che sera sera

The Japanese garden in Portland is truly a peaceful place. I never realized though exactly how close it was to me until today. Admittedly I found that out by returning downhill from it which means heading upstream (well it does start out on Salmon street) could prove a mite more challenging.

It is a long and winding road that leads to my door but fortunately I wasn't left standing at the bus stop (the attendent at the garden - who was reading Thus Spoke Zaruthustra, wasn't sure where it stopped) because I figured downtown must be "down", directionally speaking.

Cooler by 10 degrees today which helped ALOT in my decison to walk and explore. Along the way I passed by a resevoir. I think this is the one the MAX travels underneath on its way to the zoo. I also walked past alot of houses which reminded me of the more upscale houses in San Francisco. Particularly the ones near the nude beach (Do Not Ask How I know, I just do. And I might say that while it may be sheltered a more claustrophobic sand spot I have yet to see.)

**
(SRC) I finished the Wild Ass's Skin (285 pp)and save for a rather gratuitously cheesey "I love you do you love me?" "How could I not love you you are so lovable" half chapter (so let's say 50 pages) it was a definite Balzac on a philosophical and let's throw a few digs at: the current King, critics of my work, and, oh why not, french societee in general, tale. It was not the fairy tale I was expecting from the back description. Several references to other Balzac works were included as well. Having never read Proust I cannot say whether this internal referral, multigenerations, episodic (oh please, soap operatic) writing is similar to Proust or not, but something tells me it is.

Let's hear it for creative punctuation! Dickens challenge here I come :)

***
I have begun Poison by Chris Wooding (he who authored the Haunting of Alaizabel Kray) and may be finished tonight.
****
Yesterday afternoon I picked up three new CDs

Leonard Cohen, Songs From a Room

Iggy Pop, the Anthology

(my goodness what an Eddie Grant looking cover)

The Wild Swans, Incandescent

and two books:

PG Wodehouse, Leave it to Psmith

Banana Yoshimoto, Asleep

I also discovered that if you push one too many of the buttons on your new disc player one too many times, even if it looks like nothing is happening something is, your CD player will go on strike.

I am so glad I kept the manual. *****CV

gracias mi amigo secreto

Y'dream of blondes and y'dream of beer

and life gets terribly stale

It's dead in the morgue, but it's deader in here

There's no night out in the jail

There's no night out in the jail

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Appropo nothing in particular just a lyric from B-Sides. But then a blackthorn would be reeaallly nice about now and maybe a Raphael to fetch it for me.

I said it once and I'll say it again: it is HOT! But apparently the studio has air conditioning which was nice. It's the kind of heat where, after walking about 25 blocks, you get on a train and after sitting for 7 minutes (no ac on the train BTW) you feel as if you walked though a fountain. Yes: you are the fountain.

Then I walked to the post office and ... Ellie ... y'know that best SP nominating thing? Consider yourself in ;)

After being very good by waiting until I got home I carefully opened the box (which a very nice postal worker spent ten minutes searching for) and was immediately transported to Haight Street (patchoul-i!) via cones of incense which are now filling my house with their scent :) And what else? Orange tissue pretty pretty! Orange is such a cheerful colour. Then a square candle which I carefully unwrapped to admire its pale yellow shimmer. I considered my holders ... maybe the red cylinder is wide enough ... then I found that thoughtful Ellie had packed a square holder for it. Thank you!

I do wish I had a camera to show the beautiful skeins (2) of Claudia handpainted yarn. I have read about this yarn but not seen any until today. The colour reminds me of ruby slippers by Blue Moon Fibers but deeper and more muted. The texture seems similar to Koigu.

But that is not all. Oh No. See Ellie and I ... ummm think books are ... okay. Y'know if there's nothing better to do one could, I suppose ... I dunno ... read; if one had to. She sent me a book which she had no way (I think) of knowing is the one Diana Wynne Jones I always pick up and consider buying: Deep Secret.

So as I slowly but surely melt in this slow oven of an apartment I would like to say. Ellie thank you. This was worth walking all 36 blocks in 95+(F) weather to receive. :)

wingnut ears

It is so very hot today. At least into the 90s(F) and with the natural humidity one feels as if one is going to melt any moment. After practice I walked to Powell's and spent a good hour in the coolness that is towering bookshelves and concrete floors then I caught a train to a cafe and read there for about an hour before coming home to collapse and finish Lupin III vol. I

So why do I say Lupin is very '60s? Could it be the Sean Connery 007 facial features? Could it be the oh so mod carpeting? Could it be the "Hi. My name is Shauna and I'll be your flight attendent" minidress perkiness of the girls? Maaaaaybe ;)

I see another two volumes in my future (especially since Hikaru no Go #7 which was slated for June release is STILL in the warehouse)

**
I decided to pick up the Ass's Skin again and Raphael (the hero) is recounting his backgoround, at a very drunk and rowdy party, to his friend Emile. This edition has footnotes at the bottom of almost every page. Normally I like this feature as it can help me better understand what a book is about. However this particular story, or perhaps it is this particular translator, has so many references I almost wish it was left to my imagination. Particularly as many of the references are to Gargantua and Pantagruel which is on my reading list but I haven't read yet.

***
So apparently I not only booked an extra day at the end of my trip I did one at the beginning too. Okay life must have something in mind for me to spend so much time in VA*****CV

cool thing

What a beautiful day today! I went in to school after first getting some large crickets for the class gecko. (Interesting point is that it takes 2.5 medium crickets to equal the size of one large cricket. Needless to say, but I will anyay, ms. gecko was mighty happy wth her gourmet three jiminy breakfast.

Then I had a green tea latte before practice. This was a mistake (even though it was an hour and half before practice). Apparently caffeine and a practice of standing forward/twisting/balances do not go well together, and I will not be repeating it. I have never fainted in my life but I almost did in class today. On a more cheerful note it seems hanumanasana is still available to me (yay! it's my favorite pose :)

**
(SRC) The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Patricia McKillip (247pp) I started this book this morning and finished it late this afternoon. Regular readers will recall that I was fairly adamant about not liking Ms. McKillip's work and it was based upon this very book. It would seem that in the interim of then and now I have come to appreciate her writing. It happens. This story combines the themes of the wild hunt and Deerskin as well as other seasonal myths. And the dark haired glasses wearing hero is pre HP (so there!)

***
I have my ticket for Social Distortion and I'm still considering Sonic Youth. There are some songs I like but the last time I saw them live it really hit home how feedback and noise oriented they are.****CV

"it's nice to be nice"

I just received the sweetest thank you package. Part of it was this cute, cute amirigumi book. Oh true it's in its native language but I've worked with similar books before and the photos are just darling :)

**
(SRC) Love and Longing in Bombay, Vikram Chandra (262pp) A collection of five stories, each respectively titled: dharma, shakti, kama, artha, shanti. The unifying thread is a storyteller and his unknowing disciple, who may or may not be the author of this book. I am glad I continued to read past dharma. I can thank Soeseki for this as it was his last tale (the Heredity of Taste) which allowed me to complete dharma. Somewhat appropriate I suppose considering the title of Chandra's first tale. All of the stories, with the exception of shanti, are set in modern India. There is much refernce to the combination of past and present colloquiallisms as well as technologies. As I reflect upon it one of the subthemes was how the exterior of the world may change as well as our perceptions of these surface appearances, but the interior realm varies little. This was not as an engrossing read for me as another of his works, Red Earth and Pouring Rain (which I loved) but it was a worthwhile read.

***
No bridge crossings today. I decided to have a real summer vacation day just reading and sitting in a cafe.

I did send off a package to my SP and I listened to B-Sides vol III. The first song of which is Little Boat where the narrator soliloquizes about a woman chatting to him at aparty. This chatter seems to be of the conversion kind. I do like the response lines: "I've already been born once and I don't need to be again" as well as "I am the resurrection and you're standing on my foot"

Have I mentioned that Nick has a rather dark sense of humour in his lyrics?

****
Well I'm off to see how much hiragana and katakana I remember. ****CV

and a bumblebee

Portland has 14 bridges, not counting the trestle ones which are for trains only. Three of the 14 are not pedestrian accessible and, as I review my handy dandy Portland Bridge book, it looks like three are just out of reach for me to cross without making an event of it. *yawn* I am Eyore: See me yawn :) So this leaves me a grand total of eight to walk this summer. Today I crossed number three: the Hawthorne Bridge. It's the prettiest so far; once you get on it. Until then its lots and lots of concrete motorway stuff *cough*hack*cough*

While crossing and dodging bicyclists I listened to Nick's charming version of Bettie Coltrane and Froggie Goes A'Courting. Bettie is the charming tale of a woman who married five different men and they all hunt her down but she emerges victorious ('cause she knows how to use a pistol) and Froggie the poem will never be quite the same again for me.
**
(SRC) Thebes at War, Naguib Mahfouz (242pp) A romantic, in the true sense of the word (NOT the Harlequin presents sense *ick*ick*ick*) telling of Egypt's rising up against Hyksos rule. There were brief, very brief moments, when I could see the Sheik in this story. But those moments were very few and due more to my own associations with certain situations then anything Mahfouz put in. This story was written in 1939, a time when Egypt was not ruled by its people. A satisfying read. My only question is why so many of the cities have Greek prefixes in their names. As far as I know Ahmenhotep (who is born at the end of the story) was before Greek "sharing" in Egypt occurred.
***
I realised after I had booked my flights and approved the non refundable tickets and said please charge my card that I have extended my stay by one day. While I could sit in an airport for 18+hours, I'd really rather not. Now I must find exciting things to do in Norfolk while carrying luggage. ****CV

Memphis on the Nile

I have left the Valley of the Moomins and have now discovered Thebes at War, Naguib Mafhouz.

