Long live the King (let)

Wow. Last night I started reading "Heart-Shaped Box" by Joe Hill - his full name is Joe Hill King and he is Stephen King's son. The book is REALLY creepy. I don't normally get scared by scary books, but this one put a mental image in my head that really tripped me out. Hill does not have quite the facility with language that I so admire in King, but so far it's a good read.

Here's something I noticed about these new books by the King family. Hill's book has been out for a few months while King's is brand new. It dawned on me last night that in King's book one of the characters keeps referring to a "heart-shaped box." Shameless promotion and marketing of kid or just a really proud dad? King seems like a decent dude - I'm going with really proud dad. It's kind of cute even.

One day until Lost for those of you, like me, who are going bananas waiting for it.

Viva le trash!!!

Up for air

I finished Mr. King's GARGANTUAN book - Duma Key. It was good - if you like him to begin with. I would not recommend that you start your King journey with this book. Kinda spooky - but that's not really the point. I don't read any other horror novelists - I just like King. I love the way he puts words together. The McDonald's of literature? Maybe - so what? I eat at McD's from time to time - all things in moderation, no?

Anyway here are a few random photos - I need to get back to my books!

This is my favorite building in Chicago. I don't know what it is. The picture doesn't really do it justice at all. It's just this smooth, green, cool bunch of glass - it looks amazing if you're really there.

These are in Chicago as well. I believe they're apartment complexes. I just like them because they look kind of futuristic and retro groovy all at the same time.

This picture is from one of the cities of the dead in New Orleans. Creepy and beautiful and sad and spooky - all mixed together.

This is from the French Quarter. I love the colors and the iron work. Our tour guide told us that New Orleans architecture has so much iron work because ships that brought people to New Orleans rarely went back. The people on the ships simply broke the ship down for the wood and iron and other salvage.

And - just for fun. This is my husband right after getting a pie in the face at work. This has absolutely nothing to do with the other pictures - it just never fails to make me giggle.

A week of vapidity

Is "vapidity" a real word? I hope so.

I think everyone should spend a good part of their lives involved in worthwhile pursuits - nurturing kids, reading, learning, writing, creating, etc. I'm all for it. Sign me up.

But I ALSO think that sometimes you get to take a little brain vacation. Although I still have to nurture kids and go to work and stuff like that, I'm planning a whole week of trash. Precipitating this week long trashapalooza is the fact that my big old Amazon.com order came in. WOOHOO. I received a $50 gift card (yes to me this is a LOT of moola) to Amazon for Christmas and spent it down to the nub. (P.S. This is always an appropriate gift - in case you were really racking your brain trying to think of what to get me for....oh...say....Presidents Day.) But I digress. Anyway, what did I order with my free money? Great works of literature? An in-depth historical analysis? An art appreciation tome? SAT prep materials for my child?

Hell.

No.

I bought junk! It wasn't my money! Total junk. Dear Mr. Stephen King had the foresight to release his new book when I have free money and I also picked up the first (and supposedly really scary) novel by his son. Because the Kings need more of someone's money, right? I also filled in a missing book from my Kellerman series. Whoopee!! I plan to drown in these books all week while also (quasi-resentfully) fulfilling my other obligations AND taking breaks to blog, watch AI, and go completely berserk on Thursday when lovely, lovely Lost comes back to me.

So - please do not expect much in the way of deep thinking or erudite elocutions from me this week at all. (Because that's why you read me, yeah? hahaha)

Random

Got the staples out today. Didn't get a chance to save one for Noah. I did, however, get a set of pictures of the inside of my knee. I'm thinking about using the images for our holiday cards this year. They don't really look like anything. I found myself politely nodding at what the doctor was showing me just like you do when someone tries to point things out on an ultrasound picture. I thought about posting the pictures up here, but that seems really grisly.

So I did finish "The Time Traveler's Wife." It was pretty good. A keeper. One I'll likely read again. There are still some free will issues that bother me. I just don't think the wife had many options but to marry the guy. It borders on creepy that he seemed to kind of groom her to be his wife. It got me on a line of thought that could lead to crazy-ville. There seems to be a certain percentage of life that is governed purely by randomness. No matter how many plans you make or how careful you are or what you do, things will happen to you just because. Like....falling down the steps or whatever. How much of the rest of my life is changed because of what happened on those steps? What would be different right this instance if it had never happened? Or....what if Noah was a girl? Would something more fundamental than my floor being covered with Barbies rather than Hot Wheels happen? Or that horrible mall shooting on the news today. Things like that really drive me nuts. What if one of those people decided to go shopping yesterday instead of today? I really can't let myself go down these paths very far. I have to believe that the percentage of our lives that are ruled by chaos is so tiny that the chance of major changes is very small. Maybe that's being completely naive, but if life were HUGELY random, then what would ultimately be the point of planning anything?

