight?

I need a new novel, preferably one that has nothing to do with child molestation. For some reason, the past three books I've read have all had a plotline that revolves around a child being abused and its consequences on the child and the people around him or her. And honestly, it gets me down. I don't pick up books being like yes! Child abuse makes for a wonderful read! I just pick books that look interesting and then when it gets obvious that the child in the book was molested I'm just like Fuck. Not again. So...any suggestions? I really want to read Roberto Bolano's 2666 but I don't have the time right now to read a book that is 1000+ pages of hardcore Literature. But I don't want to read something airy superficial either.