kismet rag

Ragtime has got to be one of the quickest means of cheering a person up (or maybe that's only me :) When ever I listen to Scott Joplin I have keystone cops, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Chaplin and the '20s crew at my directorial discretion.
**
I've started attending early morning practices and it's wonderful so far, I only hope I can keep it up. Crack o'dawn is my, given the choice, going to sleep time.
***
I went to the bank today to figure out was going on. I do so prefer face to face conversations and I was fortunate that I could leave work early. Apparently one of the processing departments is becoming very particular about dealing with paperwork. Interestingly enough after the asst. manager and I reached a resolution, I asked if it was possible that the department would have tried to contact me (phone, email, letter). He said, not likely.

I've been a customer for 9 years. I'd like to remain but with this kind of thing happening I may just start researching alternatives.
****
In cheerier news i received my information for the Nancy Bush Sock seminar:)*****CV

Oh I did one of those which Greek/Roman mythical figure are you and I was Orpheus. Hmmm didn't he get shredded by some rather drunk individuals? On the other hand, Cocteau's Orphee is fabulous :)

wheels of....

Yesterday I got the best back to school gift ;) Something to learn from, something to spend my first Saturday of the school week lazily devouring, something aromatic, and something giggly. Marie of A Knit's Tale sent me a felting kit with plant dyed wools and needles:) I don't know how to felt: something fun to learn! She also sent me Dark Lord of Derkholm to add to my growing collection of Diana Wynne Jones books. Also, a lovely, lovely sampling of amber incense with an absolutely beautiful amber coloured leaf incense holder which I stared at for far to long: it's soooo pretty. And my favorite, if I could choose a favorite which I can't but if I had, to then the spider book mark. It was the first thing I saw and made me laugh out loud. S/he's sooo cute I don't know if I could bear to use shim and possibly lose shim.

Thank you Marie :):) I'm sad Neil is coming on a weeknight. I would LOVE to see him in Berkeley or Menlo Park. I expect a full report ;)
***

*sigh* Then the bank decided that I didn't really deposit my pay cheque, which I thought I had done last THURSDAY. What!!

I did exactly what I have done my entire 20 year working career and NOW they tell me it's the wrong thing to do. So apparently I need to go talk in person to the bank where I made my deposit (when? I work those hours) after I receive my cheque back in the mail. So Friday? Saturday?

But that's Okay, according to the helpful CSR (when I explained I had checks coming through and groceries to buy), because I have overdraft: so please go ahead and charge up a storm we'll only charge you an additional overdraft fee every time you do purchase something.

I need that spider to make me laugh now. Hmmm, maybe I could felt a voodoo dolly? While waiting at the bank? ***CV

kareoke sailor

Aaaah. Labor Day weekend. A time of bbqs, trips to the beach, seeing lots of movies and Kareoke in the back yard! No. Not my backyard. The backyard of my house neighbor.

So tell me: does one really need a mic for an area no bigger than 500 sqaure feet? A yard in which normal conversation can be heard by someone in an apartment four floors up?

Apparently one does. Kareoke starts at 7. I leave my apartment at 9 ' cause it's going into third rounds (perhaps an attempt at a choral?). I go to the 24hour cafe and order an iced coffee (heavy, heavy on the soy) and take my book to an outside table, turn on the discman and am happy, happy :)

Well, maybe not as happy as the man who was trying to find the sleeve to his suit jacket. At least he put his drink down first. Maybe he was a sailor on leave? He was walking as if he hadn't found his land legs yet. I'm really glad he didn't walk into the parked truck, it was close though. I hope he made it home. *****CV

finis

(SRC/P) Piers the Ploughman, William Langland (315pp) Another good title would be How to Sleep Your Way to Heaven, but I guess in our culture moderne that title would be misconstrued. Man I like to sleep but I don't know if everytime I fell asleep some medieval virtue came to speak with me if I would like to sleep as much as I do now. What I really enjoyed about this tale aside from the really catchy names, was how mnemonic it was. If you knew this tale from beginning to end then you would be a very well versed (heheh) person indeed.

(SRC/P) Storm Thief, Chris Wooding (310pp) This is another by the author of The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray and Poison, both of which I read earlier this year (Poison is a part of the challenge list). I think Wooding is finding his voice, or I am finding his later voice more pleasurable. In The Haunting... there was a lot of stuff going on. It was good but overwhelming. Poison ended somewhat predictably. Storm Thief is like Orwell meets the Terminator meets Noah's Ark: in a good way.

(SRC/P) The Aleph and Other Stories, JL Borges (210pp) Ah Borges :) I once told how Borges mentioned that writing a review of a book rather than the book itself was so much more practical, and time saving. In this collection of stories he takes that thought and applies it to history. Throughout these stories that are asterixs , which in most writing indicates footnotes. Not so here. Stories have the look of fact but none of the substance. Delightful! I always thought history texts should be viewed skeptically.

(SRC/P) Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Haruki Murakami (334pp) Can I just say that this came out on the last days of the challenge. What a fabulous way to end it :) Spaghetti, cryptic comments, 100%s, cats, neverending corridors, wells, swimming pools and absurdity. Thank you Haruki :) I promise to avoid all crab restaurants in the future.
***
Now I can read the Historian (yes Carrie it's in paperback now) in peace***CV

SRC/P complete

(SRC/P)The Messenger, Lois Lowry (169pp)
(SRC/P) Ten Nights of Dream; Hearing Things; The Heredity of Taste, Soeseki Natsume(203pp)
(SRC/P) Invitation to a Beheading, Vladmir Nabokov (223pp)
(SRC/P) Goodbye Tsugami, Banana Yoshimoto (186pp)
(SRC/P) The Eye, Vladmir Nabokov (104pp)
(SRP) The Wrong Side of Paris, Honore Balzac (208pp)
(SRP/C) Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte (337pp)
(SRC/P) Bad Seed, Ian Johnston (305pp)
(SRC/P) Elementals, AS Byatt (230pp)
(SRC/P) the Giver, Lois Lowry (179pp)
(SRC/P) Strandloper, Alan Garner (2oopp)
(SRC/P) Moominvalley in November, Tove Jansson (175pp)
(SRC/P) Thebes at War, Naguib Mahfouz (242pp)
(SRC/P) Love and Longing in Bombay, Vikram Chandra (268pp)
(SRC/P) The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Patricia McKillip (247pp)
(SRC/P) the Wild Ass's Skin, Honore Balzac (285 pp)
(SRC/P) Poison, Chris Wooding (273 pp)
(SRC/P) The Monk, Matthew Lewis (442 pp)
sub total 18 books and 4,276pp as of July 2, 2006
***
SRC/P) Asleep, Banana Yoshimoto (177pp)
(SRC/P) A Kingdom Divided, Rupert Thomson (336pp)
(SRC/P) Liquor, Poppy Brite (339pp)
(SRC/P) Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words, Jay Rubin (289pp)
(SRC/P) The Book of Revelation, Rupert Thomson (260pp)
(SRC/P) The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffrey Ford (319pp)
(SRC/P) One Thousand and One Ghosts, Alexandre Dumas (156pp).
(SRP) The Tarot Cafe, Sang-Sun Park (176pp) manga
(SRC/P) Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman (334pp)
(SRC/P) When Fox is a Thousand, Larissa Lai (236pp)(SRC/P) Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin (328pp)
(SRC/P) The Sunbird, Elizabeth E. Wein (184pp)(SRC/P) Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones (380pp)
(SRC/P) The Perilous Gard, Elizabeth Marie Pope (280pp)
(SRC/P) Look at the Harlequins, Vladmir Nabakov (253pp)(SRC/P) The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon (487pp)
(SRC/P) Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore (444pp)
(SRC/P) The Lust lizard of Melancholy Cove, Christopher Moore (304pp)
(SRC/P) Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde (383pp)
(SRC/P) Uncle Silas, Sheridan LeFanu (444pp)
(SRC/P) Leave it to Psmith, PG Wodehouse (328pp)*
(SRC/P) A Perfect Red, Amy Butler Greenfield (338pp)*
(SRC/P) A Passage to India (362pp)*
For a 2nd subtotal of: 23 books and 7,137ppTotal to date: 41 books and 11,413
***
(SRC/P) Deep Secret, Diane Wynne Jones (375pp)
(SRC/P) Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, Cory Doctorow (315pp)
SRC/P) Soft!, Rupert Thomson (307pp)
(SRC/P) Dogsbody, Diana Wynne Jones (261pp)
(SRC/P) Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (317pp)
(SRC/P) Ada, or Ardor, Vladimir Nabokov (606pp)
(SRC/P) New Moon, Stephenie Meyer (563pp)
(SRC/P) Amrita, Banana Yoshimoto (366pp)
(SRP) Lupin III vol.II, Monkey Punch (179pp)
(SRP) Lupin III vol. I, Monkey Punch (190pp)
(SRC/P) Miss Wyoming, Douglas Coupland (311pp)
(SRC/P) Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov (315pp)
(SRC/P) Take Joy, Jane Yolen (182pp)
(SRC/P) The Summer King, OR Melling (369pp)
(SRC/P) King Ink, Nick Cave (164pp)
(SRC/P) Storm Thief, Chris Wooding (310pp)
(SRC/P Piers the Ploughman ( 315pp)
(SRC/P) the Aleph and Other Stories, JL Borges ( 210pp)
(SRC/P) Blind Willow Sleeping Woman, Haruki Murakami (334pp)
third subtotal of 19 books and 5,989 pages
***
grand total 60 books and 17,402 pp

(final four summaries are in the post finis)***CV

dos libros mas

(SRC/P) King Ink, Nick Cave (164pp) At last a collection of Nick's lyrics along with images of lyrics in progress. Whoa what interesting umm printing. Also included are a couple of one act plays that Nick wrote along with Lydia Lunch. Apparently the two of them didn't get along so well. Lydia is a pretty strong prescence and so is Nick. I think I'm glad I was on the West Coast when they were doing their thing on the Eastern Sideboard.

