One Who Is Lost

So it's getting perilously close to the end and I don't think I'm going to make the full "book-a-week-for-a-year" since it's already week 51 and I'm only on book 46. Maybe I'll consider it a work year...I get 4 weeks vacation; that means only 48 weeks and only 48 books. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Really, either way I'm quite happy with how I did. I'm going to try it again next year and only slightly modify the second half of the resolution, instead of not being allowed to buy any books (and I"m as shocked as you are that I stuck to this), I'm allowed to buy one book a month. I still have too many unread books on my shelves to allow myself to go back to my old book-buying habits.

( Anyway, on to the reading details... )

So that's it...we'll see how many books I can get read in the next two weeks. And hey, with that blizzard going on out West there's some good odds I'll be spending loads of time in the airport on Friday so maybe I can get a book or two done there (she says while frantically looking for a silver lining. As I told schwa242, White Christmas is fine... "taerowyn stuck in Dallas cause $&#@ing DIA is snowed in" Christmas is not.)

So I'm a little behind on updating my year of books so here goes:

Week 7
7. Fateful Harvest : The True Story of a Small Town, a Global Industry, and a Toxic Secret by Duff Wilson: An Erin Brokovich like story all about the pesticide industry...makes me scared of eating veggies, but sadly, not scared enough to always buy organic cause, hey...student loans. Very well written...one of those newspaper expose into book type deals and very engrossing.

Week 8

Week 9
8. Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq and Frank Wynne : Not quite what what I was expecting and it wasn't til I realized that the background of the cover was skin that it made a bit more sense to me. Delves in to science, relationships, sex, philosophy and a whole host of other issues. Not my favorite read ever, but a trip I don't regret taking.

Week 10
9. The Riddle of the Wren by Charles DeLint: Good old DeLint. His books are always so original, but they all have a similar feel so that even if you've never read the one in your hands, it still feels like returning home. Same fantastic blend of different cultures mythologies...just...yeah!

10. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede: Picked up in a used bookstore as a "Remember-When" book. Don't know when I first read it...10? 12? Just cute, simple sassy, refuse to fit the mold, heroine style fantasy. The kind I grew up on. Shut up!

Week 11

Week 12
11. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach: One of two well-hyped books this week. This was definitely the better. Laugh out loud funny book, but not something to be read at meal times. I can't recommend it enough. My favorite blend of science, humor and curiosity. Too good!

12. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd: Not to say that this wasn't good...just didn't hit on my science nerve so inherently had to lose out. Was definitely a page-turner though and I'm glad I finally got around to it (Thanks eeyorekdm!)

Week 13
13. 12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time: A Semi-Dysfunctional Family Circumnavigates the Globe by Mark Jacobson: Besides the science writing, my other love is the travel writing. Fun! Loved the description of place as well as family dynamic. Kind of a "What might have been" if my family had done the international travel a few years later than we actually did.

Week 14
14. Neuromancer by William Gibson: Hard to believe that this is actually the first time I read this. I liked it...though not as much as I feel I should have (I think I liked Pattern Recognition more). Probably had my impressions skewed by seeing the Matrix and other such pop cultureness before reading this so it didn't seem quite as cutting edge as I'm sure it did when it first hit.

15. Pure Drivel by Steve Martin: It wasn't drivel, but it sure as hell was funny.

16. Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson: This has been on my wish lsit for years, so imagine my happiness when I found it in a used bookstore. I don't know how it will affect my photography, but since I already catch myself looking at things differently, I can only imagine it will be good.

Week 15

Week 16
17. My Year in Meat by by Ruth L. Ozeki: I really can't recommend this highly enough. Kind of a fiction version of Fast Food Nation meets and insiders guide to the making of Supersize Me if one or both of them were set in Japan. Um...yeah...that in now way does the book justice. Just understand that it kicks ass and you should totally go out there and read it. Now. What are you waiting for? Go!

Week 17
18. I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson: Good, of course...it's Bryson. I was a little disconcerted to find it was a series of columns and not a cohesive book, but it was still enjoyable like all Bryson is.

