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/lit/ - Literature

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3449852 No.3449852[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

How have you been today, /lit/?

Let's talk about how we live everyday.

>> No.3449871

Good. Haven't read yet tho. I'll do it before bed.

What about you? What you wanna know?

>> No.3449886

Just thinking how to kill myself without any pain and what to publish before I die.

>> No.3449898

I'm unemployed English lit graduate, obviously so I've spent today in self-loathing and mostly being bored and lonely. In other words, much like any other day.

>> No.3449904

I have been drinking out of mason jars. I have been singing along with Weedeater thanks to Trainkid. I have been dancing for no reason. I have been drowned by gin. I have been falling. You are all my brethren. I have succumbed to cancer.

>> No.3449907

I'm pretty well, anon. I just got a collection of H.P. Lovecraft's stuff and finished The Call of Cthulhu last night. I also finished The Judgment (Kafka) this morning. I'm about to visit my family for the first time in 6 months, so I'm pretty happy.

>>3449871
What are you reading?

>>3449886
Why are you killing yourself? You can't kill yourself until you've published and been recognized. Haven't you seen Sideways?

>> No.3449912

>>3449898
I'm a Writing and Religious Studies major, recently graduated, and I'm in the same boat. I get a few hours of work a week at a books store, but it's one of the big ones so nobody particularly interesting comes in.

>> No.3449915

>>3449852
I'm an outlaw and you are keeping me from serious crime. Thanks. I'm tired of running but I don't want to jail.

>> No.3449917

I went back and forth through several small appointments and things I had to do. Got stuck in traffic the entire afternoon. What a drag, but then again, good to look around. The local radio station I liked here in my parent's town is now closed, now they have only horrible stations. Fine, I'll go in silence. It's some sort of holiday here, I don't know why that is even now. Picked up brother at bus station. Discovered a new part of town, I always get lost. Brother as co-pilot, now I found my way. I got home, treated the dog, my little ego. He is old and sick. My father told me a dream he had, we concluded that fear of height is excessive prudence and that people at their desks work like soldiers.

>> No.3449920 [DELETED] 

It started ok, had a lecture, sat alone as usual and then we had to go into groups and discuss shit, and I only made brief commends despite having done a shitload of pre-reading.

Then I had a seminar and talked a whole lot about what I thought of what we are supposed o be studying and everyone just looked down when I looked at them so they must think I'm weird or something.

Walked home convinced people were staring at my groin, convinced my dick was showing hrough my jeans, which made me anxious.

Came home and fell asleep on my bed in my jacket with my backpack on, woke up and had one of those strange feelings when you think evertying is going to be fine which lasted around 1 minute

Made some nice food as a treat,
changed the title to one of my short stories, now listening to music and

>> No.3449921

>>3449912
I feel your pain, man. Still though, I'd kill for a part-time job at a book store.

At least I have plenty of time to read now. Just finished Lord of the Flies (never read it before for some reason) and will start reading The Waves later tonight in bed.

>> No.3449926

>>3449921
Did you enjoy Lord of the Flies?

I didn't read it in school unfortunately (shit curriculum), so I read it last year and really liked it

>> No.3449928

I'm, unsurprisingly, unemployed too as a post-graduate chemist and teacher.

I usually spend my days learning Ancient Greek and doing my own little translations of the Greek poets, and I'm now trying to learn Sanskrit so I can translate a little of the Vedas. It's something to do with my days.

>> No.3449930

Do you think serious literature has a future guys?

>> No.3449933
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3449933

I'm a BSN Nursing major. I'm over worked for free, over stressed due to poor female teachers and exams, and constantly cry alone in bed after 12 hour hospital shifts.

I love to read. I could spend my entire life reading. I was homeschooled and only read books all day. I wanted to be an English major. I never got anything but A's and praise from my English teachers throughout high school and college.

There isn't any money in English majors they said. Nursing is where the money is and job security. There is a university for it right down the street.

You'll be happy once you get your degree.

I'm not happy now.

>> No.3449937

>>3449926
I didn't really. I expected it to be much more insightful and nuanced than it is. I guess there's a reason you're supposed to read it in highschool.

