1.16.2007
Breaking news
It's real-live, honest to god SNOWING! Here! Right now! I knew this was going to be a great year! However, I think this might be bad news for my emerging daffodils...
1.15.2007
Big Event
Two things happened this morning: first, the temperature dropped as low as 30 degrees and second, there has been precipitation. These two events rarely coincide in our great, sweaty metropolis and so the city has been shut down. Literally. Businesses, schools, and MLK Day events have all been cancelled and everyone has been urged to stay indoors. We Texans are unaccustomed to ice that does not arrive in a margarita glass. The people I know that live in the Northern parts of the country, especially those who have never lived in Texas, find it hilarious that we get all het up about about a patchy 1/8 inch of ice, but I would like to see them deal with three weeks straight of 115 degree temperatures. Then we'll talk.
I would find being 'snowed in' a lot more exciting if I didn't have the mixed blessing of a job that allows me to work from home.
1.12.2007
Books
Finished:
Lisey's Story by Stephen King - Lisey is the recent widow of a famous author. While the story is a suspenseful ghost story, bordering on sci-fi, it is also a meditation on grief and loss that anyone who has ever lost someone can identify with. I was a little bit slow getting into it, but by the time I was a few chapters in, I couldn't put it down. Just a side note: the physical book is beautiful. Under the plain red cover is a psychedelic tropical scene that fades from black and white to full color. For the week that it was on my desk, I got multiple questions and comments each day.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - a Jane Eyre type gothic novel set in England. The plot is delightfully improbable and the text is full of references to 18th and 19th century British fiction. The plot occasionally loses itself, and the author could have cut the ending down by a few pages, but the author is extremely skillful at keeping up the gothic atmosphere. This is the perfect book to read on a rainy day with a cup of tea.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards - Norah Henry gives birth to twins in 1964 in the middle of a snowstorm. Her husband (a doctor) and his nurse are the only other people present. One of the babies is perfectly healthy, but the other is born with Downs syndrome. The husband gives the Downs baby to the nurse to take to an institution, but instead she takes the baby to raise as her own in another city. In the meantime, Norah believes her second child is dead. The story follows both families over the next quarter century. The book is light, fluffy, predictable, and utterly forgettable.
In process:
The End of Faith by Sam Harris - I am reading this on Crystal's recommendation. It's an indictment of religious faith in general, and specifically of religious moderates. I find myself mostly agreeing with the arguments and the general premise of the book, but I wish the author would not harp so much on Islam. His American audience is already familiar with what Islamic extremists can do, and tend to think of Muslims as Other. More of an impact might be made by analysing the effects of Christianity, the largest religion in this country. In any case, when the author begins ranting about Muslims, he starts sounding less than reasonable, and I tend to tune him out.
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife - part of the trend toward micro histories in recent years (see Salt, Stiff, Cod, Pi, etc.), Zero follows the history of a single mathematical concept from prehistory to the present. I have never conceived of numbers outside of a number line with zero in the middle, so it is hard to wrap my mind around the concept of the number zero being a controversy. The history of how mathematics, and specifically numbers, developed in different societies is fascinating. Realizing the giant leap forward that is involved in using zero as a placeholder in numbers (rather than using aggregate numbers, such as Roman numerals), was incredible. I'm only a third of the way through, but I'm already recommending it to anyone who will listen
Up next:
Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis - A foray into the world of competitive Scrabble. I come from a family of very dedicated Scrabble players, and I love to play myself, so this should be interesting.
Brick Lane by Monica Ali - a novel about a Bangladeshi woman in an arranged marriage who emigrates to England. I'm not sure where this book came from, but I found it on my bookshelf the other day and it looked interesting.
