Everything I tell you is Hearsay

i'm a restless soul

2008-06-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

and easily swayed.

moving to wordpress. its all shiny and junk.

http://autumnrouse.wordpress.com/

so...

in the event of the apocalypse

2008-06-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

turns out, i'll be well fixed for shampoo.

i think this is weird.

i'm not especially fussy about my hair. i kinda hate it actually. by which i mean to say, we have a very adversarial relationship. it wants to curl, though i wish it was straight. it grows where i do not want it to and will not grow where i do want it to. it's not really the color i'd like it to be... blah blah blah.

that being said, i seem vaguely obsessed with the acquisition of products to pamper, train, or otherwise interact with said adversary. i cleaned out under my sink recently and came up with no less than 18 different kinds of shampoo. not just additional bottles, no. because whenever i am in the store, and i see shampoo, i think to myself "huh, i could use some of that..."

so, i figure, everybody has something they hoard. and i'm not talking about a collection. or something, like, useful or worthwhile in its own right. instead i mean some grooming product, cleaning supply, household item that no matter how much you already have, how many varieties already have tried, you cannot resist the chance to try again, to have a little more.

maybe between the lot of us we can avoid the drugstore for the next decade or so....

hodie's new school

2008-06-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

so, after 4 fine years at MLC hodie will be going transferring to our neighborhood school Bridlemile in the fall. we decided this for a host of reasons, and we're pretty excited about it, although i must admit i'll sort of miss the bragging rights associated with being the parent of an MLC childling.

turns out though, that the academtic rating on this neighborhood school is actually better than MLC (which is a magnet) and more than one of the parents i met today had actually pulled their kid out of montessori/private school and applied for transfer into Bridlemile since it's such a good school. sweet!

so, sacrificing nothing in terms of quality of education, we are gaining the following:

1) neighborhood kids & activities. the nature of the magnet is that the kids come from all quadrants of the town and usually don't live near one another. nice for a varied demographic, not nice for playdates.

2) more "authentic" school experience. as much as i loved the touchy feel-y child centered education model for her when she was a kindergartener, the older she gets, the more structure i think she needs. not to mention the concept of grades (which they don't do at MLC) and a less insular social model. moreover they are getting ready to stick her class into 2 years of split grade, which we did not love the last time we did it.

3) SCHOOL BUS! WOOT! i have been driving her back and forth to school for 4 years. i'm tired.

so, on the whole, we're happy! and today was the open house for the school so they could come over and meet their new teacher. i thought after being so used to MLC, the least i could do was let hodie have one day to look around the new school and meet her new teacher so it wasn't completely overwhelming come fall.

and so i sat in my sub-adult sized chair in the library while she went off to meet her new teacher. i spoke with a whole new set of highly-entitled snarky parents (not leaving them behind apparently), and waited for her to come back and give me her impressions.

they had the whole experience set up to try and ease the kids into the transition. one step in this process was each of the outgoing 4th graders from Miss Good's class wrote a letter to an incoming member. you know, give them a little inside scoop, some insight into the 4th grade experience. well, what follows was the letter for hodie. (spelling and tense errors are those of the author and reproduced faithfully)

June 6th, 2008

Dear New 4th grader,

HI! My name is (not actually going to post the name). I'm 10 years olf and I was in Miss Good's class. I don't know how I did it but all I now is that it was torchure with Miss Good.

When I found out I was in Miss Good's class I was freaking out!!! I didn't kno what it would be like. I heard so much thinks about her like "she is the worst teacher ever!" or "She is SO Mean!!" And alot more.

Just to be nice I'm going to give you some tips on how to survive Miss Good's class. One is do NOT I repet do NOT turn in eney thing late!! She hats that. The second one is if you arnt paying attention she will get MAD!!! And the last one is never LIE!! If you do sometimes she knows it. Thank you for reading this note.

Sincerely, (not actually going to post the name)

bwahahahahahahaha. ahem. not exactly the most reassuring note. one must consider the source i suppose, but hodie is now totally paranoid that her new teacher is a tyrant with a lie detector embedded in her head. so, that's awesome.

can't wait til fall!!