(SRC) Moominvalley in November, Tove Jansson (175pp) Unlike other moomintroll books I have read (and I think I have read all of them) this one has no Moomins in it. No, not one. Oh there is mention of the moomins but they are not present. This is a much darker story then even Moominpapa's Memoirs. Toft is the central character but Fillyjonk, the Hemulan, Mymble, Snufkin and Grampa Grumbles all have important parts as does the ancestor. It all ends well enough but there were some moments when I wondered how comfortable I would be reading this to a small child.
**
Anyone know a cheap flight to Virginia? ***CV

update: got my flight (fingers crossed with internet booking) Anyone know an inexpensive means of getting from Norfolk to Williamsburg?

Toft

Experience is a wonderful thing! Last year, when I donated dyeing, spinning and knitting for the annual auction I never got to the knitting. We just ran out of time. Three hours is not enough if you really want the participants to experience the work. So this year we only did dyeing and knitting. We kind of got to both but I think next year it will be dyeing only, with a bonus of knitting as an extra donation. I haven't figured out yet how to teach somone joining in the round and at the same time answer questions or assist people in three differnt stages of the dyeing process.

Again I used what ever was leftover from the color selection to dye my skein. Last year I ended up with a really pretty orange. Think a mellow pumpkin on the vine colour. I think I used three red and a yellow but I can't recall. This year I used four packets of strawberry and two of cherry. It's a very pretty pink toned red, more watermelon then anything else. No one used the orange or the yellow (except for one packet of the latter).

It's so fun to see who is into the "science", who is into the technique, and who just loves playing with water. I did have to be firm with two water babies :)
**
I am going to be on the East Coast at the end of July. I think a few skirts and tank tops yes? Booking a flight *yowza* Let us move to less hectic and far more charming subjects shall we?
***
(SRC) Strandloper, Alan Garner (2oopp) Based on a real person (William Buckley) though not sticking to historic facts per se unless they happen to be recorded. Strandloper is a very well told tale that starts out in England and moves to Australia and then comes full circle. What I especially enjoyed was that throughout the story the main character stayed true to himself and to what others knew him to be. Are there songlines in Northern Europe? Aren't there songlines everywhere?
****
I listened to most of the first CD in B-Sides and Rarities: very blues and dark country. One of the tracks is a narrative piece in which you can tell that Nick is australian. All the time that I was reading Strandloper I was reminded of And the Ass saw the Angel and this narrative piece was eerie. I did enjoy Black Bettie which is a cover of a Lead Belly song. Another track was called Scum and I could swear that it is Nick Cave parodying Bauhuas (a/p Bad Seed he didn't think much of Murphy and co.)
*****
Now I am in the land of Tove Jansson. She of the Moomins, Mymbles, Fillyjonks and friends. Where can Moomintroll's family have disappeared to?******CV

crystal hive

I finished the Giver and Elementals last night.

(SRC) the Giver, Lois Lowry (177pp) this is the first in an ongoing series involving a society which has become very structured and rule oriented. If you can imagine 1984 without the militirism and with kindness being the basic rule you have a general idea. The main narrator in this story is a 12 year old male named Joshua. I noticed a tendency to use biblical sounding names: Joshua, Gabriel, Jonah. Joshua is waiting to be given his assignment, or work, as an adult and that is where the plot develops. The ending was framed in such a way that it could either be a tear fest or not. I am curious now how Gossamer (the fourth in this series) will turn out having already read the middle two.

(SRC) Elementals, AS Byatt (230pp) this is a collection of short stories which have as as their premise some element, the most obvious being earth, air, fire or water. The water element is told via a Lamia in a swimmming pool and an artist obssessed with color. Cold is a fairy tale that gives new interpretaion to the title Snow White and incorporates elements of East of the Sun and West of the Moon. One of the final tales reminds me of some of Leonora Carrington's works. Especially her magical mexican kitchens.

After finishing Elementals I was still awake so I started to read the manga I had purchased on Saturday, Lupin the III by Monkeypunch. It is sooo 60's. I wasn't expecting that at all.

This morning, instead of returning to Balzac or Stendhal, I chose Strandloper by Alan Garner. Greenman meets the aborigines and speech ala Euchrid Crow. Two new epithets: "His garrett's unfurnished" and "I wouldn't trust his arse with a fart."
**
After practice today I crossed the Burnside bridge (c.1924). I believe all the bridges along the Willammette are constructed so that they can seperate for tall ships yet none of them seem in a state to do that. There are all these concrete barriers in place and construction work happening.
***
Tomorrow is dyeing and knitting in the round. I found these japanese plastic circular needles today. I'm planning on introducing worsted yarn on them before going to sockweight on DPNs. And when I went to purchase koolaid for the dyeing part the shop only had nine varieties - one of which was invisible rasberry. Last year thay had about 15 different kinds. ***CV

ache ache ache

In answer to Carrie's question: yes I did make it across the bridge.

I'm listening to a CD I picked up last night and it's convincing me that I need to go see Social Distortion (tho' need is not precisely the right word, more like think it would be really really fun to go -and, hey I know where the venue is!)

But anyway, continuing the adventures after my exciting escherian (thanks Chris) bridge walk, I went out that night to ... can you guess?? Powell's :) And I was bad (hangs head) I haven't met my quota but I still got new reads. One was a manga, one was a Patrick Stewart revisit, and the last was a trip down memory lane. I will finish my quota first. Pinky swear ;)

I also got to meet my SP8 :) No, I don't know her real name (I think) and I don't know her site or anything like that, but, now I do know that she is as entertaining in person as she is in corrrespondance.

After Powell's I went to the DDE and found a CD by my all time favorite group: Particles and Waves, Cranes, and I also found B-Sides and Rarities, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds as well as the aforementioned Social Distortion, Sex Love and Rock 'n Roll.

I finished Bad Seed this afternoon (305pp). What a life he's led so far. Considering it ended with Nick married in London, with a son (who would be about 15 now)I'm curious why he is now married/seeing another woman. But you know, that's simple snoopiness on my part. I am almost finished with the Giver (177pp)and will be done tonight but I'll save my review for tomorrow. I should also be finished with AS Byatt's Elementals (230pp) too.

Must meet quota, must meet quota.

Portland only has 11 of it's 14 highway bridges listed as Pedestrian friendly. So it's 1 down 10 to go. ***CV

Hiding all away

I had a very pleasant day today. It didn't start out so great (waking upat 6:50 worrying about school situations) but I went back to sleep and when I woke up again it was time to go to the new studio.

I went and had my first class in nine months. Ohboy. But that's a good thing. I found out I can still do sirsasana and Pichmayurasana against the wall (I'll save handstands for later) and I still detest parsvakonasana. It was a basic class which is what I'll stick with for about two weeks before doing anything else. Then there was a sanskrit class which was nice and mellow.

After the class I walked home via the Morrison Bridge. Portland has 14 main bridges and I've made it one of my summer things to do to cross all 14 on foot. The Morrison bridge was interesting because it looks straightforward: get on on one side and walk across to the other. No. Too easy.

Get on walk and walk and realise that the pedestrian walkway follows the turn off to Seattle. Uh I don't wanna go to Seattle. Oh look there's a stair case. Guess I'll descend and figure another way to get to west Portland. Oh wait now the staircase ascends and I haven't gotten to the street. In fact I can't get to the street. (Meanwhile Nick Cave is singing "I was hiding dear, I was hiding all away")

It would seem that this bridge is full of freeway intersections which means no crosswalks. But there are these staircases that descend then reascend to the bridge. ("I was not sitting with the gargoyles, I was not swinging from the bell, I was hiding dear...") Three of them.They seem to be inhabited at night by two footed critters. ("I had to get out of there babe, hiding all away....")

One down thirteen to go. I can't wait to see what these other crossings will be like. Morrison is very concrete modern. Each of the others is constructed differently.

I'll share my other adventures tomorrow :)***CV

burning in ice

I am now at the part where Nick is changing his song/screenplay Swampland into a possible novel called King Euchrid. This will of course eventually become And the Ass Saw an Angel.

In many of the events related in Bad Seed it's hard to tell the truth from the embellished and the downright falsehood. It's so difficult to believe that someone could live this life and not only be alive today but still admired.

