Throwing snow in the dark
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December 2008
Cycler
Cycler is the weirdest YA book I’ve ever read. Weird and oddly compelling. I’m surprised at how much I’m interested in reading the sequel, particularly after the first chapter I wanted to throw the book across the room. I mean, please.
It’s a Dr Jekyl/Mrs Hyde – Teen Wolf sort of thing. Jack is seriously into the teen boy sex thing and there’s the whole bisexual issue. As Liz says it’s really trashy and it’s done just right – after you get past the first chapter and just let yourself go with it.
Drive
On October 29, I dropped a video from Melissa’s show in Chicago with the “we missed it” title and said I’d be back to talk about that – and then I never came back and talked about that. And now, it’s December and I have different stuff to say about it. Funny how that happens.
We thought one of the good things about moving to the Chicago area would be that we’d get to see Melissa more often. We were kind of excited to see two shows in Chicago and two more within driving distance.
But, the two Chicago shows were during RJ’s birthday weekend and they were 18 and older shows. Bah humbug to 18 and older shows. I can see that’s going to be a problem with living up here. The kids will never get to see her.
So, anyway, we couldn’t go to the shows at Shuba’s. So, I thought we’d drive to Indianapolis or Bloomington and see one of those shows. But something happened (work maybe? damn election!) and we totally forgot about the shows until after they were over.
I could not believe that neither of us even thought about Melissa until it was too late. That has never happened. Not in eight years. We always know exactly when she’s in our area and exactly how and when we’re going to see her. It was so damn depressing that I posted that brief blog post and decided I would just forget it, forget it ever (or never!) happened.
But, the election ended and more stress arrived to take its place. As I was having a mini nervous breakdown on Twitter one afternoon, someone tweeted a link to a Melissa video and I started surfing around youtube, looking at new uploads. Just for the hell of it, I clicked her tour schedule… Atlanta. Figures. Charlotte. Figures. Nashville. Fig… hey, wait, maybe we could do Nashville…
I arranged the days off. TW arranged the days off. I used my club points and booked a free night in a very nice Holiday Inn Express in Nashville. I booked the dog into the kennel and we did it. We drove the eight hours to Nashville, checked into the hotel, took a brief side trip to a yarn store because TW ran out of knitting projects on the drive down, and then hit the club.
Awesome. Except for the chick who could not stay in a seat and had to not only walk back and forth in front of my camera but had to STOP, BEND OVER and talk to her friend … in front of my video camera. Not only does that make it hard to see, it makes it really hard to record.
Whatever. We had a good time. It was warmer in Nashville. We got to hear a lot of southern accents. We ate at Waffle House. We drove home the next morning and arrived in time to pick up the kids for Tuesday night dinner. And, I’d totally do it again.
I don’t normally video tape Melissa singing Drive. But, she’s been having such a good time with the whole Beyonce’ thing that I couldn’t resist. Enjoy.
Kissing Kate
Kissing Kate was a nice little lesbian YA book. A little too “perfect” – how many teens find exactly the kind of friend they need to help them deal with a problem like “Kate”? Not too many. Actually, I’m not too sure many adults find the perfect friend to help them deal with a problem like “Kate”.
Ah well, it’s feel good YA rather than problem YA. So, it’s all good.
And now that I’ve noticed Lauren Myracle is one of the authors in “Let it Snow”, maybe I’ll go pick that up from the library tomorrow. John Green and Lauren Myracle… must be good?
Do I love Lauren Graham or do I love Lorelai?
I think I love Graham and I hope, hope, hope this new show for Lauren Graham comes through… and I really, really, really hope it’s good. Also hoping it isn’t on Thursday night. Tuesday at 8pm would be fab, thanks.
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The Jew Store
I was ambivalent about reading The Jew Store and I’m not sure why. It was in the “book club” section of the library which generally means a lot of people liked it, so I shouldn’t have been wary. But, having grown up in the south and read an awful lot of books about race and culture in the south… I was afraid I’d hate it.