>> No.3449940
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3449940

>>3449933
pic related

>> No.3449942

>>3449937
It's deeper than you think faggot

>> No.3449950

Had a hangover this morning from last night. Then didn't do much, play some CS, ate kebab and played board games with my housemates. Then me and a housemate got high, and watched Starcraft battles.

>> No.3449948

I just came back from several parties after deciding I really didn't care about making new friends anymore (I lost all my own) and that these normals aren't worth it anyway. Even women seem too much of a hassle to even bother with. Guess I'm just jaded and getting old.

>> No.3449951

>>3449948
How old?

>> No.3449952

>>3449930
Yes. And it always will.

>> No.3449953

>>3449928

>I'm, unsurprisingly, unemployed too as a post-graduate chemist

Damn, bro.
Makes me feel a little bit better about moving on from chemistry after my BS.

>> No.3449954

>>3449951
>30

>> No.3449957

>>3449930
>It's not enough to produce big useful bolts.

I do, but as a niche art form, much like sculpting or experimental theater, for example. I think that in a couple of generations people will have no knowledge of serious literature whatsoever and that it won't be as readily available anymore as it is now. It will be one of these things that only enthusiasts and academics enjoy and know about.

And for the records, I'm absolutely fine with that. I really don't like where literature is heading these days just so it can appeal to a broader audience. I'd much rather it would just go away and stay pure for those who genuinely like it.

>> No.3449964

>>3449953
Well, yeah, I agree. I moved on too, to teaching. The only thing is - there are no jobs there either.

Perhaps I can become a good enough translator of Greek and Sanskrit to get a good j... oh, wait, no.

>> No.3449967

>>3449942
How do you know what I think? Stop projecting.

>> No.3449976

>>3449964
Just curious, but did you enjoy teaching?

As an English grad it's pretty much expected of me to go into teaching now that everything else doesn't seem to work out, but I'm not really feeling it. Those kids, man. It sounds like a nightmare.

>> No.3449973

I dropped out of college, moved to New York, and now work as a cab driver.

Got a day off today because a bunch of the cars are fucked/getting repaired.

The family who I'm living with are gone away for hte weekend so I have the house to myself

>> No.3449984

I life my life in social isolation, in worldly resignation, schizophrenic who has detached himself from the world. I smoke a pack daily and am every second day depressive suicidal, 'cause I can't handle the absurdity of life. They want to put me in an daycare facility for mentally ill people who can't handle daily life activities, I don't wanna go. I hate being among other people, especially mentally ill people, thats shit depresses me even more.

>> No.3449991

>>3449976
iktf

No matter how naively optimistic you get about going in to some school and making the kids like you and see you as a cool teacher and gets into lit (and maybe suck your dick once they graduate) the reality is that kids are fucking assholes, and only a very small minotiry will be interested in anything you have to say, and they will either be brown-nosers, jews, or autists

>> No.3449994

>>3449976
Teaching is great and shit - at the same time. It's certainly more interesting and 'challenging' than science.

There was a study done (perhaps I can pull it out of the aether) on student teachers asking what their biggest fear was going into teacher training - almost all said the children's behaviour.

One year later they came back, and no one said pupil behaviour.

Misbehaviour, especially here in Britain, is a massive problem and it will ruin your day sometime, but it's not the biggest concern. The gigantic bureaucracy and 'ticking boxes' of teaching is the biggest pile of shit. And the 12 hour days.

>> No.3449995

>>3449984
Boo hoo, grow up

>> No.3450000

>>3449995
no!

>> No.3450002

I didn't have to work today, which is all I think about when I am working. A whole day to myself; I can't wait. And then of course my cherished day arrives and I'm confronted with the utter emptiness of my life. The Ever-grey approaches. Mother Depression. I fight the only way I know how: sugar, saturated fat, alcohol, petty distraction. So dispirited I can't even read. A whole day wasted and work again tomorrow, the thought of my next day off the only thing to get me through the week. And I'll play dumb. It will be better next week. It has to be.

>> No.3450003

>>3449994
Also, the fact that you have to be a taeacher for 4 years before you get a significant pay hike, and by that time it's pretty much too late to turn back and do soemthing else, so you're stuck wasting away in some obscure comprehensive teaching another set of boisterous spastics the
major themes in Macbeth

>> No.3450006

Nice on topic post.