And I'm still trying to picture a guitar being played with an electric shaver.
**
Sonic Youth and Social Distortion are coming in July (seperate venues and dates).
Stephenie Meyer will be in Seattle at the end of the month.
Yarn Harlot will be here in September.
I have a Sanskrit class tomorrow :)
***
Here is the questionnaire for KSKS:

What are your favorite colors? Reds, oranges, pinks and browns
Are you a new sock knitter? How long have you been knitting socks? I started knitting socks last summer
Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? Multicolored is what I tend to purchase but solids are fun too
What fibers do you prefer in sock yarn? Wool blends
Where do you usually knit socks? On the bus, in lines, between here’s and there’s
How do you usually carry/store small projects? I have a small felt bag which came from a bath shop (I returned the items and kept the bag :) )
What are your favorite sock knitting patterns? I have Nancy Bush’s books but have not really attempted a pattern as such. I keep looking at the various ones on Knitty
What are your favorite sock knitting techniques? I’ve only used DPNs and knit from the cuff down
What new techniques would you like to try? Toe up or with two circulars
Do you prefer circulars or dpns for sock knitting? DPNs
What are some of your favorite yarns? Well I tend to purchase Blue Moon, Lorna’s Laces and Opal but I haven’t gone beyond and would like to try something new
What yarn do you totally covet? I am curious about koigu and fleece artist but if I really wanted it? *tsk* I’d get it :)
Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? LOL any pattern period
Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? I use bamboo or wood and 5.5 inch DPNs are comfortable
If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Oh I took that quiz and it said I was mohair. But I wonder about that. I really like the wool cashmere blend I’ve been using for Rosalind. It’s an amazing texture.
Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? Not that I can think of. I do like green tea (but not mints)
What’s your favorite animal? Oh dear: living
Do you have pets? What are their species/names/ages? I do have a cat who is almost two years old and her name is Chai
If you were a color what color would you be? A friend once told me she thinks of the color amber, which could be yellow, orange, red, green or white (but green?? I’d rather not)
Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else’s) Long bell sleeves, v neck, soft and somewhat fitted. I hae been told my clothing taste verges on the gypsy
What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? The New Mexican mesa or the gullies in Death Valley
Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read. Oh I find such wonderful one’s in everything I read that I couldn’t limit myself. I’m sorry.
Do you have a wish list? Yes. Powell’s
****CV

fulsome blues

Last night I started The Wild Ass's Skin by Honore Balzac. Lots of exposition at the get go. But I liked it. The main character (who remains nameless until page 50) is wandering the streets of Paris bent on suicide but leisurely enjoying this his final day. Balzac is particular in his descriptions of the characters and habitues of the street. (You know that suicide rescue station sounded absolutely deadly.) So it isn't until page 40 or so that we get into what will be the plot of this fairy tale.

I do love the fact that when the main character is complimented on his ability to read sanskrit the actual writing is arabic. I was mightily confused. Was this mockery, irony, inaccuracy? I still haven't figured it out yet. Oh, and one of the wishes, or curses, so far is that a 100+ year old man fall in love with a ballerina.
**
I also started, Bad Seed, a biography of Nick Cave. Wow, Just wow. Nick had quite the escapade like lifestyle. I love the brick in a handbag (poofter eh? whap!) and the Fulsome Prison Blues (lol) I know that last has to be a typo. Oh, and Tracy Pew drinking all 12 bottles of Monet that were supposed to be for the Split Enz, only they didn't work Xmas so they didn't deserve it. Which is why Tracy decided to unwrap the packaging, in the process leaving a clear trail to the studio where he and his mates were working, um, sort of.
***
This bio has pictures and as I was leafing through I had this realization that the men I've been serious with: look like Nick.
****
I decided to talk with my co worker today. I need closure. I guess I got it.

Me: "I know that we're not friends but have I done something or spoken in a way that was hostile or unfriendly? If so I apologise."

C-W "Since I'll probably never see you again it doesn't matter." Door closes, literally.
*****CV

But I did pick up my knittin' kali t and cup so that's alright :)

Read read or Capitalist jackboots

So I calculated my average book read to meet my challenge of 48 books by August 31 (which does not take into account any KTC or the three I tacked on or anything else that catches my fancy (which would bring it to 54 'cause Bad Seed already caught my eye).

The average (of 48) is 1 every 2 days. So I need to read three more this week to be on that track.

It's the nonfiction that's worrying me.
**
Finished Wuthering Heights this afternoon (337pp). I am impressed it ended so well. I was expecting carnage and much girning, but no. I wonder about being moor bred though. I was led to believe, through Miss Burnett's writing, that heather and moor air was good for you. After meeting the Lintons and Earnshaws? I think I'll not breathe so deep nor so long if I head out that way.
***
Spoke with Anton at customer service and here's a tip: if you are like me and prefer to speak to a human being rather than an automated system, when you get Ms. Automaton ignore her offerings and say, "customer service." She will come back with a disappointed voice, "Okay but we really don't have any more information. Are you sure you still want to speak to an agent?"

Just say: "yes". So much pleasanter. And Anton really made an effort to resend my delivery, which I appreciated.
****
Ever work with someone who is open and friendly with everyone except you? A person who, unlike anyone else if you were to ask a question or make a request of them you wouldn't feel as if you had suddenly sprouted a little square moustache, makes you feel as if you had done so and with matching jack boots (which would be cool to own for clubbing)?

How did you deal with it? I need some positive ideas. Think extrovert (other person) v. introvert (me).

*****CV

Y'know that Ayn Rand/Objectivist Montessori link is really bothering me....

'Ware: Rant Ahead

Oh boy in brown? Let me 'splain somethin' to you.

You are in a service industry. Service. This means that you are paid to perform a service.
Said service is not "oh after your tea break and before your martini hour".
Said service is not coordinated to the time of day when the sun don't glare.
Said service is not because you feel in delivery mode or not

Service. As in:

You attempt to deliver three times: ON SEPERATE DAYS leaving a paper notice that you were there not counting on my bloodhound ability to detect your scent.
You ask me (the one whose name is on the f'*** tag) whether to redeliver it OR have it picked up at your oh so INCONVENIENT station.

If I were male and had the correct appendages I'd give you some very clear directions. I'm not. Lucky you.

Bah! where's Heathcliff when he's needed.****CV

On a more humourous note I read today that Objectivists reccommend Montessori schools. Isn't that funny :)

Mary meet Heathcliff

Well I am enjoying Wuthering Heights so far. I posted elsewhere that Cathy and Heathcliff are reminding me of Miss Mary and Colin from, A Secret Garden, grown up horrible. The fact that the servants speak with Yorkshire accents, Jacob could be Ben Weatherstaff gone religious zealot and Hindley could be Colin's father turned drunkard does little to dissuade me.

Heehee! So much fun.
**
So, looking for a suitable "wuthering" project I picked up some Cascade 220 (3)black, (1)purple, and (1)light purple, yarn. A shawl both Murky and Moor like -though I consider the purple more representaive of imperiousness for that is what I have in mind.
***
Finally indulged and bought a new Discman today. Apparently it will also play MP3s. I got tired of the old one continually saying SOrrY as I was walking along. Too, the batteries kept popping out at the most inconvenient times. (I really don't need to hear about the butcher and the meat cleaver over and over and over: once is enough per play thankyouvery much.)
****
The local kingdom is having an exhibition this weekend, or next. I may go as I've been invited.
*****
Powell's has a new short story by Murakami (and no this isn't the book due out later this year). While I want to read it, part of me hesitates at spending $14.95 for a 43pp book***CV

ch-ch-challenges

Books I have read or finished as of June 1, 2006:

The Wrong Side of Paris, Honore Balzac (223pp)
In which the reader realises two things: one, that JK Huysmans was not the only french author to wax philosphic re catholicism and the materialistic nature of human beings. Two, that soap operas have a very distinguished ancestry. (I really like Balzac and I'm looking forwad to reading the Wild Ass's Skin)

(SRC 1) The Eye, Vladmir Nabokov (102pp)
Or how self observation is all fine and well until it becomes denial of existence, unless it gets you a well paying job.

(SRC 2) Goodbye Tsugami, Banana Yoshimoto (186pp)
A girl reflects on growing up at a seaside hotel in Japan. (Boy does that not cover the story :) Sweet story told trough the voice of a girl whose mother was a kept woman and whose closest friend was a sickly Katherine Hepburn meets Betty Davis meets Lauren Bacall personality. (Much better)

(SRC 3) Invitation to a Beheading, Vladmir Nabokov (223pp)
A man, a fortress (alas not of solitude), a fey headsman, a nymphomaniacal wife, a spider and a 12 year old girl. Really I saw this whole thing as a script for the theater of the absurd. I found an example of Nabokov's passion for butterfly collecting particularly interesting, and his librarian was absolutely pre Mervyn Peake.

(SRC 4) Ten Nights of Dream; Hearing Things; The Heredity of Taste, Soeseki Natsume(203pp)
The first story went well with my Nabokov readings: absurd, surreal, dreamlike. The second felt like the Hound of the Baskervilles meets Murakami, and the third story became so bogged down with the narrator's focus on minisculae I had no idea it was a memoir until the end. However, Soeseki does have a way with static imagery that is almost painterly.