I didn’t hate it. It was good. It was often amusing. It wasn’t a great book but it wasn’t bad either. I liked the Bronson family. I liked the small town Tennessee people. It was all very nice, even the not so nice pieces were “nice” – and that’s probably why it wasn’t a great book, just a good one.
The Miraculous Life of Edgar Mint
It took me an awful long time to read The Miraculous Life of Edgar Mint and I don’t know why. It’s a pretty short book. It’s a very good book. I read a good while every night. It just seemed like it never ended – and then when it did, wah! That was NOT the ending I wanted. It wasn’t a horrible ending but still, sigh. I wanted the miraculous life to really end miraculously – but, life is miraculous even if it ends a wee bit differently than you might like it to.
Really. Very good book.
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How the heck do you wear this thing?
Did I mention TW made me a really gorgeous alpaca scarf? She did. I love it (thank you @haldechick and Knit 1.)
Today, I was at Great Lakes getting gas and it was 9 degrees. Plus wind. And it is really really windy in the Great Lakes Naval Station area. As I was pumping the gas, and freezing my ass off, and thanking GOD and TOYOTA for making a car that gets such damn good gas mileage that I only need to put two or three gallons in thus standing in the cold for only a few minutes, I realized that I could wrap that really awesome scarf around my mouth and nose rather than leaving it wrapped around my neck (which was already covered by coat.)
One problem. I don’t know how to wrap a scarf properly around my mouth and nose.
I see people do it all of the time in movies and on TV. I’ve read books where people do this. I’ve even seen a few people up here in arctic Illinois do it. But when I tried it, the scarf just slipped down. I am scarf illiterate.
TW attempted to model scarf wearing. But, it just made me laugh. I think I need more help than TW can give me.
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Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy
This afternoon, while rebooting, I went to the back room and stood at the doors looking at what little bit of sun shines on us here in Glenview. TW’s sister called and she went into the office to talk to her. Suddenly, I hear some other voice. And TW talking to this other voice. And I start thinking, “what are the kids doing here???” Then I hear TW call my name. I come out and I realize it isn’t the kids, it’s JOY!
I grabbed the dog from TW who was still talking to her sister, and then invited Joy into the house. Joy always comes bearing gifts – first my birthday gifts (plus just because gifts for TW) and now shiny silver wrapped box… The woman is TOO much.
I sat her down in my chair, took the box and put it in the laundry room, and we chatted about life and work and stuff. Joy suggested I might want to open the gift before Christmas, because she thought it might be really useful now. I ignored her and kept talking about my life and work and stuff.
TW hung up on her sister and Joy again suggested we might want to open the Christmas gift now. So, I handed the gift to TW and grabbed my camera.
A space heater. OMG! Just what we needed! How did she know (haha possibly because she has one and it’s the only thing that keeps her from freezing at her desk while she works so hard at BlogHer.com?) Seriously. We didn’t have one. We’ve talked about getting one but we’re on a budget and the budget just got significantly CUT so we’re just sitting here freezing most of the time.
As soon as Joy left, I opened the heater, plugged it in and OMG it works. It’s almost warm in here. Actually it is warm in here except for the occasional breeze that blows in from somewhere in this room (probably the floors, hahaha.)
TW suggested I put it in the bedroom for awhile to take the chill off so it will be warm when we quit working and head to bed with books. I told her I would but first I’m carrying it to the family room when we watch Survivor. This thing is AWESOME.
Joy, you shouldn’t have. But dang woman, you do know how to give the right gift at the right time!
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links for 2008-12-01
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Kombucha is a type of sweetened tea that has been fermented using a culture known as a SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast.) According to Wikipedia, the drinking of Kombucha dates back to 250 B.C., when it was found in early China and Japan, later gaining popularity in Russia. I can remember back in the sixties when even in a slightly un-hip place like Salt Lake, many people were making and drinking what was then called "mushroom tea."
links for 2008-12-01 Read More »