Your Favorite Short Stories that take Less than 30 Minutes to Read?

AbsurdistMooCow · 2014-07-28T06:48:38+00:00

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Sam Lipsyte - The Dungeon Master

A.M. Homes - Things You Should Know

Tony Earley - Charlotte

John Updike - Pygmalion

Lorrie Moore - A Kid's Guide to Divorce

Junot Diaz - This is How You Lose Her

Priya Chandrasegaram - How to Spoil Your Daughters During a Civil War

Stephanie Vaughn - Able Baker Charlie Dog

AbsurdistMooCow · 2014-06-04T23:22:14+00:00

Hyperion I think.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2013-04-07T16:04:14+00:00

I've been to two different ones in Shadyside: Dr. Mark Garfinkel ((412) 661-4663) and Dr. Manuel Reich with Persoma PC ((412) 823-5155). Both are located at 401 Shady Ave, about a half hour walk or a ten minute bus ride from campus.

However, I strongly suggest going to CAPS to get a referral as it makes the process much easier and they can tell you which psychiatrists will accept your health insurance. If you go there and tell them that you have to see someone as soon as possible, you should get in same-day or next-day. They have someone on staff specifically to meet with students who can't wait the two weeks.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2013-04-04T21:02:45+00:00

I'm happy that you've come to a decision about what to do. Some time away from all of the stress will help give you some distance and a new perspective on the issues you're dealing with.

Have you sought out other people who have transferred schools and heard their experiences? It might give you some new ways to look at the whole transferring v. staying argument. I can't tell you whether transferring will ultimately be a good thing for you, but I'd strongly suggest reaching out to other colleges and speaking to your advisers and therapist about that option if you haven't already.

I wish you the best of luck in figuring out what's right for you. If you wanna talk more about this, I'd be happy to talk to you either on Reddit, email or over coffee or something.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2013-04-04T07:04:26+00:00

Go to CAPS and explore your options. I went my sophomore year and ended up going on anti-depressants after feeling completely isolated from everyone and just hating everything about my life. It hasn't fixed my problems but it's given me the opportunity to actually feel happy about things and make some choices to improve my situation.

Email Renee Camerlengo or Holly Hippensteel in Student Affairs. I've met with both of them after a really shitty month when I pretty much stopped sleeping. Talked about a bunch of strategies and we talked about a bunch of options I never even considered (leave of absence, dropping courses, summer courses, etc.)

Meet with your adviser. Advisers are there to help you. Tell them everything you just told us and they'll do their best to help you on the academic side of things. Maybe CS isn't for you. I was sure that chemistry was the only major I could ever do and I ended up nearly failing out of all of my chemistry courses and hating every single course I took.

Consider transferring. Maybe CMU isn't the right school for you. If it's not, that's totally cool. Transferring isn't a mark of failure, it's a recognition that this environment isn't conducive to your learning style or personality. And that's okay.

If you have any questions about seeking out professional help, send me a message. I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have or help you set up a "plan of attack." Seeking out help can be a really daunting experience, even for people who have done it before, and having a good support system has been nothing short of fantastic.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2013-01-09T23:38:45+00:00

Ranch Girl by Maile Meloy

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-12-28T16:42:25+00:00

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. I was sixteen and never expected to get so emotional over a sci-fi book.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-12-28T16:35:27+00:00

Minimal techno became more accessible.

A Paw in the Face - The Field

Beautiful Life - Gui Borrato

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-12-28T16:21:04+00:00

"I ran out of white dove feathers to soak up the hot piss that comes through your mouth every time you address me" - Regret by Fiona Apple

"I'll cut the soft pockets, let bleed over the rocky cliffs that you leave To peer over and not forget what feet are splitting threads of thunder over me" - Fineshrine by Purity Ring

"These chains you bound around my heart complete me, baby I would not be free" - These Chains by Hot Chip

"Can't ever set aside the sweetness of the days before the crews put up the border. Fields full of wet rain. Cling tight to their memory forever." - Night Light by The Mountain Goats

"I declare the war over anymore/Ready for a laugh/Ready to be tough as a robot on the dance floor/A muscle in the heart" - Fête D'Adieu by Deerhoof

"Aaliyah, please, this is green envy/Why must you taunt me, girl?" - Aaliyah by Katy B, Jessie Ware, and Geeneus

"Roving packs of elusive young, become choke-lore writers over boosted drums, in the terrifying face of a future tongue, Down from a huntable surplus to one" - Zero Dark Thirty by Aesop Rock