Lisey's Story by Stephen King - Lisey is the recent widow of a famous author. While the story is a suspenseful ghost story, bordering on sci-fi, it is also a meditation on grief and loss that anyone who has ever lost someone can identify with. I was a little bit slow getting into it, but by the time I was a few chapters in, I couldn't put it down. Just a side note: the physical book is beautiful. Under the plain red cover is a psychedelic tropical scene that fades from black and white to full color. For the week that it was on my desk, I got multiple questions and comments each day.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - a Jane Eyre type gothic novel set in England. The plot is delightfully improbable and the text is full of references to 18th and 19th century British fiction. The plot occasionally loses itself, and the author could have cut the ending down by a few pages, but the author is extremely skillful at keeping up the gothic atmosphere. This is the perfect book to read on a rainy day with a cup of tea.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards - Norah Henry gives birth to twins in 1964 in the middle of a snowstorm. Her husband (a doctor) and his nurse are the only other people present. One of the babies is perfectly healthy, but the other is born with Downs syndrome. The husband gives the Downs baby to the nurse to take to an institution, but instead she takes the baby to raise as her own in another city. In the meantime, Norah believes her second child is dead. The story follows both families over the next quarter century. The book is light, fluffy, predictable, and utterly forgettable.
In process:
The End of Faith by Sam Harris - I am reading this on Crystal's recommendation. It's an indictment of religious faith in general, and specifically of religious moderates. I find myself mostly agreeing with the arguments and the general premise of the book, but I wish the author would not harp so much on Islam. His American audience is already familiar with what Islamic extremists can do, and tend to think of Muslims as Other. More of an impact might be made by analysing the effects of Christianity, the largest religion in this country. In any case, when the author begins ranting about Muslims, he starts sounding less than reasonable, and I tend to tune him out.
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife - part of the trend toward micro histories in recent years (see Salt, Stiff, Cod, Pi, etc.), Zero follows the history of a single mathematical concept from prehistory to the present. I have never conceived of numbers outside of a number line with zero in the middle, so it is hard to wrap my mind around the concept of the number zero being a controversy. The history of how mathematics, and specifically numbers, developed in different societies is fascinating. Realizing the giant leap forward that is involved in using zero as a placeholder in numbers (rather than using aggregate numbers, such as Roman numerals), was incredible. I'm only a third of the way through, but I'm already recommending it to anyone who will listen
Up next:
Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis - A foray into the world of competitive Scrabble. I come from a family of very dedicated Scrabble players, and I love to play myself, so this should be interesting.
Brick Lane by Monica Ali - a novel about a Bangladeshi woman in an arranged marriage who emigrates to England. I'm not sure where this book came from, but I found it on my bookshelf the other day and it looked interesting.
1.11.2007
Poetry Thursday - Part Two
Divinely Superfluous Beauty
The storm-dances of gulls, the barking game of seals,
Over and under the ocean ...
Divinely superfluous beauty
Rules the games, presides over destinies, makes trees grow
And hills tower, waves fall.
The incredible beauty of joy
Stars with fire the joining of lips, O let our loves too
Be joined, there is not a maiden
Burns and thirsts for love
More than my blood for you, by the shore of seals while the wings
Weave like a web in the air
Divinely superfluous beauty.
-Robinson Jeffers
The storm-dances of gulls, the barking game of seals,
Over and under the ocean ...
Divinely superfluous beauty
Rules the games, presides over destinies, makes trees grow
And hills tower, waves fall.
The incredible beauty of joy
Stars with fire the joining of lips, O let our loves too
Be joined, there is not a maiden
Burns and thirsts for love
More than my blood for you, by the shore of seals while the wings
Weave like a web in the air
Divinely superfluous beauty.
-Robinson Jeffers
Rolling my eyes
Seen on El Arroyo's billboard on 5th St:
Pigeon - Tastes Like Chicken!
Seen in my inbox twice this morning:
Pigeon - Tastes Like Chicken!
Seen in my inbox twice this morning:
Poetry Thursday
The Song
From somewhere
a calm musical note arrives.
You balance it on your tongue,
a single ripe grape,
till your whole body glistens.
In the space between breaths
you apply it to any wound
and the wound heals.
Soon the nights will lengthen,
you will lean into the year
humming like a saw.
You will fill the lamps with kerosene,
knowing somewhere a line breaks,
a city goes black,
people dig for candles in the bottom drawer.
You will be ready. You will use the song like a match.
It will fill your rooms
opening rooms of its own
so you sing, I did not know
my house was this large.
-Naomi Shihab Nye
From somewhere
a calm musical note arrives.
You balance it on your tongue,
a single ripe grape,
till your whole body glistens.
In the space between breaths
you apply it to any wound
and the wound heals.
Soon the nights will lengthen,
you will lean into the year
humming like a saw.
You will fill the lamps with kerosene,
knowing somewhere a line breaks,
a city goes black,
people dig for candles in the bottom drawer.