(SRC/P) The Summer King, OR Melling (369pp) The second volume in a series of tales which take place in modern Ireland involving the fey. It would seem that, while the series is connected (I'm waiting for vol.III), each story involves different characters, except for the fey right? What a wonderful treat to discover Grace O'Malley (the Irish Pirate Queen) plays a significant part in this story! I started reading a biography of her over the summer and now I'm inspired to return to it :)

I have now met my SRC challenge of 51 books. BUT that doesn't mean Mistress Chaos can relax: I'm still reading ;) ***CV

limited omniscence

I've decided to let my building manager know I'm interested in any top floor vacancies.

I had similar musical issues when I lived in SF but the people above were really reasonable and always let me know it was okay to come and remind them if the decibal level was too much. It's only within the past month that it has become so loud here. Too, it appears a bf has moved in.
**

(SRC/P) Take Joy, Jane Yolen (182pp) I read this interesting book last night, by Jane Yolen, about writing. When talking about voice she demonstrates the over blown bardic voice through a tale of a barbarian having tea with the queen :) Now when I talk about my readings I can say whether the point of view is Omniscent, First Person, Limited Omniscent or Objective. And she includes some interesting plot summaries which are, well, anything but plot summaries. Myfavorites are:

Where is the big bad wolf when you really need him (Animal Farm) and
Yo! Fro give the mountain the .... oh never mind
***

(SRC/P) Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov (315pp) A poet dies and his last work is in the hands of a trusted friend for editing and glossing. Why then is the story more about the editor and his agenda then the poem itself? Could it be that some academics are more about the author than the subject? Could it be that glossing poems is more about the glosser's agenda then the poem itself? Can we trust interpreters to be objective? How do we really know an expert is an expert?A really good story for the cynic in all of us :)

(SRC/P) Miss Wyoming, Douglas Coupland (311pp) I'm going to look for more of this author's work. An amusing but at the same time serious story about beauty queen pagents and hollywood boy wonders, but it ain't no F. Scott. I said before that the story reminded me of Rupert Thomson and Christopher Moore. A really enjoyable read.

(SRP) Lupin III vol. I, Monkey Punch (190pp) In which we are introduced to this playboy thief and the wonders that are the world of male 60's mod. A collection of shorts in which Lupin reminds me of a lanky Sean Connery (alas no knitwear modelling)

(SRP) Lupin III vol.II, Monkey Punch (179pp) In which we meet Fujikomine, Lupin's buxom lover /competitor in expert crime -if she can beat him and beat him so much the better. Also are Jigen and Inspector Zenigata. For some reason this one seemed more crude (hah! it IS Lupin, what am I thinking?) than the first volume. Powell's was sold out of vol III so I have to wait (le sigh)***CV

Poe-tic

Listen how carefully, how reasonably I can tell the tale.

I shared the building with several others. True we did not communicate frequently nor in overly sympathetic ways; still, ours was a convivial community. We held open doors for one another, exchanged plesantries, took turns on the stairways and let others ascend in the elevator that would only accomodate two before protesting in a tremulous and somewhat irritating manner.

So we spent our days and nights: leaving for our various daily tasks as dictated by the hours of employment which, not unexpectedly considering the diverse group we represented, were not identical. Nor I hasten to add should they be. Thus by neccessity our hours of rest and relaxation, which were achieved in disperate ways: some prefering solitude and quiet, others indulging in companionship and musical assemblies, still others in cinematic escapades; also occured at varying times. There is nothing to lead one to suspect any disease in this surely.

And yet, there was a faint rythmic pulsation, which at first I barely noticed so trivial and ephemeral did it seem. Also when I attempted to locate its source it was difficult to ascertain its location, was it above me or beside? Perhaps it came from some place else all together. And so I shrugged it away busying myself in various activities.

However, as time passed I became aware in the upper layers of my mind of this steady beating, pulsing ... 'tis nothing I laughed to myself. Tis only a passing motorist indulging in a current musical fascination. It will pass.

It didn't. Lately in fact it has become more noticiable. It permeates my night. It pervades my early morning. I have ascertained that it comes not from the outside nor does it generate from the rooms beside or below me. It comes from above.

While I know now that I am not mad, why would you think me to be? Most certainly I shall become so unless I can still this unquiet bass beat.

Any advice?
**
In other news I signed up for sock wars :)***CV

zembla

First things first. For those wondering what bhekasana looks like I give you:

Now imagine that posture while lying on your back. (Ideally ones palms are flat on the tops of the feet as well as fingers pointing forward. This is why it is called a practice ;) Oddly enough this yogi reminds me of David Life, but I know he's not.
**
The Circle of Fifths is an arrangement of musical scales including flats and sharps. I love the music that we cover in class but it can be confusing at the start. The circle of fifths is one of the last things we show chilren who are interested in music. It's not last because it is suppose to be but because there is so much information included in the lesson itself ( information which is given through earlier presentations). Sure I'll give the lesson if someone requests it but I will not expect somone to "know" it if they haven't had the previous material. Nor would I presume they won't "get it" unless they have had the previous lessons.
***
I'm currently reading a story which really brings home the point that if an expert critques a subject that doesn't make the expert objective by any means; or a real expert.****CV

impossible is impossible

The colours I'm using for the Traveller's bag are lilac, spice, pumpkin and an off white that I believe is called pearl. I went back and picked up the Hempathy 6 and will either exchange or keep the Hempathy 3 originally purchased.
**
Sewing is my life at the cottage. Well, that and sorting nomenclature :)
***
I'm thinking about joining Sockwars, but I'm not sure if I should.
****
Suptabhekasana (upsidedown frog posture): impossible you say? Then how come two in my class could do it?*****CV

cheerio cat

Well there has been a lot of activity regarding New Moon lately. For those curious as to the meaning of la tua cantante it means "your singer". The phrase ocurs towards the end of New Moon so I can't talk about it or risk spoiling the story. Sorry. Check out Stephenie's site or the Twilight Lexicon , or the Twilight group on MySpace for more information.
**
I'm almost finished with Miss Wyoming. However, it would appear that I am not the only one who does nothing but read, *cough* mistress of chaos*cough*. But Ihave four more to meet my SRC challenge and two for SRP
***
Musical sorting today. Anyone care to elaborate upon the differences between: intervals, accidentals, and the circle of fifths?
*****CV

stuph stough or stuff

Well I found another reason to have fun with Coupland's book ,Miss Wyoming. One of the main characters has a lot happen to her in Oregon. Very clever KTC pal ;) When I last left Susan she was eating a cold cheeseburger while locked inside a McDonald's garbage bin.
**
I cast on for the traveller's bag last night but my circs were 24" instead of 20" so I transferred the cast on onto DPNs. On the bus I reminded myself that, yes, fairisle and stranded work was originally done on DPNs so it must be possible to do in these modern times as well.
***
I sent my KSKS pal a belated thank you tonight for a wonderfully amber themed package :)
****
We are at work from 8 to 8 almost everyday so far setting up so I'm going to try the 6am class this Friday. My coteacher and I have been having so much fun the past few days I guess we were due for a "bleh day" which we had.

So, think of Calvin and: bleh.*****CV

tag

(SRC/P) Amrita, Banana Yoshimoto (366pp) see previous post for review.
**
Long hours setting up make cv a very tired girl. I missed class tonight becuase of set up so I'm planning on going to a morning class tomorrow***CV

SRC 47 SRP 49

stirring the seas

I am struggling with Amrita. And I think I've figured out part of the problem: the book blurb.

According to the bb this story is about a woman trying to regain her memories (after falling down a steep flight of stone steps which resulted in an injury requiring brain surgery). I disagree. True that is part of it, in a very far reaching manner, but I say it's more about a woman discovering what it is to be present. Part of which occurs when she re-experiences (in very ditto paper and the smell of white out ways) past events. Also, this is the most introspective of Banana Yoshimoto's books I've read, and that is saying something as they are all pretty inward directed.

Then there are the ghosts (but I did laugh out loud when Sakumi and Yoshio were watching a scary tv series and suddenly the door bell rang), the albino scuba diver, the friend who dresses like a call girl, the sea cucumbers who are really dead japanese soldiers, and the whole dating your dead sister's boyfriend affair.

And characters tend to scream instead of shout, yell, cry out, or other wise speak in non dulcet tones. What is up with that?

I'll finish it as I am more than halfway there but it is a struggle.

la tua cantante

(SRC/P) New Moon, Stephenie Meyer (563pp) To answer a few questions I started reading at the cafe at 2:20 but I started reading at the train stop, so ... 2:05?) I finished reading at 2:20 am after restarting at 9pm. Total time elapsed: 8ish hours.