Please report this thread and help make /lit/ a college kid free zone.

>> No.3450008

>>3450003
>Also, the fact that you have to be a taeacher for 4 years before you get a significant pay hike
Not in the UK, or indeed many places.

>> No.3450010
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3450010

Sheltered.

Sheltered.

>> No.3450012

>>3450008
Uh, yes you do.

I think it's like a 15% pay rise after 4 years

>> No.3450017
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3450017

>>3449991
Yes. Basically, this. I've had some college friends who went into teaching with this very same idea of being the cool teacher who will get the kids into cool literature, but it all seems like an annoying Dead Poets Society fantasy to me.

>>3449994
>One year later they came back, and no one said pupil behaviour.

Well, that's good to know. When I imagine teaching it really is one nightmare scenario after the other.

I'm also not quite sure what to do if a student stumps you? I did really well in college and know lots about literature, but I'm not some walking encyclopedia they can just pick apart.

>> No.3450029

>>3450003
Whatever you do, don't go into teaching for the money! Given the UK's rigid pay scale, I will be earning what I previously earnt as a chemist in 20 years' time as a teacher...

You're never 'stuck' in anything you do - you can always try something new. Acquiring the money to do it is the problem.

Funny story - I had to teach a class of Year 10 students (15-16 years old) how the electronic configurations of elements allows them to react (or not to react). These were children with reading ages of -9 (so with the ability of a 6 year old) and most couldn't spell their surnames, or indeed, first names on paper.

The bureaucracy of teaching is infuriating and will ruin your spirit within a year.

>> No.3450037

I have been discussing philosophy on lit. It's most people getting angry and accusing me of trolling, but I'm not. In the past I've mostly been on the other end of things (debating with fags who claim consciousness doesn't exist, etc). In any case I find it interesting and I find myself exposed to new arguments and concepts. I learn and am entertained by it. Each subject eventually wears itself out, once the right arguments are discovered.

I've also been listening to J-Pop all day, from AKB48, since that girl shaved her head and shit (?). And it's been interesting. I've never really listened to it before. I am conflicted.

I've also been drinking a lot of black tea, green tea, and coffee. I wish morning lasted forever ;_;.

>> No.3450041

>>3450012
You have steady increase in pay over 6 years unless you do particularly well or you have a masters degree, then you apply for threshold pay, or conversely do particularly badly and don't. So no, not 4 years, and always on a scale.

>> No.3450044

>>3450017
If, I assume, you go to teach GCSE English, there will be nothing there to stretch your abilities - even at A-level.

A guiding rule is that you have to know, fairly well, pretty much the entirety of stuff one stage above what you teach. So if you teach GCSE, you must be totally ok with A-levels.

Most kids will not stretch you, even the 'gifted' ones. Most will just asked you how to spell 'contract' or what 80 + 70 are (true stories).

>> No.3450045

>>3450017
One thing I learned is that teachers/lecturers etc don't really give a shit after a while. THey do the same routine year after year.

I have one lecturer and I know a lot more about certain aspects of the course than she does, and whenever I have asked her certain questions I'm interested in that I want to run by her she doesnt' know the answer and goes on about something else. You have to assert your authority and praise students for making even the most banal of points

>> No.3450048

>>3450029
>You're never 'stuck' in anything you do - you can always try something new. Acquiring the money to do it is the problem.

Well, that's not quite true.

Employers will get really suspicious of your motivations and qualifications if they see you going from one career to the other. I've experienced this plenty of times myself and all I did was switch majors (and relevant part-time jobs) from computer science to English lit.

Also, they're not that keen on giving someone over the age of 30 their first big break, when they could be giving it to a 22 year fresh out of college. You'd think your varied work experience (heck, life experience) would give you the upper hand, but it really doesn't. In their eyes, you're just expensive and unreliable.

>> No.3450050

>>3450037
Yeah /lit/ can be a cunt sometimes, but its ok overall, eespecially threads like this where people drop the pseudo shit and just talk about themselves.
I wish people didn't react so angrily to TAR (no I'm not an editor) since it gave me real encouragement to keep writing after one my stories got published there. I'm not saying it wa sgood, but it's nice to see your shit posted somewhere where people have taken the time to read it and format hte magazine nicely

>> No.3450065

>>3450045
This is certainly true of a small minority of teachers. Most teacher I know work pretty much all day every day to bring good, interesting lessons to their kids.