You will be ready. You will use the song like a match.
It will fill your rooms
opening rooms of its own
so you sing, I did not know
my house was this large.
-Naomi Shihab Nye
1.10.2007
Caution: semi-gory photo
Something happened to Sebastian. We can't even figure out what it is. He just showed up one day with a big black lump on his nose that turned out to be a scab. I did my best to wash it a little bit with very hot water, but he did not appreciate my efforts. I did manage to smear some Neosporin on it (Neosporin cures everything, did you know that?), but then I had to lock him in the guest bedroom for awhile so that Monster wouldn't lick it off (Neosporin is also irresistable to dogs, did you know that?)
Anyway, I'm going crazy trying to figure out what he did to himself. It may not look that bad in the photo, but believe me, it's nasty up close - like something gouged a dime-sized chunk out of his nose. I would blame the devil cat, except that the shape is wrong. Do dogs get leprosy? Because we have armadillos in our garden. I'm wondering if I should take him to a vet. Any theories or advice? Stinkydog?
Anyway, I'm going crazy trying to figure out what he did to himself. It may not look that bad in the photo, but believe me, it's nasty up close - like something gouged a dime-sized chunk out of his nose. I would blame the devil cat, except that the shape is wrong. Do dogs get leprosy? Because we have armadillos in our garden. I'm wondering if I should take him to a vet. Any theories or advice? Stinkydog?
1.09.2007
My mom's duck story
"Not much there... I got the duck as a gift for breaking my arm to make me feel better (my brother Teddy got one also)... the duck's name was Donald Duck, but he turned into a Daisy Duck when he started laying eggs... he was mean... he chased me around the yard when I would carry out the dinner scraps to the pigs...you always keep the pigs away from the house (downwind) so you have to walk quite a ways to feed them. The ducks and the chickens knew I took the dinner scraps out and would chase me... they were vicious... When my parents asked my brother and I if we wanted to get rid of the ducks, Teddy chose to give his away...I didn't...we ate Donald."
When I asked my mom if I could post her story, she replied "I don't mind... just remember he was a vicious duck... chickens are too..."
I should mention that it was many years into my childhood before my mom was okay with eating chicken (and I think she still doesn't like it much). She always told us that they were nasty animals.
When I asked my mom if I could post her story, she replied "I don't mind... just remember he was a vicious duck... chickens are too..."
I should mention that it was many years into my childhood before my mom was okay with eating chicken (and I think she still doesn't like it much). She always told us that they were nasty animals.
Resolution
I don't really bother with many concrete resolutions for New Years. Rather, I make a point to reflect on what kind of person I want to be and what I want to accomplish and then I try to keep that in mind throughout the year. Then on New Years Eve, I judge how I did and start all over again.
I only made two real resolutions this year: to (1) spend a moment being thankful for all my blessings each morning and to (2) only use two (instead of three) paper towels in the bathroom at work after washing my hands. So far, I have stuck to both resolutions with no deviations.
I only made two real resolutions this year: to (1) spend a moment being thankful for all my blessings each morning and to (2) only use two (instead of three) paper towels in the bathroom at work after washing my hands. So far, I have stuck to both resolutions with no deviations.
1.08.2007
Me and my monkey
When I was very young, I had two stuffed animals that were very important to me. One was a one-eyed monkey named George (apparently, I was not a very creative child) and the other was a ratty teddy bear named Radar. I'm not sure what happened to Radar, although I suspect he might be somewhere in my Dad's house where I am not invited. George, however, is alive and well.
George is a mute. He cannot talk, although he is a good listener. Radar was the chatty one; Penn to George's Teller. Now that he is gone, George is unable to communicate. Somehow, it feels wrong to have one but not the other. Who were your childhood stuffed animals? Do you still have them? Is it possible that I'm wanting someone to tell me I'm not crazy for still occasionally chatting with my stuffed monkey?
George is a mute. He cannot talk, although he is a good listener. Radar was the chatty one; Penn to George's Teller. Now that he is gone, George is unable to communicate. Somehow, it feels wrong to have one but not the other. Who were your childhood stuffed animals? Do you still have them? Is it possible that I'm wanting someone to tell me I'm not crazy for still occasionally chatting with my stuffed monkey?
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