Kung Fu Panda

2008-06-09T12:34:00.001-07:00

took hodie to see this one on saturday and really enjoyed it.

i am a fan of jack black, so this definitely must be considered in that context. and this film is a very typically "Black" comedy. lots of fat jokes, goof humor, and general silliness.

the opening sequence has a sumptuous stylized look that i really liked; very asian chic al-la samurai jack. charming, funny, fast-paced narration from jack lead to giggles galore.

once the dream-sequence opening is over, we're back to the typical post-pixar CGI with which some people are so enamored. while i understand the appeal, i'm pretty much over it. anymore i'd just as soon see an honest-to-god cartoon in the more traditional sense. that being said, this film contained some of the loveliest imagery i have seen in recent memory. atmospheric shots were rich with detail and color. landscapes shone with light and shadow. shots of the skies and horizons were especially gorgeous. it was almost incongruous to be giggling and awestruck by beauty at in the same breath.

voices by dutin hoffman, angelina jolie, david cross (woot!), and jackie chan add an amusing component of "where the hell do i know that voice from?" to the film experience.

worthwhile and enjoyable, definitely. i do tend to set the bar a little lower for kids movies, but i still think i'd recommend this one to anyone with a fondness for silliness and an appreciation for rich imagery.

i just decided

2008-06-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

bsomething crazy, but exciting.

the clinic has been really slow, and we have more help than we need over the summer so dr. anne made it clear if i wanted some time off over the summer we could do that with ease. i wont get paid but i can have the time if i want it.

turns out i do.

neko case is my most favorite singer in all the land. and i find her music incredibly inspiring and her courage as a songwriter leaves me breathless and spurs me on. so. i want to see her in concert. she's coiming to bumbershoot, but i hate festival shows. with a passion. and i've been to seattle 900 bajillion times.

i've never been to reno, though...

i bought myself a ticket this afternoon. i'm taking 4 days off. i'm going to drive so i can see southern oregon. i'm going to do this. i cant decide if i'm more scared or excited.

guess i'll find out.

i will readily admit

2008-06-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

i have a fairly unsophisticated understanding of market forces and the delicate balance of the world economy. i also know that current trends are making survival more and more difficult for a great many people in the developing nations. hearing about the price of rice and grain skyrocketing, and the concomitant increase in food insecurity weighs heavily on my mind indeed.

yet, somehow, i feel this trend, as an overall tendency, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. in much the same way i feel the increase in gasoline prices are causing profound changes in our consciousness around how we consume energy, i want to believe the increase in food prices might bring about the same kind of evolution around how we consume other things.

while listening to NPR last week i heard a story about how the spike in the cost of grain is beginning to effect people in the rural areas of Afghanistan. how it is becoming more difficult for families to feed their children. and while this is hard to hear and makes me think we as a global community need to step in to address the immediate crisis, the side effect of the overall increase in food prices has made more profitable to grow wheat than opium poppies.

this delights me. there is something inherently noble, as far as i am concerned, in growing food. but more, it is beautiful to me that it is now a more practical choice to feed people than to feed a craving for oblivion.

most of human history has put us in the position of having to spend the greater proportion of our resources (time, physical energy, money) on the acquisition of food and shelter. in the relatively recent course of western culture, there has been a profound shift in that we have more and more resources to allocate toward other pursuits. it has not necessarily made for a more fulfilling human experience. we have become indolent and insensitive to the notion that toil in the pursuit of survival can be a rewarding thing in its own right. that greater freedom to reflect on all we do not have or need to have, has created an acute sense of entitlement and dissatisfaction in generations of people that seems only to be deepening the longer it goes on.

and so it seems to me that the rise in the price of food may cause us to begin to again reflect on the origins of our sustenance and all the ways we hope it will nourish us; what it is we value in our day to day lives and why we place such weight on certain components of our life and so little on others. food and eating are almost never just about food and eating these days, so perhaps we could begin to place a higher worth on this aspect of living, as not only what allows us to survive, but brings significant satisfaction and pleasure as well.