*Spoiler*Spoiler*Spoiler*Spoiler*

If I am to talk about New Moon then everything is a spoiler, except perhaps that it is definitely a middle of the series tale. The first was Twilight which I like almost as well as Sunshine. I enjoyed New Moon but there are definite personality changes going on and some events worry me about how fanfic like they were. I do love that Bella got a motorcycle. I adore Jacob (if only because I dated someone almost exactly like him and he too was an absolute sweetheart, and rode a motorcycle and was mechaniclly inclined and *sigh*). So spoiler avoiders go away NOW.

Bella and Edward seperate over a birthday incident. Bella is emotionally shattered, to the point where the following three months are utterly blacked out of her memory. I really liked the way this was conveyed by each successive page simply titled with the name of the month - very cinematic) She decides to live dangerously and in so doing manages to revive the voice of her beloved. Meanwhile things on the La Push Rez are getting out of hand (or are they?) Just what are these mysterious animal prints so unlike a grizzly but too large for a wolf? And just what will the Volturi do after their dining pleasure? (A whole town operated by Vampires - the Volturi - and consequently the safest place from vampire ravishment) We have to wait until Eclipse to find out. And that is why I say it's a middle of the series read. It updates you and then sets you up for the next one. Twillight could be a stand alone. Not so New Moon.

**

Yesterday afternoon as I was reading New Moon (and working on my Loilita knee highs) I met Maura. Maura ws visiting from NM and saw me knitting and came in to chat. The secret password?

"Opal?"

(I nod) Yep

(she holds her bag) "Koigu"

I had never met her before that afternoon but we sat and chatted and she showed me how to cast on toe up and even gave me a pattern she had written for the process (so sweet!) I told her about a sale happening at a nearby purveyor of wooly wonders today and she brought some friends. While at said sale I found some hemp for a pattern (Thank you Hope for reminding me of the Nancy Bush traveller's bag) so I will try that later. ***CV

beware the werebear

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Purchased at 2pm.
Started reading at 2:20.
179pp/563pp read by 5pm.

I'll let you know how it ends tomorrow ***CV

villa veen

(SRC/P) Ada, or Ardor, Vladimir Nabokov (606pp) A love story involving two cousins (or are they?) over the course of their entire lives. Nabokov grew up speaking both english and french, later russian when his father discovered that Vladimir couldn't speak it. In much the same vein ada or ardor is a tale told in three languages. Fortunately for me, unlike some of his other works, there are parenthetical moments that allow one to glimpse what that french or russian actually means. Puns, word games, nods and smirks to other literary works make this a very Nabokovian story.

According to the jacket this is the last story Nabokov wrote.
**
I started Vera this afternoon. I sense a similarity between the Van Veen and Ada Veen relationship, and that of VN and VN ***CV

sky cheshire smile

One length of I cord complete. I made 6 feet of it while sitting in a cafe and reading Ada,or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov.

Speaking of, I picked up Vera by Stacy Schiff (the biography of Vera Nabokov) along with Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto today. Then I come home to find out that New Moon is in stock; why did I not go into the YA section? I know what I'll be doing tomorrow (aside from sewing curtains and linings ;)***CV

did sean connery pose for knitting patterns

I have no idea. Consequently I have no idea how such a question led you to my blog. I'd be interested if you find an answer though. Do tell.
**
In other news Robin McKinley is writing another book (brief pause for happy dance). She will be in fact attending a con with her husband as a GOH; sadly in Liverpool *sigh* But new book means possible book tour means possible USA right?
***
I am sadly tardy on my KSKS making. The deadline for sending is this Saturday. Make way for Icord. Actually I have all the pieces it's just the Icord and lining to do.
****
SRC 44 SRP 46
*****
M/W/F is monday/wednesday/friday and T/R is tuesday/thursday ******CV

scheme

Starting next week I am back to school. This then is my last official week. However, my coworker and I would like to be able to actually lesson plan and not do bad impersonations of U-Haulers by heaving furniture about the room and grunting at each other. So we're taking it in stages this week. She's to come in during the evenings and I have a plan for myself.

This morning I started the plan. I went back to class (8am) and then to the cottage where I proceeded to drag, shift and remove stuff for about three hours. Then I knocked off and went and worked on my peppermint sox. (Well, after a stop at Powell's; Ada or Ardor, Vladimir Nabokov :)

The plan: for every a.m. practice with a teacher I really really like I will go in and work. So that's M/W/F. This leaves T/R for my summer pleasure. Sounds like a good plan to me ;)
**
Oh and the ignose godnose title came from the discovery of a compound by the Hungarian scientist Albert Szent-Gyorgi. He published an article about his discovery and when the publication asked for the name of the compound he said ignose (-nose=sugar and ig- ignorant) They didn't think that was funny so he said Okay it is called godnose.

Science publications man, no sense of humour.***CV

dolores haze

(SRC/P) Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (317pp) Not what I expected. Not that I really knew what to expect. The term Lolita is tossed around quite casually and we all know what it means right? But then those of us who know what it means seldom have actually read the source. I have now.

As I read the story I had flashbacks to a film called "the Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane". It starred a young Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen. I think those two characters; one a young girl living alone due to a fathers premeditated suicide, being harassed by the other, the town pedophile; are simplisticly analogous to the characters in Lolita. Simplistic because Lolita and HH are not simple, they are complex. And, while there is no question as to the morality of the situation there is much to question regarding the true origins of what evolves into a tragedy. Who really is at fault?

It is fiction. It is a story. As readers of such we can ask ourselves: what did I learn?***CV

ignose or godnose

(SRC/P) Dogsbody, Diana Wynne Jones (261pp) I started this last night and finished it this afternoon. I think I really should have seen it being a wild hunt story when Leo's colouring was described. I would like this as a read aloud for the class but there are some bits that I would have to edit out for the youngers; and thank you Ellie for giving me this story. I can see why it's a favorite :) Basic premise a being of power loses his temper with grave consequences and so is baninshed to earth to atone for his "crime" by finding a mysterious object or simply die as a mortal being. The higher being is Sirius and his mortal body is a dog. I really couldn't tell more wihtout taking some of the pleasure of the tale away from potential readers. Just read it. it is a sweet sad story (with a Wild Hunt).

(SRC/P) Soft!, Rupert Thomson (307pp) I haven't heard that much about subliminal advertising in recent years. I do remember it being quite the topic at one time. In Soft! Rupert Thomson again addresses manipulation of the individual, this time through the advertising or manufacturing sector. But the body capitalist is not the only group he brings to the discussion. There is also the manipulation of ourselves whether it be through others opinion or our own self judgement or lack there of. Thre are three main characters: Barker, Glade and Jimmy, Barker is a rough and shady character who seems fated to the life he leads, Glade is a dreamy and lost soul, and Jimmy is an upwardly pushing ad agent who comes up with a scheme to make sales self perpetuating. Ethics? What are those? The scene between Lambert and Barker reminded me of the cafe scene in Murakami's Wind up Bird Chronicles. This is the the third RT book I have read. I'm looking forward to the rest.
**
I am now in a point of transition. Having gone in to work this past week I am no longer in a position of free flowing freedom. Half my thoughts are in or of the clasroom, other thoughts are reminding me it's still summer break officially. But once you start going in, officially doesn't mean much anymore. ****CV

Peppermint sox

Is the SRP still in effect? There has been no update on it since the end of June. Does anyone know?
**
A parent once told me a story about visiting a hotel and her son found something hehad never seen before:

What's that mommy?

It's an iron honey.

What's an iron?

She laughed while saying this to me and explained since she does not iron, well, he had no idea and a very hard time understanding the purpose of such a tool.
***

Is there a law agianst banging on your neighbor's door when the bass is just too loud? I already wrote a note to them a week ago. And I did knock on their door before writing the note only no one heard me (I can't imagine why.)
****

Chai is on strike 'cause I got her the healthy food instead of the junkfood I've been buying for her the past month.
*****

(SRC/P) Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, Cory Doctorow (315pp)
Positive: A canadian author writing about a Canada area. This is one of the many things I like about Charles de Lint. What deLint does for the Glebe Doctorow does for Kensington. AntiPositive: a mish mash of plot devices. I couldn't decide if I liked the book or was reading just to finish it.

(SRC/P) Deep Secret, Diane Wynne Jones (375pp) premise: the universe is loosely shaped like an infinity loop one part of which is called Naywards and the other Ayewards. Depending upon which loop you are located on or closest to, you either do or do not accept magic as a given. This universe is overseen by a group(Archons) who delegates duties to another group (magids). Enjoyable read but I found the lead character a bit difficult to follow. He just went through such a radical opinion shift regarding another lead character with no crux to justify such a rapid switch. I have heard of the concept you often hate the one you love, but still.
******

One of the references cited in A Perfect Red was the story Max Havelaar. It is a fiction about the Dutch coffee trade in Java. (It never really ceases to amaze me how willing people are to oppress each other if there is a monetary profit to be gained). It would seem that this book opened the eyes of the Netherlanders who, until the books publication, had no idea of exactly what was going on. (Sound familiar?) At any rate it is not a book that one would expect to find in the B&N top 20. I was browsing Powell's for completely different books-I had forgotten to keep an eye ou for Max, and guess what I found? ***CV

The seven legged being was a rather larger than usual black widow who, for some reason, was missing a limb. When I put the spider next to a tree it immediately scurried into the root system. I'd be very wary of relocating a wolf spider with just a cup and paper :)

unintended pranksters

Painting can be fun.