Week 18
19. Going Solo by Roald Dahl: I had no idea that he'd written a sequel to Boy until I found this in a used bookstore. It was a very happy discovery. All about his time in Africa and with the RAF during WWII. So engrossing, both as a personal history and as a look into a world that no longer exists (for better and/or for worse).

Week 19
20. My Kind of Place by Susan Orlean: I enjoyed this. There are a few places where her literary turns become a wee bit anvilicious, but overall it was an enjoyable read. As I've got more of hers on my shelf to get to, that's definitely a good thing.

21 The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey: This was a re-read. Something made me think of part of the plot recently and as I was "trapped" in the apartment all weekend I decided to go for a refresher. Just as good as the first time.

Phew....remind me to do these things more often so there's less to type.

MMmmmmmm...lovely weekend and it's still got hours more to go. And, added bonus, the sun is finally back (hooray for the sun!!!).

Had an old friend from CO out to visit. She got in late Friday night...after falling asleep on the train and missing her stop, which really wouldn't be as funny if it weren't for the fact that this is the third train mishap she's had in visiting me, twice in LI and once here. It's odd that she now lives on LI and is attending the school that bought my bankrupt school. To add to the connections, her brother went to college in CO with Boy Roommate and his friend who were over last night and his friend actually knew her brother.

OK, strange coincidences and happenstances to the side. Yesterday was a fun day, despite the deluge. We joked that we should probably go from church to temple to mosque til we found the right one to repent in to stop the rain. A week of rain is a bit much, but at least it's finally stopped.

Anyway, we started off with brunch at a coffee house that does amazing crepes. Split a pesto chicken one and a nutella-banana one (mmmmmmmm!). Off to Target to try to find Red Sox Monopoly for her hubbie with no luck.

Got back to the apartment and tried to catch the T for a trip to the Gardner museum, but the deluge won and we gave up, got the car and went to see a movie. Saw Good Night and Good Luck, which is a biopic about Edward R. Murrow and CBS taking on McCarthy. Really, REALLY good. I'd read some reviews that there were undertones of political commentary on today...they weren't undertones, they were just flat out tones. But, despite the lack of subtlety, they still did a phenomenal job. It was pure genius to not have an actor for McCarthy and just use old film clips of him. The cinematography was fabulous and the messages (one about the political atmosphere and the other about the wasteland that is TV) were spot on and well-conveyed. I highly recommend the film.

Since the movie was at the Fenway theater we stopped at a souvenir store to see if they had Red Sox Monopoly with no luck. Thankfully the BU Barnes and Noble did.

After that we hit Harvard Square, which, of course, meant the Harvard bookstore. I got some great used books (Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences both of which I've been meaning to read for awhile now and Beluga Days, which I didn't even know existed til yesterday, but....belugas!!!). I'm sure it'll take me forever to get around to read them considering the length of my "to read" list, but such is life. Then it was dinner at Legal Sea Foods. Yummy lobster and crab ravioli as well as some crab legs. We stopped by Finale on the way to the car to pick up dessert.

Home meant watching Mystic River with Boy Roommate and his friend. I'd already seen it and my assessment still stands...good movie, ends too abruptly and despite all the twisted minds of the male characters the freakiest character of all is Laura Linney because of her final speech...just...gah!

Off to the train station early this morning to drop my friend off. I've been relaxing all day today and then this evening is a yummy birthday dinner with school friends, work friends and even some CO friends so good times will be had. More on that after it happens. Hooray for the almighty weekend (and for the reappearance of the sun, of course!)

Reading a book, The Happy Isles of Oceania, and this just kind of made me think of past, present, future and all:

Many people told me how European-looking [Melbourne] was...I didn't think so. It was more spacious, much younger, and had more of the aspect of a city in the American Midwest. European cities have a damaged and repaired look. Melbourne's most American feature was that it was obviously a city that had never been bombed.