because i feel as though if we were to acknowledge the true worth of our food, that we would place a higher value on it than we have previously and that in so doing, we could acknowledge that it is appropriate to apportion a greater part of our means toward it. the notion being that we should be paying a high premium for food. we should place greater value on being able to feed people than to make our cars go. we should see providing food as a worthwhile investment which also serves to promote wise stewardship of resources.

and I realize this is probably a naïve and overly simplistic way of seeing the situation, but honestly it is one of the few comforts i can retain in an otherwise increasingly distressing atmosphere of scarcity. i think it serves me best to learn to value the things i fundamentally require and appreciate their true worth in my life.

i suppose it’s the socio-economic equivalent of “if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with”

Stardust

2008-06-06T02:15:00.000-07:00

I like Neil Gaiman well enough. Coraline is a fine example of his writing and I enjoyed it immensely. I think I was operating under the assumption that Stardust was likewise, a decent read for a fairly sophisticated 9 year old (of which I am possessed). Turns out, not so much.

Actually, to be fair, it probably would have been ok, but when I turn a page in the middle of what seems like a fairly innocuous scene of romance and have to stop dead in my tracks so as to avoid reading aloud “he brushed her firm nipples” to the aforementioned 9 year old… well I guess I just gave it up for lost at that point as far as she was concerned. besides, i think there’s a little too much unicorn death in it for the average adolescent girl.

Apart from that, it was an amusing enough romp. nothing very inventive here, but a decent way to pass a handful of hours.

To Kill A Mockingbird

2008-06-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

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arouse77's reviews from LibraryThing
http://www.librarything.com/profile_reviews.php?view=arouse77
arouse77's reviews from LibraryThing
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To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) by Harper Lee
http://www.librarything.com/work/book/30996292
reading this made me understand why we call certain books "classic" written in a lively prose, this story is about the expansion of awareness possible only at a very particular time in life. though this book has been turned into a movie where the legal drama takes the main focus, i felt the real story here was in how the family of Scout, Jem, and Atticus grow together and apart in the face of the harsh realities that dwell on the periphery of their insular southern town. as Scout's understanding of her world and the people who populate it becomes more sophisticated and nuanced, she sacrifices some of her shining innocence for the weightier gift of compassion. this story illustrates with sensitivity and sense this quintessential process of maturation. highly recommended.

Harper Perennial Modern Classics (2006), Paperback, 336 pages
tags: literature, southern culture, civil rights, movie
Sun, 25 May 2008 23:27:31 -0400

good health can be hazardous to your health

2008-06-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

ok, maybe i exaggerate. but i was working out last night (have decided to quell obsessive voice in head with exersize rather than sex and/or drugs) and was having a generally good time of it. sweating, breathing heavy, hurting just a little... (kinda like when i'm having a generally good time with sex and/or drugs)

i like to run. i also like the elipitcal trainer. i like weights. i like the gym. given my druthers, i go everyday. i listen to this american life while i'm huffing along. i annoy my fellow workers out with my random bursts of laughter. i stare out the windows at cooper mountain. these are good times.

what was not such good times yesterday was the sad injury i sustained when trying to re-rack my weights. now, you'd think by this point in my life, i would know my way around a rack (rimshot), but i misjudged my distance and pinched the holy living f*&k out of my index finger. pinching your pointed between a metal shelf and a 15lb barbell is not so much fun. hideous blood blister did ensue.

i hurt myself in stupid ways all the time and a huge proportion of these injuries occur when i am in pursuit of better health. hence, i'm all lean and fit and look like a victim of "enhanced interrogation methods"

sheesh.