I went into the cottage today for the first time in over a month. My new partner has been busy during that time. So when I said sure I'd go in and paint I was not quite expecting what I found. Stuff. Everywhere. Fortunately the paint supplies were gathered, huddled together, on a table; Not quite cowering.

Okay. Lets see. I should tape the areas I don't want painted. Good.Where's the tape? Here tapetapetape. C'mon. I know you're here somewhere. Hmmm.

Much wandering amidst the labyrinth that once was a classroom.

I give up. I have my new toy so, Riiiinnnng. (During the entire conversation I do not stop moving arond the room. I think I felt as if I were in Chartres or something, must walk the spiral path allll the way)

Hi

Hi I'm here

Whaddya think? Too bright?

(We had agreed to doing a yellow trim inside)

It is bright! No, it's cheerful ...ummm where's the tape?

Tape?

Yeah I thought I'd cover the mouldings.

Oh. It's not there?

I don't see it.

Huh.

It worked out. I just tore off the tape previously used and re used it. Then when I'd finished I found the roll of tape next to my coteachers cafe cup across the room from the rest of the supplies. So I hid it :)***CV

Lolita, Vladmir Nabakov
Napolean's Buttons, Penny LeCouteurand Jay Burreson
Multatuli, Max Havelaar
Soft, Rupert Thomson

book free

I have been asked if I do anything besides read.

Why yes I do. I eat. I sleep. I move about in various ways (see yoga in your standard dictionary). Occaisionally I interact with others of my kind - just what kind I will leave up to your very capable imaginations.

Today I:

woke up a 6 (after going to sleep at 2:30)
practiced
answered a message from a friend cancelling the arrangement which was the reason for me awaking at such an unchairitable hour of the morning
knit
fell asleep
did laundry
went to a cafe
went to a yarn shop
rescued a big black seven legged being (Hi Anansi)
shopped
came home
admired my newly reorganized home
ate dinner
read blogs

Thus endeth a day***CV

three more....

As promised.

(SRC/P) A Perfect Red, Amy Butler Greenfield (338pp) A few years ago I came across a book which proposed to tell the history of the colour mauve. I bought it and when I began to read, well ... let's say that I was less then enthralled. I must have read more of it then what I thought though as several aspects of it came up towards the end of A Perfect Red. Who would have thought a little insect could cause so much hubub. My only complaint would be that I had expected a focus on the colour red and there were many digressions (though interesting) into other areas. Ms. Greenfield manages to bring all to bear on her premise. She traces the production of red cloth in particular from its vegatal to its animal stages as well as the staus of both producers and consumers in relation not only to each other but over time. Caste is everywhere.

I may even look for that mauve book again.
**

(SRC/P) A Passage to India, E.M. Forster (362pp) Hmmmm. I almost didn't finish this book. I really have a hard time when people (even fictional ones) act ignorant. I realise that this is a time and a place and people do act that way. However, when it got to the point of the Doctor being accused and put on trial I almost put the book aside. I'm glad I didn't. I would have missed the spectacle at the end and all the associated imagery. I also appreciated a look at India without the seemingly unavoidable pantheon context (Shiva2000 anyone?). Most novels from India and I believe most western views of India are through the filter of multitudinous deities. I appreciated the not untimely reminder that there is much more to the culture of India.
***

(SRC/P) Leave it to Psmith, P.G. Wodehouse (328pp) Such a change from all my other reading to date. So very English and so Masterpeice theater. I kept imagining Patrick Macnee as Psmith ("the P is silent"). I think Psmith in real life would annoy me no end but as a fictional character he was great fun. The dialogue and terms used "Gee" "attaboy Ed" and "Just you start joshing at my poems and see how quick I'll bean you with a brick", are priceless.

Currently reading:
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town; Cory Doctorow
the Age of Homespun, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich***CV

SRP update II

Last check in I had read a total of 18 books and 4,276pp as of July 2, 2006
***
Since then I have read:

(SRC/P) Asleep, Banana Yoshimoto (177pp)
(SRC/P) A Kingdom Divided, Rupert Thomson (336pp)
(SRC/P) Liquor, Poppy Brite (339pp)
(SRC/P) Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words, Jay Rubin (289pp)
(SRC/P) The Book of Revelation, Rupert Thomson (260pp)
(SRC/P) The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffrey Ford (319pp)
(SRC/P) One Thousand and One Ghosts, Alexandre Dumas (156pp).
(SRP) The Tarot Cafe, Sang-Sun Park (176pp) manga
(SRC/P) Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman (334pp)
(SRC/P) When Fox is a Thousand, Larissa Lai (236pp)
(SRC/P) Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin (328pp)
(SRC/P) The Sunbird, Elizabeth E. Wein (184pp)
(SRC/P) Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones (380pp)
(SRC/P) The Perilous Gard, Elizabeth Marie Pope (280pp)
(SRC/P) Look at the Harlequins, Vladmir Nabakov (253pp)
(SRC/P) The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon (487pp)
(SRC/P) Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore (444pp)
(SRC/P) The Lust lizard of Melancholy Cove, Christopher Moore (304pp)
(SRC/P) Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde (383pp)
(SRC/P) Uncle Silas, Sheridan LeFanu (444pp)
(SRC/P) Leave it to Psmith, PG Wodehouse (328pp)*
(SRC/P) A Perfect Red, Amy Butler Greenfield (338pp)*
(SRC/P) A Passage to India (362pp)*

For a 2nd subtotal of: 23 books and 7,137pp

Total to date: 41 books and 11,413 pp as of August 6 2006 ***CV

*Finished last night and this morning. Summaries in next post :)

summer night

Beautiful weather tonight. I don't normally go back out once I've turned in for the evening but tonight I did. It's clear and still and warm: truly a summer night. People are out on their porches or sitting with friends close to the window in dimly lit rooms. Next to conversation and laughter the only sounds are of gently clinking glasses. Lots of people at the out door restaurants. Just really really pleasant.

I am 40 pages from finishing a Perfect Red; 60 pages from completing A Passage to India and halfway through Leave it to Psmith.

One week left of summer break ***CV

asleep at the needles

This week I have been truly lazy. Instead of going to pratice - I did my own shortened routine at home, I read and cafe'd all week. It is this laziness to which I attribute my ability to nearly complete all the socks I started last year (including my very first pair). There is something about spaciousness of time with no set commitments (which I consider practice to be) that allows me to complete partial projects.

Perhaps stepping off my "assigned reading" has also helped.

**
(SRC/P) Asleep, Banana Yoshimoto (177pp) This is the most introverted of the authors works I have read so far. I suppose the title should have been some indication. I don't think this is the first book I would suggest to someone who was curious about Banana Yoshimoto. The last story did remind me of something I read in Jay Rubin's book about Murakami: mental binding. According to Mr. Rubin this is a condition peculiar to women in Japanese society. I don't know about that; I've experienced something similar. One of the symptoms of mental binding is waking up and being completely unable to move. It can take up to several hours before a person wiht this condition regains control of their body. It is terrifying.

The heroine in the final short sleeps all the time, well, except when she is with her married boyfriend. Even then, towards the end she finds it difficult to wake up for him. I suspected one of the connections that is made clear towards the end about 15 pages before it was revealed. I do like the temp office scene though. It reminded me so much of my own experience as a temp watching people create piles of busywork for themselves, rather than actually doing the work.

***
I signed up for Nancy Bush's sock class in October. Is anyone else going***CV

Divided Liquor

(SRP) A Kingdom Divided, Rupert Thomson (336pp) This is a futuristic novel. Some reviews suggest that it should be in the same section as 1984, Brave New World and the like. I ceratinly had a sense of those works as I was reading; along with flickers of A Clockwork Orange, Murakami, and films by the directors of Delicatessen. The basic premise is that the government of the UK has decided to restructure society so that it is less violent and anti social. Their method? To base a division of peoples based upon their humours - phlegmatic, choleric, melencholic or sanguine. The story then proceeds to follow the life of a child who is seperated from his family due to the rearrangemnet and what happens when borders are crossed.

I'm reserving my opinions on RT's writing until I've had a chance to read a couple of his other books.
**
(SRP) Liquor, Poppy Brite (339pp) Two New Orleanian boys decide to start up their own restaurant but are broke. So what happens when your GM hates you and you find a property to house the resaurant of your dreams only to discover (after you sign the lease) it was the site of a mob slaying? Lite fun read that is very different from her earlier works (and yes I still have my original copy of Lost Souls) I would like to try that Morte de Napolean dessert though.
***
I've decided to just start reading what I want as opposed to sticking to my list. Most of what is left is non fictions and historic (naval, textile). My numeric goal is still intact: 51. But I'm more likely to attain it if I start choosing from ALL my unreads. ****CV

oooh that means I could go reread Sunshine!!!

my own personal eden

WhenI lived in SF there was a cafe I sometimes hung out in on Haight Street. I could never stay there very long because they didn't simply play music, they blasted music. That and the ambient homeless hanging put* on the corner tended to make the cafe a pit stop rather than a relaxation venture.

I bring this up because I have noticed that one of the cafes I go to, recently, has begun to play 80's hits. This could be okay or not depending on how you feel about Echo and the Bunnymen, Bauhaus, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Thomas Dolby, et al. I realized today that the cafe in question is also selling an 80's themed CD. At any rate the music is not played it is bellowed, (as much as electronica can be) it is shrieked (I already said I am not a KB fan) it's produced at club levels sans the buccolic club atmosphere (ie enough beer so you really don't care if your eardrums are perforated or not).