There was one other part of the book that bothered me. One of the characters voices the opinion that adopting a child is "cheating" and that they must have a "real" child. The character who says this is otherwise an appealing character - it's not a "bad" character who says/does other "bad" things. I find that viewpoint to be really offensive. Certainly adoption isn't for everyone, but why paint it in such an unflattering light? That attitude makes it seem like the love that adoptive families feel for each other is also not "real" and that it's just a sad substitute for a "real" family. I would hope the author didn't intend to come across this way, but she did.

Swell Time

I tried to go back to work today. By 2:30 my knee had completely ballooned up and hurt like a....thing that hurts bad. I was not a happy camper. I had to come home and elevate it and put the evil cryo cuff back on. I've had many jobs I didn't really like and taken classes that were mind-numbingly boring and would have PAID for a reason to stay home at those times. So now when I have a job I do like, people I like to work with, a ton of stuff to do....of course this happens. I was able to do some stuff from home. It's just frustrating. I even called my mom and had a tantrum over the phone. Bleh.

I have to see the surgeon tomorrow. I wonder if he's going to take out the staples. I have 14 staples covering 3 incisions. Noah has been wildly curious about the staples. He first wanted to know if they hurt (they don't). He then wanted to know if I would have them forever (I'd better not). When I told him that the doctor would take them out he wanted to know if THAT would hurt (I don't think so) and if it would bleed (maybe). I was worried that he would find my leg scary or upsetting - but he's cool with it all. He's mostly curious. I almost wish I could take him with me when I get them out. Is that creepy? (Kat???) Maybe I'll save one for him.

I'm reading a very strange book called "The Time Traveler's Wife." I think I like it. I really like the idea of time travel. This book is kind of messing me up though. The wife of the title meets her husband when she's 6 and he's....I don't know...way older. She keeps meeting him throughout her childhood/teen years. Then they "really" meet when she's 20 and he's 28. But as he gets older he goes back to visit her when she's younger. Ok. Well he would not have done that in the future if he had not met her and married her at 28 right? But SHE would not have loved and married him at 20 if she had not known and loved him since she was 6. Right? I don't know. I'm not sure that it matters ultimately. One thing I do like about the book is that it's about people my age in my time. Does that make sense? The wife character was born in 1971 and grows up liking the same music and movies as me. While there are tons of books in many time periods that I love, it's kind of nice to read something truly contemporary once in a while. Maybe reading "older" books is the only way we ever time travel. Who are we and where are we when we read those?

My new favorite author is....

....Jacquelyn Mitchard. I've read most of her books. They've all just been kind of ok to me - until tonight when I read this line from The Breakdown Lane:

"I considered camping a sin not for but against nature, a form of primitive subjugation, disguised as recreation, a way for men to beat their chests at the dawning and women to wash the same dishes fifteen times a day, and with sand."

I've never seen a better way to explain to Jeff for the billionth time why I don't want to go camping. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Ms. Mitchard.

Waaaahhh!

It's surgery. !#!#@%%$^%$$#@#@#!@!

Icky stuff below - don't read if you're squeamish.

My ACL is completely torn in half. This is not fixable. The surgeon will have to harvest from my hamstring and like fashion a new ligament. YUCKY!!! (There's another option, but it's even yuckier as it involves the word "cadaver.") Also, it appears that my cartilage (meniscus) is also torn. The MRI was not clear about how bad that tear is. If he does have to do extensive repairs to the cartilage, then I will be in a brace AND on crutches for six weeks. I'm really hoping that the cartilage isn't too bad. Six weeks is a long time. The surgery will take place the end of the month. Boo hoo.

In other depressing news, I had a little panic attack at the top of the steps last night. I looked down and just got kind of sick feeling and panicked. The dreams are still bad too. This just seems so silly to me. Like my own mind is torturing me. There are WAY worse things that happen to people and they function just fine. It makes me feel totally self-absorbed and babyish to still be freaking out about the steps.

Enough of my knee....it's getting boring even to me.