Dinner @ Deschutes Brewpub

2008-06-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

hodie and i went to Powell's yesterday so she could obtain the spoils of blackmail. i owed her one, and she's become extremely fond of these weird little Japanese dolls that have completely interchangeable parts. head, trunk, and legs can all be swapped out for one another...

whatever.

i was starving. we were in close proximity to many fine eateries, but i wanted something easy, kid-friendly, and comparatively low-cost. i wanted to go get beer cheese soup @ Henry's but wasn't sure i could take her into the bar and didn't want to take her into the dining room. so.

the deschutes opened recently enough i hadn't tried it yet (though my experiences in Bend were pretty uninspiring) and thought it should fit the bill nicely.

wandered over and saw Steve Novick inside. so, that was cool... we were seated and my immediate impression was lack of design vision married to noise. it was loud in there. much louder than one might expect for a monday afternoon. it wasn't all that crowded, so i can only assume it was the "this used to be a repair shop" acoustics that were to blame. also, plaid industrial carpet? never a good call.

when i got a look at the menu it seemed like pretty typical pub grub, which was what i was after, but definitely upmarket in terms of price. not totally thrilled my reuben was going to cost me $11.95 i was downright flummoxed to see that the kids menu listed grilled salmon as one of its offerings. grilled salmon? seriously? if it cannot be formed into a patty or tot, my child is not interested. and i realize this is not true of all children, that some children are slightly more sophisticated in terms of their tastes, but i don't think i have EVER met a kid who lwould look at their parents and say "instead of grilled cheese, can i have grilled salmon?"

anyway, we ordered. my sandwich was not-even-middling fair. the bread was awful (and NOT rye) and the dearth of dressing was criminal, to my mind. hodie's burger was fine, according to her, but it was GARGANTUAN. there was no chance in hell she was going to be able to eat it all. the hand cut fries were passable, the honey mustard i sopped up with them was downright tasty. the "special rose festival pink lady" brew was less than thrilling, but potable.

this cost me about $30 all told. which is a lot for eating with the child. usually its closer to $20 for this type of meal in most eateries. i realize being in the pearl brings with it a premium, but usually that premium is married with a more satisfying experience all around.

next time i'll just drag her to Henry's and be done with it....

my embarassing admission is...

2008-05-30T13:07:00.003-07:00

i've never been a bridesmaid before, but i've been DYING to. and i realize, this is bizarre. i think its mostly because my few female friends are either pointedly unfroofy and so had no use for bridesmaids, already married, or a long way off from being married. sometimes more than one of these things at once.

yet, the big secret is, that though i can fix my own car, go for days without showering in a camping context, and curse like a sailor, i am fundamentally a girly-girl.

i love weddings, and babies, and shopping, and tulle, and shopping, and pedicures, and brocade and shopping, and pink, and diamonds, and shopping.

and i will admit, that someday, i pray someone will love me enough to want to let me have all of those things. my wedding dress will likely be about 9 miles wide. and i have had many anxious hours fantasizing about my elaborate wedding and wondering how the hell i can hope to have it when i dont have enough really close friends to adequately man the phalanx of attendants i envision beside me on that magical day.

sigh.

but! finally! a close friend who's a girly girl is having a fancy pants wedding! and i'm IN IT! palm springs in march? nice. the dress is even something I WOULD ACTUALLY WEAR OTHERWISE! how lucky am i?

i guess we all have our embarassing secret admissions. as far as it goes, mine could be lots worse...

any other not-so-secret secret admissions?

In The Woods

2008-05-30T13:07:00.002-07:00

enjoyable mystery novel with a degree of sensitivity and complexity missing in the usual murder investigation tale. the story told in first person, follows the climax and subsequent collapse of the personal and professional life of one detective Rob (Adam) Ryan.

the mystery is twofold; first is the relatively straightforward whodunit tale he and his partner are investigating and second the dimly recalled details of his own traumatic history. a nicely paced and well written peice of mystery fiction, the action centers around a child murder investigation that brngs our hero into close proximity to a place charged with meaning for him: the wood near his childhood home where as an adolescent he and two of his best friends disappeared for several days before only he is discovered with no memory of the events which befell the lot of them.

for a police investigator he shows a remarkable degree of ambivilance toward trying to recover his memory or discover the truth about the fate of his two closest childhood friends. yet as the investigation continues his carefully ordered coping strategy of avoiding the subject mentally begins to unravel. however, his only attempt to unearth his recollections offers no ultimately meaningful revelations, but instead serve only to alienate him from his meaningful current relationships.