You're right in thinking that some teacher don't know their shit - most don't. I think to become a teacher you have to have life experience and experience of a former profession truly to give the best education.

>>3450048
And sadly true. But there comes a point in one's life - at least in my life - where I said 'fuck it' and just changed careers because it was what I wanted. Employers don't like disinterested and lazy employees either.

>> No.3450071
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3450071

>watching the snow come down
It's ok. Whenever I'm blue I just think of how Blind Willie Johnson died and remind myself of the security a roof over your head can give you.

>dark was the night, cold was the ground

>> No.3450082

I've been emailing an amateur vomit pornstar who I like for a couple of hours. I've told her that I'm a published author and she says that's impressive and how much do I earn, so I said enough to let me write full time. She's really sweet and talks about wanting to be a writer when she was young but having her family split up. She sent me some pictures and videos of her vomiting but I didn't find them as attractive after talking to her about her life.

>> No.3450088

>>3450084
Sure thing

>> No.3450084

>>3450082
Thanks for reminding me how normal and boring I am.

>> No.3450095

Another day another dollar earned by not doing what I'm being paid for.
And I finished scanning a book on the company dime.
Probably going to get shitfaced and then I'm going to wake up in a stranger's bed with no recollection of the preceding night.

>> No.3450099

>>3450044
I'm Dutch, so I would be teaching ESL. My knowledge of English grammar isn't that great, though. I've mostly been winging it all these years. I've excelled in literature (English, French, German and Russian), but I'm guessing you hardly get to teach that in highschool.

>>3450045
That's something I really noticed in university. Professors have their own niche and somehow they find a way to make each and every topic about that. They're also academic researchers, though, which makes it less of an issue somehow. It's pretty much expected of them.

>> No.3450101

>>3449933
Also a homeschooled kid who did nothing but read all day. The library was visited weekly.

Work at a policy center now.

>> No.3450113

>>3450088
sure is insecure underage in here

>> No.3450109

>>3450050
whatever an entire community hates, don't take it personally. Countries never like each other. Some group of kids may or may not like chocolate bars, a forum shits on your atwork, lit doesn't like your favorite author.

There is always a new thing to hate as the plat du jour. Foreigners and Criminals are classics on the menu but from time to time there is place for new dishes. (bankers, corporations, a certain political group etc...)

That's what people do. They hate. You rarely see a bunch of people congregate w/ each other to like something out of sheer joyfulness, without self-interest.
The only counter example is probably flash mobs which last for about 10 minutes...

>> No.3450116

>>3450109
Not to mention that schadenfreude is the name of the game on 4chan.

>> No.3450132
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3450132

>WAKE UP.
>SHOWER.
>BREAKFAST.
>SIT AT COMPUTER.
>EAT LUNCH.
>SIT AT COMPUTER.
>EXERCISE.
>SLEEP.

>> No.3450139

>>3450132
Ooh the monotony, lord save us

>> No.3450148
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3450148

I checked my throwaway email account and three of my alt-lit stories are getting published in three separate magazine and one of them is getting entered into a competition run by the magazine with a $200 prize. Feels okay, I don't like alt-lit though

>> No.3450151

>>3450148
What is alt-lit?

>> No.3450152

>>3450132
why do you even shower?

>> No.3450158

>>3450151
Alternative literature.

post-modern, post-standards, post-nihilism, post-ironic bullshit which unlike realism, which attempts to portray the mundane and show its romance and so on, simply portrays the mundane without giving a damn whether it's interesting, challenging, or anything else.

>> No.3450163

>>3449852
I've been pretty badass today. Just like usually do.

>> No.3450166

>>3450158
But that's just literature as well.

>> No.3450170

>>3450158
Like Tao Lin?

>> No.3450171

I go to classes at my liberal arts class. I go for walks around the area with my one close friend. Maybe I'll go downtown for some hot tea. Maybe go for a run. Do homework. Think about what I could do after I graduate.