So I leave. I return to my personal, paid for on a monthly basis, abode; seeking solace and serenity. Ahhhh.

*thump * thump * thump * budabumbumbah * budabumbumbah * thump * thump * thump *

What's this? Did I mistakenly enter the realm of four wheeled pink fuzzy dice? Did I just tease and deozone layer my hair into ridiculous elevations? Am I suddenly parading around in a belly baring hip sliding arches breaking ensemble?

Oh. It's my neighbor.

Maybe a Divided Kingdom isn't such a bad idea***CV

*hanging put: really that is a more descriptive term than hanging out for the culture in question don't you think?

Super Frog revelation

(SRC/P) Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words, Jay Rubin (289pp) If you enjoy Murakami's writing and are curious about how his ideas developed (this book won't tell you). What this book does is follow chronologically Murakami's published works and give you some context of his life at the time. It is by no means an up close and personal look. It is written by a prrofessor of Japanese Literature and as such tends too much to the footnotes for my taste. As an insight into the Japanese publishing or rather classification (without being detailed) of literature it was interesting. It also pointed out how closely interrelated are boku and Murakami. I still like the super frog :)
**
(SRP) The Book of Revelation, Rupert Thomson (260pp) Gender role reversal in the abduction and captivity of a person for ones own (or the groups) interests. DO NOT skip to the end even if you feel you kow how it will end. I thought I knew but found it surprising and entirely appropriate. Curiously I find Mr. Thomson's writing reminds me of Josephine Tey. *shrug* They are both British.
***
My unreads are growing again: 31 at last count***CV

dyeing to be read

Speaking of Haruki Murakami I finally started his biography Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words. It's a bit tough going though. I attribute that to the writer's style rather than the subject matter. Still, it is fun to have many of the connections I made between Murakami's various works verified. I also found out that there are two books of his I don't have. As I remember these are the ones my friend Pat was happy to have found so long ago.

Thus, on my started, but little progress made, reading list I have: A Perfect Red; Piers the Ploughman; Homespun the Making of an American Myth; Asleep; Leave it to Psmith; and I, Claudius. Oh I also went and picked up two new books yesterday: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and , The Battle (which is supposed to draw upon notes that Balzac made for a book he never managed to write). And yes I still have 19 more books on my challenge left to read.

**
(SRC/P) The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffrey Ford (319pp) I fininshed the final story in this collection last night. Jeffrey Ford reminds me very much of an Eastern Board Ray Bradbury. he utilizes fantasy, narrative, semi biographical and experiential elements in many ways to render stories that are solid. And anyone who can make a creature the size of a sandflea that lives in children's sandcastles come across as solid is worth checking out. My favorite of his stories is Boatman's Holiday in which one possibility of how Charon spends his vacation is considered.

***
As I consume some delicious wasabi peas I once again reflect on what a fabulous SP I have.

I already mentioned the desert like trek I underwent to pick up one of her gifts. This time I was awakened by the oh so harmonious buzzing of my telephone (it's one of those 1920's intercom/phone set ups) and when I located the reciever and whispered hello I was met with deafening silence. Ah that is the supersecret code meaning "You have mail so come and get it 'cause it won't fit in your mail slot." Right -o! Down I went. Back up I came.

Carefully slitting the sides I was greeted with opalescent sparkling paper. Pretty! Must sit and admire the varying glimmers. I fought the mesmeric qualities and crinkled to the next layer. Patches of color and ..... 478 yards of Cascade Ecological wool wth 8 packages of Koolaid to dye it with (And she'll have fun fun fun in the sun...) But wait, I spy something pink and it's a BOOK :) Dogsbody by DW Jones. I love the cover! It reminds me of Chagall in some ways.

Hmmm and here's a patch of orange: a cute pocket sized book, literally, with an elastic band (Oh how I love elastic banded books they make me feel all Indiana Jones) with blank pages to take lots of notes in. And a mint green gel pen to use with it. It's the perfect size to keep by my laptop as I scroll through book blogs :)

Last, but certainly not least, but, most certainly all gone by now: Wasabi Peas!! (Wasabi, how do I love thee let me count the ways...)

Thank you Ellie! What a lovely and creative gift! ***CV

Reading list? What reading list?

Last summer I discovered the works of Haruki Murakami. I then proceeded to read every one of his works that I could find. With the exception of a vintage book which only contains one story I haven't read, I have succeeded. I even purchased Kafka On the Shore as soon as it came out, and I'm eagerly awaiting his latest.

So all this is translation right? I'm sure there are many works of his I have not read as they are in Japanese. But maybe not. I read an interview in which he said that when he first started writing he wrote in English. This forced him to actually get the writing done. In his own language he was overwhelmed with the possibilities of word choice. (I can completely empathise. If only I knew another language well enough to atempt writing in it ;)

All this by way of saying I have just tonight heard about another author whose novel premises send me into chills of anticipation. I keep telling myself "Y'know the carry through could be as flat as the hunk in a smoke filled bar"....but but....

Apparently one of his novels has been filmed and is due to be released (In Australia I believe) sometime late this year or early next. By that time I intend to have read at least one of his works, A Kingdom Divided.

I should caution that when I read about his novel, The Book of Revelation, I immediately flashbacked to a film called the Butterfly Collector. The BC is one of those Hammer Films that ws truly psychollogically creepy. Its premise was of a man who "collected" young women much as he did butterflies and what happens to one of his prizes. (Another suitably creepy Hammer film is Straight On Til Morning. )

The author's name? Rupert Thomson. ***CV

Big Wig

Y'know? I'm not sure I can do justice to the place which is Colonial Williamsburg. I am so used to entering museums, recreations, olde townes that are so oversaturated with quainte and unique tchochkes that when I come upon a place that is simple, spacious, and unassuming, words fail me. But I shall try.

Colonial Williamsburg is an historic town inhabited by costumed educators and reenators. Thus as you walk down the streets you will pass by colonial men and women sitting on steps, gardening, drilling, weaving, blacksmithing, running a printshop, crocheting, haggling. It is in a way the Dickens faire without the folderol. (And might I say I loved the Dickens faire).

So one night my group attended a colonial dance and several in the group participated. Ah folkdancing. New fact for me was that not everyone danced at the same time. No. At the beginning of a dance one couple danced. Aferwards another couple danced. And so right down taht ranks of gentryism. Meanwhile everyone was watching the couple on the floor and critiqueing. Considering one was learning how to dance at home more often then not without a partner and that everyone was learning a variation of the same dance: well I think I might have been quite content to be a wall flower, oh yes indeed.

The folowing morning we went on a garden walk and learned about the "back workers", the "hand workers" and the "mouth workers". (I'll let you decide which were the gentry,the middle class and the poor of those groupings). Our final night we went on a lanthorn tour and were taken into various shops. New fact: most colonial women shaved their heads in order to wear the fancy wigs. As one companion said, "You mean Martha was bald when she slept with George?!"

A highlight of the tours was when I found a pile of cast off plants and when I asked if it was flax was told yes. Then I was told to "help myself" to the seeds.

Does anyone know how to grow flax? If not I'll just put it in a pot and see what happens ;)****CV

Recently Read Tales

(SRC/P) One Thousand and One Ghosts, Alexandre Dumas (156pp). This story seems to be Msr. Dumas' tribute to the Decameron, Canterbury Tales and other similar tale telling tales. A theme running throughout all the stories except, perhaps, the last) is whether what we know concretely through our senses is truly all there is to know in the world, or is the only way of knowing what is in the world.
**
(SRP) The Tarot Cafe, Sang-Sun Park (176pp) manga. The premise: a young woman named Pamela is a resident of London. Her business is psychic and she performs tarot readings for human and non human customers. As each reading unfolds her clients tale is revealed both through the cards and flashbacks. Drawn in the girl manga style (flowing hair, flowing clothes, very large eyes, and lots of flowers) I found the stories a tad too predictable and cliched for my tastes. The bits about the individual card meanings was nice. If you like the Aquarian deck then you will be pleased to know that this is the deck used in this volume.
***
Currently reading: A Perfect Red, Amy Butler Greenfield, and Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto. ****CV

Up all night

I'm not sure if I will include a full overview in this post or not. But I will start at the beginning and when I reach an end I will then stop.*

Firstly let me say that if you love to travel and I mean be in the process of travelling not including the actual achievement of a destination, then you might like doing what I did. Red Eye baby all the way, with as many reconnections as possible. Thus I caught a 12:30 am flight, reconnected at Minneapolis at 5:30 reconnected, with a layover, in Newark at 10: 30 and arrived at 2pm. Please note that there were various time zones involved. When I arrived I went immediately to my shuttle as previously arranged: it was not there.

Ok. When will it be here?

In an hour.

Oh. Okay.

So I spend an hour in a very non strip mall airport (All airports are turning into strip malls have you noticed?) And may I say that gunpowder green tea tastes just like its name? Then I go back.

Here I am :)

The shuttle should be here in another hour.

Oh : (

(I would like to say at this point I was not cool and it had nothing to do with the 95+ degrees and equivalent humidity.)

I understand that this is a service. I understand traffic but I have been travelling and awake since 7 the previous morning; I don't know whether my accommodations will be easy or difficult to manage as I am a day early so could you please try and make it sooner then another hour?

They would try.

I brought all my stuff back into the airport and prepared to knit and read. I had just arranged everything when the shuttler came in and lo! There was a car available :)

Knitting is apparently the new cigarette.

