My Infinite Summer: The Beginning

My Reading Supplies

I first picked up David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest in the summer before my freshman year of college. I had dropped out of high school at 15, spent a year or so living in Nepal and experiencing the world1, got my GED at 16, murdered my SATs and was ready start college younger (and presumably, smarter) than the rest of my class.

I decided to read Wallace’s massive masterwork because I was in the habit of reading the likes Kundera, Pynchon and Nietzsche just to say that I had, and to laud my intellectualism over my simple-minded peers.2

Unfortunately, like my college career itself, my quest to read Infinite Jest died about two-thirds of the way through. The giant, cloud-covered book sat on my shelf, collected dust and eventually got lost in the shuffle of life.3

I never gave the book another thought. That is, until I read about Infinite Summer. Their challenge intrigued me. I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to break free from the monotony of my existence, exercise my mind and experience a great piece of American literature. I immediately Amazoned myself a fresh copy.

So last week, I began my Infinite Summer—this time with significantly less pretense. And it has been fanfuckingtastic. Beyond his awe inspiring prose, David Foster Wallace is extremely quotable.4 Armed with my Moleskine and various other supplies5, I’ve taken copious notes, scribbled quotes and discussed the book with friends.6 But most of all, it’s forced me to end my cycle of work, XBOX, sleep, repeat.7

I know it’s only been a week. But I’m loving every second of this, so far. Let’s hope I make it through this time. I think I will. It’s gonna be a good summer…

Notes and Errata

  1. I actually moved out there with my parents. They were missionaries. And it wasn’t as cool as it sounds. There was a lot more Jesus and potlucks than pot smoking and getting laid by she-sherpas. ↩

  2. By now, it probably sounds like I was a giant asshole. I probably was. But rest assured, all these years later, I have re-read most of those books and am a better person because of it. And I engage in less lauding and more quiet mockery. ↩

  3. However, I still maintain that my roommate at the time, aka The Great White Gypsy, stole it and is now holding it for ransom. ↩

  4. If you’ve ever read sexy gypsy before, you know we love to quote EVERYTHING—Family Guy, The Simpsons, South Park, Anchorman, whatever. Infinite Jest has now officially been added to that list. ↩

  5. See above picture ↩

  6. This includes the infamous @supertoast and The Great White Gypsy ↩

  7. This mind-numbing cycle is the reason I’ve been noticeably absent from sexy gypsy for the last month or so. My apologies. This will change. ↩

posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 by B I G Gypsy in words

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