(SRC 5)The Messenger, Lois Lowry (167pp)
The third in Ms. Lowry's series which began with the Giver. In this story the narrator is Matty the artful dodger of Gathering Blue. Each narrator has a special gift or talent which serves the greater whole but also possesses a challenge whether it be physical, mental or emotional. All things balance in the world of Lowry. Thank goodness the puppy lives.

**
Today I started Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I must say the narrator was unexpected. He seem like a visitor from Poe land. I am curious to see (having read Jasper Fforde's interpretation of Bronte characters) how Heathcliff and co. manage themselves.

***
Challenges for the summer include:
Amanda's SRC
Kat with a K's reading challenge
Scout's Sock kit Along
Finding a studio to take up practice again***CV

Booked

I got up early today in order to get down to Pioneer Square for WWKIP. I looked all over for the group that was supposed to meet there but didn't see any conspicuous knitting, so I found a spot for myself and cast on Rosalind. It's an 11 section repeat and I managed four of them. This was 4 hours worth of work. Either illusion knitting takes a lot of time or I have really slowed.

It could also be that using Inox #3 with a 4ply cashmere/wool blend may have had something to do with it as well.
**
I finished Messenger by Lois Lowry last night, and have a little over 100 pages of Invitation to a Beheading left. I have not read Lolita but there are moments in this particular Nabokov that strike me as Lolita esque. Especially the descriptions of the jailers 12 year old daughter.
***
Powell's has a copy of Kumiko Sudo's Circles East in stock; instead I picked up two volumes of Fruits: collections of fashion photographs from Japan. Not reading material as such so I do not consider this a step from my SRchallenge.

I do wonder, though, if these pictures are of everyday street fashion or are deliberately posed? It seems a mixture of both, but, when I consider how craft oriented the culture is, it seems entirely credible that this is what some people are dressing as on a daily basis. (It's fun to imagine the characters of Murakami or Yoshimoto going around like English punkers or Haight street hippies gone Bollywood :)
****
Thanks to Chris I have joined Kat with a K's reading challenge as well. I really am becoming conscious of what I have set myself up for so I am now trying to make myself as accountable as possible :)***CV

Nick or Vlad?

Free at last :)

This year has been so full of challenges. Ironically education in its academic sense was not among them. Yow! Now all I need to do is put what I learned from year one and what I learned from year two together and hopefully all will coalesce positively.
**
Next week is cleaning and inventory, which I started somewhat today before saying, "I have next week to do this. I must be crazy." So I closed up and came on home. But......I did make a little stop 'cause Bad Seed is in stock ,used, and I just haaaad to have it. I promise: I'll finish Invitation to a Beheading and Messenger first. I even put back Triskell Tales 2. And if you love deLint like I love ... heck, if you even like him half of what I do then you know how hard that was.
***
:) One of my end of year gift was something called BookDarts which are these flat metal clips used to hold pages in a book. I had mentioned my SRC in a family letter and one family had thought this the perfect gift. I also recieved from the community a gift card to - (oh I think you know and no I didn't use it today), they know me too well :)

And I was gifted the coolest carved poplar wood Miao mask. It's all purple and black with shaggy painted eyebrows. When I saw it on my table I just had to say" How cool! Who put this here?" the gifter was in front of me but was being mum, "Was it you?! I love it!"

Well I did and I do***CV

knittin'kali

*zzz-t*and we have contact! *bzzzt*bzzzt* hello, hello, control, can you hear me?

Well wasn't that exciting. Just me and Cinncinatus C. wandering in our own wonderlands there for a while.
**
I seem to have befuddled some of my readers by mention Eugene Ionesco and Edna St.Vincent Millay. Ms. Millay wrote a play called Aria da Capo in which there are two scenes: one involving Pierrot and Columbine from the Commedia del'arte and the other in which two shepards end up coveting the others property though at the beginnig neither had any property to speak of.

Ionesco wrote several plays, perhaps the most famous being Rhinoceros in which a character finds himself slowy changing into such a creature (shades of Kafka). However, I have always preferred the convoluted language of the Lesson (though it is cruel at the end) and the pre-Python dialogue between an old Married couple about a family in which everyone is called Bobby Watson.

There was a point in my HS drama class where Ms De fairly insisted that I not do theater of the absurd anymore. So I turned to Oscar Wilde ;p

***
I saw that Powell's has a used copy of a Nick Cave biography, so I am busily reading two books to meet my quota of five so I can go get it.
****
KIP at the Rose Parade is fairly in place. I think I may work on a Rosalind using the yarn I was intending for Moll but never got around to. Rosalind is the illusion Helix scarf on Magknits.

*****CV

A macaroon.....

I set aside the Red and Black for Invitation to a Beheading by Nabakov.

Ahh absurdism. I love the sense with no sensibility. Aria da Capo was one of my favorite plays in highschool along with the Bald Soprano, Rhinoceros and the Chairs.

But of them all I loved best the Bobby Watsons and Pierot. Though I detest coconut***CV

fish out of water

Shelter from the storm is all he sought. Really. Nothing more. But, if he had had the opportunity to choose the shelter provided it would not have been this. Really. It was not that he was too good for such surroundings. No, no nothing of the sort. Excuse him as he loosens his collar. It is just that, well, he really, no really, didn’t want to impose. He nods, yes, that’s it. Didn’t want to impose; to bother; to disturb.

Too late. Been disturbed. For quite some time now, couldn’t he tell? Oh, that’s right. New here wasn’t he? That’s alright. Learn in time. Nothing but time here so hurry up come in, come in. Don’t stand on formality. Don’t stand and drip. And whatever you do: don’t stand on my toes. Thank you. Now then, where shall we keep him?

Him?

Him.

In the pantry?
In the cupboard?
In the chandelier?

The chandelier?!

Oh that’s right. Sorry. Chandelier’s dusty. He might be allergic. Well then….
The well?
No, not the well! What would the fish think?

Follow me.

Who? He is thoroughly lost though he hasn’t taken a step. Really.

Who he asks?
Who indeed?

Muffled sniggers.

Her that’s who!

As he follows her out there wafts from behind him the faintest whisper:

Well, if that’s what the wind blew over what do you think the cat will drag in?

***CV

Darker with the day

I decided to skim one book from each of my stacks for theSRC. This means that this week I will be reading:

Alchemy of Mind, Diane Ackerman

Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde

When Fox is a Thousand, Larissa Lai

The Eye, Vladmir Nabokov, and

The Red and Black, Stendhal

I started The Eye this morning on my way to school and I'm almost half way finished (it's a little over a hundred pages). It has been a while since I read any russian authors and I had forgotten how grim and bear it they can be.
**
I cut out the dragonfly cloth for the peace cranes. Next comes sewing. I hope to have them all sewn and stuffed, ready for wrapping, by Wednesday. Shoot for the impossible I say :)
***
Wow No More Shall We Part is a ballad album with Nick playing piano and crooning. Oh My. Be still my heart;)
****
I think if I had bone needles that would be appropriate to KIP at the Vampire Ball. I do have a couple of bone crochet hooks.....****CV

2/51

Two down forty-nine to go.

Soseki Natsume, Trio

Banana Yoshimoto, Good-bye Tsugumi

And now I have returned to The Other Side of Paris to finish what I started before the challenge began. Also I need to start Wuthering Heights. Sadly I did not read Pride and Prejudice last month though I did read the first chapter which was enough to convince me it's worth reading.

Shock I know. When I told a mom that I had never read Austen she looked flabberghasted so I had to say.

Yes but then I had never read Fitzgerald and now I love him.

True, the reason I had avoided Fitzgerald was because once a classmate had compared my writing to F. Scott so I swore I would not read him and thus avoid being accused of copying ..... Can't you tell I have Puritan in me somewhere? Several years later I realized how ridiculous that was and promptly devoured every book I could find *yum*

Speaking of yum, Endangered Species is changing more than its packaging. I recently picked up one of its new Tiger Espressos (Blech). I am now hoarding all originals I can find.

Not much in other news but I did find out that Tove Jansson apparently wrote stories for adults as well as children so I am on the hunt :)

The Vampire Ball is an annual gathering of a festive nature (dancing, booths, stuff). I think it would be fun but unlike concerts I would rather go with someone than alone. I think it would be so much more fun that way. Maybe young Nick is free ..... And considering it's KIP day too I could bring my needles yes ;)**CV

old black mariah

I am almost finished with my first of fifty one books for the summer reading challenge. I am not sure which I will read next. I'll have a look through the stacks tonight. Ooo "a look through the stacks" that almost sounds like I have a library in my house :)

This summer I plan to do some serious rearranging and actually make the sunroom a library.
**
I attempted a sample of the fabric peace crane this morning while checking emails. I'm glad I did because it is simpler than I thought and allowed me to concretely realise that the seams are supposed to be visible from the top. Now all I need to do is find where I can buy dried lavender. Though I might just find a variety of dried herbs instead.
***
Since I may not purchase any new books until I have read five from my list I went to the DDE this afternoon, after bringing in crickets for the class gecko.