After an hours drive in which the driver and I had quite the disscussion about education and the seemingly increasing tendency towards specialization at an earlier and earlier age I arrived at my accomodations.

Dorm rooms are spartan aren't they? I never knew. But then I had never been in one, no, not true. I had been in one, just not as a resident and not, how shall we say, in an unaccessorized conditon before. There is something so special about sleeping on a bed that gives off a report every time you lay down on it. That and the meat locker temperatures. I actually had to turn the heat on because of the refrigeration factor.

So, having spent the appropriate amount of time aquainting myself with my accomodations (20 minutes: unpack, make up bed, check out the communal showers and bathrooms) I left to tour the surrounding neighborhood. Found the bookshop and a cafe and a 24 hour minimart. Then I came back and crashed. Fortunately registration wasn't until 3pm the following day so I had time to adjust to the clock change.

Next: dancing the colonial way, or; My, what a nicely turned calf you have sir ***CV

I'm back

It is now approximately midnight VA time. That means that I have gone 40+ hours without sleep. This is not good. So, in the interest of better blogging, I'm going to save the upates for a time when the hardwood floor doesn't seem like a sumptuous feather bed. ***CV

new toy

(SRC/P) Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman (334pp) Another trickster tale, this time with spiders. I actually picked this up last year in time for Mr. Gaiman's reading here in town. The event took place in a church and there was a line around the block an hour before anyone could go in. He gave a wonderful reading as usual and then there was a signing. So you would think that I would have started to read the story right away and I did. But then I stopped. Couldn't say why really. It's a good story, lighter than what I expected; but, this does not mean it's a romp through the veldt. No, there are nasty bits.

Think birds.

But Fat Charlie? He sounds just like Neil reads. That was lovely :)
**
The Empire of Ice Cream by Jeffrey Ford. I started it today but I'm only almost half way through: 170 pages to go. It's a collection of short stories. I particularly like Boatman's Holiday.
***
I checked the official list of prohibited items. Did you know you can take embroidery scissors on board now? That's how I understood the description. Knitting needles are okay too. There was no restriction or limitation as to kind or material.

I'm still bringing a SASE just in case though.

I am nearing the frenetic packingmustmakesureeverythingistakencareofwhere'smylist?! didImakealist?? IthoughtIhadmadealistandwhenexactlydoestheplaneleave? stage.

Golly that looks like a line of samskrit. Well, except for the fact that it's punctuated :) ***CV

fox and spider

(SRC/P) When Fox is a Thousand, Larissa Lai (236pp) A trickster tale involving fox, an animal said to haunt the bodies of women. The story is told through three characters: fox, who is nearing her thousandth birthday; Artemis, who was adopted by a canadian family and is now living in Vancouver; Yu Hsuan-Chi a ninth century nun/poetess whose death sentence is still in question. Each character's section is marked by an image of either a fox, tree, or woman respectively. This is an unusual romance with fable aspects told in amazing language.
**
I started Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman and have five chapters left.
***
I'm almost finished with the third booga bag. The reason I wondered about the DPNs was that I still need to make the Icord for all three bags. It seemed like something good to do while reading on the plane. ***CV

ploughing along

Dare I hope?

I just counted the books on my challenge "shelf" (others mught call it a stack on the floor) and it is 23. Be still my heart. I set myself the task of only having 20 TBR by the time I leave for my conference. This means if I read one a day I will be there. So exciting.

Now the question arises what to take with me?

Piers I think because I cannot finish it in time and meet by goal of 20. If I read Piers only for the story then I could but the problem is Piers makes me think. It's much too much a book of my fascination: Spirtual quest, medieval, absurd, surreal. So Piers will be tossed into the carry-on.

So keeping with that theme I thought I could also take The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I wanted to bring Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words. But then there is I, Claudius and Leave it to PSmith, Gargantua and Pantagruel, Red and Black, The Heart of Midlohian ... and really I should take some clothes.

But then maybe I won't get sent into that special line, the one where everything you own is searched, x-rayed and detailed, if I am carrying lots of reading material.

Do you think security would mind wooden 10.5 DPNs? ***CV

sadhana

(SRC/P) Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin (328pp) This ia a YA story whose cover blurb refers to teh tale as Dickensian. Now that term, Dickensian, can mean many things to many people. When I started the story it did not match my definition other than being set within a certain time frame. Dickens' language and tone were not present; however, the motifs are, the social context is, and the conclusion is Dickensian. So the blurb could be applicable. I think it is the simplicity of the language that prevents it from being what I consider Dickensian.

Would I read this to a class of children under 12? Not likely. Much as I would consider carefuly a reading of David Copperfield or Oliver Twist. I am sure that many a child under 12 could understand Coram Boy on an intellectual level and some, perhaps, morally. But emotionally? There is much talk about disposing of unwanted living beings, and not only animals: it is a major premise. I would not have wanted some of the images I now have from this read in my mind as a young person.

Good read though for the HS set. I can see a lot of instructive conversations coming from the events in the story. Unlike Dickens there are no political overtones.

Jamila is non preachy and leaves the ultimate conclusion to the reader.
**
I have now started When Fox is a Thousand by Larissa Lai
***
I got up early today to go to an 8 o'clock class. It was with a teacher I really enjoy but who, at the start of summer I knew I could not do her classes. I've realized though that there is a certain pattern to the teachers whose classes I prefer. The teachers are not "kind", they have expectations which are challenging, but they are not aggressive with these challenges. One either does them or not; here is a way to meet the challenge; you may rest at any time. And on we go to the next posture.

I have after a class overheard comments such as "dictatorial", "bossy", and others. Perhaps that's true. However, an underlying premise of the practice is to do what you can do. So a teacher is teaching but the practioner is doing. A teacher can no more make you "do a pose" then they can make a young child read. It will happen when it happens and not before. Unlike a young child the pose may never happen. All bodies are not the same: This does not prevent a person from exploring their limits.

I think the bossy dictator may be the internal hitler, not the external yoga instructor. And if it is the external? You can always walk out. Capitalism in action. Of course, I have also been in classes where, after the first adhomukhasvanasana (downdog), a student has done savasana (corpse) for the rest of the practice.

Really, you can rest at any time: and one day you most certainly will :)****CV

negast

(SRC/P) The Sunbird, Elizabeth E. Wein (184pp) This is the third in a trilogy which began with The Winter Prince and A Coalition of Lions. Its premise is that there are two mighty kingdoms: one of High Britain and the other Aksum (of Ethiopia). When I first saw this series in SF at the Booksmith I was intrigued but never followed through. So here I am having read the final installment and would so like to read the others but cannot locate them. Oh well. The main character of Sunbird is called Telemakos which you may or may not recognise as the name of Odysseuss' son. (From the path of the story I would suspect that Telemakos' fatther and aunt are the main characters of vol.I and II respectively.) Similarly, Telamakos undergoes a voyage of discovery which involves, among other things, preventing the spread of plague due to black market dealings in the salt trade.

There is quite a bit of reference to classical greek mythology as well as british through names of people and places. I have a fondness for Ethiopian history so the dominant culture in this volume was much appreciated. Injera yum! Honey Wine yumyum. A shame they did not refer to it as Tej.
**
I started Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin today and began the third Booga. ***CV

Mad hatter

(SRC/P) Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones (380pp) I read 70 pages last night and finished it this afternoon. I would really like to say I am most unhappy having read this book. Why? Because, dear reader, I still have 25 books tbr in my challenge before going on to anything else. This means I may not go and buy up every other DWJ book until after I have finished these 25 books. You on the other hand are not so chained are you? Hmmm? No. You may go out and indulge and laugh and have many a night of pleasant bibliomania. All I ask is: be vewy, vewy qwiet until I have finished my 25. Okay?

***
So yeah Piers is still languishing. I'll get there.

***
Got complimented on my sunglasses today. I think. But dude was seriously delirious if he thought a compliment like that was gonna make me stop and chat in a deserted area. My momma didn't raise no fools. Uhuh.

I decided to try crossing the Steel Bridge again but I haven't found the access to the upper deck from the east side so I did the train track path again. Kinda cool. The Wadi Anarak was in port. Its name was in both the english and arabic script. Looked like an oil tanker: golly, y'think? ;)

***
Geoffrey Chaucer tees are on their way to me. Yaaay!
***
The Leonard Cohen film is up next at the theater down the street from me.

Yeah. I got a theater three blocks away, a tea room two blocks away, and a Starbucks every other street away. Portland is apparently in the top three cities where you will not be unable to find a Starbucks if your life depended on it. Good thing bad thing you decide. I did come across this hilarious Starbucks info site where the employees rate the various products: no holds are barred and if you decide to do an about face well alrighty you just go ahead and do that. You will get called on it though. Yowza!
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In the night there was the sound of shuffling and the whisper of leaves. In the morning: aaaaaaaah! Three new paper stacks!!!! Oh Calcifer, where art thou?***CV

burn the king

(SRC/P) The Perilous Gard, Elizabeth Marie Pope (280pp) Another varient of the Tam Lin ballad but set within the time of Queen Mary and her sister Elizabeth. Instead of Janet the young woman's name is Kate and there is a very logical approach to the Fey folk as well as the Teind. Cooly logical, which took a slight adjustment on my part as I had become used to the romantic embellished versions. I do recommend this tale if you are interested in retellings of traditional ballads. Ms Pope, according to the author blurb, is an Elizabethean scholar.
**
Still working on Piers the Ploughman. He has sicked Hunger on the slothful and has made his will. Let the pilgrimage commence.
***
I think paper breeds like hamsters. There is no other possible explanation. Ijust went through eight stacks and reduced them to three: which I need to go through again.
****
A trip to the department store. One I seldom brave. I emerged unscathed after spending close to thirty dollars on one container of foundation. This stuff better last a good long time. The counter lady was sweet though and gave me samples. So of course I had to say, "A goodie bag!"

