Learning from 2008

Posted on 12/23/2008 by chick

The year 2008 is almost over. I can’t help but look back at January through early December, searching for meaning, understanding, and inspiration. I want to wring everything I can from the year before it dwindles to nothing. Expect to see some posts based on old pictures and events from earlier this year.

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Naughty Pancakes?

Posted on 12/13/2008 by chick

What is it about pancakes that makes them want to join together in the skillet? No matter how carefully I pour them, they manage to expand, sometimes even to grow pseudopodia, so that they may touch one another. Is it romantic, naughty, or just my bad luck?

And yes, I have always wanted to find a reason to use the word “pseudopodia.”

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The Hippo Got Me

Posted on 12/13/2008 by chick

It’s almost Christmas and the radio stations are busy overplaying their catalog of holiday tunes. I haven’t heard the one about the Christmas donkey yet this year (thank God!), but that doesn’t mean I got off scot-free. Oh, no. This year the hippo got me.

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.
Only a hippopotamus will do.
No crocodiles, no rhinoceroses.
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too.

(or something like that)

It’s incredibly catchy. I only heard it twice and it’s been stuck in my head since. I guess it just wouldn’t be Christmas if I didn’t have a holiday tune playing nonstop in my mind.

P.S. If you could get any exotic animal for Christmas, what would it be?

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What Took You So Long?

Posted on 12/06/2008 by chick

Now for the reading post you’ve been eagerly awaiting…

The Memory, Sorry and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams
Grade: C+

I should have known from the get-go that it was a bad idea to read this trilogy. It’s just too damned long.

The Dragonbone Chair: 765 p.
Stone of Farewell: 569 p.
To Green Angel Tower: 1066 p.

Trilogy Grand Total: 2400 pages

But length is only a problem when the series is bad (I wouldn’t shorten Harry Potter or LOTR, would you?). It took me so long to acquire all three of the books for this series that I felt obligated to read them. I checked the online reviews before I started. They were positive, so I took the plunge. Yes, I allowed myself to be misled again by online reviews. So sad.

It didn’t take much reading to find other ominous signs: a servant boy as the main character, names containing apostrophes, names of things that are familiar but slightly different from real life (like the month called “Novander”). But I persisted and actually started to enjoy the book by its end. I paid much more attention in the second book but was ultimately disappointed. The third book almost killed me. I never would have finished had I not skimmed through large sections.

The story starts with a teenage kitchen boy who is always getting into trouble. Meanwhile a dark power is rising and only the union of the three great magic swords can save the world. Naturally, the boy leaves home, finds the swords, alters the fate of the entire world, and in the process becomes a man. You’d think he could have done that within half the page count.

On average I read about a page per minute. That means I spent something like 40 hours on this trilogy. That’s like the average person’s workweek so it doesn’t seem like a lot of time. But imagine how you’d feel if you reached the end of your life and were miraculously granted an additional 40 hours. You could live a whole lifetime in 40 hours if that was all you had. You could change the world for real within 40 hours.

Maybe changing the world is a lot to ask from 40 hours, but I think I could have done more with my time. So could you, so I can’t recommend this trilogy.

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About Those Posts…

Posted on 12/03/2008 by chick

Faithful Reader told me that he doesn’t like my reading posts, at least not as much as my other posts. That’s OK. I don’t either. But it’s for a different type of enjoyment that I write them. I write them so that I remember what I’ve read and also why I’ve kept (or not kept) certain books. It’s about developing my library and about understanding better what makes a good book.

Another beauty of the reading post is that it puts me outside of my comfort zone. I don’t feel adequate to the task of properly reviewing a book. I worry that I sound like an idiot. I worry about being too harsh. I worry about not being harsh enough. It’s an odd situation for a former English major, I know, but my college essays were different. I didn’t write about likes or dislikes or characters or the fundamentals of how a novel works. I wrote about symbolism, motifs, the kinds of things that are easy to write about because they’re either self-evident or complete bullshit. The professors didn’t have to like the essays. As long as the essays were competently written and made some sort of sense, the professors would give them decent grades. That made me comfortable writing them.

I think it’s good to be a little uncomfortable when writing. It’s good to challenge yourself. I hope that if I write enough of these reading posts that I’ll learn to do them right. I also think that the more often you challenge yourself, the easier it is to write when you’re feeling uncomfortable, and that’s something you have to learn if you’re ever going to write for publication.

Not that I plan to write for publication. I don’t know what I plan to do. I only know that I plan to write more blog posts and that some of them will be reading posts. And that’s just the way it is.

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Almost Two and No Thanks

Posted on 12/03/2008 by chick

My Faithful Reader and I have yet to write thank-you notes for our wedding gifts. The amount of time that has elapsed is more that what is allowed by etiquette. Etiquette shmetiquette. I don’t care about “the rules” in this case. I just want to get it done. The longer we wait to do it, the worse we’ll feel and the more ingrateful everyone will think we are. I would like to get it done before our 2-month anniversary, which leaves us 8 days. No more fooling around, Faithful Reader. It’s time to show the world some gratitude!

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Baby Blues

Posted on 11/30/2008 by chick

First, I want to wag the Dumb Toe of Ugliness at the adoption system in this country. For shame! It is a sick system indeed that gives adoptive parents a newborn for almost two months then says, “Oh, by the way, your child may be taken from you, and it’s possible that you won’t know one way or the other for several months.” While I respect the rights of the birth family, I don’t think anyone should be allowed to bring that much pain and uncertainty to someone else’s life.

But I also want to give thanks to the legal system that miraculously cut through all the bullshit and did the right thing for the baby in question. She will stay with her adoptive parents and that’s where she belongs.

Congratulations, K&S, to you and your beautiful baby!

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Seeds for Snack

Posted on 11/25/2008 by chick

I am grateful for roasted squash seeds.

How nice to find out that you can roast the seeds of other winter squashes besides pumpkin! We tried butternut, buttercup, and acorn squash seeds. They were all tasty and slightly reminiscent of popcorn.

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My Apologies

Posted on 11/23/2008 by chick

I owe an apology to the customer service rep to whom I spoke yesterday. Kristin, wherever you are, you really didn’t do much to help me and you broke my cell phone, but I should have kept the anger out of my voice. Sorry. I’ll try to control it better in the future.

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One Month and Counting

Posted on 11/16/2008 by chick

Faithful Reader and I just passed our one-month anniversary. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been married for over a month!

The wedding, by the way, was almost perfect. The weather, which early in the week had looked to be rainy, turned out to be beautiful. It was the quintessential autumn day. Everyone who needed to be there was there and everyone looked good. The cake and flowers arrived on time and they were lovely. The photographer was very nice. The DJ did an excellent job. We couldn’t have asked for more.

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