Five new listens:

Murder Ballads, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

No More Shall We Part, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Tilt, Scott Walker

Scarlet's Walk, Tori Amos

Agaetis Byrjun, Sigur Ros

I had figured out the total cost and was thinking 'well I don't have to get two Nick's .... I could wait on the Sigur .....' and then I was at the counter and the young Nick looking clerk saw what I was getting and said:

"We have this one used" and went and took out Murder Ballads from the bottom of a stack.

(oh young cool Nick thing - I think I love you :)

Pleasant conversation about Nick and did I listen to the Birthday Party and How it was a good idea to be reading something along with And the Ass Saw An Angel like a biography for a light read. Yeah ATASAA is a rite of passage in my book. I have never read such a harsh book where there is no happy ending, middle, or beginning.

Nick the clerk mentioned something about a DVD of a tour that Nick did which is either for Murder Ballads or No More Shall We Part. That would be '01 or '02. It sounds like the tour I saw at the Wafield. The concert where I recieved a rose from the goth flower boy.

It is odd to see how cheerful Nick fans are. I mean really. Nick is no Pollyanna.

The Vampire Ball is next Saturday. Should I go?****CV

mint green toes

I went fabric shopping today to make the cranes from Omiyage. Such pretty pretties (anyone know where that quote is from?). One is a blue and purple chrysantamum petaled cloth, one is dusky pink on blue poppies in bud and blossom, a third is muted pink and orange lotuses on a salmon background and the fourth is dragonflies.
**
A really sweet coworker's last day was today :( My class chose a card for just us to sign and give her and there was also a general community card as well.
***
I went to Powell's today looking for Kumiko Sudo's other books but they're sold out. Probably for the best as I'm still on book one of the challenge (a collection of Soseki Natsume). I did get two craft books that I can use for the class next year. They are, Color on Color and, White on White, and are filled with pillow, bag, quilt and small projects that learners can really have fun with while mastering new stitch skills.

Oh! And one of my neo knitters who will be in my yarndye/DPN fest started her first knit stitch today :) I was cruel. I had two of them only casting on for a couple of days.

"But we want to know the bunny cast on* "

"Uhuh "

"Okaaaay. Can we knit now?"

"Hmmm Cast on twenty stitches three times and then we can knit."

She cast on herself, did two rows, only lost four stitches and didn't stop trying for an hour. I think that 's pretty good for a first try, ***CV

* Look at the first part of a long tail cast on and tell me it doesn't remind you of bunny ears :)

six days

What is it about the ages from 8 to 10 that can either make or break you? That make you one of the group or a potential victim? It often seems that one is either completely oblivious to social hierarchies or prey to them.

I have learned so much from this year.
**
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
***
I am busily trying to figure out the construction of fabric peace cranes. I found the pattern in a book called Omiyage by Kumiko Sudo.
****
We went through 48 pieces of origami paper in less then an hour. No papercuts :)***CV

action is not a plot

I have been trying to place a film for the past few weeks. All I can recall is one scene and I can't think whether it is a foreign film or not. The scene I recall is of the main character (female) along with two or three others entering an olde threater and sitting in red plush seats. The theater is nowhere near full, there are maybe 20 others in the audience and the performance is surreal to say the least.

I blame Nick Cave for this irritating niggle. The theater in the film is so reminiscent of his acoustic song when I saw him perform. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's an international movie and probably spainish or french. Maybe Bunel.
**
So today was the last day of roam a book shop and just pick what you want. I now must read two for every one I want to buy.

En Route, JK Huysmans

Goodbye Tsugumi, Banana Yoshimoto

Ten Nights of Dream: Hearing Things: The Heredity of Taste, Soseki Natsume

The Book of Atrix Wolf, Patricia McKillip

And of course what did I not get? Wuthering Heights *sigh* May I go and get that even if I haven't read from my 51 yet? I am almost done with the three Bananas.....Halfaway through Kitchen...

I read a review of The Omnivore's Dilemma. That looks like an interesting read. Has anyone read The Botany of Desire yet and if so what did you think? Was it dry and dessicated or so fascinting couldn't put it down stuff?
***
Okay I'm going to get some sleep so I can be benevolent dictator tomorrow. I already told one group they could not do their play as is. Plot gentlemen. Every play needs a plot or you should move to the Fox Network***CV

nijonjin

I love minor scales. I didn't realise this until the point during my training when we were studying major and minor scales. I wonder if an affinty to certain scales is a key to the type of music scene one pursues? Probably.
**
I like banana yoshimoto, what I've read of her work so far: all two books. She reminds me of Haruki Murakami without the descent into surreal dada land. I like the descent don't get me wrong and can hardly wait, though wait I must until his next release. Banana seems to dance along the magical realism pool and take an occasional dip. I really liked her short story Newlywed.
***
I grew up near Japan Town in San Francisco and for three years went to a catholic school which was predominantly Japanese. Oh I did not like being my big boned anglo self. I wanted to be like Yuki, or Keiko or Dina or Linda. I got over it eventually. Moving on to an African American junior high cures one right quick :)

All this by way of saying that I loved to hang out in Japan Town: The Peace Plaza, Mr. Onishii's video shop, Kinokuniya books, the Kabuki cinema, and the American Fish Market. Never made it to the Kabuki nightclub. It's a shame too because some really cool groups played there: Madness, Siouxie, Bau Haus and the like.

There was also Japan Town Bowl which I don't know if it exists anymore or not. Ah memories. That was the place where I fully snapped my wrist and scored a perfect strike at the same time. Good thing the hospital was only six blocks away.

So as I read Banana or Murakami I can picture the scenery so clearly. Not beacuse of J town perse but because of all the films I rented, such as Tampopo, A Taxing Woman and the lik;. All the manga I read set in the everyday life of a student; all the anime; and all my friends in elementary school. For a while I even thought of going to Japan and studied Japanese for a year.

Someday maybe: after the Lake country***CV

flora

Y'know Chris I've been thinking that those gingham boots would look really cute with a skirt. I may have to get them :)

Finished Lizard by banana yoshimoto today.

N.P., Banana Yoshimoto

Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto

The Wild Ass's Skin, Honore Balzac

The Beekeeper, Tori Amos

From the Choirgirl Hotel, Tori Amos

Permanent, Joy Division

Nine more days. This week is investigation of flowers. May the sun shine***CV

odious poultry

I finished reading Widdershins this afternoon. I won't spoil it. I will say though that while it is not neccessary to have read deLint's other works to enjoy the story, having read all his other books gave it the extra dimension. There are new characters but it's a reunion piece of sorts. And those characters not actively present still get mentioned.

Oh, and the Crow Girls make several appearances along with Lucius :) I can't wait for Make A Joyful Noise now :) Anyone going to the Widdershins release in Ottawa on June 20th?

I so want to make a crow girl jacket. Any ideas or suggestions?

***

I was talking with a parent on Friday about plans for the weekend and mentioned I had a ticket for Ministry. Then we got to talking about who was playing with them. "Umm ...... the revolting .... chickens?" Yeah and I wasn't about to name who was touring with them in other venues. Let's just say they are autonomous seekers of pleasure and leave it at that shall we?

Anyway. Last night it was all casual on my part. Not knowing if there would be a mosh pit or not I figured dressing down was better than up. Not so many of the other ladies in attendence. Can I just say: Girl, check the tranluscence of your garment. If you can't tell if the mesh is see through ask a friend. Heck ask a stranger before going out into beer imbibng testosterone land. Ummm if it matters to you that is. Lots of cowboy boots and hats. Can't imagine why ;)

Lots of Iron Maiden (the band) wear, lots of corsetry, one neubauten , several NIN, a KMFDM, and a Skinny Puppy. (I was all about the fashion show). Lots of no top converse. And of course black. One girl had pretty fushia falls and a serious bustier. One way to get the eyes to your facial area.

Obviously I got there safely: made a pitstop at Powell's - hey it was on the way. When I got there people were still going through security. There were two lines. Not to speed up proceedings. No. It was a boys line and a girls line. Apparently they were really going through bags that night.

Yeah I dare you to confiscate my Banana Yoshimoto, it's so subversive. Go on I dare you!

So there was this sign in bold letters right above the security gates saying :

NO MOSHING. NO AGGRESSION.

Okaaay this is a Ministry show right? Isn't the moshing kinda part of the ticket price?? Whatever. I pass through, pick up my on call and head up to the stage. Spyder Monkey *shrug* typical ranting and female name calling. House lights up I crack my book. Got a good six pages read before the second act.

I have never seen a show in which there was so much traffic flow. Up the stairs, down the stairs, to the bar, to the seats, to the friends and to who knows where else. It felt like an airport so much meeting and greeting.

The five minute warning was a machine gun guitar riff. Next up: the Odious Chickens* with their classic Steers, Beers and Queers. Kinda cool in a nazi era cabaret way. The lead started out wearing a tuxedo and ended the act in a very nice little black dress with matching opera length gloves. The last three numbers included a tribute to Rod Stewart's, "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy", complete with costumed male member and dancing girls.