Why yes I do know how old I am. Why do you ask?***CV

Palmers and Friars

Today I walked across the Steel Bridge. Or rather, I walked under it; or rather, below it and a little to the side. 'Cause if I walked under it I'd be on the train tracks and, according to several signs posted, that is not what one is suppose to do. As I was strolling along imagining how pretty this must be at night I heard the whirr of bicycle wheels and a voice saying, "Hey can you spare a dollar for a hostile?" Well that is what I heard, and the way the person kept looking back at me as he was riding away," Well can you?" It took me a bit to realise he had meant hostel not hostile.

As I left the bridge I entered a section of Portland that gave me the creeps. Okay, it's Portland. How creepy could it be? What I felt though was the same way I had felt while walking through the heart of the tenderloin at 2pm in San Francisco. Those who know know, those who don't: how sweet your life is.

I think next time I'll take the stairs to the upper deck and follow that route home.
**
(SRC/P) Look at the Harlequins, Vladmir Nabakov (253pp) Finished the story last night. A writer, his marriages and his loves and his neurosis. But written in Nabakovian linguistics. I liked the way it ended which I can't tell because then you would know what it was.
***
I started Piers the Ploughman by William Langland today. Holy Church and Lady Fee don't seem to like each other very much. Piers has two children. His daughter is called Do-as-your-told-or-you'll-get-a-good-hiding. And his son is named Always-give-way-to-your-elders-and-don't-contradict-or-maybe-you'll-wish-you-hadn't. Yes he has a wife: Dame Work-while-you've-got-a-chance.

Fun reading tonight whooowee! ***CV

voyuers

(SRC/P) The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon (487pp) I expected a magical realism book. What I found instead was a soft noir that rested by the pool of magical realism and looked but didn't touch. It's a good story. I expect some of the bumps along the way are due to translation rather than the original writing. Images of skies pouring clouds, tears, blood, melting coins and showers of copper occur frequently, as do comparisons of objects to the colour ochre. It's a mystery with dames and young boys, fathers and father figures, the impetuosity of young love and the consequences that can arise to acting on emotions in a patriarchal society. There is a semi gothic hospice and a sadistic inspector. (After reading Love and Longing in Bombay I didn't find the inspector as shocking as I might have before I read Mr. Chandra's work.)Zafon has written at least two other books, and is now residing in LA. I look forward to the next translation of his work.
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I am now reading Look at the Harlequins by Nabakov. JL Borges once made a comment along the lines that it was better to write a review of a non existant work than to write the work itself. All the plot and neccessary details without the time of actually writing the thing. For some reason I think he would have liked this book. :)
***
I completed the bag portion of two boogas. I'm now working on the handles.
****
I had 40 hits yesterday. I wonder why?***CV

sheba queen of the night

As I was leaving the cafe today I overheard,

customer: I'll have a latte. My show is in an hour and a half.

barista: You're in a show? Where? What are you playing?

customer: Down the street. I play a gothic lesbian vampire.

****CV

Elephant yoga

Yay! the surround sound bad 80's music marathon has been silenced! (until the next sunny day, probably tomorrow, but still: Yaaay!)

(SRC/P) Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore (444pp) Boy what an amazing ending. Such a surprise. Who would have thought the great prophet Joshua would have ended up in Vegas!!! Or as any number of straight faced characters in the story would say: HAHAHAHA I'm just f 'n with ya. Jeez where's your humour. One of the things I liked about this story was the way it went from present day Biff writing his gospel then slipped into the story he was writing. So one moment we would be in a hotel with pizza on the way and a super angel guarding the remote, which is firmly locked onto Gereral Hospital, and the next moment we'd be in India rescuing children from a Kali sacrifice. Oh and the quotes from Dalmations, Excretions and Amphibians, were very informative. Not to mention the Kama Sutra episodes.Or the people who live in pits. Or the apostles who don't get parables, or the Yeti. But really it's all about the bacon.
**
Today I started The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
***
Social Distortion tomorrow night
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An Inconvenient Truth is based on the book of the same name written by Al Gore. So for those of you who find a live version not as preferrable you might consider buying the book. In fact I may end up doing that as I find it so challenging to get myself to a theater. Even for Johnny Depp.
*****
For those of you who are interested in CM books but aren't sure where to start (he's written 8 of which I have read 4) I'm not sure what to say. I started with Coyote Blue because I found it used, cheap, and it was about Coyote. That's pretty much a winner in my book unless it includes Raven or Monkey, then it don't have to be used or cheap :) I'd suggest looking on Powell's site and readng the synopses and just picking whichever piques your fancy. He writes in such a lighthearted and yet ironic voice that unless you don't like black humour you can't go wrong. Caveat: he has no real issues with talking about physical relationships.****CV

Catch

Last night I started Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff,Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. I'm halfway through. CM books are good to knit by I've found. They lay where they're supposed to.

It would seem that Biff invented the latte (with goat's milk), and sarcasm. And lines from star wars keep cropping up. (May the qi, chi, force, spirit be with you: especially when a hungry fallen angel demon named Catch is released from capitivity).
**
Apparently Pirates of the Carribean II is opening this weekend. Do you think that will displace An Inconvenient Truth? I still haven't seen the latter and wouldn't mind seeing the former.
***
I asked someone to show me the Icord technique. Aha! So that's how it's done! I'm a visual verbal learner: once I see it and can describe it in words I pretty much have it.
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I found out how to get to Kinokuniya books. I see a journey in my future (and its name ain't Steve).***CV

seven foot......

(SRC/P) The Lust lizard of Melancholy Cove, Christopher Moore (304pp) In which a small northern california town located along the coast bearing a striking resemblance to .... oh never mind, is beset with medication deprivation, increasing levels of seratonin and consequent needs to express affection, a blues singer who may have waited at a crossroads or three; and a very virile sea creature who meets up with Kendra Warrior Babe of the Outland. 'Nuff said. Very funny read. Just like a 1950's shlock horror with antidepressants and the Delta Blues.

As I was reading this endearing and touchingly sensitive novel, at a table nearby, finances in the millions were being discussed nonchalantly as stockbrokering in a cafe is the only way to meet ones clients in a confidential manner. Right?
**
When I boarded the bus on my way to practice this morning the driver asked: Is that a yoga mat? But of course :)

Then at the studio my teacher was talking about the celebrations last night and mentioned she had been up until 2am because of firebombing juveniles. They had not only been setting off fireworks but had been throwing them at her house. Kiddies: Do you know where your mom and dad are?
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Golden Apples of the Sun aka A Sound of Thunder, Ray Bradbury was on my list of reads for the KTC. However I read Golden Apples of the Sun years ago and I have 52 books on my list not 51 as I had originally said. What with the KTC books (which I hadn't originally included) I'm going to take off the Bradbury from my list.

I did start to read it as I hadn't quite finished my KSKS bag but was very close. Wow. I was reading a short story called the Black and White Game which I thought might be about chess. Silly modern me. It's about a small town baseball game in the 1950's. You guess what its about.
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My order from Fearless Fibers arrived. I ordered two colors: Sunburst and Grape Pop. I love the Sunburst its so golden. I saw she has another up so I may order it once my paycheck arrives. The other color is blue. Huh. Grape Pop led me to expect purple for some reason.

I'm off to figure out how to do I-cord. I got the 10.5 Dpns today for it.*****CV

ovinator

Such a wasteland in the cafes today. I guess everyone really was out in the countryside or in their backyards bbq'ing. S'okay. I managed to finish another SRC book while working on my KSKS bag.
**
(SRC/P) Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde (383pp) This is the fourth in the Thurday Next Series and was fun to read. At practice my teacher noticed what I was reading and we had a nice conversation about the series. I had to say though, in spite of the Cheshire Cat and other delightful characters in this episode, there was a more than usual amount of credibility stretching. At the start of any Thursday Next novel one has to check ones disbelief on page one. It will wait for you and be quite safe. But in this book I constantly felt that my disbelief was trying to make a run for it. Thursday was achieving super heroine levels that I felt were just "not done". Then the minotaur appeared "aha!" Okay now I can understand. Croquet matches ala rollerball, neandertals serving rabbit with crunchy green stuff sauce and a jabberwocky v tyranosuarus rex wrestling match. What more could you want? There's even a romance.

I have started The Lust Lizard of Melencholy Cove by Christopher Moore.

