Portnoy and his Complaining

I just finished Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint. It was brilliantly hilarious at times, but it didn't have a standard narrative plot structure building to any conflict/climax/resolution, and I felt the litany of fantasies and self-loathing got repetitive. (For some reason I've been thinking about plot structure lately; mostly after noticing that Charlie Wilson's War (the movie) didn't seem to have any convincing conflict, nor did Crazy Heart (speaking of which, the acting was good, but not as good as Coal Miner's Daughter, and it was entertaining, but not as entertaining as Walk the Line.))

Also, I finished second for the year in the male under 30 age group in PCTR's Grand Prix race series. I got a shirt and a coaster today. Now I'm up to 14 coasters, but still no mugs. Also no belt buckles. That needs to change.

On a positive note, I am two datasets richer than I was when I woke up Thursday morning, so I have this great "I might actually graduate" feeling.

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