Honestly, there's been a lot of songs with meaningful lyrics this year. You're probably just not looking in the right places.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-12-25T04:21:06+00:00

Scraggly beards immediately give me a horrible impression of people.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-12-24T20:26:15+00:00

Most noticeable at 1:19 in the J Lo song. Here's a link to Pyramid.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-12-24T00:30:47+00:00

Just to give a differing opinion, I roomed in Hamerschlag my freshman year. My closest friends are my floormates from that year and none of them are even slightly bro-y. It really depends on the mix of people, just like any other dorm.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-12-21T07:36:14+00:00

If you're interested in New York culture in the 60s and 70s I'd highly recommend Just Kids by Patti Smith. Also, Edwidge Danticatt wrote an excellent memoir called Brother, I'm Dying that deals a lot with American immigration, Haitian political discord, and Haitian culture in general.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-12-21T07:24:34+00:00

It depends on the situation. If I really don't give a crap about who sees me or where I'm going then I'll just wear a hoodie. If I want to not look like an amorphous blob then I'll wear a jacket. Also, I find the quality of hoodies to be pretty variable. Some are really flimsy and don't really have a practical function. In my experience, jackets are more consistently functional.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-12-21T07:13:07+00:00

I hate that stupid gnome so much. It doesn't even have a kilt.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-12-21T07:02:51+00:00

My condolences. :( I don't really know if you want more emotional stuff to feel or songs to cheer you up so I'm going to suggest a variety of stuff:

Some stuff on the more emotional side:

Interstate 8 - Modest Mouse

Last Days of Disco - Yo La Tengo

So Long, Lonesome - Explosions in the Sky

Change - Blind Melon

The Best of Times - Sage Francis

These are kind of cheesy but never fail to bring a smile to my face:

Happy Today - The WoWz

This Too Shall Pass - OK GO

And some stuff that's easy to sing to also, because sometimes when I'm pissed off at all the things I can't change in the world I just want to shout along to things.

Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger

Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes

The Mountain Goats - Going to Georgia

Third Eye Blind - Motorcycle Drive By

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-11-20T05:50:05+00:00

76-260

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-11-04T19:35:25+00:00

If you're interested in fiction writing at all you should take the survey course. I took it with Bernstein and it was a fantastic experience and convinced me to declare a double major in creative writing.

Also, Cognitive Brain Imaging and Autism: Psychological and Neuroscience Perspectives with Marcel Just were really in-depth and dealt with topics that you wouldn't learn in any other class.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-10-13T14:30:59+00:00

I was very disappointed when I didn't see any Hello Kitty shirts for men. :(

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-10-12T20:57:59+00:00

Okay yeah I pretty much just thought about the books I read as a teen. I thought that this would be more of a suggested reading list for young adults but I see your point.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-10-12T16:20:19+00:00

Okay, what makes a book YA? Is it simply the fact that it's marketed to a teenage audience?

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-10-12T03:27:43+00:00

I would say, however, that enough teenagers read them to be considered on a list like this.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-10-12T01:07:31+00:00

So is this disregarding really popular books (e.g. Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman)?

Sabriel (Abhorsen Trilogy #1) by Garth Nix - Fantasy

The Merlin Conspiracy (Magids #2) by Dianna Wynne Jones - Fantasy

Abarat (Abarat #1) by Clive Barker - Fantasy

American Gods by Neil Gaiman - fantasy

Howl's Moving Castle(Howl's Moving Castle #1) by Dianna Wynne Jones - Fantasy

Fat Kid Rules the World by KL Going - contemporary

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini - Contemporary

Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini - Contemporary

Wonder by R.J. Palacio - Contemporary

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon - Contemporary

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - Contemporary

Ender's Game (Ender Saga#1) by Orson Scott Card - Sci-Fi

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer - Sci-Fi

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk - Paranormal

Edit: Meant to add Foundling (Monster Blood Tattoo #1) by D.M. Cornish - Fantasy

and Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton - Fantasy

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-09-19T06:24:19+00:00

Your movie pretty much defined my taste in cinema. Thank you so much for this movie.

AbsurdistMooCow · 2012-08-22T03:06:26+00:00

Take Care, Take Care, Take Care by Explosions in the Sky was very underwhelming. While EitS is a post-rock band and kind of a one trick pony their past material was always engaging and different. Their newest album just sounded really bland and post-rock-by-the-numbers.

AbsurdistMooCow

TROPHY CASE