Happy Fourth of July***CV

lau'lum

(SRC/P) Uncle Silas, Sheridan LeFanu (444pp) Oddly enough I kept thinking of Wuthering Heights as I read this work. Oh the realtionships were not nearly (how could they be) so abusive, but the relationship between father and son did remind me of Heathcliff and his "paternal" tendencies. In comparison to the Monk, Uncle Silas is much more a mystery novel. There is a murder in a locked chamber - no way in and no way out unless of course.....and so our heroine must resolve the issue. The suspense lay in the who and how; not in, will our narrator survive. From the outset we know this is a recapitualtion of past events, that she is neither ghost nor asylum resident. If you like gothic try this one. It lacks the eerieness and exotic aspects of gothics set in southern Europe but it will do. Everyone should have a cousin Monica ;) and never a Madame with her great grinning mouth and bald head.
**
I read the second volume of Lupin III. Hmmmm. The language certainly changes. Lots more cussing and swearing going on. But there was more Jigen which was good to see. If anyone is familiar with Spy v. Spy there are major aspectsof it in Lupin III, There is also major objectification of women. In other manga: Hikaru is getting ready for the Pros test :)
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An Inconvenient Truth is playing. Though tomorrow is a holiday I may try and see the late afternoon show.
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I am now reading Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde *****CV

Summer Reading Reads (a list)

(SRC/P)The Messenger, Lois Lowry (169pp)
(SRC/P) Ten Nights of Dream; Hearing Things; The Heredity of Taste, Soeseki Natsume(203pp)
(SRC/P) Invitation to a Beheading, Vladmir Nabokov (223pp)
(SRC/P) Goodbye Tsugami, Banana Yoshimoto (186pp)
(SRC/P) The Eye, Vladmir Nabokov (104pp)
(SRP) The Wrong Side of Paris, Honore Balzac (208pp)
(SRP/C) Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte (337pp).
(SRC/P) Bad Seed, Ian Johnston (305pp)
(SRC/P) Elementals, AS Byatt (230pp)
(SRC/P) the Giver, Lois Lowry (179pp)
(SRC/P) Strandloper, Alan Garner (2oopp)
(SRC/P) Moominvalley in November, Tove Jansson (175pp)
(SRC/P) Thebes at War, Naguib Mahfouz (242pp)
(SRC/P) Love and Longing in Bombay, Vikram Chandra (268pp)
(SRC/P) The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Patricia McKillip (247pp)
(SRC/P) the Wild Ass's Skin, Honore Balzac (285 pp)
(SRC/P) Poison, Chris Wooding (273 pp)
(SRC/P) The Monk, Matthew Lewis (442 pp)

sub total 18 books and 4,276pp as of July 2, 2006

swedenborgian?

After practice today I walked across the Hawthorne Bridge and was in time to watch it being raised. When I think of a drawbridge I think of the ones in Alameda near Pier29 in which traffic is prevented from moving on to any portion of the bridge until after it is completely set back in place. (I remember as a child having this clear image of a car caught in the center as the bridge slowly split apart, each half rising, and the car teetering precariously off the edge of one of the halves. I have no idea where this image comes from)

Not so here. The bridges are designed so that only a section is "lifted" allowing enough passage for the vessel -in this case a sailboat, to pass through. All pedestrian and vehicular travel is halted by crossing gates until the section is again lowered into place. So cool to watch. It's like viewing an elevator at a construction sight: all the housing is exposed.

**
Ever meet a hair stylist who won't listen to you? Ever experience the pleasure of "no tip for you"? 'Nuff said

***
Whoa the New Pornagraphers are very poppy. A little bit of Queen, a little bit of Wild Swans, a little bit of Rosemarys and some banjo.

****
I started Uncle Silas by JS LeFanu this afternoon. What do we have here: split personality governesses who like a nip now and then, and then go for a galavant in the graveyard. Okay. Much more polished writing than in The Monk. Just saying.

I also picked up:

Lupin vol. II, Monkey Punch

Hikaru no Go #7, Yumi Hotta

A Passage to India, EM Forster

The Chouans, Honore Balzac.

(It is said to be the first in his Human Comedy cycle)

*****

I chose the Tarot of Prague ******CV

opiate mon amour?

Well that was certainly a justice dealing ending. And the moral of the story is: don't be wishy washy. If you're gonna be a depraved, liscentious, ravisher of innocents sign the contractual parchment adn stop wasting my time. Lucifer will think so much more of you. If not then you better durn well believe in the ultimate's ability to pardon ANYTHING or you are so gone.

Auto de Fe comin' at ya in tech-ni-co-lur.

(SRC) The Monk, Matthew Lewis (442 pp)If you have never read a gothic novel (and gothic romance is so not the gothic I'm referring to) then this would be a good start. It's got everything gothic. Cliche? Pshaw. Only 'cause everything that came later copied what this novel has. Bad poetry! Sulpherous sepulchers! Malicious dominas! Lascivious abbots! Bleeding specters! Banditti threatening honest Marquis' and Duchesses! Purity vanquished and mob frenzies of retribution! Plot twists that make no sense except they are needed to move the story along. (Golly that last sounds a bit like the Sargasso Manuscript which is such a cool book) Really bad spelling and mixed tense usage (Dude you are an Englishman don't you dare harp on Americans when you use past to mean passed and past). No rats though. Only slimy reptiles (oxymoronic what?) and ringworms.

As I was reading this I was mentally reaching for a Dumas. Yes! Now I must read the Man in the Iron Mask oh wait that's not on my list ..... but lessee ..... oh look Sir Walter is :) ooooo and so is Lefanu: Midlothian, Uncle Silas, Midlothian, Uncle Silas......

**
Neko was sold out. I pretty much thought she would be. Thus I ended up in the DDE across the street and purchased botht a Neko Case solo work and a New Pornographers. According to the DDE employee (I am so onomotopoeic :) NP is much poppier than Neko's other work.

***
I also ordered some yarn from fearless flyer and bbunnies on etsy. One of those will be for my KSKS swappee. Speaking of I'm having trouble contacting my swapper (gremlins of the net I presume). I get her messages but she's not getting mine. So KP3 my address is correct but the final # is #404. I don't think you have that part.

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I am now off to investigate the make up of a couple of Tarot decks I saw today. One looks Arty (Gustav Klimt) the other may be more symbolic. We shall see. Oh and I found the most wonderful set of chiming bells. All soft and tinkly *sigh* I love bells :) ***CV

kooreon or koorayon

While sipping my green tea latte in a local cafe today I had the oddest experience of entering a Woody Allen movie. At a table next to mine was an older man earnestly explaining (for a good 45 minutes) to a younger man the " inherant philosophy of .... which includes german expressionism .... political ..... but the romantic aspects ..... so you see he will never .... because in England or the greater European community ....... according to ... that is why ......."

(Somebody pass me a beret ;)
**

Meanwhile, I was learning that if your Duenna insists on creeping around and listening in to your private assignation as you plot to disguise yourself as the Castle's resident ghost (otherwise know as the Bleeding Nun) then she has the temerity to say you can't carry through with your plot; and golly you already got the cool veil and habit from a local convent and it wasn't easy let me tell you; it is good if your cavalier has no qualms with bundling the nosy lady up like a sack of potatoes, carrying her off to his acommodations, stashing her in a closet and liberally supplying her daily with bottles of cherry brandy.

(Why yes I am halfway through with The Monk (page 193). I am now at the chapter where Ambrosius -the Monk, is beginning to feel guilt/remorse for seducing his novice, 'cause like you know it will make him less saintly. Um Ambrosius that is not Rosario aka .... oh! but that would spoil it).
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Yesterday I picked up my first skeins of Kureyon for the KSKS. Then I found out my swappee doesn't really like pink and then I found out Kureyon (the Noro) doesn't really make red shades (it does in the silk blend). So today I went and bought another three skeins in number 157. It's the closest I could find. I'll practice with the other six -yes 6. Maybe early winter gifts?

I also picked up a copy of Not Just Socks (more) and a Rowan pattern book that was on sale. It's the Plaid Collection which is filled with all these beautiful cable sweaters. Not cluttered cables but simple open spacious ones. It is so funny how the models in it (except the child) are all arching a brow quizzically as they gaze into the camera.
****
Neko Case is performing tomorrow and I don't know if I should go or not. ******CV

the Lady of Cobwebs

(SRC) Poison, Chris Wooding (273 pp) Poison is the name of the heroine of this work and she chose her own name. Most of the other female residents of the Black Marsh would have chosen Azalea, Marigold, Buttercup, but not Poison. Poison is what she sees herself as and nothing will change her mind. To tell you anymore would actually spoil the ending so I can't compare it to other works which are fairly obvious as you read the story but I will say that I really like the Spider Queen. She's so delightfully Mad and Gollum like :)

I started The Monk by Mathew Lewis today and I'm on page 93. So far we have met a squinty red headed femme fatale, two debonair cavaliers, a pride filled "virtuous" monk who as of the last section is having a night of abandon with one of his novices (oh like I couldn't see that coming - it is a gothic novel after all) after condemning a Sister to the pennances of St. Clare for daring to be with child which happened, I might add, BEFORE she entered the convent; and by the way dude you were a foundling left at the abbey so no one knows who your parents are; and a rhyming gypsy who drops her "h"s like Eliza Doolittle (I can tell because she puts an "an" before every word that starts with an "h").
**
I recieved a DPN case today, that I swapped some STR for, from Trek :) It's pink paisely on the outside and OJ on the interior pockets. At last my DPNs have a home :)

I also purchased some Noro Kureyon (colors 102 and 148) to make the Booga Bag for my KSKS partner. Has anyone done this pattern? If so how small is the final product? I'm willing to get more Noro if I should to make the bag a decent size for a sock project.
***

Had another dizzyness attack - but much milder - in practice today. So I spoke to the teacher afterwards and I'll try her feedback tomorrow.
****
Oh and I found the Panda Bar made by Endangered Species. It's dark and white chocolate combined ..... *****CV