Oh and instead of a mic he used a bull horn.

By the time the second act was over I was feeling really out of it. I didn't figure out until this afternoon it was because I had had no caffiene all day, and possibly the smoked substance permeating the venue. Yeah. I'm allergic to pot.

When the warning guitar riff had been sounded twice for the main act I was really ready to go. But I had never seen them so I wasn't willing to give up this opportunity. After four songs in which lights were flashed into the audiences' eyes at regular intervals and film footage was played unceasingly throughout I realised how much more I prefered the band Neurosis to this. It could be that Neurosis copied Ministry, vice versa, or that both are products of the same inspiration. Whatever. If I want this kind of driving music I also want really attractive dreadlocked leads singing in bass voices without the pseudo flashing hypnosis.

And the audience just stood there. It was so very Orwellian.

I think the film theme last night was Whack a Bush.

My hearing is slowly coming back. It should be present enough for Sonic Youth. **CV

Poppy (not so bright)

The self imposed ennui was because, well....I've been looking forward to a concert for the past month. I mentioned it frequently. On Wednesday I took out my ticket to confirm the address so I could Trimet it. Which means I wanted to find out the route according to the local transport system which can be done handily through the internet.

Imagine my shock and horror when I read the dat of performance as: May 4, 2006.

Surely that is a compo! (typo in computerspeak) That cannot be the real date but...if it is a compo.... and today is the 24th? then.... it's... tonight (well Wednesday) and..... I still missed it!Nooooo! (Yeah it was the 4th. This month has been whacked for my remembering dates correctly. I do know that this Monday is a national holiday.)

Okay. I'm calm: now.

I went online last night. Ministry was not sold out. I have my on call printout. It is tomorrow. At 8. I know the venue. Heh I've walked there twice. Once it was even the actual venue I was supposed to be at.

I want me some Docs. Think I can find a cheap pair before tomorrow night?***CV

self imposed ennui

Booking Through Thursday

1. What are the last five books that you finished reading?

Okay I'm going to take a random guess and choose five (actually six*) I have read recently. Perhaps they were the last five. But I'm thinking that I'm missing at least one in there:

Firebirds Rising edited by Sharyn November
Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
*A Murky Business by Honore Balzac
Green Tea and other Ghost Stories by Sheriden LeFanu
Mimus by Lilli Thal
the Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd

2. How long did it take you to read them?

Firebirds took three days because I was reading the stories before bed on Thursday and Friday which left Saturday to just finish it up.
Peeps was two nights for the same reason.
Green Tea and.. was read over the weekend more because it was lunch reading.
Mimus was one day in which i did little if anthing else;
and the Cheese Monkeys took two nights.

3. Did you enjoy reading these books? Why or why not?

I enjoyed all of them for different reasons. Firebirds not only reintroduced some favorite authors but the stories were a well written combination of fantasy, fairytale and sciencefiction. A Murky Business reminded me of Huysmans in a literal manner. Peeps was told through fact and fiction in an alternate chapter format which I found very appealing. In Green Tea... (finally) I met one of the LeFanu's I had read about so often but never actually read. The Cheese Monkeys I enjoyed for the class scenes but not the out of class plot. I preferred the drama to the melodrama.
****
I am now going to continue my pout.***CV

Myrkur

I am the only one of my kind in my place of employment. This does not mean I am a uniquely wonderful human being. It means I am the only person in my position. I have no peers. I have no one to chat, rant, brainstorm with. Oh, I can consult my admin. but that is not the same.

This will change next year (thank your chosen deity). Today I visited my soon to be new partner's class. Oh we are so going to rant together.

I am not sure how I feel about sharing a class. I have been given both negative and positve aspects. Right now just the thought of sharing what is happening without having to worry about the position of the person I'm speaking with, knowing it is only the benefit of our charges which is of concern is so wonderful.

If you have ever worked in the education field then you know what I am talking about when I say: what you say to whom depends on their relationship to the greater whole. Of course on thinking about it this is true for more then just one field isn't it?

I just want to be able to focus on the internal environment for a while.

Von is like listening to the Rosemarys in certain parts. Sigur Ros tomorrow :)***CV

benevolent dictator

Some days....Today was one.

Yesterday three of my charges were not present and in the afternoon I did something I have never done before. I sent a charge to the office. Can I just say that the 20 minutes said person was not present were the most peaceful I have experienced since the year began?

Today two tof the three absentees came. *sigh* one is the classes oldest, is bright, verbal, into the military, and very anger expressive. Apparently this has improved since entering my class ... *ummm ... no. I won't go there* The other is one of my youngest, is also bright, verbal and confident, with aggression issues, and considers the former to be a hero.

Watching these two today was like watching synchronised disrespect of others.

I had enough.

In the afternoon I took the youngest outside (during lunch I had a conversation with oldest about why I wasn't having older /younger partners this year and cited all my observations, including todays, which if oldest truly wanted such partnerships I simply said I needed to see some serious changes) and in no uncertain terms said I expected him to be a good role model for the rest of the afternoon.

In writing that doesn't seem so much but it sure snapped youngest to attention and for the rest of the afternoon, even sitting next to buddies? I will compliment youngest next time we meet :)

***CV

bogans aganesha

Well I need to add to my to be read list :) I picked up a copy of O. R. Melling's the Summer King tonight. Then after a conference in which the mom and I did some serious reminiscing about concerts and discussion of satellite radio I went to the DDE.

I now have:
Ministry, the Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste
Nick Cave, the Boatman's Call
Sigur Ros, Von

I listened to the untitled Sigur Ros last night and was strongly reminded of Slowdive, Swallow and Low without the deep sadness of Low. It was very appropriate to the thunder and lightning storm lashing we recieved.

I also read one (yes only one) chapter of Widdershins *sigh* :) I will savor.

***CV

twindle twindle tree

Finished Firebirds Rising this afternoon. Very thoughtful stories contained in this second volume: I haven't read the first.

I enjoyed the story by Emma Bull because she managed to convey a sense of period without citing dates. All her references were context dependent so it wasn't until Bette Davis and Louise Brooks came up as comparisons that I could say,"Oh, then this isn't a modern story," yet the situation could be. Nice.

Also, Pamela Dean's short about "alien" species and the perceptions of persons reminded me of Orson Scott Card's piggies and people without the heaviness (but I do like the Ender cycle).
***
I was planning on doing plants this week and outdoor sketching but we have already had one thunderstorm roll through. I'll still do the prep., but think I better have a back up just in case.***CV

Summer Reads?

Okay. Here is a tentative TBR list based solely upon unread books I already own. Heh. Like I'm commitment driven. Subject to erasure if I read before June 1st and subject to, "Hey that's a mighty cute book hangin' at the bar over there" changes.

****
An Alchemy of Mind, Diane Ackerman
The Wonder, J.D. Beresford
The Aleph and Other Stories, J.L.Borges*
A Sound of Thunder, Ray Bradbury
Evelina, Fanny Burney
Elementals, A.S.Byatt*
Love and Longing in Bombay, Vikram Chandra
Explicatives Deleted, Angela Carter
The Storm, Daniel Defoe
Children of God, Andrea Doria-Russell
The Bobbed Haired Bandit, Stephen Duncombe/Andrew Mattson*
Something Rotten. Jasper Fforde
The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffery Ford*
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman*
Strandloper, Alan Garner
Mary Barton, Elizabeth Gaskell*
Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin
To Rule the Waves, Arthur Herman*
Moominvalley in November, Tove Jansson
Howl's Moving Castle, Diane Wynne Jones
When Fox is a Thousand, Larissa Lai
Piers the Ploughman, William Langland
Uncle Silas, Sheridan LeFanu
The Monk, Lewis
The Giver, Lois Lowry
Messenger, Lois Lowry
Thebes at War, Naguib Mahfouz
Self, Yann Martel
Lamb, Christopher Moore
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Christoher Moore
Invitation to a Beheading, Vladmir Nabakov
Look at the Harlequins, Vladmir Nabakov
The Eye, Vladmir Nabokov
the Perilous Guard, Elizabeth Marie Pope
Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Marcus Rediker
Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words, Jay Rubin
The Heart of Midlothian, Sir Walter Scott
Scarlet and Black, Stendhal
Letters to a Young Mathematician, Ian Stewart
The Age of Homespun, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
The Sunbird, Elizabeth E. Wein (I so want 1 and 2 of this series but can't find them)
Mistress Marsham's Repose, T.H. White
Dooms Day Book, Connie Willis
Poison, Chris Wooding*
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
***

Lest you think that these are all the unread books I currently own: they are not. They are all I could find at the moment :) **CV

salt and sugar

Woke up at 7 this morning, rolled over and then woke up at 1. I am so ready for summer break ;)

Read more of Firebirds Rising. One of the stories is called House of the Seven Librarians. Another was about a child who spouted incredibly long words. I'm tempted to read the latter to my charges if there is time. There are two words in it which they already know very well: a five syllable and 12 syllable respectively.