while i fundamentally did enjoy this book, i found the primary mystery somewhat predictable, (i tagged the "culprit" on first introduction) and the secondary tale left questions unasked and unanswered in a way i felt was ncongruous with my expectations of the main character.

i also have a slightly weird tendency to hyperscrutinize when authors choose to write in the voice of a gender not their own. i find it is rare that an author can accurately capture the nuance of communication necessary to have the overall effect seem authentic. and while i considered this to be a better than average effort, there were a number of ways in which i felt detective Ryan behaved in a sterotypically "male" fashion that did not seem to serve any meaningful purpose in informing us about him. nor did they reflect the sensitivity this author showed herself capable of when describing other characters or atmospheric elements.

i do consider this to have been a much better than average murder mystery novel when left to its own merits. most of the things about it i didnt care for are pretty idiosyncratic and probably unique to my peculiarities.

recommended

Viking Adult (2007), Hardcover, 429 pages

only you understand me explodingdog

2008-05-30T13:07:00.001-07:00

i swear. i love explodingdog.com the artwork is fun and interesting and i am routinely amused by it. my wallpaper is almost always some piece or other. it's good stuff.

but lately, it's been more than that. the work is always accompanied by quirky titles that sometimes have nothing to do with the imagery, but have an eerie way of echoing what's going on in my life. especially lately.

a few examples follow...

it is enough to know you are out there

i'm afraid i will lose my faith

i will follow you into the dark

i am going to miss you

i hope you miss me too

sleeping to dream about you

i dont think you meant to do that

everything i touch turns to stone

love songs make me cry

i just cant stop

you have learned nothing

i regret everything

my life in cartoons....

hmmm

2008-05-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

twitter is over capacity. and so am i...

i feel so exactly just like this right now i find it almost hilarious. i have a host of little birdies trying valiantly to hoist me out of the sea of tears i might drown in else.

thank you birdies. you know who you are.

hodie pointed out

2008-05-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

something funny to me yesterday...

i've seen The Little Mermaid about 8,479 times. i can quote dialogue, sing all the songs, blah blah blah. and yet, the following escaped me;

"mom, you know how when Ariel and Flounder are exploring the shipwreck and the shark comes after them?"
"yeah?"
"why does Flounder scream 'RUN?!' they don't have legs..."

no shit. huh. ha.

the way the crow flies

2008-05-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

by Ann-Marie MacDonald

i found this work both luminous and dusky. its singing prose conjures an intimacy both of emotional and corporeal locus, and the language sings with an authenticity which absorbed me wholly. even at a hefty 811 pages this book was a pleasure to devour.

set in post World War II Canada, we are introduced to the McCarthy family as father Jack is about to assume his duties on the Centralia air force base. our first glimpse of the McCarthy’s is one of utterly bucolic happiness. parents passionately in love, children innocent and enriched by their nomadic existence. the voice of our primary character Madeline is remarkably genuine. this nine year old is intelligent and unblemished, and rarely have the impressions of a child been so authentically rendered and counterbalanced with the more sophisticated and nuanced perspective of the adults who surround her.

readers are privy to an array of forces which will begin to pull at the fabric of this singularly happy family in ways they cannot predict or even, once set adrift, begin to adapt to.

we begin with the depiction of post WWII politics and culture fraught with questions and concerns of the atomic age, and the author uses the alluring mechanism of episodic fractions of a nuclear fairy tale. the singsong narrative describing the mining techniques used to obtain material as well as slave labor practices which produced German missiles crafts a parable exceptionally evocative in the context of our sympathy for this child heroine.

in more direct, but no less compelling language the author communicates the paranoiac hysteria of the cold war mingled with a singularly Canadian sense of anti-Americanism; equal parts disgust, admiration, and inferiority complex. the author’s sense of time and place are absorbing and informative. subtle but meaningful distinctions of culture and context are woven expertly into a narrative about family dynamics, power, and abuse of trust that could take place anywhere. in the microcosm the author creates for us, we see a passionate belief in the value of the “space race” contrasted to an exquisitely sensitive and lovely portrait of a ripened romance between married adults. the innocence of childhood opposed to the cynicism of maturity. the drama of family dynamics juxtaposed against the pressures at play in the wider world.