I read today that a high school in West Virginia is banning books by one of this country's best contemporary authors - Pat Conroy. Two of his books were assigned in an ADVANCED OPTIONAL English course.....for SENIORS. It seems that the parents feel that Mr. Conroy's books feature too much sex and violence. Are you kidding me? I can almost guarantee that Mr. Conroy's books are the TAMEST exposure these kids have had to sex and violence. The parents make it sound like it's two books full of bawdiness and smut. One poor, sensitive soul could not even finish reading it because it was so awful. I wonder if this woman has read the Bible lately. Pretty gory stuff in there.

It's pretty ironic that I read this news story today. I just re-read all of his books. One of them, the Prince of Tides, I have read to shreds. Mr. Conroy isn't for everyone, but I have loved every single thing he has written. His powers of description are astonishing. Make sure you read Beach Music (one of the "bad" ones) on a full stomach - the way he describes food will have you drooling. I could understand the problem if these kids were younger. As a parent I do believe that somethings are not appropriate for kids of certain ages. But for older children, I think a truly responsible parent will teach their kids how to understand and interpret the things they hear and see - not shield them forever.

Well - that was a big rant. I just hate the idea of censorship....especially in such a stupid case. I would be THRILLED if my boys ever read Mr. Conroy's works. A perfect example of how much more right he is than the parents is right here:

Because the two books were temporarily banned "every kid in that county will read them, every single one of them. Because book banners are invariably idiots," Conroy wrote in the letter published Oct. 24 in The Charleston Gazette. "They don't know how the world works — but writers and English teachers do."

Here's a link to the full story.

Chantix Day 29, Smoke Free Day 13

Not much new to report today. A few tugs, nothing awful. I did have another truly crazy dream last night. My mom had this gigantic fur coat with red, black, and white zig-zags on it. Plus the whole dream was narrated by Will Ferrel. Odd.

Is anyone worried about being defined by this whole process? I mean - are we all eventually going to get to a point where we're not tracking our progress anymore and focusing on this so much? Or are we never "cured"? Not that I don't enjoy reading (and need) the other blogs...but...there's a greener other side somewhere isn't there?

Just for a different topic, this is probably one of the most depressing news headlines I've seen in a long time. "One in four read no books last year." That's just so awful. Honestly, I think if 29 days ago someone said, "give up your books or your cigarettes" I could have quit easier than I'm doing now.

Rama

Any science fictions fans reading this? I hope so. I'm not a HUGE sci-fi fan, but I do really like Arthur C. Clarke. I am currently re-reading Rendezvous with Rama and plan to follow-up with the next 3 in the series. So here's my problem. I do not function well with visual things. I can't judge distances or height or anything like that. My ceilings are all about 20 ft. tall for all I know. North is always whatever direction I'm facing. I measure distance in time - she lives 10 minutes from me. Do you get it? This book describes the inside of Rama in pretty good detail, but I can't seem to visualize any of it. It doesn't help that everything is in the metric system. So - if anyone has read this book, do you know of anywhere on line I can find like a map of the inside of it? (Does this question make me a total geek? Probably, but I accepted my geekiness long ago.)

Some news

Click here to find out why my cat was trying to wear my bra. It just might be the explanation.

Also, I read this stupid article about mystery novels. I felt I should include it since I was extolling the virtues of Michael Connelly a few posts ago. If you are this weak willed and have so little self-esteem, a mystery/suspense novel with a a twist is the very LEAST of your problems. See a therapist then head back to the library or your local book store with confidence.

Things I found

Here are a couple of interesting articles I read today.

Don't Sit Up Straight!
Drink More Red Wine


I guess I posted these backwards - it's a lot easier to function at a 135 degree angle AFTER you drink the wine! :)

Been on this British film kick. In the past week I've watched Pride & Prejudice (new version and BBC version), Persuasion, Sense & Sensibility, A Room With A View, Four Weddings & A Funeral, and Notting Hill. Obviously, I need to get out more. All really fine films. At the same time, I've been re-reading all my Michael Connelly books. There could be nothing more dissimilar than Michael Connelly and British film, but that's what's captured my attention the past few days. Connelly has a new book out and I wanted to catch up with the characters before I get the new one. (Hopefully for Christmas HINT HINT HINT!!!) For anyone who enjoys the mystery/suspense genre, there is hardly a better writer out there than Connelly. Engaging stories, interesting characters, well written prose - just really good books. Will they be adapted into Merchant/Ivory films starring the greats of British film? No. But enjoyable all the same.