Fairgrounds arrived in a US postal mailer which my US postal worker squeezed into my 1920's post box. *sigh* It works for her as when she drops in the goods it is a 180 degree angled container. But when I pick it up it decreases to 65 degrees. Not the best for removing long objects.

Sigur Ros next Thursday and Ministry (I still haven't gotten a ticket) next Saturday.***CV

feed the tree

The wintergreen, the juniper

The cornflower and the chicory

All the words you said to me

Still vibrating in the air

The elm, the ash, the linden tree

The dark and deep enchanted sea

The trembling moon and the stars unfurled

There she goes my beautiful world.

Nick Cave

There She Goes, My Beautiful World

Has there been a Queen revival recently? Every day I am either directly or indirectly greeted with lyrics from We Are the Champions, or We Will Rock You, Bicycle, or some other such (and it is not the media but my charges who are doing this).

My contribution is to deliver random Freddie Mercury trivia: he had a four octave range (think about it -wow!); he sang opera; he was born in South Africa;....

In other news the heat wave has decided to take a rest, I've seen some really cool Japanese street fashion books so I may go to Powell's to spend some quality time tomorrow or not. I have not forgotten Charles: all 597 pages :)

Balzac keeps refering to Sir Walter Scott, another reason to like him.

I'm thinking about the summer reading challenge. Last summer I really got back into reading again and read something like 60 books. I've always been a fairly voracious reader but during the preceding years I had been so occupied with school and work and friends, I fell out of the habit.

If I do enter it I don't think I'll post a TBR list. I like finding references and ideas in the moment and all too often a predetermined list prevents me from reading at all. ***CV

salasaloo

Today was a day of fun or at least a break in the routine which lately is the same as fun.

I realized very late last night I and a group of children were scheduled to attend a local musical performance the very next day instead of a week from tomorrow. Yikes! I am so grateful for all the trips and detailed arrangements I have made over the past years with children on outings. It enabled me to get all the stuff together I had been anticipating leisurely doing this weekend- in half an hour.

Thus we were able to take the bus and the train and walk to our destination. Fun!

Whaa-? I hear you saying.What is so fun about taking the bus and the train and walking?!

You have obviously never seen the absolute delight children experience riding on a train when you let them in on what to look for. I love children and public transportation. One key is to draw a map of your route with them ahead of time ;)

Crazy, I hear you mutter, public transit and kids!

*Tsk* If you tell them what the rules are and discuss -discuss, not tell, why these rules are in place they will be the most intense sticklers for protocol. Really. And when we got to the huge construction site I had told them about? Wow!

Side note: I have a book bag (which I purchased from the original Banana Republic before it was bought out by the Gap) which has the Israeli military insignia on it. I used this bag today to carry the trip essentials in. Anyway, as we were headed back from the performance we first passed this amazing medieval church and one of the children suddenly asked:

Why do christians hate jewish people?

me: I think you have something particular in mind when you ask that. But maybe you mean all people?

(It seems his dad had told him a story about one person harming another and that it had been faith based.)

me: Oh. Well then it's not a case of Christians hating Jewish people. It's more like one person not liking another, for what ever reason, and not handling it appropriately. Christians believe in Christ and according to the christian bible Christ says to love one another. So if the person was christian he wouldn't harm anyone else no matter how mean the other person was. Make sense?
I guess.

***
And then somone mentioned the N party and Herr H....And why Israel exists. I hope I cleared up the misconception that Israel had always existed. (I must admit, when I explained that Israel had been given as a means of saying sorry I also slipped in the fact that the land had not been ours to give -oops)

Would you believe we had just seen Suessical?***CV

Moonly

My word of the week is agitator. As in, what you are doing is agitating. Do not be an agitator. In conjunction with the words teasing and taunting this has had a slight effect.

I am clinging to the crevices by sweat alone. Yes it is 16 days.

I plan this weekend to be an intimate one of two, to whit: Charles and I, no. one. else.

***
Ah ha Carrie. You recognized Siouxie! Therefore you are not as out of the music scene as you pretend :)

****
I am beginning to realize Balzac wrote one huge soap opera of the French Directorate. More and more names are being bandied about which are elaborated in his other works. The Countess Cinque-Sange just appeared at the hotel Godierot has recently moved into.

****
Too hot to knit. Chai has been a limp dishrag of a cat all week.


***CV

Heroin(e)

Well, in spite of the tender ministrations of two very cute Powell's employees, I am perfectly healthy (drat it all).

There are 75 missing in action copies of your book Mr. de Lint *fume*

I'll just have to check in over the next couple of days.

Back to reading Sunshine. I did pick up the latest Firebirds anthology. Short stories by various authors including McKillip, Wynne Jones, Emma Bull and de Lint. Oh and Letters to a Young Mathematician (and yes I actually have been looking for this book).

Yeah. Take a firebird and call Powell's in the morning.***CV

PS: I recently found out that Haruki Murakami's novel The Wind Up Bird Chronincle is in the top 25 sexiest novels according to Playboy. Like they should know right? Huh. Hef reads.

Monkey Gone to Heaven

All this morning on OPR the announcer kept saying how horribly hot it was going to be today. I have never heard a weather person go on to such an extent. Makes you think that there might be something else she was worried about.

It ws hot I won't deny it. In the high 90s. But not so hot I couldn't walk and listen to my new tunes. *grr this Pixies is skipping awfully.*

Frozen juicicles and lots, and I mean lots, of wet papertowels kept the community occupied this afternoon.

***

Balzac has taken a rather Huysmans turn. The more I read the more I'm reminded of the Cathedral. I personally don't mind the Catholic turn - I've always been fascinated by the Jesuits, but I can see how some readers might be taken by surprise.

***
Reread parts of Sunshine last night. Y'know Rae might whine like the chick in Labyrinth sometimes but she's got b----err spunk ***CV

Kool Thing

At this time of year I feel like a rock climber who has used up all the chalk and still has several crevices to scale.

**

So I treated myself with a visit to the incensed disc empourium (not to be confused wth the DDE). Aaah patchouli and mohawked boys:) After browsing the new discs and finding a few worth considering (Pixies, Sonic Youth and Cult) I decided to wander the used aisles. Eh. But:

There is a section categorized by weekdays which included all the used dics brought in that week on those days. What did I find?

Mark Eitzel's AMC -San Francisco

Bryan Ferry - As Time Goes By

Mission UK - Carved in Sand

Has anyone else thought the lead singer of the UK sounds like Elvis crossed with Siouxie Sue? I'm just sayin'...So I also picked up: Goo, Pure Cult and Doolittle.

I really should get some Ministry but every time I pick up one I put it back *shrug*.

***

the tiger is on its way to my mom

****

20 more days.

****CV

tincture of tea

Last night I started reading Green Tea and Other Stories by Le Fanu. During the forst story Green Tea I kept wondering if green tea wasn't a euphamism for opium. The main voice of the work is a doctor, but a doctor of what is never stated. I presume he was a preFreud doctor as there was much mention of Swedenborg.

The second tale involved a brutal squire, his two sons, a dog and a hidden buffet. Hmmm Nancy Drew and the case of the Ghostly Bulldog? I couldn't tell what the moral of this tale was, though it was set up to be moralistic, unless it was some kind of rant that only eldest children should inherit no matter how awful they are.

The third story involved an Irish tower and was interesting because it offered two very different perspectives of the same mysterious death. The first was gothic and the second phaerie like.

I haven't read the fourth yet.

Reading Le fanu is analogous to reading a lite version of Radcliffe.

***

In the introduction to Balzac's the Wrong Side of Paris there is a charming anecdote that Honore escorted Georges Sands and some others through a park one late night clad only in his dressing gown and slippers bearing a candle. When told that he might be attacked on his way back he replied no because theives would either think him mad or dangerous to be abroad in such attire at such an hour.

Apparently Balzac's "working hours" were 12am to 12pm supplied with much coffee. I like those hours :)

***CV

green tea latte

Abattoir Blues is soooo good! I think Nick got religion or something but it is Nick -y'know dark grim harsh and: Nick did you know that that flaming ball of fire in the sky called the sun is supposed to be a good thing? But if he were Polyanna then it would be like meeting a happy Robert Smith - so so very wrong.

I saw Mr. Cave perform at the Warfield many years ago. My favorite part of his show was when he sat up on stage alone playing acoustic with his shadow looming behind him. It was as if Mr. Dark had dropped by.

If you are a Bad Seeds diehard you may not enjoy this release. I've noticed that the more accessible a group or performer becomes the less old fans like them. But really read the lyrics first. However melodic the music those lyrics are Nick. (In spite of the frappacino)

**
Finished a Murky Business and started The Wrong Side of Paris today. Two knitting references within the first three pages and a wonderful description of the cloister.

I won't be seeing CDL this weekend. If I had known sooner that he was coming I could have arranged to go but the notice was too late :(

***
Ministry and Sigur Ros in two weeks :)

***CV

Pierette pirouette

Thanks to Melanie's mention of Nabokov I now have three books by Vladmir:

The Eye

Look at the Harlequins, and

Invitation to a Beheading

The summary of the last one reminds me of Murakami's work especially, Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. And the other two look fabulously surreal.