I never thought I would say this, but in this particular case, I can honestly say I own too many books. Of course, when you have to empty out all your book cases so you can move them out of your room so you can paint, it really doesn't take a lot of books to become "too many," but really, four book cases and a half-full wardrobe is a wee bit excessive.

However, it was well worth it as my room is now painted and pretty and I will try to get some pictures up asap so you can all see. It wasn't a very restful weekend, but I definitely have a sense of accomplishment afterwards.

Went out with "the girls" last Friday. Had fun but I noticed something. They were talking and talking about their lives on and on and I was like "work, family...yeah." True a vast majority of their talk was bitching about boyfriends, but it kind of drove home how much of a holding pattern I am in; existing as opposed to living. I'm not unhappy, just ____.

Anyway, also saw Lord of the Rings again last weekend. Basically saw the movie, read the book, then saw the movie. I actually think I liked it better before having read the book. I was more able to get totally engrossed in the story because I wasn't thinking "They left that out, such and such is happening next, this is important cause in the next book..." I did, however, catch names and connections a lot easier having read the book and was much happier with the ending since a) I knew what it could have been if they ended it where the book ended and b) knew how the whole thing ended.

Had good eeyorekdm phone time. Guess the math is two months without a phone call equals a two hour phone call. Playing catch-up is good. Letters and email are nice, but it doesn't beat the hyperactive babbling over top of each other's babble that ensues when we actually talk.

Not much else to say, just doing my best to put off work. See how well I did?

Read through my past entries of late. More than fifty percent of them were complaints. My aren't I the whiny bitch of late. Should try to focus on the positive, but you usually don't need to VENT the positive. Anyway happy thoughts:

• When I got home last night, mom was asleep so it was like having the house to myself anyway (see last entry).
  
• I got a letter from eeyorekdm. YEAH MAIL!!
  
• I'm getting sick (this is happy as it may mean legitimate time off from work :-)
  
• I'm eating very yummy raspberries that I bought yesterday. MMMMM raspberries.
  
• I have numerous good books sitting at home waiting for me.
  
• I may be learning to ski this weekend (this remains to be seen whether it's happy or not, ask me on Monday if I'm on crutches).
  
• I will be spending time with the girls this weekend... including The Six-Pack - the Next Generation (aka Christa).
  

So basically I should stop whining and be happy...I shall certainly give it a try.

I'm in a very good mood, so I thought I'd share. Don't really know what brought it on. Perhaps the books I just bought from the Book Rack (notice I said RACK you sick minded FTC folks), or maybe the ones I got from the library, or maybe the ones on their way from Amazon. MMMMMMM boooooooks!!!!! Then again, it could be the four day weekend, the fact that I'm all healthy again, the new year's party I get to get all dressed up and schnazzy for, the many hours of The Sims I have ahead of me, the movies I rented, or any of countless other small little things that are making me smile. Who knows? It's a mystery.

Waiting for my boss to get in and give me some stuff to do. I'm an executive assistant, so when the executive isn't here and I get caught up on all my work I get to sit and twiddle my thumbs, or write to live journal.

Had a pretty good weekend. Spent Saturday doing photography stuff...haven't had a chance to really play with my new camera since I got it for graduation. Wish I had the time and money to really get into it, but in the meantime I must remember to set more time aside for play.

Sunday I had so many plans to be productive. Run errands, write in my journal, write some letters etc. However, one errand was to the library where a book I had on hold had come in so all my plans went up in a cloud of pages. Good book though.

Hmmmmm...turns out the boss isn't going to be in until after lunch. Guess I should take an early lunch as well. What sucks is in the afternoon I'm supposed to work down in customer service. But there's all this stuff I have to go over with the boss and he isn't here the whole morning. Grrrrrr.

What else to ramble on about. My birthday is coming. This is my first birthday at home in years. I'm looking forward to it. My friend is throwing me a party at her house (my house wouldn't work to well seeing as I live with my parents). Should be a blast. I'll be sure to tell all sorts of stories about it sometime next weekend.

Guess that's enough rambling. I'll try to see if there's any work for me to do elsewhere.