all of these elements combine to make a mesmerizing tale and yet, this novel is, at its heart, a murder mystery. the foreshadows of tragedy are both tantalizing and oblique; simultaneously giving the reader the sense the outcome is predictable and that there is much yet to be revealed.

the book does change its tone significantly in the wake of the crime and subsequent legal proceedings. it follows Madeline into an adulthood which has aconsiderably different timbre than her childhood. eventually the tale comes full circle and all is revealed, but the jarring transition from child to adult, from singing evocative language to a quality harsher and more matter-of-fact is a mechanism i see the value of, but did not particularly enjoy adjusting to.

apart from this relatively minor (and probably totally personal) preference for more tonal consistency, i would say this is one of the finer novels i have encountered in recent memory. recommended, heartily.

Great and Minor Moments in Oregon History by Dick Pintarich

2008-05-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

"Oregon's Social History" was the first class i attended in college while trying to get my educational bearings. i took it from the author of this book and really enjoyed it. he was funny, engaging, well-informed, and entertaining. i found the book to have these same qualities.

Dick Pintarich works as a tour guide over the summers when he isn't teaching at Portland Community College, and this book has the tone you might expect from someone leading an especially entertaining excursion through Oregon's colorful history. an expert on southern and eastern Oregon, he touches on many of the less-well-known aspects of culture and landscape in the far corners of the state. he recounts interesting anecdotes from his own travels and brings tidbits of information to the fore that are both interesting and, in many cases, hilarious. the chapters on place-name sanitization is particularly amusing. (hint: rooster rock was NOT the original name!)

in addition to covering the more far flung corners of the state, this book also brings up many of the less than savory aspects of Oregon's culture that many natives, and more transplants, would rather forget. a rampant pattern of racism, prejudice, corruption, political pandering, the inflexibility of many residents toward social progress, and a legendary tight-fistedness among its residents.(remember, we're) one of the only states in the union without a sales tax!) an entertaining and instructive read, this book is a must for anyone curious about the less-well-traveled paths of Oregon's history. ( )

You're my best friend!

2008-05-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

i've been wondering lately if the notion of a "best friend" endures into adulthood. if you'd asked me this question a year ago, i would have answered with a resounding,
"uh-huh!"
however, the person who filled that role in my life since i was about 17 and i haven't even spoken in almost a year, and so now i am no longer sure.

the common wisdom tells us it becomes more difficult to make substantial social connections as we age. that intimacy becomes harder to establish, new friendships less likely to endure.

the way we forge connections changes radically as life goes on. our life circumstances, personalities, ethics, preferences, and degree of emotional competency take on distinct texture and permanence as we age. proximity is, then, no longer the defining characteristic of friendship. the accessibility of a playmate, once the cardinal trait of friendship, becomes largely irrelevant. our sensibilities evolve with our interests and we learn to make alliances based on hobbies, political leanings, fondness for drink, and countless other considerations.

and though these might seem to be a more sound and enduring basis upon which to form a lasting social connection, there are constraints presented by our maturity which can hamper the evolution of the emotional connection of the intensity and scope inherent to the "best friend" role. no longer can we hope to be as unaffected or vulnerable as when we were children. our actions are moderated and mitigated by our experience and politesse. the fear of revealing too much, or pressing upon the tolerance of another. we no longer possess the glorious insensitivity to the effect of our unbridled self upon others.

to my mind at least, it is in many ways the drama of our adolescence that makes the profound and enduring emotional and cognitive impressions upon us that allow us to feel as though we really, really know someone, deep down at their core. it is unusual to encounter a relationship, not romantic in nature, that can (or should) generate this same type of intensity once we are out of those tumultuous formative years. and perhaps if we don't emerge from this time with a person who has run this gauntlet beside us, they cannot really know us; cannot appreciate our evolution and our constancy.

not to forget the logistical and practical constraints of adulthood. we don't have time on our hands to devote to just being around to discover or communicate every damn thing.

and all of this being said, i have to admit, the conclusion i come to is that while it may be possible to have a best friend as an adult, it might not be possible to acquire one if you wrecked or lost the one you already had. and this makes me sad and lonesome and wistful. because that's what seems to have happened. and there doesn't seem to be anything i can do about it.

