Now on to NeMoCaUp.*

I finished The Fountainhead. Two days early, still a dollar short. Go figure.

I liked it a lot. I still don't think I fully grasped its significance, but I now understand that my AP English teacher would've assigned us an essay entitled "Power And Why It's Bad" instead of something just about capitalism.

Dominique and Howard were infuriating throughout the second half of the book - SERIOUSLY? YOU LOVE HIM/HER? AND YOU'RE GOING TO LIVE IN SOLITUDE/WITH SOMEONE ELSE? Jesus H. Christ, life is too short already.

If I never have to read another word the fictional Ellsworth Tooley speaks, it will be my lucky day. I loved how he went from respected and revered at the beginning of the novel, to whiny and subserviant at the end.

I'm not sure what to make of Howard Roark. He loved what he did, to a fault more often than not. He didn't care what anyone else thought. But there was something incredibly primitive about his lack of social skills, one-track mind and egotism. It was almost as though he was an animal trying to survive in a human's world.

And those are the deepest thoughts I have on the book at this time. Some interesting excerpts...

"... the person who loves everybody and feels at home everywhere is the true hater of mankind. He expects nothing of men, so no form of depravity can outrage him."
- Gail Wynand to Dominique Francon

"Three quarters of them don't know what it's all about, but they've heard the other one-quarter fighting over your name and so now they feel they must pronounce it with respect. Of the fighting quarter, four-tenths are those who hate you, three-tenths are those who feel they must express an opinion in any controversy, two-tenths are those who play safe and herald any 'discovery,' and one-tenth are those who understand."
- Steve Mallory, describing the art community's reaction to a controversial construction project, to Howard Roark

{I liked this quote because it seems to be a timeless description of any group's reaction to any type of controversy. One tenth of one quarter of the population actually gets it... seems about right.

Oh, and unrelated but also? The cliche about the man ditching the perfect woman out of his own stupidity, then ten years later apologizing and expecting to be friends? Yeah, that happened 65 years ago too. I suspect it's happened since the birth of mankind. Stupid men.}

"[The kitten] was clean - clean in the absolute sense, because it had no capacity to conceive of the world's ugliness. I can't tell you what relief there was in trying to imagine the state of consciousness inside that little brain, trying to share it, a living consciousness, but clean and free. I would lie down on the floor and put my face on that cat's belly, and hear the beast purring. And then I would feel better..."
- Gail Wynand, on... well, surviving

"Howard, everything you've done in your life is wrong according to the stated ideals of mankind. And here you are. And somehow it seems a huge joke on the whole world."
- Gail Wynand to Howard Roark

"Look at the moral atmosphere of today. Everything enjoyable, from cigarettes to sex to ambition to the profit motive, is considered depraved or sinful. Just prove that a thing makes men happy - and you've damned it. That's how far we've come. We've tied happiness to guilt."
- Ellsworth Toohey to Peter Keating

And so, I cross one thing off the list (and coincidentally, the 4Q goals as well). Now to map out a training plan for 10 miles by 30 days from today and a garden visit for the first sunny weekend day I come across.

Considering that I haven't run more than 3 miles at a time in over a month, and that it's winter in Portland, December is going to be an interesting month.

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* Netflix Movie Catch Up. Blade Runner has been sitting on top of my TV, along with Away From Her and The Hunting Party, for over a week and a half. Looking forward to all of them. (Yes, I've never seen Blade Runner. I meant to last year when it was re-released, but I didn't. OK?!)