Speaking of film, I just saw the new Superman movie - Superman Returns. The movie bombed with critics and I don't think did all that great at the box office. Personally, I kind of liked it. I do have one HUGE complaint about the movie which I had read about on other blog sites. At one point, one of the characters talks about "truth, justice, and all that stuff." Because God forbid that anyone in Hollywood promote anything about America. For someone who loves this country that phrase REALLY stood out as being offensive and quite childish in terms of how the entertainment industry behaves.

On a more ironic note, I've been reading that Angelina Jolie (who is rumored to be starring as Dagny Taggert in the film version of Atlas Shrugged) is playing Marianne Pearl in a movie called A Mighty Heart. Pearl is the widow of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl and the movie is based on her book about the whole incident. What I find so funny about this whole thing is that apparently some people are unhappy with the casting of Jolie in this role because she is white and Marianne Pearl is mixed race. Funny how you don't hear complaints like that when Denzel Washington is cast in The Pelican Brief in a role that was white in the book. Or Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption. Hypocrites. I do have to say though that apparently Sheri Belafonte said that she had no problem with Jolie in the role and wouldn't mind Jolie playing her in a movie about her life. So despite my problems with Harry Belafonte, I may be the newest fan of Sheri.

Shopping Spree

Normally hate shopping, but hit a FANTASTIC sale at JCP. Also tried on a pair of pants in my normal size and found that it was too big and had to go find a smaller size!!! Woohoo!!! (Naturally celebrated with a brownie when I got home!!).

Am reading "Seabiscuit" by Laura Hillenbrand. Fascinating story. She is also a very gifted writer. She had a line in there I thought was so descriptive and interesting: "He had a colorless translucence about him that made him seem as if he were in the earliest stages of progressive invisibility." Wonderful! I love finding little nuggets like that. Stephen King has a line in his book "Bag of Bones" that I love as well. A character is watching a large man get into a small car and the first character thinks, "He was so big and the car was so small, it looked as if he were wearing it." Sometimes just falling into language can be as much of a pleasure as plot or character development. I have nothing but respect for people who can put words together in clever and descriptive ways. One of my all time favorite of these nuggets came from my mom - "Not everything in life has to be steeped in meaning and fraught with profundity." Not only a fabulous sentence, but a good life lesson as well. That's my momma!

Finally - I was off visiting my mom and dad yesterday so did no blogging. Here is a belated but heartfelt thank you to all of our veterans and all the military currently serving today.

How well do we know people?

So I was talking with my mom and she was a little disturbed by my previous posts. She said she felt she was reading a blog of someone she didn't even know. I find that really interesting because she probably knows me better than anyone. But how well do we REALLY know people? I suppose everyone has a face or a side that they present to certain people. (For instance, since my MOM is reading this thing, you certainly won't get any really juicy gossip or...er...tidbits!!!! Ha ha. Just kidding mom, I love you!) I'm sure that there are things I'm interested in, books, movies, thoughts, ideas, that my mom and the others around me know nothing about. And it's not as if I'm trying to actively hide anything from those that I love. I suppose it's that I don't feel a huge need to share everything. This is different than hiding - some things I can enjoy, think about, stay up worrying about, laugh about, cry about, etc. all on my own. I don't need others to validate my enjoyment, thoughts, worries, laughter, tears, etc. I don't think this makes me cold or cut off from people - I think it makes me self-reliant and self-assured. How could you get through a day if you can't stand your own company? Do you have clutter up your world to get away from yourself? Is this what's behind crazy seeming behavior like drug addiction and such? I don't expect answers to these questions - just sending them out into the void, as it were.

Speaking of voids - just finished re-reading "Contact" by Carl Sagan. Such a thought provoking book. Are we alone in the universe? Is there intelligent life out there? There is so much about space and the universe that we'll never understand or never have more than hypotheses about. It's so maddening. What's out there? Who's out there? Are we completely alone? I hate to think so.

Day 2

Someone told me that my comments weren't working, but they appear to be fixed now. So by all means, comment away!!! But please, no vulgarity or swear words or mind-numbing dullness.

Have started re-reading "Bridget Jones' Diary." Thought about putting my weight, alcohol, and cigarette consumption up at the top of this, but then started to worry about plagarism accusations - especially since I would use the exact numbers in the book rather than fess up to my own!

Off to work. Will add more later after I have a chance to look at some news and have something more interesting to say.