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

2008-05-23T15:41:00.003-07:00

draped with acclaim and praise on the jacket, i had fairly high hopes for this book. i'm not certain if it's my frame of mind at the moment, or something more inherent to the text itself, but i was disappointed.

set in a back-and-forth time scheme ranging from WWII Europe to 1980's India, the story focused on 2 generations of a famiily and their close associates. these characters, to greater and lesser degrees, all experience a sense of being displaced in whatever social culture they happen to be currently entangled in.

if this book has a theme, i would say it is non-belongingness, which just did not resonate as expected. these characters all encounter significant turmoil both in their personal lives as well as in the growing political unrest raging around them and we are able to see how they cope with, or fail to acknowledge, these changes, the story moves back and forth in time and place in a way that isn't so much confusing as it is distracting and vaguely annoying.

i failed to find the main characters particularly sympathetic or engaging in terms of their internal struggle, or their responses to the upheaval in their surroundings. the most interesting emotional connection in this book seemed to be between the elderly judge and his dog. plowed through it, but didn't much enjoy it.

Grove Press (2006), Paperback, 384 pages

tags: India, romance, politics, immigration

A voyage long and strange : rediscovering the New World by Tony Horwitz

2008-05-23T15:41:00.002-07:00

My first impression of this book was exceedingly favorable. The opening chapters commence with a self-depricating stroll past Plymouth Rock and down Amnesia Alley. The author has an engaging and witty style i found immediately enjoyable to read. If the remainder of the book had maintained this initial promise, i would be rating as one of the better peices of non-fiction i've ever encountered.

perhaps not surprisingly though, the bantering tone of the early chapters did not last. once we left newfoundland (a HOTBED of hilarity, as is well known) and travelled further south, the timbre of the strory become singularly depressing, and virtually unleavened with the asides and insights that made the first portion so enjoyable. i suppose this might be partially because of the darker cast of the events post-wiking (i mean, spaniards vs. norsemen in a contest of levity? foregone conclusion!) but the feeling i got from the remainder of the book was of a wholly uninspired travelouge of places people would rarely care to visit even if one COULD be sure any of the purported historical events actually occurred there, which no one actually can.

suddenly "Plymouth Pebble" doesn't seem worthy of the mockery it receives in the opening chapter!

On the whole, i found this book a worthwhile read, though was disappointed with its unevenness. i felt like the momentum of the early chapters had totally dissipated by about 2/3rd though. And even though the final portions seemed long and drawn out, the end also felt rather abrupt back on the Massachusetts shore. I suppose if he hadn't raised my hopes for hilarious historical hyjinx, the overall impression would have been better. ah well.

New York : Thorndike Press, 2008.

tags: non-fiction, history, early america, humor

2008-05-23T15:41:00.001-07:00

The Anxiety of Everyday Objects by Aurelie Sheehan

"This book was a breezy 6 or 7 hours to get through. It was amusing if not terribly insightful or absorbing. Fairly typical girl-novel where nothing very consequential happens, but all is made well in the end by getting of crushable boy. Had so many aspects reminiscent of the movie "Secretary" I am convinced the author of the screenplay lifted much of the stroyline from this book. I found this a little distracting, particularly because I enjoyed the movie far more."Penguin (Non-Classics) (2004), Paperback, 288 pages

tags: romantic-comedy, fluffy, girl

Blatantly stolen from Lyza...