No I haven't read Lolita - can anyone explain why, whenever I hear the name Lolita, an image of Brooke Shields appears?! But I have looked at Nabakov's Blues quite frequently.

Charles de Lint is on tour and will be in Seattle this weekend. So, while I was at Powell's, I asked if they were getting in Widdershins. According to the clerk it will be in next Tuesday!!! I think I feel an illness coming on. I may have to take next Wednesday off ;p

A Murky Business has become very Perry Mason: I love it***CV

Iniquity inequity

Okay I'm going memory diving tonight.

This memory is brought to you by the Perky Goth manifesto.(Thanks Fillyjonk ;)

During my junior year in HS I was in US History AP and the instructor was great. She had catseye glasses, always wore an A line plaid skirt, a white cardigan and blouse, with sensible shoes. Her favorite hobby was to visit graveyards on her vacation trips.

So one day I'm sitting in class - it must have been winter because it had been raining for a week, and I was prety damp having just returned from a lunch hour puddle fight. So there I was in my graffiti'ed bleach spotted jeans taking a test and Ms G walks by. Oh, I also litirized my converse. So she stops and reads the latest edition and says

Shouldn't that be inequity?

Huh? Oh! No. It's iniquity.

Hmmm.

Then she continued back to her lectern.

See I'd just been to the basement of City Lights the past weekend and had found this great tag: Born in Sin and Raised in Iniquity. It reminded me of the Salem Trials for whatever reason.

I think Ms. G was a feminist :)

***CV

Abattoir Blues

Years ago, when I was dating a bass player (like we all haven't done the musician thing at least once, my excuse is he took up bass a year afer we started going out) and a fellow band member said something about my liking the Velvet Underground. I really can't think why. Unless I was really into Stan Ridgeway at the time -which I was at one point. Saw him live at Slim's. Great show. (Oh now I remember. It was something about the singer Nico.)

Anyway, I decided to stop at the DDE* tonight and so picked up some discs. One of which is The Velvet Underground Gold.I'll have an opinion later. All I can say is it started at track 12 and after a day of 8 year old would be commedians was not the best place to begin. Venus in Furs is pretty fun though.

I also aquired a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 2 disc (I knew not to start with Nick. Has anyone else read And the Ass Saw An Angel? Brrrrr), one Cure, Staring at the Sea-the Singles, and a Sigur Ros (what is it with these no name releases?!)

**

It looks as if Marie-Paul, Paul-Marie, Laurence and Michu are headed for the guillotine after being framed for burglary and arson. ***CV

*Dance Disc Emporium

The BBB

Well Balzac seems to be of the theater generation. He creates his stage very paticularly, sets all the props in meticulous order and places each character within their unique context and then the actors and actresses begin the performance. Wow. I had to pick up another of his works even though I am only on part two of A Murky Business : Corentin's Revenge. I now have an edition of the Wrong Side of Paris
**
I also discovered another collection of Borges, this time some nonfictions.
***
While perusing the Bobbed Haired Bandit I couldn't help but admire the shoes Ms. Cooney wore. Why don't they make such fun footwear anymore? There was one illustration circa 1924 that I am so tempted to try and put on a jean jacket or embellish onto a cheap 3/4 coat. :)****CV

Moll mauls mall

Scott Westerfield as writen several teen society oriented books. Stories that are oriented towards social as well as societal issues. Two I can think of are called Uglies and Pretties. After reading the flap summaries of these two I am reminded of the Twilight Zone episode: Number 12 Looks Just like You. I believe a very young Sissy Spacek starred in it - or else a close relation.

I fininshed Westerfield's story Peeps on Saturday. It deals with parasites - every other chapter outlines a real life parasite and its charateristics. The other chapters follow the life of a person infected with a parasite and his quest to track those he has unwittingly infected. The tale is cleanly told and not overly embellished which I appreciated. It's a book I would reccomend especially if you have any curiousity about plagues or salem issues.

This afternoon I finished reading Mimus written by Lilli Thal. As an alternative look into a Jester's "career" - say you thought Danny Kaye's versions were realisitc, it was spot on. Lots of references to the chrisitan prophets which surprised me though really I can't think why. Jesters were part of the premedieval era and so was christianity.

People are not nice to each other in this story and yet it has a fairy tale flavor. I'll be interested to see what other works this author produces.

Today I picked up 5 new books. Four are for a class related event and one is just for me :) Care to guess? Really it's pretty obvious.

Dr. Seuss: American Icon

The Bobbed Haired Bandit

Oh say Can you Say?

Dr. Seuss Young author and artist

Dr. Seuss

***CV

fruit juice commandos

I am hot drinks gal. I found this out one sad day in Texas when I was having dinner with my family. We stopped at a restaurant and after ordering our meals decided to have drinks as well.

Since I had never had a margarita before so I decided to try one. Bad idea. Apparently my body is so addicted to processing carbs, any kind of carbs, into fuel, sugary drinks take first place in the processing lineup. Within two minutes I knew I was wasted. Not only wasted but angry: 'cause I think getting wasted or not should be a choice.

My choice had been taken from me by the tuity fruity, umbrella sombrero wearing, overly iced drinkie. I glared at it with vidictively inebriated eyes.

I can drink hard cider cause I know how to pace myself. I can drink chocolate martinis cause I know how to pace myself - but fruit juice commandos? Yeah now I can pace myself. How? Just say NO!

I always try to learn something form every experience good, bad, or ugly. What I learned from this is why spiking fruit punch is so popular. Cause it works. ***CV

remember the margarita

Cinco de Mayo: a holiday manufactured in order to boost Chicano studies over thirty years ago: fact or fiction? Considering that it is not a celebration of Independance - that happens in September, and is in fact commemorative of an event more like the Alamo then the 4th of July? I think fact.

So if that is that case should it be celebrated in a school? Is it not more like St. Patrick's Day: an excuse for partyers to go out and party rather than a holi-day in which one contemplates the noble reasons for setting aside a specific day to honor particular events?

We made gods eyes and Mexican flags but that was more of a craft activity. I'd rather use my time and energy towards events that have meaning other than margarita mayhem.*

****

When I purchased the yarn for the gods eyes I was asked if I was making christmas socks. The Mexican flag is after all green, white, and red.***CV

*I cannot drink margaritas. I've tried. It's not pretty.

Give a finch a marble....

Tweeter the bullied finch has laid an egg. Yep. All by her lonesome in her nest.
**
I love my parental community :)
***
Maybe this is why May and June are so challenging. Not because it's the end of the year and the sun is out and eveything wants to move, move, move, No. It's becaue I know that beings I have spent concentrated amounts of time with will be moving on. They may come and visit but it won't be the same.
****
I recently made a comment in a forum dedicated to a book I enjoyed. The comment was about certain fanfic interpretations of the story's main characters. I honestly expected to get somewhat slammed for my remarks, however true they were. What I didn't expect was to have the author post after my comment (within 20 minutes) with her own entry. Wow.

My observations were correct :)

*****CV

Amigo secreto ocho

Secret pal 8

Kha the constrictor

Saw my first albino cobra today and my first copperhead. What beautiful creatures. Though only 18 inches long the cobra had a loud hiss and was not white but dusky pink and cream :) I kept admiring the patterning on the snakes, from diamond back to python, and as I did so cable patterns continued to emerge.

I watched a chameleon change from happy happy orange to an angry moldy brown and Gila monsters are such chipper looking beings :)

**

Peeps by Scott Westerfield, a book about a disease that turns its hosts into vampiric creatures, Mimus, about a prince forced to become a jester in order to save his father and a book of Oregon plants for the garden.

Hopefully good antidotes to stilted reading syndrome.

***

I am meeting with the adults in charge of the child and the child tomorrow. Wish me coherancy ***CV

lemony v. Fyodor

Let me state for the record: I do not like a series of unfortunate events.

I do not like them in my house, I do not like them on my shelf, I do not like them on a bus, I do not like them anywhere. What really bothers me? aside from the fact that there was a 40+ pervert trying to marry a 12 year old girl in a children's series in the very first volume of the series?? It's the constant explaining of words in every. single. paragraph.

Look: dictionaries were made for a reason. Bah! to artistic device and clever marketing ploys.....grrrrr. I happily wander in my own world of context dependant clarity and avoid spoon feeding whenever possible.

Still I read so that I can sensibly present my case as an adult reading a book selected by a child.

Is there a Dostoyevsky in the house? ***CV

donna gato

The finches have an admirer :) Apparently a family moved nearby recently and brought their kitty with them. We thought she was a stray at first because when we saw her two weeks ago she was clean and then a week later dirty and noticiably thinner.

One of the staff decided to adopt her and took her to the vet where she was scanned and found to be chipped. Her owners were contacted and didn't appear overly concerned that their feline had been wandering the new neighborhood and hadn't been home for what they said was two days but what appeared to be a week. *sigh*

Kitty was returned to the family and guess who came visiting today?and sat in my lap for a half hour?

***
Purchased: Pride and Predjudice by Jane Austin and the Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snickett (the class lit group's choice not mine)

***CV