2008-05-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

is the following idea.

my personal life is a mess. and rather than a) complain about it relentlessly to the chagin of all OR b) go through a period of blog-io silence, i'm going to post about what i've been doing: reading relentlessly.

i sleep with the light on so that when i wake up any of the 4-9 times per night all i have to do is lift the book back up to my eyeline and start reading again. this prevents pesky nighttime thoughts from occurring for longer than it takes for my sleepy eyes to focus on the page. has lead to some weird dreams, but is overall a generally successful strategy for coping at the moment.

as a result, i have run through quite a few books recently, and have enjoyed putting in my 2 cents about what it is i think of said books. sadly, there haven't been many winners lately,(one always runs this risk when we play the sale table lottery) but i'm thinking my luck is about to change. AND i'm getting a library card so as not to bankrupt myself at Powells.

at any rate, i'm going to post a few of the book reviews i'v written as the fruits of my last few days of labor. enjoy!

nts nts nts

2008-05-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

went with friends lyza, david, and brett to the Armin VanBuuren show last night at the Roseland. i haven't been to a dance show since seeing John Digweed @ the crystal back in 2002? woah.

danced the whole set. was bathed in other people's sweat and excitement. overcame my usual crowd terror to follow lyza right up to the edge of the stage. was struck by the contrast in this show vs the multitude of other shows i've been to in recent memory...

crowd, though sweaty, smelled good and this is crucial. i was far less anxious being surrounded on all sides by people who didnt smell in a way that distressed me. people were generally polite and trying to take care of each other. stage hands tossed water out to the crowd and generally seemed to be trying to make sure everyone was feeling included. dj looked HAPPY. like he was genuinely enjoying himself instead of the faux-torment put upon by some musicians attempting to convey the seriousness of their art by dint of a glower.

there was jumping. there was smiling. there were various stages of undress. it was good times.

what the fucking fuck

2008-05-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

driving up canyon rd today. there's a speed trap, accordingly, i do not speed. i'm doing 35 thinking about the chores i have remaining and the show i am going to tonight, when i glance in my rearview mirror to see a black Durango EXCEEDINGLY close to my rear end.

i think to myself "what an asshole."
he stays menacingly close
i think to myself "what the fuck is his problem?"
there is plenty of room to go around me in the left lane
i think to myself "what the hell does he think he is doing"

and then he rams me.

its little more than a tap; frankly i can tell by the skill with which he executed the maneuver that he's probably done it before. i am stunned and frightened by this. and can only think: he did it on purpose. why would he do that??

i'm not going to stop for this person. this was no accident. and i know full well there is a police van about 2/3's of a mile up canyon (remember that speed trap i was trying to avoid?) and that is where i am headed.

and then, he races around me in the other lane and takes off. he's a few hundred yards in front of me when he then slows down dramatically and waits for me to come parallel with him. i look over into the SUV with a "what the fuck?" look on my face and he proceeds to smile and wave. he then peels off to the left and disappears up canyon crest.

i am, uselessly, so freaked out that i fail to look for a plate number. i mean, he was in a black durango. how many of those bloody fucking things are there in beaverton anyway? too many to even credit.

proceed next to hysterical, terrified, bewildered sobbing.

call police. without more identifying information, there's nothing to be done but for the nice officer to say he's sorry it happened.

Klaus seems mostly unscathed. still have touch up paint from accident in november, so i may make use of that for the handful of small scratches evident on the rear bumper.

call friends for comfort. one suggests park klaus and his distinctive plates somewhere else. when i mention this is impractical the advice is that i get some pepper spray as this happened so close to my house, they might see my car parked there and decide to come pick on me some more. strangely, this idea IS NOT IN ANY WAY COMFORTING!!!!

took myself to pedicure and mexican food as antidote. dancing later.

and breathe...

2008-05-10T14:47:00.001-07:00

i woke up this morning in the same mood i've been in for days. it's not a happy one. and yet, for some reason, as i walked past the lilac bush outside my front door, i plucked some blossoms and decided to breathe.

some time ago i was compelled to take a theology class. though it wasn't necessarily a choice i would have made on my own, i found the class deeply rewarding. not least because of the reading material the sister required for the class. as pertinent to this; Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hahn. and though this is a simple book in every sense, it has offered some of the most practical and useful advice about life i have encountered. yet as simple as it is, i have been truly amazed at how easy it is to forget these truths.

Like:

breathe
smile
be gentle
attend to the smallest and most immediate pleasures
stay present in the moment

and i have not done as much of any of this as i should lately. and for some reason, on this soft grey spring day, i am finding it a little easier than usual. i